Walking back to camp in silence…
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Ayane placed a great distance between herself and Senku.
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"That wolf of yours…where is it?" That question continued to echo within Ayane's head, and each time it did, she grit her teeth harder than the previous time. As she continued to pick up her pace as she walked, Senku was having a hard time catching up with her. But every time Senku caught up, he looked at Ayane with an expressionless look
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Later that night…
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Holding a block of wood in one hand, and a sharp, thin rock in the other, Ayane proceeded to cut and scratch at the block in a diagonal line. Trying her best to keep a straight line, Ayane began to chip away without even looking away for a single moment. It was obvious to anyone around, that being Senku, that she was merely trying her best to ignore the sour atmosphere around her.
Not liking the situation at all, Senku rose to his feet and walked over to Ayane.
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"Hey." He stated out loud right next to the girl, who was trying her best to ignore him. "Look, I want to put an agreement into play." Senku spoke with conviction as he said what he wanted to say.
"Agreement? What agreement?" Ayane asked, not once taking her eyes off of what she was doing.
"You tell me something, and I'll tell you something of equal value." Senku proposed.
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Thinking about it for a moment, Ayane stopped chipping at the block she had in her hand and looked up towards Senku. As she sighed, she seemed to have resigned herself to the deal and placed the block down.
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"So, what do you want to know?" Ayane asked.
"What happened to the dog of yours?" Once again, Senku saw Ayane jump at the question, but after a few moments, began to speak.
"It was a few days after I found Rei…" Ayane explained, as she began to remember the past.
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"As I was more focused on fixing Rei, I never really noticed Hansuke walking out and leaving the camp for a few hour a day, before retuning at nightfall. But as I began to notice his disappearances, I thought it was just his animalistic nature at first, so I never really thought much of it. But after several weeks went by, Hansuke never returned.
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Worried for his sake, Ayane packed a much as she could in her small travel bag. Placing it on her shoulders, Ayane set off. Walking, searching, then resting. For what felt like days, Ayane continued this routine, always worried that she may forever leave her camp and forget how to return. But in order to find her only family in this Stone World, she continued forward.
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"As I set forth onto uncharted territory, I kept my map on me for the entirety of my search. But it didn't take me long to find him."
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As three days of searching nearly concluded, Ayane began to hear yapping. A sound she was far too familiar with, that she began to move without thinking. Making it to where the sound was, Ayane climbed a tree that was nearby and noticed Hansuke with about 4 puppies around him. As the pups began to roll and jump on him, Hansuke just sat there looking very bored and defeated. Stifling her laughter, Ayane only looked with enjoyment as the once proud wolf that hunted by her side, was demoted to caretaker.
As the day went on, Ayane followed Hansuke and the pups as they went farther and farther from their "home." Seeing why Hansuke never returned was enough to satisfy Ayane's worries and left.
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"Every week, I would go and watch the pack. Making sure I kept my distance, as to not frighten them and not allow Hansuke to lose his position within the pack."
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Drinking out of the small clay cup, Ayane noticed how close the she-wolf and Hansuke continued to get. Smiling at the sight she saw, Ayane continued to watch the animal without worry. At least she hoped.
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As she began to wander farther from where the pack was, Ayane began to look around for some vegetables and other sources of food and water, only to begin hearing a growl behind her. Slowly turning around, Ayane noticed a really scarred wolf beginning its slow approach to her. Backing up a quickly, but as safely as she could, all Ayane could do in that moment, was stare the beast down as it quickly tried to close the distance between the two.
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Back to the present…
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"All I remember from the moment was the smell of blood and the wolf in front of me. I believe its some sort of psychological trauma that's preventing me from remembering any other event other than that." Ayane finished speaking as she looked up towards Senku, who's expression didn't change one bit since she began. "What?" She asked as Senku began bend forward to try and close the distance between their faces.
"Oh, nothing. I was just trying to see something, is all." Senku answered as he bent backwards. "So, let me just try and fill in the gaps. The wolf you killed was a leader of sorts, then after killing it you just ran off, not once returning to see if you wolf, Hansuke, is okay?"
"That's right. If I had stayed, he would've had to make a choice: Either stay with his pack and allow me to be killed; or protect me and lose his own life. So, I made the choice for him and left." Ayane replied as she looked into Senku's eyes, her gaze not once wavering. "Just remembering the event…" But before she even had a chance to finish her sentence, Ayane covered her mouth, got up and ran away.
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At the edge of her camp…
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Ayane began to puke what she had eaten for breakfast. As this continued for 10 seconds, she began to gasp for air each time she threw up. After emptying her stomach, Ayane wiped her mouth, and looked back slightly to see Senku standing behind her looking over her.
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"So…" Ayane spoke after getting up. "Have anything to share that is of equal value to what you just heard?" Ayane asked.
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Rubbing his head, Senku sighed as he turned around.
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"No, I don't." He answered. "You got me. Sorry." Senku apologized as he walked away. As Senku walked away, Ayane looked as she held her hand close to her chest and gripped with a light force.
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April 3rd, 5737…
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"Senku is making incredible progress in recreating the formula Rei and I have worked on together for nearly 2 months. OH, by the way the reason why I haven't mentioned Rei in a while was because his batter was already low as it was and the solar panels that were added to him roughly 3700 years ago were slightly damaged so, I had to do a bit of tinkering, which led to him shutting down and rebooting his entire system. But he should be waking up in a while. I hope…"
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Looking up from her wood slab, Ayane looked at Senku who was hard at work when it came to trying to recreate the revival fluid. Giggling at the sight, Ayane couldn't help but stifle her laughter a bit, but it didn't go unnoticed.
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"You could help, you know!" Senku exclaimed as he held out another one of Ayane's clay ash crayons.
"I could, but I'd rather not. Because I don't want to be responsible for waking up a person who could, without a doubt, ruin all that I've worked for." Ayane answered as she went back to scribbling on her slab.
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"This is my life…for now at least. But…" Looking up slightly to see Senku still struggling, made Ayane grit her teeth, but didn't show it. "Why hasn't he noticed? As a genius, he should have noticed. But then again…" Stopping herself, Ayane placed down the slab down, rose to her feet, grabbed a couple of sewn bags and walked off.
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"Where are you going?" Senku asked.
"Oh, you're worried for my safety?" Ayane asked condescendingly.
"No, it's just that if you die, then I'd be stuck alone in this Stone World." Senku answered, to which Ayane began to laugh. "That's not a joke."
"I know. That's why I'm laughing." Ayane answered as she managed to grab air in her lungs. "Don't worry I'll be back. I just wanted to grab something for a while, that's all." And with that Ayane left without another word.
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After a minute of silence…
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Senku was scratching his head in frustration as he tried to replicate the revival fluid. Sighing, Senku laid back onto the ground to look up in the sky, only to hear a voice at that exact moment.
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"Are you struggling, Senku?" The robotic voice spoke. As soon as it did, Senku began to look around, only to see nothing. "In the odd looking stump." The voice responded as Rei saw Senku looking around.
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Walking towards the odd looking stump that seemed to have been forced into the ground, Senku noticed a white bulge sticking out. Touching it, Rei spoke up.
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"Hello, Senku. Forgive me for not being able to greet you properly, but in my current condition I may be of no use." Rei greeted Senku, who was not a bit scared.
"So, were you created by my dad? No, designed?" Senku changed his answer quickly.
"Correct." Rei answered, still stuck in the stump.
"By the way, why are you in there?" Senku asked.
"My batteries were damaged, so Miss Ayane had to do some serious modifications. Since she didn't know my design, she couldn't have just opened me. So, she took some precautions and meddled with my internal wires." Rei answered before continuing. "Since meddling with my internal wires, my charging speed had been reduced to 5% a day."
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After listening to Rei, Senku tapped the white balls head and told him to shut back down. Looking back at the camp, Senku began to realize just how smart Ayane really was. Smiling without restraint, he spoke.
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"She might make my life 10 billion percent more interesting." Senku said to himself as he continued to work on replicating the revival fluid.
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Several blocks away…
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Walking around, and gathering what looked to be edible, Ayane continued to walk around and saw herself upon a place she didn't see on her large map. Looking upon the scene, large mountains as far as the eye can see. Waterfalls falling down towards the ground, creating rivers that disappear as it goes farther down. As Ayane looked upon the beauty before her, she couldn't help but feel saddened at the fact that this was once her home, reduced to nothing but rubble, and vegetation.
Pulling out her map, Ayane began to unfold the big leather folder to show a large hand drawn map, before grabbing another thin leather piece, and began to draw on it. As the minutes began to go by, Ayane continued to focus on drawing. Being patient is a tool that Ayane learned during her time after being released from her petrified state. To her, being patient is the best tool to use when trying to survive in a different environment that you are not used to.
As the day started to come to an end, Ayane went around and grabbed branches and twigs to start a fire for the cold night. Continuously drawing from memory, even as the sun went down, Ayane was determined to finish before the next day started.
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As the sun began to rise over the mountains…
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Ayane woke up as the sun began to rise over the mountains in the distance. As they did, Ayane began to look through her bag and pulled out what looked to be a thick piece of grass. Blowing into it, the grass created a high pitched ringing sound. Blowing for a few more seconds, Ayane stopped and waited.
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Back at camp…
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As Ayane returned to camp, she smelled something odd. The odd scent smelled of fire, clay and wine. Wondering why it smelled so odd, Ayane rushed forward only to see Senku himself down on the ground, face completely buried in the dirt. Seeing the damage that was around him, caused Ayane to back up a bit.
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"What happened here?!" Ayane exclaimed as she saw the disaster before her.
"Oh, your back?" Senku slurred his words.
"What…" But Ayane cut herself off when the strong scent of wine hit her nose. "Oh. What did you do?!"
"I realized you had a large jug of wine, so I *hiccup* decided to boil it to try and *hiccup* distill it as best as possible, but as you can see *hiccup* it exploded." Senku said looking a bit drunk in Ayane's eyes.
"Oh, god." Ayane held her head as she shook it in disbelief. "Alright, let's get you into bed. It's best if you slept it off." As Ayane grabbed Senku, she began to smell wine of him. "Did it explode on you too?" But Senku didn't answer as he was fast asleep. "Oh, whatever."
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Walking up into her hut, Ayane dropped Senku onto the floor, completely exhausted.
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"Despite looking skinny, he's still pretty heavy." Leaving him be, Ayane was about to leave, when she felt something holding onto her foot. Looking back, Ayane noticed Senku holding onto her foot.
"I…" Senku began to whisper something. Unsure of what he was saying, Ayane bent downwards to hear what Senku was saying. "I know…you are…" As Senku spoke in his sleep, Ayane's eyes widened in shock. Backing up, Ayane began to tear up.
"So, you do remember, you big oaf." Ayane spoke as tears began to form and stream down her cheeks, before leaning in and kissing Senku. "I wouldn't have been able to do this 3700 years ago, but I'm glad I woke up first."