The heroes were completely quiet as they entered the apartment. Two pairs of footsteps echoed in the hallway, two pairs of footwear were removed, and two bare feet pittered into the main room of the baldy's cramped home.
Saitama found it relatively comfortable.
Houseguests didn't come by often, but the esper wasn't unfamiliar to him at all. The few days she spent in his house, she made herself a little too at home, in fact. She mostly just lazed about reading manga while letting Genos do most of the work. What a bum.
Every once in a while, though, she would find it in herself to do chores or help the two with the cooking — which seemed fine at first. But her nagging insistence on doing things by herself wore on Saitama's patience more than he'd like to admit. There were a few rare times she'd actually work quite well with him, though, and Saitama spent most of their week together trying to find out why. Eventually, he noticed that she was mostly mellow when it was just the two of them. Or rather, Saitama corrected himself, it was probably when Genos wasn't around. The cyborg and the esper always seemed to butt heads one way or another.
In the present, seeing as to how his zealous disciple was out buying plungers, Saitama was pretty sure that the girl's present silence didn't mean she was in a bad mood. Which was good, since he wasn't really sure if he could deal with the snark right now. After the whole mess he'd been through in the past few days, he wasn't sure if he was in a particularly good mood either.
"So, how's it been?" the baldy asked, placing the newly-returned manga back to its proper place on his shelf.
"Mmm," Tatsumaki muttered, clutching her fur coat. "Fine."
"I mean, since you came with my manga a week late," Saitama said, turning to look at her. "You must've been busy."
The esper sat down in front of the small center table, resting her head against her hand. Looking around, she took in the fuller shelves, a small pile of game cards beside the TV, and the new gadget placed carefully beside the baldy's laptop.
"Looks like you've been busy, too." Tatsumaki looked boredly at him.
"Oh, those?" he said. "Yeah. I borrowed them from someone."
Her head lifted just the slightest bit.
"Who?"
"Ah…" Saitama rubbed his chin, considering if his S-Class buddy would appreciate the little mention.
'Ah, whatever.' The baldy concluded that he probably wouldn't mind. "You know that King guy?"
"King?" the girl sat up stiffly. "You borrowed these from King. The S-Class hero?"
"Yep," the baldy nodded. "He's really into video games."
The esper looked away, frowning.
"… I didn't know he did anything other than fight," she said, then turned sharply back to Saitama. "Are you sure you got the right guy?"
"Uhh, he's the one with three scars on his left eye," Saitama said, putting three fingers up to match his description. He made a clawing motion at his eye. "Little gruff looking, sorta."
The esper looked like she wanted to comment, but shook her head.
"Whatever," she huffed, leaning back against her arm.
"How 'bout you? Did you meet anyone over at the HQ?" Saitama asked, moving to sit across from her. "Genos said only A-Class and above could stay there. How are they?"
Even in the baldy's apartment, it seemed the esper couldn't escape talking about matters she couldn't care less about.
"Annoying," she said.
"Oh… that sucks," Saitama scratched his head. "I was kinda looking forward to checking it out with Genos sometime."
"It's not worth your time," she said, shaking her head. "Everything is so tedious and stuck-up."
"Yikes," the baldy said, looking a little down. "And I heard rent was cheap, too. So much for being neighbors then, huh, Tats?"
The girl glanced quickly at him.
"I— that… it's not all bad," the esper muttered.
"Huh?" Saitama tilted his head at her.
"Nothing! I don't care." Tatsumaki waved her hand quickly. "Why'd you invite me inside, anyway? Just to brag about meeting King or something?"
"Er," the baldy said. "I didn't think you'd actually agree to come in."
"So you just… had nothing in mind?"
"Yup."
"Mm." The esper didn't look surprised. If anything, her expression betrayed just a smidge of tired frustration. The baldy didn't miss it.
"Um… we could play some video games?" Saitama offered.
She stood up and grabbed some manga from his bookshelves.
"I'll take that as a no, then," the baldy shrugged.
"Mmm." The girl sat down and began to read.
Maybe she was in a bad mood.
.
.
Tatsumaki placed her book down and glanced at the baldy sitting across from her, fully focused on playing his game. It had been around an hour since the silence had settled, and frankly, it bothered the esper more than she thought it would.
Saitama was the same as ever. Nonchalant, plain-talking, lazy — even though he'd apparently met even more S-Class heroes since their little hot spring trip, it didn't seem like anything was different with him at all.
The silence wasn't the problem, either. She'd had more than enough of that alone at home, and she enjoyed it. In fact, the esper usually enjoyed the quiet peace after a long day's work — and today felt like one of the longest days she had by far.
But still, some lingering unease simmered in her core.
"Yo, Tats." Saitama's voice made her jump. "I'm hungry. You hungry?"
"No," she said, completely out of habit. "I mean—"
"Before you say that," the baldy raised a hand, walking towards the kitchen. "We ran out of eggs a few days ago. I know you're still probably sick of them."
"Huh. What do you have, then?"
"Bread," the man said, holding the plastic-wrapped loaf out for her to see. "Bread and ham."
Tatsumaki didn't miss the upbeat tone of his voice. She responded in kind — at least, to the best of her limited capabilities.
"Half off at the store?" she asked, humoring him.
"Sixty off," Saitama said. "The ham, too."
"A certified steal," the esper said, smirking despite her mood. "I'll have one, then."
"Comin' right up."
'Maybe I'm just hungry,' she thought.
As the baldy scoured the kitchen for a knife Genos had placed inside the trash can due to its insufficient sharpness, Tatsumaki took a peek at the video game beeping softly from across the table.
It was a go-karting game — at least, that was the esper's best guess. Not much was visible through the pause menu plastered on the center of the screen. Muffled music played in the background, almost as bright as the colors on the screen. It looked like a child's coloring book.
Saitama liked this kind of stuff? King liked this stuff?!
At the very least, it kept the baldy from being bored for an hour. She didn't miss the fact that he was paying more attention to this little thing than his own houseguest.
The esper picked it up, staring at it for a moment.
She unpaused the game.
.
Chaos. It was pure chaos.
.
As an experienced hero, the esper had dealt with swarms of monstrous bugs, creatures who could teleport, and even a city-wide barrage of missiles — each requiring adaptation and quick thinking — but none of these situations compared to the complete insanity she held in her hands.
Her eyes went wide as what she assumed to be Saitama's character was hit again and again by projectiles of increasing questionability. First came a green turtle shell which hurtled towards her at dangerous speeds, then a red one which swerved right into the side of her already spinning kart, then came a bolt of lightning, and to top it all off, a massive bullet-man-creature came out of nowhere and violently rammed into the racer, sending the poor thing careening down into the edge of space.
Tatsumaki placed the game facedown back across the table, then placed her hands neatly atop her lap. A tiny frown was the only expression she could muster.
What the hell just happened?
"Food's ready," Saitama said, walking over with a small plate in each hand.
The girl floated a sandwich in front of her and bit into it absentmindedly, not really sure she was completely lucid. Maybe everything that happened was all a dream. The recurring nightmare of Boros wasn't much better, but it made sense, at least. She pinched her lap.
Ouch.
"Uhh, are you okay?" the baldy raised an eyebrow.
"Your game is dumb," she said, munching.
The caped hero flipped the console over to see his character finish at dead last, loser's fanfare playing pathetically in the background.
"Oh, what? Man, that was a good run, too." The baldy said flatly, not wanting to admit that the oncoming barrage was the reason he'd paused it in the first place.
The esper huffed.
"You know, I could show you how to play," Saitama suggested.
"Huh?" she said. "No way."
"C'mon!" the baldy said, brightening up. Maybe she'd be worse than he was. "It'll be fun!"
The girl turned her head.
Aside from the fact that Tatsumaki was sure she wouldn't understand a single thing about the game — the girl had never really been interested in competing in… anything, really. Watching people climb over one another in pointless things was something she'd seen more than enough of in real life. All that was supposed to matter was beating monsters — and that nobody got in her way while doing so. The idea of playing pretend in a game didn't appeal to her much at all.
She glanced over at the baldy, thinking of some way to decline that didn't involve actually wording out her thoughts. Maybe she could just break the game, somehow?
Then again, after all the stress she'd been under for the past few days, maybe doing something would help out. Then again again, it could also completely backfire and stress her out even more.
"I—" she began, wanting to accept and decline at the same time.
He tilted his head questioningly at her, completely oblivious.
That look was just unfair.
"Haah, fine," she sighed. "Gimme that."
Saitama scooted over to her, handing her the handheld device once he found a spot to her right. He seemed unperturbed, but the table was a little too small to fit two.
"Alright, let's see…" he said, leaning over to click a bunch of things on the screen. "Aaand, there. Pick a character."
The esper was met with a character select screen featuring everything from spindly men with lightning-shaped moustaches to talking mushrooms.
Of course, the obvious pick was to choose the strongest looking one, right? The esper nudged the joystick, landing on a brutish, snapping turtle-looking creature. That is, if snapping turtles rocked a mohawk and spiked arm bracelets. And were yellow.
"Nice," Saitama nodded, seeming to like her choice. King always disliked the baldy's taste in characters, but Tatsumaki and he were on the same wavelength. Cool was always best.
He clicked to confirm the selection, and was met with another screen, this time to select different parts of the go-kart.
"You don't expect me to do all that, do you?" she asked.
"Nah, this is kinda boring," he said. Again, where King would always make fun of his lack of interest in kart building, it seemed that the esper was just as disinterested as he was. She was a natural! "Lemme just…"
He quickly clicked past it, selecting whichever one came first. Again, another menu slid in their way.
"O—kay. Let's start with the easier tracks," he said.
Before Tatsumaki could complain about it taking too long, Saitama handed her the game, race already about to begin.
"Alright," he said. "Go."
"Wh— huh?!" the esper stiffened, jabbing the handheld back at the bald man. "I don't even know how to go forward! You have to—"
"Just press A," he said, blocking her attempts with his hand. The in-game countdown ticked to 3. "It's easy."
"And then what?!" Tatsumaki said, trying to pull at his arm with psychic energy. "You can't just throw me into this and tell me to 'just press A,' baldy!"
2.
"It's fine," he said, left arm vibrating in resistance to the girl's powers. "Ju-u-ust give it a sho-o-ot."
"I didn't wait an hour for you to just hand this to me and watch!" she said. "If you expected me to do it myself, I wouldn't have accepted in the first place!"
1.
"Yeah, I'll teach you as you go," he said, a little taken aback. "Just—"
"Grh, are you even listening to me?!" she said. "Play with me!"
Go!
The racers whizzed past. Tatsumaki stared at Saitama intently. She jabbed the game at him.
"Ah," he said, rubbing his head. "I… thought you wanted to do it by yourself. You know, 'cuz you checked it out while I was making food and…"
"You said you'd show me," she said. "So show me."
Her green eyes bore into his. He could practically hear her. 'Idiot.'
"Ah… okay."
Saitama took hold of the right side of the handheld, nodding to the esper.
"I'll do the extra stuff," he said. "You can steer."
The baldy pressed a button and they were off. The esper muttered something about reading between the lines and him being dense as a brick, but nevertheless guided their racer carefully around the course.
.
"That's a left," Saitama said.
"I can see that, dum-dum."
"Hey Ta— why are you going off the track?!"
"Because you're trying to pull off some weird jumpy stuff again! I told you to stop!"
"This makes us faster if you wiggle a bit!"
"I don't car— oi! Don't shake the whole damn thing!"
"We're almost there though!"
"No! Just use our boost thing! Stop!"
"Boost or stop?!"
It really didn't matter either way.
"Gah!" they said in unison.
They finished dead last.
Tatsumaki clenched her fist.
"Hey, uh," Saitama said, expecting a little outburst from the green-haired esper. "You good?"
"Again," she said, staring at him.
"Again?" he asked hesitantly.
"Again."
.
It was around the thirty minute mark that they managed to not get last place. It was another thirty before they were able to take the lead in the last lap.
.
"Hold it, hold it!" the esper said. The finish line was right there…
"Yea— oop!"
"I said HOLD, NOT LET GO!" The girl winced as they were struck by a red shell curving into them from behind. A racer whizzed by, stealing the first place spot from them. "SAITAMA!"
"I… my hand slipped!" he blurted.
The two came in second, unable to get their lead back.
"Grhh!" she spat, looking at the baldy with fire in her eyes.
"A-again?" he asked hesitantly. Tatsumaki seemed almost ready to break the game into powdery, expensive dust.
"Aga— are you dumb?" she asked, trying to maintain her composure. "Of course again!"
.
.
Genos walked briskly home, plunger — and fateful discount cheese — in hand. Two hours was much too long a time to buy such small items, but the cyborg's power was running low from all the fighting and roadwork. Inwardly, he cursed the ninja for causing such a commotion during such an important mission.
Ignoring the looks of the passerby that recognized him, the cyborg walked on in silence.
Oftentimes when he was alone, he liked to think about recent happenings and try to make sense of them. He found that self-reflection helped settle his thoughts, and in turn, he felt himself draw closer to what his master meant by 'training his mentality.' After dutifully forging his mind and body through observation and teachings from his master, he hoped to achieve true mental fortitude.
Rising to the top ten in ranking would be a mere byproduct of his hard work.
It was a lofty training method, and helped the cyborg sort through thoughts he would later write down in his notebook. Useful as it was, Genos quickly found it had become a habit as he shopped for sale items or did house duties.
For the past few weeks or so, however, his thoughts seemed never to stray far from his sensei. Something peculiar began to worry the cyborg.
.
Around the time when Saitama met King, Genos noticed an almost imperceptible change in the bald hero.
He seemed… slower.
Not in battle — that would never be the case — but in the way he carried himself.
His new interest in video games seemed the first suspect — but his bald master's air of melancholy seemed to shroud him whether or not he was buried face-deep in a video game or not. It was a subtler shift that reminded the cyborg of how Saitama acted after the meteor strike or the Deep Sea King's attack. He was quiet around the apartment as of late, just as he was before — if to a lesser extent.
Still, it was odd. Because unlike those events, Genos could see no real reason for his master's quiet drop in mood.
Had King discouraged his master somehow? He seemed a relatively friendly man, and the cyborg knew Saitama more-or-less enjoyed his time around the rank 7 hero.
But King seemed the only reason. The timeline of events didn't have room for anything else to occur.
After defeating the robot Machine God G4, Genos went straight off to Dr. Kuseno to upgrade his armor. When he returned to his sensei's apartment at that time, he found the man lying on the floor, staring straight at the ceiling. He looked to be in deep thought and didn't react when Genos greeted him. It unnerved him. After a while Saitama was back to his usual self, but those few moments had ingrained themselves in the cyborg's thoughts.
.
Of course, the disciple knew that Saitama was never going to succumb to any sort of problem for too long. Physical or mental, his master was indomitable. He just had to leave it to Saitama to figure things out himself, as he always did.
All Genos could really do was handle the lesser problems they faced, such as rent. And plungers.
It really was fortunate that Genos had the doctor install the latest cleaning functionalities in his new arms. From now on, his master could deal with his problem, staring at the ceiling as much as he pleased.
.
.
"Wait for it…" the esper said. She bit her lip in concentration.
"Yep," replied the baldy.
"There he is," she said, sighting the racer ahead of them. She nudged their racer to the left, making sure they were centered. "Now!"
Without a word, the bald hero sent their green shell flying into the mushroom-man in first place.
The shell hit dead on. They whizzed past him.
And finished the race.
"YE—ES!" the two shouted in unison.
"Gah!" Saitama said, slumping heavily onto the floor.
Tatsumaki stared at the game in her hand, watching as their racer did a victory lap around the course while cheering to appropriately upbeat winning music.
Her pulse raced. She felt just the slightest bit giddy.
The esper set the gadget down on the table and promptly let herself fall backwards beside the baldy. Unexpectedly, his left arm was there to cushion the back of her head.
"Oi," the baldy said, not appreciating the extra weight on his limb.
Tatsumaki closed her eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring him completely.
"You know," the esper said after a while. "Maybe your games aren't so dumb after all."
The bald hero glanced at her.
"That's a first," he said. "The esper thinks something isn't dumb." He chuckled. "Maybe she'll return my manga early next time, too, huh?"
"You're dumb," she said, closing her eyes.
The two stayed there, basking in the result of their hard work.
The silence felt warm.
After a while, Saitama felt the esper sit up.
"Hey," Tatsumaki said, breaking the peace in earnest. She faced towards the table — away from him.
"Yeah?" the baldy replied.
"How have you been?" she said. "For the past two weeks."
"Uhm… fine, I guess," he tilted his head. "Just the same as ever."
The esper didn't speak. Her head dipped down a little.
"How's your week been?" Saitama raised an eyebrow.
Tatsumaki twitched, glancing at the baldy before turning away again.
She sighed.
The green-haired girl took off her coat and placed it on the baldy's face.
"This is my sister's," she said. "I found it outside your house a while ago."
"Fubuki." His voice was muffled under the fabric. "Right?"
"So she did introduce herself," the esper said, shaking away any sullen thoughts she might have had. "What did she ask for? Info on me? Or Genos, maybe?"
"She wanted me to join her group," Saitama said. "Kinda wasn't too convincing about it, though."
"Fubuki's at it again with her stupid Blizzard Bunch agenda, huh?" The esper shook her head. "That girl…"
"I don't really want to bother with family business, but," the baldy began. "Maybe… you and her should talk."
"She was that bad, huh?" Tatsumaki said. "Tch."
The esper never approved of her sister's decision to stay in B-Class. As one half of the psychic siblings, Fubuki had an obligation to show off her strength — lest the fear that their names force upon monsters and criminals fade. The green-haired girl was fully confident in her sister's ability to rise up the ranks, but the foolish girl obviously didn't share her belief. Instead of pushing her limits and increasing her ranking, Fubuki locked herself into the top of B-Class and molded it to her liking. And for what? To have authority over some small fry? The idea made Tatsumaki sick.
But still… the esper touched her throat. Visions of her conversation in the hot spring surfaced. The memory of hot sludge dripping down her skin burned in her head.
Meetings, interviews, hero work — whatever the hell was going on inside her head — she had to deal with all that first. If she talked to her sister on top of that…
The girl fell back onto Saitama's arm.
"I can't," she said. "Not now."
.
And suddenly, that icy silence was back.
.
At least, that was what the esper expected.
"Well that's perfectly fine too," Saitama said.
"Um, what?" Tatsumaki tilted her head.
"I mean," the baldy began. "You're… you. Ya know?"
"Are you trying to make me feel better?" she asked. "'Cuz it's not working."
"Taking interviews, settling into your house, doing hero work, probably — you're awesome."
"Ah?" The girl was painfully aware of Saitama lying right beside her. Had he been watching her interviews? "O-of course I am! But, uh, why're you saying all this?"
"Everyone says the S-Class is insane. And you're in rank 2." he said, as if just realizing the fact. "That must mean you're stronger than Genos. And old man Bang. And basically everyone else in the Association, now that I think about it."
"Yeah," she said softly. "That's…"
Tatsumaki sat up again.
"Where are you going with this?" she asked. "You're being weird right now."
"Being an example is important," he said, not seeming to hear her. "Especially for an S-Class hero. Right?"
"Saitama?" she frowned. His expression bothered her.
He seemed to snap awake.
"Oh, I… sorry," he shook his head. "All I'm saying is, if you just keep doing what you're doing, your sister won't have a choice but to notice."
"You think so?" she said.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Go be busy all you like."
The girl smiled just a little. Since when had the inside of the baldy's head gotten as bright as the outside?
Maybe Saitama had changed while she was gone.
"Hey," she said, leaning over to pick something up from the table. "You up for a game?"
.
The baldy smiled just a bit. That was new.
"Sure."
.
.
Genos opened the door to find two of the strongest heroes on the planet losing their minds over a video game.
"AGH!"
"This game is garbage! Garbage!"
Saitama slumped sideways, away from the esper. He hit the floor with an audible thud!
Tatsumaki sat perfectly still, hand gripping the game tightly. It looked as if she was considering if shredding the game into metal ribbons was worth the mess.
"I am home, sensei," Genos said slowly. He placed the plunger outside of the bathroom.
"Oh, hey Genos…" Saitama said, still on the floor. His disciple heard him mumbling something about blue turtle shells.
"'Sup, chrome dome," Tatsumaki raised her free hand, placing the game down with great difficulty.
"Tornado," Genos said, nodding towards her. "It has been a while."
"Yeah," she said. "I've been bus—"
"You owe sensei around two and a half thousand yen for those overdue manga," he said, walking over to inspect if the girl even returned it. Seeing them on his master's shelf, he scoffed. Their spines were creased. "But considering the condition they're in, I'd estimate you owe him higher. Around three thousand yen should suffice."
The esper tilted her head at the white coat which had fallen behind Saitama.
"That's around two hundred thousand yen," she said. "You can keep it."
The baldy instantly stood up and grabbed it, dusting it off from the floor like it was made of silk.
"Genos?" he raised the coat at him, unsure if the esper was joking or not.
The cyborg walked around it, mechanical eyes beeping softly.
"Indeed it is," he said. "I'd estimate a hundred and seventy thousand."
"And Fubuki just left it here?!" Saitama said, eyes narrowing. Then widening. "Isn't that, like, stealing?! Won't she have us arrested or something?"
"If she's already seen you with Genos," Tatsumaki said. "Fubuki will probably have other things on her mind."
"So you're saying we can sell this…" the baldy said, practically drooling at the prospect. "Hey Tats, if she gets mad, you'll explain, right?"
"You're on your own with that," the psychic said, shaking her head. "And didn't you say that I could go and be busy?"
"Well, yeah, but—"
Saitama was cut off by his disciple.
"Sensei must have been too polite to say this to you, but Fubuki tried to attack him," the cyborg said. "The fight nearly ruined our street."
"Um, Genos—"
It was Tatsumaki's turn to cut the baldy off.
"You two fought?" she said, standing up. The room rumbled.
"Well, I wouldn't call it a fight," Saitama began. "More lik—"
.
"Were you the one that hurt her then?"
.
Genos felt the same pressure he did the day Bang visited unannounced, bringing tickets he had forcibly gotten from an association worker. Despite the upgrade he'd gotten since then, it took all he could to stop his knees from buckling into the ground.
Saitama, on the other hand, was still completely unaffected.
"Nope," he said. "A ninja showed up and attacked us."
"Mas…ter…" Genos said through gritted teeth. "Dealt… with him… quickly…"
The room stopped shaking immediately.
"Good," the girl said huffily. She let out a pent-up sigh.
"Man, you're really all over the place today, huh?" Saitama said.
He patted her head.
"I think we've been losing too much," Saitama said. "How 'bout we take a break?"
"Mrh," she said, hair being ruffled by the baldy. Despite her grumbling, the girl sat back down.
"She didn't hurt you either, right?" she asked.
"Nope."
"Good."
.
Genos walked to the kitchen, getting ready to prepare food for the three of them. It didn't seem like the esper would be leaving anytime soon.
His legs creaked dangerously as he tried to walk off the esper's attack.
"Tch."
Her serving would be the smallest.
.
.
"You're getting worse and worse at this, baldy!"
"I said we should take a break! You're the one who turned the game on right after sitting down!"
"You joined me!"
"Well you— WATCH THE TRACK!"
A comedic falling whistle sound effect played around the room.
"AGH!"
"This game is trash! Trash!"
For the second time that day, Genos watched as the two heroes agonized over their loss. It seems they had switched positions from before, but the cyborg didn't really know what that meant. As much as he wanted to understand the 'virtual training' his master and King often took part in, King's games were much too complex for him. Seeing the second-ranked hero, as well as his master, struggle with it proved his theory even further.
As a matter of fact, wouldn't the game's difficulty worsen his master's mood? Considering that the esper, who had argued time and time again with Saitama — and not to mention ruined his reputation — was also present…
"Sen—" he began.
"AGAIN!" the esper yelled. But the bald man was already on it. The two leaned forward, next race about to begin.
They pumped themselves up in unison.
"Rah!"
Genos shook his head and continued to cook, his master and the esper reacting loudly to something in the background.
.
Saitama and the esper sighed as their racer finished second, inches from slamming into the one in first place to nudge him off-track.
"I think we should switch back," the bald man said.
"Not until we win," the green-haired girl frowned. "I think I'm getting the hang of all these buttons…"
"Pardon the intrusion, but dinner is ready," Genos said, bringing out a plate of sandwiches, grilled and steaming, filled perfectly with ham and cheese.
Saitama took it as his disciple went to get plates for each of them.
"Here you go," he said, handing her one. "Hope you didn't have any dinner plans."
"No," she said, dropping the game slowly. The sandwich was taken from Saitama's hands in a bubble of green light and floated beside her. It sliced itself into perfect quarters, and the esper plucked one of them to nibble on.
"So you've got your powers back," the man noted.
"Yup," she said, munching.
"Cool," he said, biting into his own bread. The cheese stretched and eventually stuck to his face as he pulled the piece away, much to the esper's amusement.
As Saitama tried to pull it off, the esper lifted a finger. The band of cheese glowed green and wriggled up, avoiding the baldy's grip. It looked like he had a snake's tongue.
"Hey," he said, trying to grab it. This time, it flung itself upwards, sticking to the baldy's forehead. "I'm kinda starting to regret that you have your powers back."
"Heh," she chuckled, pulling the cheese away from his face. It began to orbit him like some weird, stringy moon. "I'm sure you do."
"You know… I take it back," he said, resigning himself to another bite. "It's actually nice to see you so upbeat for once."
"Mm?" The green light around the cheese flickered a little.
"For a while back there, I thought you were sulking about something," Saitama said. "Turns out you were just bored, too."
"Yeah," Tatsumaki said. "Bored…"
"It's tough moving into a new house," the baldy shrugged. "And all the media attention looks way too tiring."
The cheese seemed to wriggle ever so slightly, like a worm trying to escape her grip. Her hand flinched, and the piece of food dropped on the baldy's lap.
"So don't forget to come visit once in a while," Saitama picked it up and munched on it. "'Kay?"
Tatsumaki looked at the baldy.
He patted her head.
"I—your—hand!" she sputtered, train of thought completely gone. "Stop… cheese…"
"Tornado!" Genos said, making her jump. In his hands were three small plates, which he looked like he was about to drop. "Your heart rate and temperature have increased. Do not tell me… are you allergic to dairy, by any chance?!"
"No, nonono," she stood up, shaking her head. "I'm fine."
"It's getting pretty late," Saitama said, finishing up the last of his sandwich. "You should probably rest up if you're not feeling well."
"Hm?" Checking the time, the esper realized she'd been there for far too long. "Ah?! I, yeah! Something… delivery!"
Cursing the effect the baldy's petting had on her, Tatsumaki made briskly for the door, bringing her dinner with her. A couple of other things followed along, such as a few of the latest manga volumes and her sister's coat; the latter much to Saitama's distress.
"Come by sometime!" she said before slamming the door with psychic energy. The entryway shook violently as she flew off.
.
Saitama placed a hand on Genos' shoulder.
"No chasing her," he said, shaking his head. "We'll get that coat next time."
"…Yes, sensei."
.
.
I'm baaaack!
Thanks so much for being patient with me. Life happened, and I went through kind of a huge slump back at the start of the year. I kept writing, but found myself getting stuck at practically each paragraph. But it wasn't all bad stuff keeping my busy! I've recently been busy with lifestyle stuff as well, which helped me get over all that bad jazz at the start of the year. I really hope that I'm able to push out chapters more consistently from now on, but let's see.
Headpats for everyone!
-bb
P.S. the recent OPM chapters have been so HYPE! I've got some stuff planned with a bunch of the plot points Murata and ONE came up with — so exciting!
P.P.S. get ready for some Garou action (maybe, haha)