2. The Strongest High-Schooler
Aug. 18, 2022
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After Senku and Taiju had gotten you something to eat, the three of you were preparing to leave the base to revive your other friend. Senku had equipped himself with a makeshift hammer, some supplies in a bag hanging from his waist, and a small clay jar of the revival fluid.
"Hold it. Before we go, I need to give you something, (Y/N)," said Senku.
You tilted your head in confusion as he went inside the hut. He came out with a long, wooden stick. As he handed it to you, you realized what it was after you got a better look at it.
"Is this a bokken?" You inquired.
"You need to quickly defend us if any wild boar or something shows up. The impact of a bokken without armor can be harrowing, so it can also slow down our prey as we try to kill it. I would've used metal if we had any, but this is the best I could do for you, slowpoke," said Senku. He then turned around and started heading towards where you believed Yuzuriha was. You decided to inspect the weapon much closer as you followed him and Taiju.
It looked as though it was carved out of solid oak wood. It was the perfect weight for you to hold, and it was as long as a typical katana. The end of it had curved slightly, and the tip felt sharp when you touched it with the tip of your finger. It felt sturdy and thick as you swung it up and down using both of your hands. The handle was marked with "ã¤ãã³" engraved on it.
"'Slowpoke,' huh..." you read it out loud.
Taiju slowed down a bit and cupped his hand to whisper to you, "Senku made many of those after we found you while we were making the revival fluid, but most of them broke and weren't as good as the one you have now."
Eyes widening a bit, a soft, gentle smile slowly formed on your face as you appreciated the gift he had given you. "Is that so?"
The three of you walked down the river. You saw a massive tree with roots growing all around it, along with a statue tangled in the middle of it. As you got closer, you saw that it was Yuzuriha herself.
"So, that liquid is gonna undo the effects of petrification and technically 'revive' Yuzuriha?" you asked just to make sure you remembered correctly.
"Yes. I splashed it all over your face, and it ten billion percent worked perfectly fine," Senku answered you. He made a motion with one of his hands to show how he threw the liquid all over you with one swoop.
You deadpanned as he gave you his snarky smile, then told him with a sigh, "So, it does work. Couldn't you be a bit more graceful with it?"
"Nah. I've tested it on broken pieces of stone, and it came back as dead flesh," he admitted to the both of you.
You widened your eyes in surprise. Taiju, who was as shocked as you were, yelled at him, "You sicko!"
Senku then continued, "I also tried sticking the pieces back together before giving it to them, but something already dead can't come back to life. They were invaluable sacrifices, so make a prayer for them."
"Right! May their souls rest in peace," Taiju put his hands together and said a small prayer. You did the same thing as well and kept it short and simple. You felt terrible for those who couldn't come back to life. Your friend opened his eyes then faced the nearby statue. "Now, let's give Yuzuriha the cure!"
Senku was holding the clay pot, and you and Taiju removed the tangled roots around Yuzuriha. Before the young scientist could pour it onto the girl, the brunette cried out, "SENKU, WAIT! YUZURIHA IS NAKED!
Taiju suddenly jabbed his two fingers into Senku's crimson eyeballs as if he was one of the Three Stooges. That caused the green-haired boy to drop the revival fluid, which you caught quickly, and cover them. He began to rub them because of the immense pain that Taiju had given him.
"Taiju... there was no need to stick your fingers in his eyes," you told him. Senku put his hands down and looked at his friend with the most drained expression on his face yet.
"We can't revive her like this!" Taiju cried out, then realized, "Wait, did Senku even give you clothes before reviving you?"
You nervously replied as you averted your eyes from both boys, "Haha...no...he gave it to me after..."
Taiju suddenly whipped his head towards the scientist. "Senku, you pervert!"
"Hah?! I am not a pervert! What's with this irrational nonsense coming from you? How could I put some on her when half of her body was stuck in a cliff?! Who cares about crap like that in a world like this?!" The brain argued with him.
"I care!" The brawn shot back.
"Nobody is gonna care if you've got a bare butt or junk swinging everywhere!"
"Yuzuriha and (Y/N) do not have junk!"
"That's beside the point!"
You put your palm against your face and sighed as you saw that they were acting like children. Getting in between both boys, you placed the fluid and bokken on the ground then smacked both of them on their foreheads. It wasn't so hard, but it was hard enough for them to flinch and stop their shouting match.
"Listen, we can bring Yuzuriha back to camp, put some clothes on her, and then revive her afterward," you declared to them and handed the fluid back to Senku.
Taiju nodded, then lifted Yuzuriha over his head with ease.
"How much does that hunk of stone weigh?" Senku asked.
"Yuzuriha is not chubby!"
"Again, that's beside the point."
You groaned, "Are you both five-year-olds or what?"
As they argued again, you felt something was off. You heard some branches snapping and breaking, along with a low animal growl. You held up your weapon with both of your hands in the direction of the unknown sound, and both of the boys stood behind you to see what was going on. From behind some bushes, the three of you saw many pairs of eyes appear in the light. Not even a second later, multiple lions appeared and jumped out. Seeing your situation, the three of you turned and ran.
"How are there lions living in Japan?! They're not even native here!" you cried out.
Senku hastily replied, "They could've come from the zoo! The keepers probably had the cages open as they turned to stone! They must've gotten out and eaten all of the herbivores in the zoo, along with pets in the city!"
That meant that humans weren't on top of the food chain anymore, and they became the king of beasts. As you kept running, you realized that they hadn't attacked yet. They were probably cautious because they had never seen bipedal creatures before since there were barely any humans anymore.
"Can't you use your bokken, (Y/N)?" Taiju queried.
"The art of kenjutsu is mostly a one-on-one martial art, Taiju! I can't take on five lions at once, let alone with a wooden katana!" You explained to him.
"Then our only hope is the spears and shields that are back at camp, but the distance is crazy far," said Senku. He already looked like he was getting exhausted.
The brunette's eyes widened, then he stopped. He tossed Yuzuriha's statue towards Senku, which he caught but seemed to nearly collapse from its heaviness. The brawn turned around to face the lions as though he would take them on himself.
"With your scientific mind and with our single line of defense, you're humanity's last hope! I can't let the both of you die here! I'll protect you both!" Taiju declared.
Senku declined, "No! You're no fighter, despite your physical strength being your selling point. (Y/N) and I have never seen you throw a punch since elementary school!"
That was very true. Every time the middle school kids came to bully the three of you, Taiju would always defend but never go on the offensive.
"Taiju, when we run, it has to be all three of us!" you told him. "We can't lose you!"
He already looked defeated when you and Senku denied his protection, but he agreed and continued running with you. As he was running, he seemed to realize something, and so he turned and shouted, "If we really can't shake them, then there might be a way!"
He motioned both of you to follow him. The three of you ran until you got to another statue, one that was very familiar. Upon closer inspection, you saw that the figure was the 'Strongest Primate High Schooler', Shishio Tsukasa. His statue was covered in moss and was in a crouching position out in the open by some trees. Taiju explained that he found him on the first day he was revived and then apologized to Yuzuriha about not restoring her next due to your dire situation. He quickly poured the liquid over Tsukasa's head to wake him after Senku yelled at him.
As the lions got closer, the three of you were surrounded by them. You stood in front of both of them with your weapon, getting ready for the worst to happen. The scientist pulled out a small axe from his bag to try to help, but then you all heard the stone beginning to crack.
"Sorry, dude! I know you've been asleep for thousands of years only to wake up to this!" Taiju frantically apologized to Tsukasa.
You heard his low voice reply, "What's our situation?"
Senku calmed down and gave him a quick explanation, "Your body is covered in stone fragments, and lions are coming in at nine to two o'clock!"
"Okay."
Tsukasa stood up from his spot, and Senku pushed you down to the ground with him. He covered your head, as well as his own, and you mostly heard the primate force the rocks off of him, along with the impact of stones hitting the lions as they were growling and roaring at him. Unfortunately, you took a quick peek to see that Taiju was in the middle of the stone crossfire and pitied him. He seemed to be okay, though.
The green-haired boy then pulled you up, and you saw Tsukasa throw a heavy punch at the leading lion up against a tree, and it died on the spot. The other lions that had followed retreated in fear.
"I'm now ready for a full explanation. But I do promise you one thing. You three will never be hurt again!" Tsukasa vowed in his glorious, naked self. "From now on, I'll do the fighting!"
Taiju had a giant grin on his face and said, "This is so exciting! We're like the Four Musketeers!"
Senku replied, "It's usually three, but if you include D'Artagnan, then it counts. Though, we don't have any real swords or muskets."
"How amusing. He's powerful, and he can be reliable," you mention. You were facing away from the group. You didn't want to see Tsukasa's naked glory hanging out, though his abs were very lovely.
"We don't know that. What if he was a sex-crazed, corrupt dictator? Think about it. He took down a lion with his bare hands. In a world without science, he'd be unstoppable," the scientist explained.
Tsukasa suddenly started speaking and startled you, "Do you have a knife that we can use to cut up the meat? If not, a stone could work too."
"Are we going to eat that lion? Are they even edible?" The brawn questioned.
"They're not poisonous, but they're extremely tough to chew and taste disgusting," you told him.
"What?! You've eaten it before?"
Senku cut in and had a smirk on his face, "I let her try it when I got back from my trip from Africa to investigate and study Ebola."
Taiju gaped his mouth open, wondering what kind of high school student Senku was. Tsukasa continued, "Even if it was to protect us, I still killed it with my own hands. I want to use every last part of it as food and provisions to show gratitude to the circle of life."
Senku gave Tsukasa a knife to use, and the primate began to cut it up. Taiju believed that he was a good person, though Senku had his doubts and didn't trust him yet. You were with Senku, as you had felt something was going to go wrong.
But that didn't matter for now. Tsukasa took the mane of the lion to cover himself up and took the meat with him as you all went back to base with Yuzuriha's statue. There was extra cloth at your home base that you used to give to Tsukasa so he wouldn't have the mane on him all the time. You took the skin that he didn't use for an extra project you had in mind for later.
"Allow me to introduce myself again. My name is Shishio Tsukasa, but you can just call me Tsukasa," said the primate as he introduced himself.
"I'm the sharp-minded Senku, who's in charge of science. That's simple-minded Taiju, the one in charge of physical labor. Then there's my assistant and a kenjutsu student, (Y/N), who can balance labor and science together," Senku listed all three of you off.
Taiju took Tsukasa's hand and shook it. "Hi, I'm simple-minded Taiju. If you have any questions, ask Senku!"
You put out your hand, and Tsukasa took it gently, mainly because of how small your hand was compared to his. It felt rough with the layers of calluses he had on his palms and knuckles. "It's nice to meet you, Tsukasa. I've never seen you fight before, so I one day hope to experience it in person."
He had a smile on his face and gently spoke to you, "You will, one day. But '(Y/N)', huh? Are you a foreigner?"
You nodded. "Lived in (country), moved to Japan when I was six years old with both of my parents."
"Hmm. Kenjutsu means you're a fighter too. As I am all fighting ability, I can be in charge of hunting. If you want, you can be on the offensive and help me hunt."
"Of course! I'd be glad to help," you obliged.
The four of you headed towards the beach, where Senku led you to hunt fish. The scientist and the brawn made a fire while Tsukasa ripped his clothes off in front of all of you. You covered your eyes before the primate dove into the water with a spear. On the other hand, you stayed by the rocks and saw fish swimming by them. You used your bokken to stab fish through the water that came near. It wasn't as effective as Tsukasa was doing, but it still gave you a decent amount of food.
The both of you went back to Senku, who gave you a high-five after getting enough food for all of you. He took the fish and tied it above the fire. The primate put his clothes back on as well.
"Oh, I see! We're grilling the fish right away so that they won't go bad, even without a fridge!" said Taiju.
"I'm not grilling them. I'm using the smoke to kill off the microbes on the fish," Senku corrected him.
You added, "To put it simply, he's smoking them."
"With me, Senku, and (Y/N) working together, we don't have to worry about food preservation," said Tsukasa.
"Yeah. At last, we've taken our first steps toward civilization," Senku declared. He then faced the three of you. "Now, time for a pop quiz. If we want a scientific civilization, what's the most important thing we need first?"
The three of you began to think. Taiju was thinking extremely hard, then pointed at Senku once he got his answer.
"SMARTPHONES!"
"Oh yeah, I'd totally love a smartphone right now!" The scientist laced his words with sarcasm. He then yelled at the brawn, "How many years into the future are you going, you big oaf?!"
Tsukasa then gave his answer. "Is it iron?"
"We do need that, but that's still ways ahead. What we need is something more useful," said Senku. He then looked at you. "You got your answer, (Y/N)?"
You thought about it for a bit. Getting iron would take a long time, especially for smartphones. You had to think of simple things in a stone world such as this. That includes food, shelter, clothing, and more. Looking at the fish and what Senku was doing to it, you had realized what you needed but had forgotten the scientific name for it. So, you looked around the sand to find what you needed.
A seashell.
You looked at your friends. "We need lime."
"Ding, ding, ding, ten billion points for (Y/N)! We need calcium carbonate." Senku gave you his usual smirk. "To make it easier for the simple-minded oaf here, it's the stuff they use to draw the white lines on the sports fields."
Taiju cried out, "Oh, so to look for the calcium carbo-whats-its, we gotta find a gym or a warehouse!"
"Oh yeah, a gym would definitely have it..." he yelled at Taiju again, "...if there was any! We're 3,700 years into the future! Where are we going to find a gym?!"
You picked up some seashells and put them in a basket that Taiju had brought. "You can find it in seashells when you smash them up. We can get calcium carbonate if we collect a bunch of them."
The brawn immediately looked pumped up, then ran along the beachfront to collect every shell that he saw in the sand. The four of you went back to base, and Taiju began to crush the seashells into a fine powder. Senku explained that there were four uses of calcium carbonate. One, it was used for agriculture to improve the soil. Two, mixing it with sand and roasting it over a fire can create mortar, similar to cement. Three, soap can be made from it.
"In this world, germs can mean you get sick. I mentioned calcium carbonate because I remembered that we needed to clean ourselves when Senku was killing germs on the fish. If we get sick, it's game over for all of us," you told both the scientist and the primate.
You sat down and handed Senku a bowl of seaweed that Taiju had collected. He poured some of the powder into it to mix it together. The seaweed included sodium carbonate, which could be combined with oil and calcium carbonate to make the soap. Senku finished making it, and you were able to wash your hands clean with the bit of chunk he had made.
In place of a doctor, it was your Dr. Stone.
"Senku, (Y/N), you are truly remarkable. I have never seen anyone as sharp, smart, or quick-witted as you two. I respect you from the bottom of my heart," said Tsukasa as he praised you.
You felt something was off with what he said. "Oh...I'm not that smart, especially not as smart as Senku here."
"Yeah, she's pretty slow, but reliable. Now, a man who flatters another man is either a homosexual or a con man. What is it you're trying to say?" Senku questioned Tsukasa with suspicion.
"That hurts. I have no ill-will in saying it. All I mean is that you, of all people, might actually create modern civilization from zero. That's all that I was thinking," Tsukasa informed the two of you.
The tension between the three of you was very high. You and Senku knew something was going on in his head.
"Senku!" Taiju came back with a basket full of shells, which broke the tension in the air. "What's the fourth thing? You said there were four ways to use the shells!"
"No, there's three. I said three, didn't I?"
Senku motioned you to get up from the ground, and you followed him and Taiju back to the beach once he emptied his basket again. Tsukasa slowly followed you. The primate began to hunt once more, and you and Senku stayed on the beach. Taiju went back to camp once his basket was whole once more, so the two of you were just left with the hunter.
Tsukasa began to speak, causing a bit of tension to rise once more, "In this stone world, we have freedom. These shells were never anyone's property, to begin with. Not the sea, not even the Earth's."
He began to tell a story about a young boy who wanted to create a necklace made out of seashells for his younger sister. His sister was going through surgery, and she loved mermaids. He went to the beach to collect some when a middle-aged man came up to him, like the statue in the water with Tsukasa, and told him that he was stealing. The man punished the boy and beat him out of anger until his face was unrecognizable.
"...in the end, he wasn't able to make the necklace for his sister. He couldn't let her become a mermaid," said Tsukasa as he finished up his story. He then destroyed the nearby statue and let its head roll towards both of you.
You were dismayed, your mouth slightly agape as you stared at it. The statue used to be a living human being. Seeing now that it was destroyed meant that the person was now dead. Probably forever. You covered your mouth, feeling fear and regret slowly growing inside of you. Senku saw how you reacted to it, and he probably felt the same way, but he kept his cool.
"I'm sure you know damn well, Tsukasa, that you just murdered a human being," Senku told him.
"Of course, I know that. Do the two of you plan to save everyone? Even those old, rotten bastards?" The primate asked. He walked up to both of you, standing tall and intimidating. "This is the stone world--an unsullied, perfect paradise. By reviving only the young and pure, we can live in a world where nothing belongs to anyone. Don't you two think so, (Y/N), Senku?"
Your friend gave his answer, "I'm just a young man who fell in love with all the exciting technology that science created. With the power of science, I'm going to revive humanity, every last one of them!"
"And I'm going to help him because we need others to help rebuild society and create all the things we have loved before," you added on.
Tsukasa looked at both of you with surprise and a hint of anger. You two wouldn't let your guard down, and so he started to walk away. Senku relaxed and looked extremely nervous in front of you.
"He is gonna be a serious issue here. I think we'd be ten billion times better off with a sex-addict dictator..." Senku whispered to you.
"No, that would not be any better. I'd rather kill myself than have a sex addict in our group! Besides, we would've died from lions if we hadn't woken him up," you told him. "We don't have a choice because he's alive now."
Senku sighed. "Well, he only wants to revive the young. He can't do anything reckless right now, especially since he doesn't have a recipe for the de-petrification liquid. It'll be our trump card against Tsukasa. No matter what happens, we must keep it a secret from him, even if it means death--"
"WOOHOO! SENKU, (Y/N), TSUKASA!" A loud voice boomed from behind all of you. It was Taiju. He was holding a small jar in his hand as he ran up to your group. "We've saved up enough miracle cave water! Now we'll be able to save Yuzuriha!"
Your plan backfired completely.
-To be Continued-