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Ukyo was going over his notes on the basics of multiplication for that afternoon's lesson. He didn't want to embarrass himself by presenting incorrect times tables to the students. He was about 90% sure it was all correct, though maybe he should have had Senku go over it to bump his 90% to 10 billion. Either way, it was too late to change anything as the students would be gathering soon.
He walked over to wooden chest that sat beneath the noticeboard-cum-chalkboard. He'd commissioned Kaseki to make it for storing the so-called "Science Academy" school supplies. It had quickly gotten decorated by the students with carvings of their names and the various science-y things they'd learnt about. Ukyo unlatched it and brought out the paper, ink and brushes they'd need for the class. Huh, he thought to himself. One of the ink pots was missing and there were only 9 brushes rather than the usual 10. Two of the students would have to share, he supposed.
The students trickled in slowly, grabbing a set of writing implements from Ukyo before sitting at their desks. When Suika arrived, she'd zipped between the tables and excitedly informed him of the various plants Francois had asked her about, wanting his input on her guesses for the speculative dish. By the time they'd finished, the rest of the students had arrived and Ukyo was left with a huge craving for old-world dishes.
"Hey everyone, it looks like one of the writing sets have been taken, so if you didn't get one just share with your partner. Sorry I didn't notice until now, I'll make sure we have enough for tomorrow."
One of the children in the middle row piped up. "But sensei, everyone has one?"
Ukyo glanced at all their desks, and sure enough everyone had one, from Suzu and Suika at the front to Kinro and Magma at the back.
Very weird.
That evening, after eating dinner, Ukyo went over to Francois' kitchen rather than checking in with the other generals as usual. He hadn't managed to stop thinking about what Francois' next dish could be, and his curiosity was killing him. He planned to strike up an innocent conversation while helping clean to see if he could get any info out of them. As he approached the doorway, however, he heard Francois already talking to someone. Maybe they'd had the same idea as him?
He walked in, and was surprised to find Magma. Magma seemed equally surprised, shooting up and scrambling to hide something behind himself as Francois gave a warm nod of greeting towards Ukyo.
"Hello Francois, Magma. Need any help with the dishes?"
"Oh no," Francois smiled, "I'm afraid Magma here beat you to it!"
Magma's eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he snatched a nearby bowl and blurted, "Yes! The dishes! That is what I'm here for! HA HA HA!" Then started scrubbing it vigorously with the hem of his tunic.
Francois, discreetly handing Magma an actual washcloth, continued. "There's not much more left to clean up today, maybe some other time?"
"Oh... Okay then. I'll see you later I guess!" Ukyo waved, exiting the hut.
That Magma's a strange one, he thought to himself.
The next morning, Ukyo found himself helping Chrome collect rocks from the nearby river. Unfortunately, Ukyo had misstepped on a particularly slippery, unstable stone and fallen. He'd managed to avoid soaking himself, but at the cost of ripping a long hole down the side of his pants. Chrome cut the expedition short, worrying Ukyo had hurt himself, so now Ukyo had nothing to do with the rest of his morning until his afternoon class. He decided to go see Yuzuriha about fixing his rip.
Yuzuriha was never hard to find, as Ukyo only needed to follow Taiju's very distinctive voice. He found her in her tent, sketching outfit ideas. Before he even managed to say hello, Yuzuriha had noticed the torn fabric, gasped, and grabbed a needle and thread. She pulled up a seat for him as he took off his pants, covering himself with the pelt he wore wrapped around his waist. Yuzuriha demonstrated fixing holes using the ladder stitch on some scrap fabric. Ukyo picked the technique up quickly, leaving them to enjoy each other's quiet company as they worked on their respective tasks.
After a few minutes, the tent flap was pulled open.
"Hey, Yuzuriha do you have the— Ukyo!" Magma froze, glancing up and down Ukyo's mostly-covered form before pointedly looking at Yuzuriha.
"Yes I have the Ukyo!" Yuzuriha giggled, "and I also have the cloth you wanted!" She reached over to grab a small folded bundle of plain woven napkin-looking things and handed it to Magma.
"Uh, well, thank you. I owe you, so if you need help just ask." Magma replied, mumbling.
"Unless Senku suddenly asks for a whole new hot air balloon, I don't really have any jobs for you? But if you'd like to make it up to me you can help Taiju with his work! It would be nice to have him back before sundown on occasion."
Magma seemed to think for a moment before coming to some sort of conclusion. "Yeah that works. Thanks again." He finished, leaving and closing the tent flap after himself.
Ukyo waited a minute before asking, "Do you know what he's doing with that?"
"No clue. He asked earlier if I had any undyed panels of fabric I wasn't using, but I wasn't sure how much I'd need at the time so I told him to come back later. I just figured Senku needed it, but now that you said that I have no idea... Senku usually sends Gen to get anything from me if he can't come himself. I wonder what Magma's doing with it?"
"Whatever it is, he's hiding it." Ukyo replied. And he was going to find out what.
Despite checking all of Ishigami Village and the usual hunting grounds, Ukyo still hadn't found any trace of Magma. He headed back towards the village to prepare his lesson as usual, hoping whatever scheme Magma had in mind was still in the planning phase. If Magma didn't turn up for the lesson he might have to inform Senku something was up.
As it happened, Magma turned up for class on time and participated in his usual determined way, with nothing out of the ordinary other than the return of the missing brush and ink pot.
After class, Ukyo decided to discreetly follow Magma to see what he was up to. Rather than turning into the village like Ukyo expected, Magma instead headed towards the main science area. Ukyo hid behind one of the kilns, watching as Magma looked both ways before heading into the laboratory. He snuck closer, waiting outside the curtain door. Magma walked out not a moment later, barely stopping himself from knocking Ukyo over and almost pulling the whole curtain down in surprise.
"GAH! W-what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing, what were you doing in the lab?"
"I— uh— was um... Making sure that Senku had enough wood for his little burner thingy." Magma said, clenching and unclenching his fist, looking at everything but Ukyo.
"Sure... Except Senku's bunsen burner uses oil, and the wood is stored outside. What were you actually doing?"
Magma grit his teeth. "I was... Returning something. I borrowed."
"What could you have possibly—" Ukyo veins turned to ice as he realised the lab was where Senku stored all his chemicals. Magma wouldn't have—
"It was that thing that tells you how warm something is, okay? A therma-something." Magma grumbled.
"Thermometer?"
"Yeah whatever, that."
Ukyo rationalised for a moment. Unless Senku was gushing about dangerous compounds again, Magma wouldn't know the difference between sulphuric acid and salt water. And the amount of mercury in the thermometer wasn't enough to kill anyone, just make someone sick. Besides, he had no reason to think Magma was still a threat to anyone, he'd made peace with Senku, hadn't he?
"Anyways since you're here... Are you busy tonight?"
Ukyo snapped out of his thoughts. "Huh?"
"I'm asking you if you're free after sunset."
"Uhh..." Ukyo had completely lost track of what was going on.
"...To meet me in my hut. Alone."
"I mean I guess I'm not busy...?"
"Great! I'll see you then." Magma patted Ukyo's shoulder with a huge hand. "Don't tell anyone you're coming or I'll kill you." He said, and walked off.
Ukyo spluttered, choking out an "E-excuse me!?" but Magma was gone.
Ukyo paced the diameter of the storage shed as Chrome sat cross-legged near the wall.
"I just don't understand," Ukyo hissed, keeping his voice down in case anyone was listening in. "Magma's been doing fine in class, he hasn't needed any extra tutoring for a couple weeks now, and if he did, he wouldn't be this jumpy asking about it!"
"Maybe he's fallen behind again and is too proud to admit it? I mean, every time Yo corrects Magma on something, he fights him. He doesn't exactly give me 'eager to learn' vibes."
"No that's not it... In class, Magma asks almost as many questions as Shovel does so I know when he's confused. And Yo just phrases things in a way designed to irritate him. It's gotta be something else..."
"Could he be trying to... you know..." Chrome dragged a thumb across his neck "...someone again? I mean, hiding stuff, collecting weird things, acting jumpy..."
Ukyo prayed that wasn't the truth.
The sun had set with Ukyo still none the wiser to what Magma's game was. He couldn't bring his bow as protection since they'd be in close quarters and Magma would overpower him easily. Instead, he decided to bring an extra large eating knife as a precaution, not that he wanted to have to use it. He really didn't want to believe Magma had slipped back into his old murderous ways, not after he'd made so much progress in the last several months.
Catching a whiff of baked bread coming from somewhere within the village, Ukyo arrived outside Magma's hut. He fiddled with the knife in its sheath to calm his nerves.
"Magma...? I'm here like you asked..." Ukyo said as he poked his head through the door. He noticed Magma across the room with his back towards him, apparently having not heard him. He walked in, noting the table had been set.
Trying to see past Magma's broad torso at what had him so engrossed, Ukyo asked, "you invited me for dinner?"
"BWAH!" Magma yelled, jumping a foot into the air and almost dropping a rather jagged looking knife. "Gods' sake, I could have stabbed you! Warn a man, dammit." he grumbled.
"Is that toast?" Ukyo asked, ducking under Magma's knife and snagging a slice.
"Toast? Francois told me it was—" Ukyo followed Magma's eyes to a piece of paper covered in food stains and writing resting on the counter "—bruh-shet-uh?"
Ukyo eyed the oval piece in his hand. "Bruschetta?" He asked as before biting into it. It was still slightly warm and the surface perfectly crisped. The crunch was music to his ears. Magma continued sawing pieces of baguette-like bread as Ukyo read the rest of the page. He realised it was a recipe for bread, with notes on how to toast it to be extra crispy. "You made the bread!? I assumed you got it from Francois!"
Magma huffed. "You of all people should know I'm aiming for the top here. The future village chief can't slack off on skills. Now sit down already before I cut you instead of this loaf."
Ukyo sat patiently, watching as Magma put another batch onto the griddle and bringing the first batch to the table. Ukyo nibbled on another piece as Magma seemed to fight for the right words.
"So... The extra tutoring." Magma finally forced out.
"Yeah?"
"I wanted to thank you for helping me and stuff, but just saying it felt weak. Instead I figured I'd give you a present and remembered you like, cried when you ate that bread Francois made, so I asked them what other 'modern' meals I could make. They suggested bruschetta with a whole bunch of summer vegetable toppings because of the season so... Here it is." He gestured over the array of food.
Ukyo's chest filled with warmth, relief and pride. Normally he only got gifts of cool beetles and leaves from the children he taught, and while appreciated, he tended to not know what to do with them. Getting food though? Everything looked so delicious and smelt like home and definitely made up for all those extra hours spent marking papers. "You didn't have to do all this, I'm always happy to help! But wow, this is amazing!"
"Also I hope you didn't tell anyone, I'd rather not have to share." Magma said, double checking the door was closed.
Ukyo noticed something cylindrical wrapped in the cloth Magma had picked up from Yuzuriha. "What's that?"
Magma chuckled, smug. "I figured bread and boring ol' vegetables wouldn't be enough, so this is the real jewel here." He unwrapped it delicately. "I present to you: goats' cheese. I should warn you that I have no idea what cheese should taste like but I did follow Francois' instructions perfectly."
Ukyo cut a small slice and spread it onto a piece of bread. The blunt knife glided beautifully across the creamy cheese. He brought it to his mouth, inhaling a mouthful of tangy goodness. Biting down, the taste overwhelmed him, the rarity of any sort of processed food a delicacy. "Dish ish shooo good!" Ukyo said, holding back tears between bites. "If you want to thank me again sometime, please do!"
Magma leaned back in his chair, smirking. "Heh, maybe I can overthrow Senku like this. He may have gotten Ishigami Village on his side with ramen, but I can take it back with cheese."
"That... Probably wouldn't work." replied Ukyo, but Magma was lost in his thoughts of running the village.
Together, they finished the meal, leaving Ukyo with a full stomach and Magma satisfied his thanks was happily received.