18. Using Magic and Laughter
Feb. 18, 2023
-----
"Oh, Magma-chan~!"
Gen's playful voice was enough to stop Magma from berating Chrome and cause shivers to go down his spine. The brute turned around to see the mentalist standing on the very top of the hut where Ruri and the chief had stayed.
"You...! The outside sorcerer!" He cried.
"You did a number on me last time I saw you. Thank you so much for killing me!" Gen cackled.
Mantle stumbled upon his words as he saw the mentalist. "What?! H-How? How is he--"
"'How am I alive' you ask? Sorcery, of course!" Gen replied with a close-eyed smile. He then whipped his hands around and did a few motions, throwing flower petals everywhere. He shaped his fingers and pointed them directly at Magma. "I've hexed you, Magma-chan! Should you take a single step, your heart will explode under this sorcery!"
A wave of whispers and chattering spread throughout the village. Magma looked at his surroundings with sweat dripping down the sides of his head, then frantically searched for Jasper.
"A-A magic attack like that has gotta be an outside interference, right?! That's a violation!" Magma sputtered out.
"Only if your heart actually explodes!" You told him with a cheeky grin.
Senku put on a sly expression. "But if he's just bluffing, it all amounts to heckling from a spectator. No problem there, right? Why not make a move and test that theory? See if your heart really explodes?"
Magma took his trembling hand and gripped the area where his heart was, standing as still as he could.
Gen then urged Chrome, "Chrome-chan! Strike now and defeat Magma-chan while he's immobilized!"
The boy looked confused, but then he realized the plan that was going through. He replied, "I-It's no use! I'm so frozen with fear, that I cannot even move a muscle!"
"That's gotta be the worst acting I've ever seen, Chrome..." Kohaku was shocked by how bad it was.
"That is horrible acting," you mentioned with a snicker.
Senku replied, "Kukuku, but it's good enough. Gen is the star player here."
The mentalist continued his dramatic theatrics, "Please do it quickly...! This spell takes a toll on my magic reserves! I can only keep him frozen...for one minute!"
"Mwahahaha!" Magma let out a thunderous laugh. "Lucky for me that you're such a coward, Chrome! I can just hang tight and wait until the sorcerer's magic runs out!"
You crossed your arms, speaking quietly to your friend, "He actually fell for it."
"Not bad. But the rest is up to Chrome," said the scientist with a slightly worried expression on his face.
All you could do was watch Chrome and Magma sit still. But you noticed how focused your friend was, and you believed in him. And with time passing for a few seconds, the boy was able to sit completely still with immense concentration. With Senku's science, Gen's magic, and Chrome's tenacity and determination, they were able to spark a light to create fire.
"Bingo," Senku smirked. "Now pat the flames."
Magma did just that when he saw a flame burning on his pants. When his hand made contact with the fire, it immediately spread all over his clothing, causing him to scream in panic.
"Holy crap, that was fast!" You cried out.
"That's the surface flash phenomenon. Fire immediately spreads across the fuzz on clothing," the scientist explained to your group.
Chrome walked up to the blonde brute after placing the broken helmet on the ground. He grinned and spoke to his opponent as he burned, "Don't worry, Magma! I'm not a murderer. I've got just the way to save you, so I'll be nice and gentle."
By "nice and gentle," he meant jabbing him in the balls, which caused Magma to fall off the arena and into the water.
"HE DID IT!" The crowd cheered. The only person who was upset by the win was Mantle, which was visibly crying.
Chrome then collapsed and crawled over to the referee as the man picked it up. "You already said that the helmet was allowed, and that's my sweat and tears."
Jasper smiled and announced, "The winner is Chrome!"
Senku and the rest of your friends crowded around the boy, who had the biggest, goofy grin on his face. You stood by Gen, who was nearing the bridge.
"So the only fighters left are Senku-chan, (Y/N)-chan, Ginro-chan, and Chrome-chan," the mentalist mentioned to all of you.
Your lips curved upwards. "Well yeah! This is a huge win for the Kingdom of Science!"
Gen had a mischievous smile on his face. "Well, I ought to get going now. I'm no competitor, and I'd imagine that our dear Kinro-chan has something to say about outsiders."
"Eh, I'm sure he wouldn't mind, considering you helped us during the Grand Bout," you said as you shrugged your shoulders.
"Before I go, (Y/N)-chan, I have something to give you. You'll need it, considering what happened before your fight." The mentalist then took out a medium-sized, wrapped package seemingly out of nowhere and placed it in your hands. "It's a gift from Yuzuriha-chan. But also as your best friend, I made a special request for how it looked. Just don't open it until after the Grand Bout. I don't want it getting dirty."
"Hey, who appointed you as my best friend? But whatever. Tell Yuzuriha I said thank you and that I miss both her and Taiju," you told Gen and shooed him off.
He let out a chuckle, then spoke to Senku. "As for what I came to talk about, come to me when you've taken control of this village, Senku-chan."
With that, he had left. You looked at the package and shook it. There were no small parts other than the string ribbon, but it felt as soft as cloth. Senku came up to you, asking, "So you got something from Yuzuriha, huh? Nothing for me?"
"Unfortunately not. Though I'm guessing that it's clothing since that's her best suit. I can't wait to open it, considering she makes such nice clothing," you told him with a smile. "Anyways, it's almost time for our fight. Where's Ginro?"
"He's over by the Chief's hut, talking to Ruri. I would go over there to ask some questions, but the chief is in there too," said Senku.
"No opportunity to talk then. I guess we do have to fight. I'll put up a fake-enough effort and pretend to get knocked out, then allow you and Ginro to fight. It shouldn't matter who would win afterward, because we're gonna let Chrome take it all."
"Yup."
You heard Jasper call out, "And now, the semi-final match will begin! This is a special round, with three fighters in the mix! Will (Y/N), Senku, and Ginro step forward?"
You and Senku put up a fist and bumped arms. You handed your present to Suika, who was willing to hold it for you until after the fight. Senku grabbed his weapon and followed you to the middle of the arena. Ginro also made it to the middle, but you noticed something off about him. Almost instantly, the blonde warrior was headed straight for your friend with a crazed appearance on his face. He started slamming his dulled spear up and down, onto the ground, trying to crush him as he ran away.
"Ginro, what the hell are you doing?!" Senku demanded.
He replied with a hint of greed, "You all heard Ruri-sama! She said it could be anyone, so I gotta fight like I mean it! Because I could really be chief of this village, right?! My time has come for the era of Ginro!"
You immediately went over to Senku and blocked Ginro's oncoming attacks. It was clear to you that the blonde boy was targeting him just to get rid of the male competition.
"When I'm chief, every day will be an all-you-can-eat ramen feast for the village! And harems! Not just for me, but everyone gets a harem! This will be ONE HELLUVA VILLAGE!" He let out a boisterous laugh.
With that statement alone, you took quick glances around the arena to see that a majority of the villagers were uncomfortable. Everyone's minds and hearts united, believing that Ginro was extremely shameless and that he was the last person who should be the chief. You then looked over to Senku, who locked eyes with you and nodded.
Ginro needed to lose.
You held him off until Senku came up with something. It did look suspicious that you were helping him by keeping him safe. But everyone ignored that fact because, in some ways, the blonde idiot was worse than Magma.
"Ginro, you are the most shameless person I've met to date! Kohaku and I will kill you later!" you told him.
"That doesn't matter, because I'm going to become chief! I will take you both down, whether you like it or not!" he yelled out with his tongue sticking out.
His move set was becoming unpredictable with every slash and thrust of his weapon, you had to be extra careful when it came to parrying every move, all while protecting your friend. But after a few seconds, you noticed Chrome struggling in the corner of your eye. He grabbed Suika's broken helmet and threw it directly at Senku. As the scientist caught it, he hid behind you as Ginro was screaming at you to not burn him.
"(Y/N)!" Senku called out, and you immediately jumped out of the way. Ginro went back to trying to crush Senku with his legs spread out.
Using the power of science, the green-haired boy used a lever to put at least 125 kilograms of weight to knock out Ginro by crushing his eggs. With that, the sleazeball was out of the match and had faceplanted into the ground.
"Hurray!" the village cheered, relieved that Ginro had lost.
"Nice! They did it! Now the village is totally gonna be the Kingdom of Science..." you heard Chrome say.
"It kinda seems like the whole village is united..." Suika had a hopeful look in her eyes. "Maybe Ginro saw this coming and played the villain on purpose!"
Kinro and Kohaku replied, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"
"Oi, wait!" Jasper gathered the attention of everybody. "The match isn't over yet. Senku and (Y/N) are still competing!"
He was right. You now needed to put up your best acting skills to fight each other and let one of you win so that Chrome could go on to the next round.
"Are you going to give up?" you put on a serious expression on your face and pointed your bokken at Senku. He realized what you were doing and had a smirk on his face, beginning to walk over to you. "Oh? You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?"
He let out a chuckle. "Well, I can't beat the shit outta you without getting closer."
"Oh ho! Then come as close as you like!" You heavily increased the sarcasm on your part.
Your friends were confused about the reference you and Senku knew about, but they knew that you were acting once again. When the boy got closer, he tried to strike you with the stick, but you immediately blocked it. With every swish and thrust, you guarded yourself. However, you did not reflect back onto him to keep him safe.
"Too slow, too slow! Why don't we just drop our weapons and do some hand-to-hand combat?" You instantly threw your bokken away and held up two fists. This was to hurry up the fight.
"Fine by me," the scientist shrugged and threw the stick away. He then instantly jumped you by surprise and propelled you to the ground. He then had his hands over your wrists and "pinned" you with all the strength he could.
"You really think this is enough to stop me?" you laughed, then flipped your position. He was now under you, but your hands were planted beside his head and his extremities were free. "You're making me use all my strength here!"
"I'm gonna finish you off right here, right now, slowpoke," Senku told you with a whisper.
"How?" You questioned him. He then took his hands and started lifting it towards you. "Wait, don't--"
Then you felt it. Since there was no cloth to protect you, his fingers were able to explore your abdomen and hips, allowing him to attack your weak spot. That horrible ticklish feeling.
"HAHA, SENKU! PLEASE! HAHAHA!" You screamed.
"What, do you want me to stop?" The boy had an evil look on his face, his lips curled into a devious grin. He ended up pushing you off of him and squatted on top of you to keep you planted into the ground.
"PFF--STOP! HAHA, YOU'RE GONNA MAKE ME PEE!" You begged as you dug your fingers into the dirt and kicked your legs around. "SENKU, I'M BEGGING YOU! HAHAHA!"
Tears were building up in your eyes. You pulled your head up and reached an arm out to Kohaku and the others, but they hand looked at you with pity. This was the most embarrassing way to lose.
"Kukuku, I can do this all day!" he told you.
"YOU GODDAMN BITCH!" You yelped out.
He let out a chuckle. "You already know what to do to get me to stop."
You screeched, "HA, FINE! I GIVE UP, HAHA! I FORFEIT! HA--JUST PLEASE GET OFF MEEEE!"
He smirked and then put his hands up in the air. "You heard her! She gives up!"
You lied still on the ground, trying to catch your breath after laughing too much. "Yeah... I...give up. You... are a bastard... Senku."
Jasper approached Senku with sweat dripping down his temples. "Ahem...since the latter had forfeit, Senku advances to the final match!"
This time, the crowd was actually quiet. You slowly got up and trudged over to your friends, who couldn't even look at you after that match.
Suika squinted her eyes. "Suika thinks (Y/N) did a great job holding off Ginro! As for Senku..."
"So sorry for your loss," Kinro coughed out.
"You fought hard in the end," Kohaku added.
"Shut up. It's even more embarrassing when you do that..." you sighed. "It's time for Chrome versus Senku, right? Where's Chrome?"
You looked around and on the ground, and saw him laying there. Senku approached him and poked him with his weapon lightly. You instantly noticed that he didn't react, and Senku's reaction gave it away.
"Um...he's knocked out," said Suika, patting his head with her small hand.
"It must've taken the last of his strength to throw the helmet, and he was so relieved, knowing that Ruri-nee was saved..." said Kohaku with a nervous smile.
"That means..." The villagers all looked at your friend.
Jasper awkwardly announced loud and clear for every single person to hear, "Our new village chief, and the man who will take our lady priestess as his wife, is Senku!"
"WHAT?!"
-To be Continued-
A/N: I published on time, wooooo! I hope you liked this chapter. It's a little shorter than the usual chapters, but I'll do my best to make the next one longer.
(*ï¿£â½ï¿£)ã~~ âª