Chapter Text
Epilogue to the Big Fight:
In which Senku closes one chapter of his life, and begins another -- if he can get his head out of space
3726 years after everyone on earth was petrified, 7 years after Senku revived for the first time, the Kingdom of Science took the fight to the moon and successfully defended humanity against Whyman. The materials gathering stage of this operation was fraught with peril; the subsequent science, technology and engineering dash was equally grueling. The battle itself exacted an even higher toll upon what remains of humanity. Everyone’s thoroughly confused about how old anyone is anymore and who’s cheated death and/or been shot the most number of times. Plenty of jokes were made about how Senku’s crew is comprised entirely of folks who’d:
- attempted to murder him,
- succeeded in murdering him, and
- still making up their minds on the subject.
But in the end, the Kingdom of Science had triumphed: Senku and the cosmonauts returned to earth safe and sound.
Senku had calculated that he could keep pushing himself as far as possible until the new Soyuz reentry touchdown. After a successful water landing, Kaseki and the ground crew fished everyone onto the deck of Perseus II with his kawaii kawaii Gorilla Crane 3.0. Minami the reporter was there to conduct a historic exclusive interview, presumably with the whole crew, but it was obvious she only had eyes for Shishio Tsukasa in a flight suit. Senku gave an amazing speech that inspired everyone to move ever onwards for science/humanity, as Minami took a few more triumphant pictures. Once Minami’s camera was put away, Senku smiled at Kokahu, crumpled like a wet tissue, and passed out cold with foam coming out of his mouth and swirls for eyes. Kohaku swooped in at lightning speed to catch Senku, and princess-carried him gently onto a waiting gurney. Senku knew nothing else for the next few days. 1
It’s hardly the first time Senku had collapsed after overexertion
Occasionally, Byakuya would go to bed while little Senku is up researching, and wake up to see Senku still hard at work. Being a kind father who trusted in Senku’s brilliance, he hated to interrupt Senku’s latest obsessions. Two or more sleepless nights would be Byakuya’s cue to start working from home to take care of Senku, quietly, in the background. He would bring home ramen, leave high energy snacks on Senku’s desk, heat up long cold cups of tea, replace flat pop with fresh cans….and most importantly, wait for Senku’s work to be done, at which point Senku would turn his brain’s “ignore all fatigue reports” switch off, and collapse into a deep slumber. While Senku is in this unconscious and vulnerable state, Byakuya would watch over him, replacing cold cloths on his forehead if he has a fever, and turning him over once in a while for better circulation. 2
The last time this happened to Senku, he almost died. He was 15, alone in the Stone World, ignoring fatigue for far too long as he set up his Shiny Ape shelter. If he had followed his usual pattern of sleeping through his fever for several days, he might have expired quietly on the cold earth floor, wasting thousands of years of effort and dooming 7.8 billion people to Xeno and Stanley’s Space Nazis reign and/or Whyman’s creepy end game. At the very least he would have gotten a few monkey butts on his face. What saved everyone was the rough and gritty food that he’d swallowed without much thought. Senku’s last meal was prepared so poorly that it disagreed with him violently, waking him up prematurely with both upwards and downwards exodus. The young scientist was glad no one else was around to see him in that state (aside from the aforementioned laughing monkeys). Nevertheless, he became much more careful after that. He would push himself, but he would also make sure to have someone to fall back upon when he collapses.
This time, he had entrusted his body to Kokaku. The last thing he was aware of was Kohaku’s well muscled arms, and the look of pride in her eyes smiling back from above, looking into his pomegranate coloured eyes; and that smile was convincing enough for him to finally take a long awaited rest. 3
In the last 7 years, so much was happening that Senku never felt safe enough to completely shut down his internal processing units. He always kept a part of his brain running: possibility simulations, variables and calculations, strategic planning, situational awareness, updating the list of potential murderers, and crises mitigation algorithms, etc. He’d been sleeping lightly all this time, and he’s finally letting it catch up to him.
“Okaeri,” Kohaku whispered to the sleeping Senku, brushing a strand of green-tipped hair off of his face.
Next Chapter: A Brand New Road Map
In which Senku sets a new life goal, which gets completely derailed immediately
Chapter End Notes
(1) The rest of the crew opted for the more dignified wheelchair option; Tsukasa just limped slowly into a spare room in the Perseus II by himself. Re-entry is super tough on the human body, especially a body that has been in zero G for an extended period of time. Byakuya’s 10k rowing rescue is a fine bit of science fiction only. [ see Youtube https://youtu.be/YI8LQmBlKZQ for real astronaut reentry ]
(2) Senku’s always been a mouthy kid who had little patience for Byakuya’s “idiotically devoted dad” shticks. It’s rare days like those that Byakuya gets to really dote on Senku: stroking his wild hair like a small child, and telling him what a sweet and wonderful and brilliant child he is, and how proud he is of him. It also saves a bit of air conditioning as Senku gets goosebumps from being pampered like that.
(3） https://youtu.be/5o-FvMgzXTU?t=1680 tribute to classic Cantonese comedy 行運一條龍 method of seduction.