The first thing Tatsumaki noticed when she entered the restaurant was the lack of stares. No matter where the green-haired hero went, there were always stares, people rushing up to greet her, people taking their leave out of fear; she was never a normal person. Here, however, in this small dining area with only two other people minding their own as they ate, she didn't feel like a celebrity, savior, or monster. Tatsumaki relaxed her shoulders and took a deep breath in, taking in all of the wonderful aromas that emanated from the open kitchen just fifteen feet away, where a larger man stood tossing noodles in a bowl.
Saitama led Tatsumaki to the kitchen and greeted the chef. "Hey, Gipo! Whatever you're cooking smells great!"
The large man set the bowl down on the counter as he turned around to face Saitama. He had a large smile on his face, outlined by a sizable, but trimmed, beard and mustache. He was wearing a short chef's hat and a white, mostly clean apron.
"Saitama! Good to see you!" Gipo exclaimed, full of energy and clearly delighted to see the bald man. "It's been a little while. Still on the monster fighting grind?"
"Yep. Been a bit hectic lately actually."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, apparently there was a whole hive of monsters living under my house. I went to flush them out on my own, but the whole Hero Association ended up getting involved and it was a whole thing. This one," Saitama motioned towards Tatsumaki, "was there too. She and Genos took down the main baddie who was controlling the whole operation…or something? The details are kinda muddy, but either way, she kicked ass."
Tatsumaki's cheeks tinged a light red at the praise and she couldn't help but beam as she began to levitate subconsciously.
"Really now?" He looked towards Tatsumaki. " Well, that's high praise coming from Saitama. I'm Gipo by the way," Gipo commented as he gave her a polite nod.
"Tatsumaki," she responded simply as she levitated up closer to eye level and returned the nod.
"Well, what's the occasion?" Gipo asked with a smile, "Saitama hasn't come with anyone before, so surely there's a reason? Or did you just bring her to support my
business? Either way is fine with me, of course."
"This baldy," Tatsumaki started as she slapped a hand on Saitama's shiny head, drawing an annoyed side-stare from the bald hero, "rushed in and killed a monster I had already set my sights on. I flew for over an hour to get to it, only for him to steal the kill from right in front of me. This lunch is his way of repaying me for the disservice."
"He stole your kill?" Gipo repeated incredulously, "Come on Saitama, really?"
"You're taking her side on this?!" Saitama exclaimed as Tatsumaki crossed her arms and threw on a satisfied smirk.
"See Baldy, some people know how to respect their peers," Tatsumaki mocked as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"That's like if someone were to come in and sell Takoyaki to someone who was about to order," Gipo pointed out, crossing his arms like the ESPer and shaking his head in a bit of a mockingly disapproving manner. "Oh how the pure have fallen from grace."
"You're lucky I'm hungry, Gipo," Saitama mock-threatened as he poured his gaze over all of the ingredients laid out on the counters.
"Speaking of which, what can I get you two?" Gipo asked, noticing Saitama's interest in the food.
Tatsumaki answered first, "Saitama said your soba was your specialty, so I'll have an order of that."
"Ditto," Saitama added.
"Alright, two orders of soba coming right up. Go ahead and pick a table. Your food will be out shortly."
With a "Thank you," Saitama led Tatsumaki over to a small table a little ways from the kitchen where they sat down parallel to one another. They were quiet for a time, neither really knowing what to say, or even if anything should be said. Eventually, though, Tatsumaki spoke up.
"Alright, spill it," she demanded.
"Uhh, spill what?" Saitama asked, puzzled as to what she was referring to.
"It should be obvious. Where did you get your power from?" Tatsumaki eyed him as she pressed on, the curiosity and slight suspicion that had built up ever since she had first met him now finally being voiced. "You joined the Hero Associated out of the blue, shot up through the ranks, took an S-Class hero as your disciple, helped the Association and S-Class with several Dragon-level threats, and even held your own well enough against me, all in the course of a few months, but no one even knows who you are! There's no documentation on anything you did before joining the Association, even though you're stronger than most of the S-Class, and Demon Cyborg won't stop going on about how "great and strong" you are. So what's the deal, huh? How did you get this strong?"
Tatsumaki stared sharply at Saitama, her brow furrowed, determined to get answers. The hero in question took a moment to think, rubbing his chin, apparently searching for something deep in his thoughts. Tatsumaki's mind was racing in its own regard; she wondered what could possibly have occurred to imbue someone with such enormous strength, and what measures he had been taking to preserve his secret. Was he born with it, like her? Perhaps he and Demon Cyborg went further back than she thought…could he be a cyborg? Surely not. Or maybe he was experimented on and given a strength he never asked for. What could it be?
"Demon Cyborg?...Oh, you mean Genos!" Saitama determined.
"Wha-? Of course I'm talking about Genos! Jesus Baldy, is that what you were thinking about that whole time?" Tatsumaki practically shouted. "Did you even hear anything I said?!"
"Something about my power, right?...Umm, oh! You were wondering how I got so strong!"
Tatsumaki sighed in slight relief. "So you are capable of listening. That's good to know," she said as she rolled her eyes.
"And you haven't smashed anything yet. Looks like we're both improving," Saitama retorted.
"What?! I'll have you know that I-" Tatsumaki stopped as she saw a smirk on the bald man's face. It was sarcasm…directed to her…directly to her! Few dared to ever challenge or poke fun at her behind her back, and fewer still to her face. She wasn't
sure how long it had been since someone had joked with her. It was…refreshing. A small smile tugged at the corners of the typically feared hero's lips.
"Seems that way," Tatsumaki returned simply, forgoing the argument she would usually put up in the face of any sort of disrespect, sarcastic or otherwise.
Saitama took note of Tatsumaki's refraining from arguing and smiled briefly because of it, glad to see at least some sort of improvement in her attitude, even if it was just handling a bit of sarcasm.
"But, to answer your question," Saitama began, returning to the topic at hand as Tatsumaki leaned in slightly, eyes and ears focused on him, "I trained hard."
The eager listener waited a moment for Saitama to elaborate further, but quickly realized he was finished with his explanation. "You trained hard? Well that clears things up, doesn't it? What a great, enlightening explanation." She threw her hands up in an exasperated manner before resting her eyes on Saitama in an expectant stare, prompting him to elaborate.
"I got the message," Saitama retorted dryly before explaining further, as requested. "Well, a bit over three years ago, I was just a guy out looking for a job. Then I came across this crab monster that was hunting down some big-chinned kid who played a prank on him. He wasn't interested in me, though, so we went our separate ways, but then I ended up spotting the kid. I knew it was him because he had the biggest chin I had ever seen; it was huge! I was going to ignore him, y'know, not make it my problem, but when that monster went to attack him, I realized that I couldn't let that happen. So, I got the kid out of the way, and killed the monster. That was when I knew that I wanted to be a hero. I started training the very next day."
"What kind of training could make you this strong in just three years?" Tatsumaki inquired, genuinely curious.
At the question, Saitama's plain expression transformed into one of pride and determination; Tatsumaki picked up on it instantly. It was a look she'd not seen on him, and despite it being a far departure from his usual indifferent stare, she thought it rather suited him. It made him come off as much more confident and competent, traits he likely possessed, or at least should possess given his incredible capabilities, but were hidden beneath his regular plain exterior.
Saitama looked Tatsumaki in her eyes, his own gleaming with a previously unseen intensity. "To get this strong, I stuck to a strict training regiment of one-hundred push-ups, one-hundred sit-ups, one-hundred squats, and a ten kilometer run, each and every day. I also made sure to never use the AC in the summer or heater in the winter, so as to strengthen my mind. Some days it was Hell, but no matter how badly I wanted to give up, I kept on pushing. When my legs felt numb and full of lead, I kept doing squats. When my lungs burned and felt close to bursting, I kept running. When my arms felt close to snapping, I kept doing push-ups.
It was a slow process, but a year-and-a-half later, I started to notice some changes. I was bald, and I had become stronger!
Like I told Genos, if you want to get strong, you have to train like Hell to the point where your hair falls out."
For the second time in just a few months, Saitama was recounting the pain and thrill of his training process, and like the last time, he was alight with a passion and energy that the hero rarely exuded…and once again, that passion and energy was quickly diminished…
"...That's it? Are you kidding me, Saitama?!" Tatsumaki was nearly shouting at the bald man. "Don't bullshit me! How did you really get this strong?"
Slightly crestfallen that another person was doubting his story, Saitama countered, "You may not believe me, but that's really all I did."
Tatsumaki was quiet for a moment before responding, "If you didn't want to tell me how you got so strong, you could have just said so." She crossed her arms and gave him an annoyed, almost disappointed look.
Saitama sighed. "I DID tell you! I'm not trying to hide anything or lie to you, but if you don't believe me, then that's your problem…Well, yours and Genos', I guess."
Tatsumaki stared into his eyes for a solid ten seconds, and Saitama met her inquisitive look with his own inattentive one. She was searching for a trace of deceit, for any hint that may indicate he was lying or hiding something. Fubuki was much better at reading people than she was, but Tatsumaki had picked up a few things from her younger sister on how to do so.
She scoured his features, searching for a twitch, a glance, a shift, a nervous swallow, anything that may implicate him as lying…but all she found was that plain, bored expression, maybe twinged with the tiniest bit of hurt.
Her efforts having proved fruitless, she eased up, dropping the intense stare and leaning back in her chair.
"I don't think you're lying."
Saitama brightened at this. It was nice to be believed, even if that belief was coming off of an intense visual interrogation. "Oh, cool, I'm gla-"
"But," she interrupted, "I still think there's more to your strength than what you've told me. Maybe something that you're not aware of."
Saitama pondered the thought for a brief moment. "Yeah, maybe," he admitted truthfully, "But what about you?"
"...What about me?"
"Y'know, what about your powers? Did you fall into a pit of ESP or something?"
"Baldy, you can't be serious. No, I didn't fall into a pit of-" Tatsumaki stopped, noticing a small grin on Saitama's face, and a grin matching his spread across her features as well. "Ha-ha," she mocked, "very funny." However, the grin quickly fell away, replaced by a darker, almost depressed look as Tatsumaki looked down at the table to avert her eyes from his.
Contrasting sharply with her sarcastic cadence moments before, she spoke in a serious tone, "I'm not getting into that with you. It's private."
Saitama was slightly taken aback at her sudden closing-up. Given that Tatsumaki had asked him the question, he figured she would be willing to share her story as well. He thought about just dropping the topic, but he was genuinely curious as to the nature of her powers, as she had impressed him almost every time he had seen her. He thought about dropping it, given the apparent touchiness of the subject, but decided to press her just a little more; it's not like she ever eased up on him, anyway.
"Well, that's hardly fair. I mean, you literally demanded to hear mine. Look, you don't have to go in depth; you can just keep it to twenty words or less."
Tatsumaki went silent for a time, wondering whether she should be angry at Saitama for pushing, happy that he genuinely seemed to care about the topic, or a mixture of both.
She decided on both, and that she would give him a quick run-down, sparing the more…personal details.
"I was born with my powers and I've been practicing using them since I was a kid."
"Oh, so just recently then, huh?"
Making that joke was a bit of a risk; Saitama knew that. But he hoped that it may help ease the tension that had so quickly appeared.
Tatsumaki shot him a playful glare, a dry smile having replaced her dour frown. "I'm older than you, Baldy."
"Yeah, well, that figures."
"And just what do you mean by that?" Tatsumaki demanded, her normal attitude and fighting spirit revving up again.
"I just mean it makes sense that you've been training for so long. I mean, you're the strongest ESPer, right? Strongest I've ever met at least, and I've met my fair share of them. That's not a title you earn overnight; it probably took a lot of work, yeah?"
Tatsumaki felt slightly bashful at the comment, but that feeling was overshadowed by a sense of great pride, chuffed that someone was recognizing the effort she really put into becoming as strong as she was; the fact that he was inquiring further, meaning she got to brag about it, just made the moment all the better.
'"...The strongest ESPer…"' Those words bounced around her head as she beamed, a confident smile wide on her lips.
"I haven't met a more powerful ESPer either, so yes, I guess I am the strongest. Who would have guessed?" Tatsumaki answered smugly. "And to answer your other question, it did take a lot of work. Like I said, I've been training since I was a kid. But once I esca-uh, w-when I went out on my own,"
Saitama heard the slip-up, saw her smile falter, but pretended not to notice. Maybe whatever she was keeping to herself would be a topic for a later date.
"that's when I really started to pick up the pace with my training. I went from levitating rocks to levitating boulders in just a few weeks. Before I knew it, I was picking up buildings and crushing enormous monsters with my mind alone. Then Sitch came to me, asking if I wanted to join the new Hero Association that had just been established. Actually" she pointed out, "the Hero Association was established just a little while after
you started training, so while you were jogging and picking fights with purse-snatchers, I was out killing Dragon-Level monsters."
Tatsumaki felt a slight pang of guilt at putting Saitama down after he had been so supportive and encouraging of her, which was strange, as she usually had no qualms about comparing herself favorably to others. This damn man…
"I mean, you caught up quick enough, so I guess the timing of things isn't that big of a deal, but you get my point," Tatsumaki emended. "And after all those years of training, here I am, rank two of the S-Class. They only call me in when the situation's really dire. You know, end of the world type threats and such."
"Yeah, I've seen you on the news a few times. You've taken down some tough-looking foes," Saitama said, causing Tatsumaki to smile even wider. "And Genos said you and him worked well together when you took on the psycho lady."
"Do you mean Psykos, Baldy?"
Oh, yeah, her. He also said that you don't really get along with the rest of the S-Class. They push your buttons a lot?"
"Some of them, yes. But it's mostly because no one below me is deserving of being in the S-Class anyway, except for maybe King and Demon Cyborg. I'm not interested in being friendly with anyone I have to babysit. I have a job to do, and if they can't handle being in the S-Class, then they're just getting in the way; there's nothing more to it."
"Well, I can't say it's not a practical way of thinking about it," Saitama said. "Well, at least you're cool with King. He's a good guy."
"You know King personally?" Tatsumaki questioned.
"Yeah, he comes over to play video games with me pretty often."
"...I never took King for the type to play video games."
"Well, he's pretty good at them; he kicks my ass every time. 88-0…that cocky, one-finger winning son of a…" Saitama began to trail off in a micro-tantrum of muttering, cursing the man under his breath, much to the amusement of Tatsumaki.
"…Saitama…Saitama…Saitama!" the ESPer shouted his name as she bonked him on
the head with a chopstick held aloft by her psychic energy, causing him to snap out of his headspace.
Tatsumaki smirked. "That's the most worked up I've ever seen you, Baldy. King kicks your ass that bad?"
"I'll get him soon, just need a LITTLE bit more practice," Saitama responded through gritted teeth as he held just an inch of space between his fingers.
"Sure," she taunted, rolling her eyes. "So, how long have you two been playing games?"
"Hmm…I guess we started just a little while after the whole incident with the spaceship."
"Oh, so just rece-…hey, speaking of which," Tatsumaki began, her tone quickly turning more serious as she spoke slowly, her eyes focused suspiciously on the bald hero, "I never got an answer out of you from that day. What were you doing inside that ship when it crashed?"
"Oh, I was running around looking for the boss."
"What? You were just…roaming around the spaceship, unabated?"
"I mean, kinda? They had guards patrolling the ship, but they were pretty weak, so I kinda just rolled through them."
"And the boss? Did you…did you find him?"
"Oh, yeah. We had a fight on top of the ship. He was-"
Saitama was cut off by Gipo, who approached the table, two bowls of soba in hand. "Alright, two orders of soba; here you go! Enjoy!" Not wanting to interrupt the two any further, Gipo set down the bowls and headed back to the kitchen area.
"Sweet, this looks great!" Saitama said, clearly eager to dig in.
Tatsumaki wanted to hear more about the fight between him and the supposed leader of the invading aliens, but the bald man was already enthralled by the food on the table, so she decided to drop it for the time being. Plus, the soba actually looked really good, and as her stomach growled, the green-haired woman realized that she was hungrier than she had realized. The noodles were a nice shade of tan and were topped with some fish, carrot strings, and peppers, and the aroma emanating from the dish was just as enticing.
"Well, dig in," Saitama said as he grabbed his chopsticks and picked up a bite of noodles.
Tatsumaki obliged and was surprised to find that the soba, somehow, tasted even better than it looked. After swallowing her first bite, and preparing to go in for another, she said to Saitama, "You weren't kidding when you said soba was the specialty here; this is surprisingly good."
"I told you; this is one of my favorite places to eat. Found it just a while after I became a hero; been coming back ever since."
The two heroes chatted as they ate their meals, and after finishing, sat back to enjoy a little more conversation.
"Alright, now that you've tried it, what do you think you'd rate it out of ten?" Saitama asked Tatsumaki, who pondered for a moment before giving her answer.
"I'd say an 8 out of ten," she responded, shrugging her shoulders slightly.
"That's about what I rate it," Saitama added, pulling out some money to pay for the food. "I'm glad you enjoyed it, because I don't do refunds for favors."
"It wasn't a favor, it was repayment for an unjust act," Tatsumaki countered, her voice dripping with sass. "I hope you learned your lesson, Baldy. I don't want you to end up bleeding your pockets dry because you keep having to compensate me for stolen kills…Hmm, actually, on second thought, keep it up; I'd love to be treated to some more tasty restaurants." She smiled a cheeky smile as she said it.
Saitama merely stared at her for a moment, his expression blank, before a chuckle made its way forward and he shook his head, "Y'know, based on our past meetings, I didn't think I'd enjoy talking with you as much as I have. You've got a good mixture of wit and sass…mostly sass, but still a good balance. I don't get much of that rooming with Genos…"
Tatsumaki smirked. "And you're actually keeping up with it. Good to see that head's not as empty as your scalp."
"Aaand there's the sass," Saitama retorted, throwing Tatsumaki a deadpan stare as she stuck her tongue out at him.
Saitama left the money on the table and stood to leave, thanking Gipo and giving him a wave as the duo made their way to the door.
"Good to meet you, Tatsumaki! You two come by again sometime, won't ya?" Gipo called out to them.
"You know I'll be back," Saitama called back as they stepped out into the sunlight, letting the door close behind him.
"Well," Tatsumaki began, her arms casually crossed, "that wasn't as unenjoyable as I thought it was going to be."
"Yeah, turns out when you quit being so grumpy, you're actually pretty decent company," Saitama responded with a smirk.
Tatsumaki scoffed before replying, "Well, I tend to get that way when dealing with the likes of you, you baldy!"
Saitama gave her another deadpan stare as she cheekily averted her eyes, pretending not to notice.
"Alright, well, I'll leave you to it then," Saitama said as he extended a hand out towards her head, giving it a light pat. "It was good to see you again."
Tatsumaki's instinct was to swat his hand away and berate him for daring to touch her head, but like last time, she let it happen. She looked up at Saitama as he patted her head; her stomach felt tingly and her chest tightened slightly as she felt her cheeks tint red.
Saitama pulled his hand back, and as he did so, the short ESPer levitated herself up, raised her arm, and smacked it down onto his bald head. She wore a smile and her cheeks were flushed as she looked down into his eyes. "It was good to see you too, Baldy."
Rather than being annoyed, Saitama found the situation rather amusing, and gave a smile mixed with a sarcastic stare. Tatsumaki pulled her hand away and resumed her cross-armed position as she backed up slightly.
"I'll see ya around, Tats," Saitama said as he turned to walk back to his apartment in City-A.
Tatsumaki's chest tightened further. '"Tats"?' she thought to herself. "Yeah, see you around." With that, she levitated further up into the air, above the city, and began to head for City-A as well.
With nothing but the cool air rushing past her face and the buildings below flashing by, Tatsumaki felt the tightness in her chest and butterflies in her stomach dissipate. She knew that she would dwell on all that had happened later, but at that moment, only one thing was on her mind: '"Tats"…I like it.
