12. The Usefulness of Glass
Nov. 11, 2022
A/N: Since you readers have caught up with all my burner chapters, this fic may or may not start doing bi-weekly updates to make sure I do not fall behind on publishing chapters.
Especially since I am still in college.
m(_ _)m I'm sorry guys!
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"Wait, since we have electricity, weren't we gonna make all kinds of medicines?"
"Yeah, we will. In order to make the cure-all, sulfamide, earthenware won't be able to handle all the fun chemistry experiments we'll be doing," explained Senku. "However, glass is able to contain and withstand most chemicals. It is the very starting point of chemistry!"
The boy then approached Suika, who was looking at him with curiosity.
"With glass, we can finally take that damn thing off so that we can finally see the mysterious face of Ace Detective Suika!"
You immediately knew what he was going to do. "Wait, Senku--"
The scientist then grabbed the melon and pulled it off the child's head. Kohaku and Chrome were screaming in panic.
"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!" Kohaku frantically grabbed the melon from his hands. "She specifically told us that she doesn't want anyone to see her face!"
"What? It's not like she's super ugly or scarred up or anything like that. Go on, look at her," he said with a grin.
He was right. Suika had blonde hair in a bowl cut, along with a little cow-lick sticking up from the top of her head. She also had big, greyish-brown, "doe" eyes, which were slightly brimming with tears. Her face was covered with the color of red, as she was blushing.
"Ooooh Suika, you are soooo cuuuuute~!" Kohaku happily squealed.
You couldn't help but stare at her and gush the same way as Kohaku. "You're adorable, Suika! Why would you want to hide your face?"
Then all four of you saw it. Her face scrunched up and wrinkled as she squinted her eyes tightly, making her appear to look like an old woman.
"What the hell?!" Kohaku and Chrome cried in horror.
"Suika's eyes have blurry disease," the little girl started as she carried her melon rind. "Suika can only see faint, fuzzy images of things, and when she strains her eyes, her face looks like this and it's embarrassing..."
She then put the melon back on her head and spoke with delight, "But when Suika wears this suika cap, it gets easier to see somehow!"
"Ah, that's called the 'pin-hole' effect. By peering through a hole, light squeezes through it, reducing the amount of something that is out of focus," Senku informed all of you.
Chrome then questioned, "Does Suika's inability to see and glass have anything to do with each other?"
"Of course. They have something to do with each other!" You told him. You then looked at Suika and continued, "What Suika has isn't a disease, defect, nor deformity."
The scientist added, "In scientific civilization, nobody was held back by it because it wasn't something someone would think twice about. The eyes of science made from glass, called 'glasses', will solve everything!"
Suika just stood there in shock. She solemnly spoke up, "Using science can even create eyes...?"
"Yes."
"To be honest...even if it's just once, Suika wants to be able to see this beautiful world," she said, her voice trembling ever so slightly. "To see everyone not blurry or fuzzy...but to see everyone as they truly are. Suika wants to truly meet everyone..."
Chrome then ran off with a serious look on his face. He screamed when he returned with a couple of baskets to collect with, "Alright then, let's get going and make this glass stuff!"
"Wait, Chrome. You don't even know what we're looking for," you told him. "The material we need to get wasn't in your collection either."
"Then what is it we're supposed to get?" questioned Kohaku.
The scientist explained, "The main foundation is silica, which is found in sand. Kukuku...even Chrome's great collection didn't have that, did it?"
"Well, I didn't go around collecting sand..." Chrome muttered with an annoyed expression on his face.
You pointed out, "Wasn't there a clear-looking stone in your collection though? It looks similar to glass."
"Bingo. Chrome, if you could take us to where you found it, then it may be the spot where we can gather the sand," said Senku.
And so he did. He grabbed the stone that you were talking about and led you to the top of a peak, where there was a load of white silica sand on the surface. Each time it was mined, the white grains would fall and fill up your baskets to the brim. You would then take it back down for preparation.
Senku informed all of you, "The first thing to do is crush it down to a powder. The second is to get the other ingredients, which we already have. It's composed of 10% calcium carbonate, and 20% roasted seaweed."
The process had taken a few days, as it had you and Kohaku crushing the sand into a white powder, while Senku and Chrome had to mix it with calcium carbonate and roasted seaweed. But getting the ratio and the amount of time to heat it up took the longest because it needed to be perfect.
"Third, we need to hammer in lead. Then, we'd be able to make our super transparent crystal glass!"
Senku had created a circular mold just for the lenses. Once he had poured it and it had cool, the boy took his soot-covered hands and showed off the lense that would be used to create Suika's new "eyes."
"WHOAAAA!" Chrome cried out in awe.
"It's so clear and sparkly like ice!" said Suika.
Kohaku added, "It's just like a jewel!"
You snatched the piece of glass from Senku's hand and looked at it through one of your eyes. You then explained as the scientist walked off, "With it shaped like this, we could make many other things, like telescopes or magnifying glasses."
"'Telecope'? 'Magnifying glasses'?" The primitives were confused by what you had said.
"Ah sorry. Those things I mentioned are items glass can be used in. You can see things from super far away, or use them to look closely at something. For example, you can look at the stars and the moon with a telescope," you explained to them when looking up at the sky.
Chrome grinned. "You can do that with glass?! That's amazing!"
"Yeah... Senku used to have a big one in his room when we lived side-by-side together back then. It was always nice to see the stars at night from his room," you rambled with a small smile on your face. You continued reminiscing as you fiddled with the glass, "When we were younger, we would always visit observatories, which had huge telescopes so we can see the different planets and stars in the sky. It was fun while it had lasted."
Kohaku spoke up, "But now that we have glass, you can make them now, can't you?"
"Of course. Not today though, but sometime in the near future," you chuckled. "We obviously need to finish the lenses for Suika's new 'eyes'."
"Yeah, but the first thing we gotta do is file it down to get the type of distance we want using this over here," said Senku, who had finished making a certain device when you were talking amongst yourselves.
Suika asked, "What's that weird looking tool there for?"
"It's to file down the glass. If we did it by hand, we'd die," said the green-haired boy.
Chrome's eyes brightened, then he had started climbing up his warehouse. "Oh, you need to file it down? Then that means it's time for that crazy hard stone, master corundum, right?! That means it'll be able to file down easily!"
"Glass on the Moh's hardness scale is a 6, while master corundum is a 9. Diamond is a 10, which is the strongest," said Senku, stating some facts. He turned to you and snatched back the glass that you took from him. "(Y/N), I'll get you when we're ready. It will be done once I get Suika's measurements from a simplified Snellen eye-chart so we can file it down to the correct eye prescription. Now go follow the lioness because it looks like she's leaving to check on Kinro and Ginro.
You looked around to see that Kohaku was already leaving, uninterested in Senku's rock facts. You then gave him a thumbs up with a confident look on your face. "Got it! Kohaku, wait for me!"
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"Ginro, you need to put more power into your strikes!"
"Yes!"
You had taken the task to have Ginro in a one-on-one training session, with Kohaku taking Kinro. However, there was a huge difference between how the brothers fought, despite having the same fighting style. For one, Ginro was hesitant as he fought, compared to his brother, who would take any chance he would get when there was an opportunity to strike.
You ended up beating up the blonde boy without having to do much other than to parry because of that.
"Why do you hesitate, Ginro?" You questioned the boy, having grabbed his hand to pick him up after knocking him down. "Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean you need to hold back. In a real battle, the weapon does not discriminate. Just think of me as Kohaku."
He nodded and hesitantly replied, "I did, and y-you're strong. But you are not Kohaku because she's more scary if we're being honest here. However, I'm not confident in my skills for the Grand Bout. I-I'm too scared to go against Magma."
You let out a soft sigh. "I get that you are afraid. However, this training is not just to make you stronger and improve your skills. This is for the sake of saving a life--Ruri's life. We can't just let Kohaku and Kinro do it by himself. The Kingdom of Science needs every bit of help they can to help bring the cure-all to her. Saving her would mean helping and saving the rest of the village as well."
"Can you use science to solve everyone's problems? Just like my brother's disadvantage?" He asked, then quickly shut his mouth using his hands.
"Disadvantage?" You wondered. "What disadvantage are you talking about?"
He frantically replied, "I-I--"
You then heard Kinro hit the ground after the blonde girl had knocked him over. Kohaku yelled at him, "I KNEW YOU'D COME AT THE SHORT END! That's always been your bad habit, Kinro! Being aware of distance is the very life-blood of the spear! If you don't grasp sense of spacing, you will never beat Magma!"
Kinro slowly got up and sighed. They began to fight once more once he had recovered.
You put your hand against your chin, then looked over to Ginro. "I have noticed that he always takes a chance to strike whenever he's close. Does this disadvantage of his have something to do with his vision?"
The boy looked nervous, but he nodded. "Please don't tell him I said anything. He told me to keep it a secret...but he has the blurry disease!"
"It's not a disease, Ginro," you reminded him. "But has he not gone and told Kohaku?"
"I've tried to tell him to tell Kohaku straight up, but he says 'a man makes no excuses.' That's why he always has that glare on his face--it's because he's straining his eyes," Ginro informed you.
You then nodded. "I see. His own pride is preventing him from saying anything. Well, I won't tell anyone, but I won't make any promises."
"Thank you, (Y/N). So...are we done training now?" He asked with a hint of hopefulness.
"Not ye--"
"Yo, slowpoke!"
You turned your head in the direction of the voice, and saw Senku coming over to you with Chrome and Suika, who wasn't wearing her melon rind. Instead, she was holding Senku's hand so he can guide her without her helmet. The scientist carried the rind with his other hand, and you noticed the glass glistening from the eye holes.
"Well, I guess training with me is over, Ginro. You go watch Kohaku and Kinro, okay?" You told him. He immediately nodded with a grin, knowing he didn't have to fight for now. You then ran over to the others and asked, "Are you guys finished?"
"Yes. We're going to test it out now," said Senku.
"Suika doesn't understand why she can't wear the suika yet," said Suika with an annoyed, but sad, tone her voice.
You comforted her and took her hand for you to hold. "Don't worry, Suika. You'll wear it soon."
Chrome then lead the three of you to a large field of bright, yellow sunflowers. Suika's puppy, Chalk, followed behind. When all of you stopped, you let go of her hand and pushed her to the closest flower.
"Suika, can you see what's in front of your eyes?" You asked her.
She replied with her eyes extremely strained, "It's just a bunch of sunflowers. It's not like she can't see then at all or anything--"
Senku slipped the melon rind on her head and she stopped talking. The girl looked at her surroundings, seeing the clear blue sky, the luscious, green trees, and the beautiful, golden sunflowers that blow along with the wind in front of her. She could also see her dog very clearly, wagging his tail with joy. Then she looked at the three of you. You saw tears dripping down the lower part of her face.
You then asked again with a smile, "Can you see what's in front of you now, Suika?"
"Yes! You look so pretty, (Y/N)!" She happily exclaimed, then looked at the two boys. "You look so cool and kinda handsome too, Senku! Suika can see why you think he's handsome, (Y/N)."
Chrome held in a laugh and Senku sighed out of what seemed like boredom. Your cheeks flushed with a bit of darkness out of embarrassment. "Suika! T-That was only because Kohaku was asking for the three beauties in your village! Anyways, what about Chrome? What do you think of him?"
"He looks cooler than she expected," she answered.
The brunette then looked annoyed, which made you and Senku snicker. "Huh?! What did you even expect, dammit?!"
"Kukuku, the Kingdom of Science's labor force has gotten it's upgrade! With glass and its' implements, we'll be able to make all the medicines we want!" Senku cheered with his evil laugh.
"Hah?! Why do you always gotta ruin the moment?! But let's go and get started to make the cure-all!" Chrome immediately stood up and carried Suika with him to head back to the warehouse. Chalk followed them, leaving just you and Senku behind.
There was just a bit of silence between the both of you, as you relaxed under the sun and breathed in the clear air. The wind was blowing slightly, and it didn't bother you at all.
"How considerate of you to let Suika's first experience with glasses be a beautiful one," you told him with a warm smile.
"Heh, who would want their first experience to be ugly? Everyone who has gotten glasses would have to see the doctors office for the first time," said Senku.
You then began to stretch, "You're right. I suppose we should get going now. Who knows how many others need glasses as well."
"Are you implying there's another person who needs it?" The scientist questioned as the two of you began to head back.
"Maybe. I wouldn't count on them saying it upfront though."
He chuckled, and then mentioned, "You're probably the one who needs it since you're over here admitting that I'm handsome. Am I that attractive?"
You stopped in your tracks, which he had noticed, causing the boy to raise an eyebrow.
"...yes. You're handsome," you replied and continued walking on. You added, "But that doesn't imply anything else."
He then shrugged. "If that's the case and you're being honest, might as well not lie and say that you are as well. You're beautiful, especially in the eyes of others."
You were surprised when he had said that. It was quite unexpected of him.
He then began to laugh with that evil tone of his, "With your appeal to the human eye, the Kingdom of Science doesn't need to make anything to convince some people. With those illogical feelings of mankind, you can sway people over with ease! Just look at Ginro! The only time when those illogical feelings of attraction is useful! Kukuku!"
"Ah...well, thanks, I guess?" The expression on your face had shown slight awkwardness.
However, your heart was racing. You were able to control the emotion your face but your heart couldn't lie. Deep inside, you loved the fact that he thought you were beautiful. You hoped it would stay that way, despite him describing it strangely.
But you yearned for more. You just didn't know it.
-To be Continued-