"Centipede?" Gen asked as he overheard you talking to Senku about your debate with Sai.
"You know OSU right?" you both turned to face him.
"Yeah." he nodded.
"Well there's this map to the song 'Centipede', which is like some classic hardcore dubstep."
"A map?"
"A level basically." Senku explained.
"Right, and it is actually impossible to play."
"Oh, not even you (Y/n)-chan?" he tilted his head.
"Are you kidding, if it was actually doable, I'd play the hell out of it!"
"But in this case, it is humanly impossible to play. Each note has an interval of like 0.01 second in between them. An average of 76 notes per second."
"That *is* humanly impossible!" Gen exclaimed. "Why was this even made in the first place?!"
"Pretty sure the guy who made it just wanted to mess around and create a cool map."
"And it is fun to watch," you smiled. "it's a real trip! I especially love when the notes form retro video games!"
"Oh yeah! That part's sick!"
"...Love that for you guys." Gen smiled awkwardly, not able to relate to your enthusiasm.
.
Some time later, Senku and Sai worked together to make the instructions for the circuit, that they'll soon fax to Corn City. Looking at it, you were glad to be here and not over there.
"You know (Y/n)-chan," Gen said. "I'm thinking maybe we'd need something to motivate the people in Corn City, give them some pep you know?"
"What are you thinking of?"
His smile grew larger as he leaned closer and whispered something that made your face lit up.
"Iconic dynamic host duo back for one more contest."
Together, you made a flying announcing the 'Mathlympics Tourney', with any tools allowed, and faxed it to the crafting team.
"Knowing Magma and Yo, this will definitely light a fire under their ass." you smiled.
"Agree! Now, let's go prepare the contest!"
A few day later, in the middle of the sea, you set up three stations for Sai, Senku and Chrome. You and Gen were dressed up for the occasion and both had a mic, so that the people in North America could hear.
"Wait, I thought we could only communicate through morse code." you whispered to him.
"Don't worry about it." he quickly whispered it before turning towards the audience. "The Indian crossing is perfect for the new world Mathlympics!"
"It's a blast from the past! Asagiri and (L/n) are back! The hosts with the mosts!"
"What do you expect from this historical event today (L/n)?"
"Well Asagiri, I expect nothing less than blood, sweat, tears and math!"
"Well (L/n), at least one of those things might happen! Let's meet out mathletes! Chrome-chan, Senku-chan, and Sai-chan!"
"Or as I like to call 'em: Chrome, Senku and Sai. The math boys!"
"You would think you'd call your boyfriend something else." he raised an eyebrow.
"That is..." you pursued your lips, quickly thinking of something to say. "None of your fuckin' business."
You both snickered, breaking character for a moment before clearing your throat.
"And competing remotely, aaaaall the way from Corn City: our dear Magma!"
"That is my best friend right there!"
Gen scoffed, acting offended.
"I thought I was your best friend."
"I thought *I* was your best friend!" Chrome exclaimed, genuinely offended.
"Let's see how our good good boy does against the ruthless math boys!
Gen held up a piece of paper with a very long calculus.
"And heeeeere's the question!"
"There's no way I can do this!" Chrome exclaimed.
"Come on Chrome, first price's my friendship!"
"It is not." Gen casually said. "But you know, whatever keeps you goin'."
Sai started to write with his two hands like it was nothing, Senku's looked up as he thought, and Chrome was staring intently at the paper.
"Now, Chrome-chan is going to try and be good at this.
"Let's see how that strategy works out for him."
"Only the math gods know." you both nodded.
"Screw you guys! Let me think!" he held his temples.
"It's 827,401,136,058." Magma spoke.
"Thaaaaa-" you slowly turned to look at Senku and Sai.
"Yup."
"He's right."
"-aaat is correct~!"
"Amazing!" Kohaku said. "In an instant... So that's what a computer does."
"Technically, right now it's just a calculator." you said.
"Still," Ryu smiled. "this day marks a major milestone for the science of our new world."
"Yep." Senku nodded. "Something made from scratch by people can end up transcending the human mind. Now that's exciting!"
"Anyway, congratulations Magma!" you turned towards the radio. "You have won bragging rights for eternity!"
You heard him loudly cheer and it made you chuckle.
"Along with a hundred million dragos!"
"Wait really?!" you looked at Ryu, then at the losers of this contest. "Math boys! You could've tried harder than that!"
"Against a computer?" Senku frowned.
"But you're not even here to cough up the dough!" Yo exclaimed.
"Worry not." François said. "You will be paid via direct deposit."
"Ryusui Bank is open for business!" Ryu snapped his fingers. "Using the Kingdom of Science's computer!"
.
Now that both Xeno's and Yuzuriha's team are set on their part of the project, your globetrotting team could focus on the rocket-building part.
"Now that India's behind us," Ryu pointed at the globe. "the next stop on our rocket-building tour is: Australia!"
"This Northern tip of Australia is the world's most abundant source of bauxite, the ore that gives us aluminum." Senku excitedly explained.
After a tumultuous journey, you've reached the land. You and Chrome were especially hyped for this.
"No one beats us when it comes to rock finding!" he said once you've arrived. "Get ready for pro geographer Chelsea versus pro explorer Chrome and his second (Y/n)! Another blass from the grass!"
"What he said! But in a less dumbass way!" you wheezed.
"Mmh," Chelsea tilted her head. "this won't be much of a throwdown."
"What?!"
"Damn, trash talk from Chelsea?!" your eyes widen.
"Nah, I just mean there's no searching involved." she picked up a rock and showed it to everyone. "The ground all around is made of bauxite, the source of aluminum!"
"No wonder it's the world's best source." Sai smiled as everyone looked on in shock.
"How fantastic!" Gen said. "In no time we'll have Aluminum City!"
"And with that, the rocket!" you nodded. "This Moon mission is taking way less time than I expected!"
Senku smiled at you enthusiasm, but it soon faded.
'She needs to know.'
He usually liked to keep things hidden until later, for dramatic effect. But right now, keeping this from you, he felt a tightness in his heart. That night, he asked if you two could speak alone. He led you both out of the camp and to the beach, the Moon reflecting on the water. When he stopped, he kept his back to you.
"So, what's up?"
"I want you to know before anybody else."
"...Know what?" you frowned slightly.
You were getting worried. Whenever Senku turned his back on you, it was less because he didn't want to look at you and more like he didn't want to show his face. He took a deep breath.
"With our mission, with humanity back in action, we have no way of knowing when Why-Man might launch another petrification attack on the whole planet. So there's no time to lose before taking the fight to him." he looked down. "For this Moon mission, we don't have time to create a return vessel."
There was a moment of silence. Senku could only imagine the look on your face right now, the thought of it made him clench his fists. He forced himself to continue. He didn't like your lack of response.
"Going forward, humanity will keep progressing until round trips to the Moon are no sweat. But until that day... those of us who make this Moon landing will have to petrify ourselves with the medusa device we'll be taking with us. There, on the Moon's surface, we'll stand long into the future, waiting to be rescued. For years, decades, maybe even centuries..."
Silence again, only the waves slowly going back and forth could be heard.
'Geez, what a coward I'm being. Not daring to look her in the eyes...' Senku forced a faint smile. 'Sounds like she's taking it well at leas-'
He quietly gasped when he was suddenly turned around, grabbed by the shoulders. Your face was red and soaked with tears as they uncontrollably flowed down. You looked into his eyes, forcing him to look into yours.
"Is there really no other way?" you asked in a small voice.
There it was, the reason why he kept his back to you, the pain in his chest. He pursued his lips, his eyebrows furrowed, and stayed silent, knowing you knew what the answer would be. You sobbed and pressed your forehead on his shoulder, crying. Senku's eyes grew glassy and he hugged you, petting your hair until you've calmed down.
Eventually, you sniffed and stepped back, wiping your eyes.
"Alright... Alright." you took a deep breath. "I guess I gotta work even harder now."
"Mmh?"
"I mean," you walked away. "I was planning on doing one big concert before you left, but now I'll be sure give it ten billion percent." you stopped and looked back at him, your eyes still teary. "Just you watch! It's gonna be the best performance you've ever seen in your god damn life!"
He smiled and went to take your hand.
"That's all of your performances."
"Not this time!" you both began to walk back, holding hands. "After this one you're gonna be like, 'ayo, all the ones you did before? Garbage!'"
He chuckled.
"I doubt that, but you're very welcome to try."
.
To dig out all the bauxite you guys needed, ideas were thrown to make mining machines such as bucket-wheel excavator. From Ryu's description of it, it looked like a monster to you.
"If there's one thing old animated movie about the environment have taught me, is to be wary of those things." you folded your arms.
"What do you mean, I got to drive the one owned by Nanami Corp. once." Ryu smiled, feeling nostalgic. "It was quite the spectacle."
'The one percent.' you sighed.
"Maybe someday we'll make it," Senku said. "but for now, we'll stick to human powered mining."
"We're meant to match the power of that excalibur thing?" Gen began to sweat. "How many people must be revived to do that much digging and mining?"
"And won't that work force eat through our food supplies?" Kohaku asked.
"Speaking of," Suika said. "we're running low on revival fluid as well!"
"You needn't worry about such matters." François smiled.
Senku chuckled.
"Why do you think our first move was founding Corn City? Remember how corn served as food and gives us the alcohol to make revival fluid?"
"Okay, but we are almost out of corn." you said "Unless we set up plantation which will take months, I don't think we'll-"
Just then, a big honk echoed in the distance. You all looked towards the horizon and watch as a steamboat cale closer and closer. Once on shore, you were all greeted by Ukyo and Yo.
"Okay. My bad." you looked at Senku with a hand on your chest. "I should've trusted my boys."
He chuckled.
That evening, you guys set up a little reunion party. Incredible how many variety of food François could make with just corn.
"And here I thought I'd get sick of it at some point." you said.
"I will take this as a complement." they bowed. "Thank you."
And food wasn't the only planned delivery. Soon after that, Ukyo handed Senku the medusa from Treasure Island, with a new battery that Kaseki made. After a quick test, it seemed to be working perfectly. Ukyo tried to do the same thing with one of the many medusas they found in South America, but this time, it didn't work. You narrowed your eyes.
"Oh, watch out." Gen smiled. "(Y/n)-chan's about to spill out some theories."
"Okay so, either:" you held up both of your indexes. "The one from treasure island is the most recently sent, or, it's all the other ones that were used too many times - or for one big petrification - and that's why those don't work. Or who knows, maybe Joel just isn't that good." you shrugged, saying this last part in a silly voice. "But I doubt it."
"You weren't there when it happened but," Senku said. "while Kaseki was working on the medusas, he managed to discover that the ones we found in South America were much more busted than the one from Treasure Island. So your theory of this one being more recent is correct, good job." he smiled.
You smiled back.
"I see!" Ryu snapped his fingers. "It was the device themselves that were too damaged!"
"So in summary," Chrome said, noticing Kohaku's confusion. "this one medusa still works. So as long as it has a fresh battery from Kaseki, we can petrify people all day long."
These words made you look down, your eyebrows furrowed. Senku's expression also became graver.
"Yep." he said. "And with a working medusa in hand, we got the key component to go up with us in the rocket, on our Moon mission suicide run."
'Do you have to call it that?' you pursued your lips.
And just like that, Senku told the news to everybody. It didn't hit you as much as last time, but damn did it still hurt.
"N-no way..." Chrome said, then noticed the look on your face. "(Y/n)...you knew?"
You didn't respond.
"I wanted her to know first." Senku said.
"Heh," Ryu smiled. "acting like a proper boyfriend."
"...Why do you always do this when you're about to die?" you asked.
Senku looked into your eyes for a moment.
"...Sorry."
You sighed.
"Whatever, it's cool. Now," you clapped your hands. "let's go to bed and wake up early! Because the sooner we finish that rocket, the sooner you leave and die in space, the sooner *we* can work on building another rocket to go and save you guys!"
Everyone cheered. It was all bittersweet, but at least it motivated everyone.
.
The next day, Senku laid out the road map to make the rocket, one of the steps made you and Gen frown: 'a crazy, baaaad, nasty amount of electricity'. He explained that the only way to harvest this much electricity here in this stone world is with a hydroelectric plant.
"Then why didn't you just wrote 'hydroelectric plant'?" you asked.
"Let me have some fun with words will you?" he gave you the side-eyes. "Anyway, we have the perfect place for a hydroelectric plant!"
"Mmh? Not here?" you tilted your head.
"Kukuku! A place you're all familiar with. A land with rivers to spare and varying elevation."
With just these infos, Chelsea and you gasped.
"And what do ya know!" he continued, getting hyped himself. "We already have a home base and resources there! How lucky and convenient for us!"
"You don't mean...?" Gen's eyes widen.
"Japan baby~!" you threw your arms in the air. "We're going back home!!!"
"Haha!" Ryu snapped his fingers. "So we're combining the resources from all our cities around the world?!"
"You mean it all so happens that it's all gonna converge back to our very own homeland?!" Kohaku asked.
"Yep." Senku nodded with a big smile. "Our rocket to the Moon is getting built in Japan!"