Silver Pendulum | Dr. STONE

Prologue: Zero

It was another reasonably peaceful day but Senku Ishigami was absorbed in his tasks and assisting his fellow members of the Science Club.

The day was tedious and he was on the verge of doing something incredibly unreasonable. Who was he kidding, he'd never do that. It was just an irritating day. He was just happy to be in the science clubroom.

"< Ishigami. >" The calm voice made his shoulders tense in shock. He couldn't recognise the voice. It was obviously feminine. He pursed his lips in thought. It wasn't Yuzuriha. She didn't know basic English.

It couldn't have been any of the students who were already there either. They weren't fluent enough to make their tone sound foreign. The only fluent English speaking student he knew was in the science club was [Name].

"< [Name]? >" He turned to find his hypothesis correct. [Name] stood close to him with a small grin.

"< What do you need? >" He asked, returning his attention to the task at hand. He picked up a test tube and poured a solution into it.

"Nothing, really." [Name] replied in Japanese. "I just came to say goodbye." Senku stopped what he was doing and slowly turned his head to face the student behind him.

"What?"

"Yeah," She shrugged. "Family-related issues. I'm going home for some time. Maybe I'll be back before you graduate." She winked and nudged him with her elbow.

Senku didn't know how to respond. It was unexpected. [Name] wasn't born in Japan; she mentioned it when she was first introduced. From what he remembered, her only Japanese relative was her uncle.

Regardless, she did not mention much about her life back in her homeland. She never seemed homesick or emotional, especially when the topic was brought up. If anything, she was more than happy to live in Japan despite the social issues she faced.

"I see," Senku swallowed, unable to find anything to say. "Do you know when you'll be back– if you're going to return?"

"Not really." [Name] sighed, resting her chin on her palm. She shifted to face the window, allowing the sun to light up her skin. It was always a marvellous sight in everyone's eyes.

"It would be nice to discover it was some sort of late birthday surprise. Get it over and done with so I can get back to Japan and be with my uncle, you know?"

"I'm sure your family wouldn't use something that serious as an excuse to bring you home." Senku disagreed. "That would be ten billion percent unreasonable."

[Name] chuckled at the comment. Ten billion percent, he says. He was probably right. He was never wrong whenever he said that. She was going to miss that so much. She was going to miss many things:

Taiju helplessly fawning over Yuzuriha, while Senku silently judged in the background. Five years and he still couldn't admit his feelings.

Working with Senku and the Science Club after school was so stressful yet satisfactory. She was even lucky enough to help him and his adoptive father with their NASA related projects.

[Name] knew she wouldn't cry just by looking back to the good memories but she couldn't deny that it made her smile.

She rapidly blinked, feeling her eyes sting from staring at the sun for so long. "I should get going." She smiled. "I've got loads to pack before the flight."

Senku hummed and darted his eyes across the floor. "I– no. We - being myself and the big oaf - we enjoyed having you around. Regardless of it being short-lived." He looked up into [Name's] eyes and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.