Both you and Senku exchanged raised brows, having your suspicions confirmed upon hearing your names leaving Ruri's lips. Seeing how neither of you was surprised by the news, the blonde turned on her heels and gestured for the two of you to follow her as she led the way to the priestess' hut.

The three of you were joined by the rest of the citizens of the Kingdom of Science and as everyone gathered around, the green-haired scientist jumped straight into the matter at hand as he stared at Ruri with his trademark smirk, both hands on his hips.

"Thanks. Everything finally makes sense now." Senku leaned forward, startling the blonde at the sudden invasion of her personal space. "If everyone on the planet was petrified, who first made the village?"

"And why do you and Kohaku clearly have foreign blood in you?" You added with a small smile, (e/c) eyes roaming over their blonde hair and blue eyes that weren't native to Japanese people.

Straightening his body, your friend finished with a knowing glint in his red eyes, "All the mysteries are solved."

The rest, on the other hand, were confused by the conversation between the three of you and Kohaku spoke up, "No, sorry...None of it makes sense to me."

Chrome nodded his head in agreement as he asked, "Yeah. How does Senku happen to have the same name as the village?"

Then, realization dawned upon him as he turned to Ruri with wide eyes, "Wait, Ruri, you knew about Senku and (Name)?"

Senku let out an amused chuckle, entertained by the whole exchange while you just smiled knowingly, glancing over to the priestess with a small wink, "We probably come up in your priestess mythology, don't we?"

"Yes," Ruri answered without hesitation.

Hearing that, both Kohaku and Chrome let out surprised gasps while the rest glanced at one another with furrowed brows.

"Mythology?" The brunette questioned, "You mean like Momotaro with the gorilla and all that?"

"No wonder you people know about folk tales and giant animals you would never have seen before," The green-haired teen added with a small shrug.

"Yeah, Ruri-nee taught us about all kinds of things," Kohaku replied hesitantly, still not following along, "The stories the priestess uses to pass down knowledge to the next generation, the Hundred Tales."

"The Hundred Tales?" You questioned with a small tilt of your head, curiosity glinting in your (e/c) eyes.

Blue eyes unwavering, Ruri raised her head as she said in a quiet, serious voice, "The story my mother told me was very powerful, and very kind. The hundredth story of the Hundred Tales. Its title is...'Ishigami Senku and (Full Name)'."

[Flashback]

3rd POV

"Why do you keep following me, Moon?" A young Senku with big, red eyes that reflected the moon's silvery light, asked as he stared up into the inky, black sky.

When he received no answer, he narrowed his eyes and let out a small scoff, turning on his heels and walked away with his back to the moon – pretending to be unbothered as he pocketed his hands, whistling a random tune.

He took another step before jumping back to his original position, a scowl on his pouty lips when he realized the moon was still following him, "Even if I juke it really hard, it follows me ten billion percent of the time."

Ever since he was very young, the boy, Senku, showed interest in anything strange.

He was having a glaring competition with the moon when he was interrupted by a loud, amused cackle from behind him, "Maybe it has a crush on you, Senku."

Hearing the familiar voice, the young boy rose to his feet and glanced over his shoulders, a deadpan expression that didn't belong on a five-year-old appeared on his face as he replied, "I don't need that crap right now. I'm talking serious science."

"What kind of preschooler are you?" Byakuya, the man who turned out to be the kid's father, sweatdropped before releasing a small sigh and began the science behind the moon to his curious son, "The reason the Moon looks like it's following you is because it's super-duper far away. It's especially far away for me, since I failed the astronaut exam."

Senku lifted his gaze to the moon again and responded bluntly, "I don't care about your wistful poetry right now, either."

The older man ignored his son's frankness and went on, "My leg cramped up in the middle of the clothed swimming exam. I was never a good swimmer to begin with. That was rough."

"When's the next time they'll be recruiting astronauts?" Senku asked as he walked over to the swing and took a seat, swaying back and forth.

Sighing, Byakuya answered with a wry grin, "Who knows? It's something like once per decade."

The young boy didn't reply as he stopped swinging, his lips curled into a small frown as he looked into the distance; an idea seemingly forming his head as he pondered on his father's words.

"I'm going to space," Senku declared the next day in class when it was his turn to present on what he wanted to become when he grew up.

Awe gasps filled the classroom as all his classmates turned to stare at him with wide eyes while his teacher stammered, taken aback by the young boy's ambition, "An astronaut! That's a great dream. Well, when you grow up..."

"No, I'm going immediately," Senku interrupted, red eyes shining with determination.

Senku loves space as much as I do, but he thinks for himself and builds things for himself. He was thoroughly hooked on the fascination of science.

The lecture theatre was filled with students' chatters as they bid Byakuya farewell before leaving. As the older man was waving to the last group of his students leaving, his phone buzzed and the screen lit up, causing him to glance down at it.

Picking up his phone, his curious gaze morphed into one of excitement as he stared at the notification of JAXA accepting new astronauts after a decade. Grinning, he mumbled to himself, "JAXA astronaut candidates...The first time they've hired in ten years."

At the same time, across the city, in a small humble flat, Senku was looking at the same notification on his computer, his lips stretched into a confident smirk as he made up his mind to build an invention that would help his father out in the physical portion of the astronaut exam.

Together, with the help of his best friend, the young boy managed to make a suit for Byakuya. Said man stood with both arms lifted as he stared down at the weird contraption that he put into, a confused frown on his face as he asked his son, "What is this weird suit?"

Senku didn't give a verbal reply and instead, kicked his father into the swimming pool with a large grin. The moment that Byakuya was in the water, electricity was sent throughout his body, causing his muscles to spasmed and he faltered about in the pool as shock cries escaped his lips.

"My limbs are twitching and doing breaststrokes on their own!"

"The clothed swimming test is your biggest issue with the exam, right" Senku questioned with a smirk before explaining the suit's purpose, "We'll pound the motions in your muscles with the electrode training suit from hell."

Loud protests came from Byakuya as he exclaimed, "I can't swim in this thing!"

Despite that, the man was grateful for all that his son did when he remembered the effort and hard work the young boy put into ensuring his father's dream would come true. And, it paid off later on when Byakuya cleared the clothed swimming test with ease.

Later on, during his interview after the swimming test, one of the JAXA's higher-ups asked. "He made that crazy suit himself? In fifth grade? So was it really useful?"

"Of course not," Byakuya answered honestly.

"I figured," The same interviewer responded.

There was a moment of silence before Byakuya spoke up, his voice filled with pride as he spoke about his son, "Though...Senku made it just for me. I had to swim in it, even if it killed me. In the end, I managed to make it through the clothed swimming test, and I made it here to the interview. I'm going to become an astronaut and go into space, no matter what. And I'm going to work for science. That's the only way I can repay Senku."

Time skipped

The sound of the door unlocking could be heard as Byakuya entered the apartment. Closing the door behind him, the man removed his shoes when he noticed an unfamiliar pair sitting next to his son's own pair.

Furrowing his brows in confusion, he called out, "Senku?"

However, he received no reply and frowning, he made his way to his son's room, thinking that he might be caught up in one of his experiments to have not heard him. As he neared the room, he could hear two voices – one that belonged to Senku and the other, a lighter and higher pitch, that he never heard before.

Stopping in front of the slightly ajar door, Byakuya remained silent so he wouldn't alert the occupants in the room to his presence and observed what was going on in the room.

His eyes widened when he saw a (h/c)-haired girl, about the same age as Senku, holding up a chopstick with what looked like to be ramen noodles over the bowl, almost poking his eyes out as she shoved the utensil into his son's face.

"Come on, Senku! You need to eat!" The girl nagged the other, (e/c) eyes narrowed into a small glare. "Your experiments can wait!"

Senku returned the stare with one of his own, lips pulled down into an annoyed frown as he paused in his tinkering, "I told you already to stop bothering me when I'm working on my stuff. Go away, (Name). You're disturbing me."

With that, he returned to his work. (Name), whom Byakuya now know the girl as, wilted immediately like a dying flower that was denied sunshine. The hand that was holding the chopsticks lowered as her gaze dropped to the floor and from his angle, he could see the first telltale of tears as those (e/c) eyes became glossy.

Wordlessly, the girl placed the bowl of ramen onto the desk before gathering her stuff and headed for the door, causing the older man to panic as he moved away but was stopped in his track when he heard the (h/c)-haired girl spoke up.

He couldn't see her expression, but he could hear the sadness in her voice as she said in a soft tone, "Sorry for disturbing you, I just wanted to make sure that you won't go hungry since you haven't eaten all morning."

There was a pause as though she seemed to be waiting for a reply but when she got none, she let out a small, resigned sigh, "I'll put the ramen in the fridge so when you're done and still want to eat, you can just heat it over the stove. I'll take my leave now. See you in class tomorrow, Senku."

When Byakuya heard the sound of footsteps picking up again, he dashed into his bedroom and hid there, not wanting the girl to see him and learnt that he was eavesdropping on their conversation.

A few seconds passed before he deemed it safe enough and poked his head out of his room just to see the girl disappearing around the corner towards the living room. As he was about to come out of his hiding spot and lectured his son on his manners, he heard a frustrated sigh coming from said son's room before the door was thrown open as Senku hurried down the hallway while calling out to the girl, "(Name), wait! I'll eat your damn ramen!"

Following the boy while ensuring to maintain some distance between the two of them so he wouldn't get caught, Byakuya stopped at the entrance of the hallway leading into the living room and from where he was, he could see the two in the kitchen.

His eyes softened at the sight that greeted him. Sitting at the dining table was his son, a hidden, fond look in his eyes as he watched in silence while (Name) stood by the stove, the sadness replaced with a glow of happiness, her (e/c) glimmering in the afternoon sunlight streaming in from the window as she heated up ramen.

Even though there were no words exchanged, the two were comfortable in their own little bubble, unaware of the parent hiding in the shadows and watching them with a warm smile.

That was the first time I knew of the girl, (Name) who was a constant presence in Senku's life. She was always tagging along on whatever science adventure that the boy was up to. Even though she wasn't as fascinated with science as Senku was, (Name) never failed to help him in whatever crazy experiment the boy had thought up.

She was the one constant variable in their little world of science. And I knew that, without a doubt, Senku had someone who finally understood his love for science.

(Five Years Later)

"The crew has begun boarding," The female news reporter announced as she gestured to the astronaut crew who was boarding the rocket behind her, "The launch of the Soyuz rocket is about to commerce. There's also an astronaut from Japan planning a long-term stay on the International Space Station..."

She was cut off when someone grabbed her wrist holding the mic of out nowhere, startling the news reporter but she quickly recovered when she realized who it was. "It's Ishigami Byakuya-san!"

Clutching the mic in his hand, a large grin spread across his face as Byakuya stared into the camera lens and declared, "Senku, knowing you, you probably aren't watching the broadcast, but just in case...I'm going to bring home tons of scientific gifts for you. (Name), I'm sorry but I'll be leaving my son in your care for a while! Do take good care of him on my behalf and I expect to have a large bowl of ramen when I get back!"

Meanwhile, back in Japan, Senku was watching the live broadcast of the rocket launch on his phone, an annoyed but fond snort leaving his lips as he muttered, "Oh, shut up."

Standing behind him, (Name) who was leaning over his shoulder and watching the same broadcast as the green-haired teen, let out a light giggle, "Don't be so mean to your father, Senku. He's just concern for your well-being since you're hopeless at taking care of yourself."

Senku rolled his eyes as you spoke to the screen as though Byakuya could hear you, "Don't worry, Byakuya-san! I'll take good care of Senku so have fun in space! Meanwhile, we'll do our best until you're back! Right, Senku?"

You turned to your friend with a beaming smile, (e/c) eyes glowing with joy and Senku couldn't help but let out a small smile; red eyes softened with fondness as he agreed, "Yea."

[End of Flashback]

"The man who started the first generation of Ishigami Village..." You began, (e/c) eyes softening as you stared up at the star sign engraved into the pillar while Senku finished.

"...was Ishigami Byakuya. My father."

***

A/N: I've decided to skip the part on what happened to Byakuya and the rest of the astronaut crew after the world was petrified because it doesn't have many scenes with Senku in it. Besides, it doesn't affect the overall story plot too much since like I mentioned, it doesn't involve Senku at all so naturally, Reader-chan won't appear as well. Thus, why I choose to skip over it. If you need a recap on what happened, you can go watch episode 16 and the first half of episode 17.

This is why there are two updates this time around since I've decided to combine episode 16 and 17 as one chapter but they will be split into two parts as I want to follow the original episode titles for the chapter titles. Hopefully, this isn't too confusing for all of you.