Chapter Text
She hated to do it. But once again. Lesser of the evils.
Carlos on one side of her. Max on the other. She called them over for food.
Luna didn’t have money, but Max naturally wanted to protect her. “Things are getting weirder around her. People aren’t respecting Senkuu and I’s relationship. They are making nasty rumors, which isn’t right. I love Senkuu dearly.”
“Oh, people talk,” Carlos said slowly. “Although? Miss Luna. I do have to say that Senkuu is a little too on-the-nose on your Friday nights. It’s the only time you really see him.”
“I see him outside of that.” She was interested in all of the things he was doing, just like a lot of others.
“What I mean is? He doesn’t really convey that he is your boyfriend,” Carlos said. “You should really be with someone who would proudly show they were your boyfriend.”
Damn! Even Carlos? Senkuu seemed fine to her. She had grown up with a vision of most of her family being more distant and obsessed with their own things.
“I think people are being jerks, Miss Luna,” Max said to her. “I guarded your mother too sometimes. I saw the same thing between them. Not everyone is super expressive, especially when it comes to your family, but if you say he is your boyfriend, I believe you.”
Thank goodness. It was holding a little bit.
“I can’t take it anymore!” Carlos stood up suddenly. “It’s just not true! He doesn’t like anyone like that, not even you, and I can’t do this!” He grabbed Luna’s hand. “That night everything happened, I was going to propose to you with a real platinum ring! I even kept it but Dr. Xenos took it frome me!”
Oh no, no, no! He was getting too-!
Max grabbed him, but it was too late.
Carlos kissed her. Not just a kiss on the cheek. Not even a gentle kiss. He forcefully opened her mouth with his and slammed his tongue onto hers. And it was absolutely disgusting, just like she always knew it would be.
What a first kiss.
“If this hadn’t happened, you would have been mine, Luna!”
No. She wouldn’t have. Max carried him away and then swiftly came back to check on her.
“Are you okay, Miss Luna? I can’t believe he did that, what a creep! It didn’t matter if he was gonna marry you, that was uncalled for!”
He wouldn’t have married her. She wouldn’t have married him. She got up and tried to wipe her tears away.
“Miss Luna, are you okay?”
No. “Uh huh. Lunch is over.” She looked toward Max. Max came over and hugged her. It’s what she needed, but not what she needed from him. Max was a double edged sword, and she just lost Carlos.
“I’ll keep him away from you as long as you want me to,” Max said. “You didn’t deserve that. You deserve nothing but nice kisses from a nice guy, Luna. Not him. Never him.”
And yet Max still spoke like there was some kind of competition. Not him. Never him? He wasn’t very far from stating the obvious.
“I would never treat you like that,” Max said. “I’d do nothing but protect my wife.”
Wow. Straight to wife.
“He’s a terrible match for you,” Max said, holding her closer. “You deserve a better match. Someone who could protect you. Especially with the Stone World opening up to society, you need protection, Miss Luna. I could do that for you.”
Oh great. Without Carlos, she had Max. If she pushed Max away, she’d have no guard that guarded her just because of the love in his heart.
“Miss Luna?”
“I miss Senkuu so much.” Simple pasta. Simple conversation. Simple smiles. Simple exchange. Simple boyfriend.
“Carlos is terrible, Luna. Senkuu probably isn’t going to get into you,” Max said. “What’s wrong with me? What’s ever been wrong with me?”
Oh, she didn’t want this moment. Her next move. What was her next move? She could tell Max was on the verge of leaving. Not just for lunch, but looking in on her altogether.
Max helped stand her back up, but didn’t say much.
“Thanks for the food, Luna.” It wasn’t cheery. That was scary. He left.
Would he still be looking in on her, or did she just lose her equiilibrium? She didn’t even know. Not knowing what to do next, she just went to rinse her mouth out with water.
In this new and terrifying world, it was risky to stay with Senkuu. He’d already warned her, he wasn’t protection. He wasn’t. His reputation was enough, but too many people could see the truth.
Max or Senkuu? Give into a life where she knew that she’d have to do things she didn’t want for protection, or keep the risk and stay with Senkuu?
She spit out the water. “Senkuu.”
Areas were getting bigger, but the old village crew tended to stay together. So it wasn’t a huge coincidence Chrome found himself in that kind of situation. Although she wasn’t part of the village, Luna tended to stay near Ishigami’s original residents, just like she did with Senkuu. Chrome even knew Senkuu went over to see her on Fridays for just a bit.
While he was taking care of some wood, he saw her usual two guys around her. She didn’t feel like eating inside of her own domicile. It was a nice day, so that wasn’t too out of the ordinary. But then?
Chrome saw one of them physically grab her, kiss her, and profess her love? Disgusting! He gritted his teeth. That was terrible. No one really understood Luna’s obsession with Senkuu, but that couldn’t have been more uncalled for!
He watched the other guy take care of him which was good. Poor girl looked so confused and just . . . ugh. Then, when Chrome figured it was over, he kept hearing that guy’s words. Was her own old guard basically making a deal to protect her if she was with him?
He watched him walk away. She went away for a bit into her house. Shakily though.
When he noticed one of the new people heading toward it too. Enough was enough.
Chrome headed over to her home. She had been so out of it, she left her door open. The new guy was trying to hold her hand. “Hey, Luna.” The guy stopped when he saw Chrome. Nobody liked others in their business. “Sorry to bug you. I’m chopping wood right now. Do you want any? If so, you can come with me to chop some wood.”
“Sure, I’ll take some.” She moved away and toward him. “Where is it? I can chop.”
Chrome walked with her over to his wood stack. “You okay? I don’t want to pry too much.”
“Huh? Oh.” She looked at the wood. “It’s okay, Senkuu won’t get jealous.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Chrome said as he sat the wood down. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She smiled at him, but she clearly was faking that smile. “How are you doing?”
“Going to go check on things here soon,” he said. “Senkuu should be coming back soon.” He watched her with the axe. Maybe he should actually chop the wood. Even though she was standing still, she was still shaking.
“Such good news. I-I missed my boyfriend,” she said.
“Yeah.” Chrome didn’t know how to describe it. He never really thought that much about Luna before. He thought she was just a little out of the space of reality for making Senkuu a boyfriend to save his life. But? Maybe she wasn’t what she appeared to be. “Is that other guy Max coming back?”
“I don’t know. I don’t care,” she added a little more firmly.
Chrome didn’t have to interrupt. Luna was a medical person, she must have known she wasn’t in the right state yet. She didn’t swing right away, she was sort of moving the axe to and fro.
/// “Don’t ever let anyone-Don’t ever let anyone- Don’t ever let anyone!” ///
Stop the thoughts. Stop the pattern. Luna took several deep breaths as she moved the axe safely to and fro. She was in the middle of panic, she could not swing the axe yet. She’d hurt herself or Chrome. Her thoughts were going circular, making her body react against her wishes, which flooded her with thoughts, which flooded her body again. It was a cycle of panic and she needed to break it.
Deep breaths. She was fine. Everything was fine.
Deep breaths. Her body was fine. It was psychological, she just needed to focus on it. It was fine.
/// “Luna, you were here?!” Her mother scooped her up like a light laundry basket. “How long have you been in here?!” ///
Deep breaths. Chrome wasn’t in a hurry. Worst thing he could do is take the wood away. Simple goal. Think of something else. Caves. The boat rocking when she got there. Senkuu. Senkuu’s little tick when he scratched inside his ear. His outfit. Visualize his outfit and the scratch. The weird smile. He had a cool, almost evil grin. E=mc squared.
Chrome kept watching her. She was taking deep breaths between. When she started to look a little better, she started to swing the axe.
She wasn’t the best at chopping wood, but she did her best. Chrome watched as the guy from before finally left the area.
“Wood.” She placed down the axe. “A girl always needs her wood. Thanks, Chrome. I can tell why Senkuu likes you so much.”
Senkuu liked everyone. Odd thing to say. “Don’t mention it.” Chrome watched her leave.
Things were getting one billion percent tense. One medusa and a hell of a plan.
“Senkuu.” Chrome came over to him. “You seen Luna yet?”
“Not yet.” It wasn’t Friday either. He was just studying the medusa that stayed, ideas circling in his head.
“She got kissed while you were gone.”
“Ah.” That was weird. She didn’t like that kind of thing, but maybe she was evolving. “She wants to move on, she can.”
He didn’t give any details. “What do you know about Luna?”
“Her grandfather was a famous inventor, heir to a famous father who made social connections, heir to a famous mother who modernized the fashioned industry with her own ideas, her sister was more of a mad scientist, Carlos was her driver, Max was her bodyguard, she was a first year medical student when she get petrified, Xenos found her and forced her to help with Corn City.” He didn’t just shut up and share noodles on Friday. Sometimes she would tell him about her, while he went on about science plans he was working on.
“She was really something back then. Someone special. Or, she knew special people, meaning she was special,” Chrome said. “I think her guard flaked out on her.”
Senkuu continued to work. He had no idea what Chrome really wanted or was trying to say, but he was going to work until he eventually got to the point.
“Senkuu, she didn’t kiss anyone. One of those guys grabbed her and kissed her. The other guy took care of the other guy, but then he came back and made any more help from him? Sound like a bad proposition to her. Then after they left, another weird guy came by. If you want to keep up this whatever you have with her? You’re going to have to think of something for all these weird guys.”
“Mmmm.” That’s what he was getting too. What a time, he was already trying to think about the next big thing, but Chrome might be onto something. If people learned about her, it might affect things. Her family was famous. Maybe, maybe not. She wasn’t exactly on TV or anything herself.
But? Someone literally forced a kiss on her too. He knew that ten billion percent wasn't right. Bringing it up wasn't his place either. Maybe. “I’ll bring over some noodles to her place tonight.” He’d get a feel for the situation before he figured out a next step.
She missed him. That was clear. She appreciated the noodles and was all ears on hearing his future plans. Tonight though, she wasn’t sharing as much. “On the quieter side tonight, Luna.”
“I just want to hear about your plans,” she answered. “They sound fascinating and surreal. You’ve come so far though, it’s hard to believe it’s not possible in some shape with you.”
Hmm. He went ahead and explained to her more. He didn’t touch on anything Chrome said, he wanted to see how things went without poking anything. He was there about thirty five minutes, and left.
While he was leaving though? He couldn’t help but notice three newly petrified people hanging around the area. “Can I help you?”
“Nah.” One of the guys pointed to the guy in the middle. “This guy said there was a famous heiress that lived here.”
“He said that she was absolutely gorgeous, and from what I caught of her, he was right,” the other one said.
“So you’re Senkuu,” the guy in the middle that was causing the trouble said. “You must be the boyfriend, right? Because I heard that you really weren’t into girls.”
“Maybe he’s into guys?”
“He’s not into guys either.”
“So are you, or are you not that sweet thing’s boyfriend?”
Daaaaamn. Senkuu took a small step back on instinct. Information was known.
“Lenny over here said her family was basically a fleet of geniuses. Grandpa. Mom. Dad. Is that why you are hanging out with her? Big brains think alike?”
“No way, I met her,” Lenny said. “She’s no genius. Gorgeous though, none compared.”
Okay. Waiting. Okay? Senkuu looked around. Investigating didn’t mean he was completely stupid. He’d gone too far in the Stone World not to have something.
There she had been. Kohaku was hanging out in a tree just a distant away. Good. When it came to science, he was brilliant. When it came to basic physical fighting, he would get his ass beat.
He stood with more confidence. “Yeah. I’m her boyfriend. Science is our love language.”
“Oh? Thought she was just making that up,” one of them said. “Especially when she was just kissing a guy earlier. Some old love connection.”
“That wasn’t a kiss,” Senkuu corrected them.
“Well, what did you do about it, Senkuu?” the guy in the middle named Lenny asked. “Did you put him in his place for kissing your girl?”
“It wasn’t a kiss, it was a seize and capture.” They left him with an awful question to answer. So, he didn’t.
“Doesn’t sound like you did anything to him,” Lenny said. “Probably because you are a super top good leader for the Kingdom of Science. That’s what you call yourselves, right? The Kingdom of Science?”
“That’s right.” Senkuu wouldn’t back down from that. “I am the leader of the Kingdom of Science.”
“How’d you get that position? I was curious, so you don’t have to answer,” Lenny said.
“How’d he get it?” One of the men asked.
“By marrying the leader’s daughter, and then almost instantly divorcing her,” Lenny mentioned. “He’s super smart. That’s . . . about it.”
“So is your boyfriend label more of another political move?” One of the men asked him. “Is she actually available?”
“I think you got the most out of the relationship already. You did it for a guy named Xenos’ group,” Lenny said. “Dr. Xenos is already your ally. Research can be fun, can’t it?”
“It doesn’t take much research, these are all basic facts you are saying,” Senkuu said. Everything was supposed to sound impressive, to make him feel weaker. They didn’t have to do that, he already felt weak. He did have to get strong enough to survive the trip to the moon, but it wasn’t anything that would help him in this situation.
“Sure,” Lenny said. “Come on guys. Let’s celebrate the end of the petrification. I hear they made special drinks.”
“Sounds good,” one of them said.
“I don’t know. It’s a beautiful night, I might hang out here longer,” the other one said. He looked toward Senkuu. “Hope you all have fun.”
“No way are you staying here,” the other unnamed guy said to him. “I don’t trust you outside the place of a gorgeous heiress. I’m staying too.”
“I don’t trust either of you,” Lenny said. “I guess we’ll all just stay.”
“I think you should all probably go.”
Boy, Kohaku liked to take her sweet ass time sometimes. Senkuu watched as Kohaku swung over like only she can.
“I think all three of you should go,” she warned them. “Go get a drink. Cool off. And don’t come back.” She glared at them. “I’m part of the Kingdom of Science. I’m the Fighter Division.”
There. They ten billion percent didn’t like that. Each of them finally left the area. Senkuu breathed again.
“I think Luna might be in some trouble, Senkuu,” Kohaku said. “Not all boys just study science. How many people do you think he told?”
“As many as he wanted,” Senkuu said.
Oh, that was so nice. Senkuu really was the best.
He came in and greeted her. He never undressed her with his eyes. He had a nice bowl of noodles to share. He shared about himself, not what he could do for her. He was waiting for her to talk about herself like a human being, though she didn’t want to talk about much.
He never groped her. Never tried to hug her to make her feel better with the intention just to touch her. He didn't even bring anything up, though Chrome probably told him. Chrome was one of his closest friends next to Taiju because he was interested in science strongly before they even met.
Senkuu would never grab her like a thing. Steal her damn first kiss. That's why he was the perfect boyfriend.
He treated her like another human being. It was true that romantic wasn’t exactly in his vocab. His vocab was filled with science, not romance. Maybe it was all science and no romance. But, that was okay, because not everything normal was in her vocabulary either. People just didn't know it. They saw a volumptuous body, a soft sweet voice, and always wanted more.
They would never get more. No one ever had a chance to get more. Before she could even go to school, that chance sailed away. Playing dolls in a room. Under the laundry because her doll needed her penthouse. Sister and forbidden stupid guy trying to be under the radar.
Months of warnings of everything. Years of warnings of everything from her mad scientist of a sister. Not even in first grade, what areas to cover up. Not even in second grade, no spaghetti straps, wear pants, thick sweaters. Not even in third grade, watch every kid in your classroom, don’t go to the bathroom alone, statistics about how many started to get hurt. More, more and more.
Her sister petrified her body way before stone had a chance.
“Hey!”
Luna turned. Kohaku?
Kohaku came in with her stuff. “Easiest way.” She placed it down. “So? Here's the deal, Luna. Your status isn't something just anyone can take on. Especially not Senku. So forget dating me. Forget pretending with him. I am just moving in.”
Really? “You are moving in?”
“Yep.” Kohaku smiled. “I am really good at fighting,” she winked. “I hope someone does try something because I love to kick their butts.”
Well? No more Senku. No more noodles. He was only with her on Fridays because it was easy. It really put a nail into it.
For a little while? She wasn’t single. She had a smart, wonderful boyfriend. She could have gone on like that forever, but her situation was now too sticky.
She would have to bag another genius at some point. Geniuses tended to be more involved with science than her body. Just how she liked it.
But? Senku would always be her first boyfriend. She would never forget that.