21st Shot: If There Isn't Any Bread, Let Them Make It from Wheat
At first, human hunted to fulfill their daily needs for the sake of survival–that's why they often moved from one area to another because of the lack of food there as a result from their constant hunting. They completely relied on nature for every aspect of their life, even for the primary consumption.
That's also how life works in their newest stone age–they reverted back to what they were once before; hunters of the wild. Every one of them hunted before, it's quite an essential skill to have in a new world where everything is limited and the only thing you can rely on is survival skills. The priorities changed.
However, the hunting age was over and now replaced by the agricultural revolution thanks to the expedition they went through from both land and skies alike.
Discovering wheat meant they could increase or even doubled their supply of food and finally stepped into the era of agricultural–when the villagers were used to hunt and took their ingredients fresh from nature, now the era of growing your own food was finally here! A great revolution where they didn't have to worry about any food shortage in the future.
The moment human could grow their own ingredients, they didn't have to move often and stayed permanently in a single place–taking care of their growing corps until it's ripe enough to be harvest. Harvest is equal to storing ingredients and made sure you're not going to work hard to gather them–instead, you work hard to store and processed them. Through labor, you earn more and learn to appreciate more.
In the end, human's wisdom also changed their lifestyle for millions of years.
And this was an enormous discovery for the Kingdom of Science–finding wheat also meant they could have storable food that could lasts for months; bread. With bread in their hand, they're ready to set sail across the globe with hunger became the least of their worries while they're out in the open sea.
Sure they could fish whatever passed by in the water, however they are sure nobody had anymore energy to do so since most of them would have their own station in managing the ship. Changing shifts is the most possible, but neither one of them is eager to sacrifice sleep after a whole day of grueling work upon the deck.
"The King of Storable food, we're makin' bread!" Senku announced, extremely thrilled with their newest ingredient they got. "As the saying goes, if the people have no bread, then let them make it from wheat!"
Now, they're on their way to test the wheat–all of them gathered around the coastline to harvest the golden grains and proceeded to brought them back to the village. Bundles of ripe plants were tied securely so none of them would fall off to waste and stacked on one another so it could be easily carried.
"In the search for what generated the flash of petrification, we're setting forth on a journey in the great age of sail! Which means, we're going to need a huuuge amount of storable food! And we'll never get there if we don't have bread!"
Kohaku, being the ultimate strongest of them all, managed to carry mountains of wheat to the village while the rest of them stick with smaller stack. Even though it's some kind of grass, that didn't mean they weight lighter–they still weight a ton with so many stems present in a bundle. Shinko was a little worried because the stack was looming so high it covered her vision completely. But seeing her strolling around without even breaking a sweat was a proof that she didn't even need to.
Once they finished moving them all into the village, Senku began combing through them using panels of wood in order to separate the grains from the stem. Ukyo and Shinko decided did the same with an old method however, which is called threshing–meaning they beaten the stalk on a stone's surface to free the seed grains. With many human powers in assistance, it was no wonder that their work was much lighter and easier–just in a few hours, the results they got was woven baskets filled with golden grains.
"Brioche! Sfogliatella! Pain Au Chocolat!" Ryusui cackled in victory, snapping his fingers. It's almost amazing hearing him pronounce such seemingly difficult words easily, but it wasn't amazing knowing they had zero skills in making those so-called breads. Heck, all of them don't even know the basics of bread making.
Senku maybe knew, however knowing him he's probably more interested in dangerous chemical cooking rather than domestic (and normal) home economics.
"What are those?" Kohaku asked in confusion as it was an alien terms for her. "Names of your special attacks or something?"
"Actually, it's the type of bread we're talking about earlier," Shinko answered, chuckling nervously. "Although I've never heard most of that name…"
Pastry-making skill doesn't exist in her universe–safe to say, she's hopeless in that department.
"And who the heck is gonna make those fancy shmancy breads?" Senku deadpanned, eyes narrowing in displease. Half of it was probably because there's no way they could whipped up those goods. "Besides, I said we need storable food. That means hardtack."
"HAHAAAH! Well, we just make them all! I am the world's greediest man, after all!"
He made it seemed like it was an easy thing to do. Well, this is Ryusui we're talking about–and somehow, Shinko started getting used to his extravagantness that never ceased to exist in every occasion.
"We don't exactly have enough wheat for that," Chrome remarked, glancing at the basket of grains they threshed just before. It's filled, however it's nowhere near enough to feed a whole bustling crowd. Not just that, with their goal in restoring seven billion people on the planet, they will need tremendous supply to every mouth.
Ryusui laughed. "And that precisely why we need agriculture!"
"To multiply them and earning ridiculous amount of wheat, we have to grow them on our own." Shinko informed, scooping a handful of seeds from the lining woven baskets–embracing the coarse texture of still-covered grains on her palm. "We're going to use this as seeds and grow them to whole new plants while some of it we can use to experiment on bread."
"Hah! How interesting!" Kohaku exclaimed, copying Shinko's action and taking a handful as well–blue eyes inspected the grains eagerly. Her innocent curiosity about modernity could always made her smile "Humans planting seeds and looking after plants. Using the power of science to grow our own food!"
"Are we going to plant the seeds near the village?" Ukyo questioned, averting his gaze to the scientist.
"It's way too close to the mountains," Senku answered–red eyes watching the land with flourished wilderness upon them. "It'd be hard to get a good supply of water here. If we wanna make fields, we need to go to the Kanto plains. Taiju and the gorilla team can handle the dirty work!"
Ishigami Village is a village close to the mountains, meaning it's a village with high topography. The distance from them to the body of water wasn't bad, but if they insist on growing the fields in this topography then they had to do extra work in hauling buckets of water every day for the sake of the crops. Meanwhile, in the plain hills they could just dig lines of irrigation to water hectares of field.
"Aren't we adding even more burden to them? Though, Senku-san's reasoning is logical…" Shinko muttered underneath her breath–having a hard time imagining the hellish work they had to put on the other group. Most of them, except maybe Taiju. That young man has extreme range of stamina until Shinko though he's probably inhuman.
"They aren't called gorilla team for nothing," the scientist replied, dismissing her worries like it was nothing. "This will be nothing more than a work out for them, especially for the big oaf."
The confidence he has for the team was nothing more than complete trust–that far she knew. Senku and Taiju have long history together as childhood friends, their understanding towards each other undoubtedly ran deeper and thicker than blood.
If the scientist said so, then Shinko had no reason to also not believe him–after all, Senku had a better grasp and understanding for their condition.
"So, if we're going to make fields in the plains, then who's going to deliver these seeds?" Chrome questioned, brows furrowing.
"Ahh, about that," Senku smirked mischievously–and she immediately know that whatever his plan is it's leading up to no good. "Just let the lioness does the walking, she's still has much energy left to storm there."
"I already told you a hundred-no! Thousandth times that I'M NOT A LIONESS!" the mentioned blonde yelled in fury.
.
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However, even with the seemingly never-ending nickname teasing from Senku, Kohaku never failed to do her share of work. Her energy and stamina are almost in par with Taiju it also left Shinko in awe often–that, and sometimes she thought there's a possibility that they're not human.
Senku announced that they would deliver the seeds tomorrow via the air balloon–while they're still on their main objective in widening the map, locating as many as food source as possible, and pining the Sagara Oil Field; along the way the sky survey team will drop Kohaku off to pass on the seeds. That's the sky survey team's additional job for now on.
With someone like Taiju exist, the field will be ready in no time–Senku estimated it's going to be ready in just a day because Taiju won't be the only one doing the manual labor. Everyone will work together in digging the patches on the ground and lines of water–with more over a hundred person over, every type of work which needs massive manpower can be handle easily.
That, and there's Nikki and Gen. Shinko believed the blonde could make things go smoothly, while the mentalist has incredible ways one could ever imagine in motivating the simpletons to work. Safe to say they were confident with what they have in hands.
On the other side, the ground survey team didn't have any extra work so they could just do their duties as it is–drawing the landscape, scaling cliffs, hills, and valleys, and communicating with the sky survey team for some info.
That marks the fifth day of their expedition–and so far, even tough they're keep adding archives along with golden spots of food source, they still had to swallow a rather bitter pill of disappointment because the oil field is still out of reach for now on.
"We should take a break," Ukyo suggested, wiping a sweat that trickling down his temple. It wasn't without any meaning–the sun was hanging above their head, blaring hot rays mercilessly. If they insisted on tracking the without so much as a rest and hydrating themselves, what will await them instead of success is heavy heat-stroke.
"That's," Chrome panted harshly, hunching over with hands on his knees. His figure was practically drenched and his clothes were in slightly dark colored from the moisture it held. "Sounds like a great idea."
Ukyo led them towards under the line of trees, where the thick lush leaves successfully created cool shades underneath–a perfect place to cool down and regaining some energy. Chrome didn't waste any more time to just slumped down to the green carpet of grass below, groaning in exhaustion and relief to finally rest after walking for hours.
Shinko huffed as she removed the backpack from her shoulders and placing it on the ground–then she proceeded to stretch her arm above her head. What they brought along weren't exactly lightweight, so undoubtedly it would leave sore muscles.
"Here," reaching out for a container of water, Ukyo immediately offered it to her–which she accepted gratefully with a smile and a thank you in return. After that, he took out his own and downed it while Chrome already finished with his until the last drop–it's a sign they need to find a water source to get a refill soon.
"Man, we still don't find the oil even after five days." the brunette sighed, lying back down. "We're supposed to find it with the balloon!"
"Fukuoka is a wide place, it won't be as easy as we thought," Shinko replied, leaning against the tree bark, closing her eyes and enjoyed how the breeze that flew caressed her skin. "It will be quite a long journey to locate the field."
There's no such thing as an easy feat finding something in the middle of flourishing wilderness that continue to thrive and constantly changing for more than 300 decades. Now, every topography aspect of Japan completely changed and the Japan they stepped on right now is nothing like the past–essentially, they're in a whole new place unexplored.
"But sitting and staying in one place won't solve anything," Ukyo commented, mimicking Shinko's movement to leaned against the bark as well–sitting close to the young woman until their shoulders made in contact with each other. However, none of them seemed to mind it–being used to the closeness. "We're going to work endlessly on this until who-knows-when."
Yeah, they are already comfortable with each other to the point any physical contact doesn't faze them–that's why when Shinko dropped her head on his shoulder, he welcomed it with open arms. In return, he pressed his cheek on top of her head–discarding his hat in process.
"Still, for someone who's always on a frequent patrol, this is quite exhausting." Shinko remarked, laughing nervously.
"We split up, remember?" Ukyo replied, lightly bumping their heads together in a playful way. "The workload is lighter that way, but this time we can't do the same. We're exploring new areas."
"Yeah, and remember there's someone here besides you two," instantly, the two of them snapped their heads towards the direction of the voice–precisely at Chrome who's supporting a disapproving look. "Are sure you guys aren't married?"
Nothing came after–just a silence filled with rustling of leaves against each other, that was before both Ukyo and Shinko flinched violently to get away from each other as fast as lightning. Face colored in flaming red, the two attacked Chrome with series of denial and uncountable stutters which almost made him deaf.
"W-we aren't!"
"P-Partners! Colleagues! A t-team!"
"Geez, how long will it be for you to keep denying."
At first, Ukyo thought Chrome would sputter and turn to made fun of them by laughing hysterically–maybe he would find their overreaction as a comedy. However, the brunette didn't even flinch nor considered his words as a joke–which made the ex-sonarman swallowed thickly.
Oh, boy, he's serious with his statement.
Why are people so keen about insisting there's a special relationship exists between him and Shinko!?
If both Ukyo and Shinko weren't going to pass out from heatstroke, then they will from cardiac arrest in the future.
Do you like her? those words suddenly echoing in his mind–that very words which made Ukyo's head spun before turning blank-white because he couldn't comprehend anything from it. The question that made him experienced mid-life crisis and contemplating his whole existence.
Do you like her?
Ukyo isn't a naïve human being–he graduated high school and bringing memories along with him, not to mention the romance department. More so, he understands the concept of feelings and relationships that sparked then brought two people together as a couple.
First love? He went through that phase already; dating? He did a few before deciding that it wasn't for him–working as a sonarman who almost never stepped on land for at least months and having a relationship while doing so is a recipe for disaster. No women want to wait for someone who goes out to the open sea with zero communication as a part of work requirements. A relationship–something he never thought seriously over.
Do you like her?
Will he ever find the certain answer for it?
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Even though today was another journey with the absence of oil discovery, they still received a wonderful news from the wheat field–Taiju managed to successfully grew whole new and healthy sprout just in a matter of days. Relying on his memory about crushed clam shells would make a great soil for agriculture from Senku a year ago, he turned the acidic ground to a suitable neutral one where wheats could grow.
With his instinctive, their field of food source became a huge accomplishment–now, the only thing they needed to do was taking care of it until the time they finally ripe and ready to be harvest. Counting in a few months, autumn would be the right season for them to collect the fruit of their hard work in farming.
"Now, we have endless food supply!" Chrome cheered and of course, it was meant to be celebrated. They didn't have to worry about any shortage in primary needs even with addition de-petrified people in the future–hopefully, they could secure many more varieties of crops to add in the future fields. Source of protein still needed to be hunted, however they will soon find a way to develop farms with livestock.
"I think this calls for a feast," Shinko suggested, smiling at the thought. "I've been wanting to try making something other than grilled fish. With flour in hand, we can cook something else."
The whole team assembled back at the village by the time golden rays broke through the clouds–when evening came, the sky became a beautiful nature's masterpiece of pink, lavender, and amber. Right after, they gathered once again in the main building to discuss another strategy while adding more location in their map on the process.
"You can do that?" Kohaku asked, eyes widening from her statement.
"There's more than million types of food and hundreds of methods of cooking back in our modern world," Ukyo explained. "Aside from making bread, we could try different methods besides grilling or boiling."
"Then, be our leader for this temporary project, huntress," Senku pointed out, smirking in amusement. "Just say the word and we'll do anything."
"M-me!?" startled by the sudden decision, the young woman's eyes widened in panic. This was extremely out of the blue–sure, Senku gave her some work and made her responsible as his replacement for some time while he was away, but that's it! Leading a project? Even though it's just a temporary one, Shinko was already pessimistic about it. "Why me!?"
The scientist stuck a finger into his ear–a knowing habit of his when he's about to say the most obvious thing, for him at least. "You know what to do, you know what to gather, what else? Besides, it's just giving us orders, not sending us jumping off a cliff."
Sometimes, Shinko hates how he's right most of the time.
Well, since the beginning, having an argument with a genius is practically digging your own grave. Why did she even bother to ask? However, now wasn't the right time to complain about anything because it's plain childish–she's the one who had the suggestion, might as well as be responsible for it.
"Alright," agreeing with a sigh of defeat, she was instantly greeted by cheers and words of encouragement courtesy of Kohaku, Chrome, and Ryusui. Mainly both the villagers because they are always thrilled with new things about the modern world, on the other side the conglomerate aimed to please his palate with food other than grilled fish.
"Better start listing, huntress, because tomorrow we'll set it on motion!" Senku cackled.
Shinko snapped her head to look at his direction, face painted in pure horror. "You don't even give me a heads up, Senku-san!?"
.
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She needed to calm down–yes, this was just a simple meeting that will probably take only a few minutes then they're set to explore again. List of ingredients and splitting the group for efficient work, that's it. That's the only thing Shinko had to prepare instead of freaking out in between. This department was nowhere near her expertise–usually, she just an assistant, a third party that did the what they had been ordered to.
But no, today, she's the leader.
While she's used to hearing in every little detail of plans from someone else, now she had to think about it and announced it. If the ground could just open up a huge hole and swallowed her from the existence without a trace, Shinko would be extremely grateful. However, it won't happen and just a stupid part of her wish in the midst of her mid-life crisis.
"Okay, so what should we do?" Chrome questioned, and the whole tower of confidence she tried to build just collapsed to ruins by it.
Currently, like the days they passed before, the team gathered at the base of Science Shed–forming loose circle where they could face each other without much hindrance. The air was still chilly from the previous night as the sun began to rose, the horizon was decorated in veil of mist.
"Shinko," Ukyo's soft voice broke through the haze of stage fright clouding her mind. He placed a hand on her shoulder–the weight gave a little boost of confidence for her. "How many ingredients we need?"
"O-oh, just a little bit," she stuttered out. "Mainly we need oil, then eggs and many mountain vegetables. Maybe we could add mushrooms or other things."
"Oil? But, aren't we looking for it right now?" Kohaku asked, brow raised in confusion.
"She's talking about different kind of oil," Senku chuckled underneath his breath. "The one we mankind can make with their own hands."
"We can make oil!?" Chrome exclaimed in disbelief.
"It's going to be the main thing and we need a lot of it." Shinko remarked, getting a grip of the situation clearer than before–even though nervousness still clinging tight on her, more confidence built up every time she spoke. "Senku-san, since you're the only one who knows how to make it, will you do the honor?"
"Ten billion percent." the scientist replied. "This is going to be exhilarating!"
From the signature smirk that appeared on his face and accompanied by series of villainous cackles, Shinko knew that Senku completely understood on what he should do. Laughing nervously, her gaze moved to both Ukyo and Chrome alternately. While the brunette already shuffled on his feet out of excitement until he's unable to sit still, Ukyo gave her a soft smile and a reassuring nod–knowing how he will be supporting her the entire time brought a sense of calmness.
"Then the ground survey team will look for mountain vegetables!" she decided. "I hope you two don't mind having extra weight when we get back…?"
Chrome snorted harmlessly. "Those are just plants! They weight nothing!"
"I can search for eggs with the balloon!" Kohaku offered–knowing how sharp her eyes are, without a doubt she could find them quickly. And seeing how eager she's in lending a hand, Shinko couldn't even imagine refusing her help. "It will be easy! Just leave it to me!"
Nodding firmly, she gave her a thumbs up. "I'm counting on you, Kohaku-chan!"
"Jasper and Turquoise want to be the one who handles all the fishing," Ukyo informed. "So, when we get back, they'll be ready."
"And the spices are all set." Shinko added. "Last night, I asked permission from Natri-san and she said we could use them as much as we want."
"HAHAHH! Then what are we waiting for!?" Ryusui exclaimed with a snap of his finger. "Let's get this work started!"
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"So, what kind of vegetables are we looking for?" Chrome questioned and somehow Shinko already expected it–the young man is practically curiosity on feet. Chrome has been living in a world of limited sources of knowledge and he didn't let it stop him from researching everything or even anything in his own. Now that he met people with vast knowledge of the world, of course he wouldn't waste his time to dig deeper and know more.
"Since it's still spring, we can find some sansai," she replied, fixing her grip on a woven basket she's currently bringing along–it will serve as a place to piled up the vegetables they're going to collect.
The brunette tilted his head in confusion, the word was still alien to him. "Sansai?"
"Spring mountain vegetables," Ukyo replied, giving enlighten to his confusion. "We're going to look for butterbur, butterbur buds, ostrich fern, flowering rapeseed, spring chrysanthemum, bamboo shoots, angelica, wasabi mustard greens, and mountain asparagus. Hopefully many of them are still growing."
Chrome frowned and muttered underneath his breath. "I've never heard any of them…"
"Don't worry, I usually help my grandma gathering them when we're having a vacation in the mountains," Shinko remarked, trying to reassure him–it's a human nature to not know about something, a person couldn't possibly become an expert in every aspect of knowledge exists. If you don't know about a thing a two, it's humane.
"Those are survival plants so I learned about them in military training," Ukyo followed. "And besides, we have ultimate sight over here so it will be easy."
She snorted harmlessly, punching his upper arm playfully. "It doesn't work that way, Ukyo-san."
Departing from the village, now their main goal besides communicating and mapping the landscape with the sky survey team was collecting different kinds of mountain vegetables. And seeing how they needed some time for preparation, which includes oil making, they would be cutting the exploration short.
Currently, Chrome was leading them to a place he deemed the most suitable one where variety of plants flourished. Both Ukyo and Shinko agreed almost immediately–the brunette spends his life searching for many kinds of things so it wouldn't be a surprise he knew a few spots where probably could find those vegetables.
Thankfully, the location wasn't too far so they didn't have to wander into the wilderness even further. The two knew instantly from how the brunette pointed excitedly to the place in front of them. Once the three of them arrived, Shinko immediately examined the spot–her eyes scanning the area briefly.
"You're brilliant, Chrome-san!" she praised, if there's a projection for imagination then both Chrome and Ukyo could see how sparkles radiated from her eyes–just from it, they both understood how happy she was at the moment. "There's so many of them here!"
"Wait, really?" the brunette was perplexed–mostly because he only saw the color green everywhere because there's so many plants growing and many of the he couldn't differentiate between one another.
"Yeah," Ukyo nodded in agreement, a smile plastered on his face. "This is a great place. We should start gathering."
"W-wait, can you explain about those plants!?" Chrome yelped because the young man and Shinko already jogged into the area and split into two group automatically–leaving him in his own confusion regarding the plants they needed to gather.
Both of them did–Ukyo and Shinko took turns in explaining and pointing out for the edible plants they could find in the area. Chrome attentively listened to every word, trying not to miss any info given to him–occasionally nodding or humming in understanding as a respond. Sometimes, he would ask trivial questions regarding them to satisfy his curiosity.
"That's bad!" exclaiming in amazement, he pulled out an ostrich fern from the ground. "So these weird fern plant can be eaten!?"
Shinko chuckled at his enthusiasm, her own hands were moving to collect the same plant–then placing it into the basket. "It's a good source of nutrients despite looking weird."
"Yeah, it's definitely had weird appearance." Chrome agreed with her statement, inspecting the plant in hand closely. "I mean, look at it! It's kind of curled up, and inside it is mini leaves! It doesn't have any branches either."
"Because it's still sprouts," Ukyo remarked, kneeling beside them to lend a hand since he's already done on the other side. "They will get bigger in a few months."
"And that's quite a lot of angelica you got, Ukyo-san." Shinko referred to the small pile of said plant already placed into the woven basket–the roots were already cut off and slightly cleaned from dirt.
"There're many of them over there, but I can't pull them all out." the young man replied, hands pulling some ostrich fern with a strong tug. "Must leave a few behind for the ecosystem. And you have a dirt on your cheek,"
Blinking in confusion, she tried to wipe it using her arm knowing how dirty her hands were–they were crusted in dirt and mud, engulfing her whole palm in dark chocolate color. Noticing how Ukyo were trying hard to muffled his laughter was enough for her to know that the stain still persisted. Narrowing her eyes in displeased, she immediately lifted her hands–putting her dirty hands on display and it was enough to stole Ukyo's attention. The threat was real.
"Okay, okay," in return, the young man raised his hands in surrender–although he's in the mission to suppress a wheeze that threatened to rolled out of his mouth. "Please don't smear them on my face."
Reaching out, Ukyo used the back of his hand (which was clean, mind you) to wiped away the exact spot he pointed out marred her cheek. Once he tried his best to get rid of the stain, Shinko's scrunched her nose as he did–something that made him chuckled a bit because it's something she rarely did. Warmth blooming in his chest–especially when she didn't even flinch nor feeling uncomfortable with his gesture.
"Hey, tell me more about these plants!" Chrome's voice instantly made them turned his head–noticing how he's pointing out to a plant not far away from them. He was practically beaming with energy, waiting for their explanation eagerly.
Both Ukyo and Shinko locked gaze with each other for a few seconds, before burst into fits of laughter–leaving Chrome confused by their action.