68. Little Mistake
10-12-2024
A/N: I was originally planning to post this chapter a month ago but life had gotten hectic and was punching me in the guts.
But I'm so so so happy to see that this fic has over 130k reads, and that's insane. Thank you guys for the support!
Q: Anything new that happened to you?
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-Senku's P.O.V-
"Well done working that out. Say, which one of you is the victor that belongs to this cutie here?"
Yuzuriha and Amaryllis had their mouths covered with their hands, and Taiju looked as though he would explode. Chrome, Haru, and Suika were looking in disbelief. Gen and Ryusui were in a state of shock but had kept their composure. As for Senku, he had a nervous smile on his face to hide his concern.
"Why do you ask?" Senku questioned him with pinched brows. He glanced at his partner in the man's arms, studying her body and how he could treat her. By the looks of it, she was still breathing, which was a good sign.
"Because I want to know what kind of man won her heart. Certainly, they're no better than I am," said Moz with a smirk, then lifted the girl's head to his face. With a mischievous grin, he taunted as his eyes focused on the scientist, "But, I wouldn't be surprised if all of you loved her. She's quite the beauty, isn't she? Especially when she was fighting for her life."
"How dare you! Let her go!" Taiju cried out as he took a step forward, his fists ready to take on whatever he could. Haru was close to pulling their sword out from its sheath, but Ukyo placed his hand over the handle in a haste.
The man could only let out a dry chuckle. "Heh, careful now. You wouldn't want this pretty bird to lose its wings, right?"
Taiju could only stop, as he didn't want his friend to get hurt more than she already was. She was practically his human shield. Meanwhile, Haru could only clench their teeth together in anger as their brows furrowed.
Underneath his breath, Chrome asked the science team, "Moz realized that Amaryllis, (Y/N), and the rest were spies, didn't he?"
"That's a great deduction, Sherlock! Ya' got any more shit to pull out of your ass?" Haru commented in a hushed tone.
The boy firmly retorted, "Shut up, Haru! Think about it!"
"When Kohaku-chan revealed herself, Moz naturally realized that her friends were--" Gen stopped mid-sentence, and everybody realized what was happening.
Moz knew that everyone was an invader, but he kept to himself all the same. That meant that the spearman himself didn't care if Ibara died, giving the group a picture of the state of affairs in the petrification kingdom. This also meant that he had probably kept (Y/N) alive for the sake of taking the old man down, or to continue fooling him. But right now, she's only being used as a human shield.
Everyone looked over to Gen to do his job. With a sigh, he put on a confident expression to battle with his tongue and wits. "Hey now, Moz-chan, there's no need to rush, because I've got an offer you're gonna wanna hear~"
Suddenly, the mentalist used his magic to bring out a flurry of flower petals, which seemed to keep Moz in awe. Senku brought out the unstable drone, which only scattered the petals into a beautiful array of swirls.
"How about you there join together with our Kingdom of Sci--Sorcery? Isn't that exhilarating? With one fell swoop, we could snag Kirisame-chan's petrification weapon from the air~!" Moz could only watch the drone as he listened. With a sly smile, Gen asked as he snuck over to the warrior's side, "How about it? I mean, you're so amazingly strong...you even beat our strongest soldier here with no problem, our dear (Y/N)-chan..."
With a slight scoff, Moz remarks as he looks down at the girl in his arms, "...she only lost because of a little mistake. She's lucky that she's cute."
Senku slightly furrows his brows, wondering what mistake it was that caused his partner to lose this bad against the spearman. Certainly, it should have been the fact that he had a spear with more leverage. Another factor would be that her only weapon was the wakizashi. However, (Y/N) knew her weaknesses and worked it upon herself to avoid mistakes since she had fought Hyoga before. He also knew that she knew Moz was way stronger than her, so if she were to keep herself alive, she'd have to keep her distance and timing right.
What happened during their fight?
With sweat dripping down his head, Gen continued without hesitation, "If Ibara-chan and all his soldiers combined with might, you'd still be 1.5 times stronger than them too, right?"
"The gap's bigger than you think," the spearman corrected him nonchalantly.
"Ooh? Then you'd have no trouble bringing down Ibara-chan if you so desire..." Gen stopped talking as soon as he saw Moz's darkened expression. It was as though the warrior had seen through the mentalist's every play, disregarding it with just a single look.
"Should I slaughter all of you, starting with this one here in my arms? Or kill Ibara instead? That's the question, isn't it?" A smiled curled on his face as he pushed through Gen's psychological tactics. Moz explained to them, "Ibara played his role well as a mastermind, and I applaud his efforts. But it's time for the old man to give up and die. The girls in the harem should be thrilled to have me take over."
"Kukuku...then why not murder the old geezer and be done with it?" Senku questioned him.
"Oh, I would've already, if not for that weapon," said Moz.
The predicament was then revealed. With Kirisame holding onto the weapon, she poses as an obstacle to Moz's path. However...
"We want the weapon, you want to get rid of Ibara. It seems to me like our interests are ten billion percent aligned," the scientist confirmed with the spearman.
The mentalist quickly interjected, "Yes, the weapon is what we really need! A good deal should be fair and equal. You, Moz-chan, get the island and harem, while we get the weapon! That's nonnegotiable!"
"'Fair and equal?' Why should I honor your condition?" Moz narrowed his dark eyes with with dissatisfaction. Not a second later, it shifted into something more sinister, pairing it with a grin etched onto his face. "With (Y/N)-chan out of the way, I'm the strongest one here. So I set the terms. You will put your sorcery to work for me, and then give me the weapon!"
Everyone in the room was bewildered by his request. Gen started waving his hands around frantically as he tried to rebuke him, "But that's not fair! Be reasonable--"
"You really have no choice but to obey me, especially when I have this one captive," said Moz, lifting the girl up for everyone to see.
With that, Senku and Gen have gained what they wanted: for Moz to not kill all of them and for him to work with the Kingdom of Science.
"Guess we have no choice then," Senku said as he shrugged his shoulders, causing a satisfied expression to form on the warrior's face. He turned to Haru. "Hey brat, get him one of those extra earpieces."
Haru clicked their tongue in exasperation, following the scientist's orders.
"It seems as though Haruhi-chan is more of a fiesty cutie than I thought," Moz chuckled as he watched them approach with the earpiece.
With a scrunched up face, the child replied, "The name's Haru. Don't refer to me as anything else. I'm just Haru and that's it."
"I gotcha. Don't have to tell me twice."
The kid put the earpiece into Moz's ear and Senku demonstrated to him how it worked. They then agreed that they'd use it to communicate through long distances, which worked in their favor.
Gen approached the man with hands out, "Now that this is out of the way, we can take our dear (Y/N)-chan back to help us--"
"Hold it. I never said I'd give her back to you," declared Moz with tightly knit brows, adjusting himself so that he wouldn't take her away. "I'm going to need her for this plan to work."
"What was the reason for taking her with you?" Senku questioned him tightly.
"To keep a hostage, of course. She'll assist me in taking the old man out, and you'll have a reason to obey me..." said the man with a smirk. He then placed the girl down on the little canoe that they had prepared for him. The scientist watched as he pulled something put from his clothing. Moz grabbed Senku's wrist and placed the item into his hand with a closed fist. "Don't worry about her too much. I'll keep her safe for her victor."
Senku closed his hand as he watched Soyuz sail his lover and the man back to the mainland. If he could, he would've put up a fight to get her back. But that would've been too much of a risk.
"What'd he give you, Senku?" Amaryllis asked as she walked up to him with Gen.
The boy then opened his hand to see a familiar sight before him. A colored photo taken by his father himself.
"Oh, it's that thing! I remember (Y/N)-chan showing it to us after opening up the treasure!" The young woman exclaimed in surprise.
"Seriously?! A colored photo?! With you and (Y/N)-chan especially!" Gen yelled out with shock. Then he widened his eyes in realization. "Wait a minute...this is the photo that (Y/N)-chan described in her story! This is even better than I imagined!"
"What story...? I remember it had something to do with a dance..." Amaryllis questioned in wonder.
With a smug look on his face, Gen told her in confidence, "Let me tell you the whole thing, Amaryllis-chan."
-Flashback (Senku's POV)-
"Senku, this is the last day we can get this done, and it needs to be perfect."
"I know that. But I don't think we can dance today because it's going to rain," said Senku, who was looking up at the dark, cloudy sky.
The girl before him huffed impatiently, "Who is to say it'll start right now? We can do it just once, and then leave."
The boy watched as she started playing the Ghibli song; her fingers dancing against the screen for it to start. He kept on his eyes on her as she placed the device in her pocket and approached him with a determined gaze. They then started the dance with a slow introductory bow and curtsy. Senku then slowly held out his hand to bring her into his space. As the song played its tune, the dance was progressing phenomenally.
So far, so good... Senku thought as he continued with the girl.
He could tell that she was elated by how well the two of them were doing, considering he was incapable of anything nearly two weeks ago. The training for him had paid off well, as he was following her lead like a duck following its mother. The boy mirrored her feelings internally.
As the melody advanced, Senku saw raindrops hitting the girl's face. Her reactions were enough for him to look up and see the rain beginning to pour. He knew that she wasn't going to be happy so he began to think of what he could do.
She clenched her teeth as she glared angrily at the sky. "Are you kidding me?! In the middle of the dance?! Damn it, we gotta--"
Senku tightened his hold on her, not letting her stop the dance. When she looked at him with confusion, he was more confident in finishing the dance with her than abandoning it halfway. The boy didn't want all that hard work to go to waste, so why stop it? He spoke, "We are not stopping. You said yourself that we will do it once, then leave."
The tempo then picked up, and Senku decided to take the lead--spinning the girl around and pulling her a bit closer. He could tell that she was surprised by his boldness and ability to take the lead from her. Even if he didn't think he had it in him, he had no choice.
"Senku?!" She called out to him.
The boy smirked at her bewilderment, finding it quite cute. "Don't focus on me. Focus on finishing the dance, (Y/N)."
She just stared at him, then nodded with a determined look on her. The smirk on his face grew larger as he thought, Atta' girl.
The two of them continued the dance with Senku taking control. They were getting drenched with rain water--he watched as the rain softened her hair and soaked her face. His crimson eyes were only watching her and her alone as she danced gracefully under the raindrops.
He didn't dare to take them off of her. There was so much he could take in: How entranced he was over her unique beauty. How warm his chest felt with every touch of their skin. How ecstatic he was to be spending every second of this day with just her. How illogical of him to think these thoughts. It felt good but it was also conflicting, as he thought that it was a bit selfish of him to do so.
Just as the waltz started, the song came to an end, and the two of them slowed to a stop. For a few seconds, they simply stared at each other--out of breath from perfecting a dance, after all. Senku couldn't tell what the girl in front of him was thinking, and at that moment, he felt as though his heart had skipped a single beat. It was the same feeling as when he first laid his eyes on her. Seeing how lovely she was in the rain caused him to smile at her without thought, as she brought him happiness that he had never thought he'd obtain.
Soft laughter emitted from within the young girl as he showed her the gesture. With that sound ringing in his ears, a thought appeared in his head.
So, this is love, huh? This is what makes life so divine?
Suddenly, he heard clapping and cheering, and then saw a quick flash of light coming from the same direction. Both Senku and (Y/N) shot their heads in where the sounds and light were. Taiju, Yuzuriha, and Byakuya were all standing there, watching the entire event. Being brought to reality, Senku instantly let go of the girl instinctively.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Senku asked them. His eyebrows had furrowed, as he was annoyed at the fact they had come during an intimate moment.
"Well, we went over to your apartment together so we could try the clothes, but your dad said you guys weren't home!" Taiju explained.
"We figured you went to practice your dance, but Ishigami-san wanted to come with us when we mentioned it..." Yuzuriha sheepishly replied. She looked at the green-haired boy with a nervous smile. "Sorry, Senku-kun..."
Those two fools! They had one job and couldn't keep it! No wonder they're perfect for each other! Senku thought as he groaned internally.
Byakuya came up to the two kids and gave them towels to dry themselves. When Senku began to dry himself off under the umbrella, the old man then started slapping the young scientist's back with a proud, but cheeky, grin on his face. The boy had an irked expression, knowing that this man loved to tease him to hell and back.
The man started, "So, this is what you've been doing for the past two weeks! You guys said you were party planning, but instead, you're at dance practice! It's a good thing I got a picture!"
He let his Polaroid camera hang from his shoulder from a strap, revealing a picture of both embracing each other with smiles on their faces. Senku then noticed that the girl next to him was staring at his gentle expression in the photo. Gritting his teeth and making a decision, the boy tried to grab it from him after he dried himself off. Unfortunately for him, his father was quicker, and he pulled the photo away as he stuck his tongue out. He let out a "tsk" in irritation when he realized the man before him wasn't going to give up the picture.
Byakuya then handed the two of them an extra umbrella to share when they were done with the towels.
"The two of you did a good job! Are you going to do another one? If not, I'll just go and get this photo laminated for keepsake," said Byakuya as he held it up for them to see one very last time.
"Thank you, Byakuya-san, but we're done here. We need to go home and shower before we get sick and try on the outfits..." the girl mentioned.
"Alright then! Let's hurry home, all you lovebirds!" The man happily cheered as he started leading the group of children back to his home. Senku had noticed that Taiju slightly blushed as he was strolling with Yuzuriha.
"Ugh, God damn it," the green-haired boy painfully sighed as he started walking under the umbrella with the girl.
She let out a small chuckle, which he found adorable, "You know, at least we got the dance done!"
"Finally. We only got to do it one more time and we never have to do it again," he said in a tired tone, placing his hands in his pockets. "Pray we don't get sick tonight before the party."
He immediately regretted his words when he saw the girl frown in what looked like sorrow. He opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted.
"We won't. We'll be fine," the girl replied in a low tone.
She didn't say anything more--the proud (Y/N) kept her head up to prevent anyone from seeing her gloomy. He thought it was fine. It had to be.
"'Never have to do it again', huh...?"
Those words uttered from her mouth sent a wave of shame washing over his heart. He hurt her, he knew that. He needed to do something to make it up to her somehow.
-End of Flashback-
"Wow...if I didn't know any better, I'd never take Senku for a romantic guy," Amaryllis commented softly, causing Senku to return to his senses.
"Right? I--" Gen stopped to notice that Senku was not paying any mind to them at all. Understanding what he was feeling, the mentalist said, "--I think we should go over here to talk, Amaryllis-chan."
The man started leading the islander and the rest of the Kingdom of Science to leave Senku alone.
The boy sat down on the ground with the water stopping before his feet. He started running his fingers down the edges of the photo as he stayed silent. He whispered enough only for himself to hear, "I never thought I'd be one either."
~~~
-Your P.O.V-
The sky was pitch black as the rain started to heavily pour down your face. The flash of each lightning strike only gave you a flicker of light, the fires from the palace was used as your point of reference. But your eyes were locked on, studying every move Moz made as he struck and thrusted with his spear. It was a dangerous dance, but if you lost your concentration, then one mistake was all it would take for you to lose.
"You're a fine warrior, (Y/N)-chan, even if that weapon isn't one of your choice," said Moz as he witnessed you parry his spear with the wakizashi. The overconfidence in his smile lingered with every passing moment.
"If I did have the weapon of my choice, this fight would go a lot faster," you hastily answered with another block. You knew that he was trying to distract you.
With a chuckle, he told you, "It would make it more exciting, that's for sure. But seems like luck protecting you tonight."
"I hope so."
However, Lady Luck was not on your side.. For you see, all the jumps and dodges you did only loosened your prized possession from where it was tucked in. With a parry or two, it eventually had fallen out.
The photo! You screamed in your mind as you spotted it drop from the corner of your eye. As you dodged one more attack, you tried to reach out and grab it as quickly as you could.
But Moz took it as an opportunity. With the hand that extended out to grab the photo, the end of his spear had also reached out. The handle pummeled your appendage into the ground, allowing the spearman to take advantage of your awkward position and drive it into the wet, muddy ground.
"You really thought I wouldn't have noticed? That little mistake of yours ended up putting your life on the line...for this thing," Moz taunted as he pinned you down using one arm for both of yours. He took the photo from your hand with he free one and took one glance at it as lightning lit up the sky. "So this is the guy. I guess I need to pay him a visit."
"There is no way you'll be able to find them. Even if you did, they won't submit to you!" You glowered from underneath him.
"Really now?" Moz's smile could only grow wider as he looked down at your angered expression. "Guess I need to give them a reason to."
You widened your eyes as he wrapped both of his hands around your neck, squeezing as tight as he could. Just like what had happened with Tsukasa, your escape attempts were absolutely worthless. Fear was the only thing running through you as tears escaped from behind the dam.
Before it all went dark, you tried calling out, "Sen...ku..."
"Senku...!" you suddenly awoke with a jump, lifting your head up from the ground. You noticed that you were in an unfamiliar environment. It looked as though you were back in the huts where the harem had stayed.
Suddenly, a chill went down your spine the moment you heard a deep voice speaking. "Good morning, princess. Enjoy your beauty sleep?"
You looked around to see that Moz greeted you with a smug smirk curled up on his face. He was sitting down on a chair with his legs wide open and his spear in hand. "Moz?!"
"The one and only," he chuckled as opened his arms and gestured himself.
"Where the hell am I?!" You angrily demanded. You were about to pull your weapon out, but you found that your wrists were tied behind your back. Same with your ankles and legs. The wakizashi you had was nowhere to be found, worrying you.
"Relax, you're at the palace. I'm keeping you safe here from the old man," said Moz with a smirk, then his eyes roamed down your body. "Though, it's not like I kept you here just because I enjoy seeing beauties in bondage."
"Ugh. Eyes up, pervert," you scoffed as you stared at him.
"I'm just kidding, don't worry," he joked as he returned a close-eyed smile.
You noticed a familiar accessory hanging from his ear, causing your vision to slightly widen in realization. You narrowed your (E/C) eyes, heading straight to the point as you spoke, "What's the situation?"
The man raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You're not going to ask why I kept you alive?"
"Not when you have that earpiece hanging from your ear. Where'd you get it?" You questioned him.
"From your victor, of course. He and your Kingdom of Sorcery work for me now," he answered you with a playful tone.
"There is no way he'd work under you. What deal did you guys make?" You continued to nag with annoyance.
With a hum, he replied as he stood up from his spot, "You ask way too many questions, so I'll just skip everything and get to the main point: we are going to kill Ibara."
-To be Continued-
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I'm not exactly sure when the next one will be out, but expect it to come out sometime next month! I also may or may not have some extra chapters as specials for the achievements this fic has reached, but only time will tell.
Obligatory writers meme: