Chapter 9: The Mentalist
Senku sent Kohaku and I out to collect supplies to make the ramen cart. I also had to go and get my makeshift axe and makeshift spear, which I had left behind when I met Kohaku and Senku. Once I got my gear, we set about collecting wood and bamboo, while Senku, Chrome, and Suika were going to build the ramen cart. After we got all the supplies, we brought it back, and then built the ramen cart. Then we set out for the village, with Suika playing some kind of small, flute-like instrument in order to gain the attention of the villagers.
Once we got there, the villagers heard Suika's playing and began coming out. Senku started making the ramen, and I could see the villagers' mouths starting to water.
"Foxtail millet ramen, coming up!" Senku announced, dishing out bowls to the villagers.
The villagers began eating, all giving different approvals as to how good the ramen was. But, whenever I approached them, they became somewhat nervous, and it was probably because of my height. It's funny, but when you see people on TV and in pictures, you think to yourself 'we're probably about the same height'. But, when you actually meet them, you find that you're either taller or smaller than they are.
In my case, I was larger than these people, as I am about six foot five. They probably never saw people of my height before, which probably made them think I was some mythical giant that Senku conjured up. If that was case, I wasn't offended; I found it kind of funny.
"I've never had anything so chewy and amazingly yummy!" said a fat blonde guy, who I guessed to be Ganen, the village glutton.
Judging from how big Ganen was, I guessed that Kohaku used him as a size reference, when asking the village tailor to make clothes for me.
"If Ganen the glutton says so, well…" said a pretty blonde girl, as she tried a bowl of ramen.
"Oh man, oh man, its so delicious and slippery!" said a little girl with black pigtails.
A teenaged girl with black hair, who was brave enough to come over to Senku while I was standing beside him, asked, "Are you the one who made this tasty stuff? The one called Senku? So, what kind of girls do you like?"
"The kind who pump a ton of oxygen into my furnace." Senku replied.
I almost burst out laughing at that response; I believe that's what called a 'double entendre'. Yeah, I know its rude, but I didn't see that one coming, which is why I laughed.
"What kind of answer is that?" Kohaku asked, her tone both shocked and annoyed. "You never make small talk or anything, do you, Senku?"
I then looked over and saw Chrome approach the guard brothers, two bowls of piping-hot ramen in his hands. Ginro charged for it, but Kinro held him back by his shirt; apparently, he was going to keep the golden spear, but not have any of the food. And, he was going make sure that Ginro didn't have any either.
Seeing that unfold, I only had three words to describe Kinro: self-righteous hypocrite.
"I've totally lost track of who I served already!" Suika spoke, her tone excited and cheerful.
"They're really eating it up." said Kohaku. "Everyone's coming to get some."
Senku chuckled and replied, "They can have all they want; they're going to find out soon that the more ramen they eat, the harder I'm going to work them.
The look on Senku's face made him look a villain, giving both Kohaku and I the chills.
"You really do make the creepiest faces sometimes." Kohaku spoke, her tone somewhat creeped out.
"You can say that again." I added, also a little creeped out.
"This ramen is making me wickedly thirsty." said a male, yet feminine-sounding, voice. "A cola would be great."
Both Senku and I paused, shocked by what we heard. I then looked, and saw some guy, sitting by the rocks all alone, a bowl of ramen in his hands. He had black and white hair, and he wore a purple cloak with black designs on it.
Kohaku also looked in the same direction and saw the guy as well.
"Senku, David, you happen to know that guy?" Kohaku asked, her tone calm and defensive.
"No." Senku replied.
"I don't know him, but I have a feeling that if he knows about cola, he's from our time." I replied.
Kohaku looked over at Kinro and Ginro, who were arguing over the ramen, while Chrome watched them.
"Kinro, Ginro, I need you to stop squabbling." said Kohaku, her tone authoritative.
"Why? Is there a-" Kinro was about to ask, but stopped.
Kohaku stretched her limbs and replied, "I'll get right to the point; there's trouble."
Instantly, all three sprung into action, surrounding the stranger by the rocks! Kinro and Ginro wielded their spears, while Kohaku had her knives at the ready!
"Better answer truthfully, or you'll die before you know what even hit you." Kohaku spoke. "Are you one of the long-haired man's underlings?"
The black and white haired stranger smirked and replied in a prideful tone, "Hey, I wouldn't mind being taken out by a cute girl like you, but I think you have me confused for someone else. I don't know anything about a long-haired man. I've been wandering all on my lonesome ever since I was un-petrified."
Well, that answered the question; he was from our timeline.
"I'd thought I'd seen your face somewhere." said Senku. "You're Gen Asagiri."
"Are you acquainted with this guy?" Kohaku asked, lowering her knives.
"No, not one bit." Senku replied, his tone blunt. "He's a magician who used to write trashy psychology books."
"You've read my work?" The black and white haired stranger, Gen, asked, his voice feminine sounding. "I'm so happy, but calling it 'trashy' hurts, though. Call me a 'mentalist'."
Oh, so he's one of those type of people; the kind that are able to play off people's emotions and thoughts to get what they wants. That's a handy skill to have, but a deadly skill to go up against.
"Look, I'll apologize for taking the ramen, so would you please lower your weapons?" Gen asked. "I'm so scared, and my arms and legs are trembling; I might spill this delicious ramen."
"I'll hold onto it for you!" yelled Ginro, who wanted some ramen really badly.
I looked over at Kohaku; from the look on her face, she was not buying into the whole 'innocent stranger' act. The same went for me; not to brag or anything, but I have a good judge of character, and can tell when someone's being real or a phony. And this Gen individual here, to be honest, I could see he was a phony. Kohaku and I weren't the only ones, however, as Senku could see it too, with him being logical and all.
"I was out looking for food by myself when, surprise, the nostalgic scent of ramen hit me, and I wandered over." said Gen. "Man, it's such a terrible lifestyle out there."
"Wait a minute, I got a question." I spoke up. "If you were out wandering around by yourself, where did you get your clothes? Because judging from your whole demeanor, you're more of a 'mind worker' than a maker, so I don't think you could've made those fancy threads without some helps."
Gen kept that arrogant smile on his face, but I saw his eye twitch a little; he probably thought I was on to him, or that I was smarter than I look. If that was the case, all I could think of was… the nerve…
"It's okay, David; we can take his word for it." said Senku, his tone calculating. "Either way, there's no such thing as a free lunch; everyone who's had ramen has work to do."
Several minutes later, and Gen was being forced to pump air into the furnace, along with the other villagers who had eaten Senku's ramen. They were all letting out yells of pain and tiredness, due to how fast they had to crank the 'air pumper' of the furnace.
"We've upgraded the blowing function!" said Chrome, his tone proud and confident. "Iron mill furnace, level two!"
"I think this'll work if we take turns!" Kohaku added, getting onto the 'air pumper' after one villager fainted.
I got to one of the 'air pumpers' as well, and began pumping for all I was worth! It hurt my arms after a couple of minutes, but at least I was getting a good workout in! While I did that, I looked over at Senku; he was questioning Gen while he was pumping air into the furnace. Over what we were doing, I couldn't hear their conversation, but I knew that Senku would tell me what they were talking about.
Hopefully…
The next morning, the sky was extremely cloudy and overcast, a sure sign that it was going to rain. Senku, wearing a thick leather apron and some thick gloves, pulled a metal pot of glowing liquid iron from the furnace, and poured it into a wooden mold. After a couple of minutes, it hardened into a rectangular shape, and Chrome pulled it out and held it up with one hand.
"Finally!" Chrome yelled.
Finally indeed; we had iron!
As Chrome, Kohaku, and Suika were cheering over the iron, I looked back at Gen and Senku, who were in a deep conversation.
"That simple false report would spare you." said Gen.
Senku let out a chuckle and replied, "I'd really appreciate it if you would do that."
"I don't have any policy at all." Gen spoke, his tone deceitful. "I'm the world's most shallow man; if I can live happily with cute girls, that's all I need. Whether you die or Tsukasa dies doesn't matter to me; I'm going to win, no matter who I have to dispose of. I can't decide if it'll be better for me if I let the Kingdom of Science or the Tsukasa Empire win; that's all I'm interested in. On this side, there's plenty of sweet science stuff and ramen and all that, but the work is hellish. Meanwhile, Tsukasa's empire has no science and the meals are simple, but the work's easy, and if I revive cute girls, I'll be living the dream harem life!"
"Oh lord…" I said, my tone somewhat humorous.
"Come on; you haven't sat back and wanted a pretty girl, my giant friend?" asked Gen. "Or at least, several pretty girls?"
"I prefer having only one girl, wise guy." I replied. "And yes, the thought did often cross my mind of getting a girl; I would be lying if I said it didn't."
"What's a harem?" Suika, who had wandered over to hear our conversation, asked.
"Sorry, children don't need to know yet." Gen replied, his tone somewhat playful.
On the bright side, even though Gen was a scheming grifter who was only interested in what he could have, he did have a sense of decency and knew when to censor himself.
"I think ramen's better for sure." said Suika.
"Ramen's nice, but not on hot days like this." Gen continued. "At the end of the day, I'd side with Tsukasa."
"Gen Asagiri, was it?" Kohaku asked, before suddenly drawing her knives and saying menacingly, "Superficial, selfish men like you are best dead or imprisoned."
"No…" Senku spoke up, removing his apron. "If we don't let him go back, Tsukasa will come here himself, and we'll be screwed. Relax; once you see what me make with our beautiful new iron, you'll ten billion percent want to join the kingdom of science."
"Oh? What's that?" Gen asked. "Swords or something?"
Senku, who was climbing back into the shed of science, turned around and replied, "A generator."
"A generator?! Are you for real?! That's seriously not happening!"
"I wouldn't be so quick to doubt Senku, my friend." I spoke. "He's a supreme level genius, and a master of his craft, so building a generator will be a breeze for him."
Suddenly, while we were talking, lightning began flashing in the sky!
"We actually got lightning." Suika spoke up, as we all looked to the sky.
"Well, it is thunderstorm season." Kohaku replied.
"We're way too lucky!" said Chrome.
"No, you idiot!" Senku yelled, which caused me to jump a little bit. "This is the worst case scenario! We aren't prepared at all!"
"You aren't making a lightning generator, are you?" asked Gen, as the rain began to fall.
"There's no such thing, but I can make a generator if I have magnets." Senku replied.
"We have some of the iron sand that we got from the river." said Suika, offering a stone with black sand to Senku.
"That natural stuff isn't anywhere near strong enough." Senku replied.
I then asked, "Hey, why don't we use that iron rod that we made? I'm no science whiz, but doesn't iron make a good conductor?"
"Good idea, David." Senku replied, taking the stone with black sand from Suika. "I was going to put up several lighting rods, but we can't pass up an opportunity like this; we're going to get set up immediately. We're going to literally move 'lightning' fast!"
"Then what are waiting for?!" I yelled. "Pardon my saying so, but let's haul some butts!"
With all that was going on, there was no way that I could write a 'Chronicler Log' right now, so that was going to have to wait!
Author's Notes: I HAVE RETURNED! Sorry about taking so long to post a new chapter, but I was taking a hiatus for the summer. But, now that September has rolled around, I've returned!
R&R,
Heroboy005