SenGen Week Day 1 (December 29, 2019)
ππ¨πππ¨π§ πππ§ππ²/Kemonomimi
"Hey, mentalist, slacking off again?" Senku smirked as he wiped the sweat off his brow and sat beside Gen.
"Can't I have a break every now and then, Senku-chan?" He smiled in reply. Gen turned his attention back to the children who were playing, taking their breaks as well from work. "Have you ever stopped and thought about how we could've been imprisoned for child labor if this were the modern world?"
"How and why did you even think about that?" Senku made a face at the thought and Gen laughed. "But what are you really thinking?" Gen didn't wipe the smile off his face and instead turned his head to Senku.
"The weather isn't ideal for sun drying fruits, is it?"
"Not right now. To sun dry fruits you need the environment to be above 29Β° Celsius and you need to have the humidity of below 60%, otherwise the fruits would rot before being dehydrated."
"I see, well then, I will be taking my leave. I have places to be and people to see. Later, Senku-chan~" Gen cooed before making his way towards the kids and talking to Suika. Senku simply watched Gen take the little girl by her hand and let himself get taken to wherever she led him.
The next day Gen came into the lab and asked for Kuromu.
"Kuromu-chan~" Gen sang. "I need your scientific knowledge. Do you mind if I borrow him for a bit Senku chan?"
"Not really." Senku muttered despite being curious as to why he needed Kuromu instead of him.
'It's not like he's planning a surprise for me. If he did, he would be more subtle with it.' Senku thought.
Kuromu spent time with Gen the next day. Senku had absolutely no idea where to look for both men and nobody seemed to have a clue of their whereabouts as well.
The day after, that, Kuromu was back.
"Senku! Gen told me about something about Quantum Physics yesterday, he wasn't able to explain much but can you tell me everything about it?" Senku could basically see the sparkles in Kuromu's eyes.
"Absolutely not." Senku shot down. "We have work to do today. Gen calling for you yesterday took up so much time already. What did you do with him anyway? I couldn't find either of you yesterday."
"Well, he asked me to make a freezer like the one you made for Tsukasa. Said he wanted to preserve some fruits."
"That's it?" Senku asked, puzzled. Why on earth was Gen suddenly interested in fruit preservation? Asking about sun drying and now freezing fruits? "Could he be freeze drying the fruits instead?" He wondered.
"So, quantum physics?" Kuromu chirped.
"No, we need to find Kaseki, there's stuff we have to make." Kuromu sighed in defeat and followed Senku out of the lab. They neared the oven where Kaseki often stayed but all they found was little Suika who was cleaning the glass instruments that seemed to just have been made recently.
"Where's Kaseki?" Senku inquired.
"He said he wasn't feeling too good and had Gen carry him back to his hut. He says he's sorry he won't be able to work today."
"Ah damn, we won't be able to start the project without him but I definitely don't want to disturb him when he needs rest." Senku stuck his pinky finger into his ear. "Looks like we'll be able to talk about quantum physics after all."
Needless to say, the conversation did last for more than a day.
The next day, Kaseki was up and about, ready for work but Senku denied him of helping.
"Take one more day to rest just so we're sure that you're in a stable condition." Senku urged and after a long time of persuasion, Kaseki gave in. Senku was thinking of other ways to be productive when he realized he hadn't seen a certain mentalist in two days.
'Never mind that, I need to go over my plans and look through all of the tiniest details so we can make up for all the time lost when the old man gets better.'
He grabbed parchment and charcoal pencils from the lab and announced that no one was to bother him unless it was extremely important. Senku went through blueprints and chemical formula plans thinking about every detail about the project and what the most efficient processes they could do. It was around mid afternoon when somebody knocked on the observatory's trapdoor.
"Come in!" Senku yelled and Suika's head popped out. "Is there something wrong?"
"I'm sorry for disturbing you but Gen wanted you to have some cotton candy." She climbed through and gave Senku the cotton candy which made his eyes widened in surprise. The confection was blue and when Senku turned the stick to look at the other side, he was greeted by the near perfect smiling face of Doraemon.
"I need to see what's happening." Senku stood up, took a bite out his Doraemon cotton candy, and followed Suika outside. To his surprise, he found most of the villagers going around with colored cotton candy. Senku took a bite of his own once more and then did he only notice the subtle fruity taste of the blue part of the sweet treat.
"Senku-chan!" He heard Gen's voice sing from ahead and he found both the mentalist and Kaseki with the cotton candy machine.
"So this is why you were asking me about fruit preservation, huh? I'm impressed you even thought about freeze drying the fruits which would help them retain their color and taste while also helping them achieve a texture that would be easier to crush into powder that can be used to dye and flavor the plain white cotton candy."
"Ah, I didn't even have to explain, as expected of the world's smartest man." The older laughed.
"Although, I do remember telling a certain craftsman to take a break from crafting anything and prioritize his health." Senku mused as he continued to eat.
"It's not a heavy task and it's the only way to make him happy." Gen countered.
"Here's your cotton candy, Gen." Kaseki reached out the freshly made stick of sweetness which Gen gratefully took.
"Thank you! Isn't it cute, Senku?" Gen showed Senku his stick which resembled a Chinese cabbage. "Does it remind you of someone?" Senku grinned back in amusement.
"How childish. What gave you the idea anyway?"
"Well, the kids have been working hard these past few days and so I thought it would be nice to reward them with something they might enjoy."
"Who are you and what did you do to the self-proclaimed most superficial man in the world?" Senku joked.
"Well, who are you and what did you do to the scientist who has no sense of humor in him?" Gen shot back with a laugh. "But to be honest, I guess I also just wanted to see you smile with no worries again. The bags under your eyes have gotten worse and as much as you try to hide it, I know that you're stressed more than ever. I can't let the person who ensures my safety and victory to go into a downward spiral now, can I? So, even for just a while, I just wanted to see you genuinely happy."
Senku stared at him before fake gagging which resulted in a fit of laughter between the two.