The Archer (Dr. Stone X OC)

Chapter 18

-Arisa POV-

We searched through everything.
Looked at every rock...
I couldn't sleep...

"Hey, Ari" it was Gen.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Come outside" he said. "We're all waiting"

'Huh?'
I put on my shoes and indeed, everyone was awake
We walked to the edge of the mountain.

"New Year, huh? Our internal clocks are messed up from the petrification, though" said Gen. "I don't even know how old I am anymore"
"Think about how many days you've been alive" said Senku.

"Why would we remember that?" said Kohaku.
"What about you?" asked Gen.
"6268 days" said Senku.

'Why doesn't Gen just ask when his birthday is?'
"What about you, Ari?" asked Gen.
"Don't know how many days, all I know is that I'm 18 years old" I said.
"We're almost there" said Ruri.

We watched the sunrise...
And a rock Suika was holding, began to glow...
"It's pretty" said Ruri.

"Why... is it glowing?" asked Suika.
"It's called scheelite" said Senku and took the rock. "It glows blue when exposed to ultraviolet light. Reactions to ultraviolet light are especially visible right before the sun rises. In other words, only right now"

"A magic stone that glows just for this moment..." said Gen.
"I've never seen anything like it" said Chrome.
"Me neither" said Senku. "It's an ultra-rare gem. You guys did an incredibly good job, Chrome and Suika. This stuff is used in modern filaments. Atomic number 74... Tungsten! Heat's got nothing on it. It's the strongest metal in the universe!"

~

Chrome and Senku got ready for getting more rocks.
"This small chunk won't be enough but it came down the stream in the cave" said Chrome. "There must be tons further inside. Tons of this heat resistant treasure called tungsten!"

"We only have one set of lights left" said Senku. "The last member of the exploration team will be... Magma! Tungsten's tough as hell. We're going to need brute force to collect it. Let's go cave diving. We're a trio of spelunking buddies"

"Senku, Chrome and Magma?!" said Kohaku in disbelief.
"I've never heard of such a risky group" said Suika.
"I-I-Is that even safe?" asked Ginro. "He might be like, I'm the chief! And attack you or something, Senku"

"Oh he won't" I said and walked closer, I held my knife under Magma's throat. "If I find out, you hurt my brother in any way... I'll kill you... slowly... Understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am" he said.

When they were gone, Gen looked at me and I nodded.
"He's finally gone" said Gen. "Hey guys, hear us out!"
"On January fourth, it's Senku's birthday" I said.

~

We were done in time and Senku came back.
"Hey, Senku" said Gen. "Welcome back"
"Huh? What's going on?" asked Senku.

"Don't bother trying to call for help, Senku" said Kohaku. "We're all working with Gen"
"So you bastards finally figured out the hack, huh?" said Senku. "All you need to do is hand science and my head over to Tsukasa, and the village is safe. It's perfectly logical. Where's Ari? What have you done with her?"

"I'm right here" I said. "And I have no idea what you're talking about, but..."
I took off the blindfold, so that he would look directly into the telescope.
"An astronomy telescope..." said Senku. "Or rather, an observatory..."

"January Fourth... Rock Day!" said Kaseki.
"I heard it's your birthday today, Senku" said Kohaku.
"We all got you a birthday gift" said Suika.

"I mean, I just vaguely remembered that you can put two lenses in a tube" said Gen. "It's half-assed, but whatever"
"The whole village worked hard to make this" I said. "But we're going to leave the fine tuning to you"