Writer's note: I was meant to explain this at the end of the previous chapter, but since we never actually see small towns in One Punch Man, I made my own, my headcanon being that smaller cities would have more letters in the name.

Chapter 2: Unwanted Promotion

'I'm was going to kill them'

'No...'

'That would be way too nice for them, I am going to break all their bones and make them beg for mercy for what they did'

'This was inexcusable'

As the famed S-class Hero Tatsumaki dashed through the air at hypersonic speeds, it was apparent that her mind was racing, It was also apparent that her blood pressure was

more comparable to a volcano about to explode rather than a normal human being's.

She darted through the air, leaving her usual green fairy-like trail behind her, leaving various citizens on the ground wondering what threat she was going to face off next that was demanding such astute speeds from the esper. Not that they could ever predict she was heading to the Hero Association Headquarters for the dress down of the century.

Arriving at the bottom of the building with a stupendous gust of wind following her, she blew open the doors, spreading glass everywhere and frightening everyone in a 50-meter radius.

As the dust cleared she emerged from the clouds she created and stared at the poor secretary with a look that could kill those of weak heart.

"SITCH...WHERE?!" she spoke through her teeth, unable to speak proper sentences, if the veins in her head popped it could surely take a torso off.

"ahhh... Floor 13, having a meeting at room 186-B" the poor secretary was pale, and was pretty sure she was getting brand new gray hairs from this experience, but was smart enough to know that disobeying the Tornado of Terror when she was this angry was worst than a death sentence.

The air around them seemed to explode as Tatsumaki raised hell through the stairs, reaching floor 13 and flattening any door that had the audacity to be in her way.

As the board of executives heard the incoming sound of wind and crashing structures, most were perking up, thinking some sort of hurricane was coming their way, unfortunately for them, Sitch and a few others knew well what caused that sound, something worse than a hurricane.

The entire room lit up in a sickly neon green hue, the collective mass of executives proceeded to freeze in place as Tatsumaki hovered above the table, the various important documents being thrown around haphazardly with her entry, which itself had caused the door she came through to be currently located about 15 meters away.

Sitch stood up and adjusted his tie, doing his best to look calm.

"Miss Tornado of Terror, may I be so honored to know why you are currently wreaking havoc in here?" he said, not as firmly as he wished he could.

"EXPLAIN THIS." Tatsumaki showed her phone to the poor administration, they squinted their eyes a bit to see what she was talking about, trying their damnest not to look into her stone-cold eyes.

Her phone had an open email showing the following message:

Greetings Tatsumaki,

This message comes from the Official Hero Association Management Board.

We are proud to announce that since the defeat of the dragon threat known as 'Gallant Cockatrice' at your hand, you have been raised in rankings to Class S number 1, the highest spot in the association.

We hope you will continue to serve and protect diligently as the most capable, heroic, and determined symbol of justice the Association has to present to humanity.

We applaud your efforts to climb this far and wish you the very best in your future as the very best hero.

Sincerely, The Official Hero Association Management Board.

There was an extremely noisy silence following that, most of the executives were bewildered that a hero would be this pissed off over a promotion, was the email written in some way that ticked her off?

Sitch took deep breaths, and finally spoke up "Which one of you was responsible for this decision?" Understandably, the room kept quiet " Say it, I assure you I will take responsibility for this and Tornado will not..." he coughed up "...will not hurt you."

The youngest-looking member of the board slowly crept up his hand, Tatsumaki turned to him, and no doubt a small part of his soul left his body as she did so.

"Care to... explain your decision?" Sitch stared at, who he considered the most unfortunate person in the world right now.

The executive in question struggled with the might of an actual hero to even keep his knees from buckling at the deadly stare being thrown his way "Eh... Miss.. Tatsumaki has proven herself to be... an indispensable asset to the Foundation, and... shhhhhhhe recently superseded the previous Rank 1's accomplishments in number, not to mention Tornado is vastly more popular and is still in activity..." he chose his words as carefully as possible, but it would do him no good.

"Who gives a flying fuck about popularity besides fucktards like you?!" the esper was in no mood for explanations "Blast is the best hero in this association and many of the so-called S-class heroes go fuck around while a few of us keep up work day and night, what about Metal Knight? I can count on one hand the times I've seen him on one of those tin cans he made, will he get demoted ranks as well?!" it would be the understatement of the century to say that she was unhappy about the situation.

"..bu..but no S-class has been this inactive for this long... and-and-and-and Tornado has proven a diligent and ever-present hero..." another executive, a woman this time, perked up with an answer, the poor thing didn't want one guy to take the fall for the whole group.

"Blast is busy! He's not only missing hero work, he's not talking to anyone, a lazy idiot wouldn't do that!" She was slowly getting calmer, although that was like comparing an active volcano to an acidic geyser, neither of which is nice to be close to.

Sitch was getting bolder though "And... what exactly is Blast doing?... Tatsumaki?"

The esper looked at him for a while but eventually came with a retort "I don't know. But it's gotta be damn important if he won't even talk to me! He probably is tracking down a thing to kill all monsters or... killing off an entire"

He knew poking the bear more would be most unwise, she was calm enough for a resolution "Fair enough Tornado of Terror. You've convinced us thoroughly. We'll be bumping Blast to number 1 again..."

Tornado gave him a smug infested smirk before beginning to leave.

"... for the next 3 months."

"WHAT!" maybe he should've given a bigger margin.

"3 months is plenty of time to report on at least one activity, it can be a dragon or demon threat, actually... I'll sweeten the deal... if Blast records a tiger-level threat being taken out for the next 3 months its more than enough" Sitch was many things, a tad weak and cowardly, sure, but a weak negotiator was not one of them.

She huffed and stared at him "Fine! He'll take down 5 god-level threats by the time the grace period is done" The remark earned a relieved smile from Sitch.

Blasting off, she would go far above the clouds and disappear.

"Mister Sitch..." another executive popped up from under the desk "...do you think it's a good idea to finalize this in that manner? Tornado of Terror will surely not settle when Blast comes back in 3 months..."

Sitch finally sat down in his chair, his composure seemed far better "I know that... Blast's absence is unnerving, and although I still think you all should be far more clear about any promotions in S-Class, this was bound to happen sooner or later... the truth is..." Sith chuckled a bit "...this isn't just about Blast being number 1 or not... but about Tornado's expectations of him... she needs to come to terms that it's possible he won't ever be coming back, for one reason or another..." he gave a deep sigh before getting up from his chair and starting to grab the papers that flew about everywhere.

"Come on, let's get this place clean again..." he said to the other executives.

Meanwhile, Tatsumaki didn't know what to make of things, flying through the sea, she contemplated the situation. She knew Blast surely would be able to do the task without any effort, but that wasn't the whole point of this, the hero should've done something by now, a wolf-level threat at least... but nothing?

'Where are you Blast... I'm so tired of this...'

'So tired of waiting

The esper let out a few tears.

The tears trickled down her face and into her chin

Vanishing from her face, carried by the wind, they landed in the ocean below.

Disappearing in the vastness of the blue.