Three days had passed since leaving Ishinomiya. Senkū's feet came to a stop at the entrance to Higashino Village. It was a small settlement. A dozen or so wooden houses lined the slope of a hill, thin wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys. The villagers eyed Senkū warily at first. But when they spotted the Kingdom of Science emblem hanging from his pack, their expressions softened immediately. "Ah, you're from the Kingdom of Science," "[serious]I'm looking for a medical doctor. Did one come through here?" The villagers' faces brightened all at once. "She did! Really skilled too," "She examined us so thoroughly. Except..." An old woman added with a slight laugh. "Her mouth's a bit sharp, you know? She'd say things like, 'Why did you let it get this bad?' straight up. She's right, though," (A foul-mouthed female doctor. I have a pretty good idea who that is.) Senkū let out a small breath. "Where is she now?" "She left yesterday morning. Looked like she was heading south along the river," Senkū adjusted his pack and turned his gaze toward the southbound path from the village. He examined the ground. The grass was trampled. The direction was south. From the stride length, she hadn't been in a hurry. Along the way, a single medicinal herb by the roadside bore the marks of careful harvesting from the root. (100 billion percent it's this way.) Senkū set off with certainty. This was a pursuit investigation. Tracking behavioral records. A scientifically sound judgment. Completely unrelated to emotion. The path along the river was damp. In this area near Suruga Bay wetlands, fog rolled in at dusk. Reeds grew thick, and water birds called in the distance. The sky was still bright, but the western horizon had begun to turn orange. After walking for about thirty minutes, a small light appeared in the distance. A campfire. Senkū's feet stopped. For some reason he couldn't explain, the thought of running suddenly felt tedious. He shortened his stride and approached slowly. His heart rate had picked up slightly. It was from running, he told himself. Or maybe the pack was heavy. Scientifically speaking, it had to be one or the other. There was one person in front of the campfire. A woman with long, deep purple hair tied back. She wore a thin overcoat and had a notebook spread across her lap, writing something. Her pen moved across the page without hesitation. A small mole at the corner of her eye. Amber eyes flickering in the firelight. (There she is.) "[serious]Yomi," The moment he called out, the pen moving across the notebook stopped. Yomi didn't look up. One beat. Two beats. Then, slowly, she raised her face and looked at Senkū. Her expression hardened visibly. "...Why are you here?" Her voice was cold. But to Senkū, that coldness felt somehow off. "[serious]I followed your footprints. Your medical diagnostic skill level is——" "You should just stay surrounded by sparkling girls at the Kingdom of Science," She cut him off. Her voice was quiet, but there was something sharp at the end of her words. "[surprised]Surrounded by girls? Me?" "Kohaku and Ruri and others. You have a fun place, don't you?" "[serious]They're not relevant. Your diagnostic medical skills are necessary for the Ishiyami research. Combined with my chemical analysis, we can increase the case analysis speed exponentially," Yomi kept her notebook on her lap and stared at Senkū. "[sarcastic]You're the only one who chases people based on scientific reasoning alone," "[surprised]What's the problem?" He tilted his head, genuinely confused. Yomi narrowed her eyes slightly, then sighed. "[serious]Come with me," "I don't need your kingdom or your scientific reasoning," "The data collection efficiency——" "I can do it alone," "You can't handle the chemical treatment of Ishiyami by yourself. The dilution calculations for Nital solution——" "I can do it," "There's no way you——" "I said I can do it!" Yomi's voice rose slightly. The local men fishing along the river glanced over. They whispered something to each other. "...Isn't that a married couple's quarrel?" "No, the way they're arguing... they're childhood friends. I'm sure of it," Yomi turned bright red. "[angry]That's not it!" "[surprised]Married couple? We're research partners," Something vanished from Yomi's expression. "Research partners, 'only,'" Her voice was quiet. Not laughing. Not angry. It was a tone mixed with something else—something Senkū couldn't read. "Fine, I understand," Yomi grabbed her pack and stood up. Senkū tried to stop her, but he didn't know what to say. He felt like he'd said something wrong. But no matter where he looked, he couldn't figure out what. Then. A scream came from downstream. Both of them froze simultaneously. "Let's go," It was Yomi who spoke. She adjusted her pack and was already running. Senkū followed. --- It was a small settlement along the river. About ten villagers stood in a circle around an old man lying on the ground. Both of the old man's arms from the elbow down were white and discolored. Hardened like stone. The joints wouldn't move at all. His face was twisted in pain. Ishiyami. And severe at that. "[cold]Move aside," Yomi pushed through the crowd and knelt down. She opened her pack and began examining the old man's arms. Her fingers carefully traced the boundary of the affected area. "How long has it been since he was petrified?" "About a year since he was revived. His arms just started turning recently..." Senkū also knelt beside her and looked at the petrified sections of the old man's arms. The hardening pattern was concentrated around the joints. The distribution was distinctive. "[serious]The petrification residue is concentrated around the joints. If we apply a one-to-ten dilution of Nital solution to the affected area, the stone shell should dissolve and the joints might recover," "Wait," "[serious]What?" "The tissue around the joints is red. There's inflammation. That concentration will damage the tissue too. Cut it in half," Senkū looked at the affected area again. (She's right.) "[serious]Got it. One-to-twenty dilution," While they bickered in words, their bodies moved in perfect unison. As Senkū took out a small bottle of Nital solution from his pack and diluted it, Yomi spoke to the old man and stabilized his body. As Senkū applied the diluted solution to the old man's arm in small amounts, Yomi confirmed the changes with her fingertips and indicated the next area. Gradually, the white petrification faded. The joint moved ever so slightly. "Ah..." The old man let out a thin sound. Tears were streaming down his face. "[gentle]Just a little longer," Yomi's voice was completely different from before. Soft, quiet, unwavering. Senkū glanced at her for a moment, then returned to the work. By the time the treatment was finished, the old man's arms had regained considerable mobility. Not perfect, but a completely different person from before. "That's amazing... having two people makes all the difference," "With both of you, you're unstoppable!" "[serious]Of course," "Of course," Their voices overlapped. Senkū and Yomi looked at each other at the same time. Yomi's eyes immediately looked away. Senkū watched her profile for a moment. --- Night fell. The villagers had brought them food, so Senkū and Yomi had returned to the campfire by the river. The flames swayed slowly. Insects chirped in the distance. Between the two of them was a quiet time, different from the argument before. Yomi opened her case notebook. She began writing down the record of today's old man. Her pen moved. Senkū wrote the details of the treatment in his own record book while listening to the sound. After a while, Yomi stopped her pen. "...Before I turned to stone," Her voice was like a murmur. "There was something I was trying to tell you back then," Senkū looked up. "[surprised]What?" Yomi paused for a beat. The flame flickered, illuminating her profile. Her amber eyes remained fixed on the notebook. "I forgot," The answer came quickly. "[serious]I see," Senkū let it go. But something didn't sit right. Yomi's eyes were on the notebook, but her pen wasn't moving. It had been stopped on the same page the whole time. She wasn't writing. (She hasn't forgotten.) Senkū thought that far, but said nothing. Instead, he asked something else. "...Why didn't you come to the Kingdom of Science?" It wasn't the way he'd phrased it before, listing reasons. Scientific reasoning and data collection had nothing to do with it. He just wanted to know. Yomi didn't answer. The campfire crackled, and small sparks scattered into the night sky. Yomi's profile didn't move. Silence accumulated without an answer coming. Senkū didn't press further. Night deepened. Yomi still hadn't formally agreed to come along. The true meaning of the words in her notebook remained beyond Senkū's reach. But tonight, the two of them sat in front of the same campfire. That much was certain.