Stone Heart

Day 6

Real Time.

It was the morning of the Grand Bout. Senku and I made our way across the bridge for the very first time. It was exciting. I had one of my thin, stone tablets under my arm. Senku had his hands on his hips with his smug grin.

"First time we get to pass the bridge..." He said.

"We're making progress." I answered.

Senku and I stood there, back-to-back, taking in the new perspective. I noticed a long blond haired girl making her way down a flight of stairs and over to us. I elbowed Senku lightly.

"Senku look."

"...Your name....it is Senku, is it not?"

"It is. I'm guessing you're the high priestess I've heard about?" Senku asked, turning his head to look at her.

"Yes...I am Ruri.... Senku, if I may ask.... What is your surname?" Senku and I froze. A few of the kids where mumbling to each other, confused. Senku slowly turned around to face Ruri. "I...I mean your family name-"

"Yea I know what a surname is." Senku responded. I could tell by the look on his face he was puzzled, and so was I. How could she know what a surname is? There's no tradition of them here. How could she know?

"C-could it be...." She stated coughing and dropped to the ground. Senku and I rushed over to help her. I reached down.

"Are you alr-"

"Don't touch her!" Yelled one of the guards. She pushed my hand away. " Stay away from her outsiders!"

"Agh. Ok ok....sheesh..." I stood up again.

"Don't make her walk! Carry her!" The chief demanded. I turned to Senku, seeing the shocked look on his face. He smirked.

"...Senku?"

"I have about 10 billion questions for her. Her and I should have a nice long chat about it when this is over."

"Hahah! Oh this is great. At this rate she'll probably keel over on our wedding night..."

I turned to see a big blond man laughing. Kohaku was ready to go over but was stopped by Chrome. I turned to my group of friends.

" Who is that?"

"That's Magma.... He's not a big fan of science. And as you can see he obviously wants to be the village Chief but doesn't care much for Ruri. Kohaku took him down before, back when this thing was held the first time..."

"Wait. You mean the grand bout was already done? Why are they doing it again?"

"Because I intervened last time and took magma down....I heard him say he was planning on killing my sister. Making it look like an accident or something I wasn't going to take that. "

"I don't blame you." I looked at Magma again. This time he noticed and gave me a smirk. It sent an uncomfortable chill down my spine. "Ugh..... creepy."

"Come on. We need to go draw the colored leather to see who's going to fight who." Kohaku and the others walked off, leaving me to myself. I sat down, tablet in hand and began writing.

Estimated Time, 1000 Hours.

So what I've learned so far is that this priestess has more to her than we thought. There's definitely no room for error, we must save her. This Magma man is the greatest enemy in this tournament. If they can defeat him, then it should be smooth sailing and an easy victory. My only hope is that Senku doesn't win. They're on their way back.

Real Time.

Senku and Kohaku stared at their color tipped strips of leather.

"Rig the match! Rig the match! Give us an order that will let us win!" Ginrō shouted. I facepalmed at the annoying blond.