A man in a suit made his way frantically through the forest.
"Oh my," he gasped. "Oh my, oh my ohmyohmy…"
'Try going for a few kills on the outskirts!' another member of the Fubuki Group had told him. 'And bring them back, if you can — for proof!'
And so he did.
Initially, he wondered if it was a prank. His colleagues were known to mess with him every so often. And he was new — which made it all the more easy to do so. As soon as he made it to the edge of the treeline, however, he noticed monsters mulling about.
Cool. So it wasn't a joke.
The creatures were weak, thankfully — the type that preferred to hide in the cover rather than show themselves. He found himself with around two or three victories, complete with bagged proof — before also finding himself completely lost. It wasn't a prank after all. He was just stupid.
And completely alone.
Not a sound could be heard amidst the sprawling trees. No chirps from birds nor crickets. No buzzing or croaks, either. The suited man figured the monsters must have scared them off. It felt eerie to hear just the ruffling of leaves.
For a while he felt fine. His cell had no signal, but he was confident that eventually he'd find a good patch of land somewhere. The park was large, but not impossible to navigate, either. The silence was consistent — no sudden sounds set him on edge, and he was left to contemplate with only the trees.
That is, until he heard distant impacts.
'BOOM!'
The first time he heard it, he jumped. The sound felt surreal in the motionless forest. And then it felt horrific. A few seconds later the ground shook. The leaves rustled violently. The trees swayed. The man in the suit almost fell down.
He felt sweat begin to pool behind his neck.
'BOOM!'
The second blast was closer, and the suited man gulped. Instinctively he began to turn around to run. Unfortunately as with the sound, the impact was closer too. The wind and rumbling earth was enough to knock him off-balance this time. What felt like a huge creature sent tremors through the ground, drawing closer by the moment. In a flash, whatever was making the noise was already on him.
"AHHHHHH—!"
A bald man stopped running right in front of the suited man, carrying the remains of a few dozen monsters on his shoulder.
"Oh. Hey," Saitama said to the flabbergasted man. "What're you doing here? It's dangerous."
"Ah… um," he stammered, noticing the tremors had stopped. "I'm from the Fubuki Group."
"Oh, a hero, then. Have fun," the bald man said, leaving.
"Wait!" the suited hero replied. "Can you help me out of here? I'm kind of lost."
"Ah. Yeah, no pr—" Saitama eyed the man thoughtfully. He quickly noted the dripping fabric the man held at his side. "What's in that bag?"
"Um, monsters. Why?"
"Mind giving that to me?"
The man was in no position to decline. He nodded slowly.
"Alright then." Saitama lifted him by the collar.
"What're you— gaaaah!"
The bald hero jumped, whisking the member of the Fubuki Group into the sky.
"Uhh, you're like a gang, right?" Saitama asked. "Where are the rest of you?"
The suited man was too busy screaming to reply.
"Hmm… maybe Tats knows," Saitama muttered.
His little conflict with Tatsumaki was a little one-sided at the moment. As it turns out, espers were good at killing things from a distance. Who knew? After his first 'interference,' where he stopped her from killing monsters and acquired a lead, Tatsumaki had simply flown into the air and crushed any monster within visible range. Try as the baldy might, the girl had gained almost double the points he could — simply by flying around.
That was why he had been hunting in the forest. While the monsters were difficult for him to spot, they were out of view from the esper flying above. To add to that, even if the esper could simply detect their presence, it was much more energy-consuming — not that the baldy knew, anyway.
So the two had simply split up. As Tatsumaki ran out of monsters to kill out in the open, Saitama had begun to bring their scores back to even. At least, that's what he hoped.
The bald hero began to fall, and he caught a flash of green streak across the sky.
"Tats!" he shouted. In the distance he saw the girl slow down mid-flight. She glanced in his direction. Saitama quickly grabbed the bag of monsters from the man in the suit.
"What?" she shouted back, in the middle of tracking down an underground monster. She knew she had the lead and was not about to fall for any tricks or rule-changing. "If you think you're getting away from answering my question, yo—"
"Catch!"
Saitama hurled the suited man in Tatsumaki's direction.
"Agabgaghagba!" he screamed as he raced through the sky, cheeks rippling in the wind. The trees were no bigger than the nail of his pinky. The clouds were so close he felt like he could touch them. He wanted to vomit.
Tatsumaki caught him easily. The man was enclosed in a bubble of green energy.
"Who're you?"
"I'm… ah… one of your sister's colleagues, Miss. Do you… do you know where I can find the others?"
"No. Get lost," she said, dropping the sphere.
It was sad, but the man had begun to get used to being flung about. As the ground drew closer he screamed, but only half-heartedly. He knew that whatever he'd gotten caught up in — it wasn't for him to think about. Or scream about. As the ground drew closer, he welcomed his fate with open arms.
The sphere crashed straight into the burrow of an underground monster.
Tatsumaki slowly floated down and went to pull the remains of the monster up.
"What…?"
There was nothing there.
Tatsumaki flinched as she heard explosions in the distance.
Walls of earth plumed upward, and the esper spotted the bald man's shiny head bobbing up and down the grassy slopes.
There was a growing pile of monsters on his shoulder. One of which was a mole-looking monster that she had been targeting.
"SAITAMA!"
The esper flew after him.
.
.
The sphere around the suited hero slowly dissipated and he brushed himself down in a daze.
He was alive!
He pulled out his phone, wondering if they had service in this area.
"Hello?" Eyelashes picked up quickly. "Who's this?"
"It's me!" the suited man replied. "Y'kno—"
"Oh!" the long-lashed hero recognized his voice. "The new recruit! Where'd you go? We were just about to do a roll call!"
"I— eep!" The suited hero jumped as he heard explosions behind him. Boulders fell around him.
"Hello? Newbie?"
"Wah!"
More explosions, more rubble.
.
Fubuki tilted her head, hearing strange sounds coming from Eyelashes' phone.
"Is he okay?" she asked.
"I'm sure he is," the man said, dropping the call. "I'll just text him where we are in a bit."
"Is he still in the park? We have to assist him."
The B-Class esper's expression was cloudy. Eyelashes didn't like where this was going.
"We can go get him for you," the hero suggested. "No need to tire yourself, Miss."
The girl shook her head and stood up.
"Actually," she said. "I'll go alone. It's just a ten-minute walk."
"But—"
Fubuki glared at him, and he backed down.
The esper took a french fry and promptly left.
.
Something was up. The raven-haired esper just knew it.
'Ah, hey Miss!' Eyelashes greeted her when she arrived at the diner, a half-eaten plate of food by his side. 'C'mon, grab a drink!'
He had been much too friendly.
'M-Miss Fubuki!' Lily said, sweating. 'How was your day?'
And she'd been much too nervous.
Fubuki had told her group not to stop hunting monsters until she came back. The Association had given them express access to the park — meaning no civilians allowed — and she had planned to investigate the matter afterwards as well.
For them to just get up and leave… Well there were only two options. The first would be a monster they couldn't handle. Fair enough. There was no shame in retreating from a powerful Tiger- or Demon-level threat.
But she knew that wasn't it. The second option, the one that she loathed thinking about.
It was the only explanation. Because all the way from here, Fubuki could sense it.
Her sister's powers.
Why Tatsumaki would interfere was something Fubuki never bothered to think about. When it came to her older sister, 'why' was a dangerous word. So Fubuki learned to face reality and make the most of it. She had something to ask her older sister and knew exactly where she was.
Of course, there was a plethora of 'somethings' that she wanted to ask. About Tatsumaki's apology on the ship. About her words in the hot spring. About the S-Class. About being a hero. Or maybe about meeting up to eat somewhere for once.
Fubuki shook her head. They all had to be put aside for now.
Speaking to the cyborg had brought up a memory she had previously cast aside.
Walking to the entrance of the hot spring resort — trying to maintain composure — Fubuki heard Tatsumaki before she saw her. Whether it was directed at her or not, the green-haired esper's anger never failed to put Fubuki on-edge. The girl hesitated before going outside.
Cautiously peeking over, she saw her older sister berate the rookie Genos, trading insults and pointing violently — until Metal Knight dropped in to interrupt them. After the robot made his announcement and her sister's attention returned to the cyborg, they were back at it. Arguing again.
Strangely, the bald man stepped in to intervene. Fubuki's eyes widened. The B-Class that had stabbed Zombieman, trying to talk to her sister? It would be a bloodbath. And Fubuki wouldn't have that for her soon-to-be-recruit.
She walked outside, head held up.
'Hey, B-Class. If you touch my sister, she'll kill you, you know?'
Too busy trying to keep up appearances — both in front of the baldy and her own sister — Fubuki had not registered what the two were saying. While the fact that the B-Class hadn't been launched into the sky was obvious, Fubuki had pinned the reason down to her sister not being in the mood.
What she'd learned in the past few days had led her to reconsider.
The raven-haired esper continued walking towards the park, feeling her sister's power all the more acutely. It washed along, lathered in the distant breeze.
Fubuki bit her lip. Genos' silence about Saitama's activities during and after the alien invasion — it was obvious he was hiding something.
Saitama. Her sister. The hot spring.
The ship.
Something was up. The raven-haired esper just knew it.
.
Tatsumaki felt a bead of sweat drip down her cheek. The monster in her psychic grip turned to mush as she clamped her hand shut.
The esper sighed.
'How long is this gonna go for?' she thought.
The shadows had begun to lengthen. Saitama seemed to be less dead-set on his steak at this point, but he was still quite stubborn. Every so often, the forest a distance away shook as the baldy punched a monster beneath the canopy.
She tried to keep track of the impacts, but lost count around an hour ago.
The esper was still confident she had the lead for now. But if it was to turn into a battle of stamina, she didn't quite know if she had it in her.
The girl floated down onto a nearby bench, away from the glare of the low sun.
The ground shook once more as Saitama sent another monster into oblivion. The esper tilted her head thoughtfully. Punching with such force… wouldn't it be difficult to bring back the monsters as proof?
Tatsumaki shrugged. It wasn't her problem. It was his, now that she thought about it.
She hoped that Saitama would continue wasting time, just to allow her a few breaths to recuperate.
Despite her complaints about the nonexistent rules, she was not about to lose.
She just needed a little break, is all.
The impacts continued on in the distance.
.
.
Fubuki spotted her sister sitting peacefully, bathed in golden light.
She took a step forward, but hesitated.
How was she going to go about this…
'Hey, sis,' she said, imagining the conversation she would have.
'What?' Her sister would be snappy. She always was.
'You told me that next time, you wouldn't be drunk.'
'And I'm not.'
There were two options from there.
'Now's not a good time,' or 'What do you want?'
Fubuki hoped it was the latter.
'I wanted to ask you something,' she would pause here, to make sure of her sister's reaction. 'About Saitama.'
In her mind, Tatsumaki would flinch. Or speak much too quickly.
'Who's that?' she was likely to deny anything.
'Oh, just a hero that caught my eye. He's joined my group, you know?'
A necessary trick. She knew that her group was a sore point for her sister. Before Tatsumaki could come up with an excuse, Fubuki would already be putting the nail in the coffin.
'I think he likes me,' she would say. She had no doubt that, if Tatsumaki knew Saitama, this little statement would provoke at least something out of her. Anger at the bald man for using her, maybe. Or a look of disbelief. Anything would suffice.
It felt a little too cunning for her taste, but it was effective. If her sister knew Saitama, then there would be no way she could remain calm in the midst of her provocations. If she didn't, then she'd confront the baldy. And Fubuki knew that if they fought, it would give one of them quite the learning experience.
The truth would be revealed either way.
Fubuki smirked. What a perfect plan!
Beginning to walk towards her sister, Fubuki felt a cool breeze dance in the air. It brought a cascade of leaves aflutter, and Tatsumaki stood up, looking at the forest near the horizon.
Fubuki frowned.
Her sister looked… peaceful. Like a forest spirit that had come to enjoy the vivid sunlight. The green-haired girl smiled to herself.
The raven-haired girl had never seen her sister act like this.
Sure, Tatsumaki would sometimes laugh or try to make jokes — but her expression never strayed too far from being gloomy. It was like something was weighing her down constantly.
Another breath of wind swooped down into the park. Tatsumaki took a seat once more, watching the loose leaves that glided along the sky. Her eyes were focused as ever.
Fubuki hesitated.
It would ruin her sister's mood to be confronted out of the blue.
The girl thought this would be easy. To finally be able to crack that foreboding wall, that impenetrable facade she knew her sister had locked herself behind.
The black-haired girl clenched her teeth.
The first time she tried to talk openly was their confrontation in the hot spring. Despite being caught off-guard by her sister's horrid mood, she was able to find the courage to open up — and her reward was to be shot down and humiliated.
Now that her sister was calm… Fubuki couldn't even muster the will to ask.
Her feelings. What it meant to act upon them. It was all a mess.
All Fubuki knew was that she wanted to talk to her sister again.
.
.
"Taking a break, sis?"
The green-haired esper whipped her head towards the sound.
"Fubuki…" Tatsumaki said, eyes wide.
The younger esper took a seat beside her, expression unreadable. The green-haired girl resisted the urge to scoot away.
"Hi," Fubuki said, raising a hand in greeting.
"Hi…" her sister replied.
The wind began to blow.
"Um, what've you been up to?" Fubuki asked. "It's been a while since we… you know. Talked."
"Hunting monsters. Doing nothing. The usual," Tatsumaki replied. "Why?"
"Oh. That's good," Fubuki said. "Listen—"
"I'm a little busy," her sister replied quickly, standing up. "Your group has been enough of a distraction for me today. Let's talk some other time."
"Sister, I…!" Fubuki stood up, speaking before Tatsumaki could leave. "I met someone. While recruiting. The other day."
"Recruiting? Again?" Tatsumaki said, turning around disapprovingly. "How many times have I told you to stop banding small fry together under your name?"
"Actually," Fubuki shook her head politely. "The one I met… he didn't join in."
Tatsumaki stayed silent, waiting for her to elaborate.
"He was an odd fellow," Fubuki said, pausing to look at her sister.
No reaction
"We talked," she continued. "He was annoying. So I attacked him."
Tatsumaki's eyes narrowed. But her silence persisted.
"And, well," Fubuki said, beginning to lose confidence. "We ended up talking again in the end."
Tatsumaki turned her head to the forest. Fubuki frowned. Was she even listening? The girl's stomach dropped as her older sister began to walk away.
'Say it,' the raven-haired girl told herself. 'Say it!'
She shut her eyes.
"Back in the hot spring," Fubuki said shakily. "You said next time we talked, you wouldn't be drunk. So can we? Talk?"
The younger esper waited patiently as the sounds of the park filled the air. The golden light had begun to fade into blue, and the park lights flickered on, buzzing with wear. Above them, one such bulb turned on. It mixed with the fading sunlight and cast a melancholic glow onto the scene.
"You came all this way," Tatsumaki broke the silence. To Fubuki's surprise, she had taken a seat again. The green-haired esper's eyes were glued to the ground. "And for what? To talk to me about someone else talking to you."
Fubuki sat down quickly.
"I— er," she murmured. "I mean, if you don't wan—"
"It must be important if you're insisting like this," the older esper crossed her arms. "What did he say?"
"Um… he said that if a powerful monster showed up, I wouldn't be able to beat it as I am," Fubuki said.
"Just you?" Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow. "You didn't come to that guy with any of your lackeys?"
"My group…" she said, hanging her head low. "He said my group was weak. Because we were all distracted."
"I thought so. And why did you come to me after hearing this?"
"I dunno," Fubuki said. "I wanted to… no. Well, yes— I mean—"
This was not going in the way she wanted. Taking the trouble to come up with a plan, only to ditch it at the last second… then circling back to it — only to stumble horribly anyway. What was she even doing anymore? The raven-haired esper stifled a groan.
"Was he right?" Tatsumaki asked, breaking Fubuki's train of thought. "About you and your group being weak."
The younger esper winced.
"My team. The Fubuki Group," she said. "We save people. Our range spans cities. We defeat monsters quickly and effectively. And we leave strong monsters to those who can beat them," her voice was turning loud. "We are feared and respected within the Association, and have kept the B-Class in order since its conception! Is that not enough? Who is he to call us weak; who is he to call us distracted?!"
"Was he right?" Tatsumaki asked again. And again, the young esper winced.
"I…" she began. "I don't know…"
"Your teammates," Tatsumaki said. "How many monsters did they defeat in this park?"
"Um, twenty-six," Fubuki said. "Twenty Wolf-level threats and six Tiger-level ones."
Before Tatsumaki could respond, an explosion rocked the park. From the distant forest, a streak of smoke cut into the darkening sky. It traced its way towards the pair. Fubuki stood up.
"Is that a monster?" she asked, looking towards Tatsumaki.
"In some ways," the older esper replied softly, standing up. Lifting a finger, a mountain of dead monsters began to float up from behind a patch of trees behind them. Fubuki jumped as she saw it.
She jumped even higher as a figure crashed in front of her, another heaping swarm of dead monsters on his back.
"THIRTY-EIGHT!" Saitama shouted, panting. An evil-looking grin was plastered on his face.
Tatsumaki walked forward.
"Forty," she said. "More or less."
The bald man's smug expression quickly changed into despair. He dropped to his knees.
All the while, Fubuki was trying to process what was happening.
Quickly standing back up, the bald man desperately tried counting and recounting both her pile of monsters and his own, but the truth was set in stone.
In his battle against psychic power, running around in a dimly-lit forest where he could've easily missed monsters in hiding, and facing off against an esper who could kill monsters with a single thought — the final tally was 38 to 41.
He had lost.
"NOOOoooo…!" his voice echoed throughout the park. His gold-leaf beef. Gone. Reduced to atoms.
"Guess dinner's not on me," Tatsumaki said smugly. "Loser cleans up?"
The bald man was too disheartened to argue.
"Saitama…? Sister…?" Mouth wide open, Fubuki had finally come to her senses. Her gaze shifted from him, to her sister, then back to him again.
"Oh," Saitama looked dead inside as he shoved the remains into one pile. He raised a hand in half-hearted greeting. "Hey…"
"Ah, h-hi," Fubuki could barely respond. She looked to her sister, hoping to find some sort of explanation.
What she got was anything but.
Tatsumaki went to assist the bald man, compressing the monsters into a small cube around the size of a cardboard box. A few meters away from Fubuki, the two exchanged words loudly. Eventually she pointed to a faraway trash can, and the baldy hauled the disgusting cube to it.
Fubuki's mind was racing. With revelation. With doubts. With unsureness.
With questions.
Some things clicked in her mind. Other things shattered into tiny pieces.
Before she could ponder too deeply, however, her sister's voice made her jump.
"Fubuki."
"Sister," the girl replied, wide-eyed. Tatsumaki was standing in front of her. "O-on the ship, why did you…"
"Anything you want to ask," Tatsumaki interrupted her. "Whatever's on your mind…"
The green-haired girl placed a hand on Fubuki's.
"Next time."
"Wh—?!" the girl felt a bubble of green energy surround her.
"Oh yeah. The person you were talking about," Tatsumaki said. "It was Saitama, right?"
Fubuki nodded, gulping. Her sister raised a finger and the bubble began to float. Had she attacked the absolute worst person imaginable?
"Take his advice."
And the raven-haired girl was launched off.
.
In a few seconds, Fubuki was placed gently down in front of the restaurant she left her group in. Her feet hit the ground unsteadily.
"Miss Fubuki!" Lily ran out to meet her. "There you are!"
Dazed, the esper didn't respond. Looking into the diner, she noted that a few of her members had gone home. Many of her long-time followers had stayed, however.
"We were about to go and look for you," Eyelashes said, opening the glass doors. His excitement died down as he came closer. "You… uh, met your sister, I take it?"
Fubuki glanced up and nodded.
For once, being surrounded by her group provided little comfort. She wanted some time to think.
Right before she was launched into the sky — Fubuki could've sworn her sister's face was touched with red.
.
Eventually Eyelashes sighed. Something was clearly bothering his leader, but surely she hadn't forgotten.
"Did you bring back the newbie?" he asked.
Surely not.
Fubuki looked at him, wide-eyed.
Ah.
.
.
'On the ship, why did you…'
Tatsumaki wanted to curl up into a ball.
It wouldn't take a genius to figure it out. Fubuki would find out about the ship. About Saitama. About the hot spring.
She tried to stay calm as they conversed. Saitama's conversation — or rather, confrontation — with Fubuki was something she hadn't really thought about, but hearing it made her feel relieved. Unlike her… rather brash methods, Saitama's advice had somehow gotten into her sister's thick skull. And it was poignant. Her teammates were pathetic, after all — try as she might to speak that fact in front of her sister, she never listened. The sooner that Fubuki realized that they were useless, the better; whether or not the advice came from her was of little concern.
But that little conversation brought about a number of other issues. The most obvious one being her relationship with Saitama. If her sister acted so strongly after the truth being revealed — what of everyone else? Of course, it wasn't romantic in any way — they were just people who enjoyed each other's company. But still, it gave her doubts whether the public needed to know. Uproars were, obviously, very unpredictable. If they put two and two together like Fubuki, the whole Association could be put under immense pressure.
As much as it pained her, Saitama needed to seem like a stranger to the public.
That meant that an outing like this — it would have to be their last. Being found out, even in a remote area like Z-City, it was not a risk that she could take.
Tatsumaki glanced over at the baldy. He was trying to stuff the cube into the ill-fitting circular hole that was the trash can. Bits and pieces of it fell out as he pushed, and eventually it was too much. The cube decompressed. Saitama exclaimed as the liquids splattered onto his shirt.
To think that this man… the one that had beaten an alien that could have destroyed the world — had to be kept hidden. Just because she couldn't admit she was saved.
Saitama tried to squeeze the gunk out of his shirt and ended up tearing his sleeves apart. The girl chuckled.
Maybe in some ways he wasn't ready for public scrutiny.
At least, for now. Not when there were still things to do.
The girl lifted a finger, and the splattered waste was stuffed into the garbage.
"C'mon," Tatsumaki said. "We're going back to my place."
.
"I know you're not treating me anymore," Saitama said as they walked out of the park. His shoulders felt cold. "But I thought we were still going to have dinner somewhere."
"Is that how the loser of a bet should be speaking?" Tatsumaki said. "I have some leftovers at home; that's what we'll be eating."
"Aww…"
Tatsumaki glanced at Saitama. He looked quite devastated.
"I mean," she began, turning away. "I can have something delivered, I guess…"
The bald man's eyes gleamed.
"Does that mean I don't have to pay?!" he asked, jittering with excitement.
"Are you seriously trying to get out of your bet, baldy?"
"Yeah!" he said shamelessly. "I mean, I did let you stay over for free for like, a week, in my house…"
"How dare you…!" Tatsumaki said. "You're the one who offered for me to stay!"
"Yeah, but I dunno…" he said. "You did waste a lot of cash, watching TV all day."
"Like you weren't doing that before I came!" the esper huffed. "That's it. I'm ordering caviar, and we're both paying!"
Saitama gasped.
"You wouldn't!" he pointed accusingly. "Y-You said you didn't have the money!"
"That's why I'm ordering from my apartment," she said, grinning. "S-Class heroes have certain benefits, you see. One of which being that I get a huge discount for one meal. Basically free, in fact."
"No…" Saitama felt his stomach drop. "No!"
"You're the only one that's gonna pay," she laughed — the twinkling sound only a devil could make.
Saitama looked up to the sky, asking the great beyond a single question: "Why?"
The full moon, as it usually did, had no response.
Saitama began to chuckle.
Tatsumaki glanced over at him, confused.
The bald man sounded crazy in the nighttime wind.
Back in the park, as he dashed along desperately in the forest… The dwindling light marked the end of his time limit to try and pull ahead of the esper. As he searched the forest with a slew of monsters on his shoulders, he realized that he didn't know Tatsumaki's score.
The unknown; a cold unsureness if his best efforts would be enough; the time ticking down inevitably.
A steak on the line.
Despite it all, the bald man found that a smile was plastered on his face.
"You really know how to get my heart racing," Saitama said absentmindedly.
The esper stopped floating and tripped over the sidewalk.
"Tat—"
"ARE YOU TRYING TO PISS ME OFF?!" the esper shouted, red-faced. "BUTTERING ME UP SO YOU CAN GET OFF LIGHTLY? YOU LOST, DAMMIT!"
She stood up and wiped the dirt off her legs.
"Just come on," she said after a while. "It's getting late. No excuses."
Saitama watched as the girl flew off.
He followed after her.
.
.
Garou breathed out, steam emanating from his body.
The entire Tank-Top crew was splattered on the floor, bloodied and beaten. Their leader, a stepstone for his growth, was splayed on a nearby wall, a dent carved into the stone forged from pure strength.
Charanko lay unmoving at his feet. Nearby lay the C-Class hero who tried to reason with Tank-Top Master to show mercy on him.
"Fool," he said.
He walked away, a sour taste in his mouth. After such a hard-fought battle, ending it with a joke of a martial-artist — it was an insult.
To top it all off, he never even found the notorious B-Class group led by a hero he wanted to fight. One of the esper sisters.
It was too bad he only found the one member of the Fubuki Group. A non-psychic scrub in a suit. He was knocked unconscious even before Garou could interrogate him. A real hero, that guy was.
The man chuckled as he walked off.
Going toe-to-toe with the Blizzard of Hell… the very idea sent a chill down his spine.
.
.
A pitch-black monster walked into an open hall, walking up to meet a gelatinous, single-eyed creature. The apparent brains of the operation. A lot of good that did them, knowing what he knew now.
"The source of that psychic energy," Gyoro-Gyoro said, her eye closing slowly. "I'm assuming this isn't good news."
"Damn straight," the black monster said. "That meeting you planned on the surface. It was a sabotage, wasn't it?! I lost a thousand of me up there!"
"Now dear," Gyoro-Gyoro said. "I hadn't planned for this to happen."
"This plan of yours… we better have more trump cards than just me," the black monster's single antenna pointed at her. "Our force was destroyed. Almost solely by two heroes. "
"Two heroes?" the monster leaned forward, intrigued. "Please, enlighten me."
"All this, and you want intel?" the monster replied. "You're sick."
"Merely adapting," she shrugged.
That energy she sensed, she needed to learn all she could about it.
Going toe-to-toe with the Tornado of Terror… the very idea sent a chill down her spine.
.
.
This was incredibly difficult to write. Which is odd, since usually having a direction for the story to go makes things easier! I know there are a lot of shifting perspectives in this chapter, but I think it's needed to set future things up. The following chapters will be mostly Saitama- and Tatsumaki-centric. Probably.
.
Anyway, with the heat wave currently happening around, well, everywhere — staying warm sounds like a horrible idea at the moment. So stay cool, I guess!
- bb
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P.S. What do you guys think Tats will ask Saitama?
P.P.S. Should I get rid of the TL;DR chapter?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!