The group was let down gently to lightly spread out. The moment Saitama was set down, though, Inichi thought to him. :We are being followed. Please get in your hero garments. I shall advise for Lady Mitsumi to dress in kind.:
:What?! Who?: Saitama glowered.
:You will find out soon enough.: Inichi sighed.
"Inichi said I need to change," Saitama grumbled.
"Oh? Should I do the same?" Mitsumi asked.
"Eh…you should be fine," he smiled and kissed her softly. "I know Inichi said you should, but I should be enough. Just wait here."
"You will be judging, after all," Genos nodded.
"It's not that. Inichi said we were being followed," Saitama muttered out.
"What?!" Genos glowered.
"Just keep an eye out, okay?" Saitama shrugged and let Zenchu guard over Mitsumi. "I'll be quick."
"Oh! Inichi, can you have some hot chocolate made?" Mitsumi beamed.
"Of course, Lady Mitsumi," Inichi chuckled and sent the mental order. Zenchu looked over at Mitsumi now and noticed her frowning. He was quick to pull up a chair for her sit down in.
"What's going on?" he asked her.
"It's weird. I know that Saitama isn't far away…but…" she winced.
"He's just changing his clothes," Zenchu chuckled.
"I know. It's silly," she chuckled. "I'm just…used to his constant touch now. I mean…"
"I'm right here," Saitama said and was quick to scoop her out of the chair and settle her in his lap in his hero suit. "I told you I would be quick!"
"Yeah," she blushed softly and let him kiss her before regarding her.
"Now. What were you worried about?" he asked.
"I don't know…how to put it into words…I guess…" she winced.
"Inichi!" Saitama called for him. When the blue monster floated over, Saitama motioned to her. "What can't she put into words?"
"Hmm. Ah. She loves you so greatly that when you leave, a part of her goes missing. Now that is a romantic thought!" Inichi chuckled.
"Oh…" she blushed softly. Saitama pressed a kiss to her forehead and adjusted to make room for the standing table set next to him. Two mugs of hot chocolate were set down now, and other chairs were soon set up for the spectators of the possible recruitment of a disciple. Flashy Flash and Kamikaze were seated next. Then it was King, Kianna and Fubuki. They were all served something to drink and even given a small table for snacks. Genos, however, remained standing to be on guard for whoever it was that was trying to follow them. Nearby, Shenjou was advised to be on alert for unknown vibrations.
"If all discipleship had this…" Kamikaze grinned ruefully and sipped on a cup of sake. Flashy Flash was enjoying a strawberry lemonade drink.
"I can only agree," Flashy Flash chuckled.
"Suiryu has five minutes to show up," Zenchu muttered and crossed his arms to wait. Tacki and Kamiko had made a circular fighting ring. Zenchu had no plans to go shadow stealth for this. That would mean he was ready to kill, and that was not the plan. Not unless this guy really wanted that as a challenge…
"I'm here!" the young athletic man said as he jogged up.
"Good," Zenchu nodded. "Just approach me. The circle is set up."
"Okay," Suiryu said.
"Very well. This is to see if Suiryu has the ability to stand up to Zenchu in a challenging fight. Only five minutes is needed. There will be no bloodshed. Perhaps some bruising. The reason is to see if Suiryu can become Saitama's disciple," Inichi said while he hovered over the arena. "Under no circumstances is anyone allowed to intervene. I shall do that if I must."
"Agreed," Genos nodded. The others also agreed. Inichi gave the mental start, and both fighters quickly locked arms together.
"Hey!" Suiryu growled and dodged Zenchu's tail.
"You think I'm going easy on you?" Zenchu grinned moved to snap his tail again. Suiryu let go to do a spinning roundhouse kick, but it was completely dodged for him to get tagged hard in the back. "Be lucky that my claws aren't out! And that I am not using the shadows…"
"I can take it!" Suiryu growled and moved to swiftly attack back. Zenchu neatly blocked it and tagged him again with his tail.
"The main rule is not to draw blood. My claws would shred you in half and then some," Zenchu snarled and sucker punched him in the jaw. "Bruises heal easier! Even from a whip! Just not that nice to look at."
"He's hitting pretty hard," Kamikaze mused. "I'd go all out, though."
"Would you?" Flashy Flash chuckled.
"I would. You can tell that Zenchu is holding back," Kamikaze sighed. "He doesn't want to kill him."
"So…Zenchu is only playing with him?" Flashy Flash frowned.
"Yup. Definitely playing," Kamikaze said and swallowed more sake.
"Are you okay?" Mitsumi asked Saitama.
"Hmm? Oh. Eh…" Saitama sighed with boredom. "I don't get it."
"Get what?" she asked and sipped her hot chocolate.
"Why he wants to, eh…train under me. I said no before," he mumbled and drank down his mug of hot chocolate before setting it down.
"And…what of our children if we have them, hmm?" she mused.
"Well…that would be different," he said with a nod.
"Then you can treat this as practice on how you can train them," she beamed. Now he blinked at that and mused over it.
"I see…huh…" Saitama seemed to nod now. Now he actually leaned forward slightly to rest his head on Mitsumi's shoulder and started to watch the dodges, punches and kicks that Suiryu did. When Inichi used his bubbles to separate the fighters out when the time was up, it was clear that Suiryu was battered, panting and bruised. But he was still standing.
"He remains intact," Inichi said and released them both. "What do you think, Mr. Saitama? Is he worthy?"
"If he can do twenty push-ups. Right now. Despite what he's gone through. I may consider it," Saitama nodded with a stern gaze.
"Sucks to be you," Zenchu chuckled and walked away calmly.
"You can do this!" Genos praised. Suiryu mustered up his strength, dropped down into a plank position and was able to muscle through the push-ups. When he stood back up, he was grimacing from the extra pain.
"Fine. I suppose I can make room for you. As you are not a robot like Genos, you will have a much…stricter training regime. In fact…I'll give you the same thing I did. We'll see how it goes. I'll give you a month on it," Saitama said. "Granted, it's all self-training. Stamina and endurance building. Basic stuff. But I went all out. I'll give you two days to recover. Got it?"
"Yes…yes! I'll do it!" Suiryu said.
"Good. If you feel rested, I'm still going to give you two days to prepare. You can help Orotsu in the kitchen," Saitama nodded. "In fact, if you finish your daily regimen with me, you will report to Orotsu to continue with him."
"Also," Mitsumi chimed in. "I will not have you work in the restaurant for free. You will get a paid wage for working in the restaurant. Outside of that, you will train and learn under Saitama. But, in order for this to work out, you'll fill out an employment form for me to make it legally binding."
"But…" Suiryu seemed to grimace.
"Are you saying you don't want this?" Saitama seemed to smile.
"Do I have to work in the restaurant?!" Suiryu pouted.
"You even said that it was a good work out. And you keep moving. This means you keep your heart rate up even after you finish what I give you," Saitama shrugged. "So…are you in? Or out?"
"I'm in," Suiryu grumbled.
"Good. Report back here in two days. Or you can be at the restaurant if you feel better," Saitama nodded.
"Kianna, we may need to get some employee forms," Mitsumi said.
"Yes, Lady Mitsumi," Kianna chuckled.
"I have a delivery!" a man on a bike said with a package. "Ah…for a Mister...um…I can't pronounce the name…"
"Ah. It would be Inichi. That is me," Inichi chuckled and hovered over to collect it. "Thank you."
"Oh! Ah…sure!" the man blinked and rode off back to the main road.
"What's that?" Fubuki asked.
"Sweet Mask wanted me to, ah, check over his latest scripting. For edits," Inichi said and easily removed the packing. He took out the folder and flipped through it. He hissed and grumbled now before sending out a darting thought to his friend. :Sweet Mask?:
:Ah. I'm…in a meeting…: Sweet Mask warned.
:I just got your script. Who did you hire to write this? Was it a hamster that was pretending to be a monkey on a typewriter and was rolling a wheel around all over the keys?: Inichi asked. Sweet Mask was now mentally dying with laughter, and Inichi knew he was struggling very hard to keep a straight face in his meeting.
:Ah…no…: Sweet Mask struggled to think out.
:Was it someone that had their head so far up their own rear end that they preferred to sniff and tell instead of actually write a good scripting?!: Inichi continued to keep Sweet Mask struggling for composure. :This writing has the same comparison to an adolescent youth that butchers the main text of any book with short hand before crapping all over what's left!:
:Stop! Oh…I can't stop laughing…!: Sweet Mask begged. Inichi sensed that he had to make an excuse to leave the meeting quickly to go into a private area to finally get all the laughter out.
:I'm telling you! A first year that drew on a page, then used it as a nose rag before dropping it on the floor to step on it would have a much better choice of wording!: Inichi ranted again. Now he knew that Sweet Mask was likely balled up in a helpless fit of laughter in a corner of a room. :Who wrote this rubbish?!:
:Give me…a moment…of composure…: Sweet Mask had to force out. :Okay. I was actually in the meeting with the one that wrote it. We were trying to go over a decent plot line to make certain things work.:
:Certain things?! My dear man, 'certain things' does not involve a cat throwing up a hairball and then letting a canine roll around on it before dragging its rump over it to remove an itch!: Inichi scowled and broke his friend again. :The writing and structure of your scripting is that bad! You should fire the one who wrote this and just have me re-write the damned thing! Have you even read this? I don't think you have! Just the first sentence alone makes mirrors crack with absolute horrified rejection!:
:Ah…I forgot…how well you use your words…: Sweet Mask managed to fight for control again. :You fix it. Send it to me with the original works. I'll show it to the one I hired for comparison. We'll see what he says. Deal?:
:Fine. If he writes you another script, you send it to me to see if I need to have something use it as toilet paper.: Inichi muttered. Sweet Mask died laughing yet again when Inichi left his mind. "This script! The wording is so degrading to the mind! How does he find one to write this?!"
"Can I look?" Fubuki smiled. He handed her the notebook to flip through and she found herself blinking at a few lines. "Ah…wow…"
"Oh, I told him a few things that had him remove himself from a meeting to die with laughter from my ranting! How does he get a primal being that is too busy eating its own fecal matter to pause in anything to even see how to type, think or much less hold a pen?!" Inichi sighed. Fubuki coughed and found herself laughing hard now. Saitama looked over when Mitsumi doubled over with her own peals of laughter.
"Um…it can't be that bad?" Kamikaze asked. Now he was shown the scripture to cringe. "Okay. You win. Yeah. Even I can write better than that!"
"You see? I am not the only one that knows that whoever wrote this had dropped it in a puddle of urine and then spit-shined a boot with it!" Inichi scowled again to get the others laughing at the thought.
"That…is disgusting…" Flashy Flash could only grimace and shudder.
"If there is one thing that Inichi hates the most it's bad literature and horrible writing," Mitsumi giggled. "Um…I actually wrote badly a few times just to hear him rant about it…"
"What?!" Inichi now looked at her to get them all laughing again. "I knew it! I knew I taught you better when I saw you needed so much help! And I kept wondering why you were still writing so poorly!"
"You don't want to see my writing then," Saitama warned.
"You know what? I do. So, tomorrow before we leave for the restaurant, I am going to give you a small writing assignment for me," Inichi said. Now Saitama looked at him like he was crazy.
"Why?" he had to ask.
"You need it. That's why," Inichi said with a floating nod. Then he turned to glare out into the shadows of a group of broken down buildings. "And you. Come out now. I knew you were there the moment you followed us."
"Is that so?" a blond haired man that was slicked back and tapered to a point said when he walked into view. There was a lightning bolt on his left cheek, and his tight-fitting outfit consisting of a tank top, shorts and long socks had lightning bolts all over each part of it. His shoes were more like specialty sneakers that held most of his arsenal and power.
"Ah. A class and rank 19. Lightning Max," Genos said. "Why did you follow us from the night market?"
"I was with the others, but when I saw who we were approaching I split off. I just wanted to know what all the fuss was about," he frowned and looked away with his blue eyes.
"You could have come out openly instead of stalking us," Fubuki frowned before rising up to stretch. "It's getting late, though. I really need sleep."
"Do you need a lift home?" Inichi asked.
"I think I'll stay one more night," she smiled lightly pat his side. "I wanted to ask you a few things privately, anyways."
"Ah. Oh…I see. Of course," Inichi chuckled.
"Are you blushing?!" Zenchu now gaped at Inichi.
"Ah…I am?" Inichi mused.
"Saitama…" Mitsumi frowned. Now Inichi glanced at her and froze up.
"Hmm?" Saitama looked at her.
"I need to…tell you something…" she frowned.
"Lady Mitsumi, can it be done in front of us all?" Inichi asked. "The thoughts now…they are too important to be private."
"But…there are others here that…don't need to know…" she said carefully.
"Ah," Inichi said and looked at Lightning Max.
"I'm not gonna snitch! I'm a hero. I'm not a thief or someone that would destroy anyone's reputation," Lightning Max said.
"But…anyone else around us could hear…so…let's do this," Mitsumi sighed. "Those that can be trusted, please go inside."
"Actually, no. I will mentally reveal. You go inside," Inichi nodded. With that said, Saitama scooped up Mitsumi to plant a kiss on her forehead and carried her into the apartment. When they got into the bedroom, he set her down and watched her remove the jewelry to set aside. She looked at her engagement ring and gave a sad frown.
"Okay. What was that about?" Saitama asked and moved up behind her to rest his gloved hands on her shoulders.
"Would you still love me…if I told you…I am far wealthier than you knew? Would you love me for the money that is bound to me? Or for me?" she asked softly. He looked at her like she was crazy.
"What I told you before about falling for you because of your inner strength was true. If you're rich…fine. I'm not going to complain. But to love that over you? What's going on?" he asked.
"You know…how my family is massively entwined in politics. It's how they amassed all their fortune. My father was the main one that started it. The lies. The greed. The endless broken promises he gave to people just to get access to their wallets. But…when I was born, he realized he didn't want it anymore. He tried to slowly get out of it. But my mother wouldn't have it. He mainly married her for political roots. She is so corrupt! So vile! And the rest of my brothers and sisters…she trained them in her footsteps. I'm the youngest of five children. And my father…he made sure I was the most pure. He would always interrupt anything my mother did to carefully reveal the truth of what she wanted.
"He was the one that taught me to be frugal with money. To see the lies and deceit behind everything. To hate being in those political crowd parties. In the end, he…made a secret will. To where I would be the sole benefactor if anything happened to him. The rest of the family would still get something…but just a very small percentage. Even more…if I got married, I could access those funds instantly. The money he amassed…it's like a quarter of the ocean! There's no end to it at all! It's why I was targeted. My mother found the will. She knew that if I married…then got killed…she would gain access to it all. If I had a child, she would become the main guardian to use that child, and I…I can't let that happen! All she'd have to do was kill off who I married, too!" she whimpered.
"What?!" Saitama gaped.
"Three years ago, my father was found murdered in his study. His tea…it was poisoned. I know it was my mother that did it. But money covers up everything. It was after that when I knew I was in danger. She did this right after finding that will. I heard an argument about it when I went to find my father for a hug I always got from him before I went to bed. I heard the fight. The threats. I didn't know…how bad it was…" she swallowed. "And when that guy…when he approached me…I knew it had to be from my mother. Especially with how he kept forcing me to accept political status. And then the force of marriage?"
"Why…didn't you…say…?" Saitama had to ask.
"How could I?" she trembled and found herself fully in his arms. "Everyone has a way to hear things now. Everyone has a way to plot and use and twist things to their favor. It's why I simply dropped everything and left. And I'm so grateful to Zenchu. For him to find me when he did. I was being...hunted down that night. He killed the hunter right after I told him my story. He killed every single one that tried to find me.
"Remember the text from my mother? To have me killed? This is the only way she can claim what my father set aside. And with that board member? My mother just won't stop until I'm dead. The will...it's legally binding. She can't do anything unless she has control over it. I have to either die off suddenly or get married first and then get killed. And if I have a child? She'll snatch it away for herself! Her corruption holds no boundaries."
"Do you know where this will is now?" Saitama asked.
"Rendor has it," she said with a soft smile. "During the winter months when my youth had more hours to stay around, Zenchu and I walked into a bank. I proved who I was. I was given a copy of it to hold onto. I wanted to confide in the man that I was in danger, but…some cameras have audio. And with how my mother was, she had access and blackmail ties to everyone."
"So…you said you still have funds to access now?" Saitama asked.
"I do. Not just from the gifts I sold. My father…after the argument…he set me up with an emergency bank account to use however I saw fit. To only use it when I desperately needed money to survive on. If I made extra, I would put into it. So…he gave me a single percent of his mass fortune in that account. The amount…well…how much do you think this whole apartment complex cost when it was built? Times that by twenty…"
"Ah…no way…" he gaped.
"It's why I asked…if you would still love me for me…" she shivered. "It was all going to come out sooner or later. And with how I…agreed to marry you…if my mother finds out…"
"Mitsumi," he said now and tilted her face up to his. "The money…yeah. It's shocking. But that's not why I fell in love with you. Money is just that. It's money. We'll never suffer from it. But I'd rather dump the money if I can keep you with me. Yeah…if I had ways to get something freely, I'll take the chance to do it. If I can get out of paying for something…eh. I'm way too much of a cheapskate. Why do you think I live in an abandoned apartment? I know I have to spend money for food and clothes. But if I don't have to spend a single coin? I'd go that route."
"I'd rather not touch anything my father left me," she nodded. "I only had to utilize it twice. Things get tracked. He…urged me to find a way to run away from it all. My mother knew this. It's why she had Ajito go to me the moment he saw me. To lock me down. But…I do recall during one of my drugged moments…I heard him arguing with my mother over a phone call. It was about my inheritance. He said he would share it…but only if she had no plans to kill him. With him being just as steep in political affairs, he knew how she would think. When she slighted him…that was when he got dirty with me…to slight her…"
"He used you…as a way to get back…at your mother…?" Saitama asked with a narrowed gaze of rage. At her nod, he tensed. "Mitsumi, we are getting married. We'll make it a public event. We'll lure her out of hiding with the rest of your family. We will expose them all and take them out."
"You are…using me as bait?" she asked with a small smile.
"You can see it like that, but I love you too much to put it that way. I want you as my wife. To protect you and safeguard you to the fullest. To let everyone know that you are mine. However, we need to make sure the restaurant is going first," Saitama said and wrapped his arms around her even more. "Inichi is telling everyone this now. At the end of the month…we plan the wedding. Talk about it nonstop. Lure out every scumbag your mother sets out. We trace them all back to her. We make her talk in front of everyone. If she runs away like a coward…"
"You know she will," she murmured. "I also…wouldn't mind supporting the Hero Association as an anonymous funder. Inichi can mentally make the arrangements. But…only after I get married to stay with the will's legal needs."
"You do know that they will likely want to rush the wedding," Saitama chuckled. "I wouldn't mind it."
"We just…need to plan carefully. My mother got a board member of the association to try and hunt me down. She has eyes everywhere…" she cringed.
"Well…she can try and go after me. Inichi will just tell me where that one is," Saitama smirked and kissed her forehead. "I did wonder how it was so easy for you get equipment to start up the restaurant."
"The warehouse did provide a lot of the funds. But…I did use a little of the emergency reserves to transfer into the account I needed," she admitted.
"Your father taught you very well," he smiled. "And I'm sure he's proud of you."
She shivered and sniffled to show she was ready to cry. All he did was hug her and cradle her close. It was ten minutes later that he heard the others coming in to settle around the main room. They looked at each other to nod before leaving the bedroom to join them and discuss the next plan of action.
