Chapter 10

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     It had been a full two weeks. Ruri had been fully cured and today was the day she finally set foot outside the village for the first time in a while. (Name) herself had not forgotten the turmoil that burned hungrily in the back of her mind but decided to focus on the joyous moment.

     "From now on, the chieftain of the Ishigami-Hallstein Village is Senku!" Kokuyou declared.

     The name of the village sent sirens blaring in (Name)'s head. It had been so long since she heard it, it was completely wiped out of her computer brain memory as irrelevant information. Had she remembered it, she would have looked into it more during her year-long stay in the village. But back then she was occupied with the weighing emotion of suddenly being alone in an unfamiliar world. Now that it had resurfaced again, what was the truth behind the village's name?

     "The truth is... I've known about both of you for a while now. Ishigami Senku. (Name). The hundredth story of the Hundred Tales. Its name is 'Ishigami Senku and Angel (Name)'."

     "I see... In all likelihood, the people who made this Ishigami-Hallstein Village. It can only be them... my father, Ishigami Byakuya, and (Name)'s father, Eden Hallstein."

★彡

     "So only (Name) and Senku's father, as well as five others, were saved because they were up in the sky. And all of us here in the village are descendants of those people from thousands of years ago?" Chrome summarised.

     "That's right. At least most of it..." (Name) muttered the last part to herself, not intending for the others to hear, but Senku did. He knew exactly what she was wondering about. How did her father, who was in jail, somehow revive himself from stone and meet up with the astronauts?

     Another realisation sparked in both their heads at the same time as they recalled their first moments of breaking free from the stone. They were separated. Just before the green light swallowed them whole, she and Senku were together, hardly even a millimetre apart. And yet, Senku woke up in the middle of a forest while (Name) was in the village. Even Taiju, who was further apart than they were, was found closer to Senku than she was. But the weird part was that according to how the villagers looked after her, she had been in the village for possibly longer than the oldest generation. That meant that she had been deliberately moved into the village at some point during her petrification.

     "Ah, this is so mind-boggling!" Chrome cried out, clutching his head. "Let's think about the complicated stuff some other time, we're meant to be celebrating right now!"

     Sometime during the celebration, between the cheers and downing of drinks, Ruri managed to pull (Name) and Senku out of the crowd and lead them away from the hustle and bustle of the night, bringing them up a small hill.

"Truthfully, there's still a last part of the story, a message from Senku's father," Ruri said, "but I thought only you two should be the ones to hear it."

"Hey, Senku, (Name), if you're listening to this message, it means you guys finally broke out of petrification, right? Although I don't know how many thousand years have passed, I'm doing great! Actually, I guess I'm already dead. Before I left for space, I promised you guys science souvenirs. As promised, those science souvenirs from me are the allies who continue the Hundred Tales. Even in a post-apocalyptic world, it was pretty fun! In the end, it was pneumonia that did us in. If you combine your science with your allies' strength, surely you'll make a more enjoyable world...
"I know you won't lose. You'll rebuild civilisation from scratch... and save all humanity. If it's you two, without a doubt...!!!"

★彡

"This is the village graveyard," Ruri said once she finished her message. It was an open cave with tombstones littering the raised hill reaching to the hole in the ceiling. The moonlight laid a spotlight on each stone, marking each honourable death. At the very pinnacle was a single small rock, grounded in the earth. "This small gravestone is said to be where the founders are buried."

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