♄"A Trip Down The Memory Lane"♄
(The picture above is how I envisioned my OC to looked like, I was too lazy to draw the child version of her lol)
It was a weird day for him.
Senku was doing his usual stuff, which was running an errand for his next big project. Sadly, Taiju wasn't there to help him with the labor work -he was having a monthly check up-; but that was fine, it's only small parts that he needed at the moment. There are more to come, but he can shove that back into his mind while he waits for Taiju's return.
But today was certainly not his charity give-out day.
Just as he walks past a small park in his neighborhood, he saw a group of girls cornering a much smaller girl. Normally, he could give a two damn about it and walk away.
Normally, this is what he wants to emphasize.
That is until he heard a quite loud shout from the smaller girl. Senku immediately stops on his track and watches the scene play out with his interest peaking its ugly rear out. Certainly, have a high hope that it's not a stupid catfight that he wishes not to take part in.
The much smaller girl stood up and immediately runs her mouth at the tallest girl in the group – They seem to look familiar, Senku mused but give no further thought about it.
The smaller girl has a peculiar accent--- Ah.
He knows what the hell is going on there. Even a person with half a brain cell can tell.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" The small girl shouted at them. Her accent was heavy- is it Western? No, he knows English.
Then it's Eastern... Chinese or Thai maybe?
The tallest girl looked repulsed, she lifted her hand and exert a lot of force to push the small girl to the ground. "Ashamed? You're the one who should be! I bet you and your stupid poor ancestors will not survive in this place long!" She and her friends cackled haughtily. If Senku remembered correctly – Not that he would bother to- she's one of the popular girls in his school. Of course, that was brought up by the male classmates gathering inside his homeroom ranking the most datable girls in their grade. He obviously took no part in it, not even one millimeter of his attention was spared into the messy blackboard filled with names and whatnot.
But it seems too cruel for him to leave a defenseless little foreign girl to fend for herself. He's not heartless, Senku knows that himself very well.
"Oi, you better stop unless you want your parents to get involved." Senku made himself known to the girls. Pretty much nonchalantly and bored as heck when he walked towards them. The girls -excluding the small girl- exploded, red in the face from embarrassment. Pathetic.
"S-Senku-kun! Don't mind her, although I have no qualms with you reporting her and have her deported-"The tallest girl was blushing bashfully as she immediately started to insert herself into Senku's personal space.
"Reporting the bullied girl? You must be out of your mind." Senku swiftly dodged the advance of the tallest girl, "Yunko, or Ruko, or Unko, or whatever the name you are-" He stepped between the small girl and the group of bullies, acting as a shield. "-You're the one who should be reported."
"Huh?!" The tall girl tripped over her own feet, "Unko?! My name is not poop!" She glared harshly at Senku, the girls she was with started to snicker behind her. She paid no mind to them.
"I couldn't care less about that..." His finger lifted from his side and onto the goggle that sits on top of his head. He tapped it condescendingly. "But with this goggle, I am ten billion percent sure that I had captured all the footage needed to get you into detention! Or worst, expulsion!" He cackled vaingloriously, obviously looking down at the girls. He had all the advantage right now; nothing can stop him.
"T-then we'll destroy all the evidence!" One of her friends said, but Senku just smirked at them.
"Really? That'll be extremely pointless since I had already uploaded it into the cloud, besides there's no way you can't prevent me from sending it to the authorities even if you plummet me to bloody pulp! You do understand what's the outcome of this footage circulating around the campus, don't you? I have you all walking on a tightrope!" He continued to laugh maniacally. Unko -or whatever her name is- started to sweat profusely.
She couldn't risk her reputation from this, she had so much privilege and fame right in her possession. But to have it all taken away from her just because of this. The salons, the parties... there's no way she would continue to live her life if all of these socialite things were taken away from her!
She finally reached her decision, just as Senku expected from a spoiled brat.
"If the footage leaked..." Unko growled lowly, but he immediately cut her off.
"I'm a man of my word, I won't go against it." He assured her dismissively. Sticking his pinky finger into his ear while having firm eye contact with the poopy girl. The girls looked at each other silently coming to an agreement before backing away from them. Eventually, they left the park and had never looked back.
"Not even putting up a fight, not that I wanted to anyway. I am ten billion percent going to win either way." He sighed before turning around to meet the girl he defended. He waited for her to stand up on her own to leave, but it just never came. He peered down and, oh. A struck of realization hit his face.
"Why didn't you say something?" He kneeled down took take a closer look at the wound on her knee. The girl kept her mouth shut and avoided meeting his gaze. He sighed for the nth time of the day; his hands reached for the orange tie – he noticed that beforehand- that held her hair together in a ponytail. Without giving a second thought, he tugged it and watched her hair unraveled and cascade onto her face. Senku used the hair tie as an impromptu bandage for the wound. She needs to have it disinfected with betadine or something.
Without giving any warning to the girl, Senku pulled her up to her feet. He tilted his head to look at the sky turning from blue to orange, and ever so slowly the sky became darker.
"Where's your house?" He asked, waiting for a verbal reply. It never came, but instead, a pointed finger was guiding him the entire way to her house.
The sky was indeed getting darker, but he can still see the road as clear as daylight. Maybe because of the street lights that were above their tiny head or his eyesight was just that good. However, to the girl that was beside him. She seemed to have difficulty seeing things from afar- which can be seen on how hard she had to squint her eyes-, this caused them to stop multiple times to let her check her environment.
Visual impairment. Senku hummed. It's something that he can definitely solve the issue, but he would rather leave it to the professionals to deal with it. It took approximately twenty minutes and thirty seconds for them to arrive at their destination.
And it took 0.8901 milliseconds to realize that her house was adjacent to the apartment complex that he lived in.
Not to mention, it was only a five-minute walk from the park to his apartment.
He pinched the bridge of his nose to stop himself from getting even more irritated. If only she uttered a single word on the street, she lived in.
"Mama! I'm home!" The girl beside him suddenly ran toward a much older woman whose visage looks somewhat similar to hers.
"Why are you home late?" The older woman asked as she crouched down to look at the girl. "Did you run into some troubles?"
"I was bullied by some girls awhile ago, but this brother helped me." Then the girl suddenly pointed at him.
Senku can give an educated guess that he only understood ten percent of the words spoken. And that ten percent represents the word mother.
Not giving him much space to escape, he finally submits to the meaningless chatter. "Good evening." He greeted with an uninterested undertone.
The older woman, the girl's mother, smiled softly at him. "Thank you for helping my daughter." Ahh, finally something that he can understand
"Don't sweat it." He replied, getting ready to leave their household. Oh, how he wished he could.
"Senkuuuu~ I see you made a new friend!" The old man grinned as he ruffled Senku's anti-gravity hair and instantaneously whined when Senku slapped his hands away. He thought too soon, luck seems not to be in his side today- as if it ever was. The older man turned to look at the mother, "I have never seen you around here, are you new to the neighborhood?"
Senku snorted, "Of course they are, you have never seen them. It's logical to say that they just moved in recently."
The mother chuckled at his statement, "Indeed, you are correct young boy, a very sharp observation. My husband and I just moved here a couple of days ago."
"Well, if you say so. My name Ishigami Byakuya; and this is my son, Senku!" Byakuya introduced himself enthusiastically and pushes his son forward. Senku wiggle out of his grasp and crossed his arms.
"My name is Ri Mei Rin." That's highly unexpected. "And my daughter, Annie." Mei Rin moved out of the way, revealing the girl behind who was behind Mei Rin the entire time. "You wouldn't mind eating at our humble home tonight?" Mei Rin invited.
Oh, please say no.
"If you insist! I wouldn't refuse such a kind offer!" Senku turned his head so fast that he got mild dizziness. Whether if it's from the speed or his adoptive father's idiocies, he couldn't tell.
-o-
Without a doubt, this old man's an idiot.
"I want to go home." Senku deadpanned. Of course, Byakuya won't agree to go home especially when there's a feast conjured in a matter of minutes. Not to mention, all of these foods were Chinese delicacies. In other words, exotic. Now that lowers the chance of leaving their new neighbor's home even more.
"What a great dish you have there!" Byakuya outright ignored his statement and proceed to praise the host. He even shamelessly took all of the food in front of him and piled it on his plate.
"Senku-kun, please enjoy the meal. I'm not sure if these suit your taste..." Mei Rin smiled sheepishly as she set the last dish on the dining table.
Gyoza? Well, that's the dish that he recognizes.
"This is a dumpling from my hometown. I used to eat it whenever I felt homesick." She added. From the corner of the room, next to the door, her husband appeared with a huge smile on his face, and the small girl had a tight grip on his trouser.
"Welcome to our humble home, Ishigami-san!"
"Byakuya is fine!" Byakuya piqued with a mouthful of food, then he swallowed abruptly. "This is a wonderful house you have here. You seem to have everything in control, Ri-san."
The man laughed, "Ri is not my surname. It's my wife's maiden name. I'm Kouko Hisoka, nice to meet you." Hisoka stretched his arm, and Byakuya shook his hand.
A Japanese and Chinese household? Now, this is getting somewhere. Senku decided to peer down at the small girl. East Asian people generally have similar physical characteristics. Although, they do have a fair share of distinct characteristics that sets them apart. It was no brainer that Senku saw some trails of Chinese genetics making their way up there.
Hisoka caught Senku's intense stare at her daughter, he decided to introduce her to him. He looks interested.... Hisoka thought, hopefully not in the stage where all sappy sweetness and heartbreaks bull crap happens.
"This is my daughter, Annie."
Annie was shocked, downright looked like she had been tossed into the colosseum filled with hungry lions. But that was not even the worst thing that happened to her. She refused to utter a word to either of the visitors.
"AH~, What a cute daughter you have there!" Byakuya sighed defeatedly, "I wish my son was that cute."
"Shut up, old man," Senku interjected annoyedly. "Ri-san already introduced her to us."
"Annie hasn't had a friend yet; I hope you take care of her." Hisoka gave a kind smile.
Now you might think that this man looks quite charming with his red hair slick back, and golden eyes crinkled in heartfelt delight.
To anyone, it's just a harmless and kind smile from a father.
But Senku wasn't anybody, he can see Hisoka was exuding a dark and chilling aura. Not only that, he could almost see a subtitle right beneath his face. He quoted that 'If you decided to do anything reckless and stupid to Annie, you're gonna get it'.
Who the hell does that man think he was? He's an aspiring scientist, not a nosy, bratty kid in most of his class. Every action and step he took is well calculated and strategized. If anything, that's reckless, it would be that man's illogical mind.
Mei Rin clapped her hand; it clears up the awkward silence that his own father took no notice of. "Senku-kun, why don't you try some food?" Mei Rin suggested. The only thing he knows here was the Chinese gyoza.
He didn't have a choice anyway. He used his chopstick to grab a piece of the said dumpling and shove it directly into his mouth.
His eyes widen for a fraction of a second.
"It's good." Mei Rin looked so happy that she can ascend to the sky.
Senku meant it. The scientist doesn't lie, and his chipmunk cheeks prove it. He finished the whole plate by himself to which Mei Rin happily refills it to his heart's content.
The two-family finally settles down and start to enjoy their meal, while occasionally having chats over the food.
-o-
The night is still young.
Or so his adoptive father said. It's already Seven-thirty in the evening, the adults decided to have a friendly chat in the living room. Mei Rin ushered both Senku and Annie to the second floor so that they can know each other better.
"But not too much." Hisoka gave a chilling smile to Senku. As if he will do something to the small girl beside him. Senku rolled his eyes at the man before climbing the stair, leaving the girl scrambling behind him.
He walks into the hallway of the second floor and waited for Annie to arrive. When she did, he turns his head slightly towards her and asks where her room is. Expecting for a nonverbal response from her.
But not this time.
"Here..." Senku's perked, this is the third time he heard today. Annie answered in a small voice. She walked forward and open the door. Senku's eyes stung a little when he saw how pink the room was. There bunch of stuffed toys and books placed on the shelves. The bed was pushed to the side, a study table was parallel to the bed. A warm pink carpet under his feet. It's very soft, he noted.
His attention was suddenly stolen by the newest model of telescope next to the windowsill.
"No way, you have this?!" Senku was awestricken, he inspected the telescope closely while Annie stood behind him in silence.
"This is seriously expensive, even my old man had a hard time buying it." He mused as he takes a peek into the scope. "It's around twenty million yen for this model."
"It was a gift..."
"Must be great to have an expensive gift." He straightens his back and turned to look at the bedroom again. But this time, he saw a very ragged and dirty Mikasa volleyball sitting on the nightstand. He picked it up to have a closer look. But Annie was freaking out at the back.
"You play volleyball?" He asked as he absent-mindedly tossed the ball up, only to be startled when the ball was snatched from him.
"No!" Annie hugged the ball tightly, Senku looked at her disheveled.
Was there a sentimental value to that ball, Senku thought as he kneeled down to poke the small girl's side. Startling her from her stupor.
"Why did you protect the ball, it's just an object," Senku stated in an obvious manner.
But Annie just shook her head. "This is from Tenma." She said firmly.
"Tenma?" Senku questioned, who the hell is that?
Annie had a faraway look on her face as she stared at the ball tenderly. "He saved me."
Two years ago, she and her father attended the national volleyball tournament. Her father was a co-coach for the team Karasuno and she just happened to tag along because her mother was busy that day. Of course, she had fun with the team members and got along very well. But their next game was approaching. They had the upper hand, but just when the ball suddenly curved to a sharp right. Flying directly to Annie at a speed of 120 km/hr, there's no way for her to dodge it. But before she was hit, a black-haired boy appeared in front of her and blocked the ball with his arms. The ball, however, went past the court giving the opposing team the point. The black-haired teen did not pay any attention to that, there's a child here who almost got injured for Christ's sake! He softly cupped Annie's face, looking at her with concern and worry clouding his eyes.
"Are you alright? Were you hurt?" He asked frantically. Annie slowly shook her head to show that she's fine. The boy sighed and scooped her up, carrying her in her arms. Annie decided to wrapped her arms around the said boy's neck and bury her flushed face on the crook of his neck.
"Udai!"
"Annie!"
Shouting at the same time, the couch and her father ran towards them, after assuring themselves that she was fine. The game continued, ending with the Karasuno moving to the next round. But Annie did not bother to look at the scoreboard, her face was heating up as she only looked at the boy who saved her.
The boy -Tenma, she thought- decided to grab his own personal ball and use his teeth to remove the marker cap. Scribbling down something on the surface of the ball. He kneeled down in front of her, holding her hands.
Annie felt the callouses in his hand, but it was warm. She felt safe in his hands.
"Here." Tenma smiled, "I might not think volleyball is my whole world but, I hope you won't hate it."
She could never hate it.
"Because... it brought me to him." Annie smiled as her cheeks were dusted with pink shade. Senku gazed at her in the corner of his eyes.
A classic case of first romantic love. Most of the children's first love was their parents, although those were what they call imprinting to a parental figure of their life. But to some other extend, whether it's romantic or admiration. Their concept of love was shaped by the people and the environment around them. Hence, it often time, gets people confused.
As soon as he thought of it, Annie turns her head toward his direction. "What?"
"Nothing." He shook his head; he was sure that he did not say it verbally. He wasn't planning on having a romantic attachment anytime soon. There's no point in dwelling that.
Since he will go home, if that old man allows, at a much later time; he might as well pass some time with the small girl. His project can wait, there are many things that need to do. But without Taiju's physical strength, he won't get anywhere.
"Tell me more about volleyball." Annie's face brightened with excitement.
Might as well know what the fuss is all about.
-o-
While the sport was as enticing as is, he was as dried as a seaweed under the scorching sun. And by that, the sun was Annie herself. Beaming like a ball of a gaseous star in the cold vacuum space. The sport was simple. It's as easy as what Annie made it sound like.
Keep the ball up.
Touch it three times.
Don't let it fall.
Senku went home late last night, and it seems that both their parents have so much in common to the point that they were invited for dinner yet again. Senku did not mind though, he had some fun at Kouko household today.
But he was beat.
He'll do the project tomorrow. As soon as his head hits the pillow, he snoozes off.
The next day came in a blink of an eye, it seems almost surreal to him. Senku woke up groggy, but the doorbell was much more annoying. He threw his legs over the bed and head to the front door.
As soon as he opened the door, he was greeted heavily. Forget waking up groggy, he had a major headache starting right now.
A person he had been hoping to see appeared today, and now he wished for them to disappear in his doorway.
"Shut up, you big oaf." Senku picked his left ear to check if he had gone deaf.
"SENKU! SORRY FOR THE LEAVE YESTERDAY!" Nope, his hearing was still there and intact, "LET'S START WITH YOUR PROJECT!" Taiju exclaimed loudly.
"I was ten billion percent going to exclude you from this, but there are a couple of things that I really need your bottomless stamina for." Senku sighed, he opened the door wider and let Taiju in. "Wait in the living room, take anything you want in the refrigerator." Senku went back to his bedroom to change his pajama into some casual wear and a lab coat to top it off. When he's done, he grabbed his blueprints and some existing material on his study table and headed to the living room.
They started to build the foundation of the project, but that's when Senku realized something was wrong.
"Where the hell are my stuff?"
Senku's hand reached to ruffle his gravity-defying hair in an attempt to try and recollect his memories, but before he got his answer the doorbell rang, again.
He sighed once again before pushing himself up from the ground, leaving Taiju behind to drill holes into the metal beam.
Senku could've sworn that he had everything with him yesterday. He didn't leave it at the hardware store. That'll be too illogical, and idiotic. The park? No way, not even one millimeter possible for that. Unless it's at....
"Senku oni-chan!" A familiar blue bag was pushed to his face.
"Wha-?" Senku was dumbfounded but recovered quickly when he realized where he left it. And this finding also gives him the luxury of not pulling a search party at his new neighbor's house.
"Thanks, just in time for me to use it." He thanked the small girl before him. Annie peered at the taller male with unfiltered curiosity.
"What is nii-chan doing with those?" Senku stared at her in silence. Then his mind gear started to work and then went ka-ching as if he won a jackpot in the slot machine. A malicious smile threatening to crawl up to his face, but he stopped with a coy smirked that is directed to Annie.
"I'm creating an exhilarating invention that will ten billion percent have your mind blown away!" This explosive declaration had no doubt made Annie's eyes sparkled. Her childlike curiosity just went up ten billion folds.
"Well, I don't think you will be interested-" He sighed dejectedly and turned his back at her, but yelped in surprised.
"Annie wants to know!" She grabbed a handful of his lab coat and had it in a tight grip. Not gonna like, that's some death grip she got there. For a kid her age, Senku mentally added.
"Well, I guess if you really wanted to join us..." He rubbed his chin as him he was thinking deeply, "You should really ask for your mother-"
Say no more, Annie already raced back home and returned in no time. Her hair was sticking out, some leaves somehow got attached to them, and decided to make a nest on her head. Her sundress was a bit disheveled.
"Mommy said yes!" Annie proudly announced.
"Pfff-"
Senku couldn't contain his laughter. Just like one of the heroes in the DC comic he had, she comes and goes in a flash! Very impulsive.
Extra manpower, Acquired!
He placed his outstretched hand on Annie's head and started to remove the leaves, and surprisingly branches, in her messy blue hair. Then his hands moved down to smoothen the sundress she wore.
"Come in, I think I have some comb lying inside the apartment. Not that we actually need to use it anyway." He mumbled the last part of the sentence to himself.
"Who's that, Senku?" Taiju asked as he placed down the electric drill.
"This is Annie. Annie, that's Taiju; my best friend." Taiju beamed at the title.
Not everyone have that Senku Privilege!
He happily greeted the small girl and helped her settle in the highly hazardous living room. While they were getting comfy with each other, Senku went to the bathroom to search for a comb.
When he finally finds it, he stopped himself abruptly.
"Since when did I became a nanny?"
___________
Eiyo Guys, Thanks for reading my fanfic.
Let me present a gift to you.
P. S. I spent the entire morning to drew this shit.