Perfectly Balanced [WEEKLY UPDATES]

Chapter Twenty Nine: A Gift To Love

29. A Gift To Love

7-22-2023

A/N: One of my commenters had told me that the update chapter for Ao3 had made it seem like there were no updates for the fic because it was at the end of the story, so I fixed it and put it at the very beginning!

So if you missed it, please read Chapter 27 for context on Chapter 28!

And to all the readers who came from AO3, welcome! If you didn't know already, I update this fic once every 2 weeks to keep a schedule and so I don't get burnt out as I go through college.

Q: How has your year been so far?

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Since Christmas had passed, a single thought stayed inside your brain. Senku's birthday was around the corner, and you were thinking of what to do for him since he had done so much for you.

"Yo! I'm back!" You heard Chrome cry out as you were watching Senku and Kaseki making a new lightbulb. "And you're all better, (Y/N)! Awesome! Are you all up to speed?"

You turned around to see him with a basket full of rocks and minerals, but a shiny brown material was in his hand.

"Welcome back, Chrome," you greeted him with a confident smile. "And yes, I am!"

"Cool! Look, I copped some copper! No pun intended!" He exclaimed with a proud grin on his face.

The scientist went up to him and snatched the copper from his hands. "Just in time too."

He and Kaseki took the copper and melted it down to create tubing for the lightbulb. Since the tube was hollow, heat passing through will cause it to expand inwards so it won't break any surrounding glass. However, the moment they tested the tubing, the bamboo filament burnt out instantly.

The look of disbelief spread across the faces of all of you. This caused the scientist to create more lightbulbs, testing the vacuum tubing in each one of the using bamboo filament. But one by one, all of them burned out or had broken the glass.

"Damn it...a bamboo filament creating a vacuum tube is fundamentally impossible," you heard the green-haired boy strain himself.

Chrome asked him, "If bamboo is no good, then what do we need?! Stronger wood? The expedition chief will--"

"No. It's not here. It doesn't exist in this era," your friend declared with a depressing tone.

You could see Senku's hope slipping away before your very eyes. Despite healing from your sickness, the stress of the phone was starting to get to him.

"Senku, please don't lose hope. We will find something--anything that'll work," you tried lifting his spirits.

He looked at you and let out a dry laugh. "We're gonna need a helluva ton of luck to get something that'll work, slowpoke."

The brunette took his gear and went straight to the caves to find different materials, as he couldn't sit around and see Senku give up. He returned a few days later with a basket full of new materials he may not have had before. The villagers and your friends had gathered around to look at each of the rocks and stones, hoping to find something useful.

"These are all the random rocks I've gathered in various caves! There has to be something here, so look for a strong material we can use as a filament!" Chrome instructed them.

Each of them looked through the pile, showing Senku the rocks they had picked out. Unfortunately, they had no luck in finding something that could be used.