Chapter 6: Because He's Strong
In Saitama's apartment, Genos was doing the dishes, while Saitama was playing a game on a portable game console.
"Master, you've been promoted to Rank 7 in B-Class, and I've become Rank 14 in S-Class." Genos started.
"We've only just beaten monsters that we came across, and that's enough for us to rank up that much?" Saitama said, still playing his game.
"It's because monsters have been appearing more frequently." Genos answered. "Master, you haven't reported any monsters you've defeated to the association, but your rank still rose that much."
"It means your actions have been witnessed and reported. The masses have begun to recognize you as a hero."
"Who knows, there might even be a fan club about you, Master Saitama." Genos added.
"Nah, man. Even you, an S-Class, doesn't have one."
"I do, actually."
"...For real?"
A knock on the door attracted the attention of the both of them, though it mostly alarmed Genos.
"I didn't even notice any movement before they got this close! Who are they!?"
Saitama got up to answer the door.
"Wait, Master-"
"Oh, hey, King."
"Hey, Saitama."
"...So it was King."
"Did you take my game?" King asked.
"Ah, yeah. Sorry about that." Saitama said sheepishly, scratching his head.
"It's fine. Give it here." King said.
"Can I at least save my progress?"
"No, I've a better solution." King said, picking up the portable game console that was on the table.
Holding the portable game console in his left hand, a golden light started shining from his right hand, and it slowly died down to reveal-
A second portable game console.
"Here you go." King said, pocketing the original console and handing Saitama the new one. "Now you can just play it whenever."
"Ah, sweet. Thanks, man!" Saitama said, going back to the game.
"You're welcome. Actually, since I'm here, wanna play some games?"
"Sure, after I finish this fight and save my progress."
As the two heroes were nonchalantly conversing, Genos was closely observing one of them. For once, it wasn't his master.
"Did King just... create something from nothing?! No, wait, that's literally impossible, unless what King did doesn't obey the laws of thermodynamics. King must've used some energy from somewhere to create the console. Still, King can create items by himself, even replicating something like a portable game console?"
"...As expected of Master Saitama's friend. King's powers are truly incredible."
This time, Genos's sensors did pick something up.
"High-speed object approaching. This speed isn't human. Maybe a monster?"
"Hm? Someone's coming." King said.
"King noticed it as well." Genos thought. "Wait. 'Someone'?"
"Who is it?" Saitama asked.
"Dunno. I'll go see." King stood up.
"There's no need for that, King. This is a chance for me to-"
"Hello?" King opened the door, already having passed Genos.
"-test... my parts."
"Saitama? Yeah, he's here. Who're you?" King asked the person at the door.
King then turned to look at Saitama. "Saitama, you have a rival?"
"Oh, it's probably that ninja guy. What was his name again..."
"It's Speed O' Sound Sonic." The ninja in question walked in. "Saitama... today is the day we settle the score!"
"What'd you do, Saitama?" King asked.
"Nothing much. He just has a problem with me being faster than him or something." Saitama replied. "Go away, Sonic. I'm busy today."
"Hmph. To claim that you are Master's rival, it's outrageous. Piss off, or I'll eliminate you." Genos raised his arm, preparing his incineration cannons.
Sonic smirked. "I know you. Trailing around Saitama like shit on a goldfish." Sonic then took out two shuriken. "You'll be the one eliminated here."
"Hey, if the two of you wanna fight, fight outside my apartment, alright?!" Saitama put down the game console, now worried that the two of them would end up damaging his place.
"Stop."
Genos and Sonic were frozen in place.
King snapped his fingers, and a portal appeared in the doorway where they were.
"You two can fight it out elsewhere."
King then grabbed their unmoving forms, and threw them through the portal.
King snapped his fingers again, and the portal closed.
King then sat down, and took out his game console.
"...King."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks." Saitama gave King a thumbs-up.
"You're welcome."
[Some random place, in the middle of the woods...]
As the portal closed, the effect stopping them both in place wore off. Sonic was the first to notice, as he did a somersault into a defensive position, as if expecting another attack to come. Genos merely dusted himself off.
"King can create portals to different locations? Perhaps that is how he got to Master Saitama's apartment without triggering my movement sensors."
Genos turned to look at the ninja. "In the name of my master, I'll eliminate you here today to ensure that he can-"
"Shut up, extra."
Slightly taken aback by the sudden interruption, Genos noticed the ninja's expression.
Barely restrained rage.
"This humiliation... I won't forget this, King!"
The ninja turned to the cyborg.
"Let your master know that he's off the hook for now. King is my new target. I won't rest until I see him six feet under."
With that, the ninja disappeared from sight.
"Speed O' Sound Sonic. As long as he's not targeting master, I won't bother with him. Still, with that speed..."
Genos looked at his hands. His body was newly upgraded with the parts sourced from the robot King destroyed.
"I will have to trouble Dr. Kuseno to come up with new countermeasures against speedy opponents."
[Outside of Saitama's apartment, 20 minutes later...]
"...live here! Come out! ...speak to you!" A voice came from the doorway, though not all of the words made it through the door. Still, it let the occupants know that someone was at the door.
"Oh, someone's at the door." Saitama said, getting up to answer. Opening the door, there were three people outside- two men wearing black suits, and one young woman in the middle, wearing a dark green dress and a white fur overcoat.
"If it's about newspapers, I already have one."
"We're not selling anything! We're heroes with higher ranks than you!" One of the men said.
"Nice to meet you, rookie. I'm Blizzard of Hell. You know what that means, don't you?" The woman said, crossing her arms.
"Uh. Nope. Who're you?"
"..." "..." "..."
"She's the Rank 1 B-Class-"
"Hm? Oh, it's some heroes selling newspapers, I think?" Saitama turned around to speak with someone else in the doorway.
"We're not selling-!"
"Oh. Blizzard of Hell." The door opened to reveal-
"K-K-K-King?!" -internal dialogue of the Blizzard Group members
"Huh, you know them?" Saitama asked.
"No, not really. I just recognize them. Blizzard of Hell's the Rank 1 B-Class hero. The other two, I think are Rank 2 and 3." King answered.
"Oh, ok. Why're they here?" Saitama asked.
"Good question. So, why are you here, Blizzard of Hell?" King turned his attention to the leader of the Blizzard Group.
"W-well, we, uh, would like to invite Saitama to the Blizzard Group." Fubuki managed to get out. Her thoughts were a different thing altogether. "Saitama's related to King?! How?! Is he secretly King's disciple?! But they were talking so casually earlier- are they just acquaintances, or-"
"The what group?" Saitama said, interrupting Fubuki's train of thought.
"The Blizzard Group." King refreshed Saitama. "It's a hero faction under Blizzard of Hell where they work together to do hero activities."
"There's factions for heroes?"
"Yeah. Think of it as a club. Tanktop Master, an S-Class Hero, leads a faction called the Tank Topper Army. They do hero work, but their signature is that they wear tank tops. For the Blizzard Group, it's formalwear, I think." King pointed out.
"Oh. That sounds cool. Makes them look all official and fancy." Saitama said. "Still, I think I won't be joining. I have my own costume." Saitama pointed out his hero costume.
"The suits aren't mandatory, I think." King said, before turning to look at Fubuki. "Are they?"
"Well, it's a dress code, but, we could probably waive that, if you'd like." Fubuki said. "They're DEFINITELY friends, or acquaintances, at the very least! King would NEVER be this friendly with any ordinary hero! This Saitama obviously has more to him than he seems! We have to recruit him!"
"Oh, I see." Saitama said. "Well, if I don't have to change my costume, and it's just like some after-school club, then there's no reason to not join, I guess."
"Joining a group can have- wait, really?" King said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I don't see why not. Why, did you have a group of your own you wanted me to join or something?" Saitama asked.
"Well..."
[Flashback, a few days ago...]
"Hey, King, can I talk to you for a second?"
"What is it, Tatsumaki?"
"The baldy's still in B-Class, right?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Could you do me a favor?"
"Uh... depends on what it is, but let's go with 'yes', for now."
"Could you somehow convince him to join the Blizzard Group?"
"Isn't that your little sister's hero faction? Why would you want him to join that?"
"Because Fubuki's in this little rebellious phase where she doesn't listen to me. I tell her to get rid of her little group, because they just drag her down, and she doesn't listen! She just keeps bringing more and more of those worthless weaklings around her, and she has to take care of them. She could be in A-Class by now, but she's still in B-Class because she wants to pal around with her little playmates."
"Ah, I see. You want Saitama to be around her, so if worse comes to worst, he can at least help her out if she's in trouble and not be in the way?"
"What? No, I can sense when she's injured, I can save her myself if she's ever in trouble. No, I want the baldy to join, so Fubuki has an idea of who's worth putting in the group. When she realizes how strong the baldy is, she'll see what I mean, and she'll kick out the weaklings in her little group. If she wants playmates to play leader with, at least have someone that's actually strong, and won't drag her down."
"...I'm not sure if that's how it'll go, but I'll give it a shot, I guess. No promises, though. If he doesn't want our help to get him into S-Class, then I don't know if he'd want to join a group."
"That's why I'm asking this as a favor. Just help a colleague out, will you?"
[Now...]
"...No, not really. I just didn't think you'd join a group so willingly. You didn't want my help raising your rank to S-Class, so I just assumed you wouldn't want to work in a group, or something." King said. "Well, that was easier than I thought."
"Well, skipping ahead is boring. Imagine if the boss fight had a skip button- it wouldn't be fun anymore, would it?" Saitama reasoned. "Joining their group is like playing with a party. Not exactly the same, right?"
As King and Saitama had their conversation, Fubuki, Mountain Ape and Eyelashes were having a quiet panic at King's casual words.
"King just said he wanted to raise this Saitama straight to S-Rank!" "He must be strong, Miss Fubuki!" "But King also said that Saitama didn't want his help! What does that mean?!"
"Calm down! Remember what Saitama said- 'it wouldn't be fun if there was a skip button'. He's so strong he can take being a hero as a game?!" Fubuki whispered to the other two.
"So, uh, do I need to sign anything, or..." Saitama asked.
"Huh?! Oh, well, uh, the plan was to take you to our headquarters, then have you registered under our group..." Fubuki said.
"Oh. Well, I was planning to play games with King here today-"
"It's alright. You can go first- I have some errands to run later, so I may as well deal with it now, if you're going to their headquarters." King interrupted.
"Really? Alright, then. Let's go." Saitama said, turning to look at the three Blizzard Group members.
As the four of them left, King took out his phone.
Dialing a number, King waited for the other person to pick up the phone.
"Hey, King. So, how's-"
"Saitama's going with your sister to join the Blizzard Group."
"Huh, that's fast. As expected of you, King."
"No, I didn't really do anything. It just so happened that Fubuki was already aiming to recruit Saitama. She was just at his apartment, earlier."
"I see. Well, that's fortunate. Hopefully that baldy can set a standard Fubuki'll follow when recruiting new playmates."
"I don't know if there's many heroes that can keep up with that standard, but that's none of my business."
"I can hope, can't I? Well, thanks again, King."
"You're welcome."
Cutting the call, King sighed. Saitama was off to go join the Blizzard group, so his plans to game with him were off for the time being.
"...guess I'll go out for lunch or something."
[Somewhere in another city...]
"Tsk, I forgot they close on Wednesdays... where else can I go?" King groaned. His favorite ramen place was closed today.
Looking around, there weren't any restaurants that caught his fancy.
Fancy, huh...
"...Maybe I'll actually give some high-end places a try."
He did mention that he'd never pay 30,000 yen for a meal that wasn't even filling, but then again... money wasn't exactly an issue for him. It was just the principle of the matter- if he had to choose, he'd rather go to his favorite ramen place 6 times, than go to a high-end place to try something new once.
But, considering his favorite ramen place was closed, and he wasn't craving anything specific for the moment... he was willing to give it another go, just for today.
Just as he was about to take out his phone to look for any fancy places near him, he heard sounds of civilians panicking.
Turning to look, it was someone in a caveman cosplay hurting civilians. In both his hands were the heads of some unconscious civilians.
King also noticed another person approaching the person wearing caveman cosplay.
"Sweet Mask?"
"You're the caveman they revived in ice, Suppon." Sweet Mask approached to the caveman, who, upon noticing Sweet Mask, dropped the two unconscious civilians in his hands.
"Wait, that's a real caveman?"
"You escaped from the lab and started harming civilians. In other words, you are 'evil'."
"That's the same thing a wild animal would do. I don't know if that really counts as evil."
"The Heroes Association told me to bring you in alive..."
King sensed killing intent.
"...Well, that's a problem."
"But I'm not-"
Suddenly, King appeared behind the caveman. With a few precise strikes, King attacked the caveman's pressure points, immobilizing it.
"-that... sweet."
King didn't even bother looking at the caveman that collapsed on the ground, and walked towards Sweet Mask.
"The Sweet Mask I know wouldn't do this to a human- monsters are fair game because they're monsters, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the aliens from last time, because they did fire the first shot, and that first shot took out all of City A. But he's trying to justify killing a person? One that the Heroes Association explicitly said to bring in alive?"
King placed a hand on Sweet Mask's shoulder.
"...You should take a break, Sweet Mask."
"He must be really stressed. Juggling hero activities with his idol activities must finally be getting to him. City A getting destroyed must've been the last straw. Today, he tries to kill a caveman that the Heroes Association wanted to bring in alive. Tomorrow, he might kill some burglar that he could've easily taken alive because he deemed them 'evil'. No, better to nip this in the bud."
"...What do you mean by that, King?" Sweet Mask asked.
"I overheard that the Heroes Association wanted to take him in alive." King said. "Your killing intent tells me you weren't going to follow those instructions."
"...It is evil, it should be-"
"I've said this before, I'll say it again. It doesn't matter what you think."
"He's going all in on the 'evil' argument. He really needs a break. If he ends up killing a person he could've clearly taken in alive, then unless it was a wanted mass murderer, there's no amount of good PR that can cover that up."
"I mean, he's a hero. Regardless of what your justifications are, you shouldn't go for the kill as your first option."
"You're a hero of the Heroes Association. A hero doesn't kill at the first sight of 'evil'. A hero subdues evil. A hero doesn't kill unless it's necessary. Even for monsters; if they surrender, they surrender."
"Well, maybe not for most monsters- but some monsters can actually surrender, like that chameleon-like mysterious being the other day that instantly surrendered when it realized who I was. If there's no need to, why get your hands dirty?"
"...But I do understand that the caveman did hurt civilians."
King then glanced at the caveman, and the unconscious civilians near it.
"...For all we know, it might just be lashing out in fear. Give it the benefit of the doubt, first. Take it in alive and hand it over to the Heroes Association. Who knows- maybe it can even integrate into society."
"Well, a caveman's a caveman. With how it acted, I don't think it's much different from a smart animal, maybe like a chimpanzee. I doubt it can actually integrate properly anytime soon, we're too culturally different; it'll probably be kept as a research specimen in a lab for a good while before it even approaches the idea of integrating. Still, the idea of redemption should make Sweet Mask less inclined to kill him."
...Sweet Mask wasn't saying anything. Great, that probably meant what he was saying was getting through to him!
{Sweet Mask's perspective...}
King appeared behind the caveman and somehow immediately immobilized the caveman.
"...King! Where'd he come from!?" Sweet Mask thought. He didn't even notice him approaching!
As the caveman crumpled onto the ground, Sweet Mask noticed that King didn't even spare a glance at the caveman.
King's eyes were fully on him.
"...Did he hear me mention that I was supposed to take in this caveman alive? Tch! Is he going to continue talking about 'the big picture'? As if there's ever a reason good enough to allow evil to exist-"
Sweet Mask's eyes widened as he realized King wasn't saying anything. No admonishment of his righteous decision to end evil, no arrogant exclamations of him being incompetent, no naive drivel about sparing evil, nothing. He was simply walking towards him, his eyes on him the whole time.
As King got closer and closer, Sweet Mask showed no outward reaction, but inwardly, he was on full alert- preparing himself for any possible angle of attack.
King raised his hand.
With his nerves at an all-time high, time seemed to slow. King's hand approached slowly. So slowly. The moment King finally decides to strike, he'd be ready-
-as King's hand rested on his shoulder.
How?! Did he really let him get that close?! Wait- he wasn't attacking him yet! What was King planning-
"...You should take a break, Sweet Mask."
...Huh? He wasn't attacking him? And he was asking him to take a break? Was he actually... concerned about his well being?
Wait, no! That can't be right! He had to read between the lines!
'You should stop, before you really get hurt.'
That was it! That was probably what he was alluding to! He was threatening him- in full view of civilians! They probably only saw that as King looking out for his fellow hero, but he knew better!
...But, even if he were to openly defy him, even King wouldn't be able to so brazenly attack him in public... would he?
"...What do you mean by that, King?"
"I overheard that the Heroes Association wanted to take him in alive." King said. "Your killing intent lets me know you weren't going to follow those instructions."
Damn, he had his fig leaf! In the name of the Heroes Association's instructions, King could reasonably get in his way; all for some measly instructions from the Heroes Association that wanted it captured alive!
"...It is evil, it should be-"
"I've said this before, I'll say it again. It doesn't matter what you think. You're a hero of the Heroes Association. A hero doesn't kill at the first sight of 'evil'. A hero subdues evil. A hero doesn't kill unless it's necessary. Even for monsters; if they surrender, they surrender. Much less a caveman that isn't even a monster."
...No, he couldn't let this stand. The caveman was evil! It terrorized and-
"...But I do understand that the caveman did hurt civilians."
King then looked at the unconscious civilians around the caveman, and glanced at it again. Despite the caveman being unable to move, Sweet Mask could tell from the caveman's pale face and imperceptibly quickening breath that it knew it was currently being judged by King- whether or not it truly deserved to live.
At this very moment, its life was in King's hands.
"...For all we know, it might just be lashing out in fear. Give it the benefit of the doubt, first. Take it in alive and hand it over to the Heroes Association. Who knows- maybe it can even integrate into society."
...There it was. King's judgement was to allow evil to live. And despite that, despite him wanting to strike him once more for the insult against justice- the memory of what happened during the alien invasion came to his mind, and his body refused to move.
They were just too far apart for Sweet Mask's body to even consider rebelling. Like a frog in front of a snake- it could only stay still.
King's hand- which felt like a mountain bearing down on him- was finally removed from his shoulder.
"...You should keep what I said in mind, Sweet Mask. The dead are useless."
...Of course, he had to taunt him one last time.
'No matter your ideals, no matter your prior actions, once you're dead, it means nothing.'
At that, King turned around to leave.
Though he didn't say anything, Sweet Mask clenched his fists in impotent anger, his nails digging into his palm. Was this how it was going to be? Was King going to prevent him from eliminating evil once more?
"Am I really going to let him tell me what to do, to let him dictate terms however he likes?!"
"Gwah! Huh?!"
Turning to see what the source of the noise was, it seemed like the caveman that King immobilized could move again. Sweet Mask prepared to take action-
"Wais! Ein Surambah! Mirsus!"
The caveman knelt on the ground, his hands above his head together in a prayer-like form.
At that sight, Sweet Mask's grip further tightened.
The savage caveman seemed prepared to fight him earlier, but with a single immobilizing attack by King, it was already begging for mercy once it could move?
Looking at the now-pitiful caveman, Sweet Mask unclenched his fists, as he sighed in resignation.
"I suppose it's the truth that even this savage caveman can understand."
Sweet Mask looked at King's departing figure.
"King can do whatever he wants... because he's strong."
Sweet Mask then looked at his open hand. His palm had traces of blood on it from his nails digging into his palm.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Sweet Mask then formed a fist once more. Unlike the previous fist clenched in anger, this one was one formed with purpose.
"Then I just need to get stronger."
{King's perspective...}
"Well, it doesn't seem like he's about to kill that caveman again, so he must've calmed down." King sensed that Sweet Mask no longer exuded killing intent- in fact, he seemed quite stable and calm.
Looks like he did a good job convincing him after all! He was afraid Sweet Mask might've misunderstood his last statement.
He wanted to say that with his zealousness of getting rid of those he deemed evil, he might end up taking a fight he couldn't handle, in the name of 'fighting evil'. If Sweet Mask actually ended up dead? Well, he could only imagine the sheer scale of how the public would respond to one of the most famous heroes and the world's top idol dying.
He wanted to say 'A dead hero can't protect anyone', but he ended up saying 'the dead are useless', which could be interpreted in many ways, one of them being an implied threat.
But, Sweet Mask would've directly attacked him, if he thought it was a threat. Like the time during the alien invasion, Sweet Mask misunderstood that he was threatening him, and immediately attacked him.
Really, instead of 'It's not our choice to make', he ended up with the much worse 'I wasn't asking', which was interpreted completely differently.
And instead of de-escalating the situation with a reasonable 'no, it's not a threat', of course, he went with 'I'm not threatening you, I'm telling you', which wasn't exactly any better. Well, at least Sweet Mask didn't attack him this time. Now, he could get on with his business.
"Right, what was I doing again?"
"Oh, right. Lunch."
While he did have the idea of going to a high-end restaurant for today... he didn't actually know any good ones. The last time he did go to one, it was just a tourist trap designed to lure in idiots who didn't know better. That was the first and last time he had water with gold flakes, which also forever soured his perception of fancy dining.
"Well, when in doubt, call in an expert."
King took out his phone and dialed someone.
"King? What do you want?"
"I'm free right now. You wanna go out for lunch? I chose where we ate last time- you can choose this time."
"Hah? Are you asking me out on a date?" Tatsumaki's voice was teasing. "Weren't you the one that said you weren't willing to shell out 30,000 yen for something that wasn't even filling? My tastes are expensive, you know~"
"Nah, my favorite ramen place was closed today. Also, since I had nothing to do, I thought I'd just give it a try."
"Tsk, you don't really know how to ask a girl out, do you?"
"It's just lunch with a colleague, nothing that special. So, are you free?"
"Meh, I don't have anything to do anyway. Let's meet at City R. I know a place that has great foie gras..."
[Omake: Civilized]
King was flipping through the channels on the T.V to see if anything interesting was happening.
So far, nothing was catching his attention.
"...and the caveman thawed from ice has just defeated chess grandmaster Magsen Carlnus! In an astonishing upset-"
King paused.
"Eh?"
Sitting up straight and increasing the volume, King listened to the T.V broadcast.
"Mr. Suppon, how do you feel right now?!"
"To be honest, my nerves are still on edge right now." The caveman, Suppon, smiled at the camera. "It was a tough battle- My opponent was a strong one- I'd say not even the seers from my tribe could've matched up to him in intellect. Still, the Alth tribe's honor was behind me- I couldn't simply let him step on the entire tribe's pride, after all."
"...Ha?"
That was the caveman he saved from Sweet Mask.
He looked nothing like he did last time- gone was the vicious face of a savage, he looked downright genial. He still kept his long hair, headband, and ornaments, but instead of the black loincloth he was wearing last time, he was wearing a formal black business suit and tie.
"The Alth tribe? Could you expound on that?"
"Well, in my time, my tribe, the Alth, was known to produce great shamans, seers, warmasters, and strategists, after all. And, not to brag, but I'm one of the premier Intellects of my tribe."
"Is that so? But your first actions upon awakening didn't seem like it! In fact, it was reported that your first actions upon being awoken was escaping from the lab and terrorizing the nearby area! In fact, we have some reports that you even attacked civilians!"
At that, Suppon gave a wry smile.
"I'm afraid that was due to a misunderstanding. At the time when I was frozen, I was running away from an enemy tribe. The Orrik tribe had just ambushed our caravan, and while running, I slipped off a cliff and fell into a lake. When I woke up, I thought I was stuck in some kind of illusion conjured up by enemy shamans, so I was trying to break free from that."
Suppon the looked straight into the camera.
"To those I may have harmed or caused distress to, I, Ein Tulek of the Alth tribe, extend my apologies. Though, that name means little in this time, so I suppose I also extend my apologies as Suppon."
"Well, you heard it here first, folks! Mr. Suppon, or Ein Tulek of the Alth tribe, has just defeated chess grandmaster Magsen Carlnus after a few days of acclimating to modern society! So, what do you plan to do after this, Mr. Suppon- or should we call you Mr. Ein Tulek?"
"Both will work, thank you. I have many names, after all. Ein Tulek is my Tribe name, my birth name is Sumarat, and the name given to me by the scientists that revived me from the ice was Suppon. So, anything you wish to call me will do."
As the T.V broadcast continued on, King blinked twice.
"...That caveman I saved was a genius?"