"I can't believe we managed to sneak out of there." King admitted as they walked down the street.
Against all conceivable odds and chances our group of heroes somehow managed to walk out and away from the building without any fans noticing them.
"Probably cause we took the backdoor." Saitama said as he put his hands behind his head "They were all waiting at the front for when the interview was over." He added as he looked between his friends "So what do you guys wanna do now?" He asked.
"I thought we were going back to your apartment?" Genos asked.
"Yeah that's what I thought too." Mutsuko chimed in.
"But King's place is a lot closer." Saitama argued "And it has a lot more space." He added.
"He does have a point." King agreed.
"Well I don't care what we do as long as it doesn't involve psychotic nut jobs screaming your name every second." Tatsumaki chimed in.
"I still think we should go back." Fubuki interjected "I mean what is Sweet Mask going to think when he finds out we're not there?" She asked.
"WHY are you so worried about what he thinks Fubuki?!" Her sister asked "He's just some pompous prick who cares more about his appearance than Saitama cares about saving money!" She exclaimed.
"Yeah and that's saying something." Saitama added.
"Because he's the highest ranking hero in class A and he has a lot of input on who get's into S." Fubuki answered.
"So what?!" Tatsumaki asked as she pointed to Saitama "He's the top ranked hero of S class! if he wanted he could tell them to put you into S class and it'd happen!" She argued.
"But then I wouldn't have earned it." Fubuki rebutted "And what's the point of having the prestige if you didn't work hard to get it?" She asked.
Even though she wanted to continue arguing about it Tatsumaki DID have to agree with what her sister said and so she simply crossed her arms and looked off to the side.
"Well whatever just stop worrying about what that stuck up idiot thinks." She replied with a huff.
"Fine." Fubuki said with a small huff of her own.
An awkward silence then befell the group as no one really knew how to properly start the conversation up after that brief but still fairly heated argument. But seeing as though none of them wanted to the silence to continue as it would only get more awkward each of them tried to think of something that could easily get the conversation going again. However before any of them could get a word out the universe with it's impeccable coincidental timing as usual seemed to cause all of their stomachs to growl in unison allowing the conversation to resume naturally with no needed effort.
"It seems as though we're all hungry." Genos commented just as Mutsuko put a hand to her stomach.
"Yeah I'm starved." She said with a bit of sigh "I didn't have a big breakfast or anything because I was so excited." She explained.
"Even MORE reasons to go to King's." Saitama reasoned "Dude's got a big fridge filled with all kinds of food." He added.
"Yeah but I'm kinda low on groceries." King admitted "If we're planning to eat at my place we'll need to stock up on the way." He told them.
"I could that by myself if all of you want to just head back." Saitama offered "I know this great little market that always has discounted prices on everything and surprisingly enough it's not generic crap or about to expire stuff either." He explained.
"We couldn't ask you to do that by yourself Saitama." Fubuki replied.
"I don't see why not." He told her "I mean I can get there and back to King's place super quickly it'd only take like a few minutes at best." He reasoned.
"Yeah just let Saitama do it." Tatsumaki agreed as she threw her arms into the air as to stretch "I just want to relax and waste the rest of today." She added.
"But what about the money for the groceries?" King asked.
"I can just swing by my place first to get some cash, I mean it's not like I'm pinching pennies or anything." Saitama answered.
Taking a moment as to think on it while admittedly King and Mutsuko were like Fubuki and didn't want Saitama to have to do it by himself for it simply seemed rude the universe once again sought to have perfect timing as everyone's stomachs growled in unison again, which inevitably swayed their decision.
"Alright sounds good." King said as he put a hand to his chin "But there's a lot of stuff I need and I don't think I can remember it all..." He admitted as he began to try and think on what was in his fridge.
"Don't worry I'll just buy a lot of stuff." Saitama assured before giving his friends a small wave "See you in a few minutes." He said before seeming to disappear.
Although for a moment of course his companions were a bit shocked to see him just disappear they knew with Saitama's speed he'd be back before they even got comfortable in King's place so they decided to slightly speed up their walk as to hopefully get to the apartment before him. Meanwhile in the few short seconds that had past after he vanished Saitama had already made it out of City M and was almost back to City Z.
"Hmm..." He hummed as a few thoughts entered his mind "I think I should change out of my costume while I'm home, no sense in wearing it if I'm just going to be hanging out at King's." He reasoned as he continued to run.
Not even a full minute had passed by since he started to run and already Saitama had made it back to City Z and was swiftly approaching his apartment. And while of course the vacant streets of the city were of no surprise to him as practically EVERYONE was back at the studio no doubt cheering his name as they normally did if Saitama were a bit more observant to his surroundings he would've even at his accelerated pace seen a very unusual person walking down the street seeming to be lost. But unfortunately he did not see this strange and unusual being and so he kept on running until he made it back to his abode.
"Let's see..." He began as he entered his apartment "I should definitely get a lot of everything..." He said as he walked over to his fridge and opened it "Though I'm kinda in the mood for ramen so I might get a bit more of that..." He suggested as he used the contents of his fridge to serve as a sort of grocery list "...Or I could just take my food back with me." He admitted.
Continuing to stare at the near doomsday prepper amount of food he had within the appliance Saitama after a few more seconds of contemplation decided that there would be no harm in just bringing his food back as he pretty much had a little of EVERYTHING. Content with his decision he proceeded to open one of his kitchen drawers and take out several plastic shopping bags, (one must never be wasteful!), to which he began shoving food into each of them. Bag after bag he stuffed with food until he had a solid six bags filled each one containing just a random assortment of whatever it was he happened to be grabbing. Taking yet another few seconds to look at the bags as to make sure there was nothing important missing once he was certain that he was fully prepared for whatever his friends might be craving he closed his fridge's door, went on to change into a more casual attire, then picked up the bags and left the apartment.
"This should be good enough." He said to himself as he closed his door behind him "Though I probably shouldn't run with this cause then the bag's might rip." He noted "Eh I'll just speed walk no big deal." He decided as he headed for the stairs.
Going down the stairwell and back to the street Saitama began to make his way back to King's hoping that none of his friends would have some sort of unusual craving or taste to where what had with him wouldn't be sufficient. Yet as he walked through the city beginning to enjoy the peace and quiet he began to notice there were several holes and dents in the buildings, roads, and even signs as if something had struck them with an insane amount of power. And as if it were following the rule of three just as he began to wonder what the cause of these strange damages could be the universe provided him with a possible answer as he turned a corner to another street and saw just up ahead a person seeming to be covered in seaweed. Unfortunately before he could even begin to get close for a better look or even try to say something to get their attention the figure upon hearing his footsteps turned to face him revealing that besides the unusual appearance they also possessed an unusual gaze, one that could only be described as the eyes of a madman.
"There you are!" The being exclaimed it's voice being somewhat indifferent in the way of gender leaving them even in that regard a mystery "I've been looking for you everywhere! I've even been thrashing the place trying to get you to come out!" It admitted.
Now having confirmation that whoever this was or WHATEVER this was had been the culprit behind the damages he'd seen Saitama leaning towards the idea that this being was either a villain or a monster simply continued to approach them not wanting to start a fight if this was actually something completely harmless and just unfortunate happenstance.
"People up here say that you're the strongest guy around!" The being continued to say as a VERY sinister grin appeared on it's face "But what do surface dwellers know? they're all so weak!" It exclaimed as the seaweed surrounding it's body began to rise into the air.
Nope, definitely a villain or a monster, even if that grin was yet another unfortunate characteristic this "person" possessed, the fact that they were calling people weak just gave away that they had some kind of enlarged ego which is a very common trait among evil doers.
"So why don't you show me One Punch Man, just how strong you really are!" It shouted just as the seaweed shot forth towards him.
Stopping in his tracks as to watch the seaweed attack him just as it was about to reach him only one thought came to his mind.
"Huh...I forgot soup stock..."
"Wow! look at all of this stuff!" Mutsuko exclaimed as she looked on in awe at the near mountain range level of food that sat on the counters.
Just as everyone was beginning to wonder what was taking him so long did Saitama appear at King's door and with him enough food to feed an entire army...or just the same his friends.
"When I said I was low on groceries I didn't mean I needed to be stocked up for the next several months." King said as he just like Mutsuko stared at the insane amount of food present.
"Eh I didn't know what you guys wanted to eat so I just got a little bit of everything." Saitama admitted with a shrug as he cooked.
"I have a question." Tatsumaki said as she pointed towards the counter "Why the hell did you get so much kombu?" She asked.
Following her gaze both Saitama and the others looked towards the insane amount of kombu that nearly took up what little counter space was left which of course made his friends now wonder the same thing.
"...It was the cheapest thing really." He lied as he returned his focus back to cooking "SUPER cheap, like the cheapest thing I've ever seen." He added.
"But still this seems a bit excessive." Fubuki chimed in as she looked it over.
"Well...you know me...I love a good sale..." He replied.
"You know they say that kombu is good for hair growth." Genos stated causing everyone excluding Saitama to suddenly take on a shocked expression "Though there is no scientific evidence or research that supports this." He added.
Even though Genos didn't realize the accidental blunder he just made everyone doing their best to not laugh slowly looked to Saitama who simply had this deadpan look on his face.
"In fact there are many different hair remedies some of which that do use kombu as an ingredient." Genos continued still not realizing how much of a sensitive topic this was for Saitama "If you would like I could look up the most effective hair restoration treatments as to see which one would yield the most results." He went on.
And no doubt if he hadn't been interrupted he would have continued to talk more and more about hair rejuvenation techniques and treatments but sadly the nerve of Saitama's that he had been unknowingly jabbing at gave way as Saitama cut him off.
"NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT HAIR!" He shouted wanting nothing more than to take the focus off of his shiny head.
Unfortunately this outburst did away with whatever restraint the others had and so they were unable to keep themselves from bursting into laughter. Unsure as to why they were laughing and why Saitama seemed to be upset all of sudden Genos simply stood there and waited for them to stop so that he could ask what was so funny.