After Shoko becomes friends with Ruri, they join Nagi and Imari in finding sea glass on the beach, and Ruri wants to do a science project with her. Of course, it involves water testing of various sorts.
During class, as students submit their science project proposals on environmental issues, Ruri invites Shoko to lunch. The funny thing is that Aoi comes over and notices Shoko having lunch with Ruri, thinking they’re now friends. I find it amusing how Shoko denies, as she wants to work on her own project. That is, until Aoi says they are the two who are picking up trash, until Ruri and Shoko told at the same time they are picking up sea glass. Yep, they are friends, and there is no denying this.
That said, their project involves water testing for zinc to assess the amount of water pollution. Of course, Ruri seems tired as Shoko pushes her to the next spot. Shoko got the idea for this topic from Imari to study the impacts of minerals in water.
As they recorded more samples and eventually stopped for launch, Ruri wanted to take a little break from panning. The funny thing is that Ruri and Shoko got carried away after Shoko found a small orange crystal in one of her panning sessions. Ruri suggests bringing it to Nagi to see what it is. Before she could put it in a safe place, Shoko slipped and dropped it. She lost sight of it, which led to hours of looking for another fragment, but they were unsuccessful. Eventually, Shoko calls it quits as they have to finish collecting the samples. That is why Ruri wants to ask Nagi about it.
Eventually, Ruri goes to Nagi to ask her about it as she is busy with a research paper. That is why Imari came in, and Ruri surprised her as she waved out the window. Seeing her reaction is quite funny.
Nagi and Imari eventually decide to do the same thing Shoko and Ruri were doing before. Apparently, they are testing the water for the presence of fluorite. Funny how Ruri gets frustrated over them doing water testing, until it eventually leads them to a deposit with purple fluorite crystals, which get Ruri excited. Of course, when Ruri mentions the orange crystal and wonders if they can look for it using the same methods, Nagi is not sure, but they decide to try it.
After several water tests for zinc, iron, and manganese, the water testing eventually turns dark red. However, it led them to an abandoned mine. It really shows the environmental impact that factories, or rather human activity, have with pollution, which can, of course, have an impact on the environment. Of course, rocks can have an effect, but smaller ones have effects that cause impacts over time rather than all at once. At least it changes Ruri’s perspectives on the environmental impacts
Eventually, when they went to take some pictures of the factory for the project, they discovered a large pipe with orange crystals. It’s apparently Zincite, which is a crystal with manganese impurities. It’s a rare mineral since it requires a series of chemical reactions, and seeing them happen naturally is rare. This one, in particular, probably got created due to a factory accident. Thankfully, Shoko manages to extract a piece, although it’s somewhat risky to enter the large pipe to do so. At least she came out safely.
As Shoko and Ruri finally write their report, Ruri never thought they would find this rock in a factory. Sure, Ruri seems to have mixed feelings about the environmental impacts that led to the crystals they collected, but Shoko is happy since she found it with Ruri. Yep, Shoko really considers Ruri as a friend, but can it be more than just friends? Well, it really depends on whether Shoko calls Ruri by her first name and then denies doing so.
(Also known as Ruri Rocks)
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