Survival Challenge Gone Wrong

Chapter 14 - Thursday, 5 days later

There was a suspiciously large crowd gathered in front of the theatre when Gen arrived. He waited a few minutes to observe the crowd before stepping out of his taxi, eyes seeking out a certain green-tipped hairstyle. Not having spotted him immediately, he resorted to standing a little away from the people and studying the theatre. It was a charming building, a little on the smaller side. It would be packed if all this gathering came for whatever the theatre was hosting today, Gen worried that they wouldn't find seating if Senku arrived too late. But well, he trusted that he had everything covered, and took his mind off needless troubling thoughts.

Five minutes passed, then ten. The people had thinned out, and Gen had become a little worried. Was Senku waiting for him inside perhaps? Just as he was about to take out his phone to send a text, a fast-approaching blur of white spun through the scarce crowd and stopped in front of him.

Senku wheezed and folded in on himself, catching his breath with his hands resting on his thighs. He wore a simple button-up tucked into some grey slacks, and Gen sighed in relief at the lack of a tie. He felt good about his own outfit, consisting of a black satin shirt with powder blue dress pants. When Senku finally cleared his throat and straightened up, Gen couldn't conceal his gasp.

"Oh dear, what happened to your hair?"

The mess on his head was not the usual leek-core au natural, but Gen saw attempts at taming the locks into a hairstyle, which was now in disarray with strands poking out and standing up in places they probably were not supposed to. Senku grimaced and swiped some sweat off his forehead, "I was running late and I think the wind dishevelled it. You look nice."

Gen snorted, a little surprised by the compliment coming from him, "Thanks, I'd say the same but we really need to fix your hairstyle. Here, turn around."

"That bad huh? I appreciate the help, I can't fix it by myself," Senku did as he was told and Gen swiftly began working on pulling out the tie and detangling what he could with his fingers. He did not have much experience with styling either, so he simply tied a low bun with the remaining hair sticking out in what he thought was the original idea behind the bird's nest.

"So are you going to tell me what's happening today?"

"Oh, right. The astronomy department in my university made some exciting discoveries about black holes, and they prepared a lecture with new predictions and potential space travel theories!"  Gen was tucking a last loose strand of hair behind Senku's ear and his hand stopped mid-air, processing the information.

"You mean to tell me that we came here for your uni presentation...?" Senku must have sensed that Gen had stopped fixing his hair and took the liberty to turn around.

"I'd say it's more of a conference. It's a big deal so there will be reporters present." Now that Senku had calmed down, Gen could tell that he was grinning, a hint of giddiness emanating from him. "Are you okay with that? With you being famous and all."

"Huh," Gen was admittedly still stuck on the lecture thing. Pray tell, how many of your dates take you to their university events? Although, with how excited Senku looked, Gen did not feel put off in the slightest. It was cute that he was dumb sometimes. "No, it's alright," He snapped back from his brief pause, "It's a whole different industry and won't affect me. I'm not that famous to begin with. But thanks for your concern."

"Good, let's hurry then. It's about to start any minute now."

As it turned out, Gen's worries were not groundless, as they had to shuffle through a dozen people to reach some empty seats in the stuffed auditorium. They sat down seconds before the hall dimmed and the lecture began.

Senku was really engrossed from the get-go, so Gen allowed himself to relax and try to understand the complicated terms thrown around through contextual clues. If he was perfectly honest, it was nothing he couldn't learn through a one-minute Instagram reel adequately dumbed down. But since Senku brought him here...