HER HANDS BRISTLED against the snowy grass as she watched the science kingdom from afar. Her knees were curled towards her head, which she rested on them. It had long been hours since Ukyo had left her.
Yet, she just stayed in between the trees, observing them. They had finished completing fully functional light bulbs. Her mind wandered into various thoughts, did they really need her if they could accomplish all of this without her.
She watched in amazement at how quick Senku's hands were. His eyebrows were knitted in concentration as he clamped the bulb onto the contraption.
"Tada, he just invented or recreated a working switch" she whispered to herself, observing closely. Did he think of her while she was gone? Did he miss her presence?
"You know, science isn't the only thing that roams his gigantic brain" [Name] bumped her head on the tree trunk she was leaning against. Her head whipped to the direction where the familiar voice came from.
Gen stood there, proudly looking down at her. He was out collecting supplies when he noticed a shuffle between the snow pile. If it weren't for her beige clothes, he would've confused her hair for snow.
"GEN" she took deep breaths to calm down her heart. "YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME" she silently screamed at him, hoping the others hadn't heard.
"Gomen [Name] chan but imagine me when I saw you here so suddenly. I thought we weren't gonna see you until the war" His legs folded into a sitting position as he stayed next to her.
"Tsukasa had been well..." at the mention of his name, she instantly thought of their shared kiss. This made her warm up despite the icy snow against her palm.
"[Name] chan~ what are you hiding~" he smirked at her flustered expression, knowing full well something had happened.
"Don't tell this to Senku but umm" she fiddled with her fingers.
"I kissed Tsukasa"
"YOU WHAT" Gen screamed so loudly that [Name] had to leap in order to shut his mouth.
"Hey Chrome, did you hear that?" Senku looked around to find the source of the scream.
"Huh? No not really" Chrome was too fixated on the task to notice.
"Gen, have you gone insane?!" She whispered to him, still having both her hands on his mouth. She gave him one look to make sure he wouldn't scream again and let go when he nodded.
"[Name] chan what happened to being loyal to Senku?" He gave her an exasperated look.
"Listen, I was just testing something my brother said. Besides it helped me sort out my future endeavours with Senku" she gave him a proud look, slightly pointing her chin up.
"Besides, it's not like Senku minds so." Her smile held sorrow and disappointment. There's only so far that love without reciprocation can go.
"Cheer up, we never know what goes on in Senku chan's brain" he lightly tapped her head to bring some hope back because if Gen was right, Senku had already started to fall.
"By the way, belated happy birthday [Name]" said Gen.
This made her head jerk up, she had totally forgotten that her birthday had gone by. This meant she was already 17, or to be technical, 3717 years old.
"How did you know?" She questioned.
"The village had a Valentine's Day celebration" he jazzed his hands. "Everyone was with a significant other except me and Senku. We were over here building a new device.
That's when he mentioned that it was your birthday"
Her breath hitched as she smiled at the thought.
"[Name] chan" Gen grabbed her shoulders, shaking her.
"Do not give up on him. For once, I want to see him have a romantic relationship with a human and not some metal scrap" he whined
****
"I've gathered all of them, Senku," Kohaku chimed while waving her hands.
"Alright, now where is that idiot mentalist?" Senku scratched his forehead with his pinky. Truthfully, no one had seen the dual haired male since the morning.
Snow had started to fall. Senku stretched out his palm to get the snowflake. She would've loved what he was about to do.
"Should we cancel it?" Chrome asked Senku as the snow would start piling up.
"Nah, I wanna do it today" it just felt right.
"Sorry that I'm late everyone" Gen ran towards them, apologising profusely.
"Alright, let's turn this on" Senku smirked at the waiting crowd and flipped the switch in his hands.
Immediately the tree in front of them lit into hundred speckles of light. Their whole life, the only source of light was either the sun or fire.
Just looking at it made their eyes twinkle with excitement. It was such a small thing in the old world but for them, it meant everything. Breaths of excitement were everywhere as no one could stop staring at the marvellous wonder.
"Perfectly in time for Christmas" a familiar voice joined the conversation, yet no one had noticed her appearance.
"Now that you mention it, what a coincidence" Senku chuckled at the sheer probability of this happening.
Momentarily, everyone froze. Did they just hallucinate [Name]'s voice? Slowly turning their heads to the left, they did not believe their eyes.
There she stood, hands crossed behind her back as she leaned to see the tree sparkle. Her hood was on in a way that slightly exposed her glistening hair.
Men and even some women, blushed at the sight of her. She seemed even more beautiful than the tree in front of them.
"[NAME]!!" Chrome and Kohaku screamed simultaneously. She held her arms up for the incoming hug as they ran towards her while Suika waddled behind.
She was trampled backwards as they all tumbled into the snow. Both had tears in their eyes as they hugged her even tighter, all that mattered right now was that she was back.
She once again gave them a hug as she got up, carrying Suika in her hands. She snuggled with Suika as she giggled in excitement.
"I can't believe this," Kohaku stated as she checked every part of [Name]'s body to make sure that it was her and not a doppelgänger.
Setting Suika aside, [Name] smiled at the rest of the members.
"Senku," [Name] turned her head towards the stranded male. He looked so confused yet he had that brilliant smirk on his face.
He missed her, he really did. She seemed like the only light in this bleak place.
She walked over to him and stood shoulder to shoulder with him,
"They're really pretty" she observed the lights carefully.
Yet Senku couldn't be bothered by the lights. He looked over to his side, staring at her side profile. His eyes softened when he looked at her, his heart thumping.
"Yeah they really are" he kept his eyes on her only.
A/N
While rewatching the anime, I realised I made a small error. Snow starts to fall for the first time during Christmas in the anime yet in this chapter it's implied that it had already started.
Please do ignore this even though it makes the tree moment less exciting. (Plus I'm too lazy to change it)