Steps to survival

Chapter 14 : An Eventful Evening

Everyone except for Gen sat in a circle in Chrome's shed, including me of course. I'm still pretty unsettled about earlier and I think that most of them could tell, but respectfully didn't ask about it. Or care to comment and I thanked them silently for that.

"So you see, Suika. The long-haired man, Tsukasa, is the one behind who was Senku's murder," Kohaku explained. Senku chuckled awkwardly.

"Even though I'm still alive," he rubbed the back of his neck, I leaned back on my palms, relaxing my posture.

"That guy's seriously bad news. He wanted to stop scientific progress, that's why he killed Senku without hesitation," I shook my head and noted that Suika looked on edge, shaking and sweating.

He was about to continue but I interrupted, " Chrome, shut it. You're freaking Suika out." He shut his mouth and slouched.

"Sorry, Suika," she waved her hands dismissively.

"It's fine! But if Tsukasa's such a violent guy and Gen's been working with him, that means Gen's a bad guy, too!" I looked away from her pitifully.

"But isn't Gen the person who saved us from Magma? Then he's a good guy," I pulled my mouth back into a cringe. Then, guess who was chuckling.

"He's honestly not a good guy or bad guy," Senku concluded.

"He's nothing but a rat who's only in it for himself," Kohaku spat.

"It actually doesn't matter to me if he's good or bad. At the end of the day, we need him to be an ally of the Kingdom of Science," I sighed and looked away, leaning on the far wall.

"We'll have him give a bogus report to Tsukasa, saying Senku is definitely dead. It's the only possible hope we have of winning this," Senku explained. Unexpectedly, Chrome stood up and marched to the exit of the small complex.

"Listen up, Gen!" He yelled leaning out of the door frame.

"I know you saw the electricity! The light! That's what badass science at work looks like! So why care about who wins? Why even give a crap whether Senku or Tsukasa has the edge?" I felt my brows knit together, I looked to him with a confused smile.

"Cause the Kingdom of Science is obviously the side that's more fun!"He smiled boyishly. There was a short pause before I heard a distant voice.

"Oh, is that so? You are the passionate type. To bad for you, I don't really care about that. I'm probably the most superficial man on Earth," I scoffed.

"You got that right," I muttered making Suika giggle, the other two looked amused.

"All I consider is what's beneficial to me," his footsteps soon grew quieter. Meaning he was further away. I turned back around to see Kohaku standing quivering, knife in hand. Senku held out his hand to stop her from pouncing onto him, Senku had a stern look on his face. I quickly felt the twist in my stomach return and I ducked my head.

'Crack' what the hell was that? I perked up and ignored everybody's odd stares. It sounded like someone was getting beat up! I rushed out and jumped to ground level and rolled forwards from the momentum, grabbing my bow on the way. I drew it and approached the generator.

I saw Kohaku bounding over to me, followed by Senku and Chrome. Suika was lagging far behind.

'Rustle' I turned to my right and saw a figure running. My eyes focused viciously onto my target. I managed to hit the arm of the attacker, an almost inaudible grunt was heard, yet they continued sprinting away. I panted uneasily while looking around. I gasped quietly. There lay Gen with a spear rammed into his chest, eyes shot open with a few odd bruises on his jaw, nose and eyes.

Mostly everyone's eyes glued to Gen as they inspected him, Senku stared at me intensely. His eyes showed a mix of confusion and frustration? I don't know!

I turned back to Gen and kneeled by his side, taking in every detail there is to take in.

"Holy crap, What happened here?" Chrome knelt beside me.

"Damn it. Looks like he died instantly," Kohaku tutted.

"This is horrible!" Suika covered her mouth.

"Hang on a second," they stopped their conversation at my abruptness. I removed the spear delicately. At the top of the spear, there was a burst fake blood bag. I rolled my eyes and held out the packet with an unamused look.

"Fake blood bag," I threw it onto the ground. They all picked up the bags that were falling out of his clothing.

"He's got these things all over his body!" Suika hummed in relief.

"This is really freakin' bad! I bet he did this before he even came to the village, just in case," Chrome chuckled. Senku appeared to be stunned momentarily but quickly grinned and tilted his head.

"Tch. That's pretty impressive, Gen. You really are a magician to your core. Not to mention a showman," he said to no one in particular. I shook my head, for some reason, relieved that Gen was still alive. At the moment we just needed to focus on helping him.

Kohaku and Chrome carried him as gently as possible up to the lair. Suika and I decided to patch him up with an unnamed fluid and leaves and moss.

"Those bags may have helped block the spear, but he's still really beat up," I noticed Gen had cracked a blackened eye open.

"Damn it. We gotta catch whoever did this," Chrome said through gritted teeth.

"First, we need to find out who do such an awful thing," Kohaku furrowed her brows and sighed. I knew exactly who it was, it couldn't have been any more obvious.

"Magma," everyone's attention turned to me, I felt an intense pressure on me as I spoke.

"I-I, uh, saw him," I stuttered uneasily. I shot an arrow at his arm, so," Senku nodded and cut me short.

"So look out for anyone with a fresh wound on their arm," I suddenly felt the pressure on my chest lighten. I could feel frustration all over the room, Suika balled her fists and shot out and onto the ground. Flinging herself towards the village.

"I'm gonna investigate!" She shrieked.