Chapter 1: Prologue
Chapter Text
Sure he and Byakuya were still going to live in Japan full-time, he didn’t have to move there; they just had to visit for one month every year during the summer after they got married. Lillian wanted a low-key family wedding without all the fuss of the media, so she was secretive about any details in interviews.
Of course, Lillian had told Byakuya who blabbed excitably about all the details to Senku, but luckily for the newly-engaged couple, the teen prodigy didn’t care about leaking any of the info to the media.
“I just dan’t wanna get my loved ones involved in all that drama, y’know? I just wanna have a nice time with the folks that made me who I am. I might have a big celebration afterward, but really deep down I guess I’m still a hometown girl. Sure, I could hire a big city caterer, have big names come to it, have a big giant cake the size of the moon, have everything big-big-big. But…that’s just ain’t who I am. It just wouldn’t feel right. I made a promise before my first major concert at 14 in Morgantown, home to my home state’s biggest university music program, to my aunt that she’d be the one that’d make my wedding cake, and I wanna keep that. She was my first official voice coach once she heard about how much all the kids on the street loved my singing. I owe it to her.”
When pop idol Lillian Weinberg posted her engagement photos with her and Byakuya in the ISS on her Instagram. The video of the engagement ring fluttering in zero-gravity until it moved towards Lillian, who slipped it on and embraced the Japanese astronaut got billions of views.
By the time the ISS returned, Bakuya was an international sensation and people were flocked to his university office. The school security had to actually train to themselves to deal with pesky paparazzi.
The world Senkuu inhabited was shattered like someone had taken their bare hands to a statue and crushed it like an egg.
The other astronauts were clapping in the videos. Everyone in his class went ballistic.
Literally ballistic, too; one of Yuzuriha’s friends named Nikki threw her eraser so fast across the classroom in utter shock that it matched the trajectory of an arrow at about 27.3 mph. “Oh my God! Senku, this is your dad, isn’t it?”
Senkuu shifted his head over. “Yeah, that’s him, alright.”
“I can’t say that I blame Lillian, he’s a lot hotter than you, Senkuu.” Nikki smiled, “Of course, I’m always a sucker for a five-o-clock shadow.”
“He’s also gotten pretty buff from all that astronaut training, too. Some of the gym photos show ‘em getting pretty jacked.”
“He has a rustic spice about him, but he’s also smart. He raised Senkuu on his own, so you know he’s family-orientated and doesn’t have issues with commitment. He has a steady job, too.” Another schoolmate gushed.
“Wait, weren’t you working on a bodysuit for him back in elementary school. You don’t happen to still have a model of that around, do you?”
“I’d prefer it if you don’t talk about my dad in front of me like he’s some top 10 movie star. Sweet Issac Newton, my old man is in his mid-forties! None of you thought he was hot before he hooked up with Lillian!” Senkuu’s face was beet red and sweat as he grasped his piece of chalk for dear life. “Alright, can we please go back to the parabola formula. It’s going to be on the final exam.”
After a frustrating pre-finals review, Senkuu left the school grounds on his own as he thought to himself. His arms were firmly planted in his lab coat. He pouted and scowled to himself, “Had I known that the main result of my old man getting into JAXA would be that he got to bang his favorite celebrity instead of getting some serious science work done, I wouldn’t have made that swimming suit-”
His monologuing was interrupted by Taiju and Yuzuriha. “Senku! Hey, congrats to your old man. Yuzu said that she’d make a custom tuxedo, so I kinda gave her your measurements. Sorry I didn’t ask you first-”
“Great, now even my two best friends wanna bang my future step-mom and by next school year, I’ll have to submit paperwork to change my name to ‘Senku Weinberg’. What a joke,” Senku groaned. “I even heard people are starting to fantasize about me, comparing my eyes to rubies! No one even cared about us before this!”
“Senku! You know I only love Yuzuriha. Also…you know I’ve always cared about you. Famous or not,” Taiju insisted.
“Then why haven’t you told Yuzuriha yet that you love her?”
“I…plan on it! I promise! After finals, and definitely by the time you get back from the wedding!”
“You better.” Senkuu gazed up at the sunset. He then high-fived his friend, “Don’t forget your summer homework assignment, big oaf.”
“I won’t!”
Getting to travel first-class was surreal, to say the least. Senkuu gazed out his window and calculated the seconds it’d take to get there or how high they were above ground by the centimeter. They transferred from Tokyo to New York to Huntington. From there it was an hour drive through the windy mountains that made Senkuu AND Baykuya nearly vomit from motion sickness until they finally arrived at Lillian’s hometown: Pickens, West Virginia. Population 40.
“Alright, y’all! We’re here.” Lillian turned to her fiancee and soon-to-be stepson.
“Here I thought the JAXA training was rough…,” Byakuya groaned.
“I figured I was going straight to Hell, but I didn’t think it’d be this soon,” Senkuu muttered to himself.
“GET UP!” Lillian kicked the car and shook them out of it. “Good grief, y’all need to build up some grit!”
“Darling!” A dark-brown haired middle-aged woman and embraced the pop singer. “Oh, I’ve missed you so much. I prayed for you constantly that you’d come back home.”
“Thanks, Auntie Turquoise!” Lillian jumped towards her aunt. “How’re Cousins Kohaku and Ruri? The trio o’ Ruby, Sapphire ‘n Garnet ain’t causin’ the sheriff too much trouble, are they?”
“Thankfully they’re not. Though boy is that Magma a whole wreck to deal with; he broke his DUI parole again yet he still drives through the town on his truck like it’s a NASCAR ring. He’s a headache.” Turquoise sighed.
“Turquoise…? Lapis Lazuli?” Senkuu sat up.
“There’s not a lot of people ‘round ‘ere so we don’t really bother with last names. We just go by our favorite stone. Lillian Weinberg used to just be my stage name for a while before I officially changed it in order to enroll in the ISS program. I’m the only person in this ‘ol town with a first and last name for a good while.” The pop star answered.
“The only person!?” Senkuu nearly choked.
“Why did you choose ‘Weinberg’?” Byakuya asked.
“There’s a town just a few miles north ‘o ‘ere called Helvetia that’s a huge tourist trap since it’s all about Dutch and German heritage. Auntie Turquoise used to get me presents from there craftsmen there all the time. I’ll always treasure that wooden music box y’all got me when I started my first period.”
“Well, I couldn’t help myself for my favorite niece.” Aunt Turquoise smiled.
“We can swing by there sometime on our way back to the airport. I get the feelin’ y’all have had enough twirling for today.”
“Yeah,"
“What happens if more than one person has the same favorite stone?”
“Oh, Pastor Jasper keeps a record on that. If that happens, they pick the same name of the stone but in a different language. That’s why Kohaku and Ruri aren’t called ‘Amber’ and ‘Lapis Lazuli’.”
“I-I guess.” Byakuya blinked.
“Well, what’re waitin’ in the car for? C’mon in!” Lillian picked both grown men up and carried them into the house.
Chapter 2: Couches & Buses
Notes:
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dr. Stone
Chapter Text
The house was essentially two old mobile homes stacked on top of each other. There was no A/C, heating and worst of all there was no wi-fi. So that meant no nightly Skype chats with Taiju. There was electricity on the first floor and some indoor plumbing. The toilet was usable but the sink only provided cold water. There was a wooden outdoor staircase and patio that went up between the floors. The outdoors was paneled by dirt-stained white plastic.
Byakuya and Lillian were to get the largest bedroom in the house which normally goes to Aunt Turquoise and her husband. Their children, Ruri and Kohaku, slept outside in the hunting camp. Senku got what was considered “the luxury treatment”–a new couch.
“We got this as a gift for you, Senku. We know y’all be visiting a lot, so we wanted to you have a nice place to stay.” Ruri showcased the object.
It was an olive-green, retro-style futon.
“You could say ‘thank you’ by just buying a bigger house to accommodate all of these people in accordance to the fire codes along with plumbing from at least the 20th century,” Senku muttered.
“Senku,” Byakuya folded his arms. “Not everyone had the supportive upbringing that we did. In this country, things are a lot harder for those who aren’t as well-off.”
“Fine, I’m sorry,” Senku sighed and sat down.
“If you’re so against it, why don’t you let me sleep on it? It’d be better that way. Mom, I told you that Ruri should be the one to sleep on the new couch! She needs to be near that home remedy insulin Chrome cooked up for her diabetes so she’ll be well enough to work in the morning!” Kohaku turned to Turquoise.
“Chrome…home remedy? Diabetes?” Senku turned as a fiendish smile formed on his face. He gazed over at Ruri, who stared back at him, confused as to why he looked so happy. Now, this is getting exciting. “What’s this home-remedy?”
“Oh, Chrome’s been our best friend since we were little.” Kohaku answered, “He’s super-smart. He got a scholarship to study Engineering at WVU. He’ll be a freshman this fall. He’s been working on making homemade insulin pills for everyone.”
Senku was caught thirty-seconds later scavaging through the drawers until he found a bottle with marker-drawn “TO RURI”. It had handwritten instructions and a detailed list of the ingredients in Sharpie.
“Organic compounds extracted from local flora to create glucose chemicals and then transferred into a powder. Well, not bad, I’ll have to meet this ‘Chrome’ guy.” Senku smiled as he gazed at the pills.
“Why don’t you just go to a regular doctor to get insulin? Shouldn’t that be covered? Diabetes is a very serious illness,” Byakuya asked.
“Well, it should be…but…even with coverage insulin can still cost over $300. Most folks around here don’t have that.” Kohaku sighed, “Chrome’s trying to figure out if there’s a way to make a cheaper version that can sneak past the big pharma companies that have been upping the price over and over again just because they know its a necessity so we can’t say ‘no’ to them.”
“That’s absolutely disgusting.” Byakuya clenched his fists.
“I know, but what can we do? Chrome’s our only hope right now…,”
“Well, you know where I can find ‘em?” Senku asked.
The one named Chrome lived in an abandoned school-bus outside of the local auto-shop in between Helvetia and Perkins. He and his grandpa Kaseki often worked alongside the Swiss artisans when they came in. His parents had both died from a heroin overdose by sharing needles when he was in elementary school. Kaseki was named the sole guardian.
Since then, Kaseki taught Chrome everything about being a craftsman with the help of several Swiss artisans. Aside from his insulin pills, his greatest achievement was renovating an entire school bus to have central A/C, heating and even a working toilet. He still had to use the shower in the shop. He still had to brush the snow and ice off with a windshield wiper in the winter. In the summer he'd have to use a pair of grass clippers to deal with the foliage.
“C’mon…this has to work,” As the flash remained silent. Chrome hung his head downward in disappointment as a knock came at the door. “What is it?”
“So, um, tell me what YA dystopia world is this? Panem? Gilead? Or is it that one knock-off Panem that’s so concluded no one could keep up with it?” Senku asked the amateur chemist.
“Well, according to the maps we’re actually in what would be District 12, so…it’s kind of Panem?”
“Yeah, not sure how I feel about being related to Prim ‘n Katniss now.”
“You mean Ruri and Kohaku? Oh, are you that guy that’s marrying Lillian?”
“No, I’m his son.”
“HIS SON!?” Chrome recomposed himself. “I-I heard that Lillian’s fiancee had a son, but I didn’t know he’d be as old as you are. You look only a little younger than me! How old was he when he had you?”
“I’m adopted.”
“Oh, ok. That explains it.” Chrome nodded, “There are plenty of teen pregnancies around here, but from the word around here is that Byakuya was a super-smart professor, so he wouldn’t have gone out to made a mistake like that, even as a youngster.”
“He’s extremely stupid in plenty of other ways, don’t worry,” Senku smirked.
“What other ways?” Chrome exited the bus only to be met by his guardian grandfather and the local sheriff. “Oh, gramps…and Sheriff Kinro. This is Lillian’s soon-to-be son-in-law, Senku.”
“I’ve got to escort that damn Magma back to DUI court, so I’ll back this quick so I can charge my taser.” Sheriff Kinro looked up at them, “Turns out you and your father won’t be the only outsiders staying here in Perkins.”
“Did someone leak the location?” Senku asked.
“No, this guy’s car just broken down while he was trying to swerve to avoid a pothole. It clearly wasn’t designed to handle these hills, which makes sense. He’s a foreigner…name is…how do you say it?” Sheriff Ginro turned over to a man who was trying his damnest to get cell phone service as he paced around the lot of the autoshop. “Asagiri Gen, the mentalist. I have a show that’s rather popular in my home country of Japan–hold on, you’re not Senku, Lillian Weinberg’s new son-in-law?”
“I am,” Senku sighed, “One, the wedding’s not for another three days. Two, I have other things besides ‘being related to Lillian Weinberg’. I’m top of my high school class and head of the science club. I built a rocket at 10.”
“And your father was an astronaut,” Gen finished, “I read all the tabloids. I must say, for a man in his forties your father looks amazing shirtless. Those pictures from the JAXA training made me quite thirsty-”
“Ok, can everyone stop wanting to bang my dad?” Senku rubbed his sinuses. “He’s not as sexy as you think he is in daily life, trust me.”
“No need to be jealous, Senku. You’re quite attractive yourself. I must say, in terms of both looks and intelligence you don’t fall far from the tree. Lillian has quite the eye, I must say. That sleek pelvis and five o’ clock shadow,” Gen held up a glossy poster insert from Vanity Fair that had a shirtless Byakuya with the caption Samurai in Space. “I’m sure you’ll have plenty of fans yourself soon enough.”
“That’s not the issue. I don’t care if I have fans. He’s my dad! I don't want people jerking off to him!” Senku screamed. "He's.My.Dad."
"Well, then...," Gen paused, “I must say I’m in luck! I never thought that I’d be trapped in the very town of Lillian Weinberg! I can’t wait to go to her wedding,”
“Wait, do you know him?” Chrome asked.
“He’s a hack magician who has a daytime TV show. He’s like a Japanese Dr. Phil,” Senku replied.
“Oh, my grand-aunt Alumi likes to watch Dr. Phil when she’s baking gobs for her crochet club at the church.” Chrome nodded, “Every Wednesday night she brings what gobs she and her friends didn’t eat over to my house and I have it for breakfast the next day. Her red velvet gobs are the best.”
“Your…house?” Gen glared in disgust at the bus. “You mean this? This is a dump! A literal trash heap!”
"Welcome to Perkins, glad to have you." Chrome rolled his eyes. "Look, we don't have a hotel in town so you'll have to crash with someone. Helvetia's too far to get to without a car, also since you want to go to that wedding and see the love of your life get married to an astronaut."
"Whoever said the love of my life was Lillian? I'm a fan of her music, sure, but Byakuya is far more attractive."
"Again. Right here, people!" Senku scowled. "Now if you're done bickering like middle school girls, we have business to get to. How many of these can you crank out in a day?"
"A day? Usually half of a bottle," Chrome gasped. "I charge about $5 dollars for one of them. Why? What're you planning here? I refuse to make them more expensive than they have to be!"
"That's not what I'm planning on doing. Quite the opposite, actually. We're going to get these to these out to every man, woman, and child in not just Perkins, but every other struggling small town in these godforsakenly windy hills. You with me?"
"You bet," Chrome fist-bumped his newfound science-buddy. "We're going to start with the nearest 3 towns before we move onto other places in the state. Get our toes wet. There are 40 people living here in Perkins, 59 in Helvetia, 132 in Selbyville."
"Well, I suppose if I don't help, you won't be working on my car, will you?" Gen groaned.
"Nope." The two science-users replied.
"Rats, well I guess I have no choice? Oh, whatever will I do?" Gen feigned hopelessness.
"So that's approx. 231 people. We'll make a batch of 250, just to cover ourselves in case something happens."
"Good idea. Though how're we going to go from 1 bottle in 2 days to 250 bottles in a few months?" Chrome pondered. "And where do we sneak this in without getting caught?"
"That's a good point. Places like this are pretty tightly-knit. Are there any major cultural events that connect us?"
"Well, now that you mention it...there is the Randolph County Fair in two weeks." Kaseki pointed out.
"That's right! We could slip around a practice batch to the other towns." Chrome then turned over to Senku. "Oh, and my grand-aunt Alumi probably going to throw a fit if her gobs don't beat out your aunt Turquoise's cupcakes, so...that's some drama. She's bringing some extra punch this year since she's going to develop some sugarfree gobs for all the diabetics to get extra votes. Turquoise has been using her sugar-free cupcake recipe for years to inch her out, but now she's stealing her technique."
"Sounds stupid enough to pass as human behavior," Gen looked away.
"Well, it's settled, we'll find a way to make 125 of these in two weeks and try to slide our way into the fair. Let's do this, everyone get excited!"
Unbeknownst to them, the DILF of the year Byakuya Ishigami (nee Weinberg) hid behind a pole, listening to his son and new friends. A warm smile formed on his face. If his son Senku found friends, that means that he won't be as lonely during his summers here. He watched with a heartwarming gaze as Senku, Gen, Kaseki, and Chrome went about preparing their experiments to create new, more affordable insulin for the townsfolk.
He had only been here for a day and Senku was already trying to use his science to help people. "It's good to see you haven't changed,"
Later on that afternoon, Senku returned to find his soon-to-be grand-aunt mended a few faulty stitches on the hems of Lillian's wedding dress. "I love you sweetie, but please stop moving."
"I'm trying to stay as I still as I can,"
"Well, try harder. I'm going to be trying my hardest for this dress and for the upcoming Baking Contest."
"Oh about that...did you hear that this Alumi lady is going to bring sugar-free gobs to the County Fair?" Senku casually mentioned as he twisted a cap onto another set of insulin bottles as Aunt Turqoiuse was getting her beloved neice Lillian's measurements.
"What?" Aunt Turqoiuse glared over at Senku.
"It's not a big deal, right? It's just baking. Not big deal." Senku shrugged.
"It's 'just' baking? It's JUST baking!?"
"You're hurting me, auntie! That's way too tight!" Lillian screamed.
"Oh, sorry, darling." Aunt Turquoise turned to her terrified son-to-be grand-nephew Senku and her two daughters, "I'm going to make sure that woman is going to pay in the fiery BBQ pits of hell! I will not forgive her for outshining me at last Easter luncheon's potluck!" Turquoise threw a handful of thread spools across the room.
"Someone help...?"
Chapter 3: Parking Lot Wedding
Notes:
I don't own Dr. Stone
Chapter Text
The general store of Perkins, WV was possibly the largest building in the town, spare for the local church that doubled as a community center. Though the church was the size of an old schoolhouse. It also used to serve as one until due to the population of the town and public funding from the state goverment decreasing, they were forced to fuse with the rest of the county into one district.
The bell rung as a certain long, blonde turned her head to see who had caused the alert.
"Welcome to Perkins General Store, my name's Ruri. Oh, Chrome...," Ruri paused as the budding scientist walked in. "So are you cooking up some more pills?"
"Here," Chrome handed Ruri a bottle of homemade insulin. "It's five dollars. Just take it off of my tab. I'll be buying some stuff."
"Of course," Ruri smiled. "Picking up things for Mr. Kaseki?"
"Yeah, this guy had his car break down and now he's stuck here living with us."
"Sounds like the setup to a romantic comedy," Ruri blushed. "I hope I don't get jealous,"
"It would be romantic if he wasn't a pretentious asshole." Chrome scowled as he glanced over at Gen who was busy flipping through one of the magazines.
"Come now, I'm a mentalist. Sure I may be shallow, but that's a bit crass of you to say, don't you think?" Gen parted his bangs.
"No, you just proved my point." Chrome followed up.
"Y'know Chrome, I think this place would be ten-billion percent unbearable if you weren't around...let's see, what can accelerate the process? The selection here is pretty slim, but you can definitely contract glucose and a bunch of other materials from several of these items." Senku grinned. "We'll have to be creative, but that just makes things even more exciting!"
"You only have beer, gin, and whiskey? And not only that, it's horrible quality! Coors? Bud Light? Heineken? Don't have any wine of somewhat decent quality?" Gen glanced at the fridge of booze. "Well, at least you have Coke."
"We have boxed wine in the back freezer," Ruri replied. "Just have to go grab the key from the cleaning closet."
"Ugh, nevermind." Gen scoffed.
After they had finished getting everything they needed, they checked out of the store. "Your total comes to $41.23. That's with the subtraction from the insulin pill bottle."
"And there goes most of my old man's weekly paycheck," Chrome sighed. "Guess we're not going to the diner. Sucks. They're coffee's so good,"
"Don't worry, Chrome. This is on me," Senkuu handed her his credit card.
"Oh, sorry, we don't take cards. Cash only," Ruri nervously pushed the card away.
"What is this, the dark ages?" Senku asked.
"We just have a hard time getting a signal out here for it to work. The electricity goes out all the time, so it's just easier."
"Oh, ok. That makes a bit more sense." Senku folded his arms. "If only there was a better way to get electricity up here."
"The state has been trying to fund some wind turbine projects. It'll be a pain to connect them to every single small town, though. The mountains can be a blessing and a curse. I did one of my school projects researching them and I got first place in the country. Not that it says much to be first here," Chrome replied. "There's a few not too far from here! We'll probably drive past a bunch of them on our way to the Country Fair next week."
"I did see a lot of them come to think of it. Huh, well this place has a bunch of little trinkets of interesting things, doesn't it?"
"We do hope that you take the time to walk around the main drag. I mean, there's only really the church, the police station, a graveyard, an antique/clothing shop, a parking lot, and a diner. Though they all only take cash, so...sorry."
"Just that? On one street?" Gen blinked. "I saw that church! It's not big enough for THE Lillian Weinberg's wedding to the hunky Space Samurai!"
"Can you please not refer to my old man like that, thank you?" Senku sighed.
"You're right, that's why it'll be in the parking lot." Ruri smiled.
"A parking lot?" Senku asked his soon-to-be stepmother as she folded some clothes and placed them in the drawers of her dresser. "You're getting married in a parking lot?"
"I thought you didn't care about romance,"
"I don't, but even a man as oblivious to it as me knows that a parking lot is the least romantic thing to get married in."
"Well, it's the parking lot that I first performed my music in after my record player broke. It was the first place I discovered that I had a knack for music. I know it sounds weird, but that pothole-filled parking lot has a place in my heart." Lillian smoothed some of the wrinkles in one of the shirts she was folding.
"Oh...well, if that's the case then I guess it's fine."
"Byakuya said the same thing. It's funny how alike you really are," Lillian chuckled.
"C'mon. My old man's a joke."
"Senku! Are you ready for dinner?" Byakuya called.
"Coming, old man." Senku cracked his neck.
As they sat around the table, Turquoise shared how she was going about making the ultimate sugar-free gobs to beat her rival. She also talked about her progress on making Lillian's wedding cake now that her dress was complete.
"You're really pulling all the stops."
"Well, yes. Lillian was like the first daughter I had." Turquoise answered. "I want to do it right for Ruri's wedding."
"Mom-" Ruri blushed.
"You like that smart Chrome boy, don't you? Why don't you get with him before he goes off to college? Once he goes away, he'll never look back here. He'll think of you as a distant memory from some backward hick town. I want some grandchildren already! I'm almost fifty. Kohaku's going off to the military in three months so I'll never get to see her for a few years. I need someone to take care of. I can't stand being an empty-nester."
"Mom, you're embarrassing me!" Ruri covered her face.
"This is exactly why I can't wait to graduate and head off to the US Marine reserve." Kohaku stuffed her face with squirrel-meat stew. "I've already completed all of the paperwork. I just need that diploma and I'm heading out."
"Oh sweetheart, don't remind me. I'm going to cry so much. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. I'm so proud of you!" Turquoise smiled bittersweetly.
"Please stop being sappy." Kohaku sighed.
"So who's going to be the one to walk you down the aisle since your dad's...well...," Byakuya paused with remorse as his fiancee looked down similarly.
"I'll be doing it," Kokuyo replied.
"It's hard, thinking about it. I've always cried at weddings, knowing he'll never be the one to walk me down the aisle or dance with me since he died from alcohol poisoning a while back. I guess everything's a little bittersweet," Lillian wiped her eyes. "H-He wasn't a good dad by any means, he beat me, got drunk, didn't have a job...but he was still my dad."
"Everyone tried to tell him to get clean, but he never listened." Kokuyo shook his head. "Guess it is what it is,"
Finally, the day of the Parking Lot Wedding had arrived and in Senku's mind, it couldn't have had came soon enough. Byakuya stood in a tuxedo as all 41 residents + 2 outsiders (Senku & Gen) rose for the bride to walk down the aisle. Alongside her was Kokuyo. Pastor Jasper stood there as Lillian got up to the altar. Byakuya removed her veil to reveal two large blue eyes.
"I'm so glad we got to be away from all the cameras, lights and all the paparazzi drama."
"Me too. Drama's the last thing Senkuu needs right now while we're in this transtion period."
"When I was up on the ISS and I was pulling my diva act, I saw you burst out laughing. I think that's when I knew that I couldn't live a single day without you."
"Me, too." Byakuya cleared his throat.
"Barf," Senku scowled with his arms crossed. "Just get this bullshit over with already."
"Can we speed this up for my son's sake?" Byakuya asked Pastor Jasper.
"Of course," Pastor Jasper nodded. "Do you, Lillian Weinberg, take Byakuya Ishigami to be your husband, in sickness and health, for good and for bad, till death do you part?"
"I do."
"Do you, Byakuya Ishigami, take Lillian Weinberg, to be your wife, in sickness and health, for good and for bad, till death do you part?"
"I do."
"Then in the part invested in me by the State of West Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Now I must go home and fall asleep on my couch to a muted football game alone, snoring loudly with a beer in my hand. Just like God intended the Holy Sabbath afternoons to be spent," Pastor Jasper closed his bible and left.
Everyone got up from their cheap plastic folding chairs as they cheered and clapped for the new couple.
The reception was as about as insufferable as Senku expected. He shifted through as he watched people come up to his newly-married dad and stepmother with the usual pointless small-talk.
"Congratulations!"
"You're both so cute!"
"It's nice to have you back home, Lillian!"
Lillian threw the bouquet and it landed in Ruri's hands. Everyone pounced on her and pushed her towards Chrome.
"Hey-hey! I...just...well, your cousin's married now...so, this has been a pretty nice wedding." Chrome blushed.
"Yeah, it has. How's your experiments with the insulin pills going?"
"We're making some headway thanks to Senku. It's great having some extra hands around,"
"Well, I can help if I'm not at work. I can swing by,"
"That'd be nice. I'd like to get to know Senku and Gen a little more."
"Senku's great, but are you sure about Gen?" Chrome glanced over at the mentalist grinning at him in a Joker-style fashion.
"Well, this certainly isn't how I envisioned the international diva Lillian Weinberg's wedding to be like," Gen sighed. "I feel like I've been transported to the 1960s."
"Tell me about it."
"Well, I suppose we'll have to move onto preparing for the next part of the insulin-distribution project, shall we?" Gen smirked.
"Yeah. The County Fair,"
Chapter 4: Dawn
Notes:
A/N: I don't own Dr. Stone
Yeah, it's been a minute but I'm back.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
A/N: I don’t own Dr. Stone.
Once the wedding chaos was over, the Project Powder, the scheme to get cheap, homemade insulin medicine smuggled into The Rudolph County Fair went into overdrive.
First on the list was to find a means to spread it around to people; after all, if they couldn’t do that, what would be the point?
Second, they had to make sure it was discrete.
Third, they had to find a way to make more of insulin.
They were currently trying to find a way to sneak the medicine into America’s favorite county fair treat: FUNNEL CAKES.
Senku never thought he’d be in a project that involved so much guesswork.
While most projects have some estimates involved, a good deal of it was just estimates based on the materials.
The measurements he and Chrome had to work with were from the 1970s at the latest. Chrome had to continually shake the thermometer from the Nixon era several times to make sure it’d work. Dust and muck would sometimes stain the instruments so much that it’d be difficult to read.
Senku had to continually translate the metric system to the American one in his head. While Senku was good at thinking on his feet, the difference still made the equations a bit slower to figure out.
Before the budding scientist was an old, moldy bathtub filled with grease that sat outside of Chrome’s bus. Senku could tell just from the scent that it was powered by petroleum taken from the car shop. Petroleum, water, and fat extracted from deer game.
Chrome leaned over the bath as he stirred through it to make the distribution of the chemicals more even.
“Excuse me, but...,” Gen was nearby, just watching in curiosity. “Aren’t you going to work on my car already?”
“The lives of hundreds of innocent people are more important than you rental, pretty boy.” Chrome breathed deeply and began to wipe his forehead.
“My lord! Isn’t anyone in this town going to help poor ol’ me?” Gen cried out.
“I tried asking that my first three days here, the answer is no. You might as well be on a different planet.” Senku told him. “I wanted to go to space, see the moon and other planets...but this is something else entirely.”
“You wanna follow in your old man’s footsteps?” Chrome asked.
“Yeah.” Senku nodded.
“I don’t blame yah.” Chrome squinted to read the temperature. “Alright, the temperature’s about where it should be by now.”
Suika was rolling sugar-free, insulin-medicine-filled dough. Chrome grabbed a vintage basket he found in the trash bin of the local diner.
Chrome began to flip the dough until it was nice and crunchy. “Taste?”
Suika jumped up. “I wanna!”
Chrome smiled. “Alright then!”
Suika began to chum on it and her face curled. “Ew.”
“That’s what I was afraid of. It doesn’t taste that great without sugar, does it?”
“Nope.”
“Let’s see...,” Chrome began to walk back and forth. “Ah! I know! We could extract some alternate sugar from a load of honey! There’s a bunch o’ beehives over at Kohaku’s hunting shed.”
“Good thinking, Chrome.” Senku nodded.
Lillian drove Senku, Gen, Chrome, and Suika out to Kohaku’s camp. It was deep, thick in the forest in a path of forest in between an abandoned mine shaft and a small creek where frogs croaked all day long.
“I didn’t think you’d be interested in my cousin’s shootin’ range.” Lillian turned to Senku. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with a gun, Chrome.”
“Do you just have guns everywhere?” Senku asked. America was weirder and scarier than he thought. Was he going to get back to Japan in one piece? “I thought the rumors about America being gun-crazy were overexaggerated."
“I learned how to shoot when I was six. Aunt Turquoise taught me so I could get protein when my dad drank his paycheck away by catching game. Practically everyone in this town has held some kind of firearm. Except for Chrome.”
“I don’t need to.” Chrome shrugged.
“Does my dad know about this?” Senku asked.
“Yeah, he does. I haven’t held a gun in years since I got my own bodyguards now.” Lillian stopped by the creek. “Chrome’ll take it from ‘ere. See y’all at dinner! Kohaku and Ruri are makin’ game stew!”
Lillian drove back as Senku, Chrome, Gen, and Suika trudged through the hay, trees, bugs, reptiles and animal feces. They followed the noise of practice shots. Kohaku was in her camouflaged US Marine Trainee uniform practicing some of her routines and honing her posture while airing the gun at the target.
There were a few deer carcasses hung upside down on the side of the shed.
“Whatta yah doin’ ‘ere? Ain’t y’all smarter folk got somethin’ better to do?” Kohaku placed her rifle down.
“We’re here for the beehive.” Chrome answered.
“Go ahead ‘n take it. I ain’t no Winne the Pooh.” Kohaku shrugged.
“Thanks a bunch!” Chrome smiled as Senku carefully put the beehive into a large duffle bag.
“Hey, your old man’s checking on the derby school buses, right?” Kohaku asked Chrome casually as she reloaded her bullets. “I want to have a bus that’ll beat Magma into the ground. So make sure it’s in peak condition!”
“Yeah, he should be back ‘round supper-time.” Chrome answered.
“Bus derby?” Gen asked.
“At the Rudolph County Fair, we got old delivery trucks and outdated school buses that’re on their way to the junkyard for one final bout of glory: The Bus Demolition Derby. Were they smash into each other until only one’s left standing. They still go to the junkyard afterwards. The winner gets $1,000 dollars, and the second gets $500 and the third-place gets $250.” Kohaku explained. “Y’all gotta be 18 to enter. I just turned 18, about ready to go to the Marines in a month or so. I wanna have one last hometown hurrah before I leave.”
“That Magma’s been on the top for a few years now. It’s about time someone knocked ‘em off his throne.” Chrome crossed his arms.
“$1,000 dollars might not seem much to you city folk, but it does to us.” Suika shook her head. “I’m gonna be champion one day, too!”
Senku was silent for a moment as he recalled the year his father sold his car just to buy him science equipment. “It does to me, actually. Byakuya had a lot of debt from getting his Bachelor’s, Master’s, and PhD abroad. Before he married Lillian, weren’t millionaires like we are now. I mean, we weren’t as poor as you guys are, but we weren’t that rich, either.”
“Your father studied abroad? So that’s why your English is so good!” Gen’s eyes widened.
“He got his PhD before he adopted me.” Senku brushed it off. “I’ve never even been to America.”
“Well, let’s get back to the base. Again, thanks a lot!” Chrome waved.
After four days of measuring and remeasuring the ingredients, extracting honey, getting bitten by furious bees, taste-testing over and over, the insulin medicine-filled funnel cake recipe was FINALLY perfected.
They wrote it down several times. There was no wi-fi at the fair grounds, so using the Internet wouldn’t work.
“We’ve got to make a bunch of new batches. There’s no way folks’ll want funnel cake a week old. Even we aren’t that desperate.” Chrome sighed.
Senku glanced over at Gen who was trying to fan himself with some old manuals in the midsummer heat. “I’m gonna faint.”
“We got some good well water behind the shop since the fracking companies left for the midwest.” Chrome offered. “It was awful. We normal folks had to spend half of our paychecks on bottled water. THANK GOD they’re gone now.”
“I can’t believe you still use SPRING water.” Gen moaned.
“It’s cheaper than bottled water or paying for indoor plumbing.” Chrome shrugged. “Anyway, I’ve got to start on supper for my old man. We’ve got three days left until the fair. Let’s make the most ‘o them.”
The following morning, it was time to get a spot for one of the vendors approved by Pastor Jasper, Officers Kinro and Ginro, and Mayor Kokuyo, Ruri and Kohaku’s father and Lillian’s uncle. There were also some police officials and mayors from Selbyville,
“We’re setting up a fried food vendor.” Chrome stated to the board.
“We already have two, so let me make sure you’re far enough away.” Mayor Kokuyo drew an orange square on the southwestern part of the Fair Grounds, right by the Bus Demolition Grounds stands. The other food vendors also had orange squares. The livestock areas had blue squares, the crafts had red, the stands for the church stalls had yellow, there was a military requirement station colored green, and the games had pink.
The areas of competition--The Bus Demolition and the Livestock Contest--had plain black with circles for the stands.
“Alright, how folks feel ‘bout it?” Kokuyo asked.
“Looks good to me.” The mayor of Selbyville nodded. “I’ll see you folks in a few days.”
“Thanks so much, guys!” Chrome smiled.
The night before the fair, Chrome, Gen, Senku, Suika, Ruri, and Kohaku all sat around a table at Ruby’s Diner. There were three people who ran the place; Ruby, the owner, Garnet, the head cook, and Sapphire who managed the staff (which consisted of two other women, Sango and Azura).
Senku glanced at the laminated brightly colored menu while Suika tried to bend her straw in new ways. Chrome sat there in a daze as Gen enjoyed some Coke. Ruri was going through her wallet to see how much cash she had on her while Kohaku yawned.
“Tired?”
“I’ve been practice driving with my uncle’s old truck from dawn ‘til dusk.”
“Don’t tire yourself out too much,” Gen said as he stirred his straw counter-clockwise through the Coke. “Your brain needs rest.”
“You don’t think I don’t know that?” Kohaku asked. “God I need a beer so bad right now.”
“When I get paid next I’ll buy you a pack.” Ruri smiled.
“Thanks.”
“Now tomorrow morning-” Senku heard the sound of his cell phone go off. He was startled; he didn’t know that it still had battery left in it. He hadn’t been charging it since there was no wi-fi connection in town.
He looked at the contact that -- “Big Oaf” (Taiju).
“I’ve got to take this.” Senku went outside and picked up the phone. “Taiju?”
“Hey why haven’t you called me?! I’m so lost without your dry humor.” Taiju cried as Yuzuriha chuckled in the background.
“The internet connection in this town is awful if they have any at all.”
“No internet!? How’ve you been surviving out there?”
“I’ve been roped into fixing the mess that is the American healthcare system by time-traveling back to the 1870s and developing a way to mass-produce medicine inside a Grimm fairy tale written by James Taylor.”
“I didn’t know you were an American politician.”
“Taiju I’m too smart to be one. Hell, YOU’RE too smart to be one.” Senku stated as he was meant with Taiju’s laughter.
“I missed this!”
“So have I. It’s felt like forever. Taiju, once I get back to Japan-” The connection cut off. Senku put the phone back in his bag and looked up at the starry sky. It took him back to the days when he, Yuzuriha, and Taiju would go on top of a hill in the parks outside of the outskirts of Tokyo to show his friends where all the stars in the sky were located. Senku smiled as he looked up at those same stars he observed back in Japan, thousands of miles away.
“I’ll see you again.” Senku sighed.
That night, Senku got back to hear Lillian sitting on top of the roof of the doubled RVs singing John Denver’s “Country Roads, Take Me Home”.
It was even more beautiful than any of her performances; simplistic and yet heartfelt. Senku was mesmerized. He found himself singing alongside her without even realizing it as the moon nested on the mountain-filled horizon.
“Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain mama Take me home, country roads...,”
Notes:
I've been to several County fairs growing up. My home county fair had a Bus Demolition Derby where old school buses on the way to the junkyard would be driven against each other. In our county, every bus was chosen by a school district whose marching band would spray paint it a certain theme, like a certain cartoon, a certain decade, or a musical.
It was dubbed "The Redneck Olympics" by the announcer.
"Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fybhd__bxM
Lyrics:
Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, growin' like a breeze
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
All my memories gather 'round her
Miner's lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
I hear her voice in the mornin' hour, she calls me
The radio reminds me of my home far away
Drivin' down the road, I get a feelin'
That I should've been home yesterday, yesterday
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia, mountain mama
Take me home, country roads
Take me home, (down) country roads
Take me home, (down) country roads
Chapter 5: The Fair
Notes:
You know the deal, I don't own Dr. Stone. I'm not that smart.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Despite going to sleep at 12:34am, Senku’s eyes flew open at 4:58 sharp even without a working cell phone alarm. The walls of the RV sandwich were thinner than paper. He woke up slightly when Kohaku got up to get in the truck of her soon-to-be-superior officer to set up the military recruitment table.
The sound that did it in was the echoes of Chrome’s excited voice as he parked his truck right outside the Weinberg dwelling.
He had pulled many overnights researching science experiments and grading Taiju’s study guide. Insomnia was not a stranger to the scientist.
Senku threw himself in the clothes Aunt Turquoise had finished drying on a wire the day prior. Ruri had put on a hand-sewn sky blue gingham dress.
Along with Chrome was his old man, Suika, Ruri, and a still half-asleep Gen who was moaning.
“Where’s Kohaku?” Chrome asked.
“She left earlier to set up the military tent.” Senku rubbed the back of his neck.
“Makes sense.” Chrome nodded. “Oh Ruri! You finished your dress!”
“You look like Dorothy.” Gen remarked.
“Does that make me Toto?” Suika asked. “I’ve always wanted a dog, but gramps says that the ones in the woods ain’t friendly.”
“Those are wild wolves, Suika. They’d think you’re a rabbit on a plate.” Chrome turned to the child but maintained a sweet smile as he ruffled his younger sister’s hair. “Not that you’re as cute as one.”
Ruri and Senku slid in the back with the carts of medicine in beer coolers, as well as a folding table, sign, and a plastic tent canopy.
The group drove to their designated place. As the dawn turned to the morning dew, they saw the buses being parked near the wet yet simultaneously dusty pit of their doom.
Senku did find out that the diner had an electric port and was able to charge it. While the internet didn’t work, the camera did. He wasn’t sure that Taiju and Yuzuriha would be able to picture it in their heads. He could imagine Taiju’s shocked face as a nostalgic smile formed on his face.
The fair opened around noon and would last until midnight. Obviously that meant that they’d take shifts to get food, rest, piss, and to walk around.
It didn’t take long for the crowd to form in anticipation for the fall at the entrance. It was amazing to think just how sparsely populated West Virginia was compared to Tokyo.
Tokyo had 13 million people and was 847 square miles; West Virginia only had a mere 1.7 million and was over 24,000 square miles.
Yet here they were; the fair had about 20,000 people. Way more than what they prepared for. Senku found himself learning what it was like to work a minimum wage customer service job.
Senku flipped over the insulin-filled funnel cakes and handed them onto paper plates. An old woman took it, “Thanks, y’all! Where you from?”
“Tokyo...,”
“All the way from Tokyo? How’s life over there, city boy?”
“We have indoor plumbing...?” Senku mentioned.
“Well, West Virginia toughens y’ah up.”
“That it does. Anyway, have a nice night, but first here’s a business card.” Senku sighed. When is Chrome coming back from his break?
“Senku! Senku!” Suika waved. Senku turned his head around. “Chrome’s comin’ back!”
“Thank Darwin,” Senku breathed deeply. Chrome came back with some corndogs, Coke, and some cotton candy.
“I came to relieve you of your holy duty.” Chrome gave Senku some cotton candy as the young scientist unleashed his stress.
Senku looked at the massive pile of cotton candy. “This is at least 3.45 times the size of the ones back at our festivals.”
“Well, that’s America for you.” Chrome shrugged. “I got you a small,”
“THIS IS A SMALL!?” Senku’s eyes popped open.
“Truer words have never been spoken, dear Chrome.” Gen shook his head.
“Anyway, I’m taking over. Next hour’s all yours.” Chrome nodded at Senku, “Gen, your turn’ll come once Senku gets back.”
“Right, right.” Gen moaned. “Am I ever going to get out of this town?”
--------------
Senku had slept through his prior break, so he wasn’t terribly exhausted now. He decided to walk around the fairgrounds with Suika.
He watched the fair-rides and figured he wasn’t in the mood to get a concussion and vomit his guts out today. He did like to watch and ponder the physics in his head. Kohaku had dragged poor Ruri on one of the pendulum ride and the younger sister looked like she had never regretted something more in her life.
Senku decided to ditch them before he made eye contact with Kohaku who would probably make him her next victim.
Senku decided to go to the livestock area of the fair. He took a hayride to the rabbit house. Senku leaned down, only for one of the rabbits tried to nibble the scientist’s finger, but Senku pulled it out before it could get him.
Senku observed the various rabbits, pondering the formula for this display of selective breeding. After that he went to the horse stall.
“Why ‘ello there, Senku!” Alumi, an old woman from Perkin’s church, and the grandmother of Ruby, Sapphire, and Granet who ran the diner. “Perkins put out a great show for the mare contest. I finally won after 69 years!”
“69 YEARS?” Senku’s eyes popped open.
“I first entered when I was only 10 back in 1952.” Alumi pulled out a sepia-tone photo of her as a girl next to a Shire horse that could easily stomp her into the ground with just one hoof. Alumi then ran her fingers through the prize-winning horse that had a big blue ribbon on it. “This ‘ere shire, Feather, is the great-grandaughter of that one in the picture. Her name was Lightfoot.”
“Well that’s great. Congrats.” Senku couldn’t help but smile. Unbeknownst to Alumi, there was a lot of science behind this.
“It’s a good thing I made it before I turned 80 and my daughter would stop me from entering. Barely made it, but I did.” Alumi smiled.
-------
With that, Senku realized the time and rushed back to the stall. As he stepped into the tent, he was greeted by an exhausted Chrome. “Man, I am SO glad you’re here. I need to peed so badly.”
“How’s the sales?” Senku asked.
“Booming! We’ve had at least 500 customers. That means 500 people got insulin medicine.” Chrome smiled over at one of their customers, who was eating their cake. “Senku, if I can be real with you...thanks. I’ve always wanted to do something about our medication problem, but I wasn’t sure if I could tackle it since I’m only one person.”
“Chrome?” Senku’s eyes widened.
“I’ll do my best to save the family that raised me! There might only be 40 of us, but we’ve survived a lot of shit together.” Chrome smiled, “Thanks for reminding me that even this awkward loser can do some good.”
“Chrome, I’m 10 billion percent sure that you’re NO loser.” Senku patted Chrome on the shoulder. “Perkins is lucky to have you.”
“You’re right.” Chrome nodded. “I’ve got to go look at the quilt contests. Your Aunt Turquoise is the front-runner from what I’ve heard.”
“I guess Turquoise IS my aunt now...well, GRAND-AUNT but still, that’s so weird to think about since I’ve only known her for a month,” Senku scratched his head. “Good for her. She always looked so passionate about her needlework.”
“She sure is,” Ruri nodded. “She’s been teaching me since I was five. I always like to crochet a little between shifts at the store.”
“Glad to see you’ve finally recovered from that near-death experience on that death machine.” Senku breathed a sigh of relief.
“Kohaku was planning on taking you for a ride on it after me-”
“That’s a hard pass.” Senku refused. “I like my liver being INSIDE my body.”
------
Kohaku continued to hand out flyers about signing up for the military until an hour before the official Bus Derby began. She closed shop and made her way to the bus lineup. Magma was already waiting for her, standing outside of his assigned bus, with his arms crossed.
“I’ve been waiting for this night for fifteen years; to kick your ass. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just ‘cause you’re a lady.”
“Good.” Kohaku grinned. “My vagina don’t push ‘at pedal.”
Magma let out a loud laugh. “I’m gonna miss yah. You’re one of the few folks that give me a challenge. Where y’all being shipped out to so I know where to mail my dick pics?”
“Shut up,” Kohaku shook her head.
Magma gave her a bittersweet smile. “But really, I don’t give compliments often, but good on you for doin’ service for the country. I’ll be waitin’ for your fist when it tries to reach my face.”
“I’ll be dreaming of knocking out your teeth.” Kohaku smiled.
“When you two are doing measuring egos, we need to do a quick test drive before the game.” Kaseki pointed to the buses.
After the competing drivers did a small test drive, the time had finally come: The Bus Demolition Derby. The Redneck Olympics.
Senku found a place above the crowd to film it on his phone to prove to Taiju and Yuzuriha that this actually happened and this was what America was REALLY like. Not the clean glitz of Hollywood or the glamourous fashion of New York City that was shown to the world as America, but the grit of those the system has left behind in the dust to fend for themselves in the wild mountains like wolves. Those who were treated like sub-humans by the wealthy.
Lillian sang The Star-Spangled Banner before the game, also followed by John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, the unofficial state anthem of West Virginia. Everyone did the Pledge of Allegiance and the announcer declared:
“Folks, it’s the time you’ve all been waitin’ for! The Rudolph County Fair Bus Demolition Derby!”
A roar of applause followed.
“Now the small Perkins brought us two competing drivers, Kohaku and Magma. Kohaku has just signed up for the Marines. Magma has 2 DUIs and 3 pending. Representing Beverly is MR. SYNDER!!”
Another roar of applause.
“And for Hazelwood, MR. EVERDEEN!”
More applause.
“And last but not least, representing Coalton, last year’s champion, MR. JONES!”
After the announcement of the five contenders, the chaos began. It took a full 3.12 seconds for Kohaku and Magma to hid each other on the side. Magma was hit by by Hazelwood’s Mr. Everdeen while Kohaku was slammed in the back by Mr. Jones.
After that, Kohaku did a U-turn and hit Mr. Synder’s back engine, causing his exhaust to implode, admitting a giant smoke cloud. The fighting stopped for Mr. Synder’s bus to be towed out of the arena.
After that Mr. Everdeen tried to do a T-shaped hit on Magma, but was hit in the front by Mr. Jones.
Mr. Everdeen was next in being carried out by the tow truck. After five minutes, Mr. Jones tried to hit Magma in the back but he was hit by Kohaku’s back.
Magma did a U-turn just like Kohaku’s and hit the hood of Mr. Jones’s bus, causing the engine to combust. Mr. Jones’s was carried out. Now only Magma and Kohaku were left. Everything had been building up to this.
Kohaku’s last shot at hometown glory.
At this point, windows were shattered, the tires were covered in soot, and the yellow paint was chipping. It was like a perfect embodiment of the quality of the American education system.
Kohaku did a quick turn and railed Magma’s lower side where the back tires where located. Magma’s bus scraped against Kohaku’s upper side, damaging the middle.
Finally Kohaku made her last stand and put all of the power she had stored in the back to pierce Magma’s front. There was a short spark in both of the bus’s engines.
The crowd watched to see whose bus would make it through. Kohaku breathed in and grabbed the wheel tensely, shoving her foot on the pedal. Finally, her bus began to move while Magma’s was stuck in the dirt.
“AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!”
The crowd went absolutely wild for a solid ten minutes, standing up and clapping until their hands hurt. Kohaku got out, saluted, and waved to the crowd. She motioned to the announcer to come near.
“Can I have the mic for a minute?”
“Sure thing!”
Kohaku stood up straight and looked out at the crowd. “I’ll say it: deep down, I’m a little afraid of what’s waiting for me in the Marines, but knowing you...my hometown, the folks who put every single bone in their body to raise me into the woman I am today...thank y’all. I’ll miss you the most. I’ll do my hometown proud, I promise y’all.”
After that speech finished, the crowd clapped again as Kohaku went offstage. People began to make their way back to the parking lot to their cars and tractor-trailers. Senku finished recording and sat next to Gen.
Gen looked around at the unhealthy, poor, yet hardened country folks. Some women didn’t have the money for bras that fit or more than one pair of shoes. They didn’t have the funds for organic food.
McDonald’s was a weekly treat for them.
“This isn’t my first time in America, but it feels so far from the one I’ve known before these past month.” Gen mentioned. “I spent time in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. I never stepped foot outside of the cities. While on the west coast I was casted in Hollywood rom-coms that I later promoted while in New York. I went on plenty of talk shows where my co-stars wore $800 lipstick to be on The Late Show.”
“$800!? Only for lipstick!? That could feed all of Perkins for two weeks!” Ruri overheard. “Who the hell has the money for $800 to spend on LIPSTICK!? That’s as much as I make in a month!”
“Scarlett Johansson, Emma Watson, Arianna Grande...,” Gen listed. “To only name a few.”
“I was so excited to get $30 lipstick one Christmas.” Ruri looked down. “That’s the only time I’ve been able to have lipstick at all.”
“This feels like it’s not even the same country.” Gen peered out at the crowd. “I feel like I’ve been in a third-world village that you see in those depressing guilt-trip commercials they play around Christmas with Sarah McLachlan.”
“No clean running water, no A/C, no health plans that the average joe can afford, and my school’s textbooks are from the Reagan administration at the newest. There’s only ONE microscope in our entire high school.” Chrome sighed. “Even though we did a lot of good for these folks, there’s still a long way to go.”
“I thought I was on the poorer side.” Senku crossed his arms. “I must look like a king to you people.”
“Yeah, you two kinda do.” Chrome scratched the back of his head.
Finally, as the fair lights shut off, the gang started to pack their things. Senku flopped onto the couch and slept for a long 16 hours.
Tomorrow was farewell to this other planet. But it wasn't goodbye; only for another 11 months.
Queue
Post
Notes:
Again, this is heavily based on my hometown's county fair. I used to be the only one who could go into the horse stables because my sister and mom were SO allergic XD.
Yes, "Mr. Everdeen" is a reference to the Hunger Games. District 12 is in Appalachia. I also live in District 12.
Here are some stats about how poor Appalachia is:
Appalachia Regional Commission says that the average poverty rate is 16%, but some areas can have rates as high as 41%. The national average is 14%.
West Virginia:
Only 29% are college-educated.
The state is ranked 45# in education, 47# in healthcare, and dead last at 50# in Infasturce and Public Health.
Its overall ranking is 47# out of 50 states.Kentucky:
overall ranked 40# out of all 50 states and 44# in healthcare
has a poverty rate of 16%
is ranked 45# in educationPennsylvania:
Pittsburgh has a poverty rate of 23%
19% in rural areas were classed as "working poor"In contrast, Tokyo's poverty rate is 15%---but 98% of people get public healthcare. West Virginia's obesity rate is 40% while it's 21% in Japan. West Virginia has 86% literacy, meaning 14% are illiterate vs. Japan where the rate of illiteracy is a mere 1%.
America is not what you see in movies or TV.
Chapter 6: Epilogue: What Lies Ahead
Chapter Text
When Senku first set foot in Perkins, he never felt more miserable filled with everything he hated. Now, it was bittersweet to say goodbye.
Gen decided to tag along with Lillian, Senku and Byakuya back to Japan by sharing their rental. Before they left the town for the year, they drove their rental car to the parking lot where all forty residents of Perkins waiting to say farewell.
(For now, of course).
“You’re always welcome to come back,” Aunt Turquoise smiled. “I’ll start working on a quilt for y’all.”
“It’s fine, really.” Senku scratched the back of his head.
“Senku, Chrome, Suika, Gen, Kohaku...thank y’all.” Ruri sobbed into Chrome’s arm. “You’re our biggest hopes to bringing Perkins out ‘o this mess.”
“The war might not be over, but we won one hell o’ a battle.” Chrome clenched his fist to hold back crying. Chrome looked back at Senku, “Senku...before all ‘o this, I was the village shut-in. I had no one to bond over, and I thought college would be too much for me; I wouldn’t be able to adjust socially or people would be smarter than me. Now I know. I’ll be ok. I’ll learn how to call people on cell phones and do those...video calls? When I move to Morgantown. They’ve got wi-fi. Fancy, eh?”
“Senku, thanks for hangin’ out with us,” Suika’s eyes glistened as she sniffled. Senku ruffled Suika’s hair.
“Senku, thank you so much for being Chrome’s friend.” Kaseki looked up at him, “It’s been rough raisin’ him alone. It’s good to see him grow up into such a great young man with friends like you.”
“Senku, we’ll always serve y’all an extra cup ‘o coffee at our diner.” Garnet winked along with her sisters.
“Senku, I know we may not agree on everything, but thank you and Byakuya for bringing some excitement to this little town.” Pastor Jasper made a cross-sign on his chest.
“Senku,” Kohaku saluted to, “I’ll be sure to tell stories ‘bout you to my fellow new recruits. Thanks for giving me ‘n Chrome your phone number so we can connect out ‘o Perkins.”
Lillian planted a kiss on Byakuya’s lips quickly. She turned around, facing all of the village, waving.
“Thank y’all! We’ll see you next summer!” Lillian smiled at the villagers.
“Goodbye everyone!” Byakuya and Senku looked back.
1 week later
The new school year had finally begun. Senku was about the enter the classroom when he was tackled to the ground by Taiju. Yuzuriha was not far behind.
“SENKU!!!” Taiju cried. “I missed you SO MUCH!”
“It’s only been a month, but it felt like forever!” Yuzuriha chuckled. “How was America?”
“It was...a lot. To say the least.” Yuzuriha shook his head. “I’ve got some pictures and videos for you guys.”
Taiju and Yuzuriha were stunned at the food portions, the derby, the obesity, the wilderness, the rust, the winding hills.
“They pit BUSES together?” Taiju asked. “It sounds like a video game!”
“Hey, maybe I’ll make one. Not a bad idea, big oaf.” Senku laughed.
“Are those people riding those death traps? They look like they’re taped together. Are there even seatbelts?” Yuzuriha looked at the rides at the fair.
Nikki was stunned at Lillian’s rendition of “Take Me Home” to the point of tears.
“Is that REALLY where Lillian Weinberg lived?” Nikki asked.
“That looks like it’s out of a zombie apocalypse game. You isekai’d to a video game and managed to come back! You defeated Truck-kun.”
“Truck-kun is no match for science.”
The group cheered. The group went on with Senku’s slide show of the Rust Belt, America’s District 12.
“There are flags EVERYWHERE.” Yuzuriha paused, “Aw, that quilt is so well-stitched. It’s so detailed but the fabrics look pretty sturdy.”
“That’s Aunt Turquoise for you.” Senku shrugged.
“Is that a well?” Taiju looked at it in shock. “Like from the old days?”
“I didn’t believe my eyes at first, either.” Senku chuckled a little.
“Is that an outhouse?” Nikki glanced at it.
“It is.” Senku nodded. “The house didn’t have indoor plumbing.”
The other three students stood shocked. Senku put his phone in his pocket as he rose to write “WELCOME BACK” on the whiteboard.
Class returned as normal. Taiju said something stupid, Senku would make fun of it, Nikki ignored it and Yuzuriha laughed.
There was a relief in the back of Senku’s brain. He was worried that he wouldn’t be able to move past what he experienced back in Perkins, but he was.
That being said, he didn’t forget it by any means.
One month into the new school year, Taiju, Yuzuriha, and Senku were studying for an upcoming exam when an alert for a video call went off on the scientist’s phone. He opened it up as Taiju and Yuzuriha recognized the name from Senku’s stories about Perkins.
Chrome.
“Hey Senku, look!” Chrome lifted up an A- on his first Intro to Chemistry midterm exam. “I got the 3rd best score in this class I had with 200 people! That’s five times the size of Perkins in a single huge room! Everything’s so bright, clean, and crowded.”
“Oh! You’re Chrome, right?” Taiju asked.
“Are you Taiju?” Chrome asked.
“Yeah, so are the stories true?” Taiju asked.
“Senku isn’t much of one to lie, so I bet whatever he said was.” Chrome laughed.
“That’s true, you are one of the most honest people I know.” Yuzuriha looked over at Senku.
“So have you talked with Ruri?” Senku asked.
“Yeah, she’s going to work a few years back in Perkins and try to save money to apply to WVU. Kaseki gave up a lot for me to go to college, and he really believed in me. I’ve got to do ‘em proud!” Chrome nodded. “Oh, Kohaku told me that she’s going to be shipped off to a US military base in Germany to complete her training, then she’ll be stationed out in Nigeria.”
“I was wondering since the US is bringing troops back from Afghanistan.” Senku crossed his arms.
“I’m sure Perkins is a lot quieter without us. Anyway, good luck, Senku!” Chrome waved and ended the call.
“Aw, he’s so sweet.” Yuzuriha cooed and Taiju nodded.
“He is,” Senku smiled bittersweetly.
Two weeks later
The paperwork changing his name to “Senku Weinberg” had finally been approved. After two hours in government bureaucracy, Senku decided he needed a break. He need a NEW taste in pretentiousness.
Gen and Senku sat at an internet cafe as they caught up with when they saw each other last. Gen had gone back to his daytime TV show and Senku returned to his science experiments.
“So do you still have those photos?” Gen asked. “An in-depth news program wants to do a special on rural America.”
“I’ll send you the ones that don’t have people in them. I’m sure Chrome and the others wouldn’t get mad, but doing that without asking them would make me feel a little shitty.”
“You’re a much better person than me, you know that?” Gen took a sip of his coffee. “We’re both addicted to caffeine. That’s something we got.”
“Being able to study and test as much as I need to requires chemical assistance.” Senku put simply. As Gen began to hum “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, the scientist interrupted. “And yes, I’ve seen Aubrey Hepburn’s filmography. Yuzuriha is a major Hepburn stan.”
“That checks out with what you’ve said about her. I should bring the three of you on my show sometime-” Gen nodded. “Ah, Senku! Look!”
Incoming call: Kohaku Weinberg (CET+2)
Kohaku was in a bland but large cafeteria with other soldiers, officers and guards. She was in a camo uniform.
“Guten morgen!” Kohaku laughed. “I just landed in Bamberg. My unit’s just finished our tests in Arabic, Swahili, and other small ethnic languages like Hausa and Tiv. Common African languages. Nothing too complex, just some basic sayings we’ll need like ‘Hello, my name is__’, ‘Where’s the bathroom’, ‘Where are we’, ‘When is the last time you saw a or b persons’.”
“Good, you won’t just be screaming English at them and hoping they’ll understand.” Senku nodded.
“The official language of Nigeria is English and most people in the cities speak it, but we’ll be spending most of our time in the rural areas trying to find Boko Haram hide-outs,” Kohaku replied.
“Well, best of luck to you. Girls everywhere deserve an education. Everyone human on the planet has potential.” Senku smiled.
“They’re pulling people out of Afghanistan for now. I don’t know if that trend will continue. It’s also possible that in the near future I’ll be stationed back in the USA to fight domestic terrorism. We’ll see.” Kohaku shrugged, “Either way, I’m going to kick some ass.”
“Well keep us updating,” Gen smiled. “By the way, the station my show’s on was thinking about using some of the photos and videos Senku took back in Perkins to do a show on rural poverty in the West. Are you alright with that?”
Kohaku bit her lip. “I mean, I’ll talk to my superior officer first, and I’d check in with Chrome if you can. I’m sure he’d be fine with it, but whatever.”
“So you chose the same surname as Lillian?”
“We ARE cousins.” Kohaku reminded him.
“And you’re my second cousin now...by law.” Senku thought to himself. “We have the same last name.”
“Yeah. Chrome chose something else, right? It was German too...I’ve meant a lot of those recently so I can’t remember which one is his.” Kohaku scratched her head.
Senku answered. “He chose the last name Lucrene. It’s named after the lake where the Rutli society in Hevletia came from back in Switzerland. Apparently his old man Kaseki got some mechanic tips from them.”
“Chrome Lucrene? Huh.” Kohaku folded his arms.
“Honestly that fits Lillian more than Chrome. She should’ve thought of that instead of Weinberg. Lillian Lucrene. It has a lovely ring to it.” Gen smiled.
“Please don’t daydream about banging my step-mom. It’s already awful that people are doing that with my DAD.” Senku rubbed his forehead.
“Let little old me could compete with the hunky Space Samurai?” Gen teasted.
“Ugh,” Senku shivered.
“I’m kidding. I wouldn’t do that you. After all; you’re a rather good catch yourself, if I must say,” Gen winked as Senku blushed.
“If you’re done flirting, I need to go to the bunks and get a short nap before we do more practice marches around the base.” Kohaku waved. “See y’all.”
Kohaku’s superior did approve of the use of the photos, as did Chrome. The special was awarded for journalism and brought some new viewership to Gen’s show. As for Senku, after he graduated as the valedictorian of his high school by a landslide, he studied astrophysics abroad at Princeton. Kohaku was restationed to South Carolina to join a counter-terrorist unit to battle white supremacy hate groups.
Though the story of bringing modern technology into the rural pockets of Appalachia and the south was just beginning.
Notes:
Thank you everyone for reading!!