Hey, guys, got another chapter here, how are y'all doin?
So this is just continuing the last chapter and also incorporating some plot into it and honestly, I have literally no plan other than write down what comes to mind and just fix! Let's go mates
Initial Release Date: July 1, 2020 (But I just released it on June 2 because procrastination which I gotta admit is completely my fault, sorry)
"What's this? Two days in a row? What's goin' on, Saitama!" Tetsuya's cheerful voice greeted. "Oh, and I see you've brought even more people this time around! Nice, nice!"
"Saitama-Sensei, what is this restaurant?" Genos inquired, raising an eyebrow. While he was used to how Saitama didn't spend too much money, it was clear he frequented this place, even before Genos had become his apprentice.
"Oh, just a local place that a bunch of people from school and their close friends come to eat and hangout. I mean, look over there," Saitama pointed, gesturing to a few people in uniforms. "They're from the same school I went to, even though we're like 10 years apart."
"Ah," was Genos' simple response. "Well, I suppose we should get a seat and wait for somebody?"
"That's not how it works, cyborg," Tatsumaki interrupted. "We order ourselves, like a ramen booth."
"Hm. That's weird, sis. What made you agree to going to this place anyways?" Fubuki interrupted Tatsumaki's explanation, earning a slight glare from the shorter emerald-haired woman.
Tatsumaki crossed her arms and looked up at Genos and Fubuki, raising an eyebrow, "Why are you asking all of these questions anyways? It's a restaurant. It doesn't have to be the goddamn best restaurant in this whole universe!"
"There's the Tatsumaki I know," Fubuki joked, backing down a bit. "I haven't heard you snap in a while. I was thinking you were losing your bite with Saitama around."
"Hey, I'm still an independent person!" Tatsumaki retorted. "Just cause I have a boyfriend doesn't mean he can boss me around or whatever! It's a relationship. Even though I haven't been in one before, I know that it's supposed to be mutual and both of us are happy with it. You don't need to instruct me on this stuff just cause you've dated before!"
"You've dated before?" Genos asked Fubuki, looking over Tatsumaki (to her dismay). They had noticed Saitama had gone to order for himself and Tatsumaki, but continued their conversation anyways.
"Yeah, but that was more in my high school years. I'm way past that now."
"What about college?"
"Didn't go, actually. She did," Fubuki pointed at Tatsumaki. "Graduated in French since both of us are French. I didn't go cause I didn't have my priorities straight, but...stuff happened that she wanted a degree. Stuff so that we could be safe and secure, even without using our powers."
"Fubuki, quiet," Tatsumaki butted in, suddenly becoming more defensive and her tone becoming darker. "I trust Saitama and Genos, but I don't want to go into more detail than we have to unless it's absolutely necessary. Got it?" Fubuki nodded, seeing the familiar sharp glint in her sister's eyes. It was a hostile glint, something that caught everyone's eyes.
Even though the restaurant was a lively, cheerful and nice place, everyone still knew the power Tatsumaki had. They just didn't think she'd have her guard on in this place. Even the young students gulped and tensed up. It quickly became quieter. Even Tetsuya noticed what was going on.
"Tats, could you please calm down?" Saitama's hand lightly gripped Tatsumaki' making not sure to even risk injuring her fragile frame despite her overwhelming power. She didn't relax. "Tats."
"Yeah, Baldy?" The powerful heroine responded, keeping her eye on Fubuki.
"Please?" Hesitantly, Tornado glanced at Saitama and saw that he had a calm expression. It was similar to the one when he congratulated Mumen Rider when he fought the Deep Sea King. It was the one that was kind, yet earnest and sincere. She looked around her and realized the conflict she had started in the restaurant.
"...Yeah," she gave in, finally relaxing and her eyes seeming more friendly.
However, the greater surprise to everyone in the restaurant came in her next actions.
Instead of brushing it off like she normally would, she lightly bowed and apologized, as if formally, "Sorry for disrupting you guys." She rose again, despite her bow not even being that deep, and noticed Tetsuya's kind smile again.
"No sweat, Tatsumaki. Please just don't make as much a commotion again, capiche?" He smiled, and she nodded. "Back to what you were doin', folks, don't mind it!"
And even though it took a few seconds for someone to speak up, soon the entire environment of the place was back to normal, the noise back to normal and everyone talking happily like nothing happened, even though it was probably in the back of their minds and they'd probably talk about it later.
"You know what, Miss Tatsumaki?" Genos asked as Saitama went back to the counter to finish his order. "I can see exactly why you'd like coming to this place, actually." With a soft smile on his face that completely went against his "Demon Cyborg" title, he went to look at the menu at the counter, leading both Fubuki and Tatsumaki to do the same.
"This isn't really so much of a date as it is just a group hangout, isn't it?" Saitama mused as he sat down with his food while Tetsuya was preparing food for the others. Fubuki was at the table with him; Genos had insisted that he got her food for her. Tatsumaki, on the other hand, insisted that she get her own.
"Meh. We haven't really hung out together in a while, anyways," Fubuki shrugged, taking a sip of the soda she bought. She preferred cans.
"Yeah, I guess," Saitama agreed, putting his chin on his hand and setting his elbow on the table. "Ah, looks like Tetsuya's finishing up their food." He saw Tatsumaki and Genos talking, with Tornado seeming to have an insightful look on her face. It was as if she was deep in thought, and Genos listening intently. Both Fubuki and Saitama noticed this, and blinked, wondering what they were talking about.
"Y'know what, I'm curious. I'm gonna go check on them," Fubuki announced quickly, before getting out of her seat and approaching them. Saitama just sat there, waiting for the food to arrive and hoping that his food wouldn't become cold by the time they got there.
"So what's going on?" Fubuki asked. The feel was slightly tense around them, and Tatsumaki seemed serious but still had a smile on her face, but more so that it was a more thoughtful smile than just emotion.
"Eh, just talking to him a bit about stuff. Mainly about something goofy," Tatsumaki explained.
"And that is?"
"How neither of us thought any of us would even end up in a relationship," Genos explained, stretching a bit despite not needing to in the slightest. "Just reflecting a bit, that's all."
"Ah...can I join in? Saitama's cool and all, but I don't think I'm gonna get this sort of conversation with him," Fubuki joked, getting a soft smile from the other two.
"You're right with that. Saitama-Sensei's strong, but he doesn't really think too deeply, from what I've analyzed," Genos admitted. "Have you heard anything from him, Miss Tatsumaki?"
To their surprise, she nodded, "Yeah, actually. It's not often, but sometimes, on our dates and hanging out or whatever...he seems a bit more mature. Not to the point of constant maturity, and especially not to the point of really caring - That's still the same - He's okay with talking about stuff that he normally wouldn't."
Fubuki nudged her, "Oh, so it's just you, huh?" Genos had an amused smirk on his face, accompanied with Fubuki's snickering when Tornado flushed. "You know, Genos and I had this whole plan come up in our mind to make you and Saitama embarrassed."
"And what stopped that?"
Genos interrupted, "With all due respect, your outburst."
Tetsuya interrupted, "Y'know, your food's ready." He seemed amused at the whole situation, but in a completely wholesome way.
"Well, guess it's time to eat."
"What's this?" Sitch asked when a file was handed directly to him. One of his subordinates had randomly handed him a file and simply explained that it came from a lower branch.
"Miss Tornado requested a while back that this be brought attention to you. Apparently it's something she, in addition to another S-Class hero, had been looking into," the employee explained. "Something about the 'Monster Organization' that festers within City Z."
"Hmm...could you please give me some time to work on this? If it truly is dangerous, then I will mark it as such," Sitch explained. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You may go now." As the employee left, Sitch sat down at his desk and turned on his computer to take a glance.
"Well, what's this all about?" He skimmed through the description. "It seems they haven't made any real advances yet, though it would explain the sudden rise in monster behavior and especially why City Z is flooded with them..."
Bringing up the statistics on monster encounters in recent times in addition to their location, Sitch realized that there was something being very clearly ignored.
"Hm? There are rising monster encounters on the borders of the adjacent cities to City Z...so why is it only the edges of those cities?" He pondered out loud.
The graph that was shown had an extreme anomaly. There were red dots for recent monster encounters, and was tracked throughout the past month. With practically no dots in City Z due to its vacancy, the lack of encounters was more then compensated for in the borders of City Z, especially in its notorious ghost town.
Entire clumps of red dots popped up, but there was a huge area that wasn't affected. It was as if the monsters either didn't make it there or they avoided it. But why? Why was there an entire section in Cities X and Y that had just been cut out with no monster reports?
His mind went to one place, and one place only. Quickly minimizing the statistics, he went to the Hero database, and was searching for new entrants. This discrepancy was something that simply could not be ignored, and his thought process was valid. With heroes who "guarded" certain areas, such as Watchdog Man protecting City Q, one famous for its average monster danger to civilians, it made sense to Sitch that another might have existed.
"Hm...Caped Baldy? Who's this?" He wondered out loud, finally coming across the correct entry. "And it seems he lives within the region...in fact, he lives in the Ghost Town.
"Perhaps he's responsible for this. I'll ask around, hear around the rumors, and probably bring him in eventually," he spoke, writing down his plan quickly so he could keep up with his thinking. "From what I've heard, he's a generally disliked hero, but he hangs around another hero: Demon Cyborg. Interesting...very interesting...
"This hero might be very important to helping City Z, and maybe humanity, with the rest of us..." He finished before changing tabs once again, pulling up his email. "I'll have to notify the rest of the board about this."
"Huh? What's this?" Saitama grumbled, speaking through his food and a plethora of crumbs just flying out. The four of them were sitting at the table, exactly as one would expect with Saitama and Tatsumaki on one side, with Genos and Fubuki on the other.
Fubuki had already finished her food, Genos was already going for seconds, Tatsumaki was going slowly, and Saitama was just going for his food but not getting anywhere. The few attempts at conversation with him were quickly halted by his poor eating habits, which were promptly reprimanded by all of them (Genos being more light than the others).
"Ew, gross, Baldy!" Tats lectured, tossing a napkin straight in his face. It landed directly on his mouth, effectively silencing him and somehow sticking.
"What happened, Sensei?" Genos asked while Saitama begrudgingly wiped the crumbs off.
As Saitama finally gulped, seeming to take his first breath in five minutes, he explained quickly, "Just something from the Hero Association. They apparently wanna ask me questions about monsters around where Genos and I live."
Both Tatsumaki and Fubuki instantly turned investigative, and the former started, "What do you mean, 'They want to ask you questions?' Did they give you information about what it was about?"
"I mean, usually they ask about this if you haven't been doing anything, but Genos has been doing it for you, hasn't he?" Fubuki questioned, with Genos nodding in response. "Then who even sent you that message?"
"Oh, it was that dude that we met when Boros came...what was his name...Sitch!" Saitama perked up a bit as he remembered the...huge-nosed man.
"Huh? What would Sitch have to send you? Lemme read it!" Tats practically ordered, despite a lack of hostility. "Huh...of course they'd make it seem like it's from all of them..."
"Tats? Who's 'they?'" Saitama asked, looking over her shoulder to see the text. "The board of the Hero Association? What's wrong with that?"
"They're like the textbook example of corporate assholes, Baldy," she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "I know this is your first time experiencing it, but as an S-Class hero, they're gonna be bothering you a lot if they text you like this. It happened to me, Zombieman, and a few other S-Class heroes. You're probably gonna get a lot of notifications from them."
"Oh, okay," Saitama nodded, taking the phone back from Tornado and putting it in his pocket again. "It was just wanting me to come into their place for questions or something. I'm sure I can just deal with it later."
"Sensei, that's not how it works. If you don't go yourself, they'll just come to your place instead," Genos explained. "I feel it's best that you just listen to what they want for a bit."
"No, it isn't. It really isn't," Both Fubuki and Tatsumaki piped up.
"Guys, can I just deal with it later?"
"No."
"Fine, then what should I do?" Saitama asked, getting a bit fed up with all of the questions, suggestions, explanations and all. He didn't like being overloaded with information that wasn't completely relevant to something happening at this very moment, and since it was later on...
"Y'know, Saitama," a voice interrupted. "It's your job, and more of a hobby from what you've told me. Shouldn't you just be enjoying it?" The man behind the voice slung his arm around Saitama's shoulder, and they all looked at the man.
It was Tetsuya.
"Yeah, but they'll probably just keep bugging me till I answer," Saitama explained . "Sorry, Tetsuya, but I don't really think either of us understand." Even though there was a small change in Tetsuya's expression, it wasn't negative.
"Well," he cleared his throat as he brought up a chair; he had his employees take the wheel for a bit. "I may not know a lot about how the Hero world works, and I especially don't know anything about what it's like to be as strong as you guys from any experience, but I do have something beat for all of you in terms of work.
"I'm happy. Now, of course, I know Saitama's story and how it doesn't really work for him because of his strength, and that I can sympathize with. It sucks, not being able to enjoy what you love.
"Regardless, that's just a long way of saying that even though you love what you do for a living, which I'm assuming you guys do to some degree, whether it's to save people, purge the world of evil, or even fame, I assume you do this because you like those things.
"So why do a job you don't like? That's sort of why I started up a restaurant," he had a wise smile on his face, staring off as if reflecting. "I may not make the most money, and I might not be the most famous...but I'm happy. Me, my family, and all the friends I have here. It's my version of perfect. Make yours the same."
Everyone was practically floored, silenced by Tetsuya. Even though he was already reverting back to his normal self, he was like that one person who you could always go to for advice, that one friend who would always be there for you, and his restaurant was how he did it.
And even though this was a date turned hangout, the four of them did learn something from him.
Maybe they'd learn more, given they listened.
"What's this?" A man asked, his hood nearly completely covering his eyes so they were practically out of sight. He seemed extremely imposing as he pointed to something on the shelf. He had directed his question towards the nearest employee, who happened to be a young teenage girl who seemed to have just been recently recruited; it looked like this might have been her first job. Blond, skinny, and cheerful, he didn't really encounter many people like this in general despite his occupation.
"Huh? I'm sorry, what?" The employee questioned, thinking that he was definitely pointing at the wrong game. A full 7 inches taller than her at 6'1, seemingly muscular, and his voice itself imposing and intimidating, his apparent gaming choice was definitely the exact opposite of what anyone would expect of him.
"Oh, I'm sorry. How much does this cost? It doesn't seem to have a price tag," his deep voice boomed, though lined with kindness and politeness. It seemed like his choice was legitimate, something that nobody would expect a man of his figure to pick.
It was a game literally named Doki Doki Sisters. A title that was probably a ripoff of something more popular, but also probably more expensive.
"Oh, that one's on sale, actually! Would you like to buy it?" The employee perked up, trying to not show her surprise and treat him without other thoughts. To her surprise, it worked, and he nodded while grunting quietly.
As the two of them went to the counter, the man noticed that the other people there didn't even notice that he was out of place; they were too into what they were looking for. He had heard there were some pretty popular and hyped up releases, but wasn't all too interested in them himself.
"Is this all you'll be purchasing today?" The employee asked. The man nodded.
"Then that'll be 2,155 yen!" The girl chirped, and the man handed her the money. "Would you like a bag with it?" The man nodded again.
"Have a nice day!" She spoke as he walked off, and he grunted to return the favor. After he left, she sighed in relief, finally done with the act she had to put up. Retail was tough.
As the man exited the store, he too sighed in relief. He was done putting up his own act. As he looked down in his bag, satisfied with his purchase, he put down his hood.
"Thank god. Now I can play this in peace without other people thinking a thing about me," he whispered to himself. As he looked around, he already saw that people were noticing him, gasping and whispering amongst themselves, as if they were in the presence of a god.
And to people without superpowers, it seemed like it. Because they were in the presence of the strongest man in the world.
King.
Or so it seemed.
King, honestly, was surprised that they were cheering him on. When he had gotten asked by the Hero Association to be one of the S-Class heroes, he was pretty shocked but went along with it. Instantly, he became famous and beloved. His title just became the strongest man on Earth, since it was rumored he could defeat any monster without breaking a sweat.
Until a great cackle came along, and screams and wails broke the wall of admiration that quickly surrounded King. A monster had come along.
"Somebody, help!" A random citizen had screamed, pleading for their savior as they ran. "Wait, is that King?!"
"King, please save us!" A woman cried, and he nodded and simply walked over to where they were pointing. As people saw King walk by them as they ran, they stopped in their tracks, immediately assured in their safety; there were few things in the world that they trusted more to save them than King.
The crowd gathered around, making way for King as he came across the monster.
"I, Tongue Stretcher, will slaughter you fools!" The lizard-like humanoid cackled, reminding King of a character from this videogame he once played. However, his general appearance and perverted tone instantly reminded King of one of those douchebags you'd find on the internet, doing degenerative internet pranks for views.
It was clear he had not noticed the hero yet, and was facing away from him. However, once the crowd had stopped moving, suddenly he felt a lack of fear from them, and wondered what caused this sudden sense of relief he had felt from them.
"Huh? What's this?" He hissed, his voice throaty and sounding broken, cutting off at times. However, the moment he turned around, he instantly knew.
King. The strongest man on Earth. And the noise?
His famous King Engine. Notorious for its intimidation, and the sheer expulsion of bloodlust radiating off of King. His stoic expression. His still position and posture. It was King in his prime form, his readying for battle.
In an instant, the monster felt like a little ant, being stared down by King who seemed to suddenly grow, cornering him despite having everywhere to go. He could only feel fear, only feel his body freeze by sheer instinct. He couldn't move. Even if he could, where would he go? He knew, innately, that no matter what he did, if he dared challenge the "Heroes' Hero," he would instantly be destroyed.
So he did the only thing he could in the face of overwhelming power.
He surrendered.
And as the crowd cheered on King, four heroes had heard the cheers from a little local restaurant, and instantly became curious.
However, before they could exit to investigate and realize that the crowd was practically worshipping King, the speakers scratched and turned, screeching and catching the crowd's attention.
"King. I am G4, and I have come to collect data on you. Do not move from your current location."
Oh yeah, plot time.
So yeah, this is the start of the King Arc. I'm not sure how I'm going to implement Saitama knowing about King's power but not Tatsumaki and the others, but I'll probably just have him being casual about it. What do you think?
And as usual, if there's any feedback that you'd like to give me, I'd be glad to hear it!
Last note, but it's a biggie: Hi! I wanted to say something important in terms of the story. I love writing this story, of course, and don't think of this as "I'm ending the story, discontinuing it, blah blah blah" because I'm not. I think one of the worst things as a reader is to find a story you loved, shit got quality and quantity (which may be true for this, I doubt it is considering how I suck at editing and drafting so I ditch it and just write something and boom it is there till the end of time), and then you're hit with that "Updated: January 14, 1943" or something like that where it feels like that's how long it's been, and then you realize: they probably won't come back to the story. You give up on it.
I wanna say that that's not what I'm getting at. What I am getting at is how this story will end. I'm not a huge fan of sad endings, and I like happy endings. Why would I write if it makes me sad, you know? But I also know I can't keep this story going forever, considering how I'm planning to dedicate a lot of myself to education. Hell, I wanna become a math teacher! Math's been my passion like my whole life because I can just find myself falling into it for hours on end! Or at least something connected to math, you know? Not only that, but I've been getting into other fandoms and stuff, like Haikyuu! (I am a huge Kenhina fan, not gonna lie)
So that's where this last note part is actually the last note: I am ending this story after the Monster Association arc ends. If there is something that happens in the story, such as Blast or something, I'm sorry, but I probably won't get to it. I likely won't get to the Neo Heroes arc either, and I also wanna admit something.
I write a bunch ahead, you feel? Sometimes I get a bit ahead of writing and just blast off into writing this story, maybe two entire chapters worth because I just write and write!
Of course, I may eventually come back with a sort of sequel where they, as a couple, take on these problems, but for the time being, that's where I'm planning for this to end.
That being said, I'm not gonna rush through it all of a sudden, make it so that hey next chapter bada-bing-badda-boom, they make out. No. That's not my style. This is a slow burn fic, you feel? With a two week release date, and I'm estimating this thing'll probably hit 50 chapters (somehow, I never thought I'd get this far. Thank you, by the way!), the story'll probably head on past October.
Just as an estimate, given this thing does hit 50 (which could be unlikely given planning and different changes in pacing, but I think it will), that's 22 chapters from now. 2 week release hits 44 weeks, which lands up from now all the way into like April-June of 2021. This'll take a while, you feel? And of course, April-June is like a three month range but considering how that's next year and I'm too lazy to check a calendar so I just tried to think it through while burst writing this note, yeah.
That's just a note I wanted to make sure you had as a sort of heads-up of how long this'll last or something.
And of course, I'm not just gonna say ending right after the arc ends. I'll have a sort of ending to all that, wrap it up, try to not mess up the ending, all that. I'll probably have two chapters to dedicate that sort of ending thing.
Sincerely,
SpiritBloodDragon