n-3^07-! (I love you)

Chapter Five

Everyone gathered in Chrome's hut to speak about what they would do next. Asagiri Gin was still a problem they all had to agree upon and figure out how to deal with the situation. Along with the conversation, the topic of Tsukasa was brought up.
"So you see, Suika, this man called Tsukasa is the one behind Senku's murder."
Senku chuckled. "I'm not dead though."
Chrome, of course, had to let his thoughts be heard and blurted out, "He's seriously bad news!"
Yae was sitting beside Senku. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. "Senku, is all this true?" She was suddenly very scared for him.
"Don't worry, Yae. I didn't tell you earlier because I didn't want you to worry."
"Still..."
"He wanted to stop scientific progress," Chrome went on. "And he didn't think twice about killing Senku to do it."
"I told you, I'm not dead."
Suika suddenly jumped to her feet. "So that Tsukasa person is a bad man, and Gen is with him? Then Gen is a bad person!"
"Slow down there, Suika." Yae tried to calm her.
"But wait...Gen saved us from Magma. He's gotta be a good person!"
Senku smirked. "No. He's neither good not bad.
"He's just a very shallow man," Kohaku said. She could no longer hold her tongue.
Senku looked at the lioness seriously. "It doesn't matter if Asagiri Gen is a good or bad guy. We need him to be on the side of the Kingdom of science." Senku went on to let them in on Asagiri Gen's plan. "He's going to give Tsukasa a fake report saying I'm dead."
"And you think we can win by doing that?" Yae didn't sound so sure.

Senku looked back over at Yae and stared at her for a few seconds. "What else can we do? Do you have a better idea?" He took his finger and bopped her nose.
"Ah!" Yae swished Senku's hand away. "Not yet, but give me some time and I will."
"You hear that Gen?" Said Chrome. "You saw it, didn't you? The electricity? The insane light of science? Who cares about who wins? Who gives a damn about whether Tsukasa or Senku has the edge? The Kingdom of science is just way more fun!"
"My Chrome, you're a passionate young man. Too bad, though. I don't care what you do, Chrome. I'm the most superficial man on earth. All I care about is if anything will benefit me."

Hearing this angered Kohaku, and Senku and Yae had to keep her at bay.
"Wait, Kohaku! Violence is not the answer!" Yae told her.
"If you go after him now you might scare him," Senku said. "We don't need that kind of trouble right now."
"Oh fine!" Kohaku huffed and sat back down.

While Asagiri Gen was off on his own, he started thinking back on when he first woke up in the stone world. Tsukasa was there, and he filled him in on the detail about what happened. Tsukasa was building an army, that much he was certain of, and he wasn't sure if telling Senku and his friends about that was a good idea right now. Besides, when he left, Tsukasa's army was still stone.
Asagiri's mission was a simple one: find out if Senku still lived. But that wasn't all that Tsukasa ordered him to do.
"Before you go," Tsukasa said. "There is one another person I would like you to keep an eye out for. It's alright if you don't find her, but I would consider her very important to my army. She's in no way strong like myself, but she has just as big of a brain as Senku."
"Oh? And you think finding this girl she would side with you?"
Tsukasa smiled. "If Senku is truly dead, and she is out there, then persuading her will be easy." He chuckled. "Who will she be able to turn to? She's smart like Senku, but I believe her nature is different. I'm sure she'd agree with me that reviving the evil would be a bad idea."
"Any pray tell me what is her name?"
Tsukasa paused for a moment, never taking his eyes off Asagiri. "Yae...Yae Sawa."
Asagiri smirked. "Is Yae a lover of yours?"
This time Tsukasa shook his head and scoffed, his grin never fading. "No, nothing like that, but that's not to say I would deny her if she pursued me...not that I would have to try very hard."
So that was Asagiri's side mission and he had accomplished that as well. However, figuring out whether or not to tell Tsukasa was another matter. But before he could think much more of it, someone came up from behind and started beating him.