It was a long and tedious process, but you and Sai finally released a bunch of video games for people to play. Obviously, it was an instant hit!
"Amazing!" a crowd quickly gathered around the screen (with Yo crying from joy). "Even in this world we got video games!"
Sai giggled as the two of you kept programming in your corner. After Senku taught you music tracking, and a bit of practice, you got the hang of it and you were able to keep up to Sai's speed.
"A drop puzzle game like tetris is as simple a program as it gets!"
"And since the music is simple and retro, I can make it no problem!" you added.
"We can whip out plenty more in short orders!"
"Haha~!" Ryu snapped his fingers. "This collaboration between musician (Y/n) and programer Sai is sure to make miracles!"
For a while, you worked with Sai in making video games. It was no Dragon Quest yet, but this was a great start! Then one evening, something happened. You were all minding your own business on the Perseus when suddenly you heard Gen and Yo yelling. You all looked over to see the medusa's green light slowly coming towards you. With no time to think about how or why this was happening, you all ran away. But you and Senku were thinking fast.
"Senku!" you grabbed his arm. "The speed's different from when it enveloped the whole planet!" you quickly said, thinking that any information would be useful to him, even if he already knew.
He smiled and grabbed your hand.
"Good eye!" he said before stopping.
"What are you doing?!"
"Hold on."
"Shouldn't we, you know, fuckin' move?!"
"Ah, you're right." he made you both back away two meters. "This should be fine."
Ryusui noticed what you were doing and let out a 'ha!' before standing beside you. You trusted Senku of course, but that didn't stop you from panicking when the light came closer and closer. You hugged his arm tightly and grabbed his bottle of revival fluid from his belt, just in case. You praised yourself but then your eyes widen when the beam came to a stop and eventually disappeared. You let out a heavy sigh and almost deflated, leaning on Senku's shoulder. He laughed and gently took the bottle back.
"Don't scare me like that!" you pushed him.
He just laughed louder. You all went below deck to check on the medusa, which, last time you saw it, was inside a glass dome devoid of air, inside a giant safe. You found Gen and Yo petrified and in pieces, the safe was still closed, but when you opened it, you found the glass casing shattered.
"What the fuck?" you whispered as you slowly turned your head towards Senku.
He looked at shocked you were. At this moment, you all went detective mode. You pieced the two suspects/witnesses back together (you couldn't find all of Yo's hair though, so now he has a new haircut), and interrogated them right away.
"What the hell happened?" you asked them with a serious expression.
"W-wasn't me!" Yo panicked. "I mean sure we were the last ones there and I may have wondered what would happen if I shouted from outside the case!"
You frowned.
"But it was a joke!"
Your frowned deepened. He panicked even more.
"I want my lawyer!"
"Relax Yo-chan." Gen, his unspoken lawyer, reassured him. "You're blameless here." he smiled at you. "Before getting into any reasoning or deduction, so as to not jump to conclusion-"
"Too late, I'm deducting!" you folded your arms. "I've jumped!"
"Listen to what happened first!" he cleared his throat. "One, a clamor inside the safe. Two, the sound of glass cracking. Three, the click. Four, the flash."
"Okay so three is the glass shattering for sure." you gestured towards the inside of the safe.
"And the clamor could be the vacuum tube cracking." Senku said, a hand on his chin. "But we can't be sure of that."
"Meanwhile..." Gen smirked. "No living soul so much as touched or spoke to the safe or the device."
There was a moment of tense silence.
"So the light came out all on its own?" Kaseku asked.
"Hah!" Kohaku smiled. "Sounds to me like Why-man has restarted his attack on humanity from up on the Moon!"
"Activating it remotely?" Chrome's eyes narrowed. "But how?"
"Via video waves perhaps." Sai suggested.
"Hmph! If he could do something like that, why not do that from the start?" Ryu smiled. "Like when my dear (Y/n) was all by her lonesome, to finish the job."
"Awfully sweet of him not to zap the whole Earth, don't you think?" Chelsea shifted nervously.
"Too many mysteries behind this~." Suika held her head.
Meanwhile, you were staring at the medusa. Senku noticed.
"What is it?"
"I'm just trying to see if what just happened could fit my evil AI theory." you said, not looking away.
Seeing you this focused, he huffed a smile.
"Like, think about it." you went closer to him and leaned to the side, your heads touching now, which he let happen. "Between before and now, the one difference with the medusa was that there were no more air. It has to have something to do with it." you spoke quietly, still not looking away.
Senku's smile faded, he took the medusa and you both closely looked at it. Although you were smart enough to come up with all the pieces, you still couldn't quite put them together. And with such a mystery, not even Senku could. But he could also have theories...
"In the wake of this little attack, who knows what could hit us next!" Kohaku exclaimed, snapping you out of your thoughts (not Senku though). "We gotta take the fight to Why-man hard and fast!"
"Y-yeah!" Chrome smiled, though he was sweating. "But, I mean, how do we know where on the Moon we gotta hit? The exact location seems like a key detail!"
"That is indeed our starting point." Ryusui said. "We must nail down the exact location."
With that in mind, you all went on the ship's deck to check out the Moon and get some fresh air, after what happened, you surely needed some.
"Can't just pick a spot and start searchin' once you're there I suppose." Kaseki said as you and him looked up at the Moon.
"That'd be a hopeless task," Senku said. "the Moon's diameter is over a quarter of the Earth."
"And it's not like we can see Why-man from here." you sighed.
"In any case, the situation's changed, and we're sorely lacking data. I'd love to start experimenting on the medusa to reproduce that result. But at the same time..."
"Too risky, right?" Ukyo said. "Better remove the battery for now. Just to be sure."
While him and Kaseki left with the Medusa, Gen approached Yo.
"Ahem, Yo-chan~." he smiled. "While you were bringing it to us from the U.S.. Did you happen to meddle with the medusa?"
You heard that and looked at the suspect with an unblinking stare. He gulped.
"Like I keep saying, I didn't do a thing! Besides, Ukyo was holding it the whole time!"
"And how would that change anything exactly?" you asked Gen.
But just as you did, you came up with the answer. Your eyes widen.
"Are you suggesting this was like...preliminary?"
Chelsea gasped.
"I get it! Maybe someone with the medusa said 'three months twenty meters' or whatever! Yikes, it's the perfect crime! You're a true detective Gen!"
"But who would do such a thing?" Senku asked.
"Right? Besides, we're all besties now."
"Senku would." you pointed at him.
"Wha-what?!?!?!" Gen and Chelsea exclaimed.
"Kukuku~! No hesitation huh?" he smirked. "And why makes you think that?"
"To test it of course." you shrugged as you casually justified accusing your boyfriend. "See how far ahead one can schedule the medusa's petrification."
His smile grew a tad larger as his eyes wandered a bit.
"It would be a pretty sick twist." he sighed, his hands on his hims. "But nah, I didn't do it."
"Well then I got nothing." you sighed too. "Sorry I accused you."
"I would've been offended if you didn't, honestly. As long as we can't study what actually happened, we gotta consider every possibility." he paused. "For now, the medusa will be monitored at all hours under total lockdown, where nobody can possibly access it."
"And...how do we do that?" Gen asked.
Senku just smiled.
"Oh boy." you said, smiling as well. "I guess we're gonna have to find out."
"Kukuku~!"
.
The next day, you all took a ship and went South, to Kagoshima. It was mining time and you were hyped for it. You haven't gone cave-exploring in a while!
"These mines are full of selenium-bearing silver ore!" Senku said as he looked at one of those rocks with the upmost adoration.
"Maybe some day he'll look at you like that." Gen whispered to you before giggling.
"That's never going to happen." you smiled. "Let's be realistic here, come on."
"We've also prepped some elements from our natural treasure chest, the skarn. Arsenic, and tellurium!"
"Wait," you frowned. "arsenic's poison isn't it?"
"They're all poison!" he looked at you with a big smile, his cheeks dusted with pink.
"What deadly forces are we meddling with?!" Gen panicked.
"In this stone world, what deadly forces *aren't* we meddling with?!" you nudged him, laughing.
As it turned out, it was to re-create functioning cameras that were used as security cameras to monitor the medusa. Senku set up four of them to see every angle of the device. But Ryu and yourself immediately came to the conclusion that...
"Now tv can be a thing!!!"
He sent a bunch of cameras to North America, to Minami to be exact, so that she could get promoted to tv reporter. They re-created baseball and it was broadcasted to the whole continent (it wasn't powerful enough to broadcast it worldwide yet), you were surprised when you heard that Xeno had a team with his name on it. Meanwhile, Ryusui created 'Dragon TV' studios and as it opened, you both shook hands with a firm grip.
"Can't wait to see your live performances my dear!"
"I can't wait either! From radio to tv, it's gonna be so cool!" you jumped lightly in excitement.
"Though I can't say I don't wanna see that," Senku said. "we didn't make cameras for your guys' amusement."
"Sure~." you rolled your eyes with a smile. "Sure you made them *just* for watching the medusa."
"Nope, not even that."
You frowned, now confused.
"The real task is ten billion percent more important." he said before pointing up at the sky. "It's gonna tell us Why-man's location on the Moon."
You and the others gasped.
"Even our best telescope doesn't show us enough from down here on Earth." he continued. "Things get in the way, like the Earth's atmosphere or bad weather. We'll need an eye up in space, beaming a live feed down to us, so we can scan the Moon's surface."
You gasped again, louder this time.
"S-surely not..." Gen stuttered.
"Yep." Senku smiled widely. "In order to reveal Why-man's location, we're launching a satellite from our new stone world! Now that's exciting!"
You squealed, hyped. The cavemens however were very much confused as to what a satellite was. When explained, they were as hyped as you were.
"So until we find Why-man, it's gonna be flying around up there." Chrome looked up. "Won't it run outta fuel?"
"Strictly speaking, a satellite doesn't really fly." Senku said.
"Right, since there's no gravity in space, it just floats." you added.
"Not exactly either. Instead, it's constantly falling towards the Earth."
"What?"
"Yeah, since the Earth spins."
You squinted your eyes.
"If I had a board, I'd draw a picture and you'd get it." he patted your shoulder. "I'll do that later."
"You could've done that for a lot of things!" Gen and Yo exclaimed. "It would've been useful for the rest of us who never get your science babble!"
"Point being: a satellite doesn't need fuel!" Chelsea smiled. "Dope!"
"It still needs an energy source." Senku picked his ear.
"Because beaming Moon photo data back to Earth and calculating and adjusting its position both require electricity."
"Electricity?" Suika tilted her head. "Why not just plug in some batteries?"
"Except batteries would run outta juice real fast too." Chrome frowned.
"A source of energy in space that'll basically never run out..." Senku trailed off, giving everyone a chance to guess.
You thought for a second, then snapped your fingers.
"Solar energy!"
"Bingo." he pointed at you.
"Ah! Solar cells!" Gene's face lit up.
.
"(Y/n), Kohaku and crew dug up this sweet ingredients Kagoshima." Senku explained the next day while working on the solar cell. "Selenium comes in handy once again! Combine a bunch of thin sheets and you can turn light into electricity! It'll be a super-primitive type of crap efficiency, but if you make if big enough, it'll get the job done."
"And that's all that matters." you nodded.
When if was done, you tested it out by powering a drone with it, and it worked perfectly.
"Amazing! The sun's power alone..." Chrome began to say, but then he realized something. "But what about rainy or cloudy days?"
"There's no weather in space," you smiled. "it's just void 24/7!"
"The satellite will be far above the clouds." Ukyo added.
"So big panels like that are gonna float around, high up in the sky where Mr. Sun's always shining?!" Suite asked.
"The satellite will have a battery that never dies! That's insane!" Chrome exclaimed.
"Take notes." you whispered to him.
"Already did, it's all in there." he tapped his temple.
"I'll quiz you later."
"Crap." he looked in his pockets for a pen and paper.
You snickered.
.
With the first model of the rocket finished, named the Senku 1, you guys put it on a boat and shipped out to the launching site on Treasure Island. Just as you landed and you said hello to everyone, you noticed another boat coming closer.
"Kukuku~," Senku smirked. "and here's come a level 99 rocket engine."
Indeed, that thing was massive, and it looked complex as hell. You looked at it in awe for a moment, but then, you noticed that Xeno was on board of the ship, and he was smiling at you. You frowned and turned away, clicking your tongue.
"Great." you mumbled to yourself before leaving the scene.
Xeno joined Senku and looked at the rocket.
"I must say, Senku, that is one elegant craft."
"Heh, right back at ya Xeno. You finished the engine in three short years, huh?"
"Good to know your skills are still share after napping for a few thousand years."
He chuckled. Then, Senku looked at Xeno's crew and noticed something.
"What'chu brought there?"
"Have you forgotten our bet?"
He looked at him, a bit surprised.
"I thought you were joking, why would you-" he stopped himself. "Oh." he puffed a chuckle. "What are your priorities exactly?"
"It's simply a side-project, nothing more." he looked away, smiling.
"Well, your side-projects seem to always revolve around my girlfriend." he smirked with a raised eyebrow. "Should I be worried?"
Xeno chuckled.
"Well, we *are* close in age by now. But, I have known her since she was in middle-school, she is a dear friend of mine, nothing more."
"Oh boy," he rolled his eyes. "I guess I should feel lucky."
"Don't be so hard on yourself," he gave him side-eye. "I'm sure you'd still have a chance."
"Oh yeah," he gave him a side-eye too. "'cause (Y/n)'s all about power-hungry, 'I wanna rule the world' homicidal fanatics. She goes crazy for these guys."
"Everybody wants to rule the world."
"And you're not gonna get her with music references either."
Xeno chuckled.
Before the rocket launch, it was lunch time. It was nice to see everyone again- except Xeno, who was working on attaching the engine to the rocket.
"Oi, (Y/n)."
You looked over and saw Senku walking over. He sat beside you and handed you something that made you gasp: a bubble waffle. He had one for himself and was in the middle of eating it.
"Oh my god!" you took it and took a bite. "Mmm~! So good!" you gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I can't believe you found the time to re-create bubble waffles!"
"Oh we didn't. Xeno did." he pointed with his thumb.
Your expression fell, you looked over to see a stand that offered these pastries to everyone, with 'Xeno's Bubble Waffles' written on it. Senku saw you pursuing your lips and your eyes getting glassy, as if you were hit right in the feels, but it only lasted a moment. You frowned, aggressively finished your waffle and stood up before leaving. Senku watched you leave and sighed. You found Xeno taking a break, sitting in his corner with a waffle and a fresh drink.
"What's your deal exactly?" you faced him, your hands on your hips.
"Why hello to you too (Y/n)." he casually said. "It's been three years since we've last seen each-other, it's really nice to see you again."
"Were you hoping to buy me with food? What do you even hope to get out of this, huh?!" you paused. "Oh~ I know, you wanna manipulate me into using soft power so that people like *you* more than Senku and then you'll take control of the world! Ain't gonna happen!"
"...I've never had bubble waffles before." he took a bite. "François was kind enough to send me the recipe. You were right." he smiled at you. "They're excellent."
You pursued your lips. You couldn't see nor detect any malice or ill intentions from his tone or the look on his face. And you didn't like it one bit!
"You...!" you wanted to say something, but couldn't find any words, so you just turned around and started to walk away.
"It's clear you still hate me." he said, making you stop. "Think what you want of me and my intentions in this Moon mission, but I want you to know..." he leaned forwards, his expression serious. "You and I, we've grown quite close during our years of penpalship. I would never want to throw it all away."
"...And yet. You fucked up pretty bad."
"And I... am trying to make up for it."
You looked at him, taking aback by his words. You looked into each-other's eyes for a moment. The look on his face reminded you of Senku's when he accepted to be in a relationship with you. But even Senku wasn't that verbally open about it. But you still felt conflicted, like a knot inside your chest.
"...It's a start I guess." you said under your breath.
With the silence around you, he heard what you said and smiled, his shoulders relaxing. He leaned back in his seat.
"I suppose I'll have to build an aquarium next."
You puffed a chuckle but quickly suppressed it.
"I don't find you funny." you said with a clear voice before walking away.
You heard him laugh behind you.
.
"Moments from now, here on Treasure island," Minami spoke into the microphone. "the new world's first-ever rocket will launch a satellite into space!"
"You do realize this broadcast won't reach farther then mainland Japan, right?"
"Shut up Gen!" you nudged him. "Let her live her fantasy!"
"Yeah, let me have this! This is my dream!"
"It's all thanks to NASA's Dr. Xeno, the world's preeminent rocket scientist," Ryu folded his arms. "and Senku, the only high schooler to launch a homemade rocket into space."
You all watched from a safe distance as the rocket was turned on.
"Haha!" he laughed. "For the world's ultimate master-pupil dream team, getting an unmanned rocket up into space is gonna be a walk in the park!"
Just as he said that, the rocket spun around and eventually crashed into the sea. While everyone looked on in shock you slapped your hands over your mouth to try and not laugh your ass off.
'The timing's so perfect!!!'
Once the hilarity of the moment wore off, you did began to worry. The rocket was retrieved and the science duo looked over the damages to see what the problem was.
"The thermal insulation was corroded by gas, which poked a hole in the nozzle."
"Everything looked so solid on paper, but I guess our stone world creations are always gonna be kinda shoddy."
The two of them quickly went to work.
'They have all the parts they need.' you thought as you watched them working over new blueprint, which were giant by the way. 'All they need now is to piece them together in a way that works.'
After a couple of mouths, another rocket was set to launch. It exploded before even leaving the ground.
"Just some faulty wiring..." Senku frowned, looking at what was left of it.
"Huh?! That's all it took?!" Gen exclaimed, baffled. "What a shame."
"This is all exceedingly complex." Xeno explained. "Even rocket R&D in the 21st century saw these sorts of incidents."
"It's just like coding," Sai smiled. "forgetting a single hyphen in a line can cause your whole program to fail."
"At least there's nothing wrong with the rocket itself." you said. "It's just in the small details." you lightly nudged Senku and smiled. "You'll get it next time."
Next time failed. The rocket just stopped and fell back down.
"An air bubble in the vaporized fuel this time..."
"It busted the inner wings."
You could see a tired look on their face. And their state didn't get better as they worked restlessly and each rocket they made, time after time, kept failing. One day you went to them with fresh drinks and some snacks, because if you didn't Senku would forget to eat and drink. Not Xeno though, surprisingly he had a very healthy work-rest balance.
"Here you go." you said as you placed the trail on the table.
Senku, in the middle of thinking and seemingly at an impasse, ruffled his hair and groaned.
"(Y/n)!" he pushed his seat away from the table.
"Mmh?"
"Come 'ere." he faced you and gestured you to come closer as he leaned back.
You suddenly became tense and you blushed. You glanced at Xeno, who was too focused on his work to acknowledge you. Truth was he did throw a surprised glance at Senku when he said that, but he didn't want to make you uncomfortable. Both him and you knew there wasn't going to be anything remotely sexual, but still, he wanted to give you guys some semblance of privacy. You stepped closer to Senku. Once you were within reach, he took your hand and led you to sit on his lap. You suppressed a gasp. He then wrapped his arms around your waist and buried his face in the back of your shoulder. Once you got over your heart beating like a drum, you relaxed and smiled, running your hand through his hair.
"You'll make it work." you said. "You're big brain, you'll figure it out."
He hummed as a response and you kissed the top of his head (pushing his hair out of the way). You both stayed like this for a short while until Senku leaned back and deeply inhaled.
"Okay!" he exhaled and pushed you off him, making you stumble. "And we're back!" he grabbed his pen and started working on the blueprints again.
Xeno discreetly snickered.
"Asshole." you whispered, glaring at him.
But the look of new found determination on his face made you smiled.
By the way, whenever you went to the lab, you'd take the opportunity to get a good look at the blueprints then check in with Chrome and Suika, who spied on the science duo for their own blueprint. In case they missed anything. Meanwhile, you wondered how you yourself could help out more. Then you got a genius idea. The next day you stationed yourself in front of the lab and installed a bunch of your instruments.
"What are you doing?" Senku asked.
"Remember you spotify playlist? The one you'd play whenever you were working on science stuff."
Senku's face lit up as a big smiled formed on his face. But at first he tried not to smile. He folded his arms.
"You really remember all 296 tracks? 'Cause you would only hear it when you'd hang out at my house."
"I remember it, note by fuckin' note!"
Xeno's whistled, impressed. Senku let out a heartfelt laugh, the sound itself made your heart skip a beat.
"(Y/n), you brilliant genius!"
"I love you too!" you smiled.
So you spent the whole day playing music for your boyfriend. You took the opportunity to record yourself, to get a draft for later when you'd record the complete thing. You'd watch as Senku and Xeno work on the rocket, their hands full of blisters (so were yours at some point, but that didn't stop you), their faces soaked with sweat and oil. But their determined smile never left, which was inspiring honestly.
When it was getting dark, Senku almost forced you to go home and rest.
"You've been playing for hours non-stop!"
"*You* guys have been working non-stop!"
"(Y/n) your hands are literally bleeding!"
"It's fine~!" you waved your hand. "I'm a musician, it's just part of the job. I'm numb to it by no-"
Xeno high-fived you, making you yelp out in pain. He raised an eyebrow with a sly grin, while you glared at him. Without saying anything, he picked up one of your instruments and carried it back to your storage room. With a pout, you picked up another one and followed him, Senku did the same.
"I'm sure François will be happy to patch up your hands." he said once you guys brought everything back. "Goodnight (Y/n)." he walked away.
You glared at him again. Before leaving, Senku kissed you on the cheek.
"Thanks for today, that was dope." he smiled.
You smiled back and also kissed him on the cheek. After seeing François patched up your hands, you went to check in on Chrome and Suika.
"Going to space is an insane challenge." Chrome said. "It's tricky, even for Senku and Xeno, the world's top two rocket scientists."
"Well," you sighed. "rocket science's tough, no matter how experienced you are."
"All this trial and error. So many tests, just as many failures. Over years and years."
"That's how the Kingdom of Science works, right?" you lightly nudged him, smiling.
He smiled back.
"Our job is to observe and learn everything we can along the way!" Suika exclaimed as she studied her copy of the rocket's blueprints she made. "What led to failure? What's the solution?"
"Dang, the path of the science-user has been this way ever since we met Senku." Chrome's expression softened. "The more we learn, the more we realize how little we really know."
"That's just another reason to keep learning!" you exclaimed, wanting to cheer him up. "You know, not even Senku's all knowing! You just gotta stay curious and look for that knowledge, it's free!"
"That's right! We'll figure it out!"
.
After another long while of trying and failure, you guys all gathered up for yet one more rocket launch. At this point, you could feel the nervousness radiating from Senku and Xeno. They reminded you of yourself and Taiju when you were paired up for a project and you had to make a presentation as a final exam. You've never seen either of them like this before. Despite the fact that you were used to the rocket blowing up at this point, their anxiousness was contagious.
Which was why, when the rocket slowly elevated into the sky, through the Earth's atmosphere and into space, you were beyond ecstatic. Everyone screamed out in joy, jumped around. Xeno and Senku actually cried, but everyone was so damn hyped they didn't even acknowledge how 'once-in-a-lifetime' this sight was.
"About fuckin' time!!!" Senku shouted.
"My genius boy!!!" you grabbed his head and kissed every spot on his face.
You hugged each-other tightly. When you let go of him, you went and hugged the people closest to you, one of them being Xeno. He hugged you back and when you felt his long metal fingers on your back, you realized it was him and you quickly pulled away, but you did pat him on the back.
"Congrats man, good job." you said, avoiding eye contact.
That made him smile.
'That's a start.' he thought.
.
.
[For the record, Xeno, from the moment he appeared in the manga, is my number one favorite man, up there with Tsukasa
Also, I checked how old Xeno was: he's in his mid 20's! Could've sworn he was like in his thirties or forties, cause Senku's like twenty at this point.
So I fact-check Senku's age, at this point in the story, he is 23 years old, and so, MC's 24! Bruh]