Chapter Text
The sun is slowly pouring into Chrome’s hut, surprisingly bright considering how early it is. We see Chrome in his bed with what seems to be a blanket of several animal hides sewn together to be thicker. and, senku beside him with a significantly less thick hide blanket but still at least 2 hides thick.
Chrome tenses as his eyes open ‘im cold.. usually i’d use the blanket Senku is using as well but he needs that. Plus my extra thick blanket is already suspicious enough. But i still feel so cold’ Chrome starts flexing his fingers slowly staring at them almost surprised they have any color in them. “I should eat something.” He whispered tiredly before remembering he cant. Not yet
‘right my legs dont have bloodflow yet. If I get up now I’ll collapse’ so he slowly adjusts using his arms to lift himself into a sitting position. ‘T-argh the rooms spinning, I pushed myself too much yesterday. I should stay like this for a bit till my body wakes up enough to stand..’
so he wraps himself in his blanket and stares at the wall waiting for his heart to at least work enough to stand.
pov Senku (asleep)
“9, 10, 11, 12, its day time. I should wake up and get to work. I agreed to make antibiotics but this isn't going to be an easy path, time to get excited”
I open my eyes and see Chromes already out if the hut “its to be expected he’s probably used to waking up early. Wheres his blanket though?” I shrug off the confusion and get up ‘wonder if Chrome made anything to eat’
I make my bed atleast semi clean then leave then open the door to the hut and climb down the ladder. “Oh hey Senku!” Chrome says happily “i made some fish for breakfast” he says waving a fish on a stick around i walk toward the fire and pick up one
“nice want some salt on it?” I ask, he’s wearing his blanket?’ It's not even that cold out. Why does he need something so heavy? Winter isn't for another 1.577e+7 seconds? Thats six months?’
Chrome looked at me interested “is there any reason to add salt?” He pauses in his eating looking at me interested. “Well first off for flavor but salt can also help the heart work better. Though you do gotta be careful not to overdo it because too much salt can cause your heart to strain” i share happy i could infodump again so soon.
”i see sure I'll take some thank you! Senku!” Chrome hands me his fish and I sprinkle some on
”its no problem?” He seems very happy over basic flavors but I decided this village probably just hasn't discovered seasonings yet.
end of Senku pov
‘It can help your heart work better.. could it be that simple. Could I truly get better?’ Chrome eats his meal wondering.
“So what are we doing today?” He moves his free hand under the blanket in a futile attempt to feel warmth.
”I saw cinnabar in your hut. We are going to make something for Kinro first” Senku says, probably planning to bribe Kinro. “You do realize he's not the type to take a bribe right?”
“Well its not a bribe its a scientific gift” Senku says getting up way too fast for me to comprehend ‘..how is he able to do that without fainting.’
I slowly get up grabbing the sticks I cooked the fish on so they could be used for a future meal before dropping them off in my hut.
“I’ll be taking cinnabar, some gold flakes, a pot some sticks and some flint and iron!” Senku says already grabbing the stuff he needs, “so we are cooking the cinnabar?” i ask trying to remember if the elder Kaseki ever mentioned something similar.
”melting and basic chemistry yes, i’ll show you once we start”
He says shoving the pot towards me to carry before moving with the other stuff in one of my baskets down the ladder
regrettably this pot doesn’t have a strap so i take off my blanket and grab a leftover piece of hide to tie around for a strap.
ladders are always tricky but you’d be hard pressed to find a predator safe hut without them.
Senku started to describe the theory of what we are doing and i found myself interested in it all
“Hi Chrome, surprised to see you up so early without your blankie” Ginro says, probably trying to embarrass me. as we approach him and Kinro
”i dont feel cold right now so why should I wear a blanket?” I say acting innocent ‘truthfully i am cold but not as much as usual.’
Senku seems to be already setting everything up and this interaction plays out “of course do be careful though we don't want you turning purple in the cold” Kinro says and out of the corner of my eye i see Senku pause. As if he wasn’t expecting that.
“Now come on, we all know people with that sickness don't get better and it mostly happens to people who swim during winter!” I say trying to calm the situation.
i see senku start moving again heating water before saying “it can happen outside winter its just rarer but don’t worry i know first aid” Senku says his body language calm but decisive
”First aid?” Me and Ginro ask at the same time.
“Also Senku was it? You can do your sorcery all you want but step foot on the bridge and I will deal with you” Kinro seems trying his best to seem scary.
”hmhm fair chrome smash the cinnabar real quick” i rush over to my hammer and open it before handing everything to him
”excellent add gold flakes then- kinro come here real quick!” Kinro approaches cautiously and Senku grabs his spear putting it in the pot “wha-“ he panics “dont breathe it in or you will 1.000,000,000 percent die” Kinro doesn’t verbally panic anymore.
Senku quickly takes it out and heats it on fire then takes it out to cool.
We stare in awe of the beautiful golden blade “does this have any combat use?” Kinro asked unsure “no but your name means gold doesn't it? It looks like your namesake”
he doesn’t move for a second before saying “..theres no rules against accepting gifts” and then he returns to his station
I see ginro obviously jealous but knowing Senku he’ll get one eventually if he can be useful.
”Lets go back to the hut” Senku says “alright” i start moving already excited for the next scheme.
later in day before nightfall
He sees Kohaku approaching.
“Hey Kohaku! We are going to cure Ruri!” He yelled excitedly “how are you planning to save Ruri with sorcery!” Despite the phrasing I could tell she believed in sorc-no science now ‘i wonder how that happened’
We the kingdom of science are going to make antibiotics it's a scientific drug that kills bacteria. It’s saved hundreds of billions of lives since it was discovered” senku starts rambling and i get filled with excitement as he starts drawing both roadmaps in the dirt
“Well we have two options to make antibiotics. The stone path or the mold path. The mold path is the least complicated, basically we just grow mold till we find a super strong strand that is 10 billion percent better and more resistant then the rest. However in the stone world it's 10 billion percent unlikely to happen. We’d basically be praying we get that 10 billion percent rarer mold and it could take years.” He explains
“years Ruri doesn’t have” i chimed in extremely confused but keeping up enough. “Exactly” he nodded “so we should do the rock path!” Kohaku springs up in realization.
“The rock path is 10 billion percent more complicated, however it's sure fire to work, yes. And the first step is iron!”
“What is this iron stuff anyway? What do we need to make it” i start thinking if there is any mention of it in the 100 tales
one science lesson with Senku-sensei later
“So the earth is the one spinning!” Im laying beside an exhausted Senku on the ground.
“if thats the case why am i not flying off this branch!?” Kohaku replies skeptically. “Because of gravity” he answers simply “Wow thats so baddd!”
Senku stands up and points at a star “and that is the north star it is 10 billion percent true north” he seems.. confident but something feels off to me ‘that doesnt feel nor-‘
“That seems slightly off from north to me?” Kohaku had no such hesitation to point out my feeling. “That’s impossible unless- the earth's axis tilted! I underestimated how long 3,721 years truly is. A true scientist would laugh at me” he looked truly disappointed in himself at this realization “i think. That they would probably make the same mistake. It's normal to forget things” i hate when people beat themselves up over basic things i forget stuff all the time especially on bad days- ‘i wonder if bad bloodflow can affect the brain?’
“But-“ Senku appears confused for some reason “no hes right Senku you can't be expected to know everything at every time” kohaku chimes in “no no no i just realized how do you all know what true north is?” He appears lost in possibilities “WAIT THIS IS BAADDD does the great Senku not know about this rock!” An outside perspective would be confused how a small pool, a leaf, and a magnet teleported into my hands. But there is no outside perspective so who cares
”i found it on the bald mountain and it points north when you put it on water!” Chrome is ecstatic at the idea of knowing something Senku doesn’t
”A magnet!!” Senku says running beside me “SO YOU DO KNOW!!” I cant help but be disappointed but it cant be helped. “Chrome, this is just what we need to find iron!” Senku declares snatching the magnet and holding it up