Since the nights are getting colder it felt relieving for the steam from the freshly cooked ramen to hit [Name]'s face. She felt like a kid swinging her legs, causing the stool to wobble. "Hey, calm down," chuckled Mumen Rider as he placed a hand on the edge to stop her from teetering over. Although she would rather be freeloading with Genos and Saitama on her last free day, he wanted to dedicate one for training. So when Mumen randomly called, it was the next best thing, she could not turn down free ramen.
She looked down at his hand, seeing his fingers are an inch away from her butt. While breaking her chopsticks and staring at him with a straight face she says, "Pervert."
He mutters random words in his fluttered phase and she cackles at him before slurping her noodles. "You know, I thought you were a more conservative person when we first met," she can see his glasses fogging up, and wonders whether it is because of the steam or his red cheeks.
"What are you talking about? I showed my guts to you when we first met," her chopsticks fumble around as she tried grasping a piece of pork.
Mumen pushes his glasses up before stirring his noodles in the broth, "Well, that's exactly why! It's like you didn't feel anything! Even that run in with the car."
"...Well, that was nothing," [Name] would hate to recall her origin back in City X. "You know what, maybe you're right," she cringes remembering the "moody teenager" impression she gave off back in her school and how she carried it over to City Z.
"Does it...hurt?"
"No, it's sort of a long story," she wishes it were as easy as Saitama's three year summary. "I don't wanna depress you with my 'anime-like' back story." Purposely, she noisily scoops a bunch of noodles in her mouth and begins to tear from the heat.
"Eventually, you'll have to share it, right?" he picks at the vegetables. "People are already making up their own theories in their fan fic-"
[Name] stares at Mumen Rider in astonishment as he catches himself revealing his part-time hobby, "...Really?" She rolled her eyes over the awkwardness, "What...do they say?"
Seeing that most of [Name]'s reactions were either a chortle or a face of disbelief proved that none of these theories reached close to her actual story. It only made his curiosity grow, but she would revert back to the "conservative person" he first met a month or two back.
"You got a lot of notifications on your phone," they sat on the steps for a while after he returned her bag. "You sure are popu-" he pauses as she reluctantly skims through her alerts in order to clear up her screen. "...Spam?"
"Something like that." The numbers of unread e-mails, messages and missed calls are overwhelming to Mumen. Her face brightens into a kooky grin as she browsed through the missed calls. It was obvious to tell what she was grinning at since his name stood out among random numbers, "Cyborg Prince." Ironically, hearing the name made her nose scrunch since it was concocted by his fans, but she found it a cute nickname.
"Cyborg Prince" blinked on her phone screen as it vibrated against the wooden table. "Hello? No, I'm okay, I'm having dinner with Mumen Rider. Sorry, I should have sent a text," she switches him on speaker and gestures Mumen to listen in.
There really isn't much of Genos that Mumen knows. Well, they share the same experience of getting beat down by Sea King, but all in all, he didn't think Genos was much of a talker. His perspective totally changed when he heard the cyborg's monotone voice run on about every single detail of why he is concerned, bringing up situations that can happen at the hour of the night. [Name] held in her snickers as ten seconds of run on sentences continued until someone yelled an outburst and the call ended abruptly.
"Ha, guess we should get you home, huh?"
...
"Demon threat level: River Monster-" the alarms blared while [Name] strutted across a bridge she took daily to meet Zombieman after training with Bang. "Citizens are advised to stay indoors and to avoid streams and bridges-"
"Well, shit." She took a peek over the edge of the rails and saw bubbles rising to the top and a dark figure inching closer to the surface. "NOPE!" she dashed across the sidewalk as droplets of water splashed around her and a low rumble arose from the creature's throat. Her instinct is to sprint down the nearest corner, but she felt a new kind of sensation rush through her body. A different type of pain she has never felt before. It was odd as she slowly turned her head seeing her right arm claimed by alligator jaws and separate from her body, back into the river. From the glimpse she caught it had a scaly body, but other than that... For the first time, after so long, she dropped down experiencing hell. She has touched her raw flesh before, but at least her limbs were all attached. Her bones have been broken and fractured, but never detached from their joints. When there was a tear in her skin her body immediately connected the wound. However, this is a first.
"Mumen..." her body wobbled as she recalled their conversation the night before, "I feel something..."
For the first time, she blacked out not because of the loss of blood, but to the shock.
"Why are you crying?" the wound is fresh, but clean after he accidentally nicked himself while cutting vegetables. However, it was pretty bad for they sat in the waiting room of the hospital to get stitches.
"Because daddy got hurt! When the princess gets sad and cries on her boyfriend he usually gets up all fine!" she wished her tears would drop from her eyes like the princess' in the movies. Although he giggled she was dead serious as her eyes began to water. Impatiently, she transferred the tear to her finger and plop right on his hand. She is immediately scolded by her mother who is paused when they witness the torn flesh suddenly connect themselves as the liquid slipped inside.
She hacked at the scent of nicotine.
"Hey."
"Genos?"her mouth felt dry and her vision is a blur, but her nose didn't lie to her. So, she chose to save her breath.
[Name] heard him sigh. Felt her left hand limply laying on her stomach and nothing on the opposite side. Only Zombieman's hand gripping her shoulder, trying to keep his raggedy grey jacket from falling over as he carried her. "You know, when I lose an arm it takes about fifteen minutes to completely heal," it's strangely silent. It felt as if her whole body is trying to adjust her senses once more. "You know how long it's been?" she can hear the alarms blaring from a distance, but they sounded distorted. And then, it rang through her ears and head, shooting pangs. "An hour. So far your skin has fixed itself up around the joint. I don't feel any difference yet. Don't worry, maybe in a day your arm will return. Your body just isn't used to this sort of stress I guess. We'll have to-"
He can feel the sudden spark of life drain as her head inclines back. He lets out an irritated grunt when he heard footsteps approaching. He already knew who it was, "Zombieman, did you also get the call about the River Monster? We faced it before, but because it has the skin of an alligator and so we, S-Class heroes, couldn't defeat it. It also has regenerating powers, so that will be a problem."
"...No, I-" he tucked the coat around her before he faced him. Zombieman pondered about telling the truth, but he knew he shouldn't add [Name] to Genos' responsibility at the time being. "She tuckered herself out training with Bang today. So, I went to drop her off back home," he cursed to himself as he caught sight of droplets of dried blood on the right side of her cheek and neck.
Of course, to his misfortune, that is exactly where Genos is looking as he stretched a hand, "Did she get inju-"
Zombieman takes a step back, giving a sudden irk to Genos. He watches him take a few more for safety, "Look, Demon Cyborg, I wasn't called." He tilts his head over to where the sirens cried, "Don't chastise her. I get it, you two are dating or whatever, but don't put your hero duties before her. Now, scoot." He did not feel like giving a lecture. Genos' hand hovered for a short second before returning to his side. He glared into the cold, grey eyes.
Neither of them flinched when Saitama jumped over the balcony to land next to Genos, "What's up?" He looks back and forth, "Staring contest?" He casually trots over to [Name] and pokes her cheek, "Hey."
"I apologize sensei, I believe I can take this by myself. Please take care of [Name]," Genos walks past them, towards the buildings collapsing ahead. "He's right, I have to put these duties first as an S-Class hero," he takes a peek back as [Name] is transferred into Saitama's arms. "And then," he thought about saying "returning to her open arms" but spurts out, "Her."
"All righty, have fun," Saitama watches his friend leave a trail of smoke and dust as he propels to the city. "WHOA!" Saitama nearly drops [Name] as Zombieman takes his coat back. "A-Arm," the stub pressed against his torso.
"Don't worry, give it a day or less, I'm sure she'll be fine," he lights a cigar and waves off as he heads the opposite way of Genos.
"So I don't gotta take her to a hospital or anything?" he blinks at her, "Good, I didn't wanna go out today anyway."
"When do you make these tears, [Name]?"
"When I'm sad," her tiny hands drummed against the table as she stared at the man dressed in white. "Or when I get really hurt or scared!"
"That's only natural, right?" he scribbled on his clipboard.
"Yeah!" she bounced in her chair. "Mom told me it's always good to cry."
"Yes, in this case..." he pulls a vial from the pocket of his white coat. It looked like the magic potions from the movies and her eyes lit up seeing it, "Do you think...if we give you these," he places it in her hands. "Instead of wiping them with your sleeve or tissue, you press it against your cheek, and catch your tears?"
"Why?"
.
.
.
"I never have been hung over, but I bet it feels like this," groans [Name] as she sprawls her arms after waking up, "Oh." Her arm on the floor, accidentally brushing against something firm.
Too lazy to turn her head, she continued to move her knuckle up and down the surface, "Hey, if you're gonna scratch my back do it right."
She jerks her hand back and rolls against the wall, "Great...guess I gotta get rid of this hand too."
"Don't talk like I'm contagious!" barked Saitama. He is propped at his usual place in front of the television, with an arm holding his head up and the other scratching the spot on his back that she had touched. "Watching the news, wanna see?" She is surprised her balance isn't so off as she easily pushed herself to sit up. She is thankful the creature seized an arm rather than a leg, or more. She shivers at the thought of losing her own head, how would that work out?
"An S-Class hero has been battling the monster for nearly two hours, but his efforts don't seem to show any effect," she blinks at the screen. It's the usual newswoman with a live action box in the corner. It enlarges to reveal the alligator and anaconda hybrid slithering through a video, chasing a figure that is too far to identify. However, he is pretty easy to point out as flames burst out, blinding the monster who is then kicked down by those...long legs of his. Admiring him silently as usual made her feel at ease.
"...How did I get here?"
"Oh, some guy with a wide forehead carried you here," he casually scratched his butt. "Genos went ahead to take care of the monster, so if you need anything just yell." She stared at him. He wore his hero suit, but she knew it was only when he is certain to head out and fight baddies, it was never for casual wear. "Wanna watch t.v.?"
"...No, I-" she touched her ripped sleeve, feeling the rough texture of dried blood trail up her neck. "I'm going to wash up first."
She is surprised at how well she can function with one arm. Although it was a hassle tugging her clothes off, washing, drying, and then proceeding to dress up once more, everything is doable. Only a two centimeter growth of her arm from her shoulder has returned. The stub wiggled uselessly for the coffee mug as her left hand grasped the coffee grounds. She shivered at the memory of pain that rushed through her body, and gagged at the sight she momentarily forgotten. She leaned over the edge, but fails to remember there is nothing on the other side and fell straight to the ground once more.
The pent up stress over being unable to properly handle herself alone, the memories from City X catching up to her, in a spur she gave into the pressure. The pressure that has been coated by...
"Genos," she sobbed while flipping onto her back. She heard her door creak open and feet shuffle against the floorboards. The silhouette of a hand stretched out through the blur of her tears. As her vision cleared, she can see the light emitted from the kitchen lamp above reflect from Saitama's head. He thought he made a cool entrance, like an anime protagonist offering a hand to their emotionally broken friend. They stared up at each other, his face containing a serious look with a tiny smirk and hers flushed with mixed feelings and glazed with tears. It did not have any effect on her whatsoever, "...I want Genos!"
"Take what you have right now, dammit!"
[Sorry for the delay. I apologize for grammar mistakes and if I update a chapter that was already published it's because I skimmed through and found grammar errors. I like to take my time or else it would go something like this:
"She hacked at the scent of nicotine while Zombieman adjusted *sudden pause* SUMMARY GET SOME DRAMA IN THERE WITH GENOS AND ZOMBIEMAN LIKE DAMN SON DATS YO GIRL" I actually wrote this just to remind myself.
We don't want that.
Thank you for the positive feedback, I'm glad this story is enjoyable to you readers!
As much as I like to make things fun atmosphere I wanted to add more spice, so it's a change.
Sorry if things are sloppy.
THANK YOU.]