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“I don’t have the time for all that,” Senku had said.
It hadn’t been a rejection. It had been worse.
Because he wasn’t denying that he was interested in pursuing a relationship with her. He had kind of implied that he was.
But he didn’t have time.
He wouldn’t make time.
Kohaku wasn’t that important to him.
“I like you, but not enough to do anything about it.”
“I’d love you if it was worth my time, and it’s not.”
Senku, the man who didn’t give up, whose perseverance lasted thousands of years, had given up on her before they’d even started.
It didn’t matter. It was fine. She was fine.
She acted as she always did, helped as she always did, and never let on that she had been quite sincere with her offer.
Or, at least, she thought she acted as she always did. Ruri pulled her aside one day and asked what was wrong.
“How long would you have waited for Chrome?” Kohaku asked in return. Then she sighed. “No, that’s not the same. You knew how he felt for years. And he…he never once gave you cause to doubt.”
Ruri sighed. “Well, kind of. We…we talked, you know, once the moon rocket had launched. I told him I loved him, that I wanted a future with him.” Kohaku couldn't help her curiosity, leaning forward eagerly. “But it was up to him after that. I wouldn’t nag him about it. I’d respect his choice. He said…he said there was more to do, and asked me to wait a little longer.” Ruri seemed to deflate a little, gaze falling. “I…I was preparing myself for a life of being just his friend. He gets so excited about his and Senku’s projects that I…thought maybe he’d forgotten me.”
Kohaku hadn’t known that. “Could you have done it? Stayed just his friend your whole life?”
Ruri looked at her hands. “I don’t know. I knew that I wanted a relationship with him, one where he chose me explicitly…but I mostly just wanted to be with him, however I could be. It might have hurt, but it would have hurt more to cut him out of my life completely.”
Kohaku trembled. “You’re stronger than me.” She left, leaving behind a very confused Ruri.
She knew what staying as just Senku’s friend would be like. She’d been living it for half her life. It would continue that way, and nothing would change.
She didn’t know if she could bear it. But she also couldn’t bear to leave him.
To clear her head, she went to the top of the mountain where the equipment was still set up to receive messages from the future. They had kept the machine on, just in case any more messages came through.
She went to the screen Sai had set up to translate the Morse code into text, curious if anything new had been sent. Besides, after some persuading from Suika (it had involved very sad puppy-eyes and a pout that could crack a heart of stone), Kohaku had finally learned to read, so she was confident in her ability to understand what she was looking at.
She looked at the screen, then frowned. Yes, she knew how to read…
…but what didn’t make sense was the message.
«hi mom»
Kohaku blinked. Was someone nearby playing a prank?
«not a prank. broke into the facility in the future. wanted to say hi»
Kohaku stepped back, a bit startled. A mind-reader?!
«dont freak out. I know what ur like. probably have ur katana out even though its just words on a screen»
Kohaku had, in fact, taken out her katana.
«no fair that byakuya had all the fun. dad will be so mad at me. ha ha I still snuck in tho. nerd»
Kohaku was still confused.
«u told me about this once I turned sixteen so I had to be sure to get here at the right time»
“I did?” Kohaku whispered.
«so remember to tell me the exact time to set the machine. oo we got some time loop shit happening. dad will get excited about it for sure. nerd»
Kohaku huffed, and made note of the time.
«oh but u havent even met me. weird. Im your daughter. nice to meet u. I love u. dads an idiot but talk to him.»
“Dad” this future daughter said. It couldn’t possibly be…
«that was real vague. sorry I forget u guys have names and arent just called mom and dad. talking to kohaku here. anyone else leave. rude. francois would be so disappointed in u»
Kohaku was so surprised by that last part that she laughed. Francois was present in her future daughter’s life. Her other friends must be, too.
«love u. excited to meet u. plz dont kill dad before I get there. can hear dad coming so have to go. bye»
And the text stopped coming.
Well, at least for a moment.
«lioness your daughter is a menace. ten billion percent your fault»
And Kohaku laughed, long and loud. She wished she could send something in reply, but all she could do was put a hand on top of the monitor and feel her heart lighten.
She had worried that she’d misunderstood. That Senku had meant what he said—that he didn’t have time—instead of that thing he did when he actually did want something but totally redirected the conversation and sometimes just straight-up lied, because he felt bad about wanting that something he couldn’t justify as ‘scientific progress.’
«it looks like she was trying to set you up with me. weird kid. I guess that explains some things though. all I can promise is that your life will never be boring»
“And your love?” she whispered softly, knowing he couldn’t hear her. “Can you promise me that?”
Oh, but she already knew. They had at least two kids. Senku still called her lioness.
«you are at the moment ten billion percent too young for me and it feels weird talking to the void. go find your idiot. the futures not going anywhere.»
«oh hey but be sure to delete this chat before you go. literally just hit the delete key on the keyboard there. its just a text program»
So she did, erasing the log of messages. Then she sprinted away, back to the lab. She found Senku heading towards one of the buildings in the science complex, another scientist with him as they talked about something. He saw her and his eyebrows popped up, then he walked over to her, waving goodbye to the other scientist.
She smiled at him. “I want to show you something.” And she dragged him into the woods, to where the tree that had once pinned her was decomposing. To where they’d first met each other.
“Back here, huh?” Senku said, rubbing his neck as she slowed their fast-waking to normal speed.
She looked at him closely. His eyes looked more tired than she’d ever seen them, his shoulders a bit slumped. But he straightened and looked at her expectantly.
Kohaku had dragged him out here for a reason, and it was mostly the fact that she would probably explode with embarrassment if anyone else heard her.
“I want to do an experiment,” she said. “But…it’s pretty specific.”
“Oh? Need my help?”
And she knew he must be tired because he hadn’t even sassed her.
“Yes. Just…just you and me. It’s a long experiment. It’ll probably take years, maybe the rest of our lives.” She was sure her cheeks were flushed.
He chuckled. “Got a few of those going already. What’s one more?”
He either was being deliberately obtuse or was still incredibly tired, so she smiled at him. “I want to marry you. That’s my experiment.”
He blinked at her. “W…what? But…”
“I want to see what sharing my life with you is like, what being your partner is like. I want to see if we’ll be as happy as I think we could be.” She stepped towards him and he didn’t turn and run, so she kept walking.
He huffed and looked away. “Seriously acting like a lioness stalking her prey,” he told her.
She grinned. He wasn’t fleeing, not acting much like prey.
“I told you…I don’t have time for that kind of thing,” he said in a low voice.
She grabbed his hands, then slowly slid her hands up his arms to wrap around his neck and he shuddered once.
“There’s…there’s too much to do. I can’t…”
She moved slowly, gently. He could leave at any moment, shake her off with the slightest motion, even with his flea-like strength. But he didn’t.
She pulled him down to press her forehead against his, her chest against his. Was she just imagining the pounding of his heart? Or maybe that was hers. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Then tell me to stop. Tell me to go away and never talk about this again. Tell me it's not worth the trouble and I should walk away now.”
She swallowed. “Tell me to forget that I love you, once and for all, and I will.”
She opened her eyes to look at his face. He was scowling, eyes closed, but he wasn’t saying anything.
“I told you when we first met that I wanted to work with you. I still do. I want to stay by your side, whatever comes our way, whatever mountains we climb. And I want you to stay by my side, too. I want to…to be with you, to start a family with you.”
He snorted softly. “Kohaku…”
“That’s the future I want. Is that something you can get excited about?”
And he finally looked her in the eyes again. His gaze softened—not smiling, exactly, but…tender. “Yeah, I could manage that,” he said quietly. “Ten billion percent.”
And when she kissed him, he kissed her back.