So, the smooch. You were too shaken to even realize that almost the whole village saw that. But everyone was too happy to have finally found a replacement for filament to make the cell phone to tease you for it. Even Gen, though shocked, understood that Senku only acted out of excitement over that rock (which he took from you when you were too busy being flustered). And that is why he'll only tease you about it when everything is settled so he can bring it up again and make you all embarrassed and shit. He giggled at that thought.

"This piece isn't enough though." Senku said, looking at the rock in his hand. "Tomorrow, we'll go back to the cave and look for its source. It'll probably take us a couple of days." he turned towards you. "You'll have to be our guide, Chief's Second (Y/n)."
"O-okay." you nodded, you heart finally calmed down from what just happened.

As you and the village went back, you cast one last look at the rising sun. You reflected on how much time have passed. More than six month and now you even celebrated Christmas and New Year's Eve together...
'Man...' you smiled faintly.
Then something clicked. You thought for a moment and tapped Gen's shoulder.
"Gen." you whispered.
He glanced at you and leaned closer.
"While we're gone, I'm gonna need you to lead a special project."
"Mmh? What for?"
"In a few days, it'll be Senku's birthday."
He raised his eyebrow and soon a large grin formed on his face.
"I'm listening~."

It sure was unexpected for Senku to pick Magma to tag along, but it also made sense, your expedition needed someone with strength. But at the same time, you thought the real question was 'is this a good idea'. Magma did try to murder him. And also he was a dick and you didn't like him.
Right before you went onward, Gen discreetly told him to bring Senku back within three days.

Back in the cave, you led the way once the cave's path split into two. You reached the cliff and carefully climbed down.
"Senku. Are you sure about this? Bringing Magma along" you heard above you Chrome quietly saying. "From the start, he's a muscle-head who will stop at nothing to be the king of the hill. I feel like he'd chop your head off while you sleep and take over the village. That guy radiates it!"
"Kukuku, think about our situation and put two and two together." he smiled. "In order for us to make a cell phone, we really need the universe's most heat-resistant metal, tungsen."
"So really, Magma's strength is like the one thing we need." you added.
"Exactly." he said. "We don't have time to waste thinking 'but!', 'it's risky!' or 'what if...'."
"You say that, but if Magma were to push us down now, couldn't he just say there was an accident and get away with the perfect crime?"

You were now walking through the new area, using the ladder you brought to go over giant unavoidable cracks in the floor. And as Chrome was talking, you kinda wanted him to just shut up. Because, in a cave like this, with the echo, you were pretty sure Magma could hear everything. And though you didn't like him, talking shit about someone *while* they're in the same room, that's just not cool. Points to him for not saying anything.

"If all three of us lose our lives, won't science and music vanish?"
That one made a tick in your mind. You never really thought about it. But yeah, you guessed that a big amount of musical knowledge would be lost if you were to die.
'Geez, isn't that a bag of pressure...' you thought, frowning a bit.

Senku suddenly stopped.
"Step back!"
The rest of you did as he told. You noticed the area you were now in had more holes and pitfalls than before. He picked up a piece of rock detached from the floor.
"It's mica." he said. "Like baumkuchen..."
"Dude, even I don't know what that is." you said.
"Even though it's a stone, it's so brittle that it crumbles."
"Ah~ that explains it..." you looked ahead.

"So those are natural pitfalls." Chrome walked closer to one of them, looking down at the bottom. "Damn! These are dug deep."
"So deep that if you fell in, you couldn't climb out?"
You glanced at Magma. With just one question, you guard towards him was back up.
"Yeah something like that. If you tried to get out with a rope or ladder, it'd crumble even more and you'd be buried alive." Senku said.

Then, you heard a crack. And suddenly Magma pushed Senku by hitting him in the side. But with the impact and the sudden movement, the ground instead crumbled below Magma, and he fell in the new pitfall. He screamed, but Senku caught his hand, trying not to let go. It was clear by his distorted face that it was taking him all of his strength. Not really thinking, you grabbed him by the waist and pulled back with all your weight.

"Guys it's not good! Your side of the floor will crumble too in a moment!" Chrome exclaimed. "You saw it too right?! Just now, Magma tried to push us into the damn mica pit!"
"So what?! We'll just let him die?! What's your problem?!" you exclaimed between your gritted teeth.

"Mwahahaha! That's right!" you heard Magma shout. "I came here to kill you three! Even though you weak-asses can't even hunt, you managed to become useful! Only when strong guys become boss and get women does the village become stronger! Isn't that just natural?! For all living things?! What the hell is science?! Senku, in the world you came from, the weaklings might have been able to take control over the muscles. But in this stone world! The one out of line is you!"
Your anger for him slowly turned into pity when you heard the slight cracking in his voice, caused by overwhelming feelings. He kept yelling.
"Dammit! If only this bastard Senku... If only you never came to the Ishigami village that day. I would have had it all! The real strong one, me! I'm the finest man!"
Senku felt himself slipping over the edge, in a last moment before his fall, he used his leg to kick you away. You took a few steps back before regaining your balance.
"Senku!" you shouted.

After you heard an impact, you and Chrome rushed to look down at the pitfall. You sighed of relief when you saw the two young men getting up.
"Are you okay?! Did anything break?!" you asked in a panic.
"No! We're good!" Senku responded.
"Okay cool! Cool! That's cool! You're cool!"
"Calm down (Y/n)! Inside voic-"
"Yes! Of course it's fine! Don't worry! Everythings fine!" you turned towards Chrome and whispered harshly. "It's not fine! We're in deep shit!"
"(Y/n) we're in a cave! There's echo! I can hear you! Just calm do-!"
"Oh god!!!"
"Chrome hit her on the forehead for me!"

And he gladly smacked your forehead, you held it in pain.
'It's so much more unpleasant when someone else does it!' you thought.
You breathed deeply to calm your heart. Meanwhile, Senku let out a quiet 'thank god', glad he wouldn't have to deal with an hysteric-you.
"Okay." you exhaled. "What should we do?"

You started looking around and Chrome started searching inside his bag, looking for a solution. Eventually, you noticed a natural water spring.
"Ah, Chrome." you looked at him and pointed at your find. "We can fill the pit with water."
"Oh! Good idea!"

You got out the bottles from your bags and filled them with water before dumping it into the pit. And it totally was a total coincidence for Chrome to hit Magma's head. Totally.
"You son of a bitch!!!" Magma shouted. "Pester me and I'll kill you, weakling number two!"
"I'm number three...?" you mumbled.
"Didn't I just say that screaming will make it crumble?" Senku told him.
"I thought that with enough water, you guys could swim back up." you said.
"Huh?! There's no way that will work just drop by drop!"
"We don't need your negative vibes Magma!"
"With will-power, you can accomplish anything, one step at a time!" Chrome added.
"Yeah that's right!" you walked to the water spring again. "Now stop whining!"
"Whining?!?!"

You were filling your bottle when Chrome let out an 'oh'.
"What's up?" you asked.
"Senku's doing that fast calculation stuff."
"Really?!"
You rushed back and looked down, Senku was smiling.
'Dammit I missed it!' you frowned slightly.

"(Y/n)!" he called out. "Do you remember how to make a syphon?!"
"Uuuuh..." you held the bridge of your nose. "That's, the water thing right?!"
"Seriously? We learn that in elementary school!"
"Either way, you'll still have to tell me what to do because I completely forgot!"

He rolled his eyes, but still gave you instructions on what to do. Magma threw his and Senku's bottle and Chrome caught them and the two of you managed to make the water go upward through a tube and into the pit. You high-fived at the feeling of a job well done. The water went up slowly but surely and it was at mid-way in only five minutes or so, but Senku's teeth started to chatter because of the cold water. Only when it'd just take another minute for the pit to be filled up, he was on the verge of hypothermia. His skin was turning into a pale shade of blue and you could tell from him staring into nothing that his mind was getting foggy. You bit your lip, knowing there was nothing you could do.

"I'll give the weakling a leg up!" Magma said, surprising you and Chrome. "They don't call me the aquatic Ishigami village's number one force for nothing!"
He went under water, and you guessed he pushed Senku's feet because he was suddenly ejected out of the water.
"Okay Senku!" Magma exclaimed. "There's no helping that you're already the boss until we defeat that Tsukasa bastard! But if you dare show me anything boring, I'll kill you!"

Both you and Chrome caught him as he fell back down.
"Oh my god you're frozen!" you quickly rubbed his arms. "Are you okay?"
You breathed hot air into your palm before placing your hands on Senku's cheeks, without really thinking of the romantic connotation of that move. The look of pure concern you had made him smile.
"I'll be better in front of a campfire." he said, enjoying the little bit of warmth your hands were giving him. "You mind bringing me a blanket? I'd do it myself but I still can't feel my legs."
"Yeah of course."
As you walked away, he looked over at the pit.

"And Magma, that's no problem!" he said. "There's no chance that science could ever be boring!"

After getting Magma out, you immediately set up camp, deciding it was enough for the day. It's not like half of the team could move on anyway. You all sat around the fire, grilling some food, Senku and Magma wrapped in their blanket (individually, they would like to specify).

"A successful escape from the pit of death!" Chrome raised his fist in victory.
"Kukuku, thanks to Magma's stupid crazy strength, we've at least managed to avoid the most terrible situation." Senku said.
"You mean death?" you asked. "Yeah, it is pretty terrible."
"He's gotta be talking about that yeah." Magma said. "He's so skinny after all."
"No!" his expression became dead serious. "If we'd lost any more body heat, the terrible situation we'd end up in is..." he gulped. "Magma and I would have stick together for warmth!"
You burst out laughing while Magma was ready to puke his meal back out just thinking about this scenario.

Chrome and Senku were asleep at this point. You didn't check if Magma was still awake. Because if he noticed you checking on him, it'd mean an interaction had started and in this situation, you'd be the one in charge of said interaction. And you were not going to let that happen.
In the silence, with only the light cracking of the fire, you wanted to check something and sang a little tune, it echoed throughout the entire cave. It made you smile.

"Man, the acoustic in here is pretty sweet."
"Acoustic?"
You looked at him. Not expecting *him* to start a conversation.
"Uh... Basically it's the way the sound travels through the place."
He just nodded and looked away. You turned back to the nothing. This was...not as bad as you thought it would be.

You went back to your thoughts about the cave's acoustic. You just love the way it sounded in here, echos seemed to make things better when it came to singing. It made it sound more grand. Oh my god how harmonies sound in here?! It'd sound so sick~! Now you just really wanted to make some harmonies. You turned to Magma again.
"Do you know what harmonies are?"
He blinked twice, then shook his head.
"It's when two or more people sing together, with one singing high and the other low."
"How is this harmonic? That sounds horrible." he bluntly said.

"Okay, let's try it then." you shifted in your position to fully face him.
"I'm not gonna sing!"
"Come on~. I saved your life you know? That's the least you could do."
After a moment, he sighed then faced you. You gave him a melody to sing, and while he sang it, you harmonized it with your higher voice. His eyes widen and you smiled.

"Cool right?"
"How does it work?"
"Uh..." you shrugged. "I don't know."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, I'm not good with the explanation. Senku is..." you looked down. "I just know how to do this kind of thing." you brought your knees close to your chest, wrapping your arms around your legs. "What kind of musician does that make me..."
"That's stupid."
Your heart tightened by what he said.

'You don't have to rub it in dud-'
"I know how to make a boat. But when Senku came out to the shore one day and kept talking about this 'aerodynamic' stuff, nobody understood a thing." you looked up at him. "You know what I think? I think he does it on purpose! Explaining things that we don't have to know just to treat us like idiots. But! Can he make a boat by himself without his precious science tools like the rest of us? I don't think so!" he paused. "Talking about making a thing and actually making the thing are two completely different levels."

You blinked twice, your mouth slightly open in disbelief.
"That was..." you frowned. "surprisingly wise Magma."
"Mwahahaha! Of course!" he held his chin with a large smile full of pride. "I am not the finest man for nothing! Please, save your confession of your undying love for me when we're alone!"
'And~ you blew it.'