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“What are you doing?” asked a voice from the trees.
Senku froze. Shit. He’d worried about this. Going so long without human interaction was bad. He’d tried to keep ‘social’ by talking to the statues around his camp, giving ‘commentary’ to the animals that seemed to watch him in confusion, all in an effort to stave off the inevitable—his brain deciding that, since there was a lack of social interaction, it would start hallucinating some.
Did he acknowledge the voice? Did he ignore it?
On the one hand, he was busy as hell. Keeping himself alive was a full-time job, and there wasn’t time for nonsense.
On the other hand, he was so lonely. It had been three months since he’d heard any voice but his own. He’d never considered himself an overly social person, but living alone like this was a special kind of hell. Was it worth humoring his delusions to have another voice to talk to?
It had only been a second since hearing the voice. As he decided what to do, he saw something from the corner of his eye, something that was coming towards him, and his eyes widened. Audio and visual hallucinations?!
It was, of course, an impossible thing his brain thought up. Why couldn’t he have mental manifestations of past scientists?! That’d be cool! No, instead there was a floating, slightly transparent blonde girl his age with bright blue eyes, wearing a simple blue dress. She was tilting her head and looked generally curious.
Had his brain conjured up someone he could teach, then? Someone to explain what he was doing to? Better than some belligerent vision, he supposed.
If he was careful, he wouldn’t end up hurting himself or driving himself more crazy. The risks were worth the reward of even the illusion of companionship.
“It’s called a pulley,” he started, “and it helps a scrawny guy like me lift a log like this on my own.”
A few years later…
Before they set sail for California, Senku trekked back to the crevasse that held Kohaku’s corpse, device in hand. Hopefully this worked. Chrome was with him, quiet but obviously incredibly curious.
As always, Kohaku’s ghost floated beside Senku, unseen by anyone else. She was quiet and finally said, “You don’t need to do this. You said it had limited power, right? You should save that for an emergency. The chance of reviving me isn’t worth it.”
Senku kept walking, adjusting the gas mask pack he was wearing. He couldn’t say anything to her—Chrome would think he was crazy.
Well. Maybe he was. But he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t at least try to bring her back.
They reached the crevasse. Kohaku had frozen about ten meters away and didn’t come any closer, not saying a word. Just like before, when he’d first discovered this place. But he had work to do, so he couldn’t comfort her this time. Hopefully this trip would make up for it.
“Woah,” Chrome said as they looked at the deep scar in the ground. “That’s one baaaad pit.”
Senku took a deep breath and started setting up the pulley-powered lowering system.
Chrome quickly jumped to help. “So you’re getting something, right? What is it?”
“Hopefully a statue,” Senku said. Should he warn Chrome ahead of time? If it didn’t work, if the light didn’t trigger, it would just make him sad. Chrome had grown up with Kohaku, after all, and as far as he and the rest of the village was concerned, she’d gone out one day and never come back. Mourned as dead, but with a faint hope that one day she'd come home.
He’d wait. No need to raise hopes.
The system was set up and Senku was secure in a harness with a second harness next to him. Chrome helped him put on the gas mask and make sure everything was sealed, and then he turned on the head lamp and down he went.
In the unsteady light of his descent, he could see the body: Kohaku, solid, still sitting there, curled up with her head on her knees. Like she was just resting for a second, but unnaturally still. It was one of the creepiest things Senku had ever seen, even worse now with the stark and dramatic lighting of the head lamp. But that wouldn’t stop him. He hit the ground and let Chrome feed down more slack, then gave a tug so he’d stop.
It was so quiet. Just the crunch of gravel under his feet as he came up to the body.
He took out the device. His stupid hand was shaking, and he was glad Kohaku wasn’t there to make fun of the fact that he was incredibly freaked out by being stuck in a small place with a corpse. The slightest chance of success was worth the discomfort, though. “One meter, five seconds.” Then he set the device right up against the body (careful not to knock her over) and stepped back.
It worked. The barest flicker of light turned the body to stone, still frozen in that position. He grabbed the device, then strapped the statue into the other harness. That done, he tugged twice, and Chrome started pulling them up.
Once above ground, Senku pulled off the mask and looked around. Kohaku’s ghost was nowhere to be seen. Had it worked?
Chrome, meanwhile, cried out and scrambled away as he took the harness off the statue and realized who it was. The village’s indigo-dyed leather was faded but still present, the hairstyle distinctive. “Senku, what the hell?! That’s—that’s—“
“Kohaku,” Senku finished for him. “Yeah, I know.”
“But—how do you—? Why—? Senku, what the actual hell is going on?!”
So Senku told him, told him the whole of it. How he’d met Kohaku, how long it had taken for him to believe she wasn’t a figment of his imagination (and only when he nearly stumbled into the same pit she had and then seen her body), how she’d led him to the village after Tsukasa had decided he just wanted to revive some of humanity, and how she helped him win over the villagers, of her watching over her friends and family, of how she wanted to help so badly, how she did reconnaissance with Tsukasa’s Empire and on Treasure Island
Afterwards, they sat in silence. Chrome finally said, “So the gas in the pit…it killed her when she fell into it while she was getting water for Ruri, but it also kept her body from rotting? And she’s been hanging out with you as a ghost this whole time?”
Senku nodded. It sounded insane. But it was what had happened. He didn’t have the tech to do the studies he wanted to do…but more important than any study was the possibility he could save Kohaku.
“But…if your story’s true, it’s been years since she died. Tsukasa was able to be revived, but he was frozen, and just for just one year. Do you think this will work?”
Senku didn’t have an answer. He hoped it would.
Chrome’s expression became firm. “Right. We’ll wake her up out here. And…and if it doesn’t work, we’ll bury her out here, too. We can tell the others we found her remains on our trip and buried her, so they have somewhere to mourn, but…I don’t think they need all the details.”
They were on the same page, then. “Then let’s do this.” Senku pulled out the bottle of revival fluid and just held it for a second, hoping against hope, then uncorked it and dumped it over Kohaku. No need to delay the inevitable.
They waited in expectant silence. Kohaku’s body glowed, her skeletal structure visible through her skin, and then the glow faded.
Kohaku didn’t move. Senku felt his stomach sinking. Chrome started cursing and actually walked away, and Senku could hear his voice already thick with tears.
Kohaku’s ghost wasn’t visible. Had he ruined everything? Would he not even have that familiar presence anymore? The cost had been too high after all. Kohaku, dead, in every meaning of the word.
Then her chest expanded. Her fingers twitched. She tensed, and then her head lifted.
Senku could’ve fainted in relief. It worked! “Hey, lioness.”
“Who are you?” she asked, tilting her head in that familiar way.
And Senku’s world came crashing down completely. She didn’t know him. She didn’t remember him. “Senku,” he managed to say. He had lost Kohaku after all. The woman who’d become his best friend was gone. “My name is Senku.”
“…I was stuck,” she said quietly. “Did you save me?”
“Yeah. Me and Chrome.”
She relaxed a little. He knew all her facial expressions—she’d been suspicious, and now she was curious and feeling a bit daring—strangers had been forbidden to her, after all, and she could be very mischievous. “You know Chrome?”
Chrome came barreling back through the trees. “Kohaku!” And scooped her up into a hug.
She laughed. “Hi, Chrome.” Then she frowned. “Wait, you’re…bigger.”
Chrome put her down. “We’ve got some baaad stories to tell you. But basically, you died, Senku here found you and was able to turn you to stone, and then we revived you.”
“Died? Turned to stone? Chrome, have you lost your mind?!”
Senku couldn’t help but smile. Maybe it wasn’t the Kohaku he’d spent the past few years with, the woman he’d grown so close to, but it was Kohaku. He’d saved her, as he’d promised himself when he first found her body. He’d saved her sister and helped her village, and even if she didn’t remember their past together, he did. That was enough. He’d build new memories with her and everyone else, and he’d show her the wonders of science all over again.
It was ten billion percent worth any risk.