Newly-named Okusei wanted to eat again. Kohaku managed to get the kid to latch on to her other breast but she winced as he ate.

Senku, who was observing everything in case there was something he thought of that might be useful, noticed. "Is it hurting? Do we need to try again?"

She shook her head, her nose crinkled. "No, not painful, just…sore. I'm not sure why it's different on this side." She exhaled deeply. "Do you think it will get better? Like, as I keep feeding him?"

Senku was wishing that he'd just read every single thing about baby care, even if he hadn't cared about it. Was soreness a sign that something was wrong or just a natural consequence of something new happening in her body?

Francois arrived then, plate of food in hand. "Miss Kohaku," they said with a little bow, "I've taken the liberty of preparing a meal that will provide many of the nutrients a breast-feeding parent needs."

Kohaku was drooling over the food already but then looked up at Francois. "Wait. Do you…do you maybe know anything about breastfeeding? Or just taking care of a baby in general?"

Francois bowed again. "But of course. I have studied many aspects of baby and child care."

Kohaku and Senku apparently had the same exact thought, because they cried in unison, "Will you teach us?!"

Francois smiled benevolently. "Of course. What would you like to know?"

—

Feeling a bit better (and maybe a bit more intimidated) about the whole prospect of raising a healthy baby, Senku and Kohaku (and Okusei) moved to where their friends had set up a huge bonfire to celebrate their depetrification and the baby's birth. Said friends immediately proceeded to fawn all over the baby again. Kohaku handed him off to Luna, who was almost in tears as she held the little boy.

"What will you name him?" Taiju asked, looking excited. "Can we vote on it?"

Before Senku could say "Hell no," everyone was throwing out name ideas. Some highlights were "Ginro" (quickly retracted at Kohaku's threatening face) and "Drago" (Ryusui was not at all frightened by Senku's withering glare and only laughed). Kaseki quite genuinely suggested 'Zirco' to follow the village tradition of naming after elements—zirconium, in this case. Privately, Senku thought 'Zirco' would make a good middle name. He'd bring it up to Kohaku later.

"His name is Okusei," Kohaku finally said, loudly enough that everyone could hear. "It's not up for vote."

Senku heard a small scoff. When he glanced at where the noise came from, he saw a very disgruntled-looking Chrome, outside of the circle of baby admirers and poking at the fire. Ukyo also noticed, Senku saw, but no one else did.

Senku slowly sidled over to Ukyo. "You know what's up with him?" he muttered quietly.

Ukyo shook his head and replied just as quietly, "No, sorry. He's been quiet and out of sorts all day, though."

Senku sighed, then went and grabbed two bowls of wine and walked over to the sulking scientist. "Here," he said as he sat down, passing Chrome one of the bowls. Chrome mumbled something that might have been a 'thanks.'

"What's up?" Senku asked after taking a sip of wine.

Chrome shrugged, which was incredibly unhelpful.

Part of Senku wanted to tease his friend out of whatever funk he was in, but Chrome was never quiet about things that bothered him unless it really bothered him. It led Senku to believe that this was, perhaps, something to handle delicately. Well. Mostly delicately. Kind of delicately. Not as blunt as Chelsea, but not as sneaky as Gen.

So he waited, watching as his friends passed the tiny bundle of Okusei around, the dopiest expressions on their faces. He wished he had Minami's camera to capture it. It would've been perfect blackmail material.

Eventually Chrome asked, "Why didn't you guys tell me you were dating?"

Senku made a face. "We weren't."

Chrome looked at him very incredulously. "You have a kid. Pretty sure there was something going on there." He shifted and set down his bowl of wine. "Did…did I do something to make you angry?"

"What? No, don't be stupid."

"I'm not being stupid. I'm trying to understand." He looked down at his hands, rubbing his thumbs together. "Was I not trustworthy enough? Do you guys think I don't care or something?"

Senku was a little surprised by all this. "No. I told you, we weren't dating." He sighed. "The kid was very much an accident. We were very drunk. Absolutely no dating involved."

Chrome was legitimately blinking back tears. "But you spent so much time taking care of her since then, and she actually listened to you about stuff she wouldn't normally, and now you're married, actually married, and…and you didn't tell me." He sniffed and rubbed his face. "Sorry. I'm making this about me. I guess…I wanted to say I'm happy for you guys."

Senku bumped Chrome's shoulder with his own. "Calm down. Don't get so upset." He frowned and considered the situation a little more. Chrome and Kohaku were friends and had been for their whole lives. He knew Kohaku fully expected Chrome to be her brother-in-law and she treated him accordingly, but he hadn't really thought about how Chrome thought of Kohaku. Was this brotherly concern? Was he really just sad they hadn't told him about what he saw as their secret relationship?

Senku sighed and stood up. Feelings were gross. He didn't want to think about it anymore. "Come meet the kid," he said, pulling Chrome to his feet.

Chrome went, startled, and Senku plucked the kid out of Ryusui's arms (the man made very indignant noises about the injustice of it all) and plopped him in Chrome's arms.

"Support his head," Senku said, adjusting Chrome's very stiff arms. "Hold him close to you—yeah, like that."

Okusei opened his eyes, blinking slowly before looking up at Chrome. Chrome, meanwhile, had gone very still, staring with wide eyes at the baby. He swallowed and then bounced the kid a little bit. Okusei kept watching him and Senku wished there was a way to measure the kid's eyesight—the complete lack of communication beyond crying would probably keep that curiosity from being explored, though.

Satisfied that the kid was in good hands, Senku went and got some food. As he worked his way through some meat (Tsukasa and Hyoga had been sent hunting earlier that day), he kept an eye on Chrome, who was still staring. Tsukasa had come up next to him, looking an awful lot like he wanted to hold the baby, but Chrome was not paying attention to the taller man in the slightest.

Kohaku was also watching the little scene play out, a smile on her face. Suika said something, though, and she was drawn back into conversation with the other girls. They had set up a whole little couch thing by the fire so Kohaku would have a nice place to sit, and Francois had brought another plate of food, so Kohaku was pretty much set.

Normally Kohaku would be among those to stay up the lastest at a party like this, but after only an hour more of sitting around the fire, he saw her already flagging. He went to grab the kid. Kaseki was holding him now, humming gently with a content smile, and Senku just paused for a moment and watched.

He hadn't given it a millimeter of thought before now, but had Kaseki ever wanted kids? Grandkids? He'd never mentioned a spouse or sweetheart or any kids, although it might be that whatever had happened was so depressing that he didn't want to talk about it—Kaseki had been alive during the last famine, after all, the one that reduced Ishigami Village to its current numbers.

And the old man just looked so damn happy holding the baby that Senku almost didn't want to interrupt.

Kaseki looked up and noticed him, though. "Oh ho, Senku! There you are. Have you come for this fine young fellow?"

Senku huffed. "Yeah, I think it's bedtime."

Kaseki looked over at Kohaku and nodded. "Mm, mothers and babies need their rest. And don't forget—you two have quite the team of people ready to help." He eyed Senku then. "I was thinking, in modern times, did you have anything to…well, I'm not sure how to put this delicately."

"Don't. Waste of time," Senku said with a smirk.

Kaseki shook his head. "Well, I suppose. Alright then. Is there anything to…draw milk out from a mother? So someone else could feed the baby?"

"Yeah, breast pumps. They use suction to simulate a baby eating. We can reinvent them in a while and then people can help feed the kid, if Kohaku wants the help." With the tips Francois had given them, though, hopefully breastfeeding would go easier.

Actually, while he had Kaseki here… "Hey, do you remember that weaving loom we made for Yuzuriha?" Kaseki nodded. "We need another one, maybe not as complicated. And an easier way to spin plant fiber into string."

Kaseki perked up. "Oh? What for?"

Senku grinned. "Baby wraps. We gotta carry this kid with us everywhere, and Francois said baby wraps are the way to go." Then he shrugged. "And maybe we can make some lighter clothes. Leather is hot in this humidity."

Kaseki hummed and rubbed his chin. "Yes, we'll need beams for sure. Nails, too. I wonder how the furnace has held up…" He handed Okusei over and strode over to where they stored paper. Senku had no doubt there would be new blueprints or prototypes come morning.

"Well, kid, how we doing?" Senku said to the baby, who didn't respond other than to wiggle. "Hm. Yeah, bedtime for sure."

To his surprise, Suika and Kohaku walked up to them. Kohaku looked half-asleep, and Suika was supporting her and smiling. "Hi, Senku. Um, I hope you don't mind, but I…I set up one of the rooms for you guys." She laughed nervously and started walking. "This way."

Senku looked back at the fire and nodded goodnight to Gen and Chrome, who both waved. Everyone else was occupied. Then he set off after Suika.

Sure enough, one of the huts in the center of the fort had been modified to fit two adults and a baby. There were two beds, one cradle, and what looked like a veritable mountain of baby supplies.

Kohaku stumbled over to one bed and flopped onto it face first. Suika giggled and helped rearrange her to be lying comfortably.

Senku, meanwhile, got to work changing Okusei's diaper (it involved bundling absorbent moss right up against the kid and would need to be improved as soon as possible), re-swaddling him, and setting him down in the cradle.

The kid looked almost angelic lying there, gentle moonlight filtering through the open door of the hut and making his hair almost glow.

Surely Okusei wouldn't give them any trouble, right?

—

As Senku and Kohaku soon learned, Okusei was, in fact, a little demon baby who didn't care that he was breaking the Geneva Convention—forcing people to stay awake was a form of torture, after all, and so was subjecting them to unholy shrieks far too loud for a tiny baby body to have made.

—

Senku finally closed his eyes. Sleep at last…

…and someone started banging on the door, waking them all up. None of them were happy about this development.

It was Senku's turn to shush the baby and he rolled his sorry carcass out of bed and staggered over to the cradle. Kohaku stalked to the door and threw it open with a bang, startling Okusei even more and making him cry even louder. "What?" Kohaku snapped at whoever had woken them up.

"W-well, it's m-morning." It was Chrome. "Usually you two are…um, is he supposed to be crying that much?"

Senku felt one eyebrow twitch and he forced himself to take a deep breath. Kohaku had no such restraint and he heard her pound Chrome's head with her fist. "Idiot!" she shrieked. "What do you know, huh? That's right, nothing! So shut up and go away!" Then she slammed the door shut, startling Okusei again and causing a new rise in volume.

"Quiet down, lioness," he said dryly as he bounced the baby.

Kohaku made a weird noise and he turned to see her slam open the door again and stalk away. He frowned—why had she left?

Taiju poked his head around the door jam. "Hey, man." He looked at the baby, quieter but still inconsolable. "How can I help?"

"Come hold the kid," Senku said, and passed off the tiny bundle of sadness to 'Uncle Taiju' so he could survey the little room.

Somehow the place had become a baby-themed war zone overnight. He sighed. He could clean it up later, after he'd eaten. As he walked to breakfast, he noticed that everyone was watching him with wide eyes.

Ginro was the one to say something (around a mouthful of food). "Woah, Senku, you look like shit. Like you didn't sleep at all."

Senku closed his eyes and took another deep breath, then kept going to get his food. "Ten billion percent helpful observation, Ginro."

Luna frowned and looked around. "Where's Kohaku? Is she still sleeping?"

"Nah, she stormed off." He had the brief thought that she might have run away from the kid entirely, deciding to survive on her own in the woods rather than live another moment without sleep. He was certainly feeling like doing that himself.

As it turned out, his friends were nosy enough to just declare they were going to take care of Okusei so he could focus on work. Then he was effectively bundled back into his new bedroom, where someone had cleaned up. He was given one piece of paper and one pencil, and someone had set up one tiny candle to work with, with only his bed to sit on.

He snorted as he realized they were trying to get him to go back to sleep. Well, he certainly wouldn't complain a single millimeter about it. He scribbled out a brief overview of all the things he thought they'd need to do moving forward, pinned it into place with the pencil just outside the door, then curled up on his bed and fell asleep almost immediately.

He woke up when someone shook his shoulder. It was Tsukasa, who informed him that it was lunch time and he should probably wake up.

Senku did with a sigh—he couldn't sleep the entire day away. Tsukasa also woke up Kohaku, who must've been hustled back to bed the same way Senku had.

Kohaku glanced at him, then scowled and left immediately.

Tsukasa watched the interaction in silence and then glanced at Senku. "What did you do?" he asked.

Senku shrugged. "Hell if I know."

After lunch, where Kohaku ate her food and fed Okusei as far away from Senku as she could, she came up to Senku and asked if she could talk to him privately. She did not look happy.

Senku followed her down to the river, where the noise would hopefully provide a bit of cover for their conversation. Kohaku kept her arms crossed and looked out over the water while he caught up to her.

She turned her head to look at him. "This morning," she started, "I lost my temper. I'm sorry."

Senku shrugged one shoulder, mouth twisting. "Ten billion percent not a problem. It was a rough night."

Kohaku closed her eyes and took a breath. "What you said, though, really hurt me."

What had he said? 'Quiet down, lioness.' What was so bad about that?

"I felt like you were making fun of me, of how I was feeling. Like it wasn't…like I wasn't important. I know that probably wasn't what you meant, but…could you, in the future, not do that? Not just tell me to be quiet when I'm upset?" Her voice was wavering by the end of her explanation.

Senku swallowed, then cleared his throat and said, "Sure. Got it."

She gave a tremulous little smile. "Thank you." She sniffed and rubbed one eye. "And I'll do better, I promise."

He frowned. He didn't have expectations or anything. Obviously she'd do better in the future—so would he. That was, hopefully, how life went. You made mistakes, learned, then improved. Parenting was no different, and they were in this together. Before he could say anything to that effect, she was heading back to the fort.

Surely she would be fine. They'd had a rough night and morning. That was probably where all that came from.

Besides, they had to do some serious planning. Getting to the moon was more critical than ever now.