~ normal
~ sign language
~ M/N language
~ thoughts
On Chapter 22
"But there is a certain (H/C) boy that you will be interested in, Tsukasa-kun." Hyoga grins behind his masks.
-THE AGE OF ENERGY-
Third Person POV
"We have only a few months' time." Senku said while looking at the map. "What are you talking about?" Kohaku questioned.
"It's the time when Tsukasa will initiate an attack on us. Gen, what do you think?" Senku asked him.
"Well, based on Tsukasa-chan's character..." Gen thought for a while and then started to imitate Tsukasa with his voice. "We have control over the revival fluid. The longer the time is, the greater is our manpower. But our opponent is Senku. The more time we give him, it will most likely for him to start mass production of gunpowder." Gen said with Tsukasa's voice.
"You mimic his voice way too well." Senku sweat dropped at him.
On the other side...
"Be prepared to do everything and take down Senku once and for all. In order to prepare for the next winter, our manpower will be dispersed. Also, Hyoga, based on your information you have provided, the Kingdom of Science is a water fortress." Tsukasa confirmed with Hyoga.
"That's right. It's protected by the frozen ice lake during the winter. If they stay inside, it's extremely hard for us to attack. If we besiege the place, our troops morale and grain will not last long." Hyoga added.
"Is it really alright for us to leave Taiju and Yuzuriha unchecked?" Hyoga questions Tsukasa about his decision.
"I'll arrange spies to watch them. But treat them the same. Don't alert them. Even if Taiju and Yuzuriha are spies, there's no way for them to keep in touch on this kind of world. Well, as compared to this, we should be more concerned about Senku's pre-emptive strike." Tsukasa simply responds with ease.
"I've sent Homura-kun to monitor them from afar. But we don't have any means of communication too. There'll be delay in delivering the intel that she will gather." Hyoga commented.
Back to the Scientist...
"Speaking of which, if Tsukasa knows that you're still alive, that means Taiju and Yuzuriha are in danger, right?" Chrome questions to Senku.
"Will they be killed?" Kohaku added.
"This is simply not an issue. To Tsukasa, they're hostages. He'll not mistreat them. The rules of the game are simple. In order to strike Tsukasa first, we're going to make a cell phone." Senku announced.
"The battle will take place during Spring then..." M/N mumbled.
"It feels so different when many people are working together!" Chrome exclaimed, while carrying some wood to the burning site with Kohaku and Senku.
"It's the result of M/N-chan successfully taking the village chief position." Kohaku commented. "That seriously helps a great deal. Making mobile phones in this Stone World, is a very large-scale project. There are many issues that we need to solve." Senku chuckled.
"Right, about the cell phone that you mentioned. You can talk to me even when you're far away. Tell me how it works!" Chrome exclaimed, determine to know more along with Kaseki. "What is the theory? Gently explain it to me." Kaseki commented.
"You guys are too close. Why are you guys being excited?" Senku sweat dropped, while Gen simply pulls Senku near himself making Senku blush at his actions. "Kaseki ji-chan, please stay away from Senku-chan, please. He's mine." Gen stated while grinning evilly.
"He's my younger twin for gods sake, Asagiri." the sudden comment from M/N sent shivers to Gen.
"Ani-chan, are you sure you're feeling better to walk around again?" Senku asked his twin, making sure he was alright.
"I'm alright, ototo. I can even run around like before already." M/N responded with confidence.
"M-M/N-chan! You scared me!" Gen exclaimed, terrified by M/N suddenly appearing out of nowhere. "It's not like you're doing anything wrong. What's there to be scared about, Asagiri~?" M/N evilly smiles at him.
"Stop it, you both." Senku sighed at both of them before explaining what Chrome was curious about.
"Listen carefully. To put it plainly, the so-called sound is air vibration. And when it vibrates against the diaphragm, it will produce a small current corresponding to the rhythm. Because it is too small, it is forced to expand. At this time, the vacuum tube is used. Then, as long as this current continuously circulate in one place, it will become a wave of energy. This is called as a radio wave. The receiver only needs to reverse the operation and do it again." Senku explained without a stop.
"I-I probably understood half of it!"
"I don't understand at all."
"The details require a high IQ. It gives me serious headache. Please do tell us where do we have to start from, Senku-chan."
"The extraordinary Science project. The first step is to make..."
"A cotton candy machine."
"..."
"Cot..."
"Ton..."
"Candy..."
"Machine?"
'Well, the IQ requirement for the explanation seemed to have suddenly dropped by 100 points. Is it all right?' Gen thought while having a 'Are-you-serious' look on his face on display.
'I'm not surprised at this point.' M/N thought while starting to day dreaming again.
Time Skip
"This is..."
"Put granulated sugar here and keep spinning. The liquid sugar melt is forced through the small holes by centrifugal force. And a stream of sugar melt exits the spinner. This is cotton candy." Senku briefly explains.
"What do you think will happen if we replace sugar with gold?" M/N joins in with Senku's Science talk.
Chrome gave a thought for a while and exclaimed that it will produced gold wires. "Correct. Ten billion points for you, Chrome~!"
"I see. The wiring used for electrical appliances. The IQ requirement that was pulled down finally returned to normal." Gen added.
"All right! I'll get the gold." Chrome stated and ran towards the hut. "Hold on. Gold is too expensive. We can't afford to fail. Let's make cotton candy first. We should at least test the water first." Senku smirks.
They then went to the village in order to grab something when one of the villagers said, "That lady, Homura, set the fire. It damaged the Taro wine and Sweet cooking wine. The fire burned for a long time. Look at that. It all caked up at the bottom of the pot." pointing towards a pot that was full of sugar crystal.
"What are you going to do with the damaged wine?" Kohaku questions. "You'll get this as long as you keep heating the wine. Sugar crystal." Senku smirks.
Time Skip
They then started to make the cotton candy with the help of Kinro and Ginro pulling the rope non-stop, and the villagers started to surround the area, not to closely though.
"Awesome. It smells so good!"
"It's white and fluffy like the clouds on the sky!"
M/N then gave the girls the cotton candy after doing it well. They started to take a bite, and had blush forming on their face.
"This is simply..."
"Even my bones are melting!"
"That's right."
"Come on, father! Give it a try!" Kohaku commented while shoving a cotton cady right on his face. "That's so dubious." Before taking a bite and started to feel like he's in heaven. Slowly, the village started to try the cotton candy loving how it tastes.
"They never tried such a nice dessert before." Gen commented, making M/N and Senku to agree with him. "That's right. It's just a normal cotton candy. It's a source of happiness that gives a great delight on their first try." Senku slightly grinned.
"All thanks to Homura-chan for setting the fire and giving us the ingredient." Gen commented before taking a bite from the cotton candy. "Arigato, M/N-chan~" M/N simply nodded at him while he started to make his own, knowing Senku doesn't like sweet things.
"Cutie~ Come and have a bite!" Gen flirted to Senku who had a blushing face in display.
"Asagiri."
"Hm?" Gen replied teriffied about M/N might kill him.
"Do you know what kind of woman Homura-kun is?" M/N asked while taking a bite of the finished cotton candy that he did himself. Gen seemed to sigh at this. M/N then sat at a chair near by, feeling his injuries started to hurt him a bit.
Ginro seemed to have heard what M/N had asked and kept elbowing him lightly, not wanting to make his injuries even more worse. "What? M/N -chan is interested in girls too? Do you like petite girl?" Ginro kept throwing questions while M/N was not really that interested in his talk.
'Although, I do want M/N-chan to say no...' Ginro thought.
The girls were all ears, listening to M/N and Ginro's conversation. "Nope, that's definitely not the case. M/N-chan is simply not interested in relationship right now." Chrome bluntly says. "They know nothing about M/N-chan." Kohaku added.
"We're being watched. All of us are being watched by that woman named Homura." M/N simply says. "That makes sense. After all, that girl is the only one that Hyoga-chan trusts the most." Gen added, making Ginro slightly shiver.
"S-She's watching us now?" Ginro exclaimed. "Of course. She's at a spot where she can see us if we make any big movement." Senku added after done being flustered by Gen's actions here and there.
"It's so that she can track us at once even if all of us flee." M/N commented, making Ginro shiver again.
'And here I thought we could escape if none of the plans works.' Ginro shivered. "We'll never escape." Kohaku firmly stated.
"We have many elderly people. They can't afford to travel." Kokuyo added. "There are no cowards in this village who will run and abandon the elderly!" Kohaku exclaimed, making Ginro all startled.
"Of course. Not at all. How can that be?" Ginro stuttered out. "Homura-chan is very respectful of Hyoga-sama. Hyoga told her to keep watch, and she'll definitely do it. So, even if we ignore her, she wouldn't mess with us. But if you want to win her over, that's impossible. Although M/N-chan here might be an exception." Gen replied to M/N's question.
Time Skip (night time)
"Senku, why did you give the cotton candy to the enemy?" Chrome asked feeling unsure about Senku's decision. Senku simply snickers at Chrome's question, "Homura is watching us. She'll tell Tsukasa about the cotton candy. The temptation of sweets is simply incredible. Perhaps, some of them might think about joining the Kingdom of Science. Plus, it was Ani-chan's idea. Not me." Senku referring to his (H/C) twin who was already sleeping in the hut.
"I see."
"M/N is still so despicable. No, it's a compliment."
"Of course. It should have a strategic importance too. Perhaps, M/N-san was just... thinking about sharing the cotton candy with the girl. I think that's all it is." Ruri said.
Next day...
Senku, Gen and Ginro was somehow making a scene where Ginro was the chef, who had cooked the cotton candy with a little bit of M/N's help. M/N simply sweat dropped at this scene, thinking that they were too childish somehow.
'Gosh, they are almost in adult's age, yet look at them... playing a scene like the movies.... not to mention, Asagiri's age is already an adults...' M/N thought.
M/N was still day dreaming about... stuff, while the others were in a slight serious talk.
"The cell phone isn't ready. But Tsukasa-kun is coming soon!" Ginro shouted, making M/N coming back into reality. "Don't worry. We're talking about serious things." Senku chuckled out.
"Is it a serious matter to discuss the taste of cotton candy?" Kohaku added, not really knowing what are they really doing. "If there is a dent on the cotton candy, the same thing will happen when we make the gold wires." Gen simply said.
"I see! Awesome! Good thing we tried it on the cotton candy first!" Chrome exclaimed loudly, making M/N rub his ears. "Fine the cause of the dent before using the gold." Senku said.
"We're going to conduct unlimited experiments to find out the error." Kaseki added, and with that, they made Kinro and Ginro to pull the ropes, dragging each other.
"Right there!" Chrome yelled out, which poor M/N had to rub his ears again since he was beside Chrome. "Chrome, please do lower down your volume..." M/N mumbled out. "Sorry M/N-chan... hehehe..."
Both the brothers had stop pulling the rope when Chrome had yelled out he founded the problem. "Well, the movement we pulled the string to reverse it, the torque dropped and caused the dent." Senku pointed out.
"Can't you let it run without slowing down? Use the thought between you to think of a way." Kohaku suggested.
"Use a longer rope then. Make it one kilometer first!" Chrome added.
"It's really exhausting!" Ginro yelled out at Chrome's idea.
"How about spinning in circle like the generator over there?" Kaseki commented.
"It's not fast enough." Senku opposed.
"We need to rely on momentum then!" Kohaku exclaimed.
"Everyone take turns. That should do it." Kinro stated, referring to Kohaku's idea.
'My head is spinning from all the talking here and there...' M/N thought, feeling annoyed by his ears being too sensitive.
"But we're lacking manpower. We have to prepare for the winter. We can't assign all the manpower into the Scientific manufacturing." Kokuyo butted in, opposing Kinro's idea.
"It all still comes down to this issue. We can't use the revival fluid to increase our manpower." Gen added.
Senku then had an idea and slightly chuckled. "We can only do this then. It's time consuming. But with Kaseki-san, our great craftsman around, it's not a problem." Senku said.
Senku then informed what Kaseki had to do, to which Kaseki nodded and started to get to work. "The dynamic revolution of human history. Produce gear! We happen to have Kohaku's shield. The shape of it is perfect for making gears." Senku held out Kohaku's shield while commenting.
"You want to use that?" Kaseki questions.
"This is a gift to commemorate the village chief's victory, and given to his daughter, Kohaku-chan." Ginro added.
"No, I don't mind. It is an important gift from her father... well.... I don't know if Kohaku agrees to it." Kokuyo stated.
"No, I don't mind." Kohaku answered without hesitation, making Kokuyo cry out in shock.
"The practicality comes first." Kohaku remarked while getting to work immediately.
"How heartless!" Chrome exclaimed.
After making the gear, Ginro went to test it, with him being excited, it shows that this work will be a piece of cake. "This thing is amazing! It's so easy. This will slowly turn in one direction. It takes only one person to do it."
GEAR ACQUIRED!
"Slowly moving in one direction... It keeps on spinning..." Chrome murmured out. "AWESOME!! I have an idea!! I'm so excited!!!" Chrome shouted out while dragging Kaseki to somewhere.
"Chrome!!!!"
"Ani-chan!!!"
"What are you doing?!" Kaseki shouted out.
"It's all right!! Come on!!"
"..."
"All right!! Let's get to work!!" Kaseki said while dragging Chrome this time.
"It's so dubious. What is Chrome up to?" Kohaku questions. "He probably got some ideas. Ignore him." Senku said while gently patting his (H/C) twins back to ease up the coughing.
"Don't peek on the pranks prepared by the teenager." Gen added.
"Now is not the time to worry about others. Next, hellish homework is waiting for you." Senku said with an evil tone when he was done patting his twins back.
"Twirl the goal wires into one. Make it into a very thin wire on the coil." Senku explained. "How long is the wire that you need?" Kohaku happily asks.
"Oh right. The length is probably from here.... to that mountain!" Senku exclaimed while pointing at the mountain that was far as heck. Everybody fainted at his comment, while quietly started working on it.
"In the end, we still need manpower and human-wave tactic. M/N-chan, it's amazing you could be the village chief." Gen sweat dropped. "Ani-chan simply gave me the title knowing it doesn't suit him anyway." Senku chuckles.
Everyone then started twirling the gold wire, most of them were old folks and children. While Chrome and Kaseki were near the river according to M/N. M/N would stay up late for countless of nights, wanting the couples to rest more, if they are a couple that is. M/N then puts a handmade blanket and cover the both of them, not wanting Gen and Senku to catch a cold.
Three days later....
"I'm too tired to move..." M/N commented, not having a proper sleep for the past three days. "Let's go, Ani-chan...!" Senku drags him, making the scene to looked...... incredible. Just incredible.
"Hm?" M/N look towards a tree, noticing Chrome was crawling?
"Senku, I've made it. I went on without sleep for three days." Chrome tiredly says and brings them to the river.
"This is..."
M/N's eyes almost popped out by what Chrome had did despite not having a proper technology knowledge. "This is simply incredible, Chrome...." M/N commented, making Chrome to blush a slight red.
"Thank you, M/N-chan!"
"Although I'm brilliant, so are the blades of Science. It would be hard to do this without the iron blade." Kaseki said while looking at the blade he was holding. "How is it, Senku, M/N-chan? My invention is awesome, right?! You both exposed my magnet trick back then. I'm returning the favor now." Chrome added.
"You can look a little more surprised, Senku." Kaseki teases slightly.
"It's a waterwheel." Both the twins commented while looking at the waterwheel in amazed.
"You know about it too! Darn it!" Both Chrome and Kaseki collapsed. "A waterwheel?" Kinro questions.
"I've even thought of a name for it. 'A cotton candy machine that keeps spinning'." Kaseki stated, making Ginro to disagree about his taste for the name.
"I'm really impressed! You actually made this thing without a single knowledge." Senku commented with a slight excitement in his eyes. Chrome and Kaseki simply grinned at his reaction, liking it.
"As long as we have gears and waterwheels, the era of manpower is over. Use unlimited fuel-free device. We finally have access to the resources of nature. It's way beyond the manpower. The era of energy has come!" Senku commented.
(2960 words)
(I had to add the demon slayer pic above because my computer somehow has virus.... and i had to use a picture that was already in my computer.... oh well.... i decided not to download anything for the time being.... so i hope readers don't mind!)
(But it looks pretty good tho-)