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It was late at night in Japan, where Senku Ishigami was still working on his time machine, studying the circuitry to see what could be improved. Despite Senku having trouble keeping his eyes open, the scientist continued staring deep into the circuitry, trying to keep his focus even as the door to his lab opened. The door opened to reveal Kohaku, the blonde warrior from Ishigami Village who was the first person to truly believe in Senku and, in turn, helped create a domino effect that helped re-create the Earth the way it was before the Medusa turned the entire world into stone.
“Senku? You’re still here?” Kohaku asked. Kohaku’s cheeks puffed up in annoyance at Senku ignoring her, prompting the blonde woman to stomp over to the scientist and bop him on the head, making him turn around and hold the top of his head in pain. However, when Senku turned around to see Kohaku in front of him, the annoyed frown on his face disappeared, and it turned into a relaxed smile.
“Oh, Lioness, what’re you doing here so late?”
“First of all, I’m not a Lioness. Second of all, I should ask you the same thing. It’s almost 2 in the morning, and some of your co-workers have been telling me that you’ve been working non-stop since 9 in the morning,” Kohaku explained in worry, her eyes directed towards the bags underneath Senku’s eyes, which were much more noticeable than they usually were, indicating that he had not been sleeping in a while
“It’s not a big deal, Kohaku. I’ve done all-nighters before, and when you’re working on something as revolutionary as a time machine, you need to give it all the time you have,” Senku countered before patting the side of his time machine while showing off that traditional confident smirk. Despite the worry Kohaku was feeling, she couldn’t help but laugh at the confidence and the pose Senku was doing, though the worry in her eyes was still clearly evident, prompting Senku to sigh and, with a smile still on his face, pat her on the top of the head.
“I appreciate you being worried about me, Kohaku, but trust me, I’ll be fine. This is my life’s work, and you know me; once I have my mind set on something, there isn’t anything short of an act of God that would make me stop. So, you don’t need to worry about me, especially since you’re busy with other things right now,” Senku responded, surprisingly warm and quiet, easing Kohaku’s worry. A faint blush dusted her cheeks, which Senku noticed, prompting him to chuckle. Kohaku jabbed him in the elbow with a fist, and Senku fell to his knees in pain as he tried to stop laughing. But as he stopped laughing, he saw that Kohaku was no longer annoyed and was instead looking at the ceiling with a longing, curious look in her eyes.
“It’s nice that you still have something to be so passionate about,” Kohaku said in a shaky whisper, her head turning toward the time machine behind Senku, her eyes glistening as tears began to form.
“Kohaku…?”
“Honestly, now that everything’s all over and Why Man’s been stopped, I…I don’t know what to do with myself anymore. Ruri and Chrome are getting married; Taiju & Yuzuhara just got married and have their own clothing business; Gen’s working in foreign relations; and even Suika’s helping you with your new experiment. This whole new world is…it’s a lot, and I’m…I don’t know what I can do,” Kohaku confessed, her breathing growing heavier as tears began to pool at the corners of her eyes. Kohaku, ever since she was young, had always sought to be useful to the village, much like Suika. She trained to be a fighter for years so she could protect not only her sister but also other residents of the village. Even though she didn’t know much about science, she tried her best to help Senku and everyone else save the people who had been petrified. But now, she didn’t know what to do, and it made Kohaku feel frustrated and angry at herself.
However, before Kohaku could start straight-up bawling, Senku did something completely out-of-character and unexpected; he wrapped Kohaku in a gentle yet firm hug, shocking the blonde woman. After a moment to recover from the shock, Kohaku returned the hug with vigor, holding onto Senku tightly, as if letting go of him would cause her to break down into tears.
“Kohaku, I know it’s hard, but I promise you have nothing to worry about. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you’re best at, especially when you’re in a completely new world. A lot of the success I had when we were back in the Stone World was luck, and the first stroke of luck after separating from Taiju & Yuzuhara was meeting you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have gotten nearly as far as I did, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have saved the world, and we wouldn’t have defeated Why Man. I’m ten billion percent sure you’re going to find your place in this new world,” Senku softly soliloquized. Kohaku, her eyes still wet with tears, looked up at the scientist, still surprised that Senku, who usually wasn’t one to discuss emotions, was here comforting and encouraging her. And for Kohaku, someone who always wanted to portray herself as the tough one and not someone who needed to be comforted, it was nice to have someone notice that she was hurting and that it was OK to hurt. After a moment in each other’s embrace, Senku let go of Kohaku, and that's when he noticed that the blonde girl had a bag of fast food in her hands. Kohaku looked up and saw that Senku was looking at the fast food in her hands, prompting her to put the food on a nearby table.
“You got McDonald's?”
“Yeah, it was open, and I thought you might be hungry,” Kohaku responded, wiping her eyes with her arms, just as Senku’s stomach let out a soft growl, prompting the scientist to chuckle.
“Well, I guess you got me, Lioness. I guess even the greatest minds had a break every once in a while,” Senku said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a box of fries. Kohaku’s mouth curled into a small smile before she joined him at the makeshift dinner table. As Kohaku took a bite of her burger, her mind began to flood with the jobs she had seen people take on since the new world opened up: working for the police, the fire department, or teaching people how to defend themselves. Maybe Kohaku could try one of those jobs, especially since some of her friends overseas had had some success working for their local police departments.
“See? I told you that you could think of something to do with the right mindset,” Senku said, noticing the glimmer of hope returning to Kohaku’s eyes and her eyes widening in thought at a potential breakthrough idea. Kohaku laughed, a genuine smile finally creeping back onto her face, before she took another bite of her burger.
“You’re right, you did,” Kohaku responded with her mouth full as the two continued eating in a comfortable silence. They locked eyes, and for a moment, there was a flicker of quiet understanding. They were complete opposites in almost every way, yet they complemented each other so well that it was hard to imagine one without the other. Even if neither of them was the most romantic person in the world and had a very loose grasp of romance and love, they knew one thing: they always wanted to be with the other, whether physically together or in spirit. And no matter where they ended up in life, Kohaku and Senku were going to be by each other’s side.