Stone World (
Summary
The day every human on the planet turned to stone ...
Taiju tells his best friend Senku that he has decided to tell Yuzuriha, the girl he has loved for the last 5 years, his feelings. Senku offers him a love potion that allegedly has a 10 billion percent of chance of success. Taiju refuses because he doesn't want to rely on "this sham" and decides to confess under a Camphor Tree in the schoolyard. "Fair and square!"
At his attempt to do so, a sudden giant flash of light appears across the sky and Taiju tells Yuzuriha to grab on to the Camphor Tree for protection, pushing her.
Panning over a few pages you see everyone around the world in the process of turning to stone. People realize they can't speak nor move as they lose consciousness. A montage shows U.S. President Donald Trump wondering what's going on. Drivers lose control of their vehicles and cause accidents, birds and planes with passengers crash. Taiju pledges not to die before he has confessed his love for Yuzuriha.
"Crap, my body is like a statue, I can't move it! Statue?", Taiju recalls the commotion in the morning about a statue of a bird that had fallen from the sky. Upon realizing that a friend uploaded a picture saying he also found one in another place before, he picks it up and rushes to the nearest veterinary clinic. He suspects some sort of terrible bird disease, that hardens the skin.
"You always act without thought", he unexpectedly meets Yuzuriha. "That sculpture can't be a real bird to begin with. Bringing it to a veterinary ..." Taiju, completely embarrassed, asks her for her reason for visiting. "Tadaaa, there is another ashamed person who acts without thought, woo!", she pulls out another bird statue. He begins to laugh, and she throws in: "Hey, stop laughing, we're in the same boat!"
As days, months and years pass by in Taiju's state, his hope doesn't die to confess his love one day.
Some millenniums, after humans disappeared from earth, Taiju breaks free. He is confronted with many other statues. He decides to go to the Camphor Tree, hoping to find Yuzuriha. Luckily, the Camphor Tree had snugly wrapped its roots around Yuzuriha's body as coincidental protector.
As he sheds tears, he repents and apologizes for being unable to protect her and that she protected him. He looks the statue in the eye and vows to save her. And then he notices a message craved in the bark: "Go down the river, big guy!" He storms hysterically to the named place and finds his best friend, Senku: "Kukuku, you finally wake up big guy!"
After a heartfelt reunion, Senku states: "Today is the 5th of October 5738", and jokingly adds "How long did you oversleep, you bastard. I've been awake and working for more than half a year." Taiju asks him in shock how he knows what the precise date is, to which Senku responds: "Ah? I just counted. Do you know another way?"
The chapter ends with Senku bringing Taiju to the tree house he has built. "We will recover the world! We will find out the principles of the petrifaction and its recovery mechanisms, ...", Senku proclaims, "We, two high school kids, are going to create civilization from scratch. We will be the Adam and Eve of this Stone World."
Characters in Order of Appearance
- Taiju Oki (First Appearance)
- Senku Ishigami (First Appearance)
- Yuzuriha Ogawa (First Appearance)
- Tsukasa Shishio (Cameo)
Trivia
- The elixir of love claimed by Senku was gasoline refined from plastic bottle caps. The molecular structure of polythene with hydrocarbons spliced off the gasoline.
