Papermaking

(How much I can write depends entirely on what I can manage. I'm not feeling my best, so please bear with me. I hope you'll wait for my update tomorrow.)

Over in the Tsukasa Empire...

Hongye Yan stood in a tree, watching the three girls bustle around in the Medicine Room below, feeling bored.

"What are you doing here?" A sudden voice startled Hongye Yan. She was about to get up and leave when a sharp command stopped her.

"Don't move. What are you doing here?" the person behind her asked.

"They're with the traitors..." Hongye Yan didn't dare make any sudden moves. Someone had slipped behind her without a sound. This was most likely that elusive sonar operator.

"But right now, they're doctors," Ukyo said sternly.

He hadn't expected someone to actually target the three of them.

Had Chen Yu predicted this?

"But they're close to the traitors. Not just them, but those other two as well," Hongye Yan explained.

"Give it up and leave. I won't interfere with the other two," Ukyo warned her sharply.

Hongye Yan was about to say something when an arrow shot past in front of her. Helpless, she could only give up. With Ukyo here, she couldn't keep watching them.

Ukyo watched Hongye Yan leap through the trees and leave. It seemed Chen Yu had been right. Those three vulnerable girls would have a hard time surviving without someone protecting them.

As for why he wasn't looking after Yuzuriha and Taiju, with that strange student Taiju around, Tsukasa was probably the only person who could hurt them at present.

As for Hyoga, he wasn't sure.

After glancing at the three girls below, Ukyo left as well.

Inside the Medicine Room, Miwa sensed that the people outside had left. She sighed in relief and put down the packet of anesthetic in her hand.

She had been planning to knock that person out. Since they had left, she wouldn't need it.

Watching the other two bustle around the room, Miwa sighed. You really found me a wonderful job, Master...

"So that's how it is?" After listening to Chen Yu's explanation, Kohaku understood.

With both Miwa and Ukyo providing protection, Reiko and Xiao Xi would be safe. As for Taiju and Yuzuriha, with Taiju there, Yuzuriha could escape the fallout unharmed and leave that place.

Poor Taiju...

"Don't worry. Taiju's practically inhuman. I tested quite a few of my medicinal formulas on him before. Even the milder ones would leave an ordinary person aching all over or covered in red bumps. Taiju had symptoms too, but they disappeared the next day. I almost wanted to dissect him," Chen Yu explained.

Elsewhere, Taiju was chopping down trees when a sudden gust of wind sent a chill through him.

He pulled his clothes tighter and thought no more of it. Ah~ The clothes Yuzuriha made are so comfortable~

Looking at the dozens of logs behind him, Taiju sighed. Ugh, even fifty trees a day aren't enough to build a house. I'd better hurry. I can't let Yuzuriha freeze. I need to get her into a warm house before winter.

At that thought, Taiju chopped down another tree with a few sharp blows. Looking at his damaged stone axe, he walked over to a pile of broken stones and tossed it onto the heap.

Another one broken. If only Senku were here. These stone axes just don't feel right.

(This is my own take on him. I hope you don't mind me writing Taiju as such a simp...)

Back with Chen Yu...

Hearing Chen Yu's words, Kohaku instinctively took a few steps back.

The things Chen Yu said were getting scarier and scarier.

"If you hadn't given Taiju all those ideas, he wouldn't have suffered so much," Senku complained as he walked over.

"What's wrong with giving him ideas? It worked out well, didn't it?" Chen Yu replied dismissively.

He had given Taiju plenty of ideas back then, on the condition that Taiju test his medicines. He had only said it offhand, but Taiju had actually agreed, so he had gone through with it.

"If you have so many ideas, why don't you go chase a girl yourself?" Senku asked, looking at Chen Yu.

"Didn't you give him ideas too? Why don't you go do it? You're pretty smart yourself, aren't you?" Chen Yu shot back.

Then both fell silent. One didn't want a relationship, and the other wasn't interested in girls. Both had given Taiju advice, but if they actually had to do it themselves...

Their brains would just stop working, wouldn't they?

For some reason, they could come up with one idea after another for someone else, but when it was their own turn, their brains simply shut down.

It made no sense.

"All right, let's get back to work. Building a telephone is a huge project," Senku said after a moment's thought.

"Didn't you say it was almost done?" Chen Yu asked, speechless.

"It is almost done. We only need to get through another dozen or so steps," Senku said after thinking it over.

"Fine, fine. Let's get to work. I'll help too," Chen Yu said helplessly, then headed into the work area.

This was where everyone was busy working.

A dozen or so steps? Yeah, right...

The Cotton Candy Machine from a while ago had left Chen Yu utterly speechless, though the Cotton Candy had been pretty tasty.

But that thing had given Chen Yu quite a headache. As soon as it was finished, several villagers developed toothaches. Fortunately, they had only just started eating it, so the problems weren't serious and could still be treated.

Still, during that period, whenever Chen Yu saw Senku, he wanted to send him straight into hibernation.

There had been so many patients with toothaches that he was running out of medicinal herbs. Didn't Senku know herbs were scarce in winter?

After that, Chen Yu taught the others martial arts while also helping Senku. With Chen Yu around, things became much easier for Senku and the others.

Sometimes, though, Senku would let Kohaku and the others take a break, while Chen Yu went off to make a few little gadgets.

He was saving them for when the fighting began.

Eventually, Senku also noticed that Tsukasa had sent someone to watch them, and gave her some Cotton Candy.

Chen Yu thoughtfully added a packet of medicinal herbs for toothache, with instructions on their use and dosage.

Looking at the crooked characters carved into the wooden board, Chen Yu thought of something. He wanted to make that.

He told Kaseki his idea, and it caught Kaseki's interest so completely that he abandoned the work Senku had given him and came straight over to research it with Chen Yu.

Chen Yu also borrowed some raw materials from Kokuyo and began experimenting little by little, following the steps as he remembered them.

When Senku and Gen learned that Kaseki had gone over to Chen Yu, they grew curious about what Chen Yu was doing.

Looking at the piles of worn-out materials, neither could make sense of it at first. But the longer Senku watched, the more astonished he became.

He managed to make this?

Sure enough, after a dozen or so attempts, Chen Yu and Kaseki finally produced what they were after.

Kaseki looked at the thing in his hands, his heart practically melting.

Looking at what he held, Senku also marveled at Chen Yu's ingenuity. As expected of someone from the land of inventions.

"Is this... paper?" Gen asked, looking at what he held.

"Yes, this is paper. Unfortunately, our materials are limited, so we haven't made much yet. But we'll take it step by step, and soon we'll have a whole pile," Chen Yu said, setting the paper they had made aside.

He and Kaseki had worked on this for a long time. At first, their lack of practice had caused them to waste a lot of materials. Once they gained experience, they worked faster and faster. With Chen Yu's help, Kaseki grew increasingly adept, and they finally created one of the Four Great Inventions-paper.

(See you tomorrow, everyone. I'm not feeling my best today, and a second update was a bit of a stretch. I don't think the content turned out very well. Sorry.)