The door opened to a huge meeting of the minds: the Jr Science Emporium. It was a chance for young minds to attempt to change the world with their inventions. And of course, Senku Ishigami was making an appearance.
He was the favorite to win by far; no one of his age had ever attempted rocketry before—and certainly no one had made it out of the atmosphere!
But other people were bound to try, he mused as he entered the room and eyed the banner. Taiju stirred behind him, doing the grunt work as usual and carrying the giant rocket.
"Wow you did such great work you're sure to win Senku!" Taiju congratulated.
"Yes I know I will." Senku said distractedly, his eyes finding a strange display of prosthetics that seemed…impossible.
Taiju's voice dragged him back to the present. "Aw don't be like that Senku. There are lotsa smart people here; maybe they'll be competition!"
Senku's eyes found the inventor, a slight young girl. It didn't seem like she could lift the invention, much less build it. But, he amended, he couldn't lift his own rocket either.
Suddenly her eyes snapped to his. The eyes staring at him seemed to dilate ever so slightly. The girl looked startled, then curious, and then she swiftly broke the contact.
A screwdriver flew out of her hand and hit his foot. Incredulously, Senku bent down and picked up the screwdriver, handing it to the girl; who was suspiciously close now.
"Oh thank you!" She said eagerly, grinning at him. "Ishigami, right? Ishigami Senku?!"
"Uh..yes..?" Senku wasn't used to the attention. But he recognized her at last. She was a classmate. "Hikawa, right?"
"Yes that's right!" She beamed at him. Her eyes suspiciously dilated again, and then she looked away quickly, eyes snapping to his invention. "Wow what an amazing rocket! I could never get anything into space! Your as spectacular as I've heard!"
"You've heard of me?" Senku said in disbelief.
"Oh yeah that's my fault." Taiju said sheepishly. "Hikawa's been in the hospital all year. She's in our class and teacher had me bringing her assignments. I kinda bragged about you a little bit."
The girl laughed. "A little bit?!"
Senku finally took another look at her invention. "You created a prosthetic? So this is your talent…"
"Well the truth is…I just didn't like what they gave me." The girl indicated her leg. "Oh and call me Kuri. There are a LOT of Hikawa's here, you'll see."
"Kuri." Senku looked over her invention a third time to be absolutely sure. "This shouldn't work. There's no power source. Even if you claim it runs on the human body; that's simply impossible for all its doing. And looking and feeling like a flesh limb—"
"I can feel too. If you touch my leg I can feel." Kuri extended her leg. "I made these to help people. Who cares how I did it."
With those words, she turned and extended a glove to him. "Feel for yourself if you don't believe me."
Suspicious, Senku put his hand in the glove she offered. He was shocked and fascinated as it melded to his hand and took on its appearance!
Grinning, Kuri touched his hand gently. "Feel that? See? It's no ordinary prosthetic. I plan to help the disabled as much as I can. Surely that gets you excited, right Senku?"
"Well yes…but it's impossible…" He trailed off, examining his hand. "How is this possible?"
Kuri snatched away the glove before he could examine it further. "That's a secret! Now. I wanna see that rocket!"
Before Senku could stop her, Kuri was bending over his rocket, smirking. "Has it gotten to space?"
"Yes! Senku's a total genius!" Taiju beamed. "He's gonna go to space himself!"
Kuri grinned a Cheshire grin, her blue-silver eyes twinkling. "Oh Senku will be on the moon before you know it." She gave him a knowing look. "I'm sure of it; ten billion percent."
Senku blinked at the girl. That was twice now that she had used his own catch phrases. But they had never met before. And that knowing look; the arm…
The mystery deepened.