Listen to the Dopamine -Senku x GN! Reader-

Chapter 3: Taiju

-1st Person POV-

"AAAAAHHHH!!!" Taiju screamed, leaping up to hug Senku while tears began flooding from his eyes. "OH, SENKU, YOU'RE ALIVE TOO!!!"

Senku's face immediately morphed into one of disdain, him pushing Taiju away by planting a foot on the side of his face and pushing him back to the ground. "Don't you dare hug me while you're buck-naked! I'm not joking, get your hands off me!"

After his failed attempt to hug Senku, Taiju's attention shifted to me, who stood not too far from the pair. "(Y/n)!! Oh, you're alive, too?!? Isn't this just great?!" He immediately raced to my side, squeezing me tightly in his arms. At first, I hugged back, but after a few seconds, Taiju's grip tightened even more, constricting my lungs.

"Ack- T-Taiju, I missed you and all, but- ack- too tight!!" I rapidly tapped his shoulders, signaling him to let go.

Taiju immediately retracted, a sheepish grin decorating his face. "Sorry! I just really missed you guys!!"

Senku let out a sigh as he hopped off of the tree branch and landed beside me on the ground, a hand reaching up to mess with the back of his neck. "Well, Taiju, welcome to October 5th, in the year 5738. You slept in for one hell of a long time." Senku gestured towards me, smirking, "I've been up and diligently working for the past six months, (Y/n)'s been up for three now."

Turning towards the scientist, Taiju stared desperately at his fingers, trying to calculate how Senku got that number. "Hold on, so it's been like...?"

"It's been thirty-seven hundred years."

A gasp left Taiju's lips. "H-how do you know what day it is??? Do you have some kinda calendar or a watch?"

Senku quirked up an eyebrow, slightly confused by his question. "I counted. That was the most logical thing to do, given our situation."

Taiju stared incredulously at him, making me laugh. "I know, Taiju, he's a maniac in that regard."

Senku tilted his head slightly, gaze now directed towards me. "What are you talking about? You told me you expected me to count."

"Yeah, only because I know you're the only one to do something as crazy as that!"

"As I said, it was the most logical thing to do."

Senku began walking back in the direction of our camp, prompting both Taiju and me to follow behind him.

Taiju, still a tad bit confused, questioned, "So like, that whole time you were frozen, you just, counted?!"

"Even if I got myself up before then," Senku began, still looking ahead, "Being out here in the wild with no supplies or means of clothing in the middle of winter is an automatic game over, no questions asked. Starting things up in the spring was the only option, so keeping an extremely precise account of the time was an absolute must."

I nodded in agreement, zoning out for a while until Senku's voice broke through my train of thought, telling Taiju we arrived at camp. Taiju's eyes began sparkling at the sight, his jaw dropping. "Senku...you're telling me, you guys did this, all on your own??"

"Well, technically, Senku built the treehouse, I just helped build the lab and gathered food and supplies for our experiments and things like that," I muttered, messing with the hem of my shirt.

"We've been lacking manpower for a while now," Senku added, coming up next to me and standing with his arms crossed as I took the pieces of wood from him and stored them away. "Getting and making the bare minimum it takes to survive is a real time-consuming task." Senku began climbing up the ladder to the treehouse, continuing, "If we're gonna rebuild civilization, we're gonna need a muscling meathead to do the grunt work." He stood tall once he reached the top, facing Taiju with his hands on his hips, smirk widening. "In other words, we've been waiting for you, Taiju. I was ten billion percent sure you were still alive in there."