It was dark out as people in the Tsukasa Empire were having dinner in front of a fire. They were eating meat or fish, or stew. Behind one person eating, one person working out, and the last asleep, were Taiju and Yuzuriha. She was having stew while he was having meat. Both of them looked happy from the hot steamy food, sitting in silence. Nearby, behind another person, was a female blonde keeping her eye on them eating. She had a suspicious look on her face, as she was tasked with keeping an eye on them, as Tsukasa had stated. And at this point, they were already aware she was. They'd figure that Tsukasa would want to keep an eye on them at some point...
The next morning, Yuzuriha looked at Taiju approaching her. Both of them had on their winter clothing. He had a brown cloak with fur on the shoulders while she had a shawl entirely made out of fur. Once he joined her, the two walked silently towards the gravesite. The female guard glanced over her shoulder as she watched them leave. They then reached Senku's grave, stopping in front of the cross. Yuzuriha looked down silently in surprise as she noticed something unusual.
Senku chuckled as he and Sumi held up the Kingdom of Science flag together. "We have them thinking I'm dead, so you'd better visit my grave regularly." After being told this, the two placed down the cross as soon as they had arrived at the Empire.
The two sat in front of the grave and Yuzuriha got a closer look. "Taiju," She whispered and he silently glanced at her. She leaned in to whisper into his ear. "See that? It looks like someone dug around here," She pointed out to him.
"Hm?" He noticed the little holes in the ground. "You're right! Good eye, Yuzuriha! Way to go," He praised quietly and they continued staring at them, wondering what it was. No one else had been around here since them, since they made a visit to the grave at least once a day. So there could be only one reason that someone dug around here.
"You think it was Senku and Sumi? Maybe the two and their friends buried something here for us," She replied in thought and he gasped in realization. "What do we do? She's watching us like a hawk, so we can't just get a shovel and start digging!" The brunette warned him.
The female guard continued watching them from behind the pillar made out of rock. 'They come to visit this grave everyday! Why, are they talking to the dead or something?' Other than that, there was nothing she could say that was unusual about their behavior so far...
Taiju took a deep breath. "I got this!" Yuzuriha turned to him in confusion and he reached out his arm. He dug into the ground with no problem at all thanks to his strength and pulled out the speaker. They both gasped as they recognized it immediately.
"Whoa, it's a...!"
He didn't finish his sentence as the phone rang at the observatory, and they both waited for someone to pick up. Senku picked up the phone, answering it a few seconds later. "Yo," He said nonchalantly to them.
Taiju's teeth gritted from hearing his voice, his lips quivering. Tears then fell from his face, and he couldn't stop as he covered his eyes with his arm. "SENKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" He shouted while Yuzuriha was sobbing next to him. Senku's lips twitched into a grin and he looked up, tears welling up in his eyes.
"I missed you guys so much, I could almost start crying. Even your ridiculously loud voice, you big oaf," He admitted to them, although his voice was normal.
The others all chuckled from hearing the voice, amazed from both the cell phone working and hearing him. Senku and Sumi over the past months had told them all about their friends, so they knew exactly who it was. "That's the guy we've been hearing about?" Ginro asked in excitement.
"That's Taiju?" Kohaku had a big smile on her face. Kaseki was the most happiest, though, as he had tears gushing from his eyes.
"Whoo-hoo! It's finally been connected! Our cell phone hotline works! And over such a long distance!" He cheered happily at it functioning.
"Senku..." Taiju said happily while still shaking.
Senku just chuckled in response. "It's been a while, hasn't it? Hard to believe almost a year's passed," He spoke warmly to his friends. Although he did feel a small thump from his heart that Sumi wasn't here to reunite with them.
"Senku, I..." Taiju continued, snot coming from his noise. "I am...Senku..." Yuzuriha looked up happily while using the back of her wrist to wipe her cheek. "I am...Senku...I am...Senku! I AM SENKUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
The others had blank looks on their faces, blue lines all over their heads. Senku was the only one without this expression, as he had a deadpan look. As usual, Taiju always messed up their reunions just like the last two times... "No, you're not, cause I'm Senku. Get it together," He muttered at Taiju being emotional. At least with Sumi, he could easily calm her down, but this was getting a bit over the top...
Taiju was still sobbing while Kokuyo and Ruri could hear him from outside. "SENKU!" The man cried out from the observatory.
"So the thing's called a cell phone? And it makes it possible to talk to someone who's really far away?" The former chief asked while sweating a little, as he was still confused by just the concept alone. "I can't even begin to understand how it works!"
Ruri gave a small smile at his lack of understanding. "Voices dancing across the sky...so far. The science of radio waves is connecting us all the way to the enemy's home base. It's amazing, Father!" She gushed to him, still amazed herself.
Senku chuckled again while listening to Taiju still crying. "Are you done blubbering yet, you big oaf? You're killing me here," He gave a small smile as it reminded him of Sumi, she probably would've reacted the same exact way.
"I'm sorry about that, man," Taiju sobbed into his hand in front of his eyes. "I'm just so happy...!"
"Hey, Senku," Yuzuriha called out, dabbing at her eyes herself with her finger.
"Yo, Yuzuriha," He greeted as she sniffed.
"You and Sumi worked all the way up to cell phones in just a year, huh?" She then giggled with a smile. "I always knew you guys were incredible both apart and together, but wow..." Senku gave a small smile as he agreed with her. He did think Sumi was pretty incredible...He blushed to himself and placed his hand on his face, confusing the others. He couldn't think about her now, he still had the plan to pull off...
The female guard noticed the two crying and just looked confused. What's up? Why are they wailing and crying so much? Is it the anniversary of the guy's death?
"I'd love to sit here and talk about how awesome my homemade cell phone is...or just catch up on all the crazy stuff that's happened for the next ten billion years," Senku still had that smile on his face. "But I know we're way too short on time for that kind of crap. So I'll get straight to the point. Listen carefully. You gotta get someone over there to leave the group. Have then come over to the cell phone." Both of them gasped at his proposition. "Give them whatever bogus reason. I'll fill in the details later."
"Uhh, are you sure you don't need to rehearse this first?" Kaseki was baffled at this, and so were the others as well. What happened if they messed up along the way or forgot what to do? Then it could mean game over.
"I bet that there's a guard watching them right now, so it's probably not a viable option," Kohaku suggested with white eyes. She already knew from Senku and Sumi that Tsukasa likely had someone watching their friends after learning Senku wasn't actually dead. Their loyalty to him was questionable at best, and he couldn't forget that fact.
"As a matter of fact, Taiju, it's better if you don't know anything," Senku continued with a small grin. "Just stay dumb and believe whatever weird stuff I say."
"Are you trying to piss him off?!" Ginro hissed a little. "Cause I wouldn't put up with all of that!"
Taiju kept silent for a few seconds. "Senku, let me make sure of one thing," He started off seriously, catching them off guard. "You swear, that the plan you and Sumi have...it's how we can avoid any bloodshed?" And he wasn't just asking for Sumi's sake, either...it was because of the goal she shared with Senku to revive every single last person. Humanity couldn't be the way it was if people died, even just one person. Just because Tsukasa was destroying statues...didn't mean that they had to stoop to his level by killing him in return. And he was also asking because Taiju himself just didn't believe death was the right solution to their problems.
"Yeah..." Senku confirmed to him without hesitation. "With our way, nobody's gonna get hurt."
"Alright, works for me, Senku," Taiju agreed while Kokuyo, Ruri, Jasper, and Turquoise were outside. "If you say it's the best way, then you don't need to explain anything else. Sumi doesn't need to either." Yuzuriha didn't need to say anything because he said it all for her. She agreed that people dying wasn't the solution to bringing back humanity.
The others inside the observatory let out gasps of surprise from his response. He didn't even need to hear Senku's way at all to know that the results would be successful. Kohaku then smiled knowingly towards the microphone. "Even though they've been apart for a year...they still have absolute trust in one another. I think I see how they did it. How Senku, Sumi, and their friends could survive against Tsukasa." When she saw what happened to Senku back with Tsukasa broke his neck...she didn't question how he was alive or how they were all still standing after that blast. And now, after hearing Taiju...she didn't really need to. She felt that they all worked together well like a well-oiled machine. Just like how Senku and Sumi had survived on their own before and after reuniting from de-petrification.
"We don't have much time left after Tsukasa's army launches a full-on attack. As soon as Gen gets back to our base, the mission begins in full swing," Senku warned everyone and then something came to him. "By the way...has there been anything suspicious with Tsukasa about Sumi? He hasn't planned anything...has he?" The others all stared at him breathlessly, wondering if this was because he was concerned about Sumi still being there, or because of Tsukasa's determination to have her by his side. For Senku, it was a bit of both. The shock of what Sumi said last night was still hitting him, but he had time to dwell on it much later. Plus, he was genuinely curious if Tsukasa had tried anything towards that goal after finding out he was still alive.
Taiju and Yuzuriha glanced at each other silently. They blinked as they recalled a recent incident.
The two were gathering fur for Yuzuriha to sew with elsewhere, still being watched by the blonde woman. Some of it was left over from the last batch as she needed it for making winter clothing. As they were going through what they had, Yuzuriha froze at what was in front of her after moving a fur. She then gasped sharply as the particular fur in front of her had writing on it. "Taiju..." She whispered and he turned to her, looking over his shoulder. He then flinched as he read it.
"No...it can't be..." He murmured while they looked at it. It read in blood 'You are invited to the wedding of Sumire and Tsukasa in 3 months. Reception to follow.' "Whaaaaaaaaaat?!" Taiju screeched in shock with white eyes.
"It's a wedding invitation?!" Yuzuriha whispered in alarm with white eyes, sweating. "Wow, he's pretty dedicated to Sumi, huh? What do we do, Taiju? We can't let this happen."
He took a deep breath to calm down, otherwise the guard might get tipped off. "You remember what Sumi said, right?" Taiju turned to her once he could breathe.
"And we'd rather stop him before he manages to accomplish his goal of destroying the older generation statues. Otherwise he'll have even more control over this world like he wants," Sumi stated as she and Senku walked in front of their friends, before they had parted ways. She then looked a bit annoyed while looking up ahead. "Although if he really does start wedding planning, you have my consent to destroy anything he's got. I do not need any surprises there, thank you very much. Not to mention it'll really piss him off."
They both were sweating a lot while looking at the fur since...their guard was watching them still...and so how were they going to pull off getting rid of it? 'W-Well...we do have to destroy it, don't we?' Yuzuriha gave a nervous smile at what they had to do. Sumi did give them permission to destroy anything they found regarding anything of a wedding... 'Although I don't wanna waste fur...hopefully our guard doesn't say anything...'
"No!" Taiju suddenly took the fur and started ripping it apart with his bare hands. The female guard flinched in alarm, looking at him with her mouth open. Yuzuriha wasn't fazed at all next to him. "Freaking. Way!" He shouted in protest while ripping it even more. "We are not...going to let this happen to Sumi!" The pieces started to fall in front of Yuzuriha. "Or let them ruin the relationship we've been waiting on for a year!" He screamed while the guard was twitching, not sure what to say to all this. She had blue lines over her forehead as she had no idea what they meant by that.
'What are they even talking about? The guy's dead, isn't he?'
Yuzuriha then looked up as she had a shadow over her eyes. There were also some stars in them while pulling out some wood to start a fire with. "Not today, Tsukasa!" She declared in determination, a serious expression on her face. Then she spun the smaller stick against the log, and a fire was started. The two picked up the pieces and they tossed the fur into the fire so that no one would know what it said. Plus, they weren't gonna let this ruin the budding relationship of their best friends.
Even if it could take forever.
'W-What the hell...? Is this some kind of séance or something? I-I think I should just forget this even happened...' The guard's whole body shook while looking pale, since she didn't want to be involved in...whatever was going on there. And to her, it was just better if she didn't ask questions or involve Tsukasa either. He'd probably think that she was crazy, since she didn't know what the invitation actually said.
"Last time, he cut her face! Worst guy ever!" Taiju declared while clenching his fists and then laughed. "Yes!" He pumped his fists to the sky. "We did it, Sumi!"
"There's more of them! Let's burn them all until every last piece is gone!" Yuzuriha stood up, still determined.
Senku cackled while the others were put off by this to say the least. They didn't think Tsukasa would actually do it... "He actually wrote those up? Heh heh heh. Excellent job, you guys!" He smiled into the microphone mischievously, pleased with what they told him as he had a dark look on his face. "I knew you could handle it. Ten billion points to the both of you," He dug his pinky into his ear. At least now he didn't have to stress about it, and he had them on the lookout if Tsukasa continued going through with it.
"Won't they find out it was them doing this...?" Suika asked in a bit of fear.
"Not if they cover their tracks or distract their guard," Kinro spoke up with his arms crossed.
"Wow, so they're both spies and wedding stoppers!" Ginro gushed a little with sparkles around his eyes.
"I bet she'd be really proud of us once we tell her that we destroyed all of them! We even buried some flowers he got and he asked me to make a dress. But I just keep telling him I have other things to do!" Yuzuriha smiled happily with a hum. And then she frowned a little as they had mentioned Sumi several times, but not once had they actually heard her voice or seen her. "Although that does make me wonder...where even is Sumi? It doesn't feel right having us reunite without her..."
"Uh! That's right. There's no way she'd take off without saying anything to us," Taiju turned to her and Senku blinked in surprise that they were asking him. It was then that it hit him of the fact that she wasn't actually there with them. He'd imagine she'd surprise them from behind before even going back to the village. She gave them a goodbye before she went off with Senku, so to not be there or leave something else behind were two already major red flags to him.
"Have you gotten any messages from her or Gen?" He tried not to sound worried.
"...No," Taiju spoke up in confusion after a few seconds. "At least, none I know about. We just noticed the ground had been dug up and found the receiver," He informed and Senku's eyes widened as he let out a small gasp, his eyes shaking in dread.
"Oh, dear," Kaseki spoke up as the others were now just as worried. "So that means they just happened to find it by pure luck? That's not Gen's style, or how Sumi operates." Gen would've at least left a trail leading to the phone for them if Sumi didn't do it herself. He did the same so Suika could find him when he had Hyoga believed he was still an ally, after all.
"No," Suika agreed with him. "Something must've happened!"
Senku was in silence as he tried not to be stressed about Sumi. But given that it was Tsukasa, he almost regretted sending her there if there were no messages or a sign of them leaving. His eyes glistened while he bit his lip. Damn it, Sumi...what is going on? Is it Tsukasa? Did something happen to you? I would've heard from you by now. He had a feeling that something did, otherwise she would be there. However, not with Tsukasa, because he realized if his friends destroyed the wedding stuff, they would've known if Sumi was being held captive. So it had to be something completely different, otherwise his friends would've told him right away if it was Tsukasa. And he knew fully well she wouldn't be able to answer if he started calling out for her. Not that he wanted to give himself away anyway. But he needed an answer, and soon. Otherwise he would bring Tsukasa hell.
Magma, Gen, Chrome, and Sumi had been dodging arrows the entire time out in a field. Some of the arrows were lodged to the ground, while others were just laying around. From a herd of dried bushes, everyone except Sumi peeked out, looking around warily for the one responsible. Sumi was gritting her teeth while holding her arm, laying down behind them so that the shooter wouldn't notice her. The arrow was already out of her arm at this point, but there was a hole in her clothing now. Unfortunately, they had been stuck in the field for a while now.
"Why are we hiding in the bushes like a bunch of damn cowards anyway?!" Magma wasn't too happy about their situation to say the least. He then stood up, pumping his fists. "Cause if we run into the enemy, I'll just straight up murder the guy!" He shouted out loud, having apparently forgotten about Ukyo's hearing skills.
Chrome jumped up to attempt to put him back down, hugging his waist. "We don't even have a clue where they are, bonehead!" He shouted back while Gen was trying to shush them. "People who just rush out like that are always the first ones to die! And besides, we can't haul Sumi around right now!" He turned around to her, biting his lip in concern. She glanced up at the trio.
"Who even is this guy, Gen?" Sumi whispered to the mentalist. "What do you know about him?"
"The one stalking us now is Ukyo," Gen explained to them quietly. "He's got an uper-say sense of hearing. It's unreal!" Ukyo was currently trying to listen for them, his bow and arrow ready when needed.
"So then being in these bushes is bad," Chrome whispered, plucking a piece of grass from right in front of him.
"Bingo~" Gen looked away with unease. "If we keep scurrying around, all the rustling sounds will tip him off. Trust me, we'd definitely get shot then. It's already bad enough our doctor got hit." They could imagine that if they ran around, Ukyo would kill them in just one shot. He glanced back at Sumi, frowning deeply. He couldn't help but blame himself for her injury; if they had just kept quiet, she wouldn't have gotten hit in the first place. "Actually, the reason we're here hiding right now...is because he lured us into them. He wants us here." He had his arrow pointed right towards their direction, but didn't actually shoot towards them this time.
"Aw, damn," Chrome hissed while sweating a little. "Gen and Sumi have gotta get to the Kingdom of Science with or without us. We need him there to pull off this whole plan with the cell phone and take down the Tsukasa Empire!"
Blood seeped from Sumi's hand. She then glanced upwards to the others as she couldn't leave. Not when she was this close to getting to Tsukasa. "Not good. If Ukyo has this crazy good hearing like he's shown, we'll need to distract him. We have to drown out the sound of running with something loud. That way he'll move his focus on the main noise while Gen makes a break for it," She tried to sit up, but a sharp pain hit her arm and she winced, falling back down. "Ah...he's definitely got a good aim though, that's for sure," She groaned a bit in pain.
Chrome turned around to her in a panic. "Don't try to get up, you got hit, remember?" He waved his hands and she looked up.
"Me getting shot with an arrow isn't gonna prevent helping us stay alive. I got hit in the lateral head of triceps branchii muscle," They all blinked at her as they didn't know what she was talking about.
"And that is...?" Chrome didn't finish his question. She sighed while closing her eyes.
"In simpler terms, it's basically a muscle controlling elbow movements, and the arrow hit between that and the actual skin of my arm. I'll be fine, but we need a distraction and fast," She laid back down behind them, still holding her arm. Gen and Chrome glanced at her in concern since she hadn't been actually treated yet. And they knew that the longer she held onto it, the less time she had left if it got infected.
"We should at least stop the blood, shouldn't we?" The mentalist looked down at the woman. "You can't hold onto it forever."
"Right now, I'm compressing it, but I'm right handed," She glanced up at them. "Treating it now might alert Ukyo if I can't keep quiet. And it's not like we can see him to know if he'd even let us do that. He could be anywhere. Tracking his movements won't be easy." As soon as she finished her sentence, an arrow landed right in front of them, which had gauze taped around it. All of them glanced up in shock from this. She had some gauze herself…but Ukyo gave them some? Did that mean he wasn't going to shoot right now?
"What the hell? What is this?" Magma said in disbelief.
"It could be a trick..." Chrome murmured as he glanced up, but nothing else happened. They glanced to each other silently and the brunet reached out to it slowly. He quickly took it and he gasped a little that Ukyo was allowing a temporary break to not do anything to them while they treated her.
"Why would he do that?" Gen turned to Sumi while trying to deduce it. Has he...never injured someone with his arrows before? Is his conscience actually taking part by letting us treat Mire-chan? This is very picious-say...he's never been like this.
Chrome clutched the gauze before turning around to her. "You're the doctor here, Sumi. Tell us what we need to do," He told her in determination.
She grunted a bit in pain in response. She then rolled up her sleeve as there was a small bleeding hole in her arm, right above her elbow. "There should be only an entrance wound since it didn't go through my whole arm. Use the gauze over the wound and apply steady, direct pressure. You need to press down hard enough so that you can control the bleeding and get the blood to clot."
Chrome bent down applied as much pressure as he could with the gauze, causing her to yelp. He recoiled back in alarm from hurting her. "Ah! Sorry," He frowned a bit apologetically.
"No," She shook her head rapidly at him. "You're doing great, Chrome, keep it up. Pressure equals less blood loss. Come on, keep going. Gen, I need you to turn me over so that my back faces the ground. As slow as you can, please," Gen nodded and turned her over onto her back gently. "Dry around the hole as much as you can," Chrome started rubbing the gauze against the wound. "There should be an adhesive I made in my pouch, Gen. I need you to place it over the wound."
"You got it, Mire-chan," He looked down at the belt nearby and dug into one of her pouches. He blinked as it was a glass jar with clear glue and pulled it out. "How'd you even make this?"
"I combined 9 percent water, 5 percent ash, carbohydrates, and soybean oil. Should help with sealing it for now," She glanced up at the jar and nodded in confirmation it was the right one. "Alright, place it over the hole and then tie it off with the gauze as tight as you can. It's temporary, but it's the only option until I can get to Tsukasa."
"You're still gonna see him?" Chrome blinked down at her in shock from her decision. "Why?"
"Just because Ukyo hit me with an arrow doesn't mean I'm backing down. I'm not passing up the chance," She closed her eyes to their surprise. Gen placed the adhesive over the injury and Chrome tied it off tightly. She gritted her teeth in pain and sighed in relief once he stepped back. "Thank you, guys..." She held her arm as it still hurt and they decided to leave her lying down since she needed some rest.
"Ahh," Magma stood up as he had an idea. "If we all gotta do is get Gen home, I have an idea," He spoke up, and they looked at him in anticipation. "First, Chrome, you're gonna charge right out. I'll be right behind you."
"Oooh!" Chrome exclaimed in excitement. "And what's the next step?"
Chrome then got shot at with a bunch of arrows. "You're shooting from up there, huh? Ha ha, I've got you now! SMASH!" He punched Ukyo into the sky, breaking his bow and blood from his face.
"Oh ho!" Chrome had a gleeful expression on his face. "Now I see! OR NOT!" He glared at the blond. Gen shushed them while Magma gave a deadpanned look. "IF WE DO THAT, I'LL DIE!"
"Come on," Magma mocked him as Sumi gave a big sweat drop watching them. "So you're not willing to die for the cause, huh Chrome? Only worried about yourself, you selfish bastard, you!"
"SERIOUSLY?!" Chrome retorted back to him.
"Knock it off, both of you," Sumi remarked with her eyes closed. "Don't forget that Ukyo could attack if he sees that I'm fine. I'm surprised he's not thinking of doing that right now, but he will if you don't shut up. No one's dying with that plan, Magma."
"Why the hell am I the decoy?" Chrome hissed while looking irritated. He gasped as he realized something. "Decoy..." He paused as something came to him. He turned around, taking off his backpack and placing it in front of him. Sumi blinked while looking up at him. Magma and Gen were confused as he dug into the leather pouch. He then pulled out a battery. "The spare battery we were supposed to give Taiju and Yuzuriha. There's a positive and negative, right Sumi?"
"Yeah," She nodded at him slowly. "Otherwise the battery wouldn't work with just one of them or both of them. There has to be opposing charges," She gasped in realization while looking at him and understood what he was getting at. "Wait...are you saying...?"
"Yeah," He nodded at her. "All I need to do is connect the ends. It'll make the wire heat right up like crazy bad," He walked a few feet away, tossing the battery into the grass. "The noise and smoke would give our position if we sat by rubbing wood to start a fire. But with science, we can do it in a flash!" The battery cables sparked, and the fire reached to give off smoke, covering the area with it. The three men gave sounds of shock while Sumi blinked at Chrome, impressed with how much he had learned.
"That's a perfect cover," Sumi said from behind with a small smile. "Way to go, Chrome." Chrome grinned from the praise and then ran off.
"THIS IS BAAAAAD!" He yelled out, running amongst the smoke. "REAL BAAAAAD!" Ukyo turned to the area in silence while Gen was surprised. Sumi hadn't reacted to this at all. And then he understood what Sumi and Chrome meant by all this.
He's hiding under the smoke...and screaming his head off to drown out the sound of me running through the underbrush!
Magma stood up with a gleeful dark look on his face. "Ha ha ha ha, this is awesome! A hella lot better than just sneaking around!" He then ran off after Chrome, joining him in yelling. They certainly got Ukyo's attention by now...
"THIS IS BAAAAAAAAAAD!" Chrome glanced back to Magma running behind him. Gen gasped at the two, his eyes saddening for what they were doing. Sumi looked up and noticed his hesitation of leaving them behind.
"Gen, run!" Sumi whispered to him and he turned around to her in shock. He knew that with her injury, it'd slow him down, but he still had to get her help. And the others would agree with him that she needed to head back. "Go towards to the village!"
"I can't just leave you here!" He bent down to her. "You need to come back to the village with me to get treated by Senku. I know you promised him you wouldn't get hurt, but he'd understand-"
"We don't have time to argue!" She interrupted with narrowed eyes directed up at him in determination and he gasped. "This is your only chance to make it back. They need you there for the plan," She gritted her teeth while clutching her arm, squeezing her eyes shut. "Remember what you told me? Tsukasa won't hurt me, and he'll make sure I get this properly looked at. You've gotta go now! We'll handle Ukyo!"
Gen stared at her in silence for a few seconds before nodding at her. He took off his stuff and ran off. Sumi smiled weakly at him while watching him. "Don't look back, Gen. Otherwise you might change your mind. Ha...you know, if Senku and I had never met...you would be my best friend," She hummed while her eyes glistened a bit.
Chrome looked over his shoulder with a grin, watching Gen disappear. Atta boy, Gen. You've gotta run now, or we'll be putting our lives at risk for nothing. You've got the ridiculously important job of talking people from Tsukasa's army into joining up with us!
"If you don't make it home alive after all this, I'll kill you!" Magma shouted out to Gen.
"THIS IS BAD!" Chrome shouted while Magma yelled. Amidst the smokescreen, Ukyo aimed his arrow and released it. The arrow went past the smoke, but it only made them continue the plan. Gen ran back as fast as he could. Time was running out, and he couldn't waste any more of it if they wanted to defeat Tsukasa. Although Sumi was all he could think about, and he prayed that what she told him was true. And he might be in trouble with Senku for not taking her back, but he couldn't fight her stubbornness...
Meanwhile, Yuzuriha was sweating while looking up ahead. I already know we should try to bring over first.
Taiju stepped up in front of her, both of them looking at their spy hiding behind a pillar of rock. "Hey, there's something you've gotta hear," He called out and she looked at him in suspicion, half her body in shadow.
If we get our guard to join up with us...then with a little persistence and determination, we can keep winning them over, one by one.
At the hydroelectric generator, Kaseki let out a happy shout. "Whoohoooooo!" He held up a copper coil to the sky. "Look at this, guys! I made a little swirly thing out of copper!"
Clock spring acquired!
The others gasped in shock as it was now attached to the record player. This caused the player to go at a consistent speed, to their awe. "That thing that Kaseki made is making the record spin so smoothly!"
Senku looked on with a small smirk, hands on his hips. His underlying feeling about Sumi was still present, though. "Doing it by hand messes up the song cause it's hard to keep up a steady pace," He silently looked away in concern, not only because of Sumi, but because of Gen's continued absence. Even with the record player playing perfectly, though...it won't work without Gen. Yuzuriha and Taiju are gonna bring their target to the cell phone soon. If Gen doesn't get back before that happens, it's game over. And Sumi, I don't know how, but I can sense that something happened to you. Please...I need a sign that you're not hurt.
At that moment, someone stepped up in front of the laboratory. They looked back in surprise to see Gen panting as he was out of breath. He used a stick to support himself, as he had ran nonstop all the way back. "Alright, my dear Senku...who's gonna be the first person that I need to seduce?" He asked while trying to breathe, but he was almost completely exhausted.
"It's Gen!" Kohaku exclaimed with a smile.
"I'm so happy you're okay!" Suika cried out in relief, Senku smiling. He then flinched at the mentalist being the only one here.
"Eh? Where's Sumire? Wasn't she with you?" Senku blinked at him; he had no idea if she had spoken to Tsukasa or not, and hopefully she had...but he had a feeling that wasn't why she wasn't with Gen.
"She's...still alive, but..." Gen looked up, frowning deeply. "She got hit with an arrow." The others gasped from the news, Senku's eyes with dread. "Chrome and I didn't get a scratch on us thanks to her. I-I didn't feel right leaving her there...but she insisted so she can get to Tsukasa. We managed to treat her before I left. Do we go on with the plan?"
Senku narrowed his eyes a bit as he knew that something was wrong with her...but he wasn't angry, she was still breathing after all. But he had to unfortunately swallow it for now. He wanted to see her, but they also still had to go through with this to stop Tsukasa. "Yeah...let's do it for Sumi."
"Your name's Nikki, right?" Taiju spoke up again, and she didn't respond to it. "Just hear me out, come over-"
"Not happening!" She finally spoke up with a glare, and they gasped with white eyes. She did come out of hiding, but only to confront them. "My job is to keep an eye on the two of you. To see you don't meet anyone, or do anything that is remotely suspicious! I know Tsukasa wouldn't want me to tell you all of this, but I don't care! I assume you're smart enough to have figured it out anyway. Just so we're clear, we ain't friends!" She narrowed her eyes angrily. "I have no intention of getting buddy-buddy with you, so don't even try!" Yuzuriha frowned deeply at her lack of cooperation. "The only thing I'll accept in response is yes, ma'am! Say any more than that, and you're gonna be in a world of hurt!"
"Just listen!" Taiju cried out and she immediately stepped forward, punching him across the face with her right arm. Yuzuriha yelped in concern for him, and also a little afraid of Nikki's strength. He had some blood seeping from his left nostril, and a small bruise on his cheek.
"Didn't I tell you not to say anything but yes, ma'am?!" She exclaimed furiously and he glared at her. She gave a suspicious look from a lack of a reaction. That didn't hurt him at all...no. He's just taking it.
"I don't care!" He yelled, since he wanted to help Senku as much as possible. She punched him across the face again. "I'm willing to let you clobber me out of every third word I say!" She hit him again, giving him another bruise. "But you have to hear us out!" She hit him a third time and she gasped as his eyes were filled with determination. He would do anything to help his friends, and he wasn't going to fight her either. "Just listen to my friend! He's got something big to say!"
Her eyes widened as she had no idea what he meant...but he was also willing to get seriously hurt just so she could listen...? She sweated a bit as she didn't want to wind up actually killing him over this...so she silently admitted defeat. Once she did, Yuzuriha dug through the ground, as they had hidden the speaker away earlier. Nikki was confused as she saw the speaker.
"What is that?" She wondered as Yuzuriha pulled out the microphone.
At the observatory, Gen and Senku were waiting around. The phone rang and Senku turned to it. "A phone?!" Nikki asked in shock. "There's no way! That's impossible in the stone world!"
Gen picked up and prepared for his impersonation. He then stood up and spoke in Lillian's voice. "Hey! Lillian Weinberg here saying howdy!" She greeted the trio and they gasped.
"Now I'm not the smartest guy around," Taiju beamed as he fell for it. Nikki had a shadow over her eyes, so they couldn't tell what expression she had. "But I do know who she is! Do you know her, Nikki?" She was silent for a few seconds.
"Do you think I'm that stupid?" She turned away from them. "Yeah, of course I know her." Yuzuriha stared at her back, wondering what was going through the blonde's mind right now.
"Hey!" Senku grinned widely as he had a fake accent. And he was a bit glad Sumi wasn't here to hear it, otherwise she probably would never let him live this down. It was only for the illusion... "And I'm Sebastian, her personal assistant!"
Taiju blinked while sweating as he could tell that it was Senku since he was familiar with him, but not Gen's not-so-perfect impression. Sebastian? No, that's Senku's voice! Wait! He said to stay dumb, even if he says a bunch of weird stuff! He clamped his mouth shut, otherwise it might ruin the plan if he alerted Nikki he knew them.
"Anywho," Gen started off with the impression. "I'm calling from the US of A!"
"Yes, we're in America as this very moment!" Senku chimed in next.
"Y'all in Japan should listen to what I'm fixin' to tell y'all!"
"What she's about to say is extremely important," Senku stated as they just listened.
"USA is back from the stone!"
"That's right, America is up and running again!" Taiju gasped from what he was telling them.
"Aw, snap!" He exclaimed as Yuzuriha had white eyes as she was flabbergasted. However, Nikki hadn't reacted at all. "Did you ladies hear that? Finally, we're saved!"
Wow...Yuzuriha thought to herself while sweating. Is that really your plan? I think I see where they're going with this...I can at least tell that Senku's trying to play her!
There was a shadow over Nikki's eyes as she remained silent. "Stop right there. First of all..." Yuzuriha gasped quietly while turning to the blonde. "Lillian was up in space when everything happened..." She was very suspicious of what she was hearing.
"Yup! Soon as I got back to Earth, I was turned to stone! But some folks recently revived me!" 'Lillian' explained with a bright smile.
Nikki then stayed quiet yet again. She flipped over a man while in karate class. "Lillian..." Nikki spoke up while gritting her teeth. "Please listen..." She then looked up as she had an emotional look on her face, trying not to cry. "I finally have the chance to tell you just how much you mean to me! Your songs helped me get through some rough high school years! You really saved my life back then!" A younger Nikki walked home from school, carrying her bag over her shoulder. Once she returned, she laid down on her bed, wearing her headphones. She had a bandage over her cheek. She had a happy smile on her face while her Lillian CDs were nearby. She also had a Lillian poster on her wall. "Honestly...I'd do anything for you, no question. But...if I find out this is someone pretending to be Lillian Weinberg..." Her eyes widened with rage in them. "I'll kill you myself!"
Both Senku and Gen went pale from this threat. This could get ad-bay.
She's being legit. We got a superfan right off the bat!
Gen glanced to the green-haired scientist while sweating a little. "You know, I've always noticed something," He spoke up quietly and Senku turned to him. "Your luck of the draw like ridiculously sucks, doesn't it? I mean, the first person you and Sumi revived was Tsukasa. And that lightning struck before you were ready."
"Something's off here," Lillian pointed out to them. "Your voice doesn't sound right to me..." She narrowed her eyes a little. "If this really is Lillian, then forgive me...but could you answer some questions? I have to know you're the real deal." Taiju and Yuzuriha stared at her in silence, wondering how Senku or Gen would be able to handle this. "Lillian would know the right answer. So how many CDs have you sold in total?" Gen flinched from this, and Yuzuriha's eyes were shaking while white.
Oh, what are they gonna do now? There's no way Senku and Gen would know that! She thought to herself in a panic.
"We've got three options here..." Gen looked over to Senku while whispering.
"Turned into stone wiped my dang memory!" 'Lillian' pointed to her head with swirls in her eyes.
"One, dodge the question," Gen started off to him.
'Lillian' was then wearing glasses, holding up a finger. "How many? 10 billion."
"Two, guess."
"How rude!" 'Lillian' then started acting like a diva. "That's private!"
"Three, snap. So what should we do, Senku?" He looked at the scientist expectantly, and he held up a finger.
"4, be right." Gen gasped in shock as Senku began to calculate it. Here's a quick Fermi estimate. The logical approximation. The seat on the Soyuz spaceship costs 50 million dollars, or 5 billion yen. Say Lillian has double that in cash, ten billion yen. And she would have yen considering she moved to Japan so Sumi could continue going to school. Given singers of her status make their money from touring, I can calculate her royalties in reverse. Once he was finished, he looked up with his answer. "At least 60 million copies. But I don't know how much more. Only Sumi would know the real answer since she's had close contact with Lillian more than anyone else."
"Yeah, okay, that makes sense. I can take things over from there," Gen turned back to the microphone and took on the impersonation once again. "We had ourselves a big 50 million copy sold shindig a while ago. But most of my sales don't come from CDs, so I plum forgot! Sorry about that! Should I wake up my manager?"
"No need," Nikki murmured, all three of them shocked from the answer. She narrowed her eyes a little. She's right... She closed her eyes and stood up. "Okay, I've got one more question. If you know these numbers, I'll believe you."
"Maybe your luck's not so bad, Senku!" Gen silently cheered to him, who gave a small smile. "If it's just hard numbers she wants, you can use your Fermi whatever technique, can't you?"
Nikki then looked up with a serious expression. "Your measurements are?"
Gen and Senku both spit in shock from the question. Senku had some lines over his face while sweating. The mentalist looked at him wide-eyed. There was no way either of them would know that right off the bat! "Just give me a rough estimate! It may be wrong, but if it is, I can just say I've changed!" He pleaded with the scientist. "Damn, Mire-chan would be a great help right about now..."
Sumi didn't send him any pictures of her home or Lillian when the singer was made her guardian, so that wouldn't help them here. The adoption papers were also just writing. So...he had to remember a picture back before the Soyuz had went into space. He had to think long and hard of when Byukaya had sent him of himself, Lillian, and Shamil over the phone. That was all he had to go off of, unfortunately, but it was the best option. I gotta estimate from memory. Byukaya's height, the sizes of the equipment, I can use that to calculate her proportions! "88, 65, 85!" He finally told Gen after calculating.
Once Nikki heard this, she went silent and had a blank look on her face. "You look a lot skinner in your profile pictures," She said bluntly to them.
Senku held his head as he had white eyes, his face sweating immensely. Gen himself felt a little awkward. How would I know that?! Aw, she's a professional, of course she shops her photos for her fans! Sumi would laugh in my face if she heard me screw up that badly!
"Bless your heart, these are the honest truth," 'Lillian' spoke up while sweating, Senku internally freaking out at this mistake.
Nikki then looked downwards. "Of course, Lillian would never tell a fan her real measurements...cause she's a pro! Even in this stone world we're in now...she'd wanna keep the fantasy alive for all her fans! I know you aren't the real Lillian Weinberg!"
Senku and Gen stood in silence, trying to debate their next move. We're in deep ouble-tray. Should I risk it and play the song? No, if a superfan heard her voice after my impression, it'll be totally obvious I'm a fraud. Should I keep talking and try to smooth things over or what? Or maybe I should mention Sumi, if she's a superfan like she says, she might recognize her! Then she'd know we're telling the truth.
Senku stepped up silently to the record player. He then placed the disc onto the turntable. "We'll play the record," He said and Gen turned around with a gasp. "The sound quality's better now with the coil. Instead of bluffing...we'll bet on science," He gave the mentalist a small smile. He then placed the needle onto the disc, and seconds later, music began playing through the speakers.
Nowhere to turn
The trio gasped sharply from her voice.
Nowhere to hide
"That's..." Taiju started off with wide eyes.
"Music?!" Yuzuriha blinked rapidly and Nikki gasped, her eyes shining. To her, it felt like she was entering heaven.
Between a rock and a hard place
Lillian stepped up to the stage, singing passionately into the microphone.
Someone to find
I know that times are tough
Just down and out
She sung her heart out to the audience.
Putting my faith in tomorrow
No way to know
Nikki gasped as she listened attentively, Yuzuriha's mouth open.
So I make my own path
Amazing...how'd he do it? She couldn't help but wonder as to how Senku got his hands on the song.
Each and every road seems to be calling to me
Nikki was silently as the wind blew in her hair. "Yeah, that's real..." She said quietly to them. "At least the song is, anyway."
No looking back
Nikki laid down on her bed, tears in her eyes as she heard the beautiful memory. "I'd never mistake it for anything else. It's not something you can fake."
And put my best foot forward
"You have any idea...how much I listened to this?" Nikki smiled while holding a ticket to the concert she was about to see.
I'm not afraid
Cause the world
Nikki clasped her hands while watching her idol on stage, crying. No matter how many times she listened to it, it always made her cry.
"It must have been hundreds of thousands of times...!"
Is right here for us to make
Just taking one small step to hero
As she was singing, she was shown on multiple screens, smiling out to the crowd.
I'll take the chance
And when I do
Nikki looked towards the ground, letting herself cry again in sadness that she'd never be able to hear Lillian perform again. "I know Lillian's really gone now...and that's the truth."
Gen had a sad expression on his face, as he could sympathize not only with her...but the fact that Sumi could never call Lillian her mother to her face. See just how happy she might've been to hear it for the first time.
It's always you
Senku seemed to be thinking the same thing as Gen as he had a grave expression. "You're right...she is," He whispered and Nikki sniffed, looking up.
"She can live on forever...because of you," She said with happiness lacing her tone. "You brought this piece of her back to life through this song..." Her tear hit the ground, and she could vision Lillian facing the cheering crowd from her performance...and how much she enjoyed the reactions of people hearing her sing.
Sumi looked on from backstage with a smile on her face, tears pricking her eyes as she looked proud of Lillian.
"Got a science question for ya," Nikki bent down to the speaker. "Can you use your power...to bring more of Lillian's songs back from the dead?"
"Ha ha!" Gen jumped up happily with a big grin on his face. "Yes! You gotta tell the girl yes, Senku!"
He closed his eyes in thought for a second. "There's no way in hell," He said bluntly, and Gen gave him a look of despair. This was why he always negotiated because Senku was too honest... "I'm ten billion percent sure that all recorded media turned to dust thousands of years ago." Tears pooled from Gen's eyes after hearing this. He then stepped up to the record player with a serious expression. "However, I'll make this promise to you, okay?" He took the record into his hands. "I will protect this final song, using the power of science...I swear on my life."
Nikki smiled with fresh tears down her eyes, a warmful look on her face. "You're kind of an awkward guy, huh? I could tell right away. But I believe you wouldn't lie about science," Her voice sounded much softer and kinder now. "So I'll put my faith in that," She then chuckled with a small smile. "I might even fall for you."
Senku gave an awkward look, beads of sweat on his face. "How about you don't do that?" He warned as nice as he could; if he already had...complications with Sumi considering he heard her confession, he didn't think he needed this kind of attention. Not to mention, if Sumi heard about this from Nikki, she'd probably have the same reaction as she did when they met Kohaku. Taiju and Yuzuriha gave awkward looks behind Nikki as they also felt that if she actually did, that wouldn't exactly help get their two friends together as a couple...
"Ahh, he's kinda got-"
"Shh!" Yuzuriha warned him, a finger in front of her mouth. "Remember what Senku told you?"
"Oh yeah, right," Taiju then stood straight, whistling to himself. Gen gave Senku the microphone, walking towards the window.
"To bring more of Tsukasa's troops over to our side, I'll need this record. Which means Sumi and I have gotta protect the thing with our lives. Sounds like you'd give your life to preserve this song," He then chuckled to the blond. "So I'd say we're on the same team."
Nikki blinked at the name, staring at the speaker in silence for a few seconds. "By Sumi...you mean Sumire?" She asked slowly to the microphone. Taiju and Yuzuriha looked at her in shock. Gen and Senku gasped at her being able to know who Sumi was, just as surprised as their friends.
"Sumire Maeda?" Nikki continued on with closed eyes, Taiju and Yuzuriha shocked as well.
"She knows her?!" Gen looked at the microphone wide-eyed.
"How could I not? Lillian...Lillian was arranged to meet her by Sumi's grandmother," Nikki opened her eyes; once she heard of it, she couldn't help but admire the singer even more for going out of her way to do that for a stranger.
"Yeah...yeah, that's right," Senku opened his eyes; he felt like Nikki wouldn't tell anyone what he was about to say. Same thing for Taiju and Yuzuriha. "But what Lillian didn't mention...well, she wanted this to be a secret, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Sumi actually lived with Lillian for a while," Nikki, Yuzuriha, and Taiju all blinked in shock from the news. "She became her guardian when Sumi was young. Sumi's parents were total crap, so she couldn't live with them right before we started middle school. And...and she found out Lillian was gonna adopt her...before the world collapsed."
"I just hope she was okay with you telling them that right off the bat..." Gen gave a small sweat drop. If she wasn't, he could just lie and say that it slipped their minds. Hopefully she wouldn't do anything if she believed it was just a mistake on their part.
"Wait, really?" Yuzuriha asked in shock, leaning a little bit towards the microphone. "But how come no one knew? Wouldn't it have been in the news that the two were related?"
"The both of them agreed they wouldn't tell anyone, and they usually pretended that Sumi was living a normal life again. I guess after the adoption went through, they would've announced it," Senku blinked, giving a small smile as the adoption papers were now in a frame in the science lab. "Everything in public had to be kept quiet so that they could just be a normal family for her sake. I bet that she got to attend most of Lillian's concerts growing up...just like you did."
Nikki blinked and realized...most of Lillian's concerts years before the petrification all fell on a weekend. She thought it was just because Lillian was being considerate of fans who had jobs on the weekdays. But now that she heard Senku's story...it all started to make more and more sense.
"Did...did you know?" Taiju wondered since if Senku was telling them this, he had to had known. He wouldn't put it past Sumi to inform the green-haired scientist. When Taiju had feelings for Yuzuriha for five years, his friends easily kept it a secret. On Senku's part, he didn't really care but still supported it. He had known them for a long time, and he knew that Senku and Sumi almost never kept secrets from each other. For the former, he always deemed it 'too illogical' to not tell Sumi given his bluntness. As for Sumi, she trusted him with anything.
"Not until recently, no," Senku gave a small grin to the surprise of his friends. "She had to promise not to tell a single person. She told me after we found the signed adoption papers. They had been preserved for thousands of years. Eh, but I'm not stressed over it. Back then, I didn't have a millimeter of worry when it happened."
The two smiled at him, knowing that he was just relieved Sumi was happy and loved. They had no idea Sumi grew up with abusive parents either...they could imagine she didn't want to worry them. But they weren't mad at her for not saying anything to them, because the two of them trusted Senku and his judgement.
"So then...she would know Lillian's songs..." Nikki murmured in thought while closing her eyes. "Every single one of them. Please, whenever I ask...would she sing one?" She asked pleadingly with another tear falling, as she wanted to hear Lillian's music one last time...and from someone who knew her like Sumi did, she had to have memory of them. How could she have not? If she attended Lillian's concerts and lived with the singer, she would've listened to her songs around the house. Or heard them from Lillian herself when she wasn't performing.
Senku closed his eyes, his arms crossed. Considering how Sumi acted with everyone else, this wouldn't be something she'd take lightly. Especially if Nikki told her the same things she had said about Lillian, and he knew that she'd understand. Now they both had cherished memories of the singer that could only live on with them both and the song... "...As someone who's known her for over 3,700 years...yeah," He opened his eyes knowingly. "Yeah, she would do that if you ask her. But the three of us share the same goal...don't we?"
Nikki grabbed the front of her cloak, and threw it off of her. She had a big smile on her face, Taiju and Yuzuriha looking happy behind her. "That works for me on both ends! You, Sumi, and I have a deal! Whatever you're planning to do next, consider me on board!"
Taiju let out a happy yell. "Thanks so much, Nikki!" Yuzuriha said in relief and Taiju held up his arms.
"We did it! It took a year, but we finally got ourselves a real ally in the Tsukasa Empire!" Taiju cheered out loud happily.
Nikki the Guard has joined the party!
Nikki then smiled brightly, her eyes shining as she felt like she could trust Senku's word. On both the record and of Sumi singing for her. And she couldn't wait for that day.