28. Memories in Health
Jul. 8, 2023
A/N: HAHA, I'm so evil, aren't I? Previously leaving you on a CLIFFHANGER! HAHAHAHA--I won't promise that I won't do it again.
(ФÏФ)
Q: If you were to pick any song to have as a music box, what would you choose? I'd personally choose Waltz of Chihiro from Spirited Away.
-----
It has been a few days since you have gotten sick. You were getting better, but the progression toward health was slower than it should've been. But it wasn't entirely your fault. An injury is one thing, but a viral infection is something entirely different in this world. With no safe medicine, there was no way to give you normal doses to reduce your temperature all the time. All you could do was rely on eating well, getting cleaned every day, and your immune system itself.
Senku stayed by your side sometimes but was always switching shifts with the others so he could continue through the phone roadmap. His mind was riddled with so many tasks he needed to do, it was actually stressing him out. There were slight eye bags under his eyes when he would constantly switch from thinking about your well-being to the invention that needed to be completed. He had figured out how to create lightbulbs, but with every material he had at hand, they all burnt out. He needed copper, which is something Chrome ran out of.
Chrome then went out on an expedition with his new mining helmet to get materials from nearby caves in hopes of finding something that could withstand the heat of the energy.
"A penny for your thoughts, Senku-chan~?"
Senku turned around to see Gen with his arms in his sleeves, along with a small smile on his face. The boy groaned and turned back to work with his newfound project that lay still on the table.
"What are you supposed to do when the fate of the whole world is on your shoulders?" He questioned out loud.
"That depends on the situation," said Gen. He then chuckled, "I would recommend just keeping the weight of this moment."
Senku replied as he fiddled with the small machinery in his hands, "It was a rhetorical question, mentalist."
"Now I will ask you a question. What exactly are you making?" The mentalist asked as he picked up one of the pieces that the scientist was working on. The parts were so small, it didn't seem practical for the phone to have it. It was obvious that he had Kaseki mold the metal pieces due to how complex it looked.
"Something to pass the time until we could do another light test," the scientist answered him bluntly.
Gen realized he wasn't going to get any good answer out of him due to being mentally exhausted. If he were being honest, he was worried about his dear friend, as well as you. By the sound of his voice, he could tell that Senku was disheartened by your condition and the situation with the light bulbs.
"Plant your feet."
Senku lifted his head and look at the man. "What?"
The mentalist repeated himself, "Plant your feet, Senku-chan. If the whole world is on your shoulders at this moment, plant your feet into the ground to withstand it. This is no time to lose hope. We will solve the issues regarding the light bulb, and (Y/N)-chan will be by your side like she's always been."
The scientist was quiet. He began thinking about how much he missed your comforting presence at that moment. Though he didn't admit it, Gen could tell that you really had a profound effect on Senku's life.
"Well, I'll get going now, Senku-chan. All those lightbulbs we prepared for her aren't gonna hang themselves," said the man with a small laugh, then saw himself out of the lab.
With that, Senku was left alone in his lab with his thoughts. How did this thing with you start anyway?
-Flashback (Senku's POV)-
"My name is (Y/N) (L/N). I am from (Country Name). It is nice to meet you all. I hope we can be friends!"
It was the middle of the school year, and Senku's class had a new transfer student from outside of the country. He looked up from his reading just to see the new student, who was a foreigner with a distinct accent. Not like he cared though, because all humans are the same. If it had nothing to do with science and his goals, it wasn't important. But what kind of student would transfer at this time of year? Either way, the young boy continued reading his science book.
His teacher pointed at the empty seat at the very back of the class. "Thank you, (Y/N)-san. If you could, please sit in the empty seat in the back, and we can continue your introduction from there."
In the corner of his eye, the young scientist saw the girl bouncing happily towards her seat, only to stop smiling as everyone watched her with an uneasy gaze. It was highly possible that she would be avoided due to cultural differences. Truly, he pitied her.
The teacher continued after she went to her seat. "To move forward, what would you like to do when you grow up?"
"Um...I always like looking at the moon, stars, and constellations, so I would like to be an astronaut and go to space," the girl had sheepishly answered.
That caught Senku's attention. A child with the same goals as him? Now that was something he could take advantage of. The new girl wasn't at the bottom of his priority list now.
"Ah, that is a lovely dream and goal. Thank you, (Y/N)-san. Now, let's begin the lesson."
~~~
It was lunch time. Just as Senku predicted, everybody avoided the new student when it began. He watched as she tried talking to other kids earlier, but they politely turned her down. Now, it was blatantly obvious that they were too nervous to talk to her. The boy hung back until everyone had left the classroom, leaving him and the girl alone together in the room.
He started walking up from behind her, seeing that she had a Nintendo DS and was playing Pokémon, the new Generation that had been released at the time. Before talking to her, he noticed on the screen that she had gotten a new encounter with a shiny Pokemon from the previous generations. But it seemed like she had no idea because she was spacing out.
"Hey, you got a shiny Slowpoke!" Senku called out to her.
He realized that he interrupted her thoughts due to how hard she flinched in her seat. When she looked up at him, he noticed every little feature--from how her (E/C), teary eyes sparkled, the texture of her (H/L), (H/C) hair, to the rich color of her (S/C) skin. She was quite small too. Suddenly, he felt a slight pang in his chest. His crimson eyes slightly widened as something about her stirred something within him.
She blanked out. "Huh?"
"That Pokémon on your DS. What, you don't know what it is?" He questioned her, ignoring the weird feeling.
She then looked down to see that a shiny Slowpoke had appeared, and she was already battling it. She quickly retorted as she looked at him, "I do!"
The boy snickered, "You haven't even caught him yet. Do you even know what he evolves into?"
"Uh...n-no. I just started playing a week ago..."
He realized that this girl has never played the previous generations, but that didn't matter. "Then, I guess you're a slowpoke. Whatever. You will still be useful for helping me make a rocket to the moon."
Her eyes widened in wonder. "You're making a rocket to the moon? And I'm not a slowpoke!"
"Well, after learning some more science, yeah. You said you wanted to be an astronaut to see the stars, right? You have no choice since you're a loner. I need more labor and brains." The little scientist gave her a confident grin as he held his hand out for her to take. He pulled up the scientist "charm" to try and convince her.
She took it and shook his hand in agreement. "So, you like space too...what's your name?"
"Senku. Ishigami Senku."
Grinning from ear to ear, she spoke, "Nice to meet you, Ishigami-kun. I hope we can be good friends! You probably already know it, but my name is (Y/N) (L/N). Just call me (Y/N) though!"
"Just call me Senku. Ishigami is my dad's name. No formalities either," he replied with a straight face.
"Okay, Senku!"
Senku took a chair from one of the desks and sat in front of her. Now that he was able to gain a new comrade, he was going to use her to make it to his goal.
~~~
"You are all dismissed!"
"Thank you, sensei!"
Classes were over for the day, and it was time to go home. Senku was already on his way out of the classroom with his stuff. After changing his shoes out at the entrance, he heard the sound of running footsteps heading straight for him.
"Senku! Wait for me!"
The boy stopped walking and looked back to see the young girl chasing after him with a wide smile on her face--her (E/C) eyes full of determination.
"Wanna walk home together? I go this way too!" She happily giggled.
"Sure, okay," he answered with a shrug.
As the two of them walked together, Senku noticed how the girl was too happy for her own good. First, she was sulking, and now, she was over here bouncing with joy. He thought it was a little annoying.
"Hey, why are you so happy now?" The little scientist questioned her.
She showed him a toothy grin. "Because you talked to me!"
"Really? You don't have anybody else to talk to?"
The girl slightly frowned. "No...all of my friends are back in (Country)...but I have you as my first friend now!"
He had an bothered look on his face. "You know we're only acquaintances for now, right? I only need you to help me build a rocket, slowpoke."
"Acquain...tances?" The poor girl didn't know that word, and it seemed like she struggled with her Japanese on that one. The frown on her face had gotten lower, and her sparkling eyes had faded into a certain dullness. She stopped walking as she spoke, "That...doesn't mean friends, does it? Are we not friends...?"
Senku looked back to see that she was just standing there. His expression went to uncaring to shocked. He immediately regretted his words when he saw tears starting to form in her eyes. He started waving his arms around her, then tried apologizing when she brought her arms up to her face to wipe the tears, "Wait, wait, I'm sorry. Just don't cry! We're friends, okay?! You're my friend now!"
She looked up at him with a tear-stained face. "Really?"
"Really." He slowly nodded. He couldn't let the opportunity of getting a lab partner go to waste. The boy added with sincerity, "You're my first friend, too, (Y/N)."
"Yay! We're gonna be best friends, I just know we are!" She cheered, back to normal as if nothing happened.
Senku twitched his eyebrows and let out a sigh. He couldn't believe that he let her manipulate him like that. She may be a little slow, but she had a way with words. He was gonna be more careful from now on. However, this was for the sake of science.
As Senku and (Y/N) kept walking, the two of them began to realize they were still heading in the same direction with no diversions or separation.
"Where exactly do you live?" Senku questioned the girl.
She handed him a piece of paper from her pocket to show him. He snatched it out of her hands and read the handwritten characters on it, only to look at her with disdain. The girl was a little confused, but smiled at him regardless.
The two of them were next door neighbors. How convenient.
-End of Flashback-
The boy held up the finished metallic device, placing it carefully inside of a tiny, wooden box. He connected the final piece, which was a little wind-up key sticking out from its side. For the moment of truth, he started winding up the music box, and the soft melody he was trying to recreate started playing so very gently.
The memory of his first meeting with you had played over and over in his head as the nostalgic tune performed in the background. It was something he couldn't forget, ever. With you as a neighbor, you were very involved in his life. You would always come over, with Byakuya and your parents not minding at all. At some point, Senku just destroyed the wall between your apartments just to make a little door for both of you to crawl through. He was lucky enough that your room was right next to his. All these events that led up to this moment had tied everything about the two of you together.
But Senku never accounted for falling in love with you. That was the one thing he never thought he'd do. He didn't realize it at first, but he eventually figured it out ahead of time with little events that happened here and there; you spending time with him, you getting yourself a few unrequited crushes, you writing fanfiction about you and your favorite characters, you dancing with a man that wasn't him. That last one ticked him off to the core, but the boy couldn't let himself slip in front of you. All he could do was keep his feelings for you within arms reach.
That was, until now.
~~~
I love you too, (Y/N). Ten billion percent...
You suddenly woke up and looked around as you slowly sat up. The last thing you remembered was falling face-first into the dirt. But you don't know what happened after. You looked down, seeing that you were wearing different clothing with a face mask and a wet towel stuck to your head.
I can't believe I just had that dream. You thought to yourself as your cheeks grew a little warmer.
Then you spotted Senku, who was sleeping next to you, as though he had fallen asleep while watching you. You lightly started shaking him to wake him up. "Senku...hey, Senkuuu..."
The boy then woke up and saw that your hands were the reason he had awakened from his slumber. "Oh, you're awake awake now, huh? No coughing or nasally voice..."
"Yeah...you were watching me, huh?" You grinned.
"No, I was taking a nice nap. Of course I was watching you, slowpoke. Everybody else helped watch you, too. You took forever to get better, so now you're a week behind schedule," he reminded you in an annoyed tone.
"A week?! Did I miss anything important?" You questioned him.
The boy stuck a pinky in his ear. "Yeah. You missed some work too, and we gotta catch you up. But first, you need to eat."
The boy then crawled around and brought over a glass jar with ramen in it. He opened it, then took some chopsticks to pick it up.
"Say 'ah'," he said as he brought it over to your mouth.
"When did you make glassware?" You asked him, then saw the boy get peaved when you ignored his order. Hesitantly, you pulled the mask down and opened your mouth with your cheeks getting warmer. "A-Ah..."
"I needed to make it for food, as well as keep it warm and clean, since you were sick," Senku explained as he looked into your mouth when it was wide open. "No sores there... You're healing."
He then shoved the food into your mouth, much to your surprise. You quickly chewed and swallowed it, adding, "I can breathe easy now. My body feels a little weak though..."
"Getting up to move will help with that," he said. "Speaking of moving around, why were you getting up in the middle of the night to train?"
You flinched the moment you heard that. "How did you know I was leaving in the middle of the night?"
"Chrome saw you," Senku replied, his expression showing disappointment as he stared at you. "You told me before that if I needed a hand to hold and a shoulder to lean on, I could rely on you. I want you to do the same and to tell me what's going on. You can't go on carrying whatever is on your mind by yourself."
Damn it, Chrome! you thought, then figured that it was time to come clean...not completely though. "I was training to get stronger, not that it's different from any other time I practice. But I couldn't help it. I wanted to improve to be able to fight Tsukasa and rescue Haru... and felt the need to clear my head from...thoughts."
"Okay, so how the hell were you gonna improve if you didn't sleep, slowpoke? Seriously, what happened to you saying that we can't get sick in this world? You won't get anything from being sick, you're just gonna die early," the boy kept a dead-panned expression on his face as he told you that.
"Alright, I get it and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for keeping these feelings inside and not talking about it," you apologized.
He then let out a sigh. "I'm also sorry for pushing so much onto you and not checking up on how you were feeling lately. But do not ever ditch sleep for the sake of training. Your dumb ass should know that."
"I won't do it again, I promise. Now you're turning into the nagging 'boyfriend'," you snickered as you put up air quotes, in which he gave you a look of disdain. "At least I get to have you take care of me."
"I'm not gonna do this all the time, and when I do, I'm just gonna hear you say weird things in your sleep."
"'In my sleep'--do I sleep talk?! Did I say anything weird for the past few days?!"
The boy stayed quiet for a few seconds, as though he was trying to remember something, then answered, "Nah. Anyways, since you're up and active, feed yourself. I'm gonna head out and you join us later if you can."
"Okay..." you replied. He got up and you watched him as he left the warehouse.
AAAAAAHHHHH! You screamed in your mind and fought every urge to roll around on the floor out of embarrassment. You covered your face in your hands and felt your heart pounding against your ribcage. 'Nagging boyfriend', are you kidding me?! And talking in my sleep! You're an embarrassment, (Y/N)!
You let out a sigh as you tried calming yourself down. Putting your hands down, you realized he was worried about you. You put on your clothes now that it wasn't too much of a struggle, and fixed yourself up. You heard conversations outside of the warehouse, so you climbed down with a blanket over your shoulders.
You looked around to see that it was pitch black outside. Not a second later, you covered your face as your eyes were blinded by the sudden light that appeared before you. As you let them adjust, you saw multiple bulbs of light wrapped around a giant cedar tree. You noticed that Kohaku was trying to come down from the large structure, so you assumed that she was the one who helped wrap the lightbulbs around the tree. You soon eyed a little, white fleck softly landing on your face, and noticed a bunch more following it from the dark sky. Your eyes widened to see the beauty of your surroundings at that moment in time.
"Yay!"
"Awesome!"
You looked around to see the villagers surrounding the tree as they kept their gaze on the lights. Remembering the time you're in, you realized that they have never seen the beauty of a decorated tree during the winter months. A warm smile formed as you saw the happy expressions on their faces--especially all of the children's.
"Hoo boy, it looks as good as the first time we did it!" You heard Kaseki proudly state.
First time? You wondered.
"How do you like the Christmas tree, slowpoke? Today's the day, after all."
Turning your head, you saw Senku standing next to you with a small smile on his face. The light had shined so brightly, you could see every detail of his face--oh how stunning he looked before you. Your face heated up slowly under the falling snow.
"A white Christmas...what an amusing coincidence. It feels like were back in the modern era," you breathed out, a smile curling on your blushing visage as your eyes creased.
"Sure is. We did one before, but I wanted to do another light test tonight since I'm trying to find a good material for the light bulbs," he explained.
You let out a chuckle, "I see. I guess Santa granted your wish of me getting better before Christmas, huh? Did you miss me so much that you wanted to surprise me?"
He didn't look at you, and faced the tree when he quietly answered you, "...yeah. I did."
"What...?" Eyes widening, you couldn't believe what he just said. The heat within you was rising up your face, you couldn't even think that straight. "Sen--"
"Merry Christmas, both of you! And you're all better now, (Y/N)-chan!" Gen happily got in between the both of you with a grin and wrapped his arms around both of your necks, pulling you closer to him. He looked at your face, then Senku's, and that devilish smirk of his appeared. "My, oh my, I interrupted something, did I? It's a good thing I found this~!"
The man held up a plant between his fingers and held it above your heads. You looked closely to see that it had red berries on it with pointed leaves.
"Mistletoe?!" You squeaked.
"Wrong. That's ilex, or the Holly plant," Senku informed you he had a plain look on his face. He pushed Gen off of him and had his eyes on the small piece of nature. "Where'd you even find that? They usually grow in the Americas or Europe."
"When we were picking grapes for the wine! There was probably a garden in this area before everyone was petrified. Anyways, (Y/N)-chan, do you wanna do the tradition with me?" Gen playfully asked you as he brought you closer to himself.
You then felt a familiar hand wrap around your wrist to pull you away from the sly man. Senku brought you towards him, only to step forward, making it seem as though he was defending you from the mentalist. "Don't try anything now. We don't know if she's still got the infection in her system."
"Right, right..." The man chuckled.
"What's the tradition Gen was talking about?" You heard Kohaku ask you as she came up from behind.
You saw Suika bounding towards you with a grin on her face. "(Y/N), you're all better! Suika wants to know the tradition too!"
"Hey, Kohaku, Suika..." Sweat dripped from your temples when you nervously replied, "The tradition is if you stood underneath a mistletoe during the winter months with another person...you have to kiss said person..."
"Ohoho, how romantic!" Kaseki let out a hearty laugh. He teased, "Go on, (Y/N), why don't you try it with Senku!"
"No way, old man! I just got better and the first you want me to do is get Mr. Sciencer sick!" You protested as you looked away. You saw Gen trying to hold up the mistletoe above other people, such as the couples in the village.
Senku spoke up as he grabbed you by the wrist once more, "She needs a closer check-up anyways. If you guys don't wanna get horribly sick like she did, get away from her."
"You make it sound like I'm a virus," you muttered.
The villagers then avoided you as Senku dragged you towards the lab. The two of you were left alone inside of the small building as everyone started to leave due to the lightbulbs slowly dying out. The scientist was busy getting things sorted together and cleaning up a few messes that were made, so you watched the last of the villagers leaving the area, as well as the snow gently falling to the ground.
"Here, slowpoke," you heard the boy say. You turned around to see him holding a small wooden box, one that was all too familiar to you.
Widening your (E/C) eyes, you saw that it still kept its same shape, and the key was in the very spot you expected it to be. Emotions welled up within you as you lifted your, now trembling, hands to take it. You looked up to see his eyes softening, as if it were the look of endearment.
"Merry Christmas, (Y/N)," said Senku.
"H-How long did it take you to make this?" You questioned him with a shaky tone.
He stuck a pinky in his ear as he began to think. "Couple weeks or so, give or take. I saw you dancing with Gen, so it gave me the idea of giving you some music for you to practice to. I modified it so you could change the speed of the song to however you like."
"But...why? We have to make the phone, don't we?"
"We'll be fine. I only did this when I had the time to. But you're happy, aren't you?"
Surprised, you nodded hesitantly. Without saying a word, you opened the lid and turned the key to start your favorite melody. Tears started forming in your ducts, slowly pouring out of your eyes as you absorbed every note. You couldn't help but weep when thinking about your life back before you were petrified; spending time with your parents on holidays and celebrations, hanging out with friends at the movies and arcades, training with your shishou, and dancing together with Senku. Even things as simple as sitting on the swings at the park or eating your favorite foods was something you missed. Those were truly the days--it was all too nostalgic for you.
Putting the box on the table, you hastily wrapped your arms around his body after you wiped your face. You embraced him with your whole heart and buried your face into him. The boy didn't push you away, and instead, he slowly completed the hug.
"You didn't have to do this, Senku," you mumbled.
"You didn't have to go train and get sick, but here we are," he said, lacing his words with sarcasm.
You let out a small giggle as you gazed up at him, "Pfft--I said I was sorry, okay? But anyway, thank you for making this. I'll treasure it as I did with the first one."
"Yeah, you better. You should also appreciate the time it took for me to make the song perfect. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get the old man to mold the comb and the drum?" The scientist asked you, and all you could do was continue to laugh. All he did was sigh, a soft expression following once he saw you smiling again.
The boy then grabbed you by the shoulders and pushed you away from him. Dumbfounded, you looked at his face to see that devilish smirk of his forming before you.
"Now that you're awake, it's time to fill you in on every damn thing you missed this week!" He exclaimed evilly as he gripped your shoulders.
"Ah...there's the Senku I know," you mumbled, then continued with a heavy breath, "Alright, Mr. Sciencer, show me what you got. I'm ready for you to fill me in!"
The scientist let out a lowly cackle. "Kukuku...then let's begin. First of all, we had to put you on isolation precautions because you were sick as hell..."
The scientist contined on throughout the night. All you did was listen and take everything in with great detail until the two of you had fallen asleep next to each other inside of the lab.
It was unsaid, but the two of you knew exactly how each of you felt in the moment. Senku was in love with you, as you were in love with him. You only needed the right time to officially tell each other in spoken words.
-To be Continued-
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter!