‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ Z = NINE ☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙
a few days had passed since you and gen had taken your leave from tsukasa's kingdom. gen had informed that your destination was near. you both would keep out for hyoga and the others to make sure you were ahead of them. your feet had gone sore and your legs felt like they were about to snap off with little force, only, you wouldn't have felt it due to them almost feeling completely numb. nonetheless, you kept your pace and kept your head facing the path.
"you know, you're filled with energy, (y/n) chan... how do you do it?" gen says, slouching. you chuckle lightly, looking ahead, humming.
"no actually, i'm exhausted. though i can't worry about that right now. we're almost there, right?" you state, and gen nods, straightening his body. you knew immediately, right after this, you would be taking the fattest nap you have ever experienced.
you walk for about a half an hour more, and the alleged village finally came into view, but something caught your attention, like an itch that was dreading to be scratched. you couldn't ignore it. it was such a prominent feeling, a strong unknown instinct you felt in your guts.
gen noticed you looked to the right, and he suspiciously raises a brow, "something wrong, (y/n) chan?"
"uh- yeah.... you go ahead, i'll catch up in a bit..." you say, walking away from him impulsively before he could say anything else to you. your legs hurt even more from running between trees. the branches began to scratch ever so slightly on your gentle, fragile skin, but you couldn't be bothered to acknowledge it.
you were now in a forest of trees, still feeling something strong in your gut. you look around for a while, scanning the trees and the bright, blue painted sky, and something finally caught your eye.
you run towards two stone statues and stop when you examine the both of them properly, your heart starting to beat out of your chest. you dust off the dirt off the statue's faces and gasp slightly.
"mom? d-dad?" you whispered, still observing the faces. no, this can't be. afterall, they were dead, right? they can't be alive, it didn't sit right with you, and it sounded absurd.
"oh, don't be ridiculous, (y/n)... it's not them.." you mutter, frowning in disappointment. you were in denial, you mind raced with thoughts, swirling around, you couldn't keep your head straight.
you found it unbelievable that they could alive. it wasn't confirmed, but this was the closest you could get back to them. you stay there for a while, reminiscing.
feeling a tear slip from your eyes, you couldn't help but blame yourself that you weren't able to help them, even if they might've been miles away from your area when it was announced they were dead.
you try picking them up, unfortunately they were a bit too heavy, so you leave a small trail of flowers so you could come back.
you wipe your tears and start to head back to the village. you look around, and assumed it was the place where most of senku's experiments would be held. just like gen had described it to you, there was a ramen stand, and a hut in the area.
you look at gen, who had been standing near the generator staring at his own reflection, "ah (y/n) chan! what was the emergency?"
"i'll tell you later," you reassure him, and he nods, not questioning your whereabouts further. he smirks, "you know, senku chan is across that bridge right now," he says, and you look at the long bridge which was connecting both islands.
"you should pay a visit..." he teasingly sang, making you raise a brow at him in slight annoyance at the change in his behavior.
"i don't know... wouldn't that be trespassing?"
"yeah... but i'm sure they'd understand," he adds, which wasn't really assuring to you.
you felt nervous in your stomach as you start to tread over to the bridge, as you near it, you hear the words, "SENKU'S MARRIED!" coming from a high pitched voice.
"oh lord, what did i miss," you mutter lowly, just loud enough to make a familiar face look at you, "(y/n) san?" and your head snaps to the noise, looking at hina who had been standing there, who just finished quietly laughing maniacally.
"h-hina?" you squint, seeing the girl's hair had been cut a bit shorter since the last time you'd seen her, not to mention her new glasses which complimented her facial features.
"(y/n)?" another voice calls in a tone of surprise. a blonde looks at the both of you as her eyes widened.
hina walks up to you and examines your face, scanning to see if you were an imposter or not.
"yeah, that's definitely her," she exhales, moving away from you as she grins.
"it's a relief to see you, hina... but what's going on?"
kohaku clears her throat as she holds out a hand for you to shake, "i'm kohaku! right now... er- senku's getting married to my sister..." she stammers as the three of you look at the events that were unfolding.
"it's a long story," hina sighs, as you stand there completely dumbfounded.
you finally get a view of senku, who's unique hair was extremely hard to miss. he was currently, and obnoxiously, ordering for wine and alcohol, which couldn't have confused you even more.
suddenly, the other blonde in front of him starts coughing, while spouts of visible blood was coming out. it sparked concern everyone in the village, except that unconscious boy lying on the ground (which you chose not to ask about), and more importantly, kohaku, which was now frantically running over to her.
"god, you must be confused as hell," hina crosses her arms, looking at you, and you make eye contact with her, "indeed. i am extremely confused. please fill me in..." you nervously chuckle and hina scoffs playfully.
"you see kohaku's sister over there? the one who married senku? she has an unknown sickness and we're trying to create an antibiotic for her."
"oh, i see... i can help with that," you say, and hina adjusts her glasses, "yeah, i bet you could," she smiles.
"we're drinking through the night to celebrate. it's tradition," one of the villagers say to senku.
"oh, really?..."
"i'm divorcing then," senku says innocently, shocking the whole entire crowd, leaving you even more dumbfounded with his decision, "SENKU'S DIVORCED!" the high pitched voice states again.
"ah- i should get... back before... i cause a scene here.."
you start to walk out, returning to the island across which was also connected to the bridge.
"(y/n) chan? did you see him?"
"yeah.. but i think my timing was wrong, he didn't see me, so i'm planning for our reunion over here," you laugh sheepishly, making gen question what you saw or did over there.
"C'MON HINA, HURRY UP AND DRAG CHROME, WE HAVE A SHIT TON OF WINE NOW-"
his voice rang through your ears as you could feel him approaching and you turn around nervously, feeling every part in your body shake.
he looks at you, dropping the old man gently, who was quick to get up, and hina catches up and accidentally shoves senku due from her running too quickly, "ah, shit!"
hina straightens up and looks at you, and her eyes widened as her eyes frantically switched between looking at you, and looking at senku, "oh, shit."
senku's eyes went glossy as he saw you standing right in front of him, and you breathe out shakily, not knowing what to say after seeing your long-time childhood friend over 3700 years later.
"(y/n)?" he asks, unsure of what was in front of him, inching towards you, but you didn't move from your position.
you looked at him, he had surprisingly built up more muscle and he only looked slightly more matured now.
he stops about a foot away from you, and he puts his hands on his hips as he examines your face, making you even more nervous.
"what did you give me for my seventh birthday?" he asked, leaning in, a bit too close to your face, raising a brow as you realized he was interrogating you.
"homemade cookies," you state firmly, looking him in the eyes.
"what kind?"
"snickerdoodles."
"and?"
"chocolate chip."
"and?" he urged stretching the word out, trying to conceal a small smile of relief.
"pretzels... and an erlenmeyer flask, and a very nice letter of me wishing you a happy birthday, wrapped up in a red envelope with a variety of handpicked stickers on the back."
he chuckles and nods his head, "you idiot." he backs away from you as he exhales deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"senku-"
"you're a fool, you know that? you can't just show up here in a whim!" he says, chopping your head and pinching your cheeks, "now i need to catch you up on everything!"
you rub your cheeks in pain and face the boy, "i'm sorry! at least try to act relieved i'm here to see you."
"i am. didn't think i'd ever say this, but i'm glad you're here, bonehead," he says, stroking your cheek, eventually putting his hands to his hips once more.
"this is (y/n), senku?" kohaku maneuvers her way over to you, "OOHHH, yeah we met earlier."
"YOU MET!?-"
"you know, senku has told us a lot about you," kohaku smirks.
"good things, i hope..." you say nervously, "nevermind, who am i kidding."
"i hope senku isn't too mad that we reunited before you two did," hina laughs, trying to kick the unconscious boy from his current state.
"WHAT?-" senku get's interrupted by gen interjecting, "hate to ruin this lovely time, but don't we have work to be doing?~"
"since when do you wanna do work?-"
"senku chan~ please refrain from speaking as we need to-"
"come here and work, then," senku groans, dragging kaseki and gen inside the hut.
✎༅ author's note ˎˊ-
the chapter we have been waiting for ʅ（◞‿◟）ʃ
i hope i executed this alright 😭
- r