Two days had passed since Shunshi and the handful of other Heroes had taken out the monster nest in Q-City.

Genos, Shunshi, and their Master were all hanging out at their bald boss' place of residence, going about their usual routines. Shunshi was preoccupied with his extreme exercises. Genos, as usual, was observing Saitama and taking notes of literally every little thing he was doing. At the same time, Saitama was just reading manga and sitting on his rear end.

The apartment owner eventually glanced over at Genos and asked him with a hint of curiosity, "So, uh, what are ya doing over there, Genos?"

Glancing up from his notebook, Genos quickly replied, "I am recording the details of your lessons and training regiment."

When Genos said this, Saitama rubbed his brow and thought in a mixture of annoyance and worry, Crap. He's raising the bar again! I can't think of a single thing I can possibly teach this guy. I feel bad like I'm scamming him or something. Come on, think! Just make up some techniques or a spiritual theory or... something...! Argh! Strength training is all I got, and he won't be satisfied by that like Shunshi is. The dude's a cyborg!

As Saitama struggled internally, Shunshi was curious about what Genos was writing down. As such, he got up from his one-handed push-ups, looked over his Senpai's shoulder, and took a peak and his notebook. However, he found himself both confused and surprised when all he saw were highly detailed notes on how Saitama would sit while reading manga.

Realizing right away how pointless the notes his Senpai was taking down were, Shunshi thought with a substantial amount of concern, I... I'm starting to worry that Genos-Senpai is either far too analytical or... just a little bit crazy.

While Shunshi grew worried for his Senpai's mental state and Saitama desperately tried to think of a training method for Genos, the young cyborg himself asked, "By the way. During the seminar, they said that if you are a C-Class Hero and you have no activity for a week, then your name will be removed from the Hero registry. Will you be alright, Master?"

"I wouldn't worry, Senpai. With how great of a Hero Saitama-Sensei is, I'm sure he's already done plenty of Hero work in his free time," Shunshi chimed in with some friendly reassurance.

After Genos and Shunshi had spoken, a look of horror grew on Saitama's face as he gasped and climbed onto his coffee table in a panic.

"Seriously, they said that?!" The bald Hero asked his students.

Shunshi now looked worried as well and replied to his Master, "Um... Yes, Sensei. It was one of the first things they told us about..."

When Saitama had this re-explained to him, the bald Hero responded in a perplexed tone, "But I was watching the news all week, and there was nothing to act on! How would they expect me to do any Hero work if there's nothing on the news!?"

"The news only reports major incidents, like natural disasters, terrorism, and dangerous monsters. You always battle the most powerful enemies, so you are probably not aware of this, but C-Class Heroes mostly take care of purse-snatchers, robberies, and random attackers. With C-Class being so full of Heroes, they must actively look for cases to survive. Many get discouraged and change carriers. Much in the way a salesman makes cold calls, nothing will come your way without legwork," Genos explained in an unnerved tone.

Gaining a much more intense demeanor, Saitama quickly stood up and shouted, "This is no time to be reading manga!"

When Saitama started putting on his Hero costume, Shunshi grabbed and opened the backpack that carried his suit, while Genos asked with a hint of excitement, "Are we leaving?"

Saitama replied to this dismissively while continuing to put on his outfit, "I am. You two stay here! Don't you get it?! If I'm working with an S-Class Hero and an A-Class Hero like you guys, then a C-Class Hero like me won't get any credit!"

Shunshi looked disappointed by Saitama's refusal of their company but understood his Master's reasoning. So, he zipped his backpack up and set it back down on the floor before resuming his workouts.

On the other hand, Genos, not one to take no for an answer, argued, "But as your disciple-."

Before the cyborg could finish complaining, Saitama gained a look of realization.

While putting on his left hand's glove, Saitama explained the following in a sagely tone, "Genos, from the very beginning, my intense desire to be a Hero is what led me down the path of strength training. That's how I made it this far. For you, perhaps things will change if you aim higher as a Hero. To be more than what you are now... Frankly speaking, unlike Shunshi, you're a cyborg, so training your body would be useless. Instead, a change in mindset may lead you to greater strength."

Shunshi had finished his own training and started Saitama's regiment but found himself distracted in awe at his teacher's speech to Genos.

Oh my God! I never thought of becoming stronger like that... Master truly is amazing! Shunshi thought to himself in amazement.

At the same time, within Saitama's thoughts, Damn, listen to me. I'm just making all this crap up!

Continuing, Saitama dramatically stated to Genos, "Sooo... In other words, it's not about having raw power or technique. Not at all. It's about training your mind! You must first fight your way through the professional Hero industry. Aim to break into the top ten of the S-Class Heroes. That will be your goal for the time being!"

Genos had a closed-off and analytical look on his face after listening to this. Eventually, he opened his eyes and responded with determination, "I understand. I will try!"

While walking towards the door, Saitama thought in an incredibly relieved tone, He totally bought it! Sweetness!

While quickly blowing through one hundred regular sit-ups, Shunshi thought as he watched Saitama walk towards the door, I don't know how many years of intense training it will take me to reach a goal like that, Sensei, but I promise you I'll make it to S-Class and do the same as Senpai one day!


After making his way into the city, Saitama spent the rest of that day sprinting throughout the streets. His mad dash even took him into the countryside in search of evil to fight. Unfortunately for him, there were no criminals to catch or monsters to fight that day. The whole city was entirely quiet.

While catching his breath from all of his running, Saitama spoke to himself in despair, "I give up... Just one more day left..."

He then stood up straight and calmly said, "Guess I'll just head home then."

Saitama began doing just that, as a woman held her small dog back while it barked at the yellow-clad man with a white cape.

Thinking to himself in a content tone as he looked at the road in front of him, Saitama concluded, "I'll just leave tomorrow's problems to tomorrow's me."


When Saitama got back to his place, he saw Genos and Shunshi sitting next to one another at his coffee table, the latter of whom was wearing his armor, excluding the helmet. Genos seemed to be trying to explain his notes to his junior, but every word out of his mouth only served to confuse Shunshi further.

Deciding to make his presence known, Saitama approached his disciples and asked with a small amount of interest, "Hey, guys. What have you two been up to today?"

Almost gaining a happy expression on his face when he saw his teacher, Genos set his notebook down and answered, "Hello, Sensei. Currently, Shunshi has asked me to explain the notes that I had written down about you to him. However, before this, and a little while after you had left, Shunshi went out to perform Hero work. While he was gone, I stayed here and took care of chores around the apartment."

"Oh, thanks for that, man," Saitama said with a hint of gratitude.

After that, Saitama grabbed a glass of water from the kitchen. As he wetted his whistle, the overpowered C-Class Hero looked at Shunshi inquisitively as he drank from a cup of tea.

A smirk formed on the bald Hero's face as he asked the weaker of his two disciples, "So, you went out to do some Hero work too?"

Shunshi quickly snapped to attention, swallowed his tea as fast as he could, almost choking on it in the process, and answered, "Yes, Sensei. I try to do some heroics every day. I do take some days off, though, of course."

Saitama continued with his smirk and asked further, "Pretty slow day, though, today, am I right?"

The younger Hero thought about this for a second before responding, "Yeah, I guess so. I went to W-City today, and I was only able to find one guy trying to mug a person, but I put a stop to that pretty quickly. I mean, I guess it's good that most people got to enjoy a peaceful day."

Almost unable to believe what he'd just heard, Saitama quickly rushed up to Shunshi and asked him, "Wait! You seriously found a bad guy to fight!?"

Shrinking back into his cloak, Shunshi replied meekly, "Yes, Master... Did I do something wrong?"

Lightly punching himself in the head out of frustration, Saitama glared at the floor and replied to his frightened student, "I couldn't find any bad guys or monsters today!"

Both Shunshi and Genos looked genuinely surprised when they heard Saitama say this, the consequences of the situation dawning on them.

Genos put his hand on his chin and said in a concerned tone, "That means you only have until tomorrow to find a crime or monster to stop, Sensei..."

Quickly thinking of something he could do to help, Shunshi shot up from the floor and said to his Master, "I could give you some of the credit for my work, Sensei! If you're given even just a little credit, then you'll make it through this week. Since I'm an A-Class Hero, I don't have a weekly amount of work that I actually need to complete. Perfect, right?"

Saitama looked shocked to hear this and thought in an amazed tone, Holy crap! Can he really do that?! Yeah, that would make things a lot easier... No.

After letting out a frustrated sigh, Saitama responded to Shunshi's offer, "No. It's fine. I'll figure something out on my own. Besides, that would be like cheating, and I don't really like taking the easy way out of things... when it comes to being a Hero, that is."

Amazed with the amount of maturity Saitama just displayed, Shunshi grew an embarrassed look and replied in a humiliated tone, "Oh... right. What was I thinking...? I'm gonna head home now, okay?"

As he began to wind down, Saitama stretched out his arm and replied with his standard emotionlessness, "Yeah, alright. I'm gonna hit the hay pretty soon anyways."

Genos, who had just finished writing down Saitama's lesson about not cheating, quickly closed his notebook and said attentively, "I shall go to sleep now as well." After saying that, Genos went outside to perform some daily maintenance on himself.

Looking a bit confused, Shunshi tapped on Saitama's shoulder and whispered to him, "Does he always go to bed at the exact same time as you, Master?"

As sounds of mechanical maintenance came from outside the door, Saitama answered, "Er... Yes..."

"Senpai sure is an odd one," Shunshi commented, still whispering.

Smirking at this, Saitama retorted with a slight amount of humor in his voice, "Says the guy who can set himself on fire and throw balls of exploding light."

Thinking this over for a second, Shunshi started laughing at himself while saying, "Ha. I guess you're right, Sensei. We're just a trio of weirdos, I suppose. Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

After Shunshi left, Saitama asked himself, "Wait... Trio? Does he mean me? How am I a weirdo?"


The following day, Saitama was back out in the city, panicking while frantically looking for any villains or monsters to stop.

"Oooooh. It's quite out today too! There's nothing today, nothing! I'm gonna lose my registration. How does Shunshi ever manage to find bad guys?!" Saitama audibly panicked.

Before Saitama could continue fretting over his situation, a kunai came flying at him. As would be expected, Saitama effortlessly caught the bladed shovel between his fingers before it had any chance of hitting him. Looking in the direction of the thrown weapon, the C-Class Hero found the one who'd attacked him, Speed-O-Sound Sonic.

"Hold up. I've run into you before. What was your name again...? Seed On The Ground... no... Lost And Found...? Oh, Jack-O-Lantern Panic!" Saitama exclaimed as he did his best to take the situation seriously.

Annoyed, Sonic immediately corrected his rival, "Speed-O-Sound Sonic. I finally found you, Saitama. Today is the day we settle our-"

Saitama quickly cut off Sonic's monologue and told him sincerely, "Hey, sorry. I'm busy right now. See you around, okay?" The bald Hero then turned around and started walking away.

His fury having reached a boiling point, Sonic shouted viciously, "Insolent worm!" He followed this up by swiftly pulling out his sword and continuing, "Think you can escape from me!?"

Sonic rushed at Saitama as fast as his superhuman legs would allow and swung his sword at his enemy's face as soon as he got within range. However, the invincible Hero just bit the blade in half before it could hit him, not that it would have done any damage either way.

The S-Class criminal was shocked to see the metal of his blade shatter like it did, thinking in utter confusion, What? I couldn't even see what just happened. His face should have been cut open, but instead, the blade...

Not wanting to deal with another person pestering for his attention, Saitama explained to Sonic, "I told you... I'm busy, plus I'm pissed, so anyone who gets in my way..." The bald Hero paused for a split second. In that split second, anyone who had a sense of self-preservation could feel a menacing aura coming from Saitama as he finished his sentence, "Gets punched."

Sonic could feel Saitama's killer instincts begin to leak out. The sheer pressure of it made the ninja gasped out with a small amount of fear.

Before Saitama could get Sonic to leave, a woman pointed at them and exclaimed, "That's the guy! He's very, very dangerous, a public nuisance. Please, stop him!"

The large, muscular man with Tiger-styled clothing and hair who was accompanying this woman flexed his arms and asked rhetorically, "Oh, is that so? You're the offender, huh? Well, the Tanktop Tiger is here to take care of you!"

"A Hero?" Saitama thought as he looked at this large man.

He then turned back to Sonic, gave him a goofy smile, and declared condescendingly, "Bad news, Sonic! Looks like they think you're some kind of criminal. Maybe being thrown in a jail cell will cool off that hot hea-."

Before he could finish his sentence, Tanktop Tiger put his hand on top of the bald man's scalp and aggressively told him, "She means you, cue-ball."

Hearing these words, Saitama's face shifted into a combination of annoyance, anger, and confusion, only able to reply, "Huh?!"

The woman that brought Tanktop Tiger pointed at Saitama and accused him, "He's been running around town since yesterday morning with this scary look on his face!"

"Hey, wait a minute! I'm a Hero too!" Saitama exclaimed to defend himself.

Unconvinced, Tanktop Tiger folded his arms and questioned the man he was towering over, "You are, huh? I've never heard of a Hero like you."

Growing a bit angrier now, Saitama replied, "So what?! I just started, okay!?"

By now, a murmuring crowd had started forming around Saitama, Sonic, and the tanktop Hero.

Tanktop Tiger didn't seem at all concerned with Saitama's Hero status, as he explained dismissively, "In any case, you're causing problems around here for everyone." This criticism only caused Saitama to grow even more nervous and annoyed.

The tanktopper continued, "If you're really a Hero, then don't go around frightening people. You're hurting all the other Heroes' reputations."

As they looked at the man dressed in a tiger-patterned shirt, some of the people in the crowd started speaking, "Hey, isn't that Tanktop Tiger over there?" Another man exclaimed, "I can't believe it. It is Tanktop Tiger!" One woman in the crowd shouted, "No way!" As one other person commented in admiration, "He's the real deal!"

After getting all of this praise, Tanktop Tiger rubbed his nose in arrogance while commenting, "Even C-Class Heroes get recognized... Well, if they're in the top ten, anyway."

He then refocused his attention on Saitama and asked him smugly, "So, how about it, new guy? You wanna fight...?" He then switched to a whisper before continuing, "And make me look good in the process?"

Before Saitama could give this arrogant Hero a piece of his mind, the tanktopper got hit in his side by exploding shurikens, knocking him out cold and severely injuring him.

When the crowd saw their mighty Hero fall to the ground, one woman shrieked in panic, while a man shouted in fear, "Tanktop Tiger!"

Another frightened person asked, "Is this really happening...?"

Saitama, while looking at the unconscious Tanktop Tiger, asked Sonic in his usual emotionless tone, "What was that for, Sonic?"

Giving off a small but very arrogant grin, Sonic explained, "He was interfering, so I tucked him in for a nap."

The crowd that had gathered was now running away, with one man shouting, "Somebody call a Hero now! Quick!"

After everyone had left, Sonic excitedly told the bald C-Class Hero, "Interesting, though. So you, too, have become one of these worthless association Heroes? Then all I have to do... is create a situation where you're forced to fight me, Saitama the Hero!"

The high-speed ninja suddenly jumped into the air and tossed several more of his exploding shurikens while shouting, "Hail of Carnage!"

At first, these shurikens seemed to be headed towards a prepared Saitama. However, they all suddenly changed their paths and collided with the surrounding buildings, causing huge chunks of rubble to start falling towards the people below.

When Saitama realized what Sonic was doing, he shouted at him in annoyance, "Hey, stop it!"

Ignoring Saitama's plea, Sonic shouted, "Saitama, come forth and fight me! You're a Hero! Can you prevent their deaths?!"

Among all the destruction, there was a young boy, no older than seven or eight, crying for his dad as one of the explosions sent a car flying at him. Before the vehicle could collide with the child, Saitama got between the kid and the car, raising his arm so that the airborne vehicle would hit his limb instead of the little boy.

Saitama, now looking angrier than he had been for a long time, asked himself as the kid looked on in a combination of fear and amazement, "Dammit all! Can't everyone just let me do my job?!"

After he put the car down, Saitama exclaimed, "I don't have time for this crap! I gotta find a bad guy to take down." He then listened to Sonic's mad laughter and looked at the ninja as he was in the air and throwing exploding shurikens at everything in sight.

As he watched this weirdo wrack up more and more property damage, Saitama mumbled to himself, "A bad guy..."

Sonic was wearing his child-like smile once again as he, metaphorically, asked his rival, "What's wrong, not coming? Fine! Then I'll go to you!"

Without warning, Saitama suddenly appeared behind the airborne ninja and calmly told him, "I'm right here."

Before Sonic could even register where Saitama had maneuvered, he got karate-chopped in his back. The force of the attack smashed Sonic into the ground, and K.O'd him in an instant.

Saitama landed next to the hole shaped like a critically injured assassin and pondered to himself, "I wonder if taking this guy out will count as work."


Meanwhile, back at Saitama's place, his two students were going about their day.

Genos was on his laptop, and Shunshi, who was once again in his Hero armor, was about to go out for another patrol when he asked Genos, "Hey, Senpai. Do you want to come on a patrol with me?"

With a bit of annoyance on his face, Genos looked up from his laptop and asked his junior, "Why would I want to do that?"

Due to Genos' somewhat hostile response, Shunshi thought he had somehow overstepped his boundaries, so he replied meekly, "I... I just thought you might be interested in going... You know... Because of Master's new goal for you...?"

These words seemingly resonated with the cyborg as he closed his laptop and responded more respectfully than before, "I see your point. I think I will accompany you after all."

Smiling underneath his helmet, Shunshi exclaimed, "Awesome! Let's go, Senpai! Which city do you want to patrol today?"

Genos thought this over for a split second before answering, "I think I would like to go to N-City today."

At that, Shunshi shrugged in agreement and asked Genos as he held the door open for him, "If you don't mind me asking, Senpai, is there any reason, in particular, you want to go to that city?"

As he walked out the door, Genos answered, "Nothing all that complex. I simply like the shape of the letter N."

Flinching in surprise, Shunshi was understandably taken off guard by Genos' simple reasoning for wanting to go to this city. But, out of respect for his Senpai, he didn't argue about it with the young cyborg.


An hour or so later, the two high-ranking Heroes were running around the streets of N-City at superhuman speeds.

Some people tried to stop them for autographs and the like. Shunshi didn't want to be rude, but whenever they got asked to stop during their patrol, Genos replied, "No. I need to defeat at least one evil being by the end of today."

After searching the city for a while longer, Genos and Shunshi were growing annoyed at the lack of activity. It was at that time, though, when a pick-up truck with a gash cut out of it was suddenly sent flying in their direction. Shunshi instinctively jumped out of the way of the vehicle, but Genos just used an incineration blast to melt it before it could reach him.

Once all the slag finished raining down, Shunshi rushed back over to Genos' side and exclaimed, "Nice one, Senpai."

Genos didn't acknowledge Shunshi's praise. Instead, he began to search for the source of whatever had just thrown an automobile at himself and his junior.

Suddenly, a frightened and scuffed-up teenage girl came running down the street and, as soon as she saw Genos, rushed up to him and asked in terror, "Are you that new S-Class Hero?!"

Genos began to scan this girl for injuries as he replied coldly, "I am, and this is my junior, Shunshi. He is an A-Class Hero if I remember correctly."

After being introduced, Shunshi gave a friendly wave to the frightened girl, but she just shrieked a bit at the sight of his intimating costume. However, this didn't seem to bother him. In fact, he seemed to have expected such a reaction.

Genos quickly regained the young girl's attention when he asked demanded from her, "Tell us. What do you need?"

The girl quickly recomposed herself, pointed down the street, and explained to the blond cyborg, "There's some monster over there! Please stop it! It's killed a few people already!" When Genos heard this, his robot arms lit up with molten heat.

Without even turning to look at him, Genos ordered Shunshi, "Follow me, Shunshi!" He, then, took off in the direction that the young girl pointed by launching himself with blasts of fire.

Before taking off to help Genos, Shunshi took a second to reassure the girl, "Don't worry, Miss. Genos and I will handle this monster in no time and keep it from hurting anyone else." He then took off as fast as he could as well.

After the two high-ranking Heroes had left to fight the monsters, the teenage girl thought to herself in a seduced tone, Wow, that Genos guy is even hotter in person than he was in his profile picture. I think he might've even liked me... Why does he have to hang around with such a scary guy, though?

Quickly catching up to Genos, Shunshi saw he had already engaged in a fight with some sort of humanoid monster.

It had long brown hair that covered every part of its body, except for its eyes and mouth, as well as razor blades for fingers. Around the monster's feet were human corpses. Some people had been cut up with deep wounds, while the bodies of others were punctured with long, sharp hairs.

While continuing to slash at Genos with its claws, the hairy monster declared, "I was always harrier than all of my peers, and whenever I tried to shave it off, it just came back the next day even harrier than before! The torture of having such a horrible curse allowed evil to take form in me and twist my body into the Demon-Level monster you see before you! The great Shaving Lord! Now everyone will know my pain, even if it kills them!"

Shunshi quickly rushed in to help Genos by spin-kicking the monster in the back of its head, knocking it a few feet away.

However, it quickly recovered from the attack, looked at this new addition to the fight, and exclaimed smugly, "Oh, great! Now there's two Heroes here. Maybe if I can kill both of you and destroy this city, I'll be moved up to a Dragon-Level threat!"

As the Shaving Lord tried to refocus itself on the fight, Genos suddenly appeared next to it and stated in a bloodthirsty tone, "It is doubtful that you will live long enough to destroy this city or harm anyone else."

Before the monster could react to the blonde cyborg, it got punched in the face by a robotic fist propelled with miniature jet engines. As it was sent flying backward, Shunshi jumped into the strange creature's path and punched the monster in its stomach, smashing it into the ground, destroying the pavement beneath them in the process.

As it was in the sidewalk, the monster used its superhuman strength to push Shunshi away. It then flung itself out of the earth and into the air. Once the Shaving Lord landed, it performed backflips to gain some distance between itself and the Heroes pummeling it.

Crap! What kind of Heroes are these guys...?! Wait a second! Is that blond kid that new S-Class Hero I heard about?! Who's the other guy, though? I think I might've heard some murmurs about a new A-Class Hero or something. An S-Class Hero brought an A-Class Hero with him as backup?! Curse my luck! I know my hair could probably protect me, but maybe I should just run away from them...? The monster thought to itself as it finished flipping back.

While the monster was thinking, Genos appeared behind the Shaving Lord once again. This forced the monster to realize that its opponents were far too fast for it to have any hope of escaping.

Continuing with his assault on this monster, Genos jumped well above its head before shooting a pillar of flames down at it. Surprisingly, this attack didn't reduce Shaving Lord to ashes. Instead, the blast merely planted the Shaving Lord back into the ground, as its hair continuously grew back and protected its body from being burned.

Once the fire stopped, Shaving Lord reverse-somersaulted to its feet.

The monster could see the bewilderment on the cyborg's face, so it explained, "My hair regrows so quickly and is so durable that it acts like an endless shield, you fool-!"

Before it could finish talking, Shunshi threw just under a dozen Light Balls into the back of the monster's head, burning up some more hair. Unfortunately, all of the hair grew back once more, but the force from the attack did knock Shaving Lord onto its face. With that, Shaving Lord was now visibly more annoyed than afraid of these Heroes.

Quickly jumping to its feet, the monster turned to face Shunshi and shot out hundreds of the super-strong hairs from its arm at the A-Class Hero. Shunshi managed to dodge most of the hairs by jumping out of the way, but a few dozen of them still managed to hit his torso. These hairs pierced clean through his body and armor, causing dozens of blood trickles to form on his skin.

Despite his wounds, Shunshi's posture didn't falter as he glared at the monster from underneath his helmet. At the same time, Shaving Lord started to grin at the injured Hero.

Just as Shaving Lord was about to attack again, it got hit from behind by an even larger blast of fire from a now angrier-looking Genos. Genos had been keeping himself propelled in the air since his last attack but now landed back on the ground while Shaving Lord's body hair regrew.

"Do not harm my Junior!" Genos declared furiously.

Before Shaving Lord could counterattack, Genos activated the jets on his back and started circling around the Demon while pelting it with a barrage of incineration blasts. The blond cyborg was attempting to burn off all of the monster's super-durable hairs and make an opening to finish the creature off.

While Genos circled the Shaving Lord, it repeatedly tried to hit him with its hairs. Fortunately, Genos' movements were far too quick, as none of the Shaving Lord's needle-like hairs came close to touching him.

As Genos' assault continued, he was slowly but successfully scorching away all the hair, making Shaving Lord desperate now that its shield was vanishing.

Suddenly, Shaving Lord stopped trying to aim its hairs, as it raised its arms into the air and shouted, "Storm Of Needles!" As soon as it said that, all the hairs on the monster's body shot out in all directions at once, piercing both Genos and Shunshi with the thin, razor-sharp projectiles.

Genos got hit by nearly a thousand of these hairs, but his cyborg body protected him from any lethal damage. Unfortunately, many of the hairs got lodged in-between his mechanical joints, damaging many of his interlocking components and crippling his mobility.

Shaving Lord was laughing maniacally at its immobile opponent while arrogantly mocking, "Haha! As soon as my hair grows back, I'll finish you off... and..." The monster stopped talking when it felt a scalding sensation approaching from behind.

Shunshi's white flames had burned up all the hairs he'd been pierced with, evident by the large amount of blood leaking through his armor, and was now rushing at Shaving Lord. Before the monster could react, the burning Hero clawed a deep gash into the monster's back.

Shaving Lord was quick to turn around after receiving this wound, and, desperate to buy time for its hairs to regrow, the beast attempted to stab at Shunshi's stomach with its razor-blade fingers. Fortunately, Shunshi mostly sidestepped the attack. Unfortunately, the blades did graze the young man's waist, cutting through his armor and drawing forth even more blood.

Ignoring this new wound, the A-Class Hero grabbed onto the monster's extended arm and used his free hand to karate-chop the upper half of the limb, taking it off in the process. The pain from this caused the Shaving Lord to scream in agony as its arm bled profusely,

Just as its hairs started to grow back, Shunshi grabbed the monster by its throat and exclaimed viciously, "Looks like you aren't so tough without all that hair!" The Hero, then, formed one more Light Ball in his free hand and shoved it into the Demon's gasping mouth. In the next instant, the Shaving Lord's head and neck blew apart.

With the monster dead, Shunshi started shuffling over to Genos to help his Senpai stand up straight. However, Shunshi stumbled as he walked. The sheer amount of blood loss he'd gone through had disoriented him.

As Shunshi used his flame aura to burn away all the hairs that were jamming up Genos joints, the cyborg in question commented, "You did a better job than I thought you would have done against a monster of that level... "

In an attempt to get more oxygen and look at Genos directly, Shunshi took off his helmet, smiled, and replied, "Thank you, Senpai. But I never could've beaten that freak if it hadn't shot off all of its hair like a moron. I just got lucky, is all. You could've probably taken it down on your own if you didn't have to worry about me during the fight."

Genos thought about this as the smiling Shunshi, despite his own injuries, helped his cyborg Senpai walk, Shunshi is not wrong about not being strong enough to have defeated that monster on his own. However, I think he is underestimating his own power. According to my data, his combat abilities seem to have more than doubled since we first met... It seems that Master's training is helping him to improve his overall power much faster than I could have predicted.


The yellow-eyed cyborg gave Shunshi directions to Dr. Stench's lab so he could be repaired. Shunshi's walk straightened out on the way there, his enhanced healing already having closed his minor wounds and replenished most of his lost blood.

Once they arrived at the facility in the middle of a forest, Genos had Shunshi leave him at the door, insisting that his junior should leave to fill out their battle report to the Hero Association. In truth, Genos did not yet trust Shunshi enough to let him meet Dr. Stench.

Seeing his Senpai's reason as sound, Shunshi made his way to the closest Hero Association building and filed out a report for his and Genos' victory over the Shaving Lord. Despite all the worried looks and comments he received from the staff regarding his damaged and blood-covered suit, Shunshi insisted that he would not need a hospital stay. The humble, or possibly stupid, Hero then made his way back home so that his Kie could fully heal him as he rested in bed.


The next day, Genos had been repaired and was on his way back from running an errand for Saitama when he came across Shunshi, in civilian clothes, walking among the other people in this shopping district.

To both the cyborg's and martial artist's surprise, Shunshi already managed to fully recover from the damage he'd taken in the fight against the Shaving Lord and seemed perfectly healthy once more.

Genos approached his junior, waving hello while greeting him with a surprisingly friendly tone, "I thought that it would have taken you longer to heal from the injuries that you received during our battle yesterday."

Enjoying his friend's uncharacteristically kinder tone, Shunshi smiled and replied, "Oh, hey, Genos-Senpai. It's cool, right? My Kie normally takes at least two or three days to heal me from stuff like that. I guess those injuries must've not been so bad after all."

In response, Genos put his hand to his chin inquisitively.

Since he just now noticed that Shunshi wasn't wearing his armor, Genos asked him, "Is there a reason that you are not in your armor? You usually wear it whenever you go out in public."

Shunshi glanced down at his civilian garb for a second before explaining, "Well, for one thing, it's my self-appointed day off. The second thing is that Sensei said it's stupid for someone to wear their Hero costume all the time."

Genos nodded his head in understanding of their Master's wisdom before telling Shunshi, "I am heading back to mine and Master's home now. If you are in good health, then I think you should come with me."

In response, Shunshi raised his fist excitedly and answered, "I'd never say no to paying Saitama-Sensei a visit. But... Why do you need me there? Is something wrong?"

While pointing at Shunshi in an acquisitory tone, Genos told him, "What is wrong is that you are slacking off here. I believe Sensei informed us that his training must be done every single day. During periods where you are too injured, it cannot be helped, but you seem fine as of now. I will not have you slacking off and ruining our Master's good name."

"Oh, shoot! You're right! I can't believe I forgot. Let's go!" The older junior exclaimed right before racing off.


When the two young Heroes arrived at their Master's home, they noticed a box full of kombu sitting outside the door as Genos unlocked said door and let himself and Shunshi inside. The two of them found Saitama in the kitchen, boiling some of the kombu in a pot.

Saitama smiled slightly at the sight of two and said, "Hey, guys... So, Shunshi. You're kinda late coming in for your workout today. Any reason why?"

In his head, Saitama thought in a mixture of annoyance and hope, Maybe he finally realized he can just workout at home instead of always coming here to do it...

Shunshi replied to his teacher's question with a smile, "Oh, my apologies for running late, Saitama-Sensei. I was slacking off when Genos-Senpai found me and reminded me to swing by. I need to do at least do your training regiment. You did say that I have to do it every single day after all. Admittedly though, I also came by just to visit you and Genos-Senpai."

Saitama shrugged in acceptance of this and calmly spoke while continuing to focus on preparing the kombu, "Alright. I don't really mind your company all that much anyway... When you're not sweating all over my house, that is." Saitama had made sure that he said that last sentence under his breath.

Genos turned everyone's attention back to the food that Saitama was preparing by saying, "Master, we noticed a large amount of kombu by the front door."

In a pleased tone, Saitama explained, "Oh, yeah. Funny story, I... uh... just happened to come across a really great deal for the stuff."

Not one to concern himself with these types of things, Shunshi went into the living room to get Saitama's training regiment out of the way so that he could properly enjoy the rest of the evening.

As Shunshi worked out, Genos approached Saitama and examined the pot of kombu before commenting, "Some people say that kombu is good for growing hair, but there is little scientific proof that supports this notion, and their real benefits are yet to be confirmed."

Saitama's expression shifted into an entirely stone-cold one at this as Genos continued, "I did some research of my own, so I am sure, Master. For example. According to this website-."

Saitama quickly cut Genos off by shouting, "No one said anything about hair!"

The rest of that day was fairly uneventful but relaxing. As the day came and went, time brought on the next day's activities.


At Saitama's place, Genos was examining the Hero Association website, Saitama was enjoying a mug of tea while reading the newspaper, and Shunshi was near the end of his daily workout regiment. As such, he was about to get ready to go on patrol.

All of a sudden, Genos looked up from his computer and told Saitama, "By the way, Sensei. I filled in those strange holes in front of the house."

Saitama turned away from his newspaper, looked at Genos with his typical emotionless expression, and said, "Really? Kay, thanks."

Genos then added a bit of more good news by informing Saitama, "Also, your Hero rank has gone up from the near-last place, 388th, to 342nd. Congratulations."

When he heard that his Master had received a well-deserved promotion, Shunshi looked up from his push-ups and said to Saitama, "Great job, Sensei! That's a pretty huge promotion for just a single day of work."

Saitama gave Shunshi a look that had the smallest amount of surprise behind it as he asked, "It is? Huh, that's cool... Wait, was it cause of that Panic guy? Guess turning him into the cops was a pretty good way to boost my ranking. Sweet."

After reading his newspaper for a few more seconds, Saitama decided to start a conversation with Genos and Shunshi out of sheer boredom, "So, uh... I think it's been about a week now. What work have you guys done?"

Shunshi quickly stopped his workout and answered Saitama with the voice of a child seeking approval, "I've been keeping myself super busy, Sensei! I've captured ten criminals, and I defeated ten monsters, one of them was alongside Senpai, though. Couldn't have won without him, in all honesty. The last time I checked, I was ranked number 13 out of 39 in A-Class."

Deciding to throw in a comment, Genos calmly interjected, "Well, it seems that your constant work has not gone to waste. According to the Hero Association website, you are now ranked as number 10 in A-Class, not number 13. This seems due in part to a lack of work at the end of most other highly ranked Heroes."

Looking completely and utterly shocked by this news, Shunshi shouted in astonishment, "Holy crap! I'm in the top ten of A-Class!? I never dared to dream of something so amazing!"

As Shunshi struggled to keep himself from bouncing off the walls in excitement, Saitama had a look on his face that was pretty close to embarrassment when he heard how much more work Shunshi had put in compared to him. This was despite his student not even having a weekly quota to complete.

After recomposing himself, Saitama addressed his second disciple in a slightly happy yet awkward tone of voice, "Wow... I, uh... Good work, dude."

Shunshi's eyes seemed to glimmer when Saitama said this, as he excitedly responded, "Thank you, Master! I won't let your praise go to waste! I'll put in twice as much work from now on!"

Wanting to answer his Sensei's question, Genos captured Saitama's attention with a small cough before telling him, "As for me, aside from the monster that I defeated alongside Shunshi, I have not done any Hero work as of yet. As such, I am still only ranked as number 17 in S-Class. I promise that I will enhance my efforts in moving up the ranks in the Hero Association. I will continue to hunt monsters that are as powerful as the one that we defeated, if not stronger. If I work at that pace, then I suspect I will raise my rank within a month."

Saitama seemed to have been less stunned by this and spoke to his top student with his usual tone, but with a hint of approval mixed into it, "I've only caught one crook so far, so taking down a monster is a bit more impressive. Still, I guess you're just gonna have to train some more."

The bald Hero then took a sip from his mug of tea, but Genos continued to say, "Of course, Sensei. However, in terms of popularity rankings voted on by the public, I am number six. Also, Shunshi is ranked as nine in popularity amongst A-Class Heroes, and he received sixteenth place overall."

When he heard this, Saitama spit out the tea in his mouth, most of which landed on Shunshi, who had fortunately taken his shirt off for his workout. The spit and tea had also managed to create a small rainbow in the process of soaking the shirtless Hero.

Saitama, not noticing what he did to Shunshi despite his student's yelp of surprise, slammed his hands onto his table and shouted, "Why?!"

Genos calmly responded to this by reading some comments that were underneath his Hero Association profile, "'A nineteen-year-old genius who made his debut in S-Class.' 'He's fantastic.' 'He's so handsome.' 'Love how he refuses to do media interviews.' 'He's definitely in the top ten hottest Heroes.' Those kinds of comments are what I am receiving."

After hearing Genos read so many people praise him, Saitama commented in a baffled tone, "Good lord. How are you not embarrassed to read those out loud?"

Genos replied to this question in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, "Quite simple. These are based on impressions from my photo. They are not true evaluations of me, and I think nothing of them."

Saitama's awkward expression had returned ten times more powerfully now, as he responded, "Oh, okay..."

Shunshi, for some strange reason, had grabbed a roll of paper towels to wipe himself and the floor off during Genos' explanation.

Once Genos was done, Shunshi tapped on Saitama's shoulder and asked him in an embarrassed tone, "Saitama-Sensei... May I use your shower?"

Immediately turning around at this baffling question, Saitama responded, "What? No! Why would you need to use my shower?"

As he stood there, shirtless and with a sticky shine, Shunshi answered his teacher, "Well, after you spit your tea on me, I tried to clean it up with paper towels, but now I'm all sticky... Don't worry, Master. I'll go home to take care of it."

Saitama grew a look of shame when he realized what he'd done and yelled to Shunshi just as he was about to start walking away, "Wait, hold on! Go ahead and use my shower... I'm sorry about that, man."

Smiling weakly, Shunshi bowed his head and replied with a forced tone of calmness, "Thank you, Sensei. I promise I'll be done quickly... And it's no problem, really." He then went into his Master's bathroom in order to clean himself off.

Laying down on the floor, Saitama rubbed his temples and asked in embarrassment, "Oh man, I can't believe I did that. So stupid... How didn't either of us notice that, Genos?!"

Looking almost confused, Genos replied in an unmoved tone of voice, "I did notice it, Sensei. I assumed you were giving him some sort of new training."

After giving Genos a worried look, Saitama wondered, Does this guy think everything I do is some kind of training...? Maybe I didn't even need to make up all that nonsense about mindsets or whatever I said...

As Saitama pondered Genos' mental stability, the young man continued to scroll through his computer's screen before saying, "Speaking of Shunshi, some comments about him include the following. 'The first new A-Class Hero in months, and a rookie no less, that's impressive.' 'I love how intimidating his costume is. Any monster that sees him coming is gonna crap their pants.' 'I think he looks too scary to be a Hero.' 'I heard he's been doing Hero work every day since he joined. That's some dedication.' 'He saved me from a mugger. He's a true Hero!' Another one is, 'He might be really cute underneath his-.'"

Fed up with all the praise that his students were getting, Saitama shouted at Genos once again, "Enough already!"