4th Shot: Let There Be Light
"I'll pair you up with Ukyo for patrols, however sometimes I'll have you do it by yourself. With both of your capability as a team, our defense will be doubled automatically."
Straight the next day after Taiju, Ukyo, and Shinko went exploring in search of materials and crafting bow, arrows, and quiver, she was called by the infamous leader himself for a rather personal chat. As Tsukasa sat on his stone-made throne, he decided to put her ability in good use by giving her patrol duties. She's not alone, Ukyo became her partner ever since.
It gave her advantages in its own way–she knew what to do to kill time everyday instead of lazing around doing barely anything, she managed to build a mind-map about the area and further in the more precise, also a new form of practice and honed her skill.
Stone world gave her a new type of freedom she never felt before–there's no such thing about worrying excessively about your future. Human's lifestyle reduced to something more primitive; gathering food, making clothes, defending yourself against wild animals, and build shelters. Unlike in the previous world where you feel anxiety about uncertainty, about money, education, work, or anything else. It became irrelevant. Now, it revolved around how to survive when human was dethroned from the top of the food chain.
Mother Nature doesn't side with anything or anyone–if you're strong enough, you will live. If you're not, then you have no chance to see the next day.
Now, it has been a few weeks since she learnt to adapt–getting used to a new routine, getting used around new people who now became her comrades, getting used in hunting and completing other duties.
Shinko huffed as she landed on a branch, under the cool shade of thick leaves. The air was humid with occasional breeze flew by. Rummaging through her satchel, she pulled out a water container made of leather and offered it to a person already sitting on the same branch while leaning against the trunk.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Ukyo sighed in exhaustion, accepting the drink. "You too."
She then sat on the empty space beside her, taking a rest on her own as her partner took large gulps from her container. Ukyo gasped in relief, feeling rehydrated and wiping a trail of water from his chin. "Anything unusual?"
Shinko sighed and shook her head. "Nothing at all. Just the usual wild animals here and there, but there's black smoke on a place far from here. I assumed it's the primitive village Tsukasa-san told Gen-san to investigate."
Her routine also led her to be quite close with the ex-sonarman, knowing they're practically together almost every day. They usually split their duties to cover wider area and promised to meet up in the spot their agreed on if they're finished.
"If that's all, then we can get back." Ukyo said, jumping from the branch and landed safely on the ground. "Come on."
"Give me a break please, my leg feels like jelly," she sighed in defeat, feet dangling. All she got in reply was him chuckling in amusement–which made her eye twitched. Finally, Shinko scoffed before scooting to the edge and jumped down. She yelped, feeling her knees buckle from sudden weight addition. Before she hit the ground, Ukyo's hand already stretched out to get ahold of her arm.
"Thank you. It reminds me to climb down if it turns out like this," she huffed, straightening herself.
"Now, let's head back to report. It's getting dark." He suggested which earned him a nod in agreement.
Blue sky transitioned into orange–clouds darkened; the sun bathed the earth in orange glow. Nocturnal began rising from their slumber, Ukyo could hear crickets and other insects competing whose sound could dominate the forest. The world has come alive, defeating silence engulfing both of them.
Ukyo glanced over his shoulder, sometimes checking on his partner–who was occupied in her own world looking at another direction. After weeks they've been signed up as partners in lookouts, Ukyo learning her habits as they ventured together–one of them was trailing behind him, only occasionally walking by his side. Not that he minds it.
"When do you think Gen-san will be back?" he blinked at her sudden question.
He hummed knowingly. "Well, I think he will be back soon enough. It's not like there's humans other than us and that primitive settlement. The only thing he will be checking on is that area."
News about Gen taking his leave for a short time was known by everyone, however details about why he should do that was kept secret by Tsukasa. To be exact the only people who knew about this was Tsukasa, Minami, and himself. Apparently, their infamous leader having concerns about how someone named Senku was still alive.
Ukyo swallowed heavily–understanding that several points were being made just by that order alone. First, Tsukasa has killed a person, a human from modern time because he wanted to revive earth's seven billion population–Senku has vast knowledge of science, meaning that his words weren't empty. Second, Tsukasa will stop at nothing to reach his goal, even as far as eliminating threats upon him with his own hands.
"I guess he's really hurt until he came up with ideals like that." He remembered Shinko's words as they're sitting by the fire place several nights before. "There's must be something happened to him 3,700 years ago to make him despise adults so much."
Ukyo couldn't keep it to himself, and trusting the young woman was a great step he took without regret. He told her everything he knew and Shinko never once spilled the beans to anyone other than him–in return, she told him anything she found suspicious.
At last, he found someone he could laid his complete trust on.
Some information only being shared between them.
His train of thoughts was cut off by familiar rumbling sound reaching his ears–the sound which made his heart dropped down to the pit of his stomach, the sound which twisted his chest so much it was hard for him to breathe. Unconsciously, he halted on his tracks.
Shinko noticing how his stop was out of blue. "Ukyo-san…?"
Her call didn't receive any respond. Furrowing her eyebrows in concern, Shinko stepped closer to Ukyo. Then she caught how his hands were forming fists by his side, so tight his knuckles turned white from the lack of circulation. His shoulder slightly trembled and instantly she knew what was currently happening.
Ukyo flinched from the sudden touch his fist received–it snapped him out his storming mind. The hand pulled away for a few seconds before carefully engulfing his, providing little warmth for his icy cold ones. Gently, it pried his fingers open and Ukyo felt some burden lifted from shoulders.
"You'll hurt your hands." Shinko reminded, letting go of his hand.
"Thank you."
"He did it again, didn't he?"
Ukyo didn't need to answer the rhetorical question because Shinko surely knew the right answer. It brought him an overwhelming grief every time he heard Tsukasa conducting his mission in destroying statues of adults. They're all human, he wanted to scream. However, those statues were just inanimate objects–destroying them wouldn't count as murder. He couldn't do anything but he wishes for it to stop.
"Don't worry." Ukyo turned his head towards her, looking at a simple but warm smile she gave him. "We'll find a way to stop it. And then we'll find a way to restore the statues."
Those words held so much assurance for him.
.
.
Dinner went along like usual–Ukyo and Shinko sat beside each other, enjoying their share for dinner. The difference this dinner time had was that Yuzuriha and Taiju decided to join in. Constantly hanging around the two, it earned her the title as a good friend of theirs. While the three of them having a pleasant conversation, Ukyo usually stayed silent although he never left.
He was chewing on his food when Shinko suddenly perked up, head immediately turned towards the darkness of the forest. "What's wrong?"
"I think I saw something…" she muttered, handing her food to Yuzuriha, who accepted it with confusion. "Hold this for me for a second. I'll go check it out."
"Be back right away, okay? It's really dangerous at night." the brunette reminded her–fearing existence of wild beasts roaming around and harmed her. Shinko nodded before standing up and ran into the line of trees. Jumping up, she held on to a branch before swinging herself to another–in an instant, she was gone behind the thick canopy.
Hopping from one tree to another with ease, she scanned the area–eyes quickly zeroed on a tall tree towering the others. Heights were extremely a big help to take a watch, especially in the stone world. She climbed until reaching the top, kneeling on a sturdy branch to take a rest also regaining her breathing pattern.
At first, she saw nothing–just the natural view of wilderness under shining moonlight, rustling of trees, howling of the wind. Could she have mistaken it for something that not exists? She decided to stay a little bit longer. Counting with her internal clock, if after five minutes nothing appeared then it was time for her to get back.
Then she saw it.
Light that shined so brightly among the darkness–it stole her breath away, eyes widening in disbelief. There's nothing in this current world possible to make that kind of light–especially at night. It reminded her for something that only existed in the past modern times, something that only people from their time would know.
"Light… bulbs…?" she then laughed breathlessly, thoughts running a hundred miles. "No. That's not possible. This is stone world, we're talking about…"
"Anything is possible if Senku's the one who did it!"
Taiju's voice rang loudly in her mind. Getting close with the superhuman and Yuzuriha paid her with one of the most promising information. They were both Senku's high school friends and according to Taiju, Senku managed to revive himself all because he never felt the temptation of darkness when they were petrified. He counted–he kept tracks of each day, each month, each year, and each season in precise for an unbelievable 3,700 years.
He was also the person who invented the revival fluid–a mix of alcohol and nitric acid solution Tsukasa used to de-petrified people. The Miracle Cave was the source of nitric acid, while they made alcohol from distilling wine–it was science through and through, Taiju explained how it took them a year to find the perfect ratio until it worked on petrified swallows. Times they live together, they did almost the unthinkable–building a tree house with mortar which was base for cement, making blocks of soap, and finally producing gunpowder to defeat Tsukasa in Hakone; a home for indefinite sulfur stock.
Ishigami Senku was the first living human to walk in this stone world, the first one who revived Tsukasa as well.
The ultimate genius in this era with million years of civilization crammed into his head.
He surpassed the impossible in a matter of a mere one year, if someone could invent a ridiculous thing such as light bulbs and the electricity powering it from nothingness–without a doubt that someone was Ishigami Senku.
Could it be?
He's alive all this time? Crafting scientific inventions to have an upper hand against Tsukasa?