"What do you want, Gen?" Senku said, making the mentalist leave his hiding spot.
"I see you are sprier after (Name) has been going out and about happier than ever." Gen chuckled.
"Well, of course, I am, but so is everyone else..."
"Great! Now that you have a clear mind, I have a plan that might get us sent straight to hell. But before that, pop quiz time!" The man clapped his hands together. "What is the central unifying force responsible for the loyalty and support of the Empire's people? A: Food. B: Hot chicks. C: Tsukasa, himself."
"Kukuku, that'd have to be C."
"Ding-ding! Ten billion points to you! Tsukasa was originally the 'world's strongest primate high schooler'. So he was famous and had charisma, to begin with. In other words, to tear that foundation apart, we need someone even more famous than Tsukasa... Hi, I'm Lillian Weinburg!" Gen spoke in a faux Lillian voice.
Senku choked on his saliva there and then from the sudden change in sound. "Sounds pretty spot on! It's almost just like her."
"Right?~ But if the audio was distorted and rough, like if it came from our phone receiver..."
"So then the song on the record would be for identification! Not just anybody can imitate it! In other words, we'll be able to break apart the Tsukasa Empire by creating a fake Lillian and giving them false hope. Kukuku, we'll indeed be going to hell if we go through with this plan..." The scientist dug his finger into his ear as if the serious conversation was already over. "Okeydokey, I got it. We'll worry about the details later, for now, let's get this show on the road."
"That casually?! And fast?! What about (Name)'s opinion?! This is her mother's voice we're talking about here!"
"OKEYDOKEY MY HAND!!! I DON'T UNDERSTAND A DAMN THING HERE!!!" Chrome screeched, breaking through the wooden floors of the observatory. "EXPLAIN IT IN A WAY I CAN UNDERSTAND!!! FROM THE VERY TOP!!!"
★彡
"Ooooh! But hang on, after that, they'll totally know it was a lie!" Chrome was quick to point out the flaw in their plan. "Not to mention if we don't tell (Name)..." he felt a shiver tread down his spine. "...I don't even want to imagine her getting mad again..."
"Don't sweat it!" Gen chortled. "Once we take care of Hyouga and Tsukasa, everything else will just work out!"
"This plan is so you." Senku laughed at Gen. "It's ten billion percent scumbag." He turned to Chrome with a serious face. "Don't tell the villagers about this. We only need the two of us from the former world being bad guys. Especially don't tell (Name) because if the people will follow anyone, they'll follow her."
"You're saying this after you just told me everything?! That makes me an accomplice, too, doesn't it?!" Chrome shot back.
"You straight up brought yourself here. You eavesdropped and came up on your own!" Senku pointed to the hole in the flooring.
"Oh, you're right... But the operations team is me! You're gonna need a technician to set up that massive phone at the destination, aren't you? Besides, if anyone's gonna get caught, it's better me than you!"
"In that case..." Senku reached his fist out, the other two doing the same. "The three of us will take the fall for this... and save seven billion people!"
★彡
"So that's the plan," Senku explained to the rest of the villagers, omitting the important fine details of the plan. "And our next hurdle is to get them past the resident watchdog, Homura."
"If it's Homura, she's up on that tree over there," (Name) and Kohaku pointed at the distant tree.
"No way, you guys can see that?!" Ginro trembled in shock.
"And I've already come up with a plan to get the three out of sight for long enough. I just haven't put the materials together..." (Name) added.
"As expected of our Chieftess!" Kokuyou cheered. Her face flushed. Somehow after hearing the children running around calling her that, even the adults followed in their footsteps.
"Let's hear that plan!" Senku gestured for the girl to explain.
"Two words: sound bomb!" Kohaku felt her senses tingle. Judging by their malicious grins, it wasn't going to end with just sound bombs, she just knew it!
★彡
(Name) kept watch in a nearby tree, eyeing every move of Homura, waiting for the moment her presence would be needed. The second she made an appearance, Homura would be sure to suspect something was happening and head all the way back to the Tsukasa Empire, where she would end up running into the operations team on the way. And that wasn't what they wanted. But if they needed more time, or Kohaku wasn't able to catch their spy, she would have to get involved as a last resort.
Explosions sounded, and Homura was heading over to investigate. Kohaku was hiding in wait for her. The two were evenly on par in terms of speed, they couldn't shake off the other but neither could they overtake one another. Not to mention, Homura had her skills in gymnastics that helped her manoeuvre the treacherous rural terrain. (Name) was hoping Kohaku could catch her before they had to resort to using other things to stall for time. She put a finger in her mouth, letting out a high-pitched whistle imitating a bird before swinging branch to branch in pursuit of Homura.
Kohaku, hearing (Name)'s signal, made way as the girl went zooming past her, catching up to Homura at breakneck speed. It amazed her to no end how physically capable she was even without using her wings. Homura was quick to notice how Kohaku backed off and saw the angel chasing after her.
"You aren't going to use your wings? Are you mocking me?" She hissed at the girl, observing her carefully. "Those movements... don't tell me you're planning to compete against me using gymnastics?"
"You claimed that I didn't have the spirit for the sport, so I've come to prove you wrong. I'll show you I can enjoy gymnastics and I'll capture you at the same time!" (Name) declared.
"I'd like to see you try!"
The two swung branch to branch, scaling every tree in a mad chase for each other. What Homura didn't know, was that (Name) was leading her to the part of the forest where she had found out that every branch had been coated with a slippery layer of ice hidden covertly under the snow. Even she would lose her grip once she held on.
As Homura reached for the next branch ahead of her, her eyes widened as it slid through her grasp. If she hadn't stuck the landing, she would have broken a few bones. Before she had time to recuperate herself, (Name) latched onto her, pushing her to the ground.
"How's that for passion?" (Name) proudly said.
"You only won because of the terrain. And watch where you're touching, don't start feeling me up now." She fussed as the girl was holding her hands weirdly.
"That mental tactic would have worked on just about anyone else, but as I said before, this is the Stone Age, our modern principles don't apply here!" The angel smirked triumphantly.
"Did we get her?" Senku panted as he came running up to them with the rest of the fighters behind him. "Guess we didn't need this..." he said, referring to the flare they made.
"Yeah—!" Her words were cut short when Homura took advantage of her moment of weakness to flip (Name)'s body off her. The girl was sent crashing into Senku and they collapsed together into the snow. "That hurt, Homura!"
"Chrome, Magma, and Gen... Where are they?!" Homura sped off upon realising their absence.
Senku and (Name) clicked their tongues at the same time.
"Did you spread the powder?" Senku asked the girl.
"Yes. Did you bring level three?"
"Level three?" The fighters questioned as Senku pulled out a torch that shone a black light. Pointing it to where Homura left, it showed traces of her handprints.
"Science will show the way!" (Name) smirked.
"From here, we will only need a few fighters: one to bring along the telephone and two more to keep Homura captive and make sure she doesn't escape," Senku explained. "The others can go back to the village and keep guard in case the Empire launches a surprise attack."
"Our most capable fighter that can carry the telephone would be Kinro," Kokuyou stated.
"And besides myself, only (Name) can keep up with Homura's speed. That's all the people!" Kohaku finalised. "We also have our undefeated combo of good eyesight!"
★彡
"So she's discovered the tracking powder in the sunrise's ultraviolet light?" (Name) frowned as the trail led to a dead end at a river.
"What do we do now? We have no clue where she is." Kohaku paced worriedly in the snow.
"Rather than that, this cellphone has been ringing for a while now. Should we just ignore it?" Kinro brought up.
"Ah, don't worry about that, that's just a call from Gen. Because they can't pick up the receiver, he's texting us via Morse code. That's one way of saying it!" Senku explained.
"Senku, I have yet to get around to teaching them about Morse code... In the first place, I've only just begun teaching them the alphabet but we didn't go through a lot because we were preparing for this war."
"Ah, is that so?" Senku hummed, completely engrossed in listening to the cell phone. He placed his map down, jotting down a few more dots. "Just a few kilometres ahead of us, Gen's reported position and Homura's will collide. That means Homura has discovered Chrome's team and started tailing them. It's time to inform Gen about the plan."
"Already ahead of you!" (Name) answered, spamming the ringer of the cellphone to transmit the plan over Morse code to their resident mentalist. "Time for the pincer attack!"
★彡
"There they are," (Name) and Kohaku point to the other group up ahead. "And Homura is up there."
"No, even if you tell us, we can't see as far as you guys can," Senku sweat dropped.
"But it's a good advantage to have. Kohaku and Kinro will get closer while I lay in wait to catch her. The moment she realises the decoy Chrome set up, Kinro and Magma will chop down the tree as soon as possible. If she is in midair, she has nothing to grab on to, but it is where I excel." (Name) debriefed the team, simultaneously relaying the plan over to Gen.
Once everyone was in position, she let out an owl hoot, the signal to start the plan. Gen gave the cellphone decoy to Chrome to attach to the top of the tree. So far, Homura has remained still but it looked like she was going to take action soon. As soon as Chrome got down from the tree, she shot out from her hiding spot, leaping for the decoy. The moment she reached the apex of the tree, Magma and Kinro brought down the tree in a single powerful swing of an axe. (Name) pushed herself out of the trees she hid in, locking arms around Homura and slowly bringing them down to the ground.
Homura has been captured!
★彡
Since then, it had been almost two days. It would've taken them another day to reach the Tsukasa Empire and today should finally be the day they get a call from Taiju and Yuzuriha. The tension was at an all-time high as they waited anxiously, hoping it hadn't been found out by the enemy.
Ring. Ring.
"I-It's ringing!"
"If it's one of Tsukasa's people..."
Senku wordlessly picked up the receiver with a grin on his face. "Yo."
The silence brought anticipation to the room. It was barely audible but if they listened carefully, they could hear the soft sounds of sniffling. "Senku!" Taiju's boisterous voice echoed from the speaker.
"Even though I went to check on them not too long ago..." (Name)'s face softened, fighting back the imminent tears that blur her vision. "...I miss their voice."
"Yo, you big lug. To think it has been nearly a whole year..."
"Senku!" Taiju said again. "Senku, I'm... I'm... Senku, I'm..."
"Are you so emotional you can't think of words Taiju?" (Name) teasingly laughed, wiping away the tears that gathered in the corner of her eyes.
"I... I'm Senku!!!" The man yelled into his mic, piercing their ears from just volume alone.
"You're not Senku. I'm Senku, dammit. What the hell are you trying to say anyway?" Senku deadpanned at their friend. "I'd love to sit here and reminisce with you for ten billion hours but there's no need for that, is there? So let's get down to business. Separate someone from the Tsukasa Empire and bring them to the phone. Don't worry about the reason, just do whatever it takes."
"Senku, what exactly are you planning? You haven't told me anything about it." (Name) interrupted. "And from the looks of it, you haven't told anyone else, either."
Her friend could only look at her, begging her for her understanding with his eyes. If he said anymore, he might end up giving in to her pleas and blurting everything out to her.
"Senku, just to be sure," Taiju spoke up, "this plan of yours... is the best way to avoid blood being spilt, right?"
"Yeah."
At that point, even (Name) couldn't find it in her to question his plans anymore. She had spent countless hours messing around with various routes they could take to win this war without any losses from both sides, but there were none. If Senku believes this to be the best way, she just has to trust his judgement and put all her faith in his plan.
"But for this plan to work, we still need Gen... something must have happened if they haven't made it back yet..." Senku bit his thumb anxiously.
(Name) was going to comfort him but her ears picked up on ragged breathing approaching the perimeter of the village. "Wait, I hear him! Gen is nearby!"
Sure enough, the mentalist shoved his way through the shrubbery just after she said that. "So who's the one I'm going to persuade?" He said through raspy breaths.
Once Gen had returned, everyone was coaxed out of the room, leaving only Senku and Gen to speak with the Tsukasa Empire member. Meanwhile, (Name) had been guiding the fighting team through training, wanting to focus on something else so she wouldn't accidentally eavesdrop on the conversation with her excellent hearing. That was until she heard music being played.
At first, she was confused, but she also reminded herself it was none of her business. But the curiosity gnawed at the back of her conscience. She wanted to know what they were up to!
★彡
"I think I might actually fall for you," Nikki, their newly converted ally, said through tears.
"Oh, stop... No, seriously... stop." Senku quickly said, sweating bullets. He was vividly aware that (Name) might have been listening in from the moment they started playing her mother's music.
"It's better to give up on him, Nikki-san," Taiju came in at the right time to rescue his friend.
'Thank goodness, you big oaf, there are times when you know how to read the mood!' Senku breathed in ease.
"Because Senku already likes someone else!" Senku choked on his saliva, resulting in a coughing fit as his friend exposed his feelings to someone they just met today.
'I take that back, you still need some work, you big lug!'
★彡
"Chrome has been taken by the Tsukasa Empire?!"
Straight after Senku and Gen had finished their meeting, Magma had returned, completely battered out. He had managed to escape after Chrome turned himself in.
"I'll go and rescue him!" Kohaku declared, already making a beeline for the direction of the Empire.
"Someone stop her!"
"It's too dangerous to go in alone!"
While everyone was panicking over Kohaku going in alone, (Name) charged after her, catching up to her in no time. She took firm hold of the hood of her coat, dragging her back to the group, which was not far because she caught her even before she set a single foot into the forest.
"Ah, right. We had (Name)-sama for this kind of thing..."
"No one else can keep up with Kohaku's speed except her, after all."
"I understand the urgency to rescue Chrome, but what were you thinking? To just go charging head-first into enemy territory? Last time I was there they had just awakened their sixtieth member. There's bound to be more now. Are you going to take on all of them by yourself?" Kohaku could only shrivel back as she got scolded nonstop by the angel.
"Kukuku, if we can't do anything on our own, then we'll just have to go together!" Senku stated. "The kingdom of science is finally going to war!"
★彡
"He looks like he's having fun..." Suika noted as they watched Senku excitedly scribble and draw the plans for the automobile engine that would let bring them to the doorstep of the Tsukasa Empire.
"Usually the planning and designing is my job but he decided to take over for this one because he wanted to." (Name) laughed, enjoying the gleeful look on Senku's face as he jotted down and paced thoughtfully around his many, many engine designs.
"I see you staring at him!~" Gen whispered from afar, fully knowing the girl would hear him.
"And can I see you free falling from fifty meters if you don't keep your mouth shut." (Name)'s sudden death threat shocked the surrounding villagers who weren't used to her unrefined tone. More so, they didn't know who the threat was directed to because she just started speaking out of nowhere with no particular addressee.
But Gen himself knew it was meant for him and decided to keep his mouth shut... for now...
★彡
"He's getting really invested in this, isn't he?" Kohaku said to her friend as they watched the science team at work. "He's completely forgetting the purpose of doing all this."
"We do need to rescue Chrome as soon as possible," (Name) nodded her head in agreement. "And we need the whole army for that."
"Kukuku, don't worry!" Senku reassured the two friends. "To the Tsukasa Empire, Chrome is just some small-fry villager. As long as he doesn't run his mouth, he'll be fine."
"This is Chrome we're talking about?" (Name) tried to remind the scientist. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his words. " 'As long as he doesn't run his mouth, he'll be safe'?"
"This is Chrome we're talking about?" She and Kohaku said in sync.
Ginro laughed. "They said it twice and at the same time!" But then he paused to think about it. It was indeed Chrome they were talking about. He's probably going to spout some nonsense about Rainbow Bridge to the enemy.
"Let's pick up the pace, shall we?" Senku monotonously suggested as he realised the weight of the situation.