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it was true.
it was true yuzuriha was going to give up her life for senku.
that’s true.
she smiled with sweat on her forehead, holding tsukasa’s spear to her neck.
“i don’t matter. not really.”
“but you senku… if there’s any hope for the future of humanity…”
“you’re the one who can’t die!”
the lie she told was microscopic.
the lie that this was for the future of humanity.
to be honest, yuzuriha didn’t have the vastness that senku did. didn’t think so hard about bringing back everyone or how her, senku, and taiju would do it.
she knew it would happen, eventually.
no, that’s not why she’s giving herself up for senku.
the crafts club member lets the tip of the spear dig into the flesh of her neck because of something else.
and it’s obvious when senku bites his lip and musters a smile for her.
senku is one of her closest friends. of course, taiju and senku didn’t have many close friends. in school, people were always thrown off by senku’s blunt and crass personality. sometimes was too much. and sometimes told the truth too harshly.
he was also generally unapproachable because he creepily laughed when he got too excited.
taiju drove people away when her and senku caught wind of him forgiving not so great people. people who took advantage of him and his kindness. and taiju’s personality was too boisterous for the majority of kids at school.
yuzuriha was… well liked. people enjoyed talking to her because she had a calmer personality. she smiled and got flustered and let herself feel things gently.
she never let anyone see her furious knitting or sewing. never let anyone see how she huffs and giggles maniacally to herself when she gets 10 outfits done in one day. it borders on par with senku’s inventions.
yuzuriha was well liked, but no one ever truly knew the real her.
taiju and senku made it easy.
taiju, so kind, always admired the passion she let slip from her lips. clapped and said, “wow!! you look really fired up!! that’s awesome!!!” and her face had flushed under his compliments toward her unladylike slip.
and senku encouraged it with a grin. he would drop random fun facts about the history of looms and where she could do it. baiting to bring herself out of the shell she was in. and she followed like a bird to seed.
they all went together like pieces to a puzzle. anything that required dexterity, senku always called her for the job. if something required muscle, senku barked at taiju to do it. and when either yuzuriha or taiju needed help on STEM homework, senku always knew what to do.
it was the most calm yuzuriha felt in her life. she felt like a deer that could relax in a meadow. without the scare of predators or judgement. without the worry that they would make fun of the way that smoke practically plumed from her ears because she would be so excited.
they never once treated her like she was less than their friendship with each other. it was as if their friendship just melded to include her as well. as if she was always there.
…
taiju is a kind person and that’s why she loves him.
senku is a kind person and that’s why she’s willing to give her life up for him.
sure, of course she believes that senku can save humanity. that’s a fact she’s known since seeing the rocket he had made in middle school. senku could do just about anything if he tried and tried and tried.
….
senku doesn’t believe in love.
he’s said it before.
when yuzuriha was almost asleep on his couch with taiju snoring loudly on the floor. senku was curled up in a soft leather chair by the window. the question slipped from her lips as she blearily looked at him.
his hair damp from a shower and the water dripping into his red shirt. it’s a gag gift that she had gotten him for its birthday that says, “Warning: Future Nobel Prize Winner At Work!” it was hideous. and even senku had said that even after taiju scolded him. it made yuzuriha laugh until she was red in the cheeks.
but she’s still seen him wear it on multiple occasions.
she’s come to his apartment multiple times and seen him trace the fading letters with his fingers while he’s thinking of equations. and she wonders why he bothers with something that’s so obviously a joke.
she asks him if he believes in love as the sun is setting and it’s freezing only a little. it’s a random question and senku doesn’t enjoy small talk. so she just asks the question that popped up in her head.
he doesn’t bother to turn and face her. just stares at the lowering sun and the colors of the sky. her own brown eyes can see his reflection in the glass, just a little contemplative.
“nah, ten billion percent won’t happen for me. and i don’t have the time to give a partner the attention they’d probably want.”
a smile crossed his face as he says his thoughts out loud. his pinky digging in his ear as he leans back in the chair. wholly uncaring for his future and current love life. yuzuriha frowns at his answer.
“… so you don’t believe it’ll happen for you?…”
a sigh leaves the boy’s lips.
“look, i’m not being hard on myself. i just don’t really care for it right now is what i mean.”
his voice is small as he stares out the window. but he turns his head to look at yuzuriha. she’s blanketed by taiju’s jacket. they had all passed out in the middle of the day from another failed blown up rocket experiment. they had slunk back to senku’s apartment and passed out from exhaustion.
and when he sees his taiju’s jacket on her, he smiles.
“well, that’s not to say it doesn’t exist.”
ah.
it’s easy to see between the lines of senku’s words. usually, he’s not very keen on talking about how he feels. unless it’s about how much he doesn’t care about something.
but this is unbearably easy to see through.
senku definitely knows about her and taiju’s feelings for each other.
…
senku believes in love because of her and taiju.
and senku sighs as he gets up out of the chair. looking down at her and sliding the headband off her head that she wears everyday. and patting down her hair.
she doesn’t dare move.
and he lays a throw blanket onto taiju’s snoring form and shoves a pillow under his head. the dummy doesn’t even realize as he snuggles into the pillow.
and senku goes into his room and shuts the door, mumbling a goodnight.
yuzuriha smiles to herself under the warmth of taiju’s jacket.
deep down, it’s nothing logical that tells yuzuriha to put that blade against her neck.
no, not at all.
and it’s nothing logical that points to why senku would believe in anything because of her or taiju.
…
she thinks senku is wrong.
she thinks love has already happened for him.
maybe not in the way he imagined back then in his childhood home. maybe not in the way that media showed him. and maybe not in the way teenagers giggle and laugh about.
it’s happened in the way taiju runs back and forth to get materials for senku. it’s happened when she tames his hair every time he’s too engrossed in his research to do it himself. it’s happened in the midst of taiju’s unbearably crushing hugs that envelops her and senku in that he pretends he hates.
yes, that’s right.
she loves senku too.
and that’s why she’s willing to let the spear break the skin on her neck.
not for any higher reason for saving humanity.
it’s love.
plain and simple.
the very thing senku doesn’t believe happened to him.
and she’d do it 10 billion times over again if it saves her friend.