In Theory [Senku x Reader]

"Time, which sees all things, has found you out." — Sophocles

Yuzuriha loved Kamakura in the fall.

There was something timeless in how the air turned crisp, laced with the briny breath of the nearby sea. Maple leaves danced down from the trees in blazes of scarlet that carpeted the moss-lined temple paths like scattered silk. The stone underfoot was cold and smooth, worn down by centuries of footsteps—pilgrims, monks, tourists, families like hers.

She walked nestled between her parents, a small hand in each of theirs, swinging their arms with the easy rhythm of childhood. Their shadows stretched long in the afternoon sun as they approached the Great Buddha.

Her mother tucked a loose end of her scarf beneath her coat collar. "It's so peaceful here, isn't it?" she murmured, her voice reverent, almost hushed—like she didn't want to disturb the centuries.

Yuzuriha nodded, her gaze already drawn upward. The Daibutsu towered over them, weathered and still, serene in his solitude. He had been seated there for generations, watching silently as the world around him shifted with time. Even as a child, Yuzuriha could feel it—that hush in the air, that gravity. A sense that time moved differently here. Slower. Deeper. Almost sacred.

She stepped forward, releasing her parents' hands. Her shoes made soft scuffs against the stone as she came to stand before the statue. She tilted her head up, studying the Buddha's calm, contemplative expression.

"Do you think he ever gets lonely?" she asked. Her voice was quiet. Small. Like she wasn't sure if she should ask.

Her father gave a gentle laugh, warm and amused. "Maybe sometimes," he said. "But he's had so many people come visit him over the years. And he's seen so much. He's part of everything, even without moving."

That sounded right to her. That something could be still and yet still matter. Still belong.

She kept that thought with her as they wandered along the temple path, weaving between clusters of camera-clicking tourists and slow-moving worshippers. The wind whispered through the trees, carrying the faint scent of incense and earth.

Her mother paused, pointing toward a hill nearby where the maple leaves gleamed the brightest—sunlight catching them so they seemed almost aflame. "Want to climb up?" she asked. "We might get a better view from the top."

Yuzuriha's eyes lit up. "Yes!"

She dashed ahead, her laughter trailing behind her like a ribbon on the wind, her parents calling after her with indulgent smiles. The hill welcomed her footsteps, leaves crunching beneath her shoes, and the world behind her—temples, sea, and sky—folded into a quiet, perfect afternoon.

.✦

She hadn't been back to Kamakura in years.

The memory surfaced as she walked the old temple path—her, Taiju, Senku, and you, all in your final year of junior high. It wasn't exactly the same; nothing ever was. But the crisp bite in the air still smelled like sea salt and sun-warmed stone, and the Great Buddha still sat in his eternal stillness, unmoved by the passage of centuries.

Yuzuriha smiled as Taiju gasped, starry-eyed.

"This guy is huge!"

"You've seen him before," Senku deadpanned, hands buried in his coat pockets.

"Yeah, but I forgot how big he actually is," Taiju said, grinning, already pulling out his phone to snap pictures despite knowing he probably wouldn't get a signal.