What truly defines a hero? Perhaps it is powers that separate them from normal human beings, maybe it's a deeper reason for why they do what they do, or maybe there is a dark past hidden behind their otherwise cheery demeanor and being a hero is the only way they can resolve their inner demons? Well all of these would be good answers to such a question, unfortunately Mutsuko didn't come to any of these conclusions and instead found herself believing what truly made someone a true hero was the exact things that didn't do so.
This included the likes of a catchy yet timeless and non annoying theme song, a costume that could make her stand out from any other hero or person despite the fact she was already a half mosquito half human hybrid, and of course she believed the epitome of a true hero was fans. Unfortunately for the optimistic and go getting female, due to her close relationship with Saitama, (which in her mind was far closer than it truly was), most of the time when she got stopped by people it was so they could ask her things about Saitama that they figured only she or one of the others would know. But because the only other heroes within Saitama's close personal circle of friends who did patrols were Mumen Rider, who hadn't been seen publicly in the bald hero's company yet, and Genos who more often than not just flew through the sky when he was on patrol, she was usually the only one accessible to the general populace. Now you might think that because she too could fly that she would take to the skies to avoid being asked endless questions about the world's strongest hero, but if she did that then she couldn't also try to get them to focus on her, at least that's what she believed anyways.
But today was going to be different, today she was going to go out on patrol and really show the people how amazing of a hero she could be, maybe then she would be able to get a song written about her like Saitama and maybe even get a start on the costume too. As for the fans they would just come along with either of the other goals so she wasn't too focused on them. However, the world was a big place and it was filled with a lot of people and cities where a plethora of crimes and misdeeds were just waiting to be unleashed at any given moment, she would need to venture to the places where crime was most likely to happen. And there was only one member of the house who could help her in doing so when it came to this.
"PLEASE Kamakyuri!" She begged with her hands clasped together as she looked towards her fellow hybrid.
"For the last time no Mutsuko you cannot come with me on patrol." He told her sternly as he sat in a chair trying to relax "Why do you even want to come with me? won't I act as a deterrent for your rise to popularity?" He asked.
"No you are the key to my success!" She told him as she moved in front of him to look him in the eyes "I checked with the others, and you unlike the rest of us spend your patrol time hunting down specific criminals, like a bounty hunter!" She pointed out.
"And?" He inquired not seeing what her point was.
"Don't you get it?! I could spend all day flying around and maybe stop a purse snatching or help some cat out of a tree, but if I help you take down a major bad guy then we'll both get credit, both get in the spotlight, and I'll get what I want!" She explained with an excited smile plastered on her face.
Closing his eyes Kamakyuri gave what she said some thought, which only took a few seconds because he honestly didn't care to humor the idea for any longer.
"Mutsuko, what exactly do you think my patrol is like?" He asked her.
"I dunno, you probably go to like abandoned neighbors or really disgusting slums and look for the criminals there." She answered with a shrug.
"And that is exactly why you can't come with me." He told her as he got to his feet "Because the truth is what I do all day isn't walking around looking for trouble, I focus down on the areas where the targets are known to frequent and cause trouble, I then stay still in a single spot for a few hours to see if anything happens before I move onto the next target's location, in short I basically do nothing but stand around all day waiting for something to happen, and if I'm being honest I think you'd kill yourself after just a few short minutes." He admitted as he turned to walk away.
Except he wouldn't get to walk away as Mutsuko was immediately in front of him with as serious of an expression as he'd ever seen on her staring him down.
"What exactly are you saying Kamakyuri?" She asked him her tone cold and admittedly very intimidating.
"I apologize." He said as he raised a claw slightly to serve as an olive branch "I didn't mean for it to come off as harsh as it did, what I meant was that you're a very active person who likes to take action instead of sitting around waiting for something to happen, but what I do on patrol doesn't involve that at all and so I think you'd be more bored than engaged is all." He explained.
"...I...guess you're right." She agreed with a sigh as she looked off to the side "But maybe this could be my chance to get more used to the serious side of being a hero, the side where there isn't constant fighting or explosions and I have to wait, don't you think?" She asked looking back to him.
Taking yet another moment to close his eyes and contemplate on what she said, this time he actually stayed there thinking for a good bit as what she suggested did make some sense, putting her in that kind of situation might help her get more accustomed to that aspect of hero work, and even if it didn't Kamakyuri honestly didn't find many villains or criminals on his patrols anyways, as they knew he was looking for them and so they tended to just not do anything.
"Hmm...alright, you can come." He told her as he opened his eyes just as her face formed a smile once more "But when we are out there you have to promise me you'll be completely quiet and not draw any attention to us." He told her.
"Of course! I know I'm a little energetic but I'm not a ditz." She replied as she headed for the door "So come on let's go!" She exclaimed as she walked out.
Following right behind her Kamakyuri while not admitting it to her was actually somewhat happy to have some company for a change, maybe they could even pass the time with some conversation?
City E, admittedly it was a fairly forgettable city among all the others, but not because it was bland or boring but simply because nothing really seemed to happen there. Sure there were some C and B class heroes who worked there, but surprisingly enough in a world filled to the brim with any kind of horror and disaster you can imagine City E never seemed to be touched by anything. But that in itself led to it being the perfect place for crime, but not the kind of crime that would make the news or even be seen by the populace, the kind of crime that was suspected to be conducted within this city was none other than organized crime, hence why there were only C and B class heroes working there as they wanted to boost their careers by taking down a whole organization. Unfortunately there were only rumors and speculation to serve as any kind of evidence of there ACTUALLY being organized crime or even crime families operating out of this city, which is why there were no A or S class heroes looking into it as they didn't want to spend their work or free time chasing tall tales.
But for a B class hero such as Kamakyuri and his accompanying A class cohort Mutsuko, this was the perfect place to start their patrol as if they should catch eye of something it could be greatly beneficial for the both of them.
"So..." Mutsuko spoke as she and Kamakyuri stood atop of a mall located near the center of the city "We're just supposed to sit up here until something happens right?" She asked.
"Mhm." Kamakyuri simply replied as he looked down at the street below.
"But what exactly are we looking for? obviously it's going to be subtle but I still need to know what I should be keeping a look out for." She reasoned.
"Keep an eye out for anyone acting like us, looking around not for something to eat or to buy but making sure that no one is watching them too closely." He explained.
"Do you have any idea as to what they might look like or?..." She asked looking to him.
"I have my suspicions but nothing concrete, so just make note of anything that seems too out of the ordinary to be coincidence." He answered.
"Okay, sounds good." She replied as he turned her focus to the streets below.
Silence then took hold of the air as both heroes looked around for anything out of the ordinary, and while truthfully he expected her to begin chatting and talking after only a minute or so, she actually surprised him by keeping silent as he had told her to do. In fact they stayed that way for the next thirty minutes, neither of them saying a word to each other but just keeping a watchful eye on the civilians below.
"You know." He spoke as to gain her attention "We can talk to each other if you'd like, it's not like if we have a simple a conversation that we'd draw attention to ourselves." He told her.
"Yeah I know, but it's not like we have anything to talk about, we rarely talk to each other as it is." She replied as she looked back to the street.
"That's not true, we...talk" He tried to say as convincingly as possible, only to fail miserably.
"It's no big deal that we don't talk, we're just too different is all." She assured him with a shrug.
"But we used to talk, maybe not all the time, but we still talked." He said.
"Yeah, back when you were green and had your brain on display." She pointed out as she looked back to him "Back then you were WAY more relaxed and easy going than you are now, now you're so serious and quiet which makes it hard to try and start a friendly conversation with you." She explained.
"Oh." He simply sounded before looking back to the street below.
For a few moments after silence returned to the air as the conversation seemed to be over, but just as it seemed like things would continue as they had been Kamakyuri broke it once again.
"What do you mean by so serious, I'm not that serious am I?" He asked.
"Dude, you've literally become the exact kind of brooding character that always appears in manga." She answered while giving him a "duh" like expression.
"Well...I just thought I should take myself more seriously, I mean I did nearly die so I figured that wouldn't happen again if I was more serious." He explained.
"Yeah well technically we ALL died from the Sea King remember? and yet we didn't all turn into the reclusive mute you did." She argued.
"I'm reclusive too?" He asked causing her to sigh.
"Look Kamakyuri it's like this." She said as she stood up right and placed her hands in front of her left side "Before hand you were like me in a LOT of ways, you liked to just hang out, do every kind of combat test the doctor had, and you liked to tell jokes, really bad pun jokes sure but they were funny because they were so bad." She explained as she moved her hands to her right side "Now you mostly keep to yourself while the rest of us are off doing stuff together, and even when you do come with you just close your eyes, cross your arms, and barely participate at all, it's like you're trying to exclude yourself from the rest of us." She told him before she turned away and leaned on the roof's edge.
Taken aback by what she had said, while this revelation in itself was admittedly shocking he couldn't help but notice that she seemed to be angry at hashing all of this out, and even though he knew he should probably let the conversation truly end this time, he couldn't keep himself from pressing further.
"You...seem to be angry." He noted as he stepped a little closer.
"Yeah I'm angry!" She exclaimed as she turned back to face him "Because we used to be best friends Kamakyuri! Suguru, Genjiro, and Fujio were already in their own little group before, and as for Atomu, Bunji, and Chikara, they were like the best of the doctor's experiments so far, which just left you and me in the middle together!" She went on poking his chest with one of her claws "And even though we BOTH have transformed and are way more powerful than we were before, I'M still the same while you went and changed for some reason! so MAYBE just MAYBE I miss having my best friend okay?!" She shouted before she turned her back to him and walked away by a few feet.
This time silence was able to fully return, though unlike before where it was a peaceful calm it was now an uneasy and tense aura that made Kamakyuri feel terrible. But as he raised his hand to try and talk to her some more he stopped himself, for as he looked to her he came to think that anything else he could say to her would only worsen the situation more, so instead he just went back to looking at the street below. However, as a few minutes passed by with her continuing to keep her distance and him barely keeping attention to who was walking among the crowd, as he halfheartedly looked at the faces of those who walked below he saw something that caused his eyes to widen.
"Mutsuko." He spoke causing her to sigh.
"What?" She asked as she looked over her shoulder.
"That man down there, I recognize him." He said causing her to look at him fully with a surprised expression.
"Wait really?" She asked as she walked over next to him to see who he was referring to.
"Him." He directed as he pointed to a man wearing a white tuxedo yet for some strange reason also wore a baseball cap "I've seen him twice before on this exact same day for the past two weeks, before hand I just reasoned it was coincidence as we're in the middle of the city, but now I'm certain it's not." He explained.
"His fashion sense is really weird, but besides that what makes you so sure? I mean he could just be going to a job or something." She argued.
"No, he goes to the nearby park, I know because that's where I usually move to after a few hours." He replied.
"Wait, he stays in the park for a few hours?" She asked.
"A lot of people do, at least from what I've seen, but he always seems to disappear quite frequently, usually when going to the bathroom." He answered.
"Well unless he's got some kind of trouble using the bathroom, then there's definitely something going on." She reasoned earning a nod from him.
"Right, so let's follow him, but keep high to the sky so we don't draw any attention." He told her as he leapt to another rooftop nearby.
"Got it." She said as she took to the sky and followed.
City E actually had quite a few parks, it was one of the perks of having such a quiet and uneventful city. But the best park was definitely the one located directly in the middle of the city, as it was not only the largest but also had the most things for people to partake in and do. From food vendors and playgrounds to small shops and activities like renting a paddle boat, an entire day could be had here whether it was planned or not. And it was due to this that the park was more often than not the most crowded place in the city, not so much to where you'd be constantly bumping into someone or maybe feel claustrophobic, but no matter where you'd go you could hear children playing and laughing as well as smell the aromas of many picnics and barbecues being held in the beautiful weather.
Unfortunately though for our duo of bug heroes they couldn't enjoy the pleasures of park, as they were busying staying hidden in the trees following their capped dapper suspect.
"He's heading to the bathroom." Kamakyuri whispered as he and Mutsuko stood on separate branches of the same tree.
"Does he normally go the moment he get's here?" She asked.
"No, he usually get's something to eat then goes after, then he doesn't come out for thirty to forty five minutes." He answered.
"Oh yeah, unless he's got bowel trouble there is DEFINITELY something weird about that." She replied.
"We need to do our best not to make a scene or to get noticed, so what we'll do is wait for five minutes after he goes in, if he doesn't come out immediately I'll go in and look for him, if I find anything other than that I'll signal you to come in." He explained.
"Got it." She said just as a thought came to her "Wait...have you ever been in a bathroom before?" She asked causing him give her a look of confusion.
"What?" He asked genuinely caught off guard by the question.
"I mean, the doctor made us so we don't have to go to the bathroom, so I've never been inside of one, have you?" She asked.
"Well...no." He answered "But what could there be to it? just a sink and a toilet right?" He asked.
"I think public bathrooms have more than one of each." She answered "And I think the one for guys has a special toilet inside it."
"Really? why would they need a special toilet?" He asked earning a shrug in response.
Over the course of their conversation the man had made it to the bathroom and gone inside, and once they both realized they had let their minds wander they immediately moved to a tree that was right next to the bathroom and then waited. Even though neither of them had a watch or even a phone to check the time, one of the many "upgrades" doctor Genus had given them over human beings was an impeccable sense of time, even if they were kept in a dark room they'd still have a fairly good guess as to what time of day it was since they entered the room and how long they had been in it. So when five minutes exactly passed by and the man still hadn't come out, Kamakyuri and Mutsuko simply exchanged a nod between themselves before he hopped down and went into the men's restroom. Making sure he walked slowly and made as little noise as he possibly could, Kamakyuri looked around the space to make note of everything that was there.
"Okay, so there are no windows, no other exits, and no access to the roof of the building, which means if he isn't here then something is definitely going on." He thought as he looked around, only to come to a stop as he saw a line of very strange toilets lining the wall adjacent to the stalls "Those must be the special toilets Mutsuko was talking about, I wonder what men need them for?" He wondered before he resumed his mission.
Now of course Kamakyuri wasn't about to kick open the stall doors and potentially invade a person's privacy, so once he was at the middle stall he raised one of his claws up and gave it a few knocks.
"Hello? is there anyone in there?" He asked aloud.
Waiting for a few seconds for a reply to come from any of the stalls, once he was met with absolute silence then Kamakyuri began to open all of the stall doors to be truly certain there was no one there. And sure enough there wasn't anyone in any of the stalls, and as Kamakyuri then went about checking each of the toilets even the strange ones to make sure they were actual toilets, he found that there were no secret entrances, no hidden passage ways, and no cleverly disguised levers, so where their suspect had disappeared to was truly a mystery.
"I don't understand." He said as he crossed his arms "How can someone just disappear into thin air like that? it doesn't make any sense."
Giving the room one final check over to be completely certain he hadn't missed anything, Kamakyuri with a sigh of defeat began to take his leave. But just as he was but a foot or so away from the door a drop of water fell down from the ceiling and hit his shoulder, causing him to look up.
"What is taking him so long?" Mutsuko asked as she leaned against the tree.
So far Kamakyuri had been inside the bathroom for three minutes, and while Mutsuko wasn't insanely impatient if he didn't come out in the next two she was just going to head inside and get him herself. But luckily for her that would not be needed, as without warning Kamakyuri suddenly flew out of the restroom's entrance crashing into another tree as he did, his whole body completely soaked. Unfortunately, she wouldn't be able to call out his name to make sure he was okay, as not even a second after a powerful blast of water came shooting out from the hole he made towards her, and while she was able to easily dodge it thanks to her speed the sheer force of the torrent was enough to completely shatter the top half of the tree.
"Did you honestly think I wouldn't see you two freaks following me?!" The man questioned as he stepped out, his lower half turned into a wave like formation of water while his arms were made completely of water "I started noticing the blue one last week, but now we've got this one too?" He asked as he looked towards Mutsuko.
"Who the hell are you calling a freak?!" She questioned as she pointed to him "You're the one who's made up of toilet water! so don't you dare call me the freak!"
"THIS ISN'T TOILET WATER!" The man immediately replied defensively as he placed a hand to his chest "This is just my power, I can change my genetics to be made of water." He explained.
But before he could go on or Mutsuko could say something else, Kamakyuri was suddenly behind him with his blades ready to strike.
"Reaping slash!" He exclaimed as he drove both of them through the other's form.
Unfortunately for Kamakyuri, even though he had managed to catch the man by surprise his blades still went through his body completely without doing any kind of damage, as though his torso and head still appeared human they were in fact made of water as well. Feeling his eyes widen in surprise, before he could move away to plan for another attack a suddenly blast of water came from the man's back sending him flying through the restroom and out it's other side.
"HA! PATHETIC!" He taunted as he turned around "You don't have a chance of hurting me! everything just goes right through me!" He said as he gestured to his body.
"HEY TOILET WATER!" Mutsuko shouted causing him to turn back around.
"I TOLD YOU I AM NOT MADE OF TOILET-" He began to angrily reply only to be cutoff as he was hit with a massive ball of dirt.
Coughing as some had gotten into his mouth the man wiped the dirt that was covering his eyes from his face, only to find Mutsuko standing in front of him with a smug look on her face.
"YOU BITCH! THIS WAS A HUNDRED DOLLAR SUIT!" He told her as he reared his fist back "I'LL KILL YOU!" He shouted as he threw his fist forward.
Unfortunately for the man his fist due to the dirt was now a massive wad of mud, and so besides losing speed because of this it also made it far easier to grab onto him, which is exactly what she did as she easily sidestepped his attack and grabbed his arm.
"Let's go for a ride shall we~" She mused as she suddenly took off into the sky with him in tow.
Any sort of bravado that the man had before quickly vanished, as within but a few seconds they were already fifty feet in the air causing him to panic.
"HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT!" He shouted as he looked up to her "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" He asked.
"Oh I thought we'd go for a quick fly around, seeing as how it's a beautiful day and all." She answered as she looked at her claws "But you know, your muddy arm is messing up my hands, so I think I'll just drop ya." She said as she let go.
"WAIT WAIT WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!" He shouted as he began to plummet to the earth.
Fearing for his life as he didn't know what would happen to him if he impacted the ground at this height, the man thought that as he grew closer and closer she might fly down and keep him from landing, only to find her just sitting in the air with her legs crossed watching him fall with a sadistic grin on her face. But just as he neared the ground and this looked to be his end, he was met with a powerful knee to his stomach from Kamakyuri, who had gotten back to his feet after she had taken him into the sky. And thanks to both his fall as well as Kamakyuri's own strength, Kamakyuri not only brought the man's descent to a complete stop but actually made him lift off of his knee a small bit.
"That's for sending me into a tree." He said coldly before he moved his blades behind his back "And this is for sending me through a bathroom twice!" He exclaimed as he sent his arms forward.
Now Kamakyuri didn't intend to kill the man whatsoever, but he didn't mind bruising him up a bit either, which is exactly why when he swung his blades forward he made sure to miss the man completely, but due to the power of their swing their sheer force then sent the man flying towards the very same tree that he had sent Kamakyrui into, effectively destroying it this time around as he made contact. Now unconscious as the pain overwhelmed him the fight had come to it's end, allowing Mutsuko to come back to the ground with a joyous expression present on her face.
"THAT WAS AMAZING!" She cheered as she pumped a fist into the air "We just TOTALLY combo'd that guy! we should do that more often!" She suggested as she looked towards Kamakyuri.
However, instead of seeing him reveling in their success she found he was hunched over and holding his abdomen, all the while wincing in pain.
"Kamakyuri?" She asked as she hurried over "What's wrong?"
"He broke my exoskeleton..." He grunted through gritted teeth "The first blow cracked it, but then the second broke through and hit some of my organs." He explained.
"We have to get you back to the house then!" She said as she wrapped her arm around him "Don't worry, I'll fly you there."
"N-No I'm fine! we need to-" He began to protest only to wince as more pain flooded through him.
"No buts we are going home right now!" She told him as she took off into the sky and then flew in the direction towards the house.
"B-But what about him?" He asked as he looked back at the still unconscious man.
"Some other heroes will get the credit for it, no big deal." She told him.
"But didn't you want to...get the credit?" He asked.
"There's plenty of bad guys for me to take credit for Kamakyuri, you're way more important than they are." She told him.
"M-Mutsuko..." He weakly said as the pain soon caused him to black out.
"He'll be fine in an hour or so." One of the doctor's clones said as the doctor himself was busying with an experiment "The damage was mostly isolated to his stomach, and besides some rupturing of the tissue which was easily repaired, all he needs now is to just recover." He explained as he turned to Mutsuko.
"Thank you so much thirty nine!" She exclaimed happily only to look at him confused "Or are you twenty two? I can't tell when you guys aren't wearing your shirts with the numbers." She said causing him to sigh.
"Yes well, due to an accident during an experiment we were conducting we had to put all of our shirts into the laundry, so we won't have them back until later tonight." He grimaced before taking his leave "He should be awake in a few moments." He told her as he left.
Nodding in response Mutsuko turned back to the still slumbering Kamakyuri, a small smile present on her face.
"That really was cool ya know, how you combo'd attacks like that." She said as she placed a claw to her chin in thought "Maybe I should come up with some combos like that, that way I look a lot cooler when I fight." She suggested.
"You should try doing something in the air." He spoke causing her to lightly jump in surprise "It'd look really cool." He told her.
"Hey! have you been awake this whole time?" She asked.
"No, I woke up a few minutes ago, I just stayed quiet because I wanted to hear what you were going to say." He answered with a smile causing her to roll her eyes.
"Oh I see, you wanted me to praise you for how awesome you were or go on about how glad I am that you weren't seriously hurt right?" She asked.
"I can hope can't I?" He asked causing her to flick him on the head,
"No you can't." She replied jokingly as she walked to the door "I'll let you rest up now though, we can talk later if you want." She offered,
"Mutsuko." He said as to keep her from leaving "Um...you know if you want you can come out with me on patrol again, it was nice having the help and all." He offered causing her to look at him with a smirk.
"Aw, look at you, after one patrol you already want me all to yourself." She joked causing him to chuckle.
"Yeah that's SURELY it." He replied with an eye roll of his own.
"Well, to be honest I did enjoy having someone to talk to, and it was great to combo attacks together like we used to, so yeah sure I'll come with you." She said causing him to smile.
"Great, and Mutsuko?" He asked.
"Hm?" She sounded.
"You gotta admit, after that fight you were ready to turn on the water works." He said.
Upon hearing that Mutsuko's eyes shot wide open, all the while he had this stupidly proud grin on his face
"Oh...my...god..." She said before she burst out laughing "That has GOT to be the single WORST pun in the history of puns!" She exclaimed as she placed a hand to her forehead, causing him to frown.
"Come on, it wasn't that bad." He argued causing her to laugh more.
"Oh no trust me it DEFINITELY was." She assured as she turned back around "Now we HAVE to talk later, because I've got to help you be funny again, I refuse to go out on patrol with someone who's that bad at telling jokes." She said as she left the room.
Feeling a smile come to his face, Kamakyuri was honestly glad to hear that as it meant they would be spending more time together, which after today is exactly what he wanted.