Author's note: No Saitama in this chapter, but his name appears quite a lot... :p

oOo

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When Genos dropped his huge backpack on the work table, the loud thump reverberated through the basement. The cyborg frowned, his golden eyes scanning the laboratory around him. That silence was unusual.

"Doctor Kuseno?" he called out.

He obtained no answer. Just silence, and the quiet humming of the machines lined up against the metallic wall. Near the table on which the doctor brought him to his new life, on which he had so often been taken to pieces and rebuilt, the removable screen showed two 3D sectional schemas of cyborgs slowly turning on themselves. Between them, computer lines of binary code scrolled at full speed. Genos walked to take a closer look – it probably was about his next upgrade the doctor was planning.

"Oh, Genos," the doctor's voice rose behind him. "I didn't hear you come in."

The cyborg turned to see Kuseno drying his hands with a clean cloth. He approached, smiling in his usual white coat.

"I was just working on a project of fire-proof hair with a more realistic and natural pattern than the one you've got now," he explained as he switched off the computer screen and faced him. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this surprise visit? Did you break some of your parts again?"

Genos shook his head, dead serious.

"No. The new software you installed works very well. I could carry out basic repairs myself."

"That's wonderful, Genos." The doctor said with a warm smile. "So, tell me: what can I do for you?"

Genos walked to the work table and opened his backpack.

"I didn't have any room anymore at Saitama-sensei's for my observation notebooks from n°2800 to 3790." he explained while taking out the notebooks to pile them up on the table.

"You can store them with the others. I cleared two more shelves at the -3 level so you can file them in order. I put up a new scanner too if you want to numerize them."

"Thank you, doctor. There is another reason why I came for. To tell you the truth, I need your advice on something. But it's a… tricky situation."

The doctor folded his hands behind his back and looked at him more attentively. A smile lit up his eyes.

"It's about Saitama-kun, isn't it?"

Genos blinked, bewildered, and put down the notebooks.

"How did you know?"

"You always have that very human look in your eyes when you talk about him. You do it so often that I know even before you open your mouth when it'll be about him."

"Oh. I see."

The doctor helped him take all the notebooks out of the backpack and order them into piles.

"So what happened with your sensei? You know you can tell me everything, I'd never judge you. You are like a son to me, I will always be on your side and I only wish for your happiness."

Genos narrowed his eyes, wondering what meant the doctor – what did it have to do with anything?

"Lately I noticed that Saitama-sensei is feeling down. His strength is so astonishing and beyond understanding that no one presents a challenge to him anymore. He is greatly saddened by this because fighting was his only reason for living, as he confided in me very recently. For the last week I've been thinking about a strategy to make him happy again and give him reasons to appreciate life even without the fight factor. To find him a new reason for living and fill up that emptiness. I pondered what could stimulate the same chemical adrenalin reaction in his body but I haven't found anything that could equal fight fever and danger. I feel powerless and demoralized. Just like I was when the mad cyborg destroyed my city and killed my parents in front of me. Before I met you, doctor. I thought hard to try and understand sensei's current state of mind, and I realized how terrible it must be to live without meaning or passion. My own destiny may be tragic and dark, but I've always had my revenge to look forward to. A clear and precise objective to plan my future and keep me from giving up. But Saitama-sensei only had fighting. Now he doesn't anymore and he can't have it back. I wish for his happiness and I'd give everything to chase away the sadness in his eyes but I don't know how to do it. I tried making him happy by lavishing attention on him on a daily basis, but all my attempts end up in failure. Sensei is to me the most important person in the world and I'm only realizing now how naive I've been to believe that with his strength nothing could ever get to him or destroy him. Especially when he always seems so stoic and impassive, even faced with the hatred and contempt of the very ones he saved with such pure and selfless intentions. Much to my shame I had nearly forgotten that Saitama-sensei is human in his heart and soul. He's not infallible, however great his strength and kindness may be. Now I live with the constant fear that what he lost might be the end of him one day if I fail to find something to replace it. Losing my parents, my city, my life and my body in less that one day taught me than nothing is eternal or indestructible, even when we believe we're safe. That's why I won't make the mistake of making light of what Saitama-sensei told me about not having a reason for living anymore. I could never bear losing Saitama-sensei and I'd do anything to protect him like he did to me. For he protected me and saved me so many times and I never gave him anything in return. I came here to ask your advice, doctor Kuseno, because I'm certain that with your wisdom and your intelligence you'd be able to find answers I can't see from my point of view. This last week I've been feeling like I go round in circles and I'm drifting away from my objective. Food and special offers can't replace fighting in Saitama-sensei's heart, I understand it now. And he already did sales before I knew him, so it's nothing new in his life. Maybe you, doctor Kuseno, will have a more efficient idea than the ones I came up with."

Genos stopped taking and remained silent, waiting for an answer. The doctor had listened to him very patiently – unlike his teacher, he never seemed to think his explanations were too long – and was stroking thoughtfully his chin.

"I see. Saitama-kun lost the heat of fight because he's too strong for his opponents, and it makes him depressed." he summed up.

Genos eagerly nodded, glad he made himself understood.

"What would your strategy be, doctor?"

"Hm, well, let me think… I told you before I'm working on a project of new hair for you. According to everything you told me about him, Saitama-kun has complexes about his baldness, and he misses his lost hair."

"Indeed. He won't admit it, but given how touchy he acts about the matter, I can guess his true feelings. Judging by his eyebrows and pubic hair's complexion and thickness, he probably used to have beautiful dark straight hair. But I already considered it a long time ago, doctor. Saitama-sensei stubbornly refuses all the miraculous treatments I find for him on the Internet."

"Anyway, It would take a lot of research and experiments to graft synthetic hair on living tissues and make it keep growing. For the moment, it is impossible, and not my specialty."

The cyborg's metallic shoulders sagged from disappointment. Looking sorry, the doctor scratched his own head, fingers deep inside the pudding-bowl hairstyle.

"Don't give up, Genos. I will work on it. Until then, I think I have another idea. You talked to me at length – and angrily – about the citizens' ungrateful attitude towards your teacher…"

"Yes. Saitama-sensei regularly gets slanderous letters, and sometimes people laugh at him or insult him. They don't dare do it directly when I'm walking with him, but I can hear and see them."

"If he had devoted and grateful fans just like yours, don't you think it would cheer him up and make him forget about his opponents being too weak for him?"

Genos opened and closed his mouth, his pupils contracting suddenly. He blinked, dumbfounded. How hadn't he thought of that sooner by himself?

"You're right, doctor!" he exclaimed with enthusiasm. "Until now, He's only ever got one thank-you letter. Even if he showed no emotion when he read it, I know it means a lot to him. He keeps it very carefully folded in one of his mangas. I've seen it when I did the dusting."

He pulled out his phone and started typing so fast on the buttons his thumb became almost invisible. Puzzled, the doctor leaned closer to take a look at the phone screen.

"What are you doing, Genos?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago. Saitama-sensei is the ONLY B class hero without a fan-club – I check for any change every morning – so I'm gonna create it myself. I'm a citizen too, after all. The rules of the Association don't forbid heroes to create fan-clubs."

"Of course, but are you aware that you'll officially appear on the website as president of Saitama-kun's fan-club? A S class hero founding a B class hero's fan-club… people will talk, Genos."

"Let them talk, I don't care." Genos said coldly, narrowing his eyes. "The only reason I became a hero was for Saitama-sensei to accept me as his disciple. For this reason and nothing else. Once the fan-club is created, maybe fans would join in and send him letters full of praise."

His thumb stopped moving, and a smile grazed his synthetic lips. The fan-club was created on the official website of the Association. Immediately, two little pop-ups announced that new members just joined the fan-club. But his smile fell right away.

"Oh. It's only Mumen Rider and Bang."

He waited a bit longer with hope – there were approximately seven thousands members visiting the website at that exact moment, so the creation of the new fan-club couldn't go unnoticed since it appeared on top of the screen page with the news. But still no real fan joined it…

After a few long minutes waiting, a new pop-up appeared to inform him that Speed-o'-Sound Sonic joined the fan-club. He closed his phone, boiling with rage. That nudist stalker was more clingy than a chewing-gum stuck on shoe sole!

"Looks like Saitama-sensei doesn't have any real fan," Genos sighed, putting his phone back in his pocket. "I can't rely on them to send him the praising letters he deserves."

"Hum… Why don't you write him one yourself?" Kuseno suggested. "You're always full of praise for him. You're his n°1 fan, after all."

The cyborg turned away and picked up his empty backpack, ready to leave the laboratory. He wouldn't find his answers here.

"No." he answered darkly. "Sensei is used to hearing me praise him every day, he doesn't pay any attention to it anymore. Writing it instead of saying it out loud would be the exact same thing he's heard from me a thousand times. It's the gratitude and admiration of random citizens he needs to prove him his work is appreciated."

"He doesn't have to know you wrote it…"

Genos ground to a halt and slowly turned his head to glance at the doctor.

"You mean… write a false letter from an imaginary fan? A fake?"

Doctor Kuseno nodded, amused.

"But that's cheating!" Genos said, outraged.

"All is fair in love and war."

Genos turned to face him, frowning.

"This is not a war, doctor." he pointed out, deadly serious.

"Exactly. Wait a second, I'm going to give you some paper and a pen. I think it's in that drawer…"

"But, doctor Kuseno! I can't possibly lie to Saitama-sensei and betray his trust…"

Bent on the metallic drawers he was opening one by one, the doctor took out letter paper and all kinds of pens.

"Would you rather have a clear conscience or Saitama-kun's happiness?"

Speechless, Genos closed his mouth. He docilely let the doctor sit him down on the chair, stiff as a board and staring down at the blank paper. His core vibrated in his chest, and the fans started blowing air to regulate his increasing temperature.

"It's up to you, Genos." the doctor smiled, ruffling affectionately his hair. "Take your time. I'll be next room if you need me."

Genos ended up alone in the laboratory, with the humming of the machines and his own cooling fans to keep him company. Narrowing his eyes determinedly, he grabbed a pen and started writing neatly.

Saitama-sensei,

He realized his mistake after drawing the lines of the two kanjis composing the word « sensei ». He tore out the paper sheet and crumpled it in his fist. He was Saitama's only disciple, no one but him called him sensei – that slip would immediately reveal his identity. He was about to write just « Saitama » for his next attempt, but he stopped and thought hard. Genos and Saitama didn't have any official hero name yet, since they joined the Association not so long ago.

Genos got into the habit of controlling every day what was being said on discussion forums about his teacher, so he knew that people started giving him some nicknames. Caped Baldy was the less pejorative and insulting of them all, but Genos highly doubted that Saitama would like to read that in a fan letter.

To the B-ranked hero Saitama,

Wasn't it too cold and formal coming from a passionate fan? Genos grabbed his own hair and let out a frustrated growl, and tore off that sheet too.

For Saitama, the greatest hero of them all,

I am one of your many silent fans. I am the father of a child you saved and I am very grateful

Genos frowned and stopped writing. He used the reactor in his palm to burn to ashes his failures.

"No, it isn't right. Whenever Saitama-sensei looks envious about my fans or Amai Mask's, he only ever mentions the female fans. An anonymous letter coming from a woman would please him most."

But how could he write like a woman and make it believable?

Saitama-kun,

I am a pretty young lady and your number 1 fan. I admire very much your professionalism, your humility and your outstanding strength. I want you to know that many women like me are your fans and

No young female fan would write so formally! It sounded so fake! His core overheated and thick steam escaped from his body when Genos burned the paper sheet with so much power he nearly melted the desk's steel.

"I can't do it!" he exploded, getting up so quickly his chair fell behind him with a loud noise.

Head lowered down, he grabbed the desk's edges and breathed loudly, afflicted by his failures. He ground his teeth trying to make up in his mind other letters, but to no avail. Everything sounded so fake it was ridiculous. Saitama-sensei was a smart man, he would figure out right away the forgery.

In order to write a believable anonymous letter, he would need to…

He opened his eyes again, determination burning in the gold. He knew exactly what he had to do.