Chapter Text
Treasure Island, September 5741
It didn’t matter how many times Senkuu saw Gen working his ‘magic’ at manipulating people, it was always impressive to watch. And he had never been so magnificent as in that moment, tricking their most powerful enemy yet into becoming their ally. Senkuu couldn’t stop his smile. Moz had already moved the discussion from planning to murder them on the spot to using them for his own benefit instead, all while Gen faked disappointment and submission. The warrior was malleable mud in the mentalist’s hands. Senkuu felt his shoulders relax, they had him.
Or, at least, that’s what they all thought.
“It has been decided, you’ll use your sorcery for my sake and give me the petrification device in exchange for me sparing your lives,” Moz declared. “Oh, and also another thing.”
In a sudden movement, the tall warrior raised his free hand and rested it on Gen’s face gently, his thumb caressing his cheek.
“You will join the inner palace,” he declared in a definite tone.
Senkuu blinked. There was a moment of silence, nobody saying anything, not even Gen. The mentalist, though, recovered fast and smiled up at the other man.
“But, Moz-chan,” he said with the tone of fake sweetness he used when he wanted to look innocent and harmless. “I thought you only allowed cute girls in the inner palace.”
“Yeah, exactly,” the other man answered. “A clever and pretty girl like you will fit perfectly. You may even become one of my favourites, if you are a good girl and behave accordingly.”
Senkuu’s brain froze, for once completely lost.
It made no sense. Gen was not a girl, he was a guy. Senkuu knew it better than anyone else after spending the majority of the last two years with the mentalist at his side. It had to be one of Gen’s tricks. He looked at his face, expecting to see a cunning smile there, but, instead, Gen’s eyes were wide and his mouth was slightly open in a shocked expression. He looked almost scared. Senkuu’s heart skipped a beat. Gen’s expression quickly changed to his usual poker face, but it was too late, Senkuu had already seen it.
No, it couldn’t be.
His mind automatically rehearsed every moment spent with the mentalist, now taking into account this new possibility. Senkuu couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it, but the more memories he remembered, the more plausible it was. There had been hints before, off-handed comments or situations that made no sense at the time, but they did now considering this new information. The signs had been there, but Senkuu always dismissed them, too focused on other projects to ever bother to analyse them properly.
That was one of the perks and curses of having an eidetic memory: Senkuu remembered everything. Including how stupid he had been for not even considering that possibility before.
Ishigami Village, October 5739
“Senkuu!” someone was calling him. “Come on, Senkuu, wake up!”
Senkuu groaned, blinking, incapable of seeing anything at all. It took him too long to realise that the problem wasn’t that his eyes weren’t working properly, but rather that it was still completely dark in the hut. Too dark. Fuck, it was still too early for this shit.
“What do you want, Chrome?” he groaned, snuggling under the thin blanket. “Go back to sleep. We can’t work until we have sunlight, it’s too dangerous to mix chemicals in the dark.”
“It’s almost dawn,” replied Chrome. “But we have a baaaad problem, dude.”
“What is it now?” Senkuu sighed with his eyes closed and trying to fall asleep again.
“Gen is gone,” Chrome said.
At that, Senkuu sat up, fast. It had just been a few days since they fought Hyoga and Gen had joined the Kingdom of Science and it was way too early for an ambush from Tsukasa. As such, there was no reason for Gen to be gone. He had been staying with them in Chrome’s hut only for a few nights, but Senkuu already knew that the mentalist was not a morning person. It was so bad that Senkuu had to drag him out of the room every morning or the other modern man would waste all day in bed.
He turned and looked towards Gen’s futon, next to the furthest wall. It was empty. In fact, it was perfectly made, as if nobody had used it that night. Senkuu tried to remember if Gen had been sleeping already when Chrome and him had finally dragged themselves out of the lab, but he was unsure. It had been pitch black when they came back, and they had not brought any light with them for obvious reasons, as it was never a good idea to bring any type of fire inside a wooden hut. Even a candle was dangerous and the village didn’t have oil lamps yet. Damn, Senkuu really needed to make some flashlights. He’d add them to the list.
“Do you remember if he was here last night?” he asked Chrome while he stood up and looked around, searching for his clothes.
“No idea, it was too dark, man!” the other scientist said. “Do you think something has happened to him? Maybe one of Tsukasa’s people took him.”
“It’s way too early for Tsukasa to attack us,” he refuted, already dressed and now putting on his shoes. “Maybe the mentalist got lost in the dark last night, or something stupid like that.”
“Maybe,” Chrome agreed, opening the door and beginning to step down the stairs. “I hope Magma didn’t try to kill him again.”
Right, Senkuu had actually forgotten about the big brute and the grudge he had against Gen. Shit, they just got the mentalist back, they couldn’t have lost him already. The Kingdom of Science needed every working member. He followed Chrome out of the hut, but then he was a bit lost on what to do. Everything looked as usual.
“Come on, let’s check the lab first,” he indicated. “Although I’m ten billion percent sure he’s not there, it’s better to discard it.”
As expected, Gen was not in the lab or anywhere around their science base, so soon they were crossing the newly made bridge towards the village. They had checked with the night guards at the entrance of the bridge, but they didn’t have any information on where their lost magician could be. There had also been no unexpected attacks during the night, either, which was good news.
“Hey, Senkuu,” Chrome said. “You don’t think Gen has gone back to Tsukasa, right?”
Oh, he hadn’t thought of that possibility. Sure, if anyone was capable of betraying Tsukasa and still coming back to spin the tale in his favour, it was Gen. Senkuu couldn’t suppress a smile. He had had his doubts about the mentalist’s skills in the beginning, but, after seeing him in action a few times, he knew now that Gen was an expert manipulator and liar. Still, he was almost sure he hadn’t betrayed them. Where else would he be able to get his precious Cola? As long as Senkuu could bribe him with that, he was not going anywhere.
“Naaah,” he smirked, his pinky in his ear. “He would kill himself if he lost his regular supply of Cola.”
“Damn, is it really that good?” Chrome exclaimed now, getting excited. “You need to show me how to make them!”
“Nops, it’s a secret recipe,” Senkuu laughed. “I can’t lose my only way to keep Asagiri Gen tied here!”
“Come on, man!” Chrome laughed. “At least let me taste one!”
“Ask the mentalist for one of his,” he shrugged. “I’m not wasting materials on making more than strictly needed.”
“It’s not like you need to keep bribing him forever, anyway,” Chrome complained.
“Better safe than sorry,” insisted Senkuu.
They bickered a bit more on their way to the centre of the village. The sun was finally rising, and some villagers were leaving their huts and beginning their day. Chrome and Senkuu stopped to ask some villagers about Gen, but nobody had seen him since the day before.
They were still asking around when they noticed three people coming down from the Chief’s Islet: Kohaku, Ruri, and, surprisingly between the two sisters, Gen. They were talking calmly while they walked, looking as if they were longtime acquaintances. Senkuu raised an eyebrow, since when were those three such good friends?
“Ah, Gen, there you are!” Chrome yelled, rushing towards them. “Where were you, man? We were getting worried!”
Senkuu rolled back his eyes at Chrome’s mannerisms, and approached them at a calmer pace.
“Oh?” was Gen saying at that moment. “I didn’t know you cared so much about little moi, Senkuu-chan!”
“In your dreams, mentalist,” chuckled Senkuu. “Just looking out for my slave workers.”
“So meeeeeean!” the mentalist pouted exaggeratedly.
“Cut it out you two, it’s too early for this,” groaned Kohaku. “Good morning, Chrome, Senkuu.”
“Seriously, Gen, where did you sleep last night?” Chrome insisted. “You almost scared me to death!”
“Oh, it’s my fault!” Ruri interrupted them with a shy smile. “I asked Gen to help me with something yesterday and, before we realised, it was already dark outside! It was too dangerous to walk in the dark, so I told Gen to stay overnight.”
Senkuu blinked. Wait, was Ruri implying that Gen had slept in her hut the previous night? With her? He looked at the other’s faces. Gen looked as if he had just eaten a particularly acidic lemon, Ruri had an innocent expression on her face, Kohaku looked already exasperated with their antics, and Chrome… Chrome seemed to be in shock. Senkuu smirked amused towards Gen. What a sleazy bastard.
“Wait! Are you saying that you and Gen slept together, Ruri?!” Chrome exclaimed.
“Please, Chrome-chan,” complained Gen with one of his fake, polite smiles. “Don’t say it like that.”
“Like what?” asked Ruri, all innocent-like. “What do you mean, Chrome?”
“Gen!” the dark-haired scientist exclaimed, rushing and trying to grab the mentalist, who skillfully avoided him. “What are your intentions with Ruri?!”
“Oh, look at that, I think Kaseki-chan is alling-cay for me,” the mentalist faked waving at someone, presumably the old artisan. “Sorry, Chrome-chan, duty calls!”
With that, the slippery mentalist avoided Chrome’s attempts to grab his haori and ran away towards the village, with the black-haired scientist following after him.
“Wait, Gen!” Chrome’s screams could almost be heard from Tsukasa’s Empire of Might. “Come back and explain yourself!”
Senkuu could barely contain his laughter, watching those two running between huts and barely avoiding crashing with the villagers. Gen was trying his best to get rid of his stalker, but he was not quite managing it. Chrome was quite stubborn, after all, and he knew the village a lot better than the mentalist.
“Was it something I said?” Ruri muttered to herself, before running after them. “Wait! Chrome! Gen! What did I say?”
Senkuu crossed eyes with Kohaku, who was also doing her best to contain her laughter, and that was it for him, game over. He guffawed, his sudden burst of laughter forcing him to fold over himself, resting his hands on his knees. Next to him, he heard Kohaku also laughing loudly. It took them a few minutes to be able to stop, sometimes looking at each other or hearing Chrome’s screams and exploding again in renewed laughter.
“Damn, it hurts,” Kohaku complained. “Stop looking at me, I can’t stop laughing if I see your silly face. My side hurts now.”
“Yeah, fuck, I don’t remember when was the last time I laughed so much,” Senkuu agreed, taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself down. “A few millennia ago, I guess.”
“Did you see Chrome’s face?” Kohaku snickered again. “I thought he was going to pass out!”
“That’s nothing,” Senkuu shook his head. “Did you see the mentalist’s face? I think he was actually blushing!”
They snickered a bit more, Kohaku resting a hand on Senkuu’s shoulder to keep herself on her feet.
“What a trio of idiots,” Senkuu said, still smiling. “What was all that about, by the way? Did he and Ruri actually sleep together?”
“Don’t say it like that, gross!” Kohaku slapped him on the shoulder with her monstrous strength. “It’s not what you think!”
“Eh, I don’t care either way,” he shrugged, rubbing his shoulder, which was now hurting. “As long as they still work when I need them, I don’t care what they do at night.”
“Hey! That’s my sister you are talking about!” that time the blond girl punched him on the arm. “They are just friends!”
“Sure, sure, whatever you say,” Senkuu raised his hands in a sign of peace and stepped away from the gorilla girl, trying to save his extremities from more violence. “I’m actually more surprised about you being fine with all of this. I thought you hated the mentalist?”
At that, Kohaku calmed down, turning to the side and looking at the village. There was a melancholic expression on her face. Senkuu blinked. What the fuck was happening there?
“I was wrong before,” she said, smiling in an almost sad way. “As it turns out, Gen and I have more things in common than I thought.”
Senkuu blinked, again. Yeah, no way.
“Not a single thing comes to my mind,” Senkuu says, thoughtfully. “Other than the obvious commonalities of being human and Japanese, and even that is a stretch.”
“Maybe you don’t know everything, Senkuu, as strange as that concept might be for you,” Kohaku sent him an annoyed look before looking back to the village again, her expression mellowing a bit. “Gen and I, we are both fighting for what we want, for who we want to be. And we both know how tiring it is having to constantly deal with stupid meatheads and their stupid ideas.”
Senkuu took a moment to contemplate her words seriously. No, he was still not seeing the similarities between Kohaku and Gen. Like, at all.
“If you say so,” he shrugged. “More importantly: are you two friends now, or something like that?”
“Yes, Senkuu, we’re friends now,” the blond girl rolled back her eyes. “Now, come on. Let’s pick up those idiots and get some breakfast, unless you don’t want to do anything productive today.”
With that, the young warrior began walking towards the village, leaving a confused Senkuu behind. After a few moments, he shrugged and followed her. He was still lost about whatever had just happened, but Kohaku was right: they had a lot of work to do.
And if Gen stopped sleeping in Chrome’s hut with them from that day on, it was not Senkuu’s business.