CHAPTER EIGHT

Mystery Flavor...

Mystery Strangers...

After a few minutes of leaping, flying, floating, and straight up running, the gang of heroes finally arrived outside of the Three Amigos' Cafe.

"You sure this is the place?" Deku asked, glancing at Bakugo.

"We live in Japan, and you're asking whether this Mexican restaurant is the right one," Bakugo responded gruffly, "What do you think?!"

"I'm gonna go with yes," answered Saitama bluntly as he walked into the establishment, the hero students following him.

Upon entering the establishment, they were surprised to see that no one was there. The whole place was empty, and the only sound to be heard was the quiet strums of a guitar playing from some speakers overhead.

Suddenly, three men popped up from behind the front counter, shocking the group. They were each a different nationality and had their own style as well.

On the left was the only Japanese man, who beamed a wide grin with pearly white teeth. He wore a simple red button-up polo and a pair of sunglasses rested up on his head.

In the middle was a short, Latino man, who also beamed with excitement. He wore a bright floral shirt and a shiny gold watch on his left hand.

On the right end was a tall, blonde haired American man, who also had a large grin, though his chin stuck out a considerable amount compared to the other two. His arms were crossed, but not in a way that came off as intimidating. He also appeared to be flexing his arms while they were crossed. He wore a red, white, and blue striped t-shirt, and his neck had a lengthy tattoo of an artsy palm tree in full view of the group.

"Kon'nichiwa."

"Hola."

"And howdy."

"Welcome to the Three Amigos' Cafe!" said the trio, arms placed on each others' shoulders.

"I'm Hiroshi," said the Japanese man.

"I'm Julio," said the Latino man.

"And I'm Alex," said the American man.

"How many we be of service?!" they exclaimed in unison.

The group stood dumfounded at the sight before them. This was easily the strangest thing any of them had encountered today.

"Aaaaaand, I'm out," said Bakugo, who spun around and proceeded to leave for the door, but Red Riot grabbed him by the back of his suit.

"Hey, bro. We came to save our friends. We need you, dude," said Kirishima.

"Your friends, not mine."

"Still, dude, they're at least your classmates. C'mon."

"I'll pass," he said, brushing off Kirishima's arm. As he passed through the doors, he said, "If you guys need me, I'll be out surveiling the streets." He then blasted into the sky, leaving the others to deal with the extreme friendliness of the cultural trio before them.

"Um... hi?" said Saitama, not sure what else to say. He then remembered why they were here, and asked, "Actually, we're looking for some friends of these kids behind me."

"A large group of them," Uravity put in, "They're our classmates in the hero program. Pretty noticable group. They were eating here earlier, and we haven't heard from them since. Do you know where they might have gone off to?"

Hiroshi put his hands on the counter in thought, "Yeah, I think I remember those kids. Let's see... There was that tall guy with the swinging arms. That girl who kept ribbiting. The pink chick... There was a few other people with them too. Nice kids. Any of those guys sound familiar?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Deku, "That sounds like Iida, Tsu, and Ashido. Do you know what happened to them? We're trying to find them."

"I'm not entirely sure," Julio piped up, "They weren't here for too long, and we're not the kind of people to ask about others' personal affairs."

"Fair enough," said Saitama, "Do you at least know if they mentioned anything regarding where they might have been heading next?"

"Actually, I think they said they were heading to Takoba Beach," said Alex, "Been wanting to go there myself, especially with the weather we've been having these last few days."

"Gotcha, thanks for the help," said Uravity.

As the group was about to head out, but Kirishima piped up, "Wait, guys! Could we at least grab a bite to eat? I'm kinda hungry."

"We don't have time for that," said Deku, trying to provide some sense of reason, "We need to find the others now. For all we know, they could be in real danger."

"They're tough though, especially as a group," said Kirishima, "C'mon, it'll just be a quick bite. I'm starving, bro."

"I kinda agree with Kirishima on this one," said Uravity, as her stomach gave off a low, audible growl, "I could go for a quick bite."

Deku sighed, giving in to his friends pleas, and then said, "All right, but we should be quick about it."

With that, the group walked back up to the counter, as the three men beamed their wide smiles once more. "So, what can we get you?" asked Hiroshi.

"I'll have your finest plate of enchiladas, my man," said Kirishima with enthusiasm. He turned back to his friends and said, "You guys go ahead and order what you want. My treat."

"Oh you don't have to do that," said Uravity and Deku in unison, who looked to each other, before looking away and blushing aggressively.

"Please, I insist!" said Kirishima, not taking any notice to the reaction from his two friends, "Anything you want, Mr. Saitama?"

Saitama scratched his chin in thought, before asking, "Just out of curiosity, do you guys only serve Mexican food?"

"Not at all," said Julio with pride, "We also proudly offer authentic American cuisine and homestyle Japanese meals as well."

"Oh, good," said Saitama, "I'll have just a bowl of udon then, and some sake too."

"I guess I'll try a hamburger with some fries..." said Deku.

"I'll do some sushi, please," said Uravity.

"Just sushi?" asked Kirishima, "You sure you don't want anything else, Uraraka?"

"No, I'm good," said Uravity, waving her hands in front of her.

"Do you guys have mochi by any chance?" asked Kirishima.

"We sure do!" exclaimed Alex, "We have peach, cherry, and also our special new flavor, Portal Blend, cause it transports your taste buds into a world of flavor! It's a combination of dragon fruit, kiwi, and a mystery ingredient. You get one guess per mochi, and if you can manage to guess it, you get a free T-shirt."

Prompted by Alex, Julio unbuttoned his shirt and showed the T-shirt in question beneath it. It said Three Amigos'Cafe and had the three guys surfing atop the logo on a board.

"Cool!" Kirishima said with enthusiasm, "We'll take four of each."

Uravity blushed a little at the kind gesture.

"Alright, we'll have your food out shortly," said Hiroshi.

"Feel free to take a seat," said Julio.

"And thanks for visiting The Three Amigos' Cafe!" Alex added. The trio then walked into the kitchen to cook up their order.

"Cool dudes!" said Kirishima, "Let's sit over there." He pointed towards two bar rows opposite each other, with a table in the middle. The four heroes each took their place, with Kirishima intentionally sitting with Saitama so that Uravity and Deku would be forced to sit next to each other.

Just about everyone in Class 1-A knew that the two young heroes had feelings for each other, but both were too nervous and preoccupied with homework and saving the world to get into a relationship. Kirishima wasn't usually one to get himself tied up with matchmaking, but he felt that someone had to do something about these two unattached lovebirds. If it had to fall to him, so be it.

Deku allowed Uravity to sit first, before scooting in next to her. Upon sitting, their hands accidentally brushed across each other, before Deku pulled his hand slowly back so it wouldn't be taken as rude. The two blushed furiously again.

Kirishima chuckled as he noticed the brief interaction this time. He then stopped and said, "Alright, while we wait, might as well get down to business, yeah?"

Deku's face coloring returned to normal as the cogs in his head began to turn. "Right. So we know where they went next. As far as I recall, there usually isn't a whole lot of crime in that area of Musutafu. That, and phone reception is usually pretty spotty, so that might be why none of them answered their phones. Either that, or my theory about the portal disrupting our connection might not be too far-fetched."

He glanced over towards Saitama, who appeared to be deep in thought for once. "What are your thoughts, Mr. Saitama?"

He glanced up, looking slightly dazed. "Huh," he said, "Oh, sorry. I wasn't listening. I was just thinking about what that guy said earlier... about that Portal Blend flavor..."

"What about it?" asked Uravity.

"I don't know... but I feel like I remember hearing about it somewhere back home. Not only that, but that Hiroshi guy seemed pretty... familiar..."

"Alright, folks!" exclaimed Hiroshi, "Here's the grub!"

"Wow, that was fast. Thanks!" said Kirishima with gratitude.

Alex carried all of their food with the use of his long, muscled arms, in which he slid each order over to the proper recipient, and lastly slid a large plate of various mochi into the center.

"Alright, so that's a burger and fries for Broccoli Bro, sushi for Ms. Pretty in Pink, udon and a glass of sake for X here, and a piping hot plate of enchiladas for Hot Tamale. And of course, our freshly made mochi for all y'all. Anything else you guys need?"

The group chuckled at the nicknames, except Saitama, who just stared with confusion.

"Nah, man," said Kirishima, "Thanks for the grub! Can't wait to dig in."

"Of course," said Julio, popping up from behind the other two Amigos, "Let us know if there's anything you need."

"Enjoy!" said the trio in unison, before heading back into the kitchen.

"Man alive, this smells amazing!" said Deku, who took a bite of his burger, and moaned at its delicious flavor. Everyone else dug into their food as well and expressed the same adoration for their meals. Except for Saitama, who quietly ate away at his udon, before pausing and taking a sip of sake.

"I'm gonna help myself to one of these bad boys," said Kirishima, reaching out towards the purple Portal Blend mochi. He popped it into his mouth and grinned. "Wow, that's really tasty!" he said, after swallowing, "You can really taste the dragon fruit and kiwi, but I can't quite wrap my mind around the mystery flavor though."

Uravity suddenly gained an idea, saying, "I'm gonna try and give Tsu a call. Our reception should work here."

"Good idea," said Deku, before putting a ketchup-doused fry into his mouth.

Uravity wiped her hands and then proceeded to call Tsuyu. A few seconds after dialing, the sound of a buzzing phone came from under Deku. He paused his burger's journey to his mouth. Upon hearing the noise, he checked his phone.

"Not mine," he said, before locating the source of the vibration noise. Reemerging from under the table, he held up a smartphone with a frog-themed phone case that was undoubtedly Tsuyu's.

"I know her. She's not one to leave her phone somewhere," said Uravity, as nervousness began to settle on her.

Suddenly, Saitama slammed his glass down, nearly shattering the glass but somehow managing to put an indent in the table. The group jumped in shock at the sound. "I just realized something," muttered Saitama, before glancing over towards Kirishima, "Whatever I had on my Mexican food was what brought me here... It was called Portal Salsa Blend..."

Kirishima just stared for a second, before chuckling to himself and saying, "Alright, alright. Very funny, Mr. Saitama. I think you freaked us out there for a second. But c'mon though... Portal Salsa Blend... that's kinda ridiculou--"

Suddenly, without warning, his body seemed to suck in upon itself, swirling together in a bright flash of purple and blue light, before disappearing with a pop.

Deku and Uravity looked to where he had been only a second ago, staring at the empty seat with shock, as Tsuyu's phone still continued to vibrate in Deku's hand.

"My point exactly," said Saitama, who simply stood up, crammed a cherry mochi in his mouth, left his seat, and began to march towards the kitchen, flinging open the swinging set of double doors leading in. Deku and Uravity glanced at each other, as their brows furrowed, before leaping from their seats and rushing for the kitchen.

As they ran in, they caught a glimpse of Saitama talking to the Three Amigos, who all seemed to just stand there with straight faces. "I don't know what kind of crap you guys are putting in your mochi, but I don't think it's the usual crap like corn syrup, if that's what they usually put in them," he said, pointing a red gloves finger at the three. "You guys better explain what you're up to."

Hiroshi casually stepped forward, as a large toothy grin appeared on his face. "You should probably finish your food..." he began, as his face unraveled into sharp, toothy tendrils, as they reached up and branched out across the ceiling. Deku and Uravity stood still in shock and horror as the monstrosity revealed his true form.

"Before it gets cold..." he finished with a deep, throaty growl, as each tendril end revealed a large pupil watching the trio from above. Likewise, Alex and Julio also transformed into similar forms, until their heads were in the same disgusting, fleshy form.

"Ok... They're definitely putting something in their food here..." said Saitama, giving his same old, blank stare.


Howdy, readers. Once again, here's another long overdue update. What can I say, I'm unfair to my personal hobbies, and lean more in favor of my writing projects. Gotta try to make a profit on a dream, right? But no matter!

I hope you guys have enjoyed this chapter, cause we're going full throttle on the multiversal shenanigans (and who could forget the nonsensical paradoxes I locked in the trunk of the runaway car that is my sense of logic, quantum physics, and Psych trivia knowledge) from here. And to give you an idea of what's to lie ahead for the next few chapters, here's three things I plan to have occur going forward.

1. There will be some elements of time travel, but not in the way you might expect (but maybe you will. If so, solid!)

2. There will be a third universe added to the mix. Wait, not will. Has... Like, it literally happened in this chapter, at least a small factor of said alternate universe. I might make this extremely ambitious and gonzo nuts bonkers by throwing several anime universes into the mix, but we'll see. I make no promises. But there are now three universes involved within this story currently. See if you can guess which one... (Feel free to comment which one you think it is. The universe will be revealed once its main character shows up in the next chapter...)

3. I see that was technically a third bit I slipped in at the tail end of Numero Dos there, so it'll be four things I'm revealing. Sound good? Moving along...

4. I don't plan to have Genos appear until there are more chapters under the belt of this fanfic. Mainly since he'll be having his own wild times in dealing with multiversal calamity that he'll relate to the One Punch Academia ensemble once he reunites with Saitama. Maybe it'll be like that reunion scene between Kevin McCallister and his mom in Home Alone. (Man, I love that movie...)

Anyways, hope you enjoyed what small dosage of serotonin I potentially provided. See ya next time, my fellow fanfic lovers, perusers, obsessors, etc.