Start of Week 8…
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Waiting above from a tree with her back against the body of the tree, Ayane looked towards a small cave hidden by bushes, and waited. For nearly 8 weeks, Ayane had set her sights on a pregnant mother wolf or dog, she wasn't too sure, since its fur was partly to blame, being that of a brownish gray color instead of being one or the other. Playing the waiting game has become a daily part of Ayane's new life, even when she didn't want it. Sighing, she turned her attention from the small cave to the clothes she wore.
Ayane wore animal skin clothing, which was difficult for her, since it was her first time killing. Even when it was for survival, it was still difficult for her to complete it. Her clothes consisted of a long sleeve shirt, and a mid-thigh length skirt. Ayane never had a knack for sewing, but she wasn't that bad at it. For the first several days, she had to endure trial and error over and over again, since it was her first time alone. Most of her time sewing was done with her aunt and mother, but since she was alone in this petrified world, she had to use what knowledge was in her head to create the clothes she wore.
Then upon hearing the sound of leaves rustling, Ayane turned her attention back towards the small cave, to see a wolf emerging from in between the bushes. Placing her feet down on the branch she sat on, Ayane waited. Then seeing the wolf leave, Ayane waited for a few minutes, before beginning to move. As she cautiously approached the small cave, she began hearing small whimpers and barks. Parting the bushes with her hand, Ayane looked inside to see four pups, huddling together. Extending her hand out, one pup opened one of its eyes to see Ayane's hand approaching.
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Back at her "Home Base" …
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Running a long ways away from the small cave she found, Ayane held in her arms a small, 8 week old wolf. Knowing the dangers this new world had, she needed some type of protection, and this pup was her answer. Looking ahead, she noticed a small hut situated on top of a gigantic branch of a tree, which stood slumped on its side. Seeing that, a smile spread itself across Ayane's face.
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"This is our new home, I finished it 2 days ago. It took a while, and may need some improvements, but its home." As Ayane approached the hut, she took note of it. Its triangular roof covered with giant leaves, the medium doorway, and a staircase. The staircase was the only means to get into the hut, unless of course you had superhuman legs and can jump 7 feet into the air. Walking up the staircase, Ayane slipped through the door with the pup in her arm and the placed it down on the ground. "There you go. Go ahead and walk around, I'll come get you in a little bit.
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Leaving the pup alone, Ayane left and ran towards the cave. Even though she knew it was useless, for nearly 3 weeks, she began to collect the acid in hopes to find some use for it. Since her knowledge never went farther than that of a 1st year in high school, she didn't know what the acid was or what its properties were. Arriving at the cave, Ayane noticed the large jug beginning to fill to the brim. Grabbing the other jug, she had left there before she left to grab the pup, she swapped out the jugs and allowed the second one to fill up. Placing a bamboo lid on top of the jug, Ayane lifted the jug over her right shoulder and walked off into the distance.
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"Man, this thing is heavy. And it doesn't help that the liquid inside keeps moving around." Ayane complained to herself as she carried the jug away from her camp and into the mountains just several yards away. "Well, no matter. Let me just take this to that mountain opening I saw a while back and place the jug there. It should be safe for the time being."
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Upon arriving at a steep drop in the mountain cliff, Ayane took a deep breath in, and slowly but surely, made her way down the rickety path available to her. Sweating profusely, Ayane carefully took step after step to ensure her own safety. She knew if she rushed it, not only will the jug fall to the bottom of the mountain, she will fall as well. Stopping ever so often, Ayane took a deep breath from her heavy shaking, and continued. For what seemed like hours, Ayane finally made it to the cave she wanted to, but as she stepped foot into it, she realized something.
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"My feet are wet? Why?" As Ayane placed the jug down, she heard the sound of a splash resonating in the cave. "There's water? Why is it building up now? Or better question, where is it building up from?" Following the sound of the water, Ayane began to hear rushing water on the opposite side of the wall in front of her. "There's probably a natural river on the other side, I'll have to check later." And with that Ayane left the jar in the back of the cave, where the least ray of the sun hit, and returned to the camp.
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Upon arriving, she began to hear a rustle coming from her little hut. Curious as to what was happening, Ayane climbed up only to see something she wasn't expecting. She saw the young pup, rolling around and jumping and moving side to side, all while playing with Ayane's blanket, like it was an enemy.
As the pup began to gnaw at it ever so often, and tried to move towards it, the movements the pup gave caused the blanket to jerk and sway causing the pup to roll and back away. Not being able to handle the funny moment she saw, Ayane began to laugh, scaring the pup and causing it to try and run on the blanket, only to then slide on its face and roll into the hut's wall. Feeling sorry for the little guy, Ayane went and picked him up in her and sat on her bed. Stroking the pup's fur, she felt the pup's heavy breathing as it began to calm down under the warmth of Ayane's hand. Even Ayane herself was not immune to the puppy's tired situation. As her vision started to get blurry, Ayane began to go in and out of consciousness, until finally exhaustion won the two beings over and both her and the pup fell asleep.
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4 Months Later…
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As the water from the lake broke, Ayane was seen swimming in the lake. It had only been close to four months since her re-awakening, and she nowhere close to figuring out anything. In those four months, Ayane had collected over 12 medium sized barrels and had left them in the cave she found, only to see the water had rescinded. Leaving her with the theory that some other natural force pushed the water up toward the wall and began to flood the cave, but the time span was something she was still unsure of. Continuously thinking of other necessities, she needed, Ayane heard a bark coming from the shoreline of the lake and noticed Hansuke, the wolf cub she took a couple months back looking a bit older, barking to grab her attention. Seeing this, Ayane began to swim back to shore.
Sneaking toward where Hansuke directed, Ayane noticed an animal caught in her trap. Rubbing Hansuke's head, Ayane climbed the tree to get a better view, before jumping down and cutting the animals head clean off.
Within moments, both Ayane and Hansuke were eating a sheep, something Ayane never would have thought possible, since she had never seen one up until now. Looking towards her companion, Ayane spoke.
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"Hansuke, is it good?" Ayane asked, only to get a bark. "That's a good boy." Ayane spoke as she rubbed Hansuke's head frivolously. "But still, what are we going to do with all this wool?" Ayane asked herself as she looked at the mountain of wool their dinner had. "If only I had a comb. The tools I have will break easily if placed under too much pressure." Getting up and placing her hand on hips, Ayane exclaimed in a loud voice. "Then I guess I'll have to do it myself! Hahahaha!" After laughing, Hansuke replied with a long howl.
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Using the first basket she ever made after her awakening, Ayane began to pull and tear each of the wool strands as straight as possible and placed it in the basket she had on her right. As she looked back towards the tree she sat under and began to admire the work she had done. Smiling to herself, she continued to pull at the strands for as long as she could. Even as the sun began to set, Ayane focused on thinning the strands. Even when Hansuke placed his head on Ayane's lap to sleep, she continued to focus on the strands. It was the only thing she could do at the moment, in this vast world, her skills were limited to what she knew, and what tools she had.
As the sun had set completely, Ayane stared off into the distances, and just sat there not really thinking about anything other than what to do the next day. Then after a good few minutes, Ayane's mind had begun to rotate its gears once more.
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"Oh, that's right. The jug, better go switch it out." As Ayane rose to her feet, she woke up Hansuke, shook himself, and followed the young girl.
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Arriving at the cave, Ayane got the last jug she was ever going to use for the acid and walked off with it. Returning to camp, jug in hand, Ayane placed it down and began to ponder what to do next. Rubbing her head for a few minutes, Ayane had not noticed that a certain stray was missing, at least until she began to hear him howl.
Following his howls, Ayane noticed Hansuke seated next to the statue that was in front of the cave. Tapping her right thigh, Hansuke rose to his feet and left the statue behind.
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"Seriously, I'm I the only one in this world?" Ayane thought to herself as she finally returned to her camp once more to sleep off the night.
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6 Months and 2 weeks after Re-awakening...
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Almost a year has passed since Ayane's awakening, and she had made no progress in ever finding out if she was alone in this vast world. Leaving camp, and then returning by the end of the week became a routine for her. Traveling farther and farther away from camp, only to return to the sanctuary she now called home. Of course, Hansuke followed, not wanting the let his new family traverse such dangerous territory. But among their travels, Ayane did manage to create something that was very useful to her in this Stone Age.
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"Stone Era: October 18th, 5734." Ayane said out loud as she began to use a thin rectangular slab of wood and an ash made crayon. Placing the crayon on the slab, Ayane wrote: "Today I have traveled for nearly 5 hours, and with the sun rising over the horizon a new day has begun. Today is also the first day I'm beginning these entries, with the use of wooden slabs." Ayane wrote as she laughed. "Honestly, I tried to make parchment before, but in the end, making wooden slabs was a hell of a lot easier than making parchment. The only difficulty was cutting the wood. Since stone weapons and tools aren't as accurate as a metal tool, I had to do a lot of trial and error until I came to the result I wanted. Also, back in…" Thinking about it more carefully, Ayane said to herself, "Should I be calling my time ancient Japan or Modern? Well not that it matters." Then she went back to writing. "Ancient Modern Japan, we had things known as paper. They were really useful and a made writing a lot easier than what I'm doing now. But since I don't have the knowledge, or tools, to accurately make paper, this was the next best thing."
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Placing down her clay ash made crayon, Ayane began to watch as the sun rose ever so slowly over the mountain tops. Placing everything away within a small bag she sewed together, she continued her way back home.
Upon arriving, she was greeted by a happy and overly excited Hansuke. Jumping up on his hindlegs, Ayane bent down to greet the critter. Grabbing his growing face, Ayane rubbed her nose against the dog's and after a good few moment, rose to her feet and walked towards her little hut. Exhausted beyond compare, Ayane plopped herself on the bed and slept, not bothered by the sun shining through the cracks of the house.
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5 Hours Later…
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Opening her eyes, Ayane heard some rustling coming from outside her hut. Getting up, still half asleep, Ayane crawled through the doorway, and looked off towards her yard to see Hansuke digging a hole as quickly as he could. Confused by this, Ayane rubbed her eyes as she walked towards him. Then after a good few minutes, Ayane spoke.
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"Hey, Hansuke? What are you doing?" Hansuke's only response was looking up towards the girl and went back to digging. "What are you doing?"
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After another few minutes of digging, Ayane noticed Hansuke walk off and come back with a bone with him. Ayane began to wonder where the dog even grabbed such a thing, but in the end decided to ask. Grabbing a stick that was longer than her arm, Ayane began to scrap at it with a small dagger she created from the rocks she had. Scraping away, Ayane was more focused then she had ever been, but even with all the focus she had, one thought had always lingered in her mind.
As she began to scrape faster, the image of the petrification beam rushing towards her caused her to dig far to deeply into her work and began to cause her to shake without restraint.
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"Why is it now that the memory begins to affect me? I thought I was past that traumatization?" Ayane spoke to herself, only to calm down when Hansuke began rubbing his head against her side. Seeing this, giving a relieved smile, Ayane rubbed her own head against his and spoke. "It's fine. I'm alright. Thank you."
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December 31st…
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"As the old year leaves, a new one approaches." Ayane wrote on a slab of wood as she looked off into the distance and saw snow falling ever so gently towards. "For about 2 months I have tried learning how to fight with a wooden sword. I must have a way to defend myself after all… Not that Hansuke's assistance is bad or anything. You know, just to have more options, and…stuff." After placing down the clay crayon, Ayane smiled sadly. "I'm honestly impressed at the fact that I can remember everything I've read and studied at this point. Especially sword fighting skills and tactics."
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Getting on her feet, Ayane grabbed the roughly made wooden sword and began to swing. Her goal was to do 100 each day, but for the past 2 months she increased it to 500. Being the great observer, she was, Ayane always remembered what she saw, and kept mental notes of what was done.
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3 hours later…
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"498…499…500." Swinging and swinging, she was going at a slower pace than she wanted, but in order to ensure that her body got used to the new movement, Ayane thought the slow progress was necessary. "Okay. Now I just need to do this a few more times, then I'll be ready to go faster. Okay, let's do it again." And thus, she began to swing the heavy wooden sword once more.
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For the remainder of her time before the sun began to set, Ayane tirelessly swung her wooden sword. After every 500, she begin to run around the surrounding area to build up her stamina. Even though, the heavy clothing she wore restricted her movements quite a bit, Ayane continued to push forward with all her might.
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"Right foot forward." Ayane told herself as she changed her footing once again. "Okay, then it was left foot not too far back. But also pointed out a bit." Holding this new stance in the frigid cold December air, Ayane held on for as long as she could. "Okay, here we go again. 500 swings, but this time a bit faster." Lifting her sword high above her head, Ayane swung down and began to count.
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January 1st, 5735…
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"The New Year begins, and so do new troubles." Ayane wrote as she sneezed without restraint. "Because I overworked myself yesterday, and neglected to keep myself in check, and forgot to keep into account my own health. Back in Ancient Modern Japan, if we got sick, we had medicine to help out with our sickness. But in this Stone Age world, there is no medicine." As Ayane sneezed again, she began to rub her chest due to the pain she felt from sneezing so much. As she did, Hansuke sat alongside her and placed his head on her leg, to try and comfort the sick girl. "Ever since my revival, there is one name that has stuck: Senku. If I could find the man named Senku, whom may be one of the astronaut's friends who loves science more than anything, he might be able to make modern day medicine for future generation. I guess I'm going to have to use that acid from before." Placing the slab down on the ground, Ayane laid down on her bed and fell to sleep. "Tomorrow, I'll get…started…on working…on finding…Senku."
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As Ayane fell into a deep sleep, Hansuke continued to lay next to his master, to try and keep her as warm as he possibly could. Feeling the roughness of his fur on her cheek, Ayane unconsciously wrapped her arm around Hansuke's neck and continued to sleep, not once worried about the wind that blew from the outside.