Chen Yu's Past

After placing Chen Yu inside the laboratory, Tsukasa hauled over a large rock from some distance away and blocked the entrance. Only after making sure nothing could go wrong did he leave with peace of mind.

Come on, Senku. Time for our showdown!

Senku and the other two had been the first to run. After all, Tsukasa's feelings for Chen Yu had been obvious when they revived him. If anything happened to Chen Yu, there was no telling whether the three of them would survive.

Tsukasa: Am I really that scary? ┐(─__─)┌

Senku: Yeah, sure, sure. So that animal hide just fell off all by itself, huh?

Tsukasa began tracking the traces Senku had left behind as he fled, moving incredibly fast.

Before long, he caught up with all three of them.

Senku stood in front of Taiju and Yuzuriha, watching Tsukasa nervously.

"It's time to end this, Senku," Tsukasa said, looking at him coldly.

As for Yuzuriha and Taiju, he didn't consider a girl or even the exceptionally strong Taiju a match for him.

His only concern was whether Senku had a weapon capable of threatening him. After all, he had spent a little more time with Chen Yu than Senku had, and sometimes he had seen Chen Yu buy venomous snakes, scorpions, and other poisonous creatures for his research.

Once Chen Yu finished, Tsukasa had curiously asked what the thing could do. Wearing gloves and holding the finished, fingernail-sized pill, Chen Yu had said casually, "Just put this pill in a glass of water, and that water becomes poison. It doesn't even need to dissolve. A single touch is enough."

From then on, whenever he saw Chen Yu, he instinctively suspected that Chen Yu might be carrying poison.

Eventually, he learned that Chen Yu had destroyed it out of fear of losing it, though Chen Yu never said how.

Chen Yu: I just had Senku make a special material to encase the pill, then sealed it inside concrete. After thirty-seven hundred years of weathering exposed it, some creature probably ate it.

What Chen Yu hadn't expected was that his creation had caused a mass extinction in the northern part of the island a thousand years earlier. The creature that ate it died, then other carnivores ate its body.

It took several hundred years before things finally began to recover.

That was a tangent. Back to the present.

"Taiju!" Senku shouted, firing an arrow at Tsukasa.

At the same time, Taiju rushed forward, about to land a blow on Tsukasa.

Just as Taiju reached him, Tsukasa snatched the flying arrow out of the air, spun around, and kicked Taiju several meters back.

Taiju steadied himself and looked at Tsukasa. Aside from bruising on his arm from the heavy impact, he was unharmed.

Even Tsukasa was stunned. Taiju had taken his kick and was essentially fine. He really was a rare talent.

Seeing that Taiju was all right, Tsukasa marked him as a threat too.

If Taiju managed to tie him down, Senku, the most dangerous one, would unleash his trump card.

"Your body is incredibly strong. In theory, you should be able to hurt me. So why didn't you, Taiju?" Tsukasa asked.

"Because I never hurt anyone. I don't care if you punch me or kick me however you want. But if you hurt them, I'll fight you." With that, Taiju took a fighting stance.

"Oh? Is that so?" Tsukasa asked, watching Taiju.

"Yes. If you attack them, I'll attack you." Taiju moved to shield the other two behind him.

After a long moment, Taiju suddenly spat out a spray of blood.

Then he collapsed, his eyes rolling back.

"So the attack did work after all. A blow from the strongest primate high schooler can kill a lion, you know," Senku explained as he walked over to Taiju.

"Th-then what do we do? Taiju won't die, will he?" Yuzuriha asked, turning to Senku.

Tears welled in her eyes, as though she would burst into sobs if Senku said yes.

"No, he won't. But he'll definitely be out for a few days. These are internal injuries," Senku explained.

"All right. It's time to end this, Senku," Tsukasa said, looking at him.

Yet after staring at him for quite a while, he still didn't strike. He turned to leave. "For Chen Yu's sake, I'll let you go. But if you insist on becoming my enemy, I'll kill you without mercy."

(I'm watching while I write. I only remember the broad outline, so I still have to write as I watch.)

Once Tsukasa had left, Senku walked over to Taiju and nudged him with his foot, saying as he kicked, "All right, all right. Time to get up, Taiju. An attack like that shouldn't have done you much harm, right?"

"Huh? Didn't you say he'd be asleep for a few days? He's better already?" Yuzuriha asked Senku.

"That was just for Tsukasa to hear. Now that he's gone, we don't have to worry about that." He kicked Taiju again, especially hard this time.

After a long while, Taiju stammered, "Senku... I might... actually be hurt..."

Indeed, Chen Yu's arrival this time had increased Tsukasa's strength. Taiju, who had been fine before, might really have been injured this time.

"This is bad. I didn't expect him to be that strong. Taiju, can you still move?" After hearing him, Senku thought for a moment before asking.

Clutching his chest, Taiju sat up and answered, "I can move, but I couldn't take five hits like that last one. On the fourth, I'd..."

Taiju lowered his head as he trailed off.

I'd be seriously injured...

"Where's Tsukasa?" Taiju asked, getting up and looking around.

"Him? He's probably gone to clear out this world," Senku replied.

"Clear it out? You don't mean..." Taiju suddenly caught on.

"Yeah, exactly that. Destroy the statues he thinks are useless, then establish a new order," Senku answered.

"Then I have to hurry and stop him, even if I'm hurt right now." Taiju was about to charge off.

Senku grabbed him by the belt. "After learning so much from Chen Yu, hasn't that brain of yours improved at all? How did you get even more simple-minded?"

"Chen Yu?" Taiju stopped and stared blankly at Senku.

"What's wrong?" Senku asked, puzzled. It was rare to see Taiju like this.

"Do you know what he did? He used me as an anatomical model! If I died, he'd jump at the chance to dissect me and see how my body was put together!" Taiju explained.

"So that's why. No wonder you were so scared of Chen Yu back then. I don't know how you two made up, but first we need to make a weapon that can threaten Tsukasa-a weapon of civilization," Senku said, looking at the two of them.

Chen Yu: I told him about Yuzuriha's hobbies and the things she liked, acting as his number-one guide to understanding her. He slowly came to accept me, and I stopped using him for research.

Yuzuriha: No wonder I saw Taiju so much more often than usual back then.

"A weapon... of civilization?" Taiju asked.

But he immediately realized: if conventional melee weapons couldn't threaten Tsukasa, then the only thing that could was...