"Uhm, Tats? While I appreciate free food, aren't these options a little bit... pricey?"
After dropping off the girl at a hospital and giving her parents, who had taken shelter nearby, a lecture on keeping watch on their kid, Tatsumaki brought the Baldy to her favourite café, the "Roasts Toasts and More " in City D by flying both herself and the Baldy with those powers of hers. Of course, she was still quite tired but the thought of all the treats awaiting her, as well as the quick break she had, were enough for the ESPer to fly at 70% of her usual speed. At least, that was the plan. Apparently Saitama, despite being fairly slim, managed to weigh her down to about 45%. Of course, this has to be due to her still being tired, not because the Baldy somehow could resist her powers, right?
"I've told you before, my name is Tatsumaki. Besides, I've got more than enough money to cover a simple lunch due to the Hero Association. Now hurry up and order something or I'll start without you!"
"Just one small problem Tatsumaki. I... don't know what any of these are."
Well, that shocked the ESPer. Not only was the man completely ignorant of the Hero Association, he apparently has never been to a café before. If she knew just how much this man was going to test her temper, she would've let him find a sale so she could enjoy lunch by herself. Oh well, the great "Tornado of Terror" was not one to back away from a challenge, even one as ridiculous as repaying someone that saved her life.
"Fine, you'll just have what I have. Waiter!"
During the five minute wait, Tatsumaki watched as the Baldy did all sorts of unsightly actions such as picking his nose, digging his ears, scratching his behind and more. All of this would've been fine were it not for the fact that 1: they were in quite a posh café, meaning that majority of the customers were snooty high-class douchebags, and 2: Saitama's glaring bald head and bright, yellow suit were attracting most, if not all, of the customers' attention who began to gossip.
You'd think that with how popular Tatsumaki and her temper are, these civilians would know better than to talk bad about her but of course, they did anyway. They probably thought that if they whisper, they'd be safe from any repercussions. Unbeknownst to them, Tatsumaki's powers happen to sharpen her hearing, meaning that their comments did not go unheard."
"Isn't that the S class Rank 2 'Tornado of Terror'? What is she doing with such a disgusting old man?"
"Ew, Tatsumaki has such low standards in who she dates? And to think I wanted to court her."
"I refuse to believe that's THE 'Tornado of Terror'. Probably some dumb kid cosplaying as her."
All these comments and more were getting on Tatsumaki's nerves, especially that last one. Her patience was dwindling, fast. If someone didn't stop them, she'd let her powers loose soon. Saitama, noticing Tatsumaki change from a somewhat elegant lady to one shaking with rage, realised he had to do something. He knew he was the cause of all these comments which, by the way, he could also hear, due to his actions and yet, this was how he acted everywhere. How was he to know there would be people this pompous?
"You know Tatsumaki, I could just leave. It may seem rude especially since I've already ordered, but it's at least better than getting you humiliated. Besides, you don't really have to repay me, I'm a hero for fun remember? Not a hero for rewards."
Unfortunately, instead of calming her down, Saitama's words seemed to have the opposite affect on Tatsumaki. She thought it was bad enough people were disrespecting her, now they were chasing away the man who not only saved her life, but potentially all of humanity including the snobs themselves? Unacceptable.
The silverware of the customers began to float, with forks and knives pointed directly at their faces. Realising they had just pissed off Tatsumaki, the crowd began to say things along the lines of "I'm sorry all powerful Tornado of Terror, forgive my insolence", further pissing off Tatsumaki since they were fully content with insulting her just moments ago.
"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!"
Despite her size, the ESPer was fully capable of resonating shouts, effectively shutting up the pompous pricks and getting their full attention. And this was without using her powers to amplify it.
"First you insult me behind my back, then you try to suck up to me? WHO DO YOU THINK I AM!"
The atmosphere in the café became so tense, no one dared to move a muscle. Well, except the Baldy of course, who called out to Tatsumaki before things got out of hand.
"I think you've made your point. Let me handle this."
The crowd simply watched as the bald man stepped forward, letting out a sigh before speaking up.
"Listen assholes! Tatsumaki saved me from a monster just now and as a way of saying thanks to her, I'm treating her to a meal, so if all of you would kindly apologise to her, SINCERELY, and let us have our lunch IN PEACE, I'm certain she'll be willing to forgive this misunderstanding."
The crowd was silent for a second, before they all stood up and bowed, apologising to Tatsumaki who simply looked at Saitama with questioning eyes. As everyone sat down, Tatsumaki and Saitama were served their Chocolate and vanilla cakes and their tea. The two thanked the waitress and proceeded to eat in quiet with Saitama enjoying the pricey yet tasty cake and Tatsumaki too deep in thought to properly savour it.
After Saitama paid the bill, with money Tatsumaki secretly handed to him of course, the two were outside the cafe, preparing to go their seperate ways, until Tatsumaki broke the silence.
"Why did you do that Baldy?"
"Do what?"
"Why did you say I saved you when it was the other way around? You do realise the credit now goes to me right?"
"Well, I figured it was the only way to explain why we would be together in a café without causing any further misunderstandings. Besides, you said it yourself. Since I'm not a registered hero, the credit would go to you."
"It wouldn't have if I said so after we got you registered! And those idiots deserved to be punished for just how disrespectful they were. They even thought licking my boots would make me forgive them, what kind of a person do they think I am?"
"Well, it doesn't matter now. What's done is done. Besides, we would've got kicked out if you did anything rash, and I could tell you were starving from the way your eyes lit up when we arrived. The last thing I want to do is starve a friend."
"Who are you calling a friend Baldy! Do you WANT people to get the wrong idea?"
"Oh, so we're not friends? Sorry, my mistake. Anyway, the food was nice. Guess I'll see you tomorrow Tats."
With that, Saitama walked off, enjoying the view of the grand, at least compared to his usual surroundings, city, wondering what to make for dinner. Tatsumaki was left in front of the "Roasts Toasts and More", with nothing but questions in her mind. This man, whom she had only just met, was perfectly fine with having his victory taken from him just so she wouldn't be kicked out of the café? Not only that, he considered her a friend? Shit, she didn't feel too good about seemingly disappointing him. Wait, what? Why would she care if he was disappointed, he should be happy he got to eat with her. Feeling a weird feeling inside of her, Tatsumaki flew off to find something to do. Perhaps completely destroying monsters would get this off her mind.
And that's Chapter 2. Hopefully I've made less mistakes here, though I doubt it :/.
In any case, I was going to leave the writing to the future but I decided I was not satisfied by leaving the story where it left off. I also Intended to stretch this chapter out even further but decided eh screw it, it would be far too long. Anyway, I wanted to clarify some things first
When I say "A tad different", I'm mostly going to be changing the timeline eg when something occurs and have the story play out from the change. I do not intend to change the characters at all so please forgive me when I write something OOC.
Those wondering about my schedule, I mostly write in my spare time when I need something other than games to appease my boredom but I'll try to have updates every 4-5 days. Trust me, I know the pain of waiting.
Length of chapters is not set. I mostly just write until I feel I can satisfyingly end it. That said, if you feel a chapter is too long or too short, feel free to tell me.
Speaking of which, I will be replying to critiques in a section below this author's note. That way, readers that would rather their time spent on another task can skip. Any non story related questions will be answered via PM. Thanks again for your time!
In responce to:
A number 9 large- Ah, I'm sorry about that. I'm so used to constantly explaining things to people because they never seem to understand my jokes that it has seeped into my writing. I'll keep that in mind when I write in the future and hopefully this chapter is more enjoyable for you and other readers. I'm glad you found it okay even with these mistakes though, thanks for your time and the review!
Bomberguy789- Oh boy, I've got some explaining to do. Basically, due to a lack of knowledge as to Vaccine Man's true strength since Saitama happened, I've decided to give him my personal take. I figured if he was "birthed" from earth, he would have a resistance to natural elements, such as wind. I also decided that since he is basically a sort of virus (Vaccine and all), he would not be affected by dense gravity since viruses and bacteria can survive in space. But I will admit his basic form would've died to a meteor as big as the one Tats used on the Ancient King but since Tats didn't want to damage nearby cities, she used one too small to kill him, allowing him to use his true form which amplifies all of these as well as his durability and strength. As to why Tats didn't just lift him into space or use his qi to crush him, I may or may not have forgotten to include that part along with the explanation that since he's a virus, he wouldn't have qi to crush in the first place, nor would his mind be affected by telekinesis. My bad
As to how nice Tatsumaki was, this is less excusable. I originally thought this would be acceptable since she was saved by him, or if I wanted to stretch it, because she didn't believe her weakened state would be able to take on some guy that just called a dragon level she found difficult, easy or because I thought all the "Baldy" and angry shouting was good enough but, now that you brought up some excellent points, I realised that Tatsumaki deciding to treat the guy is just too OOC for me to forgive. Unfortunately, I'll have to keep her like this so as to not confuse the story further by having her go from decent to complete tsundere in a chapter or two. I will however, try to make her sound more arrogant, even with Saitama. Glad you still managed to enjoy it. Thanks for the feedback!
