Chapter Text
I can’t die like this.
Gen didn’t understand what was going on. Who could? The only thing he knew was that he had just finished his escape act, standing triumphal over the box that once ‘trapped’ him inside, when a blinding green light appeared out of nowhere and then everything went dark.
Fortunately for him, and in a way, like a twisted joke of the universe considering the ‘magic act’ he just performed, he wasn’t claustrophobic nor afraid of the dark.
However, he could feel the beginnings of a panic attack and there… there wasn’t much he could really do about it.
He couldn’t move, which meant he couldn’t close his eyes, much less engage in light exercise or muscle relaxation techniques.
Deep breathing exercises? Not an option, and the idea that he wasn’t breathing was certainly not helping at all…
He couldn’t practice mindfulness as he didn’t feel anything , not after whatever that had happened, well, happened.
He couldn’t feel the warmth of the lights from the stage, nor the fabric of his clothes against his skin… Not even whatever encased him. Nothing.
Find an object to focus? Also discarded. It was pitch black.
Picture a happy place? Of course that had to be the only option left. Well, that and repeating a mantra internally. However, after a while, repeating to himself that he was too young to die became rather boring.
Maybe he should just sleep. Every now and then, he would feel himself drifting out of consciousness, only to stop himself by sheer force of will. But it would be so easy to just let himself go and then… Then what? Was he going to sleep forever? What if he never woke up? Or worse, what if he did and was totally defenseless? No. He promised himself he would never be in that situation again and, as the mentalist he claimed to be, he had to be ready for whatever it may come.
Worst case scenario, he would simply die waiting, right?
With no food nor water, how long could that take?
***
The answer turns out to be 3,715 years… and counting, considering he is still very much alive.
There is a sound of something cracking and then he finds himself blinded by the light, his senses returning to him all at once. He can feel the earth on his feet, he can hear the sound of the waves nearby and then, when his vision clears, he can see a man standing in front of him.
“What is this, a prank? Did my manager not stop them? I told them I’m a mentalist so I only work as the prankster,” he begins to say, even though it’s more than obvious that it wasn’t just some stupid prank.
However, until he gathered enough information, he would act his part as the confused celebrity.
Not that it was very far from the truth.
***
It had become kind of a routine. Senku would walk to the cave, check if Taiju had awakened (no signs of that happening so far) and then take with him the rudimentary mud vessel he made to collect nitric acid and leave an empty one behind. On his way back to his shelter and lab, he would pour some of its contents over some random statues, just to check if by any chance someone else could be revived the same way he was.
He wasn’t lonely but some company until the Big Oaf finally came back would be appreciated.
At least, that was what he thought until he heard a statue crack.
He ran towards it, not that he had walked that far before the reaction took place.
“You gotta be kidding me,” Senku mutters as he stops in front of the cracking statue.
7,7 billion people in the world, 126,17 million Japanese citizens, and yet… it had to be him .
“Excuse me? Who are you?” Gen stares at him in disbelief, slowly straightening up from his previous position. “And why are you dressed like that ?”
Senku resists the urge to look down on himself. He knows what he’s wearing and he’s not ashamed of it. It’s just an automatic response to Gen’s provocation, but he won’t give him that satisfaction.
“Look who’s talking,” he smirks instead.
Gen doesn’t even flinch at his comment, but still puts an embarrassed expression on his face, covering what he could with his hands.
“Why-why am I naked?! What’s going on?!” Gen fake cries.
Senku rolls his eyes.
“Cut that crap,” he asks, and Gen does, with an amused smile spreading across his face.
“Fine, fine… I still look better than you anyways, Leek-chan~,” Gen croons.
Could this guy be any more irritating?
“Don’t call me that.”
“Then what should I call you,” he paused. “Lettuce-chan?”
Yes he could.
“Senku is fine.”
“Senku-chan it is,” Gen smiles, pleased with himself. “Ah, where are my manners? I’m–”
“Asagiri Gen, I know,” he interrupts. “The magician who used to write trashy psychology books.”
“You read my work? I’m so happy~ But calling them ‘trashy’ hurts, though. Call me a mentalist.”
Senku huffs.
“Sure, Mentalist,” he says, earning a smile from Gen.
It was the fakest smile he had ever seen.
He grimaces, but decides not to comment on that, opting to kneel down to address the broken stone pieces instead. He should collect them for later analysis.
Gen doesn’t say anything for a while and he doesn’t push it either. If he had to choose between listening to his irritating voice and silence, then the latter was more than welcomed.
He did, however, steal a few glances in his direction, only to find that Gen was looking for some plants to cover himself for the time being.
Good to know he isn't completely shameless.
Not that it mattered much given the circumstances.
Once he finishes gathering the pieces, he stands up and resumes his walk back to his shelter. He can hear Gen following him closely behind.
“So, Senku-chan, care to explain what’s going on?” Gen breaks the silence after a while.
“All humanity was petrified 3,715 years ago,” he waits for Gen to laugh, insisting on it being a terrible prank, or to actually panic this time.
Neither of them happen.
“I see.”
Curiosity was powerful. Once again, he finds himself looking in his direction, noticing that Gen had stopped to stare at some statues. The expression on his face is unreadable.
“Right,” for some reason, he feels compelled to look away. Maybe to give Gen some privacy as he finishes processing the information. “I still don’t know how it happened, only that whatever it was, it targeted humans and swallows.”
“Swallows?”
“Yes. I was actually beginning to study some of them when we were petrified.”
“Was it an experiment gone wrong?”
“It's one of my hypotheses.”
They keep walking, with Gen asking about his other hypotheses, probably to fill the silence more than actual interest, but Senku finds himself answering anyway. He tells him about the aliens, the military weapon, the virus. Surprisingly enough, Gen actually listens to him and even asks some follow-up questions.
It’s weird to talk to another person again, but it certainly helps to put his ideas in order, to actually process them for once.
Gen stops again when they reach his ‘camp’.
“You… you did all of this?” He asks, voice wavering ever so slightly.
He can’t help but smile at that sound, feeling quite satisfied with himself. Not even a liar like Gen could hide his surprise.
“Who else? The monkeys?”
“Monkeys?” Gen can, however, recover quickly, as he looks around as if searching for them. “Well, that would actually make more sense.”
“Excuse you?” Senku isn’t offended by the comment, not really. If anything, he is feeling a little amused.
Maybe being alone for so long messed him up more than what he cared to admit.
“How old are you? Sixteen?”
“Almost seventeen,” Senku informs, although Gen is still annoyingly right. “And do you really want to play the age game? You? A nineteen-year-old magician?” He adds with a laugh.
“ Mentalist ,” Gen corrects him, “and just so you know, there are a lot of young celebrities.”
“But you chose ‘mentalism’,” Senku points out, making quotation marks with his fingers just to see if it could annoy him.
Based on the forced smile on his face, it did.
“I just went with what I was good at.”
“Parlor tricks?”
“Reading people.”
“And now you’re going to tell me that’s how you guessed my age?”
“Nope, that was just a lucky guess… Can’t say it was the same for you, though.”
"What if I told you it was a 'lucky guess' much like yours?" It wasn't, but only because he remembered some random stuff about Gen thanks to his classmates always gushing about him.
He might have also read his book out of curiosity, but it was precisely because of it that he could say it was ‘trashy’ with reason.
What irritated him the most was not the content, or more precisely the lack of it, but that it was written in such a way that it was an instant page-turner. Senku found himself reading it late into the night, only stopping when he realized that he had reached the end of the book and felt nothing but disappointment in himself for wasting his valuable time in such a way.
“I wouldn’t believe you~” Gen sings, completely unaware of his inner turmoil.
Perhaps that was for the better.
“Whatever. Do you plan to keep wearing leaves or do you want some actual leather?”
“Are you offering?”
“I have some spare from the last hunt,” he says climbing up the stairs to his shelter. Once up, he looks down at Gen. “Are you coming up or what?”
“So blunt~” Gen laughs, but begins walking towards the stairs, his eyes still wandering from time to time, probably still taking in his surroundings.
***
“This is not enough.” Gen says after Senku unrolls the scraps he has.
“What do you mean? You can cover well enough with that.”
“I need…” Senku notices how Gen hesitates for a moment. “I get cold easily.”
“You’re kidding, right? We’re in the middle of summer.”
“Why would I?” Gen smiles with feign innocence.
“You don’t seem that cold right now.” He points out, ignoring his question.
Or any at all.
“That’s because I’m very good at disguising it, but my hands are already freezing…”
“Bull–”
“Do you want to test it out, Senku-chan? Is that your way of asking to hold hands?” Gen interrupts, plastic smile back on his face.
Senku is unfazed by his attempt to embarrass him, but decides to drop the subject. Whatever his motives were, as long as they didn’t affect him, he didn't care.
“Fine, be like that. I offered you what I had, if you want more you will have to catch your own deer.”
“Right… And how did you manage to do that?”
Senku doesn’t miss the look he gives him, although he couldn’t say he was surprised. He had been gaining some muscle from all the physical work during the last few months, but he knew he was far from having a muscular figure like Taiju’s.
“How do you think?”
“Some kind of trap,” Gen looks around. “You have ropes, what did you use as bait? I’m not really familiar with deer’s diet.”
Well, he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity of getting more meat.
“I’ll show you.”
“Really?”
“We have to work together, don’t we? I don’t think either of us have much of a choice.”
Maybe Gen wasn’t Taiju with his strength and endless stamina, but an extra pair of hands could always be useful.
Gen stares at him for a moment before answering, making Senku wonder what he could possibly be thinking about.
“Right.”
“But you should know, the more leather you decide to use, the more tanning you will have to do.”
“And how is that done exactly?” Senku smirks.
“Let’s get our deer first and then I’ll teach you.”
However, even with the traps set, they still had to wait until they actually caught something and Senku was not one to sit idle. He decides to send Gen to collect whatever he can find for them to eat while he works on new ropes and weapons. Surprisingly enough, Gen accepts the task without much of a fuss.
And takes his time.
After he is finished with his own work, Senku finds himself making crockery for his new companion as he waits for his return. It’s only logical and he might as well prepare some extra for when Taiju wakes up.
If that trashy magician could, then it shouldn't be long before the Big Oaf does it too, right?
***
Gen decides to return when he notices that the sun is beginning to set down.
He hides his findings inside a tree hollow, a temporary place for until he could get a proper coat where to put them. It’s not that he distrusts Senku or anything like that. On the contrary, he seems to be everything he is not: honest to a fault.
Despite being complete strangers, Senku had been truthful in all his answers (well, except the one regarding how he ‘guessed’ his age, but his terrible attempt at lying was pretty telling on itself).
Gen concluded that Senku was the type of person who would rather avoid wasting time with vague or insincere answers and instead be straightforward, probably to the point of being too blunt sometimes.
It was great in its own way, amusing even, but Gen had the feeling that this honesty of his would eventually get him killed.
Or at least, it would if it weren’t for the fact that it was only the two of them.
Aren’t we?
He had been wondering about that for a while now, but it isn’t until he is on his way back that he sees the tree and it clicks.
Senku did tell him that more than 3,700 years had passed, but at that time, he was too confused to wonder how he could possibly know that.
His fingers brush the carved wood, tracing the numbers. Numbers he was way too familiar for his liking. It’s unnerving, really. Almost like another cruel joke from the universe.
However, he decides to leave that thought aside in favor of focusing on the responsable of said engraving.
Even in this crude form he recognizes the handwriting. It’s the same as the one that adorns Senku's clothes.
So he wrote this when he was un-petrified? How did he know what day it was? Was he… The whole time? This dude’s totally insane!
And lonely, if his suspicions were correct.
For how long?
***
“Took you long enough, Mentalist. Did you get lost?” Senku smirks from his sitting position in front of a starting fire.
“Oh, were you worried about little ol’ me? That’s so sweet, Senku-chan!” He can’t help but tease Senku a little bit as he makes his way towards him, maybe to ease the restlessness that’s left after his discovery.
“Not one millimeter.” Senku answers, looking up at him with a bored expression on his face.
“So ean-may!” Gen fake cries despite knowing that Senku would simply ignore him.
He does turn his attention back to the fire.
Quit stalling…
“What is it?” Senku asks before Gen can even begin to prep-talk himself into asking what has been plaguing his mind.
He is a little surprised that Senku caught on so quickly, but promptly recovers. He should have seen it coming.
Despite his attempts to appear disinterested in him and his well-being, Senku was a kind person. It was clear as day, even if his kindness wasn’t in the most conventional way.
“Did you write it?” Gen asks, knowing Senku would understand what he was talking about without any further explanation.
“Yes.”
“And what date is today?”
“Today is June 20th, 5,738.” Senku answers in a beat.
Gen takes air in.
That would be almost three months.
“Are there any other people revived?”
“As far as I know, only us.”
Apparently, the joke continued.
Gen still wasn’t sure if it was something personal or not. Senku knew who he was, sure, he was (or used to be) quite famous after all, but the comment he made as soon as he was revived made it seem like his un-petrification had personally offended him.
It just had to be him.
To that he could add the fact that they were almost polar opposites, an honest scientist and a lying magician, as well as the damn date on that tree...
It took everything in Gen not to laugh at the hilarity of it all, but he can’t completely hide his amusement.
“It’s quite romantic,” he says, as an answer to Senku’s curious look, which quickly turns into a disgusted frown.
“I’m sure I’m going to regret asking, but how so?”
Gen didn’t feel like telling him the full joke, he probably wouldn’t believe half of it anyways, instead he says: “Imagine telling someone that you wouldn’t date them even if you were the last two people on Earth and then this happened.”
“Sounds like a nightmare,” Senku is quick to answer, his face clearly unamused.
“Right?” He laughs an empty laugh and Senku grimaces even more. Gen almost wishes he had a camera with him, although right now it should be the least of his concerns. “Do you have any idea why that is?”
“I assume you stayed conscious all this time?” Senku says, eyeing him with a spark Gen is sure it isn't a product of the fire in front of him.
“I did,” he admits and Senku nods, looking suddenly quite excited and making Gen wonder if he made the right choice when he decided to ask.
“That’s why the nitric acid could revert the petrification. The energy our brains consume to stay awake seems to be–”
“Wait, nitric acid ?!”
“Oh, you’re going to love this,” Senku says with that terrible smile of his that only served as a warning that Gen would in fact not ‘love this’. “I un-petrified you by pouring bat guano on your head.”
“Why would you do that?!” Senku snickers at his reaction.
“I poured it on various statues to see if someone else would wake up like me, don’t feel so special.”
“There’s nothing special about having poop on your head!”
“Now that I think about it, you should be thanking me,” Senku continues, completely ignoring his complaints. “Guess you can pay me with a lifetime of labor.”
“No way! You didn’t even do it on purpose!” He points out.
“Does it matter? The result is still the same.”
***
For the first time in what feels like a millennia, there is conversation around the fire as well as laughter. At Gen’s expense, of course.
Senku takes Gen’s pouting as a victory, even though he knows he is exaggerating his reaction (or covering his annoyance with childish behavior). It’s still fun to watch.
However, it doesn’t last long and soon he is being faced by that unreadable smile of his again.
“So, were you expecting someone in particular to wake up?” Senku raises an eyebrow at that, although he guessed that wasn’t something difficult to deduce. “I noticed you were quite frustrated when I was revived.”
“Maybe it’s because I don’t like you,” he answers, which isn’t exactly a lie.
Gen doesn’t even seem surprised with his bluntness, he simply continues smiling as he encourages him to continue with a sing-sang: “But~?”
“I might be waiting for someone else to wake up,” he admits, and he can’t stop himself from adding: “He probably will. I’m ten billion percent certain he’s still awake under all that stone.”
“He?”
Senku takes a moment of consideration before answering. It wasn’t as if his name would mean anything to Gen and even if it did, what was he going to do? Try to find his statue and break it? Doubtful.
“Taiju,” Senku says.
“I see,” there’s something different in Gen's voice and, when he looks up at him, he’s sure that for a brief moment there is something akin to an honest smile on his face. “That’s nice, Senku-chan.”
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that. I just need him because the guy seems to have an endless amount of stamina. It could be quite useful for this situation.”
“Ah, ever the utilitarian, I see. And here I was believing you had friends.”
“A foolish mistake really.”
“Right~?”
Senku realizes a little too late that he’s smiling when he notices Gen’s smirk.
He quickly changes the subject, refusing to accept that Gen's company might be more pleasant to him than he previously anticipated: “Now, how about you show me what you brought? You sure took your time.”
Senku had been prepared to evaluate and discard a great part of whatever Gen had collected, and perhaps laugh a little bit at the expression he would surely make when he saw that much of his effort had been in waste. What he finds instead is a collection of berries, mushrooms and flowers that are quite edible.
“Horticulture was a hobby of mine,” Gen says in response to his silent question, probably quite obvious as Senku doesn’t even try to hide his surprise.
“Should I be worried about you trying to poison me in the near future?”
“Don’t give me ideas,” Gen laughs and it’s quite genuine this time. That is, until he notices Senku’s evil grin.
“This is perfect! I can leave you in charge of collecting from now on!”
“Hold a second, Senku-chan,” Gen says. “What are you going to do?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
***
There is a change in Senku's posture and Gen notices that the spark is back in his eyes
“I’m going to figure out the science behind petrification and our revival and build a civilization with enough technology to take us to space again.”
Maybe it was the hopelessness of the situation, maybe that date carved on the tree or maybe it was the determination in those red eyes that made Gen find himself wanting to believe in Senku.
“I’ll be looking forward to that, Senku-chan.” He knows his smile is a little too genuine for his taste, but it doesn’t matter. Considering it was only the two of them and Senku was… well, Senku , there was really no need to disguise.
“You will. Get excited, mentalist! We’re going to become the Adam and Eve of this stone world.”
There was a beat of silence and then Gen burst out laughing.
“What was supposed to be that?!”
“Can it! I regretted it as soon as I said it!” Senku complained with a hand on his face, but Gen knew he was smiling behind it.
Seems like we are going to have fun~.
[Little extra]
“Senku-chan, please, can’t you just do it for me?” Gen asks, later that night, as he continues gnawing his straps of leather in order to soften the hide.
The trap had worked like a charm and Senku even made sure to skin the animal before Gen’s arrival. The only thing left to do was to soften the straps and join them with a thread. A task that Senku’s jaw painfully remembered.
“Do you want to walk around covered in my saliva?” Senku asks in response, keeping his eyes focused on the meat he is cooking. He didn’t need to look back to know that Gen was pouting at his response.
“You know what? Never mind. You’re gross.”
“Exac-wait,” Gen laughs and Senku just knows it’s a real laugh.
It’s weird how it also makes him laugh along.