Chapter Text
A white wolf was staring Senku down.
Perhaps he should feel lucky. It’s not every day that one sees an example of Albinism, at least when it’s not looking back at him in the mirror. If Senku were a holier man, he might’ve called it a sign, whether good or bad he couldn’t say. Fortunately, he was a scientist and could look at certain events with logic and reason. Unfortunately, all he could see from this circumstance was how utterly screwed he was.
Alright, Senku, think. What are my options? Advantages: the wolf is keeping its distance for now. It probably thinks I look creepy as hell, a shiny monkey standing on two legs. Disadvantages: on top of being a staminaless nerd with the strength of a flea, I’ve spent the last two hours trying and failing to rub two sticks into a fire. In other words, I’m exhausted. I still have the two sticks, and one sharp rock too; add that to advantages. Maybe throwing them in the wolf’s face will stun it long enough for me to… what? Reach the cave? No, bad idea. Climb a tree and wait for it to leave. Unless wolves have since evolved to climb after- oh shit.
The wolf was directly in front of Senku now.
Well, it is technically April Fools. So much for kickstarting humanity.
As Senku braced himself for the end, the large canine sniffed at his face… then it yawned and curled up on the ground, falling asleep within seconds.
“…Eh?”
Taking advantage of the wolf’s apparent laziness, Senku retreated downstream to another clearing. At the center was a lone zelkova tree; perfect for a raised shelter, but the first thing he needed was fire. There was a lot to do before nightfall: stones to smash and sharpen, vines to twist into twine, tools to make. As he worked, he would feel eyes upon him from just beyond the clearing. The wolf again? Whatever, he had too much work to do in order to survive his first Post-Apocalyptic night.
Once the sun set, Senku had successfully achieved combustion. With some time and nurturing, the scientist soon found himself with a proper bonfire! However, just as he sat down to enjoy the warmth of the flames, his stomach reminded him of another survival necessity he had forgotten about: food. Maybe there were some mushrooms on the edge of the clearing he could-.
A flash of white caught his eye.
The wolf had returned, gazing at him from the other side of the fire. Senku froze, a deer in the headlights. He tried desperately to restart his brain and think of a plan, all while the large canine padded its way to his side of the bonfire. There was a decently sized rabbit hanging from its jaws, and once it was close, it dropped the dead rodent on his lap, then sat. Senku glanced between the rabbit and the wolf; the wolf stared expectantly.
“…Thank you?” Senku finally said. That seemed to satisfy the wolf, as it barked like a domesticated dog. “That’s a good….” He took a quick peak under. “…Girl! Good girl.” The wolf barked again, its- or rather her bushy tail swishing back and forth in glee.
It didn’t take too long to get the rabbit prepped and roasting over the fire. It was fairly small and lean, so not a lot of nutrients there. But hey, meat was meat, and Senku wasn’t going to look a gift wolf in the mouth. He made sure to offer his new furry acquaintance half of the meal, which got her tail wagging once again. Though what seemed to get the wolf most excited was gnawing the bones to bits and lapping up their marrow.
“So what’s your deal?” Senku ‘asked’ the feasting wolf. “Humans and dogs have had a traditional symbiotic relationship for a good 2 million years, but nearly 4 millenia without human interaction must’ve bred all that out of you. So what is it? Latent genetic memory? Or are you just a lone wolf in need of whatever socialization you can get?”
The Wolf paused in her chewing to look at him. She had such strange eyes. If it were truly a case of Albinism, they should’ve been red or pink, much like his own. Instead, they were gold in color, and Senku noted some sort of… intelligence behind them. Like Canis Lupus here could understand every word he was saying. The prolonged eye contact broke as the Wolf returned to her bones, and the scientist dismissed his observation as self-projection due to isolation.Yeah, after 3,700 years of forced sensory deprivation, he probably needed some level of socialization now too.
“Whatever,” Senku finally said. “Your reasons don’t interest me one millimeter. I just hope you’re prepared to make yourself useful if you’re going to imprint on me!”
“Arf!” The Wolf replied between bites.
Truthfully, Senku hardly ever imagined himself with a pet. His apartment didn’t allow animals, for one thing. For another, the thought of looking after a dependent, overly-excitable, and frankly stupider organism like a dog or a hamster never appealed to a young Senku. Not when he had Taiju already fulfilling said role. On the very few occasions he’d thought about animal companionship, the scientist liked to imagine owning something sturdy, intelligent, and somewhat independent. Perhaps an alien lifeform he would go on to discover! That or a cat. But even he had to admit there was a good reason canines were considered “Man’s Best Friend”.
Senku tried chasing after a fairly large deer. The key word being “tried”. Huffing and puffing after the animal with a spear in hand would never be described as a proper chase. Soon enough, the young scientist collapsed in exhaustion… and the deer just stood there! Munching on leaves and mocking his weak nerd body!
Which made it a little more satisfying when Canis Lupus leapt out of nowhere and clamped her jaws around the deer’s neck.
“Good… girl,” Senku managed to pant out when the wolf presented her kill to him.
Maybe I should leave the hunting to her from now on. That would be the most logical choice.
On the way back to camp, Senku began to sort out hunting logistics while dragging the deer behind him. Perhaps a system of traps that the Wolf could herd larger prey into. So caught up in his thoughts was he that he hadn’t noticed how low the sun had gotten. Unfortunately, the Wolf had. The next thing Senku knew, the Wolf was pulling at his improvised vine skirt and dragging him forward. “No, stop! Bad dog! What- AUGH!” The scientist was inexplicably flung into the air, where he spun at least three times before landing on something white and fluffy. “How the- AHHHHH!” Before the scientist could even comprehend where he was now, Senku was speeding through the thicket on Canis Lupus’s back. And just when he had comprehended that fact, the wolf was skidding to a halt in their designated clearing, and the sun was nearing its complete set.
Both human and canine seemed to sigh in relief, albeit for very different reasons.
“Didn’t realize you were such a stickler for your little curfew,” Senku huffed out, awkwardly clambering off Canis Lupus’s back.
Over the past two weeks he had known the Wolf, he had observed many odd behaviors in her. For example, despite being female, the scientist had more often than not caught her lifting her leg when… marking her territory. Or how the supposedly carnivorous glutton’s chosen diet seemed to consist of not only meat and bones, but the mushrooms, wildgreens, and fruits Senku managed to forage up. But for all Canis Lupus’s quirks, one stuck out as a ‘no exceptions' rule: she wanted Senku to stay in the clearing from sunset to sunrise. It didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing. The millisecond it started getting dark, the Wolf would find a way to drag him back to camp for the night.
It was annoying as hell, but he supposed it was good someone was holding him accountable for his godawful circadian rhythm.
“I hope you know you’re bringing that deer back by yourself now! Your stupid curfew is no excuse to waste good resources.”
The Wolf blinked at him before turning and dashing off back into the undergrowth. Sure enough, once Senku had gotten the fire going, Canis Lupus returned with the deer, and dinner was thankfully uneventful. Once food was eaten and the deer’s pelt was hung up to dry, there was nothing left to do but hit the sack. The scientist put one last load of wood on the fire, covered up his foraging jars, and tucked himself into his makeshift sleeping-bag. After settling in, he watched his furry companion follow her own bedtime routine: she made a lap around the clearing, remarking her territory as she went, be it with scratch-marks, rubbing her scent along tree trunks, or good old-fashioned ammonia.
What exactly does she think she’s guarding against, Senku thought. It’s not like something really dangerous is gonna be intimidated by a lone wolf.
The Wolf finished her patrol and made her way back to the bundled up scientist. It was only when Senku felt her warm body curled up against his back that he was able to drift off to sleep.
Today was the day. He was gonna make a proper shelter!
The zelkova tree was the perfect base for this. A treehouse, on top of being every child’s dream home, would offer great protection against potential river flooding and earthbound predators, as well as offer better storage for his foraging collection. He had spent the last couple of days collecting and shaping all the wood he needed for his treehouse. Now it was time for assembly! Senku started with shaping a crude ladder, then set it up against the zelkova tree. One of its branches had grown impossibly thick, bending and growing sideways from its own weight, making it almost flat. Perfect for supporting a floor.
Unfortunately, Senku had once again overestimated his own stamina. By the time he had actually finished the platform, the entire day had passed him by. He could hear the Wolf barking from down below, probably worried for her primary source of cooked food. I probably should head down. Replenish my SP with food. But…. Senku willed his exhausted limbs to move. Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
“Arf!”
Weird. That sounded much closer….
Senku hadn’t realized he’d closed his eyes. When he opened them, there was Canis Lupus standing over him, a clay jar in her mouth. She rather gently set the jar beside his head, then proceeded to lick at his face. The sudden show of affection made the scientist sputter and forced him to move his arms in order to defend himself. “Pfft! Okay, okay! I’m getting up!” As promised, Senku pushed himself up on shaking limbs, sending a glare towards the canine that dared wag her tail at his suffering. “Alright, what’s this then?” He reached for the jar and popped open the improvised lid. Inside was one of his first attempts at storing food; basically just salted nuts and dried berries, nothing too special.
He stuffed a handful into his mouth and it tasted heavenly.
The Wolf had sat down, tail still wagging and looking at him expectantly.
This mutt is smart. Too smart. Not only did she recognize that I needed sustenance after not interacting with me all day, she specifically chose and brought me food I wouldn’t need to put effort into preparing. Is this normal behavior for wolves? It is technically possible to train a canine to be this adept at anticipating its owner’s needs; that’s the very premise behind service dogs. But 3,700 years without human masters should’ve bred that behavior out of them. Where would she-.
“Arf!”
The Wolf’s bark startled him out of his inner monologue. Right, he was supposed to be replenishing energy. “Okay, I’m eating,” Senku said before stuffing his mouth with another mouthful of DIY trail mix.
Maybe someone else woke up before I did, he thought as he chewed. Someone who worked with animals and managed to tame her. Maybe there’s a chance they’re still around….
“Hey, Canis Lupus.”
The Wolf looked up.
Am I really about to start talking to an animal?
“Did you have a friend before me? Another shiny monkey?”
The Wolf stared.
Then it nodded.
Nodded!
Does this thing actually understand human speech to this degree?! What kinda dog-training prodigy did she meet?!
Senku shoved his panic (or was it excitement?) down and asked his next question. “Is that friend still around?”
Her head drooped down and Canis Lupus let out a low whimper.
“Oh.”
Okay, how does one deal with dog grief?
Not having a clear answer, Senku reached out a hand and gave the Wolf a scratch behind the ears. “For what it’s worth, they were lucky to have you when they did. And I’m super lucky now.” That seemed to perk her up; the scientist heard the gentle ‘thunk, thunk, thunk’ of her tail against the floorboards. “Alright, I’ll take a little rest up here, then I’ll cook whatever you can bring me in the next hour. Deal?”
“Arf arf!” She barked excitedly. With that, the Wolf leapt off the platform and bounded off into the forest in search of her feast. It wasn’t until she had disappeared that Senku realized something.
How the hell did she get up here in the first place?
Despite the discovery of Canis Lupus’s level of speech comprehension, it was getting more and more difficult to not miss human interaction.
Fortunately, on the three-month marker of his Post-Apocalyptic life, Senku finally found some familiar faces.
It was by complete accident that he discovered the camphor tree. He recalled vaguely that there had been one in his high school’s courtyard, which of course brought up memories of a certain Big Oaf and a craftsclub member. The last he saw of either of them was out of the corner of his eye: both of his friends staring in horror at the encroaching green light; Yuzuriha bracing herself against the camphor tree; Taiju the idiot wrapping himself around his crush. As if that would have protected her.
Senku would’ve dismissed the tree entirely, had he not spotted the crown of a stone head poking out from the tree trunk. No, it couldn’t be. There was no way this was the same tree! Still, the scientist ran forward, scrambling up roots and ivy to the tree’s trunk. Short, spiked hair was visible. It could be anyone’s. It didn’t mean anything. But maybe it was him. Senku grabbed for the small hand axe on his belt and began hacking away at the wood around the unknown statue. On and on he chopped, well into the evening, long enough that Canis Lupus showed up to bark at him. “Give me a minute, mutt!” Senku shouted behind him with one final WHACK! Finally, he broke through!
There they were. In 3,700 years, that dinky little schoolyard tree had somehow grown around two statues, almost fully enveloping them. Taiju’s face was frozen mid shout, while Yuzuriha stared unseeingly towards that same light from millenia ago. “Hey there Big Oaf, Craftsclub.” Seeing his only two friends again after so long was both a huge relief… and frustrating as hell. Senku slumped against the trunk, mind racing with plans and ideas but coming back to the same conclusion. Even if he worked like a dog through the summer to bust them out of the tree, he had no way to break Taiju and Yuzuriha out of the stone yet. Maybe bringing them back to the cave he woke up near would do something for them, but how was he going to get them there? Those two stuck together were too heavy to move without some more advanced tools, and he couldn’t risk breaking the statues apart just to separate them.
A wet nose nudged his hand.
“Yeah, I’m coming.” As Senku slid down the camphor’s roots back to the ground, he caught the Wolf staring back up at his trapped friends. “Sorry, girl, but this isn’t something you can help with.” Canis Lupus looked his way, giving him what sounded like a questioning whine. “Yeah, wolf-power is great and all, but this is gonna require man-power.” Man-power he couldn’t get right now.
Not until he figured out the secret to his own depetrification.
Once Amaterasu had ensured her human was safe for the night, she went searching.
The Sun Goddess remembered the words that had led her to this point: “I foresee an alliance with a counting boy!” she had once been told. And so, not long after she was freed from her own stone prison, she looked. And listened. The voices were faint, but Amaterasu could hear the cries from the petrified humans, their very souls ringing out in alarm.
“What’s happening?!
“Am I dying?!”
“Where are my children?!”
“Somebody help!”
How she had longed to help them. To set them free, or at the very least ease their suffering. But whatever curse was laid upon them was beyond Amaterasu’s power, especially now that said power had waned in the time she had been gone.
One year passed, and most of the voices dwindled into silence. After ten even the most resilient souls had succumbed to the void. A hundred years passed, and the long dormant Yokai of the land began to realize that whatever curse had befallen humanity would not be so easily undone. A thousand years went by; both nature and spirit alike reclaimed their ancestral homeland as human cities crumbled away. The earth shook many a time; the waters ripped apart the coast; the mountains erupted into fiery inferno and the winds carried their ashes far and wide. And yet, through it all, Amaterasu kept searching for the one that might restore humanity to the world.
And thousands of years later, she heard it.
‘One. Two. Three. Four…. Five… S-six….’
The Sun Goddess had perked up.
‘Damn! Nearly lost consciousness again. It seems to happen every 800,000 seconds. Heh. It’s about as regular as my bowel movements used to be.’
She ran towards the voice, towards the soul that had persevered through millennia of darkness.
‘I’ll need to think and count at the same time. Run parallel processes.’
As the Sun Goddess raced through the forest, the foul scent of bat guano invaded her nose.
‘116,427,065,530 seconds. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six-.’
There he was! Near the entrance to a shallow cave, half buried in the ground, was the petrified form of a young boy with spiked hair. The voice within continued to count, droning through numbers to an end Amaterasu could not comprehend. But the outcome of the boy’s counting was secondary. It was his resolve that truly mattered here.
And Amaterasu would do all in her power to see that resolve flourish.
She had done well over the few months that the boy, Senku, had been awake. However, there was only so much she could accomplish, trapped in her canine form and left without the powers she once possessed. Amaterasu had grown so weak that the human couldn’t even see her true form! But perhaps that was more a result of the times. The world had changed much in her absence, so she had been told. The old Kami were not worshipped as they were when this land was still called Nippon. But whether or not Senku believed her to be an ordinary wolf did not deter her from her mission.
Still, the boy was right: if he was to restore humanity, he required human allies.
Which led to tonight’s search.
If the Sun Goddess could find the counting boy amidst a sea of silent statues, surely she could find a capable ally that could match his resolve. The other boy, the one trapped in the tree with the girl, would’ve been perfect, had it not been for said entanglement. Amaterasu was somewhat glad for this though; the soul inside that statue had been earsplittingly loud. No matter, there must be someone else. Perhaps this one? No, no voice. Or she looked like a- no, she was silent. Would she have to travel further out? But that would leave Senku vulnerable to the Yokai that lurked under the night sky, she couldn’t-.
‘Long, long ago, there was a great King of the Ocean.’
Over there!
‘The King had seven daughters, the youngest of which was a little mermaid named Ariel.’
The Wolf burst through the undergrowth and came face to face with a beast of a man.
‘For as long as she could remember, Ariel was fascinated by the world above the waves, and the humans that dwelt there.’
The human was big, and built like a warrior. In his stone prison, he sat as if ready to pounce at any second.
‘One day, the Little Mermaid encountered the Sea Witch- no, wait, that happens later.’
And yet the voice of his soul was soft, gentle.
‘Which came first? The prince or the witch? Damnit!’
He had the resolve, yes. But could he work alongside Senku?
‘Calm down, Tsukasa. Hmm, there’s no need to work yourself up. You need to stay calm, focused. For Mirai. So you can be there for her when she wakes.’
Patience. And a natural guardian to boot. Yes, this one would do nicely. But how to wake him?
‘Let’s start over.’
Amaterasu tipped the statue of the one called Tsukasa onto her back. Perhaps the cave she found the counting boy near would hold the answer.
‘Or… perhaps a different story. Yes.’
Tsukasa began a new tale as the Sun Goddess carried him through the wood.
‘Long, long ago, a tiny hamlet known as Kamiki lay nestled within a grove of proud and beautiful cherry blossoms….’
The next morning, the Wolf was nowhere to be seen. She hadn’t come back last night either.
….
So what? It wasn’t like Senku was completely helpless without Canis Lupus! Besides, what help could she be on his research mission? Yeah, that’s what he thought! And sooner or later she’d be back, begging for food like she always did. It was all fine, he told himself.
But the anxiety continued to chip away at him.
Then, as he approached the sight of his depetrification, a familiar flash of white caught his eye. He absolutely did not break into a sprint for the remaining distance. “There you are, Canis Lupus!” Senku shouted.
The Wolf turned, tail wagging. “Arf arf!”
The scientist’s pace slowed to a nonchalant walk, and he jammed his pinkie finger into his ear. “Pulling all-nighters without me, eh? Not that I’m one to talk, but if you aren’t gonna respect your own curfew-.” He stopped dead in his tracks. “…This statue wasn’t here before.”
The statue in question had been propped up in the middle of the clearing, clearly displaced in its surroundings. Senku took a closer look: underneath the moss and torn ivy was all bulging muscle and long, cascading hair. The statue’s face was somewhat familiar, but from where…. Ah, he had it. He remembered Taiju watching some MMA thing once (ironically enough), and this guy had been one of the fighters shown. They had called him the ‘Strongest Primate High-Schooler’….
“Shishio Tsukasa.”
The Wolf let out a questioning whine.
“I don’t know the guy personally, but he was a pretty big name back in the day. Strongest man in Japan, or so they said.” Yeah, if he could somehow wake this guy up, he’d be an invaluable asset. The brawn to his brain! Senku tapped the statue’s forehead. “So tell me, Meathead! What’ll it take for you to wake up like I did?”
His investigation of the spot of his own depetrification, as well as the stone fragments that had fallen off his body, lead to the nearby cave. Even before stepping inside Senku was overwhelmed by a powerful stench. Squeaks from overhead revealed the odor’s source: bats had made this cave their home, and the ceiling was covered in guano. A small, steady drip from one stalactite caught his attention. The liquid that dripped was yellow, and it shared the same rancid scent. Water mixed with the guano, then came down as nitric acid, a substance that was once used in etching agents. Could this be the answer?
A patch on the back of his neck was still covered in stone. Senku yanked a hair from the patch, and it was still partially petrified. “C’mon,” he whispered as he held the hair beneath the drip. “C’mon!”
Drip.
Drip.
Crack!
The stone broke apart, and Senku had his answer! It took about a day and a half to gather a full pot of acid. Once there was enough for Senku’s liking, he grabbed it and dumped the fluid over the Shishio Statue’s head.
He waited.
Senku made a face.
And waited.
The Wolf whined.
No reaction.
He considered running the same experiment on some of the other statues lying around, but a thought struck him. The Wolf had (somehow) brought the Shishio Statue here. Out of all the statues she could’ve picked. Something about Shishio made him different, something that only Canis Lupus could see or smell or whatever. Was it the same thing that had made Senku’s case special too?
“C’mon, Senku, think.”
Think….
He had been thinking!
“That’s it!” His exclamation startled the sleeping Wolf. Who better to bounce his theories off of? “The entire time I was petrified, I remained conscious! The human mind consumes 400 calories a day, and over 3,719 years, that adds up to over 2 terajoules of energy! E=mc2, Canis Lupus! Energy and mass have equivalent exchange! My brain was consuming something in the stone for energy, all the while the nitric acid was eroding the stone from the outside! That’s the answer!”
“Arf!”
“But….” He looked at the Shishio Statue, the nitric acid still running down his face. “How can you be sure he’s like me? That he’s conscious too?”
The Wolf just stared for a long time. Then she walked towards the statue and put her head against its chest, ear pressed to the stone.
Does that mean…? No, there’s no way she can actually hear someone think… right? No, that can’t be it. Dogs and other animals can sense earthquakes before they occur; perhaps its a principle similar to that.
“I suppose we’ll just have to trial-and-error it,” he concluded. “We’ll get Mr. Strongest-Primate-High-Schooler set up under the drip for his nitric shower, and then the experiments will begin!” Theorizing that he and Shishio were conscious in their stone prisons meant knowing that others were not, and therefore the nitric acid alone may not work. If he could figure out a way to power up the acid so that it would compensate for the lack of internal erosion, it would really kick this civilization game into gear. But first, there was the issue of moving the statue. Senku looked to Canis Lupus: the Wolf was curled up for a nap. “Don’t suppose you feel like helping?” She didn’t move.
Great.
October 5th, 5738. Roughly 6 months since his awakening.
Senku’s experiments on the stone swallows were yielding nothing. No matter how he scraped, burned, or chipped away at the stupid birds, he was learning nothing about what the stone was composed of. The nitric acid solutions the scientist was coming up with were just as fruitless. Of the few things he was able to scrounge up and combine with the acid, they weren’t potent enough to create a reaction. Now his entire make-shift lab was starting to reek of acid. What he would do for some alcohol right about now. Both for nital and to drown his sorrows.
His jar of trail mix was empty now too. Just great!
“Canis Lupus!” Senku called.
No response.
Senku whistled. Not even a bark.
“Of course.” For once, he had to be the responsible one and pull himself out of his lab. Joy.
Senku yawned and stretched, suddenly feeling like he hadn’t slept in days. Which might’ve been true. All the days he’d been doing research had started to bleed together. It was certainly long enough that he was temporarily blinded by the sun when stepping outside. The scientist stumbled toward the treehouse and almost fell while climbing the ladder, but finally he managed to faceplant into his sleeping mat. Weakly he pulled a new pot of trail mix his way and popped the lid off-.
“Grrrr.”
Huh. That hadn’t been his stomach.
“Canis Lupus? That you?” Senku pushed himself up and walked over to the curtain. “Look, just give me a minute and I’ll cook-.” He stopped.
That wasn’t the Wolf.
None of them were.
A freaking pride of lions- five lionesses and one very large male- looked up at the treehouse and stared at him.
“…Don’t suppose you’re all animals that some OP beast trainer befriended too, right?” One of the lionesses roared, sank her claws into the tree, and started to climb. “Yeah, I thought not!” The trail-mix jar was still in his hand. He chucked it at the lioness’s head and it shattered, causing her to flinch and fall. Senku took the chance in the siege’s brief pause to whistle once again. He didn’t know what chance a lone wolf would stand against six lions, but the scientist knew he was still 10 billion percent screwed without her. Another lioness leapt up, this time sinking claws directly into the platform. At this rate, he needed a miracle.
Two blurs, one snow white and the other brown and tan, came charging into the clearing. Canis Lupus sank her jaws into the flank of the climbing lioness, who roared and released the platform. The brown blur disappeared beneath the treehouse; Senku peered over the edge to see a tall naked human take up one of his spears. All bulging muscle and long, cascading hair. It was Shishio, awake and squaring off against a lion pride, the Wolf crouched low by his side.
Senku tried to watch the battle unfold from his perch, but everything was happening so fast and chaoticly for him to keep up with. Human spear and wolf claws fighting together seemed to make the lionesses recoil, but the male wasn’t backing down. The beast swiped a massive paw and broke the spear head off the staff. Shishio, instead of going for another spear, tossed the useless stick aside and dropped low, fists ready. This moron wasn't actually about to go hand-to-claw with a lion, was he?! He was gonna get eviscerated!
The scientist was proven wrong when a single punch from Shishio sent the lion flying back to slam into the tree. He felt his platform shake from the impact. The lionesses balked at the loss of their pride’s leader, and a final howl from the Wolf sent them on their way.
Just like that, it was all over.
Senku watched the white wolf trot over to Shishio, who bent down to pat her head. Then the tall man stood and looked directly at him.
“What’s the situation?”