Chapter Text
Ambers had officially been left behind by his group. Technically that was his fault, and also he didn't mind. There was no reason for him to be in the later classes if he couldn't understand what was being said.
And also, his supervisor was more interesting than any class he could have been to. When the others had realized they didn't speak any japanese, they'd decided it might be better to find someone who would understand him. The Japanese students were happy to point out the leader of the science club.
Senku. Ambers had been all but pushed into the classroom just as he finished making gasoline. Out of bottle caps. He'd also been all too happy to explain how that had worked after Ambers asked him about it.
Although Ambers' greatest subject definitely wasn't science, and chemistry even less, he could follow a simple explanation. It helped that Senku was really good at explaining things.
"Don't go terrorising the exchange student with your mad rants just yet, Senku ! They're not acclimated to you yet."
" What are they saying ?" Ambers had to ask. Hopefully his teacher wasn't too optimistic and they could learn a modicum of Japanese by the end of the trip.
" They think I'm losing you by explaining to you the process you asked me about. "
" That's... Why ? "
" Heh, I don't know. Anyway, after I was done melting the caps, I had to- "
They are once again interrupted by somebody slamming open the door to the classroom. An energetic, strong-looking person burst inside.
"SENKUUUU ! I'M DOING IT ! I'M GOING TO CONFESS TO YUZURIHA TODAY !"
Well. They were very loud, that's for sure. They seemed friendly at least. They immediately turned to Ambers, noticing their presence.
"Hello ! Who are you ? I'm Taiju, I'm Senku's best friend."
Ambers understood barely any of this, and yet Taiju was so expressive they could tell what he wanted to say. It was kind of eerie.
"My name is Ambers. I do not speak Japanese well. You seem nice, if only very loud. "
" Ha ! Better get used to it, that's barely five decibels over his average volume. Anyways, you probably understood that, but this is Taiju. He's my best friend, and he's an idiot. He is very nice. "
Okay. Sure. Then Taiju started rambling again. Ambers wished he could understand what was being said, he seemed very enthusiastic about it.
At least Senku translated what he could. So, from what Ambers had gathered, Taiju was pining for a girl from the craft club, and had been for years. And now he wanted to finally confess his feelings to her.
They somewhat choked on their saliva when Senku offered up a glass of gasoline to Taiju. No one else seemed concerned, for some absurd reason.
" Hey Senku ? Maybe don't poison your best friend with the gasoline everyone saw you make, least of all in front of that many witnesses ? "
" Don't worry, he'll be fine. I told him it's a love potion, so he's never gonna take it. "
"Uh huh. And if he does take it ? "
" We're all fucked because I go to jail and Taiju's dead. But if I tell him not to take it he won't. "
"What are you talking about ?"
"I'm translating the conversation for Ambers, don't worry about it."
Senku was right, Taiju refused to take the so-called "love potion," and Ambers had to stop him from pouring it in the sink. Worst idea he could have, honestly. Not only would that smell horrible, but it was a fire hazard just waiting to happen.
"Let's go see if he really does it !"
One of the club members shouted something, and most people in the room rushed to the windows. Senku followed them, and Ambers followed him. Apparently they were taking bets on whether or not he would do it. Looking down at Taiju and the craft club girl, she was definitely waiting for something to happen.
Yeah. They were two pining messes, just like that. It was kind of an overused trope, but oh well. That was their own business, Ambers wasn't going to interfere.
Watching them was a bit underwhelming, since they couldn't understand the conversation around them, nor did he have any emotional investment in the two getting together. But, it might be a bit satisfying, and he had nothing else to do.
And suddenly there was green over the horizon.
And then there was nothing.
Being unable to move, without any outside stimuli, was, as the situation suggested, pretty underwhelming.
Ambers kept dozing on and off. He couldn't stay awake long enough or even be very conscious, everything was a blur. He kept imagining lights, touches, sound. A lot of sound, actually.
There would be music in his ear, summoned from some part of his brain, almost constantly. At least it wasn't always the same one, or he might have actually gone insane.
And then he heard something crack.
And then there was light.
And then there were too fucking many outside stimulis. Seems phantom sensations weren't enough to keep sensorial deprivation at bay. Goddamnit, everything hurt.
Ambers clenched his eyes shut and used his hands to muffle sounds. He could still hear, which wasn't perfect, but at least it wasn't so brutal.
After a few minutes, a voice called out to him. "Hey, Ambers ? You good ?"
Senku was standing in front of him, wearing a sort of tunic. Leather, most likely. Ambers recognized the e=mc² formula. Behind him, Taiju was screaming, as always it seemed. He wore a similar tunic.
Ambers was naked. Huh.
He looked down at himself. Nothing of note, really. There was no muscle atrophy, which was surprising. He also wasn't that hungry, but their bodily signals were fucked up anyway. Even though, that told him he'd either spent very little time in the weird sensory deprivation thingy, which was unlikely due to the sensory overload he'd just experienced... Or his body had been preserved to exactly the state it was in when he got affected by whatever this was.
Oh, and also there were bigass marks right where his top surgery stitches had been healing. And they were healed, apparently. Tentatively, he lifted an arm above his shoulder to see if it tore. Nothing.
Neat.
When he asked what was going on, Senku caught him up on the situation. And holy shit was that indeed a situation . Not only had it been 3700+ years, but Senku had also been counting all this time. And didn't go insane, somehow.
He was also quickly caught up with what they'd been doing. Apparently they'd managed to build shelter, find food, and make a "revival fluid" to wake up all of humanity. Nice.
He had been a test subject to test whether or not this revival fluid also worked on humans. "I needed someone I wouldn't mind reviving. You mentioned you know a lot of history, and told me many things about traps and the treatment of animals after they're caught ?"
Oh fuck yeah.
After learning that Senku had been chewing on the hides ( why ? ), which... wasn't how he learned it was done, so Ambers took over. Apparently the animals here weren't really scared of humans, which was really cool. Although they were still spooked if he came around too quickly. He even saw a fox at some point ! (although it didn't really look like the modern days ones, which, obviously it didn't, it must have evolved somewhat over four thousand years)
He could also see that Taiju really wasn't comfortable killing animals, or seeing Ambers treat their skin after. Taiju was usually sent to collect firewood, mushrooms and other wild vegetables and fruits when he had to do that.
Ambers had the opportunity to go out and forage, and found a lot of plants he didn't know. Which was super cool, if only he could find out what they did and whether they were safe to eat. Some of them Senku knew, some of them were a mystery. After he was done making clothes, he made himself a bag to hold all of what he collected.
And then, there was enough nitric acid in the cave to make revival fluid again. Ambers was finally going to meet Yuzuriha, the girl Taiju had tried to confess to right before the petrification happened. He’d apparently been awake the whole time only because he hadn’t managed to confess to her. Never underestimate the power of pinning, apparently.
Ambers wondered how she was. It wasn’t like he’d had time to even talk to her before… well, everything. From what Senku told them, she liked arts and crafts, and was not only extremely skilled but passionate as well. She sounded like she’d done everything, from simple sewing to making elaborate mock-ups. They were excited to meet her.
They stayed behind at the treehouse while Senku and Taiju went off to reanimate their friend. They’d most likely want to have their reunion privately, Ambers could be introduced to her later. Hopefully Taiju didn’t chicken out and actually confessed to her. He didn’t have anything against people being scared to admit their feelings, but it had been years now. Surely that was enough. Still, he wasn’t going to do anything about it.
They went out after hanging up their important supplies too high for grounded animals to reach it and sealing up the bags they were in to avoid monkey thievery. Those damn mammals were very curious, which could have been nice if their meat tasted good, but Senku refused to kill them. Ambers was pretty sure that was because they were the only company, if you could even call it that, that the scientist had for about six months. Humans aren’t built for being alone.
He took the basket that wouldn’t leak and the one to filter water, cut through the trees and left the clearing. They were starting to know the area quite well, and he would most likely be alone for an hour or so. Time to wash their clothes, and themself. He wasn’t confident the water didn’t have any bacteria in it, but filtering it would at least get rid of mud, plants and any possible big thing in it.
Then he’d boil it, and let it cool down a bit to be able to wash himself. They’d probably do two trips, one for his clothes and one for their body. Unfortunately, Senku hadn’t made soap yet, but only water was better than not washing themselves at all. When they’d asked him when they’d be able to make soap, the scientist said in no more than a week. They could hold on until then.
“Ambers ! We’re back !”
He turned in the direction of Taiju’s voice. He was waving, happy as usual, until he saw that Ambers was naked and turned away, screaming about not looking and being sorry. Tch. He understood that Taiju might feel uncomfortable seeing nude bodies, but it seemed to apply only to people with female genitalia, and Ambers didn’t like how that made him feel.
“So what ? We’re all guys, and it’s only a body. Stop acting like you killed my parents.”
It was probably unfair to Taiju to say that, but Ambers is kind of tired of being treated differently because he has a cunt. Now that that issue is taken care of… Either the two best friends have terrible eye sight, or they had a problem and didn’t revive Yuzuriha. The newcomer is a tall, epitome of masculinity and muscle, somehow soft-looking person. They are also wearing an untanned lion pelt around their body. Which seems fresh. Which, bad. Ambers walks up to them and inspects the pelt. Yeah, definitely fresh.
“ Is your new friend as much of a prude as Taiju or can they handle walking around naked for a few days ? ”
“ I am fine being nude. Is there a need for it ? ” The person answers, instead of Senku like expected. Cool, the new member of their survivors’ trip can actually communicate with them. Now that there is no awkwardness to look out for, Ambers takes the pelt off of the person’s shoulder.
“ How should I refer to you ? I’m Ambers, I use he and they. And you ? ” They introduce themself while going to find the necessary material to tanning skin. Ew. The inside of the pelt is still sticky with blood and other fluids, how did they bear it for the walk back here ?
“ You can call me Tsukasa. I use masculine pronouns.”
Ambers nods, busying themself with removing the flesh still clinging to the skin before soaking the pelt. Guess they found a real Hercules to help them, huh ? And Senku has got to explain to Ambers how the hell these lions look exactly the same as 3700 years ago. Even with a limited gene pool, which should still be a lot larger after four thousand years , genetic mutations happen more often than every ten millennia.
At least Senku had the sense to ask them to carry the animal back to camp. Tsukasa could have said goodbye to his lion cape. Seems like the guy can speak basic english, he’s at least better at it than Ambers is for japanese. Hopefully his presence can make their makeshift tribe more lively.
As usual, Taiju is sent away when Ambers start cutting into the skull to get the lion's brain out. It is really interesting that each animal’s brain is just enough to treat its own hide. They wonder if it’s the same for humans. They won’t test it, obviously, but it is interesting on a scientific level. Maybe he could ask Senku about that. The brain is put in a closed off bowl and salted to ward off decomposition as long as possible while Ambers takes care of everything else.
While he lets the pelt soak, he gets his clothes out of the no longer boiling water. It’s not hot enough to cause damage to their skin, but the near burn helps settle his emotions. They’d love to explain to Taiju that the way he treats Ambers’ body, as if he was a woman, is making him uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Taiju is an idiot, too pure for this stone world where practicality takes precedence over clothes, and very, very thickheaded. Not his fault, but still a bother.
He shouldn’t put on wet clothing. It’s too drafty to risk it, and humidity would cool down his skin faster than if they are naked. Fuck self consciousness, fuck embarrassment. He can do this. They see Tsukasa moving to sit down, clearly unsure what to do while he waits for Ambers to be done.
“Don’t sit on the ground, you’re more likely to get something crawling onto you . We have a treehouse for a reason. I’ll be done in a few hours, and, go get caught up on events by Senku if you want something to do . Or we could chat, too.”
“You speak japanese very well. I thought you only learned recently ?”
“Mmm. Can’t help but learn when you’re surrounded by a language. Plus, I’m 18 right now, my brain elasticity is still pretty good, so I can pick up on a new language pretty fast. Sure, it’d have been easier if I was a tad younger, but then I’d probably have gutted Taiju by now. ”
“Why ?”
“Don’t know if you noticed, but he freaks out at the sight of a naked female, and I have a cunt . Boobs would only make the matter worse.”
Tsukasa once again makes a noise of confusion. Right.
“ Top surgery isn’t allowed until you’re 18. Meaning if I was younger, I would not have been able to do the surgery, and I would have breasts. That’s actually where my petrification scars come from. ”
He finally nods, moving closer to Ambers. Goddamn he’s tall, what the hell ? They still don’t have a ruler, and even less a way of measuring themselves, but Tsukasa must be at least 2 meters tall or something. He looks lost, and like he needs something to do, so Ambers gives him the laundry.
“Could you hang that up by that tree next to the treehouse ? It’s the easiest way to avoid monkeys stealing stuff. We’ll probably need to put some spikes or something as well, to avoid lions climbing up. Over a few thousand years, especially in this environment, they have at least learned to climb trees and swim, no doubt they can fish as well. If Taiju didn’t exaggerate, you killed that lion with your bare hands, right ? ”
Tsukasa nods. Ambers hums, looking for the salt he made once it was clear that they’d have to go the traditional way of tanning. The pelt is probably soaked enough for them to scrap off all unnecessary matter and grain. He gets his scraper out, putting it in between his teeth while they get the hide out of its bath. The scraping pole is where they always leave it.
“ They’ll hopefully avoid us if they know you’re a threat, but it’s probably better to make some weapons, maybe an arc or something to deter them if they want to try again when you’re not there. ”
“What’s that word, ‘ deter ’ ?”
“It means to dissuade , to… convince something not to do another thing. In this case, show the lions they shouldn’t attack us.”
Tsukasa nods again. He’s very attentive, clearly smart. Ambers can see him struggling to understand some words, and tries to use simpler words. The language barrier can be really annoying, but Ambers is still glad they were in Japan at the time of the petrification, with Senku no less. He doubts he’d have woken up so soon otherwise.
They finally hand Tsukasa a string to hang the clothes. They should probably get to work on making him something that covers him more than a cape. Even while the weather is warmer, being naked is more of a hazard when confronted with having coverage.
“Do you have any preference when it comes to clothes ?”
Tsukasa shook his head. “Anything is fine, I do not care what kind of clothes I wear. I should probably go hunting though. I promised Senku and Taiju I would be your fighter from now on, and that obviously applies to you too. They said you were skilled in a lot of areas ?”
“If you’re going hunting, go to the river. Lions will definitely avoid you, and we have more than enough mammal meat right now. And you’d be naked anyway in the river. And I am kind of a jack of all trades, yes. I only know the basics, but that’s enough sometimes.”
Ambers abandoned the pelt to fetch the net. It wasn’t the greatest, none of them knew how to make those kinds of knots. If Dad could see them now, he’d be very amused. What use was a “ Grand livre des noeux ” if Ambers didn’t use it ? They wondered how he was doing. Probably asleep, he wouldn’t care about staying awake for that long. He liked sleeping.
Tsukasa was off to fish, Senku was still trying to establish what the next step in rebuilding civilization should be (it better be soap ), Taiju was somewhere or the other foraging (they’d have to check for edible mushrooms again, most likely), and Ambers had to finish Tsukasa’s pelt. And then get started on sewing clothes with the hides they already had.
They opted for making Tsukasa a basic tunic and skirt, and rudimentary underwear he’d made for themself, Senku and Taiju. He got pretty inspired by Hercules, or at least the usual modern depictions of him, when making the lion cape. Using the mane as a sort of collar and the paws as a way to tie it up. It should be long enough to cover Tsukasa down to his mid thigh, or maybe his knee. Good enough.
At least the former MMA fighter, or so Taiju had said, seemed to like it. He was nice enough, although Ambers could see Senku had his doubts. It was understandable. Tsukasa had currently unstoppable strength, and would most likely be able to overpower all three of them if it came down to it.
Still, life was pretty peaceful, or at least as peaceful as it could be. Ambers was once again reminded why he didn’t want children when he had to force Taiju to eat something other than meat, and they were now able to get out and look for landmarks more, since tanning was no longer a priority and the “weak-minded workforce” (in Senku’s words) could watch over the camp just fine. And they finally had soap !
Going out on his own really was everything they needed. They saw some animals, a few they recognized somewhat and others seemingly completely unknown, and found quite a lot of different plants. He got Senku a rock that seemed like it could be of use, or simply pretty otherwise. Taiju didn’t seem to notice he didn’t get anything. Tsukasa let him braid flowers into his hair, covering the brown strands in a few different colors that made him look even softer than he usually was.
“You feel like a little brother.” The tall man told them while he ran his fingers through the hair, careful to avoid the flowers.
“I’m pretty sure we’re the same age, Tsukasa. But thank you.”
“Does that really matter ?”
He sounded sad. Huh. Ambers shrugged.
“I suppose not. I can be your little brother, I suppose.”
Tsukasa was pretty nice. He kept complimenting Senku, and, if Ambers understood correctly, the scientist kept teasing him for “flirting.” Senku did seem a bit concerned, especially since he was lying about the number of uses of the shells.
Ambers understood why when Tsukasa started making a speech about the corrupted old of the former civilization. He was lying on the sand, letting the waves soak him before putting clothes on again. It was too late to swim, but early enough to be out without a torch. They’d need to head back soon though.
And then Tsukasa smashed a statue. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, Ambers didn’t feel a thing. It was that easy, wasn’t it ? Smash their face in, and now you could kill anyone. Though he supposed that was the same for depetrified people, wasn’t it ? Humans, like most animals, were disgustingly fragile.
As the wind picked up and dislodged flowers from Tsukasa’s hair, they wondered again about what he should do. Senku was, clearly, against smashing people, or at least he wanted to revive everyone. He didn’t seem all that shaken about the statue (person ?) that laid in pieces at their feet.
Clearly, Senku’s plan was, or at least it should be, to keep Tsukasa away from the revival fluid and the “miracle cave.” Ambers didn’t hear him explaining those to Tsukasa, so they’ll assume he chose to keep that information out of the “lion king’s” reach. (That really is a fitting name. Ambers wonders who chose it).
Unfortunately, Taiju had bad timing as usual. He comes back running about the miracle fluid from the cave, excited that they’ll be able to revive Yuzuriha. Going off of Senku’s face, Ambers had been right and Tsukasa did not and was not supposed to know about the “miracle cave.”
Ambers, as usual, would have to intervene. They didn’t really care whether or not they revived all of humanity or not, but he also did not want all the older statues to get smashed. He’d take the lead on this one.
“Taiju, the sun is setting right now, and we don’t even have clothes for Yuzuriha. There’s no way we’re depetrifying her right now.” Taiju jumped up, ready to protest. “And don’t you dare call what you made clothes. Those are just two pieces of pelt barely tied together that won’t hold long. It’s also super unpractical.”
They walked past the crushed guy (Taiju, as in emotionally crushed, not the random guy, as in literally crushed) and took advantage of his emotional distress to steal the nitric acid. If they could hide the nitric acid, or pretend they no longer had any of the second ingredient, he could delay Tsukasa finding out the recipe. Though that was only if Taiju could stop being an idiot.
“For now, we better get back to the treehouse. We are not staying outside the camp, without a fire, while it’s dark. It would only be asking to get killed.”
They walked ahead into the forest. The foliage was rapidly getting dark, he should go a little faster and light a fire. Senku had already been using an arc technique, but he… wasn’t great at it. It was a miracle he’d survived on his own that long. Truthfully, Ambers didn’t know shit about it either, he was only following the advice a friend had given him once.
Tsukasa stayed around to watch the fire even after Ambers assured him there was no need. Turns out there was some truth to natural short sleeper syndrome (still their best bet as to what exactly was their problem with sleeping) evolving to keep watch during the night. As such, Ambers had made a deal with Tsukasa : he would go to sleep first, but Tsukasa would let them take over the guard shift whenever they woke up or after enough time had passed.
Taiju and Senku could probably have taken the night watch as well, but Ambers needed Senku awake and aware if he was going to be experimenting, and they didn’t trust Taiju quite enough. He had his mind in the right place, but he was also very thickheaded.
They’d fixed the problem by sleeping from whenever Senku woke up to about noon, when the sun was high in the sky. It had been enjoyable, but sleeping like this, knowing that Tsukasa had their back, was comfortable.
There was no way Ambers would allow this to go wrong.