"What are we, first class passengers?! Science is totes the ticket for me!" Chelsea beamed as you, her and Gen were enjoying some ice cream and fresh drinks in the ship's hold where the A.C was (it was way too hot outside!).
"Oh modern living, how I missed you." Gen said with a little tear in the corner of his eye. "And it's all thanks to Senku-chan and Xeno-chan, dividing up the work as scientists power house."
You couldn't disagree with that, which was why you glanced to the side, pretending to be too busy eating your ice cream to talk.
"By the way, (Y/n)-chan," he smiled at you. "how long are you going to keep being mad at your former penpal?"
"You know," you exhaled. "Tsukasa and Hyouga were bad guys too, but they were redeemed. Once thing these two weren't were hypocrites, and they didn't even reach his level of..." you waved your hands, trying to think of a word for it. "Assholery."
He just giggled, resting his chin on the back of your hand.
"You wanna know what I think?"
"I do not, in fact, want to know what you think."
"I think you're especially salty about this because you considered him a good friend, and he betrayed you." he leaned a bit closer as you looked away. "This one hits close to home, so it hurts even more- Aouch!"
You pushed him away, and because you became stronger over the years, this time it hurt.
"You're right, I should probably make peace with the guy who *shot my boyfriend* and didn't even apologize- He doesn't even feel bad about it to this day!" you lightly hit the table, getting worked up.
"You don't know that." he said, rubbing the spot where he was hit.
"Oh please." you rolled your eyes.
"I dunno," Chelsea tilted her head. "when I was traveling with them, they seemed to be best buds."
"It's Senku! Of course that type of stuff doesn't bother him." you paused. "...Which is actually pretty concerning. How many times was he killed?!"
"Right?! I noticed there's a lot of killing in your group!"
"I was killed once." Gen casually said.
"What?!" she exclaimed.
"Oh yeah, you were!" you laughed and high-fived him. "Good times!"
"What the heck?!" she watched, disturbed as the two of you began to get more and more silly.
"Oh no, Gen!" you put on a distressed face, taking the opportunity to change the subject. "I don't think *I've* ever gotten killed! Dammit!"
"Don't raise red flags like that!"
"Don't worry (Y/n)-chan." he raised his now empty glass bottle with a scary smile. "It's never too late~."
"Oh god!" you wheezed, breaking character, and the two of you laughed.
'I guess that's their dynamic...' Chelsea concluded. 'At least they're having fun, that's good, right?'
.
Since the Kingdom of Science's radio system wasn't powerful enough (yet) to work worldwide. The best way to communicate with everyone on land during this journey was morse code. Which meant you, Senku and Gen had to teach it to everyone. Chrome and Suika were the most excited for it. The little girl seemed to have developed a desire to become a scientist herself, and you were so happy for her.
During your time on the new Perseus, it seemed that the people who were having the most fun here were you, Chelsea and Ryusui.
"I desire everything in this new world!" he cackled. "That's how it works when you're a pioneer!"
"Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that Nanami Corp. is going to profit majorly from all this?" Gen mumbled to you.
"Pleasure doing business with you Sir!" you went up to Ryu and shook his hand "Let's do our best together!"
"A merger?! Right under my eyes!"
"It's not a merger." Ryu explained with a smile. "I am simply a regular patron of my dear (Y/n), and an avid fan of her work."
"And right now, the ship *he's* driving - and which blueprints *he* came up with first - is allowing me to go on this expedition to get even better as a musician. So really, it's a win-win for us." you added as you both high-fived.
"Passionate business buddies would be a good way to describe them." Gen sighed, smiling.
'I guess that's *their* dynamic.' Chelsea tilted her head, adding this information to the relationship chart she had in her head.
.
In the evening, you went do see Senku to ask him where your first stop will be, so you would know what instruments to recreate once you're on land.
"We're after a mountain of one particular treasure called fluorite." he said. "Which means stopping by-"
"Guys!!!"
You let out a yelp of surprise when Chrome busted into the room in a total panic, panting.
"Just got! From Why-Man!"
"Yeah, we know." you calmly said. "He never really shut up actually." you turned to Senku, figuring that he'd value the information more. "As soon as he saw that I wasn't petrified, he started again with that non-stop '12,800,000 meters, one second'."
"It's not that he saw you," he explained. "more like he heard you. Why-Man caught wind of the radio waves and deduced that someone was still out there. We wanted to avoid leaking out electromagnetic waves so as to fly under his radar," you snickered at his pun, not knowing if it was even intentional or not. "but no matter how you slice it, you can't get a scientific civilization up and running without those waves." he shrugged. "So it was bound to happen."
"It's not that!" Chrome exclaimed, making everyone look at him. "It's not-... I don't know how he did it but, that message..." he looked at you. "I'm pretty sure it's music."
Everyone in the room looked at you with big eyes, you were as shocked as them. You rushed to the nearest radio and turned it on, with everyone following behind you. You switched to the right frequency and that's when you heard it. It would seem that Why-Man has taken the sound a bunch of instruments you've played on the radio before, and mashed them together to create his own sound. It was just three notes, slowly playing, over and over. You waited for it to change, but it never did. There was no emotions in it, it wasn't melodious, there was no change of pace or rhythm. The same three notes on a loop. And because of that, everyone, including you, felt very unsettled just by listening to it. It was like the auditory version of the uncanny valley.
"What is this?" Kohaku asked, a bit paler. "A secret message? A trick?"
Senku leaned closer, just like you were, and listened closely for a long moment. Eventually, he sighed through his nose and leaned back.
"...Nope. As far as I can tell, it's just music."
He looked at you as you kept staring at the radio. Your hand moved as if you were playing the notes on a piano.
"Doesn't sound like any instruments I know." Chrome said.
'Sounds like a...'
"Senku." you finally said.
You turned towards him and pointed at him with a grave expression.
"Make me a theremin."
He rushed out of the room and you turned back to the radio. He came back a short while later, during which the same notes were still playing.
"It's a rushed job, but it should do the trick." he said as he handed it to you.
You took it and placed it on the table in front of you. You listened to the notes a couple of more times and then you started playing. Suddenly, the uncanny vibe disappeared, you brought some life into it. Now it was a haunting, melancholic duo, the sound of the theremin and its echo scratching the inside of your brain. You didn't know why it sounded so sad, it was just the way you felt the music would go. It went on for a little longer, and at some point, you were even lost in the process. But just as you were really getting into it and turning up the sad factor, Why-Man stopped. And you stopped too, the echo of the theremin remaining for a couple of more seconds before silence settled in the room. You were disappointed to stop just when it was getting good. But even if you wanted to express it, you would have been cut off by Why-Man, who began to speak...
First there was static, then you all heard something that made your heart drop. It was your voice. Just like the time he used Senku's, it sounded synthetic and fake. But it sounded better than last time, like he got better at copying human voices. With your voice, he asked in English:
"Is it music?"
You frowned. Senku and Gen looked at each-other, silently figuring out what information those three words could tell them about their enemy. Gen leaned closer and began to whisper:
"(Y/n)-chan, don't answer yet-"
"Yeah, why?" you asked.
He raised his shaking hands towards you in frustration before dropping them and sighing. Because your back was to him, you didn't see that. Senku shook his head, smiling. But then, something unexpected happened that got him to lean closer with a serious expression: Why-Man spoke again.
"Why?"
Your frown deepened.
"That's what I asked- I don't know." you mumbled to yourself before leaning closer to the microphone. "Why not?"
You waited for an answer, but it never came. You tried to get him to respond, even Gen shot his shot at some point, nothing.
"Signals from the Moon have stopped all together." Suika said.
You sighed.
"Now we can finally ask. (Y/n)." Senku turned towards you, his calmness making you gulp. "What the hell did you do during that vacation of yours?"
You stayed silent, avoiding eye contact, and sunk into yourself a little bit, ashamed and embarrassed.
"...I wanted to annoy him a bunch." you eventually answered, your cheeks dusted with pink. "I gave him a private concert, two and a half weeks of music and ear-beating. I didn't think it'd come to bite me in the ass later on!" you exclaimed when he frowned.
"Non-stop communication for two weeks, you didn't think he was gonna respond eventually?!"
"He never did! W-well, until now of course."
"That's what happens when you sass someone!"
"I'm sorry okay?!" you exclaimed with furrowed eyebrows.
"Too bad we couldn't get him to speak more." Kohaku sighed. "We could get more clues as to what our opponent is."
"...We can conclude one thing though." you said, not really liking it yourself. "Why-Man's not human."
"Huh?!" her and Chrome exclaimed.
"What are you saying?!" he then asked.
"That, the notes that just played?" you pointed at the radio. "That was not made by a human. Like it was automatically generated and then played by a computer or something."
"But then, if it's not human, how can we beat him?" Kohaku asked, concerned.
"Worry not~, he did stop once (Y/n)-chan chimed in." Gen smiled. "And it was going on for a while before, which means he was waiting for her to join in."
"Me...?"
"Which bring us to our next mystery:" he raised an index. "'Is it music'. What exactly did he mean by 'it'?"
"Well, the stuff we did together, isn't it?" you frowned slightly.
"If that was the case," Senku said. "then he would've asked 'is this music' instead. If he is an AI, as you called it before on Treasure Island-"
'Oh my god I *did* call it!'
"- then he must be meticulous on his grammar, even though he's always very vague."
"Okay..." you slowly nodded. "Then, what is 'it'?"
Senku looked away as he thought about it.
"I don't know yet... Maybe we're having some parallels going on." he mumbled that last part.
"Huh?"
"Whatever it is." he smirked at you. "You seem to have gotten a new fan, congrats!"
"I don't want him as a fan." your face twisted a little bit.
"Um... Are you sure Why-Man's not gonna rain down a bunch of medusas at us?" Chrome asked.
"If (Y/n) did piss him off during her vacation, he had almost two years to do it and get his little revenge." he shrugged. "I'd say we're good. Doesn't mean we can slack off though! We'll show up at his home on the Moon before he tries to get here and take my girlfriend like some crazy fan or something!"
"WHA-?!?!?!" your face became red and you quickly covered your mouth. "Like I know you're joking but- ...Calling me your girlfriend in front of everyone like that?" you asked under your breath, clearly trying not to yell.
"Oh it happened before." Gen said. "On multiple occasions in fact, while we were separated."
You looked at him with big eyes. Senku chuckled. He knew your reaction would be priceless.
'Totally worth the wait.' he thought.
"So," Chelsea spoke. "when you say 'Moon mission', we're not just hanging out in a spaceship right? We'll be like...bouncing around on the surface all boing-boing?!"
"No point otherwise, how else are we supposed to make Why-Man's acquaintance?" he smiled. "That's why we're busting our butts to hustle all around this stone world. For this Moon landing, we gotta craft three sacred treasures," he excitedly held up three fingers. "spacesuits, a spaceship and a rocket engine! First stop is Spain! We'll find plenty of fluorite in Barcelona!"
"Spain?!" you exclaimed with sparks in your eyes.
"Haha!" Ryusui laughed. "Then we're heading to the waters where the age of exploration started! The Mediterranean sea!"
You cheered, along with everyone else. You all then went back to doing your own thing. You took your new theremin with you and you ended up on the ship's deck, sitting in your corner, on the floor with you back pressed on the wall. You silently staring at the Moon, lost in thoughts. Eventually, you sighed.
"Hey."
You turned to see Senku, walking over to sit besides you.
"Hey." you said with a distant look.
"What, you scared of the big bad guy on the Moon?"
"Not scared." you tilted your head. "More like, what is his deal with me? I get that I talked to him non-stop for weeks but... Why now?"
"...I don't know either." he looked at the Moon. "And that's exactly why we're going there."
You smiled and rested your head on his shoulder, he wrapped an arm around your shoulders when you did that. There was a moment of calm silence. Even though the two of you knew the Moon was the home of your enemy, it was still a calming sight, with its soft light enveloping you and the world around you.
"What will you do once you're in Spain?" he eventually asked.
"I'll get to work right away of course!" you leaned back and looked at him with a big smile. "Oh, that reminds me, I gotta write down what instruments I'll recreate!"
You stood up and were about to leave, but just then Senku took out a sheet of paper and a pencil out of his many pockets and handed them to you.
"I always keep some on me."
You smiled and took them. You sat back down, leaning against his chest as you began to write and think out loud, using your lap as support for the paper. Senku listened with a smile, his chin resting on your shoulder and his arms around your waist, occasionally chiming in to make a suggestion or ask a question.
You didn't realize how particularly affectionate he was being because, throughout your relationship, it was a slow build up. So unless he expressed his affection verbally, like he did today, you were already used to stuff like cuddling with him. But it didn't make this moment any less special to the both of you.
Once you were done, Senku proposed to work on your theremin so as to make it more polished. You gladly accepted and so you stayed in this position, except this time you were the spectator for his crafty work, sometimes testing the instrument to see how it sounded throughout the process. And once he was done, you both figured you didn't need a reason to just stay like this, so you did. Until of course one of you got hungry and you both went back in for dinner.