It was a rare occasion when silence of any kind found it's way into the House of Evolution, normally the place was far too busy and it's occupants far too focused on some task for any kind of lull to occur. But as of now Mutsuko along with her fellow members of the house all sat around in an uneasy silence, as all of them awaited to learn what had become of King. Even though Mutsuko was the only one present who was a close friend to the S class hero and interacted with him on a near daily basis, the other members were still able to show empathy for him. For not too long ago all of them had nearly met their end at the hands of Sea King, so they knew what it was like to be beaten within an inch of their lives.

Now normally if any of them had been brought in with injuries similar to King's they while concerned would not be too worried as they had been genetically designed to survive more than a normal human. And while they all could agree that King did try and do more than most heroes, even more than some of his fellow S class, he still was essentially a normal guy working alongside people who were near gods in terms of power. But even so they did have faith their creator who was a master of genetic science would pull through, because otherwise they would have to face the only other outcome.

And it is due to this that the exact moment Saitama walked into the room that Mutsuko was the first to ask any questions, as her worry was just eating her alive on the inside.

"Saitama!" She exclaimed as she rushed over to him "What happened to King? is he going to be okay? how did he get so badly injured?" Were the first and most important questions she bombarded him with, all the while looking at him with an expression of great concern.

"Mutsuko." Dr. Genus spoke as he stepped into the room just after Saitama "Allow the man to answer but one of your questions first before you assault him with the others." He suggested.

"It's fine." Saitama assured as he briefly looked to the doctor, before looking back to her "Me and Genos were going over to King's to hangout, but on our way there we saw a bunch of people running away like something was happening, when we went to go check it out we found King being held up in the air by some big robot, so we attacked it, freed him, and I brought him here while Genos stayed to finish it off." He explained.

"You mean King tried to fight it on his own?" She asked, seeming to be surprised.

"Seemed like it yeah." Saitama answered with a shrug.

"Why would he do something like that?" Chikara asked, causing all eyes to go to him "Not meaning to insult your friend One Punch Man, but the dude's not that strong, there's no way he could beat a giant robot."

"He does have a point." Bunji agreed as he crossed his arms "Taking on an opponent that clearly had him outclassed in size and power was basically suicidal."

"There's also the fact the robot no doubt had weapons, meaning even if he was a match for it in terms of power he was outclassed by sheer variety of attack." Kamakyuri chimed in.

"Enough." Dr. Genus spoke with authority as he placed his hands behind his back "It doesn't matter if he was outclassed, the fact is that this robot was no doubt a threat to both the people as well as the city, and seeing as how King is the resident S class hero of city M, he no doubt felt it was his responsibility to at least try and keep it from doing any damage or killing anyone, as any proper hero should." He reasoned.

Having silence return for a brief moment as they were all taken aback by the doctor's sudden speech, noticing that everyone had fallen silent because of what he had said doctor Genus the cleared his throat as to try and get the focus off of him.

"At any rate." He spoke whilst clearing his throat, this time closing his eyes as he felt a tad bit embarrassed by his sudden ramble on the ethics of hero work "As for King's current condition he is perfectly fine, he's been sedated to allow a flawless recovery and will awake within the next few hours, upon which he will be given the required tests to assure he's fit for continued duty before he is allowed to leave, you all may visit with him during that time if you so desire." He explained before he turned around "I will be returning to my office to continue my work, One Punch Man feel free to stay as long as you like." He invited before he walked back into the hall.

"Thanks." Saitama replied as the other walked passed him "So, what do you guys do around here to pass the time?" He asked as he honestly didn't want to just sit there and do nothing for the next few hours.

However, instead of answering him right away they all seemed to wait until the doctor was well out of earshot before replying, which he did take notice of.

"Is something wrong?" He asked finding their delayed response to be a little weird.

"Nah, we just didn't want the doctor to hear us." Chikara answered.

"How come?" Saitama inquired.

"Because the doctor doesn't like it when we slack off." Genjiro said with a sigh, earning a nod of agreement from the other members "Not that we try to laze about or anything, but he prefers us to keep busy instead of just sitting around." He explained.

"It's especially been bad since the whole Sea King inciddent." Fujio noted as he looked down to the ground "It's almost like he's scared that if we don't better ourselves then we'll end up like we did then, or even worse."

"Let's not that about that yeah?" Chikara suggested as he walked over to Saitama "No need to make the mood worse than it already is, besides One Punch Man here is looking to us for some ideas on how to kill the time, so that's what we should focus on!" He exclaimed.

Just then a spark of genius ignited itself within Mutsuko's mind, causing her eyes to widen and a massive grin to be plastered on her face.

"I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT WE CAN DO!" She shouted before she grabbed onto Saitama's hand "COME WITH ME!" She insisted as she led him out of the room.

More so allowing himself to be pulled by the suddenly enthusiastic mosquito woman, the two of them were quickly headed down the hall going further into the facility.

"She's planning to show him her room isn't she?" Atomu asked.

"Yup." Suguru simply answered, as thanks to his psychic abilities he could easily tell what was going on in her mind.

"Think we should go and try to stop her? cause I don't think One Punch Man's gonna be ready for what she'll show him." Bunji said.

"Let's give her a few minutes before we do, this is the first and probably the last time she'll ever get to show him her room, and if we try to stop her it won't be pretty." Kamakyuri replied.

"Is is just me, or have things been getting a lot more hectic lately?" Marugori wondered aloud, as he walked down the hall with his brother and Vaccine Man.

Though it had only been a few months since the trio had been allowed this second chance at a life outside of crime and destruction, their excellent behavior and work ethic was earning them a great deal of progress towards their freedom. But even with doctor Genus and his clones giving them plenty to do as to keep them busy, they did have moments where nothing was being requested of them, meaning they could do whatever they pleased until told otherwise. Though since they had to stay inside the facility so their whereabouts would never be unknown, this left them with a limited amount of options to spend their free time, and as a result they often just wandered through the halls talking among themselves about whatever came to mind.

"You're not wrong." Vaccine Man spoke as he closed his eyes "Being an apostle of mother Earth herself, I can feel whenever something occurs within in her domain whether it be by land, sea, or air." He explained.

"Whoa, so you can actually feel everything on or in the planet?" Marugori asked.

"If I wanted to yes, but to be honest that get's rather noisy and causes me a slight headache." The other admitted as he kept his eyes closed "Still what you said is true, looking past the invasion that happened a few weeks ago things have been getting more chaotic, yet I do not know why."

"Perhaps it has something to do with One Punch Man, seems like everything nowadays does." Marugori suggested

"That is a fair point." Fukegao chimed in as he put a hand to his chin "But we have to ask ourselves, is the cause for the increase in monster attacks and catastrophes solely because of him, or would they have proceeded even if he weren't around?" He questioned.

"I most certainly would have." Vaccine Man said as he opened his eyes to look at them "My existence was a planned one, mother Earth had been creating me for quite some time in case mankind didn't change their ways, so even if One Punch Man weren't around I still would've appeared and carried out my mission." He explained.

"And we probably would've gone on to rule the world too." Marugori admitted "I mean, I always wanted to be the strongest and Fukegao was always working on the ultimate steroid, so it was inevitable we'd wind up where we did."

"True, but then there was the alien's leader Lord Boros, he did say he had been given a prophecy which brought him here, that very prophecy was tied to One Punch Man." Fukegao argued.

"But that's all still tied to him, in the argument of would it still have happened if he wasn't here I do think it wouldn't, as they wouldn't have come here without that prophecy." Vaccine Man reasoned.

Unfortunately for the trio, before they could continue their conversation they suddenly heard something coming towards them from down the hall, causing them to stop. Yet before they could even ask themselves what was causing that sound, they saw emerging from the darkness of the corridor at high speeds was Mutsuko pulling the very topic of their discussion right behind her.

"One Punch Man?!" They all asked in unison, as they had no idea he was even here.

Sadly, their surprised inquiry went unheard of by the duo along with the fact they were even standing there in the hall, as Mutsuko was so focused on taking him to her room that they barreled right past them, causing them to be pushed against the walls.

"What...was that about?" Vaccine Man asked, being the first to voice their shared confusion.

"I...have absolutely no idea..." Fukegao replied as they watched them reach the end of the corridor then take a right into another one.

One might think that since Mutsuko was the only female member of the house that the door to her room would be easy to spot, as in most cases whether they be fiction or even some in reality girls are often color coded with the likes of purple, pink, or yellow as they are seen as very feminine colors. But as Saitama currently stood outside of her room as she had gone in first to make sure it was perfect for him to see, he not only noticed her door was the exact same color as blood, but it was also the most detailed out of the others' doors. Looking at all the doors that lined the corridor he was able to easily tell who lived in each one as each had a unique color to make it stand out. The first of them was Chikara's which was at the beginning of the hallway, and while through process of elimination he was able to figure out who it belonged to, at first glance he was a bit confused as the door's color was a combination of purple and green instead of brown like he thought.

Then there was Atomu and Bunji's doors, both were more fitting for the respective members as Atomu's was mostly black with silver accents while Bunji's was orange with accents of black and yellow. After them were Suguru, Fujio, and Genjiro's rooms, all of which matched the colors of their bodies, though Fujio's looked as though it had just recently been repainted to match his improved form. As for Kamakyuri's door it was actually next to Mutsuko's and also had more detail to it than the others, though it came second in comparison to her's. For starters both doors were not the colors of either of them as Mutsuko's was the same as blood while Kamakyuri's was still green, which he admittedly thought was odd since the praying mantis was now blue.

But beyond their colors both doors also had their names written on them, Mutsuko's was cleanly applied into the door while Kamakyuri's seemed to be a bit more messy, which was due to the fact he had tried to do it himself with his blades. The final detail for both doors was they both had stickers put upon them, but unlike Kamakyuri's that only had a few which was probably her doing, Mutsuko's was near completely covered . And while there were some that read "One Punch Man" as he expected, he was surprised to find that the rest were of their friends such as "Tornado of Terror" for Tatsumaki, "Blizzard of Hell" for Fubuki, and "King" for...well that one was actually self explanatory. Overall the more he looked at it the more it just seemed to really show off how expressive and vibrant of a person Mutsuko was, making it all the more fitting for her.

"Okay!" She exclaimed from inside, gaining his attention "You can come in now!" She invited.

Even though he knew she wasn't going to do anything weird nor would her room be some creepy obsessive shrine, Saitama was still a little hesitant to enter as he was fully expecting to find a good deal of merchandise of his decorating the space. But once he opened the door and stepped inside, he found that not only was the amount of items related to him quite scarce, but that the room itself was indeed a shrine but not to him. Looking around at everything she had adorning the walls and her furniture, the whole room could be simply described as a dedication to all things hero related, from newspaper clippings and magazine articles, to autographed memorabilia and merchandise, she had something of everything. As for the room itself, it was a very spacious room that was painted in a slightly brighter tone of red than the door which made the space feel vibrant and alive, she had one bed that was opposite from the door with two bedside tables pressed against it on both sides, she had a wardrobe in the right corner with a wall mirror resting on the wall next to it as well as a closet which also seemed spacious, and finally in the left corner near the door she had a fairly big television with setup complete with surround sound stereo.

"So..." She spoke as she held out her arms to gesture to the room "What do you think?" She asked.

"It's...interesting." Saitama replied as he stepped in further while continuing to look around "But how come there's so much hero stuff?" He asked.

"Well...it's because I want to be the best hero I can be." She answered as she too looked around the room "You were the first hero we were ever introduced to because you were the one the doctor was most interested in, and while you are still my absolute FAVORITE hero, after I became a hero too I started to see just how strong the other heroes were and I wanted to be like them, so that maybe one day I could be as amazing and awesome as you are Saitama." She explained as she looked back at him "As for the merchandise, posters, newspaper clippings, and etcetera, I just collect it because I like too, everyone's got a hobby and this one is mine." She added before seeming to realize something "Oh right! I wanted to show you something!" She exclaimed before she hurried over to her closet.

Opening it up and stepping inside, he would only have to wait a few minutes before she came back out with something he could have never expected. In her arms she carried an incredibly large display that seemed to be a recreation of his apartment, and while at first it seemed like this was the more obsessive fan part of her that he was dreading he would see. But as she set it down on her bed and he got a better look at it, he noticed that while it was in fact a recreation of his apartment, the most impressive detail about it was what was at the display's center. Sitting around his table were little clay figures that resembled not only them but all of their friends, Mumen Rider included.

And while they weren't the most detailed clay figures to ever be made they were still very impressive, as she managed to not only get the clothes and proportions fairly accurate but also the way everyone would be sitting and what they would probably be doing.

"I know what you're thinking, but I promise I didn't make this to be weird." Mutsuko assured as she put her hands behind her back "I made this after we first became friends because I never had a friend outside of the house before, and when everyone else became my friend I just wanted to have something to sorta preserve the moment you know?" She explained as she pointed to Kaemon and Mumen Rider "And I've even added Kaemon and the bicycle dude because they came in later, overall I just wanted something to remind of one of the best things about my life, my new friends." She concluded.

Taking a moment more to look it over and think on what she had told him, while this was the first time he had ever heard of someone doing something like this to essentially keep a memory alive, kinda like how a picture would do the same, he still had to admit that this wasn't just impressive but it was also just another example of how unique of person Mutsuko was, beyond the obvious of course.

"That's really cool Mutsuko." He told her as he gave her a thumbs up "Great job." He praised.

Feeling her eyes widen like they never had before, it took every bit of strength and will power she had within her to keep from jumping up and down screaming with glee at the praise she had just been given. But before either of them could continue to talk about the display or her room any further, the sound of running footsteps could be heard coming towards them, followed by the door suddenly being opened by one of the doctor's clones.

"One Punch Man!" He exclaimed, seeming to be out of breath "You have to come with me right now!"

"Why? is something wrong?" Saitama asked.

"It's King! he's awake and...you just need to come see for yourself!" The clone exclaimed.

Even though the likelihood of something bad being the reason for the other's urgency, Saitama still made sure to take this seriously and without another question simply did as was requested and took his leave of the room.

"You'll want to come too Mutsuko." The clone told her after regaining a bit of his composure.

"I will, I'll just be a moment." She replied, earning a nod in response.

Watching the clone close the door and follow Saitama down the corridor, once Mutsuko was certain neither were going to suddenly come back she picked the display up and carried it back into her closet. After this was done she then came back out with a near mountain of One Punch Man plush toys and other related merchandise in her arms, before she promptly put it all on her bed.

"There, I'll put it all back where it belongs later." She told herself as she then quickly exited the room.

After having caught up with Saitama and the doctor's clone, they all went on to walk through the facility until they reached a door that had the words "Test Observation" written on it's surface. Proceeding to open the door all three of them stepped inside where they found doctor Genus, some of his clones, and the other members of the house all watching something through the observation glass.

"What's going on?" Saitama asked once they were inside, gaining their attention.

"Ah you brought them, well done forty two." Dr. Genus said before he walked over "One Punch Man, Mutsuko, first of all I want to assure you nothing bad has happened to King." He told them.

"But something has happened right?" Saitama asked.

"Yes, but I think you will agree with me that what has happened is something truly remarkable." Dr. Genus replied as he walked back over to the front of the glass "Please, see for yourselves." He invited as he gestured to the window.

Walking over beside and looking into the adjacent room, both Mutsuko and Saitama saw a shirtless King running laps around a track, and from how much he was sweating it seemed as though he had been running for some time.

"Okay...so King's...running..." Saitama noted as he crossed his arms "Is there something else we're supposed to be seeing?" He asked.

"One Punch Man, not only is he fully awake which wasn't expected for at least two more hours, but in the span of just ten minutes he has ran over a hundred laps." Dr. Genus revealed causing both of their jaws to drop.

"WHAT?!" They both shouted in surprise as they looked at him quickly before looking back to King "BUT...HOW?!" They asked, once again in unison.

"Unfortunately we have only just begun the tests so we can't be completely certain as to how he has suddenly become more capable in terms of physical ability, however as you can see he isn't running at an abnormal speed which is only because he's been going for ten minutes." Dr. Genus explained as one of his clones handed him a clipboard "When he first started to run he managed to clear twenty five laps in the span of two minutes and forty five seconds, after that as he used more of his energy his clear times grew are still impressive, he cleared fifty at five minutes and thirty three seconds, seventy five laps at eight minutes and twenty four seconds, and finally a hundred laps at ten minutes and fifty two seconds." He continued as he handed the clipboard back to his clone "After he completed the required laps we asked him to continue for as long as he was able before taking a break before the next test." He concluded.

Completely at a loss for words both Mutsuko and Saitama simply stared at their friend, utterly baffled as to how he went from surviving a near death experience to getting an increase in power.

"You...said you aren't certain..." Saitama spoke as he looked towards the doctor "But do you have like a theory or something?" He asked.

"Actually yes I do." The other admitted as he placed his hands behind his back "To be brief One Punch Man, me and Metal Knight have come up with a theory that not only could explain this miraculous change in King, but could also be the key to how you've become as strong as you are." He explained.

"Seriously?!" Saitama questioned, being genuinely shocked.

"Indeed, though much like with King here our theory doesn't have much in terms of evidence to support it at the moment, but the essential idea is that every living creature has instilled within them something we call a "Limiter", this Limiter we believe is every creature's own established limitations that if they surpass them they can achieve more than they ever could before previously, we also believe that each being's limiter is unique to them meaning that in order to surpass it each creature would have to reach a specific threshold before any change can be seen." Dr. Genus explained.

"So you think King has broken his Limiter then?" Saitama inquired.

"No, if he did I think he would be more so on par with you in terms of power than he is now." Dr. Genus replied "Even so, if the Limiter theory is true, this would be the first documented case of someone who has become more powerful because they are drawing closer to breaking their Limiter, and if that is the case then King could possibly become even more powerful than this." Dr. Genus stated.

Once again being at a loss for words Saitama looked back in at King who by now had finally gotten tired of running and was now taking a breather by sitting on the ground, and while he in no way saw himself as a teacher or mentor to King, he did admittedly feel proud of his friend.

"Good Job King." He thought with a small smile.