Interrogation

Senku had been tired these days. He had limited manpower in his lab as Gen kept running away from his works (a/n: from him actually). And this time as well. Senku wanted to look for Gen, but he was nowhere to be found. The scientists was so worn out that he decided to have a walk in the woods.

"This is so refreshing. Maybe I stayed inside for too long." He still needed a fresh air despite the cold winter breeze. Senku walked deeper in the quiet woods, only the sound of the rubbing leaves were present. The relaxing atmosphere told Senku to sit and lean his back against a big tree nearby, which somehow reminded him of Taiju. "It's almost a year since I parted from that Big Oaf and Yuzuriha," he said as he closed his eyes. The boy tried to enjoy his time off.

Only 278 seconds after Senku started to relax his mind and body, another sound broke the silence. Judging from the faint sound, it was quite far from where he was, about 30-40 meters. Senku wouldn't mind them and continue his relaxation, until a loud bang was heard from the direction. "What the fuck was that?!"

Senku was shocked, of course, to the point he became impatient and rushed to the source of sounds. From afar, he could see Kohaku and Chrome. The lioness seemed enraged and he guessed that she was the perpetrator who made the bang. When he was about to call out them, he then saw Gen. The mentalist looked terrified by the mad Kohaku. The atmosphere was so intense that Senku stopped his plan to reach them. He wanted to observe what had happened first.

"Now, tell us, Gen..." Chrome started talking, "What are your actual ulterior motives?"

"My ulterior motives what?" Gen startled and puzzled by the two.

"You keep avoiding your work with Senku and choose to stay inside the village. Are you monitoring the villagers' activity to report to Tsukasa?" Kohaku raised her voice.

This time, Gen was more confused than frightened. He shook his head fast. "No no no no no!!! You misunderstood!!"

Senku chuckled, hadn't realized that Gen was actually avoiding him. No wonder he was so hard to find these days.

"Then, give us explanation," Chrome asked.

Gen was actually avoiding Senku. It's been almost two weeks since the modern man screwed up his heart. Senku's word might mean nothing, but still, Gen couldn't set his heart right. Moreover, after the more ambiguous words he said in front of the children 3 days ago. Do you mind to give him to me? Aaaaaaaaaa!!! He wanted to curse that green onion head so much, asking for explanation.

Wait. What did he expect?

"Asagiri Gen." Kohaku woke him up from his deep thought.

"I..." Gen started to talk, hesitantly. "I just had a little quarrel with Senku-Chan. So, I.... avoided him."

Both are confused. "But you looked fine in our room." Chrome, Gen, and Senku are roommates after all.

Gen chuckled. "Well, maybe it was okay for him. But not for me."

Senku widened his eyes as he heard that, shocked, then smiled faintly. Meanwhile Kohaku could see a real sad and troubled face from the man in front of her. Her anger was gone, replaced by pity. She knew Gen was not lying, at least that was what she wanted to believe. "Did Senku hurt you?" Kohaku asked in a more soft tone than before.

"Nope," Gen answered softly. "He just made me... perplexed." Then put his head down, hiding his face. He could feel his face became hotter and reddened his cheeks.

Chrome and Kohaku looked at each other, as if they said hey what should we do to each other. They were extremely confused, though couldn't be compared to the mentalist. Were they looking at a girl falling in love? They wondered.

"Wait. What?" The duo actually realized something. "Do you ...."

Before Chrome finished his question, Senku showed up and walked towards them. They all were surprised, and of course Gen was the most startled. "Se-Senku-chan??"

"Having fun, aren't you?" Senku asked casually. He kept walking past Chrome and Kohaku, towards Gen. "But sorry, I think we have to clear up some mess between us. Let's go, Gen." The scientist pulled the other man's hand, not a strong pull, but Gen followed along.

"Ah!" Senku stopped suddenly. His head faced back, forgot to say something to Kohaku and Chrome before they went any further. "He's part of Kingdom of Science. He won't leave nor betray us. I can guarantee that." He smirked, giving shivers to the both of them, then left.