Bird's Dr. Stone Sideblog

Rest Well, Child

The next morning, Gen watches as Mirai and Suika play catch with a leather ball, laughing as they try to hold it out of Chalk’s reach. The little puppy nips at their heels, tail wagging cheerfully.

The mentalist takes care to monitor Mirai’s expressions. Despite the harrowing experience the poor dear had gone through the other night, she was handling it quite well, he thought. 

“Gen, Gen watch this!” Suika throws the ball high into the air, then Mirai slams it down as it falls back to earth, bouncing it back up to brush against the leaf on Suika’s melon. “We can make it go suuuuper high!”

Gen applauds. “That’s amazing, Suika-chan!”

“Having fun?”

Yuzuriha waves at them as she approaches.

“Hi Yuzuriha!” Suika calls, waving back. “Suika thought you were busy?”

“Actually, I have some good news,” Yuzuriha says. “Kokuyo-san says it’s okay for Mirai-chan to come see her brother now!”

“I can go see Tsukasa-nii?” Mirai gasps. “It’s really okay?”

“Yes, he’s been asking for you for quite some time,” Yuzuriha smiles warmly. “Kokuyo-san says he’s stable enough that we don’t have to worry about him too much right now, so you can go see him right away!”

Mirai’s eyes sparkle, but then she looks at the ground. “Is…is Mister Ginro okay too?”

Yuzuriha’s face falters. “Well…he’s…he’s better than he was last night, but…” she trails off. 

“Oh…okay…” Mirai wrings her hands together anxiously. Gen stands up and goes to put a hand on her shoulder. 

He fixes her with a confident grin. “Don’t worry, Mirai-chan! Sora-san is taking care of Ginro-chan right now, and if anyone can help him, it’s her.” Gen doesn’t know if he’s trying to convince Mirai or himself more. Ginro…was not in good shape, the last time Gen saw him. 

----------

Ten hours ago…

Gen is gently jostled awake by a haggard looking Yuzuriha, her fingertips ice cold from recent washing.

“Gen, she won’t sleep. Can you help?”

Gen yawns, then quickly checks on his charges. Mirai and Suika are fast asleep next to each other on one bedspread nearby, and Gen considers it quite the accomplishment of his mentalist skills that Mirai is sleeping soundly. Suika’s help had been invaluable, the extended hand of friendship from one little girl to another easing Mirai’s fears about falling asleep in a strange new place. 

There was quite a difference between getting a traumatized but exhausted child to sleep and a prideful teenaged scientist though. 

Leaving Yuzuriha to watch over the girls, Gen makes his way over to the medical bay, or rather what he’s mentally referring to as the medical bay. A soft yellow glow emanates from the edges of the curtain hanging over the “doorway,” put up in an attempt to keep out the draft.

Gen pulls the curtain back ever so slightly. Ginro lies on a bedspread of clean straw and pelts. A jar of blood hangs from a makeshift stand above him, a thin tube leading down to his arm. Sora kneels at the boy’s side, wringing a small towel out in a basin of water. 

Her eyes are ringed with heavy shadows, and her ponytail has strands of hair poking out all over the place. Still, her sharp eyes hold a steady, determined gaze, as she lays the cold compress on Ginro’s forehead. An ignored bedroll is neatly laid out on the far side of the room. Yuzuriha’s doing, presumably. 

Oh, Sora-san…Gen sighs. Sora snaps to attention, eyes wide like that of a prey animal, before she recognizes him and relaxes. And then tenses up again, because she knows exactly why he’s here.

“Gen.”

“Sora-san.” Gen enters the cave. “Where’s Kaseki?”

“Sleeping. I told him and Yuzuriha to go rest.”

“Hmm.” Gen doesn’t comment on the hypocrisy. He comes to sit next to her by Ginro’s side. The boy’s chest rises and falls almost imperceptibly, his face unsettlingly pale. Gen doesn’t have much medical knowledge, but he’s pretty sure this isn’t much of an improvement. 

“How is he faring?”

“Not good,” Sora mumbles, rubbing the side of her temple. “I did the best I could, but I don’t have the proper tools for surgery. We keep having to replenish his blood, and while we have the sulfa drug the danger of sepsis is still a major concern.”

She taps her finger against her thigh in frustration. Gen sits back on his heels and inhales slowly. This isn’t going to be easy. 

“You’re exhausted.”

“Someone has to keep an eye on him in case it takes a turn for the worse.”

“Does it have to be you?”

She’s silent for a long moment. Gen waits. Part of being a mentalist means being patient, especially if your subject is stubborn. 

“Kinro brought their parents to see him a few hours ago.”

Her voice is hollow, impassive. But Gen sees the way her eyes track Ginro’s breathing, how her nails dig into her skirt. 

“I told them they could stay with him, if they wanted. But they were here to say goodbye.”

Gen blinks. Sora’s eyes are far away now, even as she stares at Ginro. 

“Their mother, Shirogane, I could tell she’d been crying. But her eyes were dry and she told me she had made peace with it. There…” Sora inhales sharply. “There was another baby. A girl, born the year after Ginro. She didn’t have a name.”

Sora turns to Gen. “Because village tradition dictates that a baby is only to be named if they survive their first winter.”

Gen feels cold all of a sudden. Sora turns back to the wall, voice heavy with melancholy. 

“We took it for granted, didn’t we? Those of us who lived in a highly technological society, with access to medicine and equipment that made something as painful as an infection a paltry disease of the past. We knew nothing of a world where death from the simplest things is commonplace, where grief is like breathing, where babies surviving their first winter is a goddamn coin toss.”

Sora brings a hand to her face, rubbing her forehead and closing her eyes. “I saved Ruri. I cured what was thought incurable, using science. So I told them that I’d do it for Ginro too. I promised I’d save their son, their brother. Just like I told Kohaku I’d save Ruri.”

She opens her eyes, staring directly at Gen. “He will live. I’ll find a way, with all the knowledge in this stupidly big brain of mine. The answer exists somewhere. I just have to find it.”

Gen frowns. “Now I know you’re sleep deprived.”

“What?”

“You keep saying ‘I’ll save him’ and ‘I saved Ruri,’ but that’s far from the whole picture, Sora-san,” he tsks. “You were the captain, but all of us—all your friends? We were the crew. And you know that. You know that to achieve the impossible in this world, humans need to work together. So why are you acting like you need to do this on your own?”

Sora blinks at him. “I…”

“You’re a veritable Renaissance woman, Sora-san, but you’re still one girl. If you burn yourself out now, then there will be no hope for Ginro-chan.”

Sora sighs, running a hand through her ponytail. “I hate that you’re right,” she mumbles. 

“Everyone has limits, Sora-san. No one is blaming you for acknowledging yours.” Gen smiles softly. “And it’s actually a good thing for a leader’s people to know that she’s more human than machine. It makes them feel more confident in themselves and motivates them to take responsibility.”

Sora doesn’t answer for a moment.

“Someone still has to monitor him. And I need to be here if he gets worse.”

Gen points to the bedroll. “I’ll wake you if anything happens.”

Sora sighs, frustrated but defeated. She slowly drags herself up and over to the bedroll, where she lies down stiffly.

“He’ll live,” she says once more. “We’ll make sure of it.

Gen nods. “Of course we will.”

----------

Gen blinks the memory away. The last thing these girls need is to see him worry. “You believe in Sora-san, don’t you Mirai? Ginro-chan will be perfectly fine as long as she’s here.” 

“Yeah!” Suika nods empathically. “Sora will fix him up good and strong with science!”

“…Can we go see him?” Mirai looks up at Gen with wide, watery eyes. “I want to thank him for saving me…”

“I want to see Ginro too!” Suika pipes up. “Everyone’s so sad right now, maybe he’s also feeling sad and lonely and needs company!” 

Gen exchanges a brief glance with Yuzuriha before answering.

“Well…I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to ask. But don’t be too surprised if Sora-san says we have to wait onger-lay, okay?” 

Okay, he might have just shunted the responsibility of disappointing them onto Sora, Gen realizes with a twinge of guilt. But the girls nod and Suika takes Mirai’s hand.

“We can pick some flowers to bring to your brother and Ginro,” she says brightly, and Mirai smiles. It’s such a cute sight that Gen clutches his heart and sighs, and Yuzuriha does the same.

“Well, I have to go get some more string,” she says. “I’ll see you in a bit.” The girls say their goodbyes and start running off, forcing Gen to break into a jog just to keep them in sight.

“Hey! Good little girls are mindful of their caretaker’s weak noodle legs!”

--------

As soon as they reach Tsukasa’s cave, Mirai launches herself at him with a cry of joy. Her brother smiles warmly as he hugs her to his chest, several bandages wrapped around his right eye. 

Mirai is abuzz with energy, telling Tsukasa all about the morning she had and the games she and Suika played together. Suika excitedly talks about all the people she’s planning on introducing to Mirai and all the neat things in the forest she wants to show her too. It’s quite sweet. They even make flower crowns together! 

Gen suggests that the girls go get Chalk so that Tsukasa can meet him too, and they’re very enthusiastic about it. Which conveniently leaves Gen alone with Tsukasa for a few minutes.

“So,” Gen says. “How’s your ocular situation?”

“Mmm. It definitely still hurts,” Tsukasa admits. “But I’ve had worse. I won’t be seeing out of it anymore though.”

Gen nods. “And…how does that make you eel-fay?”

“It’ll be an adjustment,” Tsukasa says. “I’ll have to get used to navigating my environment in a whole new way now, and fighting will be different too. But mostly I’m just glad that Mirai is safe from that bastard Hyoga.” 

He spits the name out like it’s sour on his tongue, and Gen can understand why. “Well he won’t be putting anyone in danger anytime soon on Nikki-chan’s watch,” he says. “So you can rest easy about that.” 

“Mmm. Nikki is an honorable warrior,” Tsukasa nods. “Hyoga though…I keep replaying our interactions in my mind, wondering…should I have known, that he’d do something like this? Could I have…” he trails off, and Gen hums thoughtfully.

“You’re thinking about Ginro-chan.”

Tsukasa bows his head slightly. “If I hadn’t trusted Hyoga, he wouldn’t be on the brink of death right now.” 

“None of us knew what Hyoga was willing to do for his ambitions,” Gen says gently. “Perhaps I should have anticipated it, with all that I claim to be a psychology expert. But dwelling on the what-ifs is only going to drive us insane. I suggest you hold onto the good things that did come out of this, like you were earlier. Mirai-chan is safe, Hyoga has been neutralized, and we are all alive.”

Tsukasa is silent for a while. “We’re all alive…for now.” 

Gen pauses. “No, no that’s not right.” He shakes his head. “Ginro-chan will live.”

“How can you say for sure?”

“Because Sora-san isn’t an optimist either,” Gen says. “When that girl says she can do something, she means it with her entire heart and soul. And I’ve seen it happen—seen her pull off the impossible over and over. She would never promise something she can’t deliver, so if she says she can find a way to save Ginro-chan, she will. We just need to give her a chance.”

Tsukasa is silent for a moment, then turns to look at Gen with his remaining eye. “I guess I can’t argue against that,” he says. “Sora…she really is something else.”

Gen chuckles. “Now isn’t that the truth.”

----------

Yuzuriha sighs as she reenters the cave. “Those girls really are so sweet,” she says. “But I decided to tell them to wait a little longer before coming to see you.” 

“Thanks,” Ginro says weakly from the bedroll. “I…really don’t want any kids to see me like this…”

Sora kneels down by his side. “Listen, Ginro,” she says slowly. “I have to tell you something.”

“I know,” Ginro sighs. “I’m dying, aren’t I? With wounds like this, I only have a few days left…”

Sora bites her lip. “…Yeah. But there’s still one way to save you. We have to find whatever turned everyone to stone all those years ago. If we can turn you to stone, then wake you up with the same stuff we used on Mirai, it should repair your wounds like it did her brain damage.”

“But…” Sora takes a deep breath. “That could take years. So before you finally kick it, I need you to let me put you in cold sleep.”

“Cold…sleep?” Ginro murmurs as Yuzuriha’s eyes go wide. 

“You’ve used this sort of thing in the village before,” Sora says. “Remember? When you pack fish or meat in ice during the wintertime, it lasts longer. So that’s what I’ll do to you. We’ll build a machine that freezes you like ice, and keep you like that until we figure out how to turn you to stone. Until then, you’ll basically be dead.”

Her hands close into fists at her side. “I swear that we’ll wake you up someday, so will you accept this? Will you let me kill you so you can live again?” 

Ginro is quiet for a moment. Sora lifts her head.

“Gin—?!”

His eyes are glistening. 

“I…I’d tried to accept it,” he whispers. “A warrior faces his end with dignity, that’s what they always say…”

“But…” he chokes, and tears well up in his eyes. “I don’t wanna die! I wanna live! I want the pain to stop, I want to run around and slack off and eat ramen and cotton candy and be with everyone!”

He meets her gaze. “Please, do it. Please, Sora…”

She nods, her throat closing up so she can barely answer. 

“Of course.”

----------

The refrigerator is assembled at a breakneck speed, but Sora doesn’t have time to marvel over her handiwork right now. When it’s finally ready, she calls Ginro’s family to the waterfall cave. 

Shirogane lays a rope tied in a loop over her son’s chest, before bending over and brushing a kiss against his forehead.

“Rest well, my darling,” she murmurs. “We love you so much...”

“Mama…Papa…Kinro…” Ginro murmurs, “I’ll see you later…”

His hand slips from Shirogane’s, and his eyes flutter shut. 

Kinro and his father Tetsuken solemnly lift the stretcher and place it in the box, the frigid air blowing over Sora’s arms as she monitors the cooling device.

The lid slides over the top, and Tetsuken lays his forehead on its smooth surface. 

“My son,” he murmurs. “Such a foolish, carefree child. How I wish you were small again, that I might see your smile once more.”

“You will see it again, Father,” Kinro says, voice steady as he rests a hand on Tetsuken’s shoulder. “I will stand watch over him as I have stood watch over the village ever since I was made a guard, until the day he returns to us.”

“You can come here whenever you want,” Sora says quietly. “I’ll be checking on him and the machine regularly too.” 

“Thank you, Sora,” Shirogane says, taking the girl’s hands in hers. “Even if Ginro never wakes up, your kindness and generosity will be remembered by our family for generations.”

All Sora can do is nod, swallowing the lump in her throat as Shirogane takes her husband’s arm and the two of them leave as silently as they arrived.

Somehow, Kinro senses her tumultuous thoughts. “Please accept our gratitude, Sora,” he says softly. “What Hyoga did to my brother is not your fault.”

Sora doesn’t look at him. 

Villagers begin to come in, one or two at a time. They offer flowers and stones that they place on and around the box, murmuring their best wishes to Kinro. He nods and thanks them for their prayers, while Sora stands behind him and looks on. 

Soon, Kohaku, Ruri, and Chrome appear. “Just you wait, Ginro,” Chrome says, his bright grin wavering as he sets a crude wolf figurine cast from silver on top of the box. “When you wake up, I’ll have learned so many baaad new science things, you’ll be amazed!”

Ruri smiles, placing a small lacquered disc next to Chrome’s wolf. “Here Ginro, Chrome helped me make a record of your favorites from the Hundred Stories, so when you wake up you can listen to it anytime you like.” 

Kohaku puts a small knife beside the other gifts. “Even if you’re asleep, I’ll hold you to all the training sessions you’ll miss out on,” she chuckles. Her smile falls and she traces a line on the box. “For what it’s worth, I never doubted that you had a good heart inside you.” 

She gives Kinro a hug before she leaves—Sora has never seen the man accept one before, not even from his brother. Perhaps it’s more for Kohaku than it is for him, in Kinro’s mind. 

Kaseki leaves a beautifully crafted shield leaning against the box. “To defend you from the enemies in your dreams,” he says. “Goodness knows this old man is familiar with those.”

Suika, Namari, and Mirai come in holding little bouquets of paper flowers in their hands, Gen trailing behind. The origami must have been his idea, Sora thinks. 

“Thank you for protecting me, Mister Ginro,” Mirai says as she sets a bundle of paper bluebells among the offerings. “I don’t know you very well, but when you wake up, I hope we can be friends.”

“Suika will miss you while you’re asleep, Ginro,” Suika says softly as she lays down some white camellias. “But Suika will do her best to help Sora find the petri-thingy and wake you up so you can play with us again.”

“You’re a hero now, Ginro, just like you always wanted,” Namari says, adding a handful of peonies. “Even if you’re kind of a weirdo, you still did good, and I hope you know that we’re all wishing you the best.”

On top of the girls’ bouquets, Gen places two large flowers. One is a perfectly folded lotus, pink petals gently curled upward in an expertly crafted manner. The second is a much clumsier looking daffodil, with creases and awkwardly wrinkled edges as if the maker unfolded and re-folded the paper multiple times to get it right. 

In fact, one might suppose it was made by someone who was recently struggling with hand-eye coordination. 

“My door is always open if you need to talk,” Gen says to Kinro. His eyes dart over Sora at the tail end of the sentence. She pretends not to notice.

“Thank you.” Kinro nods. The girls take turns hugging him before Gen leads them away.  

The last people to visit are Taiju and Yuzuriha. Taiju is in tears, hanging onto Yuzuriha’s arm and choking on his words as he sets an empty butterfly cocoon on top of the pile.

“Butterflies…they sleep for a while, but come out even more beautiful,” he sniffles, wrapping Kinro in a crushing embrace. “I thought he might like a reminder of that.”

Yuzuriha pats Taiju’s arm gently and drapes a deerskin handkerchief embroidered with wolves, flowers, spears, and shields over the last bit of space on the box. She then walks over and takes Sora’s hand.

“It’s time to go,” she says. Kinro nods, rubbing his sore ribs. 

“I will keep watch over the cold-making device,” he says. “Thank you for your gifts and kind words. I hope you rest well.”

“Yeah…see you later,” Taiju says, dabbing at his eyes. 

“Rest well, Kinro,” Yuzuriha says. 

“…Rest well,” Sora murmurs, almost imperceptibly as Yuzuriha leads her out of the cave. 

When they make it to their tent, Sora sits on her bedspread and stares into the distance. There’s something stuck in her chest, winding its way around her lungs and heart tighter and tighter and—

“…Sora?” Taiju is looking at her, the tear tracks still fresh on his face. 

“Sora, it’s just us here now,” Yuzuriha murmurs. Sora blinks at her. 

Taiju drapes an arm around each girl, his warmth filling the small space and worming its way into the knot in Sora’s chest, loosening it ever so slightly.

“It’s all over, you don’t have to hide anything from us,” Taiju says softly. He gently tucks a lock of hair behind Sora’s ear, and that’s when the dam breaks.

Tears run down Sora’s cheeks and she blinks as they fall on her skirt. Her lungs heave with shuddering breaths and she buries her face in Taiju’s chest, shaking violently and letting out hoarse sobs as Yuzuriha runs her hands through her pale locks.