Edited: Oct 15 2023
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'The secret formula of the reviving potion will be, the trump card against Tsukasa. The miracle water from the cave, should be hidden at all cost...!'
"THE MIRACLE WATER FROM THE CAVE!! WE HAVE ENOUGH NOW!"
Senku, Ana, Lalaine and Athena all looked at him with disbelief and horrified faces. Senku's was the best out of all.
Meanwhile, Taiju smiled brightly, completely oblivious.
Taiju was fixing Yuzuriha's clothes with the help of Lalaine, Ana helping Senku with gathering the needed ingredients. Athena was calmly sitting at the bottom of their tree house.
After hiding most of the miracle water, Ana gave Senku the pot of Nitric Acid. Senku glanced at it, nodding at her in a gratitude after he saw what she actually did.
"Hey wait! The revival potion is just shy quantity needed for one person."
Taiju stopped what he was doing when he heard what Senku just stated, turning at him with a surprised face.
"Whaaat! I was too impatient, sorry!! I'll get some immediately!!"
Ana plopped down on the ground
"I will wait with Tsukasa and the others playing whatever, so hurry up and get it, big guy."
Lalaine walked back and stood beside Athena. Taiju was already running a few meters ahead, Tsukasa somehow yanked him into a stop without even moving an inch from his position.
Senku observed tensely at that, Ana was only looking at him to figure out what they would do next.
'He took the bait.' Senku thought.
Things were going to be difficult from now on.
Tsukasa spoke up, giving them a smile.
"Then, since I'm the fastest, I should go. So give me the location... Of the miracle water."
Senku smirked to himself.
'Of course he took the bait. If he gets hold of the source of the revival potion, he can, 10 billion percent stop my plan of saving all of humanity!'
Tsukasa began his small journey towards the miracle cave after getting the location.
Ana stood up and stretched her legs, Athena also doing the same from the bottom of the ladder with Lalaine tying her hair up beside her.
Senku stretched his arms, faking a yawn with his eyes closed.
"Tsukasa is gone?" He asked Taiju.
Taiju grinned at him, despite knowing Senku has his eyes closed. He happily told them,
"Yeah, in the blink of an eye. He's so fast!"
In the blink of an eye, Ana and Senku went past Taiju to pick up the hidden ingredients. Ana picked up the hidden Nitric Acid from one of the pots, giving it to Senku, who instantly took it, mixing the Nitric Acid with the distilled wine.
"We'll immediately create the reviving potion and resurrect Yuzuriha while Tsukasa isn't here!"
Tsukasa entered the cave, seeing a pot sitting on the ground for the liquid to be filled up into. He noticed a lot of bats on the ceiling of the cave.
'Bats...'
He put his pointer finger under the droplets of the liquid.
'My finger turns yellow when I touch it.'
He brought up the same finger close to his face and smelled the liquid.
"Hm. Yes, the miracle water, it's Nitric Acid."
He picked up the pot of Nitric Acid and exited the cave.
While walking back to the campsite, he saw a couple with two children. All four of then have smiling faces, despite getting petrified.
Tsukasa smiled at the small family.
Taiju stared at the two of them.
"WHAT DOES IT MEAN, SENKU? You were saying that there wasn't enough potion..."
Ana, who was organizing the bags of Calcium Carbonate, counter it with another question back to him.
"Why would Senku put a receptacle there that couldn't collect the appropriate volume?"
Bold of her to assume that Taiju will get the point right off the bat.
"Then why did you guys let Tsukasa go?!"
Senku looked at him with a grimace while still mixing the two liquid.
"The bait's a double-edged sword. We four wanted to get rid of Tsukasa before resurrecting Yuzuriha, even at the cost of revealing the cave's location."
Taiju still don't get the point.
"WHY GET RID OF TSUKASA?! HE IS A GOOD GUY!"
"That's why I can't control him."
His mind flashes back of the conversation he and Ana had with Tsukasa earlier at the beach.
'Let's revive just the innocent young people. We'll live together with nature, which doesn't belong to someone else.'
Senku had a stern look on his face.
"I don't care at all about his great 'best world that I imagined'." He laughed exasperatedly, "I'm more excited by the 'creating civilization' game."
Ana called out to her friends at the tree house, "You guys finished there?"
Which got a positive response from Lalaine, as she yelled from the top of the tree house.
"YEAH! We had some stuff packed, alright!"
Ana look at Senku, nodding at him.
"We can do it now."
Taiju, who finally got a clue on why they were acting like this, now has a serious look on his face too.
"Okay, I don't need an explanation. It should be right if you said so. Something must've happened, when Lalaine, Athena and I weren't there."
Senku mulled over his thoughts for a while.
"Yeah. Shishiou Tsukasa is... A good guy."
"And a... murderer."
Ana finished, tone blank, not letting anyone know what she was really feeling about all this.
Taiju was slowly and shakily holding the pot of the revival fluid over Yuzuriha's head.
Senku, seeing how slow his friend was moving, ran over to him and dumped the revival fluid on Yuzuriha.
"WOOOAAH!! SPLASHING IT ALL! CAN'T YOU BE MORE DELICATE!?"
Senku would have let him take his time, but time was not something they have a lot to spare right now.
"I TOLD YOU WE'RE IN A HURRY, BIG GUY!"
Ana butted in too, "Sorry, Taiju!! But we really need to speed things up a bit!"
After telling Lalaine and Athena to just chill a bit inside the tree house, Ana walked back to the other three. Watching Yuzuriha, who was still petrified.
Taiju was quiet for almost half a minute before freaking out,
"NOTHING IS HAPPENING! IT'S OKAY YUZURIHA! ARE YOU OKAY!?"
Cracking his neck- It's been bothering Ana a bit whenever he does that, it wasn't a habit of his; Senku nonchalantly explained the process to him.
"Don't be impatient, the reaction takes some time. This is a kind of cold sleep. It keeps this petrified state by a mysterious shift of the element's phase."
Taiju's small brain was about to stop working.
"THAT'S TOO COMPLEX! TOO MUCH FOR ME!"
Ana stare at him in amazement, "Whooaaah! How do you know that?"
Senku shrugged, "It's only a hypothesis, from a whole year of experiments." A smirk made its way onto his face, "Then, if we can break through this coat by seeping it with Nital."
Cracks appeared on Yuzuriha's arm, spreading all throughout the rest of her body.
"It spreads throughout the entire body through a chain reaction and petrification... Will be released!"
At his words, memories of the past 3700 years flashed back through Taiju's mind.
'Listen to me, Yuzuriha! For the past 5 years, I...'
'I won't die. I will say it. I will'
'I was able to stay alive. Thanks to Yuzuriha. Sorry, I couldn't protect you!'
'I've loved you! For centuries, FOR EONS!'
Ana saw the look on Taiju's face and smiled to herself.
'He may be a big oaf, but his faith and loyalty is admirable.'
She watched the adoring look in Taiju's eyes only fixated at Yuzuriha.
'Truly admirable...'
Yuzuriha broke free, almost falling to the ground if it wasn't for Taiju catching her.
Ana was about to help her when Senku stopped her, shaking his head 'no'. The two watch this unfold.
Taiju already has tears streaming down his face, "YUZURIHA!! AAAAAAH!! CAN YOU RECOGNIZE ME, YUZURIHA?!"
Yuzuriha looked a bit dazed, it's to be expected when you woke up after 3700 years.
"Taiju...kun...?"
Taiju was still holding her, "AAAAAAH! SORRY I MADE YOU WAIT FOR 3700 YEARS! Sorry..."
He seemed to quiet down at the last word, Ana shifts from her spot uncomfortably.
The girl sighed internally, watching the scene unfold.
Ana slouched, Senku rose an eyebrow at this.
'Lord, when is it my turn? I'm your child, too.' Ana watched the scene, 'If you're struggling to pick someone for me, I have a suggestion.'
She thought sheepishly as she glanced at Senku from the corner of her eye.
Senku and Ana watch the other two silently, Yuzuriha was struggling a bit to talk, Ana made a mental note to give her some water later.
"I have no clue what you're talking about. I just woke up... But, I feel like..." She looked up at Taiju, "You... Saved me. Wow. Thank... You..."
Taiju was still crying, trying to wipe off the tears as he gently place Yuzuriha down.
"It's not me, it's all Senku and Ana. Senku spent a year making the reviving potion..."
Senku was as chill as ever, the three of them looked at him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your reunion, but... We need to make a decision before Tsukasa returns!" He held up two fingers, "There are only two option, choose one! Plan A! You two, run away immediately, and live somewhere safe far from here."
Ana has been paying attention to any minute change to their surroundings, Tsukasa should be growing near. She and her friends don't need any persuasion, they made it known to her that they will help them to get back civilization with the power of science.
Well, she and Lalaine did, Athena doesn't care at all. Athena only said 'yes' because it's not like she had anywhere else to go or do in this type of world.
Senku told them the second option.
"Plan B! We all fight to stop the murderer Tsukasa. With all the powers of... CIVILIZATION!"
Ana whirled her head behind her, sensing someone coming fast to their location as an ominous aura draws near.
A few minutes ago...
Lalaine and Athena deadpanned as they saw Ana's facial expressions while watching Taiju and Yuzuriha.
"Don't tell me..." Lalaine muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Athena to hear.
"Yep, those two nerds are so casual with each other, she's oblivious to how they look like in other people's eyes-"
Just then, both of their jaw dropped as they took noticed how Senku looked at Ana just after the said girl looked away.
"Oh my God!!!" Lalaine gaped, "Even him?!"
Athena couldn't take this seriously. All those sickening sweet interactions between her friend and him was something normal for them?
"I know Ana is an affectionate person, but what the actual fuck."
Athena faked-vomit at the scene.
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Edited: Oct 15 2023