It was the day after Saitama and Shunshi had received their promotions from the Hero Association.

The bald Hero and his cyborg apprentice were at their apartment and going about their usual daily routines. As in, Genos was performing chores while Saitama was lazing on his side and reading manga. All the while, Shunshi had already finished his daily workout regiment and had gone off to search for evil to fight.

Just after he had finished washing the dishes, Genos received a call on his cellphone from the Hero Association. They informed him of some sort of disaster that they needed all of the S-Class Heroes for, asking him to come to Z-City's headquarters right away.

After hanging up his phone, the cyborg walked into the apartment's living room and explained to Saitama, who was lying on his side and reading manga, "Sensei, for some reason, the Hero Association has called me over for some sort of S-Class meeting. I will be back later."

Saitama didn't even bother to look at Genos as he waved to him and responded in a somewhat joking manner, "Okay. Maybe you're getting kicked out of S-Class. Heheheh." With that, Saitama's top disciple headed out for his mission.

As Genos walked to the Hero Association headquarters, if one was to look into the sky above him, they could see what almost looked like an extra moon getting closer and closer to the Earth's surface by the minute.


Genos had arrived at Z-City's Hero Association Headquarters while carrying some sort of strange-looking briefcase. When the blond cyborg walked into the building, he was confused when it seemed that no one was there.

While Genos examined his surroundings, an elderly man who'd been standing off to the side greeted him, "Ah, you must be Genos. It's very nice to make your acquaintance. I'm Bang."

S-Class rank 3, otherwise known as Silverfang. He possesses true skill, Genos thought to himself, mildly impressed.

"The Association called me in as well as the other S-Class Heroes," he explained to Bang.

"Everyone else is over at the main Headquarters. This branch is empty now. Every S-Class Hero received the call to come here, but you and I are the only ones who showed up," Bang informed Genos.

"And why is that?" The cyborg questioned.

"Perhaps this area is too far away for them. Maybe they're busy. Of course, some of the more cold-blooded ones simply don't care... Then again, it's hard to blame them. We're only called when there's an impossible problem to take care of, and today's dilemma is no exception. The disaster level is Dragon, meaning it's one of the worst-case scenarios imaginable. About thirty-five minutes from now, a huge meteor is going to strike Z-City, so the Association is asking if nearby S-Class Heroes can do anything about it."

Once Bang had made the severity of this situation clear, Genos' face took on a much more shocked expression than the stoic cyborg would usually allow.

"A meteor?!" Genos asked, almost fearfully.

"Apparently, it changed course without warning... It could mean the end for us, or at least for Z-City," Silverfang responded, audibly upset.

Genos gasped in shock at this horrible news while Bang continued with his sentence, "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do this time. You should think about evacuating with your loved ones as the others have."

Recomposed himself, Genos asked the veteran Hero, "Do the citizens know about this?"

Bang looked out of the building's glass doors and responded doubtfully, "I was told that the powers that be would issue evacuation orders thirty minutes before it hits."

As soon as Bang said this, a siren went off across the city, followed by the voice of a woman announcing, "Attention. This is an important announcement from the Hero Association-!"

Upon hearing this, Silverfang chuckled grimly and commented, "The people are sure to panic."

"And what will you do, old fellow?" Genos asked with mild concern.

Bang smiled a bit at this, turned his back to Genos, and took a few steps away from him before asking rhetorically, "Old fellow, is it? I told you, call me Bang."

Growing even more concerned, Genos asked the old man, "You are not evacuating?"

Closing his eyes, Bang responded somberly, "There is a dojo in this city that has been in my family for generations, I can't abandon it...!" Bang then struck a pose, as what looked like little streams of water came off of his fingers, while intensely exclaiming, "Fist of Flowing Water Crushing Rock! Ever heard of it?" However, as soon as Bang turned around, much to his disappointment, Genos had already taken off.

"Oh... He already left," the elderly Hero commented.


About ten minutes later, Genos was running along the tops of the buildings in Z-City while still carrying his strange-looking briefcase. His rooftop route was chosen to reach the destination that the meteor was predicted to strike as quickly as possible.

While looking up at the ever-approaching space rock, Genos thought to himself solemnly, I cannot really blame all of these people for giving up hope of surviving this catastrophe. If this meteorite hits, then not only will Z-city be destroyed, but the neighboring cities will sustain serious damage as well... I suppose it is too late for me to try to evacuate anyway.

As Genos got closer to the building that he wanted to land on, he saw that some other Hero was already standing on that roof. That Hero was Shunshi, who seemed to be trying to create a giant version of one of his Light Balls.

At the sight of Shunshi standing right where the meteorite was about to hit, Genos thought in utter bewilderment, What is he doing here?! I should make him leave... No. It does not matter now, I suppose. It is too late for him to get to a safe distance as well.

Diverting his attention away from his junior, Genos looked at the giant before pressing a button on his briefcase's handle.

"I did not expect to be testing this prototype so soon!" He dramatically stated.

The briefcase then shot out in front of the young cyborg before splitting in half and turning into a pair of bulky, mechanical arms. Instantly, Genos closed in on these upgrades as they encased his upper limbs. Bursts of electricity crackled out as metal attachments extended from the arms and secured themselves to the cyborgs' neck and face.

As these enhancements finished securing themselves, Genos landed on the same building as Shunshi, who quickly took notice of him.

"Senpai!?" Shunshi asked as surprise and hope suffused his voice.

Deciding to acknowledge Shunshi's presence, Genos asked him, "What exactly are you doing here, Shunshi?"

Confused by the very notion of this question, Shunshi responded as if he was doing the most obvious thing in the world, "There's a giant meteor heading right for Z-City, and I'm a high-ranking Hero now! What exactly do you think I'm doing?! I'm getting ready to try to blow that thing out of the sky! This is where you and Master Saitama live, after all. Plus, all of the innocents who are going to die if something isn't done! I couldn't just sit around and do nothing!"

Genos was initially taken aback by Shunshi's noble statement until he shifted his gaze to the Light Ball his junior had created. The orb of light was three times the size of Shunshi's whole body, but the cyborg knew it wasn't anywhere near enough to stop the chunk of space debris headed towards the city.

After coming up with a makeshift strategy, Genos gave his fellow student an order, "Keep preparing your attack, Shunshi. I am going to fire my incinerator cannon in hopes that it will stop the meteorite. I will tell you if I need assistance."

"Of course, Senpai!" Shunshi responded, seemingly content.

Just before Genos could fire his attack, a giant and shiny robot, seemingly designed to fight off an entire army single-handedly, landed next to the two young Heroes.

Taken off guard by the robot's sudden arrival, Genos asked aloud, "What is that?"

Out of a combination of admiration and his struggle to hold the growing light ball, Shunshi hesitantly explained, "That... that's the S-Class Hero, Metal Knight. His real name's Professor Bofoy. He's... he's ranked number seven in S-Class... and I think he's supposed to be the smartest Hero in the entire Association... His robots always look so cool!"

As Shunshi continued to charge his attack and stare at Metal Knight, Genos approached the robotic Hero and asked, "My ally tells me that you are Bofoy. Is that correct?"

Once addressed, Metal Knight turned to face the cyborg speaking to him while also giving the armor-clad man a quick glance.

"Yeah, that's me. And you're the new guy, Genos. Are you and that other guy here to stop the meteor too?" Metal Knight answered with an electronic voice.

Recalculating his plan, Genos explained to Metal Knight, "Bofoy, my ally and myself are in need of your assistance."

"I refuse," Metal Knight responded immediately, much to the shock of both Genos and Shunshi.

Shunshi, still struggling to hold his attack in place, shouted, "What?! But You're supposed to be a Hero!"

"Why not?" Genos asked in a calmer yet still angry tone.

"I only answered the call here to test out my new weapon system. That meteor is the perfect test," Bofoy explained with a devil may care attitude.

"A test?! If that meteor hits, then you will die as well!" Genos exclaimed, any pretense of staying calm having vanished from his voice.

"Fortunately, I won't," Bofoy replied dismissively.

"What do you mean, Metal Knight? Did you make some kind of superweapon that you know for sure is gonna take out that meteor?" Shunshi asked with a faint hint of hope.

"No, nothing like that. You see, what the two of you are speaking to is merely a remote-controlled drone. My actual body is quite far away. Terribly sorry to disappoint you, boys, but my life's not at stake here," Bofoy responded with a disturbing blend of calm and condescendence.

Looking even more upset, Genos asked his fellow S-Class Hero in disdain, "So you are unwilling to risk harm to yourself in order to save others? That is rather unheroic behavior, Bofoy."

Bofoy scoffed at Genos before explaining, "I'm not going to just throw my life away over something as trivial as the loss of a single city. Also, take an example from that darkly-clad friend of yours. I'm not Bofoy right now. I'm Metal Knight. Heroes call each other by their Hero names, not their real names. Everyone knows that. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but it seems like I need to cut our little chat short. The meteor's getting closer."

Genos nearly growled at Bofoy's attitude before dashing away from the robot and grabbing Shunshi by his cape.

"Hold onto your attack as tight as you can!" Genos ordered.

Shunshi did as he was asked and, before he could ask his Senpai what he was up to, the young cyborg jumped to the top of the taller building next to them, Shunshi's cape in hand. As soon as they landed on the roof, Genos got ready to fire his incinerator cannon, while Shunshi desperately tried to keep his balance from being suddenly jerked around. Genos found this stumbling somewhat annoying but recognized that they'd both be blown away if Shunshi dropped his Light Ball.

Just as Genos was about to launch his attack, Bofoy interrupted him by shouting, "Missiles fire!" The missiles equipped to the back of Bofoy's drone shot off as soon as they were ordered to. This caused Genos to hold off his attack in fear of his incinerators detonating the explosives prematurely. When the payload of missiles hit the meteor, a near-blinding explosion went off. This explosion was so massive that it would have been enough to take out an entire chunk of the city if they had been aimed towards the ground.

As Shunshi and Genos looked at the explosion in awe, the stronger of the two couldn't help but think to himself, "Amazing. Such destructive power... This Hero is dangerous. I must be careful around him." Shortly after Genos thought this, the smoke from the explosion cleared away, revealing that the meteorite had received little to no damage at all from the missiles.

"Well, that's unfortunate. It seems they weren't potent enough," Bofoy stated in an unmoved tone. Having no further interest in this situation, the scientific Hero powered down his remote drone.

At the sight of the meteor's unbelievable endurance, Shunshi voiced his disbelief, "What!? No! There's no way that didn't do anything! What the Hell is that rock made of?!"

Realizing that the threat still needed to be dealt with, Genos started charging up his attack, while Shunshi just barely stopped himself from having a panic attack.

Genos quickly finished charging up the power he needed to blast his incinerator cannon at the meteor. This was made apparent by the vast amounts of electricity crackling off of him. However, for some reason, he was hesitating to actually fire his attack.

In an attempt to snap Genos back to reality, Shunshi shouted at him, "Genos, fire the damn thing! What are you doing?! Are you okay?"

Before Genos could respond to his junior, Silverfang appeared behind them on the roof, seemingly out of thin air.

"First off, he needs to calm down. I see he's lost his composure," Bang explained sagely. Shocked, both Genos and Shunshi snapped their heads around to see that the third-highest ranked Hero in the Association had materialized behind them.

Silverfang then addressed Genos directly, "Genos. You must put your mind at rest. You're far too young to be worried about failure. Whenever you're backed against a wall, you must act. Overthinking the situation won't change things. The best course of action is to just muddle through."

Muddling through is the best course? Genos pondered. Letting this philosophy sink in, an image popped into the young cyborg's head of his Sensei, giving off his usual lazy smile. This gave Genos the inspiration that he needed.

Shunshi, on the other hand, couldn't stop starring at Silver Fang. If one were standing there amongst the Heroes, they'd see a man in a frightening suit of armor and a black cloak staring down an old man. However, underneath his helmet, Shunshi had the kind of expression that a child would have if they got to meet their favorite superhero.

Oh my God! It's Silver Fang! He's one of the greatest, if not the greatest martial artist in the world! And he's the third highest-ranking S-Class Hero! He's so awesome! If we survive this, I wonder if I can get his autograph, the black-haired Hero thought to himself, unable to stop smiling as he did.

Back to Genos, the blond cyborg suddenly ripped his shirt off and opened up his metal torso like it was an interlocking box. Inside his chest was some sort of orb with holes in it, containing a sphere of pure energy inside it. Genos grabbed the metal orb and pulled it out of his chest, with only a large tube keeping it connected to his body. The bicep on Genos' right arm then opened up and revealed a circular slot. Genos put the orb into the slot on his arm and instantly built up more than four times as much energy as before.

Pointing his sparking arm into the air, Genos shouted to Silverfang and Shunshi, "Bang, get down! Shunshi, throw your attack... Now!"

Shunshi quickly snapped out of his admiration of Silverfang and replied, "Wha-? Oh! Of course, Senpai!" He then tossed the largest Light Ball he'd yet created as hard as he could at the meteor.

At the same time, Genos thought to himself with furious passion, I will no longer consider the possibility of losing! I will just pour everything I have... Into one shot!

The yellow-eyed cyborg then fired an incineration blast from his arm that was nearly as large as the building he was standing on. The ray of fire quickly caught up to and absorbed Shunshi's energy orb, causing the incineration blast to turn pure white and increase by half its size. When the beam of white flames made contact with the meteor, Genos started screaming at the top of his artificial lungs as he used all of the energy he could muster into this incineration blast. Due to the shockwaves that this blast was creating, Shunshi had fallen onto his rear end and was looking at this amazing display of power in complete silence.

However, when the realization hit him that he helped Genos' attack to reach this level of power, Shunshi's inner-geek took over as he blurted out, "Combo-Attack! Incinerating White Heart Cannon!"

When Bang heard Shunshi shout this, he turned his head to look at him and asked, "Combo whatsit now?"

Shunshi flinched when Silverfang questioned him and responded meekly, "It's nothing, sir. Just ignore me..."

Underneath Shunshi's helmet, his face had turned entirely beat-red as he sweated like a pig and thought to himself, I can't believe I just said something so stupid in front of Mr. Silverfang... I almost want that meteor to kill me now.

Both Bang and Shunshi's attention was returned to Genos when he shouted in frustration, "It is not working!" As soon as the cyborg said this, a small and melting piece of rock fell from the meteor.

This prompted Bang to point at the small rock and exclaim, "Look! You took out a bit of it already! Don't give up now! If you just keep going, then I'm sure you'll eventually wear out that big paperweight!"

"There is no way I can keep this up for that long!" Genos shouted in frustration.

Bang was starting to sweat until his gaze shifted back to the meteorite, and something he saw prompted him to shout, "Oh, wait, I think I see it getting pushed back!"

"Really?!" Genos and Shunshi asked in unison.

"Wait, that was just my imagination," Bang apologized.

Furious beyond explanation, Genos shouted at Bang with a matching tone, "You old fool!" All the while, Shunshi was stunned into silence from Silverfang's mistake in judgment.

As his power started running out, Genos angrily thought to himself, So this... this will be my grave. The beam of white flames then petered out as Genos fell to his knees with there only being enough power left in his body to keep his vitals functioning.

While kneeling, Genos told Silverfang and Shunshi, "There are only a few more moments before the meteor hits. Both of you need to leave now... or you will both die." As Genos said this, Shunshi saw Silverfang take half a step towards the young cyborg while readying his hand for an attack.

However, before Bang could finish taking a step, a familiar and lazy voice gave Shunshi an order, "Shunshi, take care of Genos and this old guy." Genos, Shunshi, and Bang all looked behind themselves and saw Saitama walking towards them. Shunshi quickly ripped off his helmet to make sure he wasn't seeing a hallucination. When he realized that his yellow-clad Master was genuinely standing before him, joy overcame the young A-Class Hero.

"Sensei!" Shunshi shouted as he began to tear up.

Bang looked back and forth at Shunshi and Saitama in utter confusion before asking the bald man, "Sensei? Who are you?! Who sent you?!"

Saitama calmly answered these questions by explaining, "I'm just a guy who's a Hero for the fun of it."

Genos rose up in a state of relief and surprise at the sight of Saitama. He continuously looked at his teacher until the bald Hero launched himself with a jump so powerful that it destroyed the stability of the building they'd all been standing on.

"Master!" Genos exclaimed as he looked into the sky.

As Saitama practically flew through the air, he readied a punch and yelled to the meteor, "You're not... gonna fall... on my town!" The bald Hero's punch sent him barreling through the meteor, causing the massive rock from space to stop mid-air and shatter apart.

As he watched the seemingly unstoppable chunk of space debris get shattered, Bang exclaimed, "He shattered it! Incredible... Oh no."

Not noticing the shards raining down on them as he helped Genos get up, Shunshi responded to Silverfang's reaction, "What's wrong, Silverfang, sir?" Before the elderly Hero could explain the danger they were in, their building got struck by a piece of the meteor. Due to the building's already compromised infrastructure, it began to collapse in on itself.

Genos and Shunshi started slipping down the side of the now vertical roof, prompting the metal youth to shout, "The building is collapsing! Save yourself, Shunshi!" Before either of them could fall very far, however, Silverfang rushed up to them, wrapped his arms around their torsos, and jumped away with them.

"It's not just this building. The entire city is getting bombarded with the splintered fragments of the meteor," Bang proclaimed as he carried the younger Heroes from one falling rock to another. Genos and Shunshi looked around themselves and saw that what Bang said was right. The entire city was getting showered with falling space debris in a rain of Hellish destruction.

At the same time, Saitama landed back on the ground.

As meteorite fragments hit the city behind him, Saitama thought aloud, "I guess that takes care of that." Another meteor fragment then destroyed yet another large building directly behind him.


The next day, despite the best efforts of the world's strongest Hero, the meteorite disaster had destroyed countless homes and businesses in Z-City. This had left tens of millions to suffer in the aftermath.

Genos and Saitama were watching the news at their place, while Shunshi had decided to forget about fighting crime for a few days in favor of volunteering his time to the post-disaster relief efforts.

As Genos and Saitama continued watching the news coverage of the destruction, the young cyborg angrily commented, "Would you look at all of this carnage. If only the Hero Association had called you to help instead of me, Master. If you had been assigned to work with Bofoy, then all of the damage could have been minimized."

While lying on his side and reading manga, Saitama responded to Genos' comment with a hint of joy mixed into his voice, "But you said that Metal Knight guy wasn't willing to work together, so there'd be no point to it. So stop worrying about it. I think we kept the damage to a minimum. Since no one died, we should just call it a win."

He is right. Master's punch greatly reduced the meteor's destructive power. If Sensei had not been there, then the shockwaves from the meteor could have destroyed everything for nearly a hundred miles. I shudder to think what kind of damage the physical force of such a disaster would cause. The fact that Sensei's punch alone is what stopped the meteor is nothing short of a miracle. I would not be surprised if Master is talked about for years to come, praising him as a man of great valor... But Master has no idea. Some are even making him out to be the bad guy for causing the partial destruction of Z-City, despite saving it as a whole... No, I should not mention it to him, Genos worried internally.

Just as Genos finished his thought, Saitama asked his student, "By the way, do you think what happened moved us up in the rankings?"

Letting go of his concerns, Genos quickly answered, "Yes, it did. Shunshi moved up from A-Class rank 10 to rank 8. I was elevated from S-Class rank 17 to 16. Metal Knight was moved from rank 7 to rank 6 n S-Class. As for you, Master, you shot up from C-Class rank 342 up to rank 5."

When informed of his promotion, Saitama looked utterly dumbfounded as he asked, "Number 5?! From 342 to 5?! Whoa, what the Hell!? That's crazy!"

As an out-of-character smile formed on his face, Genos explained to Saitama, "Well, your performance was actually worthy of a promotion to A-Class or even S-Class. I mean, the Disaster Level for this was Dragon after all."

"Yeah, really?" Saitama asked in an uncharacteristically giddy tone.

"If there had been no damage, I'm sure you would be S-Class rank 5. A feat like destroying that meteor alone would earn you a promotion from C-Class to A-Class at the very least. However, I assume that the Hero Association believes that Metal Knight and I had more to do with the meteor's destruction than we truly did," Genos explained.

After hearing this, Saitama asked another question of his student, "So... Whenever some big threat is on the news, they always give it a disaster level of Demon or Tiger or something like that. Does a Disaster Level mean something?"

Genos, initially stunned by this question, responded calmly, "Yes, it does. Wolf; an entity or group that might be dangerous. Tiger; an entity or group that threatens a large group of people. Demon; a disaster or entity that could destroy an entire city. Dragon; a disaster or entity that could destroy multiple cities. God; a disaster that threatens the survival of the Human race as a whole." Genos then handed Saitama a pamphlet that showed off some of the different monsters that were in each Disaster Level.

This caused Saitama to comment with a notable amount of interest, "Wow, I had no idea... Wait, where did you get this from?"

Paying no attention to that question, Genos continued with his explanation, "I believe Heroes take Disaster Levels into consideration when deciding whether or not to respond to a call, but I guess such things do not matter to you."

"Well, of course, they don't. If the Heroes run and hide, then who's left to help people?" Saitama responded in a matter-of-fact tone while discarding the pamphlet.

Awe-struck by his Master's words, Genos suddenly started writing in one of his little booklets faster than an average person could even see.

"Uh... Genos, what are you doing?" Saitama couldn't help but ask.

"I must record your words of wisdom!" Genos responded dutifully.

Saitama chose to ignore his mechanical pupil's odd actions to ponder out loud, "All things considered, I didn't have to do much to get such a large boost in rankings... Right! I'll be out for a bit."

When Genos processed what Saitama said, he stopped writing, turned to his Sensei, who had already changed into his Hero outfit, and said, "Hold on, Sensei, I am coming with you."

As he adjusted his belt, Saitama calmly replied, "You stay here. If something heroic happens, you'll get all the credit again." The bald Hero then slipped his red boots on and went out the door, leaving behind a concerned cyborg.


Meanwhile, in the wrecked ruins of Z-City, Shunshi had spent all day helping as many people as he could. He went to every person he could find who was trying to salvage their belongings from the ruins of their homes and lifted heavy debris out of their way. Alternatively, Shunshi would enter areas that had become too dangerous for ordinary people to get to. He would find people's valuables or rescue the injured. So far, he had managed to recover a man's surprisingly intact motorcycle, a little girl's slightly ripped up teddy bear, a woman's mini-fridge, an old man's walker, and a large amount of food and water from a buried supermarket that he hoped everyone would share. What Shunshi had been most proud of in his efforts so far was when he aided a rescue team in lifting rubble to save a trapped family.

At the current moment, Shunshi was making good use of the claws on his gauntlets to help him dig through rubble in the backyard of a suburban family. The family's young son had begged him to save their dog, which had gotten left behind due to the hurry his family was in to escape from the meteorite when the warning was sounded.

While digging through the debris, Shunshi thought to himself, Why am I doing this...? This puppy's probably dead... poor thing... The kid's gonna be really broken up when I find his dog's corpse... Guess that's better than the kid hatting his family and me for not doing anything to find his dog... Wait, what's that sound?

Stopping his digging for a moment, Shunshi listened carefully and heard the faint sound of a dog whining. Realizing what this meant, he started digging at even faster speeds until he found a fragile little cavern of sorts that had formed around the boy's small dog and its dog house. The pouch had a broken leg and a few other cuts and bruises but was alive regardless. Shunshi took off his helmet so that he wouldn't scare the little animal, gently picked it up, and then carried it back to its family as quickly as he could without jostling it.

When Shunshi returned to the family with their dog, he was met with mixed reactions. The parents were completely shocked that the dog was still alive, while the son was overcome with the joy and sadness that came with getting his best friend back, but seeing the awful condition the little guy was in.

As the young boy gently cradled his injured dog and began to cry, he thanked the superhero who'd saved him, "Thank you, mister. You saved Blazer... He looks really hurt. Is he gonna be okay?!"

Smiling softly, Shunshi placed his gauntleted hand on the boy's head and reassured him, "Don't worry, bud. He's just a little banged up. Just get him to a vet, and I'm sure he'll be fine in no time."

"Thanks, mister," the boy responded while trying to stop his crying.

The mother crouched down and hugged her son to help him calm down, while the father placed his hand on Shunshi's shoulder and told him, "I can't thank you enough for saving my son's dog. You're a real Hero."

Overcome with how flattered he was to get a compliment like this, Shunshi responded in his usual humble tone, "I appreciate that, sir, but all I did was help out a hurt puppy. Anyone would've done that."

However, the father smiled and insisted, "Not anyone would dig through a mountain of rock to do that. So you're still a Hero in my book."

The young man nearly blushed at this, as he stumbled for words and avoided direct eye contact, "I... Um... Thank you... I need to go get my helmet before someone tries to take it. Goodbye, and take care." Shunshi then started jumping and running as fast and far as he could in the direction of where he dug out the dog.

While jumping through the air, Shunshi couldn't help but think about what that man just said to him, "I'm a Hero in his book...? Huh." This thought brought no end of joy to the young man.

After landing where he dug up the dog, Shunshi felt something wet on his face, so he wiped it off, only for more of this strange watery substance to pour down his cheeks. Shunshi quickly realized that these were tears running down his face, but not just any tears. These were tears of joy.

Realizing his emotions had gotten the best of him, Shunshi thought in a mixture of joy and uncertainty, Am I...? Have I finally become a real Hero?

The humble man let it sink in for a moment that there were people now who honestly thought of him as a Hero. He allowed himself to become embraced in this beautiful, almost heavenly feeling for a while. However, Shunshi's blissful mood was interrupted when he noticed that the spot he had left his helmet was strangely devoid of any headgear.

"Did someone actually take my helmet?! I was just kidding about that!... Well, that killed the mood... Better go find it, or Saitama-Sensei will never forgive me for losing such an important part of my armor," Shunshi ranted to himself in frustration. The black-haired Hero then grew annoyed before throwing his hood over his head and beginning his search for the helmet thief.


At the same time, about a dozen blocks away from where Shunshi's helmet had been stolen, Saitama had left for his walk. He had expected to get a bit of enjoyment out of it, but his mood was ruined when he saw the horrible state that Z-City was in. The buildings and streets were nearly all destroyed, while countless people were scrounging through the rubble, desperately trying to recover whatever they could from their shattered lives.

"Man, this place is a total wreck," Saitama commented in a somewhat depressed tone. As the bald Hero continued on his walk, he eventually noticed a destroyed supermarket.

"Oh man, looks like my favorite supermarket got destroyed." The bald Hero then shifted his gaze to an intact apartment building standing next to the destroyed supermarket, prompting, "And the crappy apartment complex I got kicked out of... is completely fine. Damn."

Before Saitama could take another step, the Hero Tanktop Tiger yelled at him from the top of a chunk of road that had been turned on its side, "Hey! You no good, cheating, bastard!"

Looking up at him, Saitama gave the tanktopper a confused expression before asking, "Uh, who might you be?"

The Tiger groaned in frustration and exclaimed, "You know damn well who I am! I'm Tanktop Tiger!"

Tanktop Tiger then turned around and shouted at the top of his lungs, "HEY, BROTHER! It's that guy I told you about!"

Despite the ferociousness of Tanktop Tiger's voice, Saitama asked himself, Seriously, who is this guy?

Suddenly, another tanktopper with black hair and a black tanktop jumped out from nowhere while asking rhetorically, "Did I hear you call me, little bro?!"

After landing next to Tanktop Tiger, this tanktopper folded his arms and dramatically stated, "The Hero known as Tanktop Black Hole is here!"

Tanktop Black Hole quickly shifted his attention to Saitama as he angrily exclaimed, "So it's you. The Hero who takes credit from S-Class Heroes' work in order to jump up in the rankings!"

"What the...?" Saitama responded to these dramatics.

Tiger quickly and angrily added to the exchange, "No one could have moved up through the ranks so quickly without cheating, you cheater!"

Saitama honestly had no idea what the two tanktop Heroes were talking about, so he asked them, "Huh...? So what do you guys want?"

Tanktop Tiger smirked when Saitama asked this and replied, "Don't you get it!? We're here to beat you up so bad that you'll-"

Black Hole then cut his brother off by explaining in a tactical tone of voice, "Hold on, little bro. That's not gonna work. The bastard won't learn from that kind of lesson. Let's make him really pay for this by using the most brutal method there is!"

All of a sudden, Tanktop Black Hole took in a deep breath before shouting at the top of his lungs, "WAS IT YOU!? ARE YOU THE JERK OFF RESPONSIBLE FOR DESTROYING THIS CITY!?"

"Huh?" Saitama responded as a minor look of concern appeared on his bland face.


Meanwhile, Shunshi had been spending the past few minutes in search of his helmet.

"Oh, come on! They couldn't have gone that far with the stupid thing! Why would someone even want something like that?! What use could they possibly have for a helmet that looks like a monster's face?!" He complained aloud.

While he continued to search in frustration, Shunshi heard what sounded like a group of people repeatedly chanting, "Give it up." As such, he decided to investigate the source of the commotion.

When he eventually found where the chanting was coming from, Shunshi came across a large circle of people around a pit in the ground. The gathering seemed like they were harassing one person in particular. However, the dark-clad Hero couldn't tell for certain what these people were targeting from his position in the back of the crowd.

While listening to the violent chanting, Shunshi pondered to himself, Sheesh, I wonder who these people are so upset with. Must be a real scumbag.

Before he could get closer to take a look at the no doubt evil individual that everyone was yelling at, Shunshi saw that one of the chanting people was holding his helmet and using it as a bucket to carry around random nicknacks. Out of anger and without a moment of hesitation, Shunshi quickly rushed up to the man holding his helmet and snatched it away before he even knew what had happened.

When this man realized that someone had snatched his fancy-looking bucket right out of his hand, he turned around and snapped at the perpetrator, "Hey! Who do you think you-!?" His words got caught in his throat, though, as fear instantly overcame this man when he saw the black-cloaked person, clad in dark armor, and covered in white flames, who was glaring viciously at him.

"Oh, uh, um... You can have it if you really want it, mister! I'm sure I can find another bucket," the man blurted out as he sweated nervously.

Without a word, Shunshi dumped all the junk out of his helmet, blew out the dust, and put it back on.

He then got up to this man's face while stating, "Helmet! It's a helmet! And it was mine, to begin with, jerk!"

Just as Shunshi was leaving, the man grabbed his shoulder and asked, "Hold on. You're a Hero or something, right?"

"Wha-? Yeah, that right... Why?" Shunshi asked as he jolted back around.

Pointing at the crowd's center, the man exclaimed in frustration, "If you're a Hero, then go beat up that bastard who destroyed our town!"

Tilting his head at this, Shunshi responded, "Um, sir. The meteor already got destroyed... Did you guys injure your heads or something? Do you need me to get you all to a hospital?"

The man shook his head and angrily responded, "No! I'm talking about the idiot who got in the other Heroes' way!"

"Wait, Metal Knight's here?!" Shunshi asked with complete sincerity and shock.

The man looked flabbergasted at Shunshi's question before stating, "No, not Metal Knight, you moron! That dumb C-Class rookie with the bald head that took credit for his work!"

Taking a moment to process the list of people who were present when the meteor was crashing, Shunshi eventually responded, "Bald head...? Wait. Are you talking about Sens-?"

Before Shunshi could finish talking, a thunderous and booming voice shouted so violently that it cut off the chanting, "HEY, LOOK, YOU GUYS! HE'S GETTING READY TO FIGHT! NO WAY! SERIOUSLY?! YOU'RE GONNA TAKE OUT YOUR FRUSTRATION ON THESE PEOPLE HERE?! JUST LIKE YOU DESTROYED THEIR CITY! DO YOU JUST KILL EVERYONE YOU DON'T LIKE?! WE WON'T LET YOU DO THAT! WE, THE TANKTOP BROTHERS, WON'T STAND BY AS YOU RESORT TO VIOLENCE! IF YOU'RE THE HERO YOU SAY YOU ARE, THEN FIGHT US BOTH, FAIR AND SQUARE!"

Shunshi had finally made his way through the crowd during all that yelling, and, to his horror, he saw the Heroes Tanktop Tiger and Tanktop Black Hole getting ready to attack Saitama-Sensei.

While flexing and looking at the crowd, Tanktop Tiger saw Shunshi and thought to himself, Hey, that guy's the new A-Class Hero, right? Well, I don't wanna take any chances with this bald bastard.

Tiger then pointed at Shunshi while exclaiming, "Hey, you there! You're that new A-Class, right? Are you just gonna stand by as this guy does whatever he wants?! Get down here and help us kick the crap out of him before he can do any more evil!"

Shunshi didn't know how to respond in this situation, so he just stood there for a moment in utter confusion until some of the people standing next to him started cheering him to go and attack Saitama. One person eventually slapped him on his back for encouragement. This caused him to stumble forward a couple of steps and prompted the young man who didn't like to disappoint people to walk towards Saitama as well.

Is Shunshi gonna fight me too...? What's going on here? Saitama wondered to himself with a hint of concern.

All the while, out of concern for Saitama potentially getting harassed, Genos disobeyed orders and left the apartment. The blond cyborg managed to arrive on the scene at the edge of the crowd just in time to see the situation unfolding. He was about to walk over and intervene, but he stopped out of confusion when he saw Shunshi standing with Tanktop Tiger and Black Hole.

Shunshi, Tanktop Black Hole, and Tanktop Tiger were all standing in front of Saitama as Tiger struck a pose that mimicked a tiger and exclaimed, "I, Tanktop Tiger, who fights with the spirit of that great jungle cat, shale tear you to shreds!"

Black Hole followed this up by introducing himself while making a crushing motion with his hand, "And I, Tanktop Black Hole, who has a grip strength of over twenty-eight hundred PSI, shale crush you like a ball of dirt!"

Shunshi, who was clearly uncomfortable, hesitantly explained to the people watching, "And, um... I don't have a Hero name yet, but I'm Shunshi, and I... make... Light... Balls..." He proceeded to make a tiny Light Ball in his hand as an example.

Before either Saitama, Genos, or Shunshi could fully understand this situation, Tanktop Tiger rushed at Saitama while shouting, "We will punish all who stray from the path of the Hero! Now prepare for pain! RRAAAAAGH!" In response, Saitama lightly tapped his fist against the tanktopper's face, knocking him out cold while sending him flying away.

Black Hole was shocked by what had just happened but instantly recomposed himself, jumped at Saitama with crushing intent, and shouted, "Damn it! You're dead!"

However, before he could move more than a foot forward, the tanktopper was blasted a few feet away by an explosion to his torso. Shunshi had fully processed what these two Heroes were up to and, in response, had thrown the small Light Ball he'd made into Black Hole's side.

Shunshi, whose fearful expression was hidden underneath his helmet, nervously exclaimed, "I don't really know what's happening, but Heroes aren't supposed to attack each other...! Please tell me I didn't just screw this up, Master."

As Shunshi desperately looked over to his teacher, Saitama responded to his student's plea with a raised eyebrow.

While the two of them were looking at each other in confusion and concern, Black Hole was rolling around on the ground and exclaiming in pain, "Oh God, this hurts so much! I'm sorry I attacked another Hero! I won't lie about him anymore!"

Shunshi was still confused as to the specifics of the situation, but before he could ask any questions, Saitama calmly stated, "No, you didn't lie." All eyes quickly darted to the yellow-clad Hero when he said this.

"I'm the one who smashed the meteor! Anyone with a complaint, let's hear it! Speak up!" The world's strongest Hero exclaimed.

This sudden boldness from the accused caused a moment of silence between everyone present. Genos looked on with an expression that said he was willing to jump in to defend his Master's honor at any given moment but held himself at bay until the situation called for it. All the while, behind Shunshi's helmet, was a face begging for an explanation as to why there were so many people upset with Saitama for destroying the meteor and saving their lives.

Eventually, one person in the crowd shouted, "Be-... Because of what you did, my brand new car got sma-!"

Saitama quickly cut this man off by shouting furiously, "You shut your damn mouth! Why would I give a crap about how you're put out?! Tell it to the meteor, not me, jackass!"

This exchange between this man and his teacher helped Shunshi fully piece together what was going on. He realized that these people were actually blaming Saitama for the destruction that the meteorite caused. Anger and confusion began to overcome Shunshi, and he almost wished that some monsters would show up so that he could vent his frustration.

As his second student shook with anger, Saitama shouted, "Listen up! I don't do this Hero thing for admiration or approval or anything like that! I do this because I want to do it! So if you wanna blame me, then go ahead, you baldies!"

"But you're the one who's bald..." One of the people in the crowd rebuttaled weakly.

When he heard this, Saitama instantly snapped back at the guy, "WHAT DID YOU SAY!?"

Deciding it was time to step in, Genos walked up to Saitama and said, "Master."

Saitama turned to see Genos and greeted him with a somewhat friendly tone, "Oh, hey, Genos. Just give me a second, these guys are really-,"

Genos suddenly cut Saitama off by calmly telling him, "We must go home, Sensei."

When he heard these words, Saitama calmed down and looked Genos in the eye for a second before asking, "Oh, you think we should? That does sound good, I guess."

With that, Saitama and Genos both started walking away but stopped when the bald Hero turned around and talked to Shunshi, "By the way, sorry you got caught up in all that, I guess. See you later, Shunshi." He then turned around and continued walking, with Genos shifting his head for a quick moment to nod in approval of his junior's actions to defend Saitama.

Not caring anymore that people had insulted his Sensei, Shunshi smiled underneath his helmet and yelled to Genos and Saitama while waving to them, "I'll see you guys in a few days! I've still got a lot of work to do here."

After Saitama had walked away and the circle of people started to disperse, Shunshi thought in wonder and admiration, Master... You truly are the greatest man I've ever met. I don't care what anyone thinks of you as a person. I know the truth, and I promise my loyalty to you will never be swayed.