Companions and Resources: Acquired!

Senku, Taiju and Tsukasa were heading for the ocean for their goal, Calcium Carbonate when they heard...human activity.

They honestly believed they're the only humans around, until they heard this.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

'W-whassat?' Taiju gulped as all three of them froze. Could this be another wild animal? He imagined those lions from before and shivered.

'Shhh!' Tsukasa hissed Taiju into silence, as they snuck closer and making slow, stealthy movements, following the sounds to see a young girl making a wooden wall with her own stone tools. Near her is a wagon full of unknown goodies, and two statues(they didn't see the smaller, third one from where they are). They can only see the feet, so they don't know gender nor age.

Not only that, she's well-dressed for a stone-ager.

'Well, I'll be.' Senku was amazed. 'A girl who can make kimonos and slippers! Let's say hello!' given their crude leather clothes and footwear, she's vital for her skills they may not have considering that's a sophisticated wagon she's got and what clothes she's got. She's also a better builder making him somewhat self-conscious as a man but for now pride is worth shit. Living is more important these days. And they stepped in, surprising her. 'Hello there!' Taiju greeted in a friendly way.

'We're also high school students.' said Senku. 'Since family names won't matter in this era now, we go yobisute. I'm Senku.' Kagome glanced at the shortest who introduced himself first. His hair uh...looks like a vegetable...?

'I'm Taiju! Hi!' the loud guy greeted enthusiastically.

'Tsukasa.' said longhair pretty boy.

'Then I'm Kagome.' said Kagome. 'I woke up when snow is halfway melted...it was miserable I had to act quick last year.' she shuddered. 'For now it's just me while my family...well...' she glanced at the stone wagon. The boys also looked and they understood. She was lucky she still has her family with her, albeit as statues. 'My grandpa, mom and little brother.' she sighed. 'I'm looking for ideal place to live in while waiting for them to crack out like I did. I thought of the ocean for salt to make food palatable while relying on the forest for food.' she sighed. 'I know that pickiness is out of the question but you know, kids...'

'Ahhhh...' they understood as in a world like today, nothing's fun here any more and the boys know full well that food sucks. Campfire roast dusted with salt is all they have, too!

'Well Kagome, we're in year 5736.' Senku decided to be blunt, shocking her. 'Japan as we know it, changed around us now that there's no humans any more since we were petrified.' he told her. 'Earthquakes, flooding, all that hullabaloo that humans are no longer on top of the food chain.' he said. 'If not for Tsukasa Taiju and I are lion food by now and lions evolved.' he said with narrowed grim eyes. 'The lions in National Geographic Channel or the zoo you're used to? Now they're triple the size with thicker legs.'

Kagome shook at the picture he painted.

'Year 5736...' Kagome shook. 'How?'

And the implications, are scary. Animals evolved. The deer are huge like moose but she thought they were 'just old'. But Senku gave her proof that animals evolved over time.

'I counted.' said Senku. 'In my years as a rock, counting is my only way to stay alive.' he said grimly. 'If I lose consciousness, I'm a statue for real. And I needed a precise calendar to come out in spring as if I woke up at winter, game over. Taiju awakened out of sheer bullheadedness though Tsukasa needed scientific interference.'

'...scientific?' Kagome blinked.

'We woke up near a bat cave.' Taiju told her. 'Senku's the first to awake trying to solve what cracked him out. Then there's grapes nearby and he made a revival fluid that can revive people!' he told her excitedly.

Kagome wondered how many times, will she get shocked today.

'A fluid that can revive people?' Tsukasa was intrigued. Senku stuck his pinky in his ear to clean it.

'It's Nital. I made it out of bat piss and distilled wine thanks to grapes Taiju found.' said Senku. 'It can bring statues back to life. We can revive people.'

'Its not that easy Senku, we can't recklessly revive people left-and-right if your miracle fluid can bring people back!' Kagome cried in protest. 'Resources are limited! What if we revive immature people who refuse to accept reality and are deadweights to us with that kind of attitude? We need an attitude of optimistic mutual cooperation, not negative-minded people who are annoying whiners and unable to contribute to livelihood while we do all the work.' she pointed out.

'Not only that, what if you accidentally revived a criminal on death row for serial killing or other heinous crimes?' that sent a chill down the boys' spines. 'If modern Japan is gone, prison cells for crooks are long gone too! What about hospitals with fatally-ill or mentally-ill people? We're not equipped to support them, we'll just let them live while suffering. It's a risk!' she exclaimed. 'As we are now we're barely able to provide for ourselves. Unless we build a large farm, making more people is out of the question!'

'I agree.' said Tsukasa. 'Moreover, there will be conflict.' he was also against it. 'At first, yeah, they're grateful. But Kagome's right. Moreover there are plenty of adults with selfish, rotten hearts. They'll exploit us while they laze about and boss us around, I won't allow it.'

'Gee, makes me wonder what people you put up with...at least my mom and grandpa aren't like that.' Kagome really wonders now.

'Well, indeed you're right. I originally wanted more people to make rebuilding civilization easier, but while I'm smart, not even I have a way of knowing who's good and who's bad.' Senku sighed. 'I'm a scientist, not a psychic.' he relented with the sensible arguments. 'At least we got all people we need. I'm the inventor with brains, Taiju the physical labor and errand boy, Tsukasa's our protector and hunter and you're our craftsman. You can work with Yuzuriha when we revive her.'

'Yuzuriha?'

'Well, three of us are friends in high school and she's in the handicrafts club.' Senku explained. 'We luckily, got washed near each other somehow despite natural cataclysm and stuff as statues.' he explained. 'We were all within school grounds when we got petrified, so I guess cataclysm-be-damned through nature's fury, we're still in our school grounds that turned into a forest. By the way, why can you make a kimono out of actual fabric? How did you do it?'

'There's a large amount of hemp where I woke up in and fruit trees so I got by.' said Kagome as Senku's mind recognized the material and as he thinks, Kagome spoke of what's in his mind. 'With hemp, I can extract fiber to make hemp fabric, string and ropes, and hemp oil as lamp oil and medicine.' however, not even he knows what's next. 'I even have a mushroom farm on logs near the river. The river also has clay so I have an insulated hut.' Wait, whut? OK, he knows of the clay deposits by the river, how should he know there's a nearby mushroom farm?

Guess he and Taiju didn't explore enough to meet this girl earlier.

'Holy cow! You're a modern woman by yourself!' Senku is mighty amazed now. He specializes in chemistry and vast knowledge of how things are made. Sure he has knowledge on how those, but his building skills are...crappy and crude. Moreover, hemp is valuable as fabric as it regulates heat, so they'll be cozy no matter the season!

'Sooo why are you guys by the ocean?' Kagome inquired. 'I wanted to make a smokehouse workshop for fish I might catch and store salt in for pickling.'

'We need calcium carbonate made from seashells.' said Senku. With Tsukasa's mindset he'll have to be careful with what he reveals due to his hatred of adults, implying a nasty background he was a victim of and he can take his hatred out on anything, but thankfully out of respect, he'll lay off Kagome's mom and grandpa. 'For farming which you've done through mushrooms, it levels up the soil as fertilizer! Second, by heating it up and mixing it with sand, we can make baby cement as better protection. Third, Soap! In this world where everything evolved, including bacteria and viruses for the nasties, we need that Dr. Stone!' fourth is gunpowder, but he's not gonna say it yet in Tsukasa's hearing range...

Tsukasa was amazed with Senku's knowledge. With him and Kagome who's a knowledgeable craftsman and survivalist, making a living would be a lot easier. But Senku's desire to save many is a danger Kagome recognized as well, as she has her grandfather and little brother to think about as hostage material by such scumbags. Her mother can at least do self-defense.

They helped Kagome make her smokehouse and they gathered a lot of material by the sea. Seaweed for umami in food, shells, and of course, food.

They made their way to her hut upstream as where she lived is not far from where THEY live! Her house is near the river where her mushroom farm is.

'It's an ancient japanese hut!' Senku's eyes popped out at the sight of Kagome's hut. 'There's even a brick stove and everything a stone-age man needs!'

'It wasn't easy on a girl, but the mere idea of being caught in winter with nothing is enough motivation.' Kagome shivered at the idea. 'I paid for all this, with sore muscles!' she exclaimed with a grimace. 'Luckily I got hemp oil to fight that off.'

'Then can you make us clothes, Kagome?' Tsukasa asked her. 'Since our clothes aren't preserved by tanning as we lacked the goods for it, they won't last long.'

'Sure, I just need your sizes.' Kagome smiled. 'Buuut lets start with underwear first.' she said with a strained, forced smile. 'I can't measure you guys for clothes properly if you don't take your clothes off and, well, good boys don't show girls their privates...'

The three boys were utterly embarrassed by her words.

'Y-yeah, underwear's a good start.' Senku was bright red. All of them, don't have any! Only she does!

And so...she took out Fundoshi and taught them how to wear it, and go behind her house for privacy in application, and they each got four spares.

Decent Clothing, technically acquired; still in production!

Through Kagome, they have fabric, and a lot of stuff they didn't have before. She's apparently a survivalist and planted her food in a way that she'll have year-long access to food by messing with 'time' in her own way...by planting them off-season as seasonality is worth shit these days!

And so, when Kagome measured their bodies by looking at their bare form, she could make them an uwagi with sash, trousers, and by drawing with a stick around their feet on soil, Kagome used that as a measure to make their sandals. She has a loom for making them. And it'll take time as she has to sew it all by hand so for now she has to make primitive covering for the next new friend to join them before Yuzuriha can wear a kimono!

She made clothes for their friend Yuzuriha first as her revival would boost the production of the local craftswoman with help. Taiju brought Yuzuriha's statue over and she can measure a naked girl whose modesty is covered with cement. The boys will have to wait for their clothes and they accepted that reason.

Once it's done, Senku gave Kagome nital as they carried Yuzuriha's statue to the river on her insistence.

'You're pouring bat pee on statues to revive humans back, she'd want a bath if she finds out.' Kagome pointed out. 'That's if she doesn't punch you first.' Senku gulped.

And soon, Yuzuriha acquired. Kagome explained everything to the girl who wore primitive clothing with straps and a pair of zori sandals.

'I guess we're lucky to have people we know with each other.' said Yuzuriha in relief. 'I don't know what I'd do without Senku or Taiju around!' she'd rather be with friends than strangers!

'Well, we have a job and that's to dress up the boys.' said Kagome. 'We're making them long sleeved uwagi and trousers. Their clothes are untanned leather so that's not gonna last long. It'll decay in time. Dressing up the boys is your job, while I make a kimono for you, similar to what I'm wearing. Modern-day stuff like shirts and tank tops can wait a little as it's still cold.'

'Right!'

It took time, but decent clothes and footwear FINALLY acquired.