One Punch Man: Polar Opposites
Chapter Three: Nothing's Changed
Fubuki sat there, staring across the table at her oldest brother, sitting across from her, arms crossed and leaning back in his chair and a stern expression on his face. There once was a time where Fubuki looked up to her brother greatly, always seeking his wisdom and preferring his training methods over Tatsumaki's.
But that was years ago and now that relationship has become heavily strained.
"After all these years, Brother," Fubuki said in a solemn tone. "You haven't changed."
"Only because humanity refuses to change." The eldest Esper retorted.
"Why, Brother?" Fubuki looked at him with pleading eyes. "Why must you keep this up? Don't you see that this will do more harm than good?"
Kazenikura looked away at the ground, as if in thought, "Humanity is diseased; rotten to the core." He looked back to his sister. "It's stagnant, ignorant and doomed to rot away from its backwards mindset. They are blind to the cruelty of reality, oblivious to the way the world truly is."
"Not all of humanity is like that, Kaze!" Fubuki tried to protest.
"Think back on the incident with the Deep Sea King, little sister." Kazenikura said plainly. "Despite the hero's best effort, the masses still belittled them for not defeating the creature, making the heroes question their own self-worth. If they won't show the heroes that at least tried the gratitude and respect they deserve, then they don't deserve to have heroes that risk their very lives to protect them."
"So you HAVE been keeping up with events outside of prison?" Fubuki asked with a raised brow.
"From the attack of the sea dwellers to the alien invasion," Kazenikura nodded. "I've been able to get a hold of newspapers talking about these things."
"Brother, it doesn't have to continue like this." Fubuki said with a sad expression. "I miss the brother that would be there for me and Tatsumaki through all the bad times. I miss the brother that would share his wisdom and help us improve ourselves. I miss the big brother that cared about us."
Kaze looked away, as Fubuki reached across the table and held her brother's hands.
"Please, it's not too late." She pleaded. "Turn yourself in and give up this madness."
Almost instantly, the elder esper stood from his seat, looking down at the youngest esper with a cold, dark expression, Fubuki looking back up at him in fear, feeling the powerful, dark aura that her brother was giving off.
"I'm afraid not, dear sister." He said darkly. "Humanity has already gone to the point of no return and has let me down one too many times. They have become narrow-minded and too ignorant of the truth. I will see to it that humanity pays for its follies and burn for it, until there is nothing left." He turned away from his sister, then peered over his shoulder at her. "And if you get in my way, I will not think twice in striking you down as well."
And with that, Kazenikura left, leaving his sister shaking with fear.
She stayed like that for what felt like hours, until…
"THERE YOU ARE!"
Snapping out of her trance, Fubuki looked up and saw Tatsumaki floating over to her, her face riddled with the usual angry expression.
"I knew you'd be here!" The shorter yet older esper declared, hands on her hips. "Seriously, you're always coming here-"
As Tatsumaki ranted, Fubuki's mind drifted off to the things her brother said; how he was going to burn humanity until there was nothing left. And given how powerful her brother is, the very thought scared her.
"HEY, ARE YOU LISTENING?!" Tatsumaki yelled.
"…He was already here, Tatsumaki." Fubuki said bluntly.
Upon hearing that, Tatsumaki froze, her face riddled with shock and fear.
"Wh-What?!" She stuttered.
"Kazenikura was here." Fubuki said with a sad expression. "You missed him several hours ago."
The Hurricane of Darkness walked down the street, hood over his head and his eyes glued to the sidewalk, ignoring everything else as he walked. As he walked from city to city after his escape, before and after his meeting with Fubuki, he noticed several atrocities committed by the very people he once swore to protect; citizen's robbing each other for goods, some murdering each other over minor disputes, some were forced out of their homes, husbands or wives abandoning their loved ones, even saw a gang of hoodlums slaughtering a small group of kids.
To say the least, Kazenikura was disgusted with how humanity had basically turned on itself.
'I will feel no remorse for wiping out humanity for its self-destruction.' He thought to himself.
As he walked, however, he failed to notice the person walking his way, before bumping clumsily into the person in front of him, though he didn't seem fazed, in fact, he didn't even fall over; just stood like a statue while the person in front of him stumbled back a bit.
"Whoa, sorry about that!" The person before him said.
Looking up, Kaze was about to berate them, but no words came out with the sight before him; standing before him was a tall, muscular woman with long dark orange hair that was tied in a high ponytail with a scrunchie and she had a band-aid on the left side of her face and wore earrings. She also wore a tight blue spandex top with a single stripe on each side, blue shorts with the initials "MZK" on it, and three medals around her neck.
As much as Kazenikura tried to keep his calm, blank composure, he couldn't help but gaze at her beautiful form, those lovely silver eyes looking back at him and that gentle smile. He couldn't help but admire such a beautiful figure.
"Sorry about that!" The woman chuckled. "I really need to watch where I'm goin' when I go joggin'!"
Snapping out of his trance, Kaze cleared his throat, his original intention in a harsh thrashing replaced with something more calm and understanding.
"No need to apologize." He said calmly. "If anything, I should have been looking up, not down."
"Well, I guess we're both to blame!" The woman said before laughing out loud.
Kaze seemed very confused by the woman's carefree behavior. From what he could tell, she doesn't seem bothered by the fact that she's standing before a hero-turned-villain. Perhaps she's never heard of him before?
"Anyways, I'm Mizuki!" The woman went on, extending a hand. "What's yours?"
Kaze looked at the hand extended to him, then to that smiling face, then back to the hand before extending his own.
"Gakura." He said, going with a fake name.
"Nice to meet you!" Mizuki declared, aggressively shaking his hand. "I don't think I've seen you around before. Are you new around here?"
And there was the answer to Kaze's curiosity; she's simply never met him before.
"I've…been around." Kaze said. "I just prefer to keep to myself."
"Ah, I gotcha." Mizuki nodded. "Well, I need to get back on my jog! Hope to see you around!"
And with that, she jogged onward, waving back to Kaze, who simply waved back.
'Nothing wrong with a few lies here and there.' Kaze thought. 'Still, I would like to see her again.' He turned back to his original direction. 'Anyways, she did give me an unintentional reminder to train; I've rotted away in that prison for too long.'
With his new plan set, Kaze walked onward.
Meanwhile, in City Z, Saitama sat in his apartment, reading manga, while the TV was on the news channel, the news anchorman was spouting some uninteresting nonsense, as Saitama turned another page of his manga, blanking skimming over the pages.
'I wonder what I should cook today.' Saitama thought to himself. 'Or maybe I should go out to eat.'
As Saitama went on in his thoughts, the news reporter started going on about how the monster population has been growing larger every day and their numbers have mostly been growing in the abandoned districts of City Z.
"Nothing wrong with looking around, right?" The bald man said out loud.
Changing out of his casual clothes and into his hero costume, Saitama left his apartment to go look for a challenge.
And there's the newest chapter! And don't worry, Saitama and Kaze aren't going to fight in the next chapter. The fight will be coming up much later.
Now, I want to take the time to thank you guys for the criticisms on this story, especially from TheStoryTellingGuy for his review. I'm gonna do my best to take my time and focus on who Kaze used to be and what led him to be the person he is now, while also focusing on other things he does with his newfound freedom. Again, thanks again for the reviews and critique!
And with that, I will see you guys in the next chapter! Be sure to review!