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"Where are we going, Senku?" a young Taiju asked his best friend Senku as he followed the other boy to who knows where.
School had ended not too long ago and Senku had simply walked up to Taiju and told him to follow him, which he did without asking many questions like always, knowing doing so usually meant he'd get to help Senku in some kind of awesome experiment or invention even most adults didn't understand, or they'd eat ramen together which was awesome too.
However, the way they were walking was the opposite of their homes, the hardware store or the convience store, so both their usual activities seemed very unlikely.
"We're here." Senku announced as he stopped walking, almost making Taiju bump into him.
"Huh? Whoa! We're at the river!" the brunette boy exclaimed at seeing their destination.
"Man, I never really go down here anymore!" he cheered, half running, half stumbling down the slope to the water.
"Dude, isn't this where we met?!" he grinned back at Senku who came down at a slower more careful pace.
Right here was where Taiju had spotted Senku in trouble with a bunch of older guys deciding it would be fun to destroy his stuff just cause they could and and wihtout hestitating Taiju had thrown himself in front of the bullies, letting them beat him till they got either bored or hurt their own hands and just left.
"It is." Senku confirmed, thought to Taiju's confusion he wouldn't look him in the eyes. He even seemed to be trying to look anywhere expect his eyes as he fidgeted in place, cheeks a slowly turning pink and then red.
Wait a minute! Senku never fidgeted! And he also never blushed!
"SENKU! YOU'RE MOVING WEIRD AND GETTING RED! ARE YOU SICK?!" Taiju shouted in panic, drawing the attention of several people nearby.
"I'M NOT SICK, YOU BIG OAF! AND STOP YELLING LIKE THAT!" Senku roared back, ironically just as loud, but thankfully now looking Taiju in the eye.
Seemingly realizing this he instead took a deep breath and slowly let it out to calm himself down.
"D-Do you know what day it is?" he then asked, and while he wasn't fidgeting or avoiding eye-contact anymore, he couldn't fight down the small blush still on his face.
"What day? It's wednesday." Taiju answered, blinking innocently.
"Ugh! I mean, do you know what date it is?" Senku sighed.
"Uhm... A few days ago it was Takeru's birthday and now we're one, two..." Taiju counted the days on his fingers before perking up, "It's the eleventh of May!"
"There you go." Senku nodded, a small pleased smile on his lips before turning serious again.
"Which is also the day we met each other one year ago." he then told.
Taiju's jaw dropped.
Silence.
A beat passed.
And another.
More silence.
"Taiju?" Senku called his friend, starting to get worried, "Are you ok-"
"WHOOOOOOAAAAAA!" Taiju broke from his trance and broke into one of his typical excitement-screams, once again earning looks from people around them and nearly knocking Senku backwards from surprise.
"It's really been a year since we've been friends?!" he asked excitedly, stars practically shooting from his eyes.
"Y-Yeah..." Senku nodded and took off his backback, looking for something in it.
"What are you looking fooo..." Taiju went to ask, only to trail off in amazement when Senku pulled out what had to be the coolest looking remote controled car.
"I saw you eyeing that one toy car at the toy store that one time but it was pretty expensive so I built you one like it with some spare parts I had lying around." he explained, once again fidgeting, avoiding eye-contact and blushing, which Taiju now realized was embarrassment.
"Dude! This is awesome! I love it! But why are you giving me this?" Taiju took the toy and fawned over it for a moment before looking back at his friend.
"I guess you could call it a 'thank you'-gift. For, you know, being my friend." Senku shrugged, trying to act casual but his obivous nerves were kinda ruining it.
Also, Taiju with his big brown questioning eyes didn't even need to say anything to make it clear he wanted him to clarify.
Seeing this Senku gave a heavy sigh so heavy it was honestly a wonder he didn't deflate completely like a balloon.
"L-Look, man. You're my best friend and I never really had one of those. My whole life I only ever got included in groups because other kids were nice enough, but you were the first one to ever really care about me. You helped me against those bullies for no reason other than that you believed it was the right thing to do and you never left after that! You listen to me talk about science and space and I don't think I've ever seen you get bored. You help me with my experiments. You think to invite me if you're gonna do something with your other friends, even hunting me down instead of inviting me simply to not let me be the only one in a group not going. You make me do things I never thought I'd like but then do. You're... You're just awesome and I wanted to thank you for being my friend."
During his rant Senku had been looking at his feet till he finally looked up, finding Taiju all teary-eyed, snot already running from his nose.
"SEEEEEENKUUUUUU!" Taiju screamed and launched himself and tackled the other to the ground in a bear-hug-attack.
"YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND TOOOOO! I LOVE SPENDING TIME WITH YOU WITH YOUR AWESOME COOL SCIENCE STUFF AND I LOVE EATING RAMEN TOGETHER AND HOW YOU HELP ME UNDERSTAND ALL THE HARD STUFF AT SCHOOL AND NEVER TREAT ME LIKE I'M STUPID AND- AND-"
"T-Taiju! I-I can't b-breathe!" Senku wheezed, weakly pulling at the other's arms to try to get him to let go.
"Oh, sorry!" Taiju quickly apologized and let go, patiently waiting as Senku gasped fresh air in his lungs.
Then he realized something.
"I DIDN'T GET YOU ANYTHING AT ALL!" he boomed, clutching his head.
"Taiju, you don't have to-" Senku tried to say but it was useless as Taiju started racing back and forth along the river, ranting about finding Senku another awesome gift, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him.
He sighed to himself Senku went to sit in the grass and start on his homework while he waited for when the other decided he was done.
He had just finished the required math questions, along with those for another couple chapters since they were all way too easy for him when a shadow loomed over him and looking up he found Taiju, covered in dirt and looking very pleased with himself.
"I found you this rock that looks like a kitty! Here, for you!" he announced as he held out a light grey rock.
"Huh. Look at that." Senku accepted the rock and carefully ran a finger over the smooth surface with a smile, "I really does kinda look like a cat."
Looking up he saw Taiju grinning that stupid broad grin that nearly split his face in half and he couldn't help his own.
"Say, we should celebrate our friendship's birthday every year!" Taiju then told him, eyes sparkling again.
"Every year? Sure. Why not? And just so you know, if a year passes after an event it's not called a birthday but an anniversary." Senku explained.
"An anniversary? For when we became friends? Then it's our Friendiversary!" Taiju declared.
"Friendiversary, huh? Alright, let's call it that." Senku chuckled, getting up and holding his hand out for a fist-bump.
"Here's to our Friendiversary and many text ones!"
"Yeah!"
"So," Senku asked, casually digging his pinky in his ar as if they hadn't just made an intense promise, "Wanna come eat ramen at my place?"
"Of course I do! Hey, can I drive my new car on the way? Your rock-kitty can even be a passenger!" Taiju agreed easily before holding his new toy up.
"Sure! Here, let me show you what happens if your press this button!"
A few minutes later the boys could be seen laughing as they chased after a remote toy car towards their next destination.
For the next few years Senku and Taiju spend every Friendiversary going to the river where they'd exchange a small gift, sometimes sticking around for a while to talk about life together before going to eat ramen.
"Oi, Taiju! Come with me!" Senku called out to his friend who was busy tending to the crops the Kingdom of Science was growing, wearing that same strawhat he had received thanks to being the best and hardest working farmer.
"Oh, Senku! Would that really be okay?" Taiju perked up before looking around at the others who were working too, most of them sweaty and panting unlike him.
"You go ahead. You need a break anyway and I'm sure we can manage without you for at least a while." Yuzuriha sweetly touched his arm and lightly pushed him towards Senku.
That seemed to be the push Taiju needed as he grinned and nodded at her and chased after Senku who had already started walking away, trusting him to follow.
"There you are and you were still able to run to catch up. That ridiculous stamina of yours just refuses to ever run out, does it?" Senku smirked back at him over his shoulder.
"Of course not! I gotta keep at it so the others won't have to work so hard!" Taiju answered proudly.
"Kukuku~ Why did I ten billion percent know you were gonna say that? Now give me a full update on everything. How are things going on your end?"
With that Taiju spend the rest of their who knows how long walk telling his friend every little detail about everything he and the other farmers did every day until Senku finally stopped walking and he nearly bumped into him.
"We're here." the scientist announced and looking ahead Taiju found a stream of water.
"And... Where are we exactly?" he asked sheepishly.
"In three thousand seven hundred years a lot in the world changes, including environment, but certain parts will often stay around." Senku told.
"I see," Taiju nodded, "Like usual I've got no clu where you're going with this!"
"Come on, even a moron like you should know this. What things in nature have streaming water?" Senku lifted an eyebrow.
"Uhm... Well this a stream so there's shat of course and I guess a river and- wait a minute." his eyes went wide, seeing Senku grin as soon as he said the word 'river'.
"IS THIS THE RIVER WE MET AT?!" he boomed, startling several birds into taking flight.
"There you go." Senku chuckled.
"You know I never stop counting." he stated matter of factly bfore reaching into his toolbag and pulling out a pair of brown leather gloves.
"Not gonna lie, Yuzuriha helped me make these. I figured at as tough as you are, even you're bound to get hurt at dome pount digging through dirt with rocks and these should offer at least some protection." he told him, a more tender look on his face as he handed them over.
"WHOA! These are amazing! And they fit so well!" Taiju cheered as he put them on.
Than his face morthed into one of horror.
"I DIDN'T REALIZE WHAT DAY IT IS AND DIDN'T GET YOU ANYTHING! STAY HERE!" he screamed and took off like a human bulldozer again, racing back and forth in the forest again before finally returning with a mountain of all kinds of fruit.
"Here, have this!" he told him, practically shoving it in his face.
"Fruit, huh? Well, I did get kinda hungry from making the trip here. Might as well have a little picnic together." Senku said as he accepted half of the pile before nodding towards 'their river', motioning for Taiju to join him there and eat.
"Happy Friendiversay, Senku!"
"Happy Friendiversary, you big oaf."