Work Text:
Rain, hammering on the roof of a newly built laboratory, chaotic yet somewhat calming. It too had its own rhythm, internal logic like clockwork orchestrating each and every molecule of water dripping down into the resting, waiting soil.
It was not the first time Tsukasa, under an inexplicable pretence “observation”, provided company for Senku while the latter worked on the models and diagrams for the third-stage rocket booster. The Tyranny of the Rocket Equation has been haunting the scientist’s dreams for, what it seemed like, last century in a half. Of course here Tsukasa would interject to say that only a week has passed since the commencement of this project, but that, of course, was 0.1e10 times incorrect and therefore dismissed from further consideration.
This time, however, was different. Instead of hanging around the laboratory and periodically adding wonderful, if not the least helpful, comments, Tsukasa instead had seemingly elected to take notes. For the last half an hour he was hovering around the pile of half-finished discarded drawings and vigorously filled pages upon pages of his notebook.
– This seems new, are you finally going towards the light of science ;- Senku asked in a joking voice
– Yes…No. I am ;- Tsukasa paused and his eyes for a second went to the side, hiding from Senku’s gaze ;- I am making something, a personal project, not a scientific one.
A note of disappointment fluttered through Senku’s eyes, getting instantly replaced with a renewed fascination. So far he could be sure of three things:
Tsukasa was working on something
That something did not constitute science, at least in Tsukasa’s mind
That something required him to copy/take notes of Senku, pretty scientific thank you very much, drawings
This seemed like an interesting puzzle, interesting enough to let him finally take a break from his work, something he was planning to do for hours now.
Now, of course, Senku could ask his friend directly and find out the answer right away. That would also 10e8 percent break the code of a Puzzle Breaker to which he adhered to vehemently. A delighted grin flowered upon Senku’ds otherwise intent and serious face.
Let’s see, this could not be something directly related to the rocket booster, that’d be science and besides, with his advocacy for cooperation in all things, Tsukasa would not stoop to working on a project on his own. It could also not be something relating to Senku directly, for similar reasons with the addition of the likelihood of Tsukasa’s uncooperativeness reduced even lower. That filtered out a large chunk of what he could imagine Tsukasa doing in his laboratory, especially holding a notebook that looked like it has seen extensive and frantic use. There was something here.
Ah! The grin on the face of the scientist grew even wider and his expression took in some of the viciously victorious notes it usually did upon a discovery. It was not Tsukasa-like to do anything frantically or halfway, if anything Senku expected this unprecedented and endlessly impressive mountain of trained stability to somehow make his notebook more orderly than on the day it was manufactured. That, of course, lead to two possibilities. Either the notebook was not Tsukasa’s or, more interestingly and more likely, it contained something that made even him become chaotic, something that exposed that deep, vulnerable part that Senku saw in the moments of sheer closeness or utter confusion.
Senku’s grin went out as quickly as it appeared. Now, realising, he could clearly see that the notebook must have been used for months at this point, yet he never, not at any occasion saw Tsukasa with it. Something that made him vulnerable, something that he wouldn’t want to show around people other than him and Gen…
It was ridiculously hard to do science about this man! Senku tried to restart his thought process after it was interrupted by anything other than being flustered. Yes, that is definitely a hard theoretical subject. With a sigh he decided to escalate to the next step, field experimentation and direct data gathering.
– Hey, ;- Senku came closer to his dear friend, maybe not enough for comfort, but what seemed appropriate -; do you need any help with your project? Since those are my projections I can let you know any detail!
– Yes ;- Tsukasa said after a long considering pause -; it would be helpful for my project if you told me what you feel about these…
Near the end of the sentence his voice wavered, just for a moment, but of course noticeable to anyone with the keen perception of a field researcher that just happened to be around at that moment.
– Feel? Well.. ;- Senku replied with a puzzled and maybe slightly frustrated look -; I am not sure, these are old designs that I’ve discarded already. They did not have sufficient efficiency or stability. So, maybe, some frustration? Regret at the wasted time? But also satisfaction at the overall productivity. Iterative process can be 10 billion percent too long and annoying but it might be the only way to bring pure theoretical science to life so I cannot but admire it.
– So, frustration, regret, satisfaction, admiration ;- Tsukasa made quick notes on the page he was on, his face pensive -; thank you Senku. I think you have really helped me out. Yes, I think that makes the next parts easier.
– But what are you making? ;- Senku cannot help but ask, having his deductive process absolutely shattered
Tsukasa took a long look at his friend, then at the page of the notebook. Finally, he sighed and sat down on the ground of the laboratory, making a gesture to invite Senku to join him there.
Senku, of course, acquiesced, landing himself without think in a relaxed position just near Tsukasa’s left shoulder. This has become his favourite, although not always conveniently achieved place to be and while he did not know whether that was the right decision right now it was too late to reconsider.
– You see, we have known each other for the whole extent of the Era of Stone ;- Tsukasa started cautiously, as if trying to understand how to even put what he felt into words -; With all of its importance and trials, it will soon be an important, but otherwise small footnote in the history of humanity. In the Old World, I felt… I felt like I could not change anything, not to the extent that it would matter at least. I grew that anger and frustration within myself, allowing it to consume the part of me that should have been all-important.
Senku shifted a bit to sit closer to his friend. He knew by now how hurtful still for Tsukasa was the act of remembering.
– But here, in this weird little corner of history, I was able to change myself and change the world, to matter not for one or two people but for the whole of the future ;- Tsukasa’s voice became unsteady again for a moment before forcefully being returned to it’s steady pace -; But I could only do it because I’ve had other people, because I had you and Gen. So I wanted, before the glorious return to the Space Age makes it all a page in a history book, I wanted to make something to remember how it was. To remember you two and myself in this moment.
Senku inhaled a bit too sharply than he would like to admit and felt something shift within him, he could only think in this moment of how unreasonably lucky he was to know the man sitting next to him saying these words. In terms of probabilistic calculations of course.
– And so I’ve been collecting ideas, and pieces of our story to remember ;- Tsukasa opened the notebook on the first page and started slowly turning the pages.
On them were depictions of moments, notes, drawings. Senku saw, flustered, that his friend recreated his early scientific drawings, probably by memory. They were slightly incorrect and would 10 billion percent blow up in the face of anyone who would build them, but to think that Tsukasa paid enough attention to be almost correct…
He saw flowers, the Black Nightshade, of course, but also Bindweed and Gentian. Senku knew those plants of course, they were useful for some applications, but knowing that they probably related to Tsukasa’s experience of Gen, he suspected that the choice was less motivated by medicinal reasons. There were also, and here Senku had to turn away a bit since it was almost too much, drawings? Projections? Models? Of something that incorporated both “lines” of mementos into one.