She Just Got Lucky

Chasing A Lost Cat

"If you blow this off, I'll tell!" she threatened. Ryo could only watch as the whole situation escalated, earning strange glances from other city-goers.

"Fine. I wouldn't mind getting fired." Both Ryo and the little girl were shocked to hear him say this. "I do this for fun. Being free is easier!" Saitama laughed.

With her leverage over Saitama suddenly gone, the little girl's lips started to quiver and her eyes watered.

Saitama looked over his shoulder once he realized the little girl was no longer shouting at him. "Awe come on don't cry," Saitama sighed. "I'll find your cat. I've got time."

"Yeah, I'll help too. She's got to be around here somewhere," Ryo helped.

"Are you a hero too?" She asked, wiping her eyes.

"No, but I can make him be nice to you," Ryo smiled, bending down to be on the same level as her. Ryo offered her hand to the little girl and slowly, she took it. "I'm Ryo, what's your name?"

"Chieko," she mumbled as they caught up to Saitama.

"Chieko," Ryo repeated as the trio started down the road. "That's a very pretty name."

"Well, Chieko, let's go find your cat."

Ryo and Saitama looked around the street together as Chieko walked ahead of them, inspecting every alley and behind every dumpster. Ryo leaned over to Saitama's ear and whispered, "What are we going to do if we find her cat, but it's not... you know... alive?"

Saitama grimaced. "I don't want to think about it."

"Torako!" Chieko shouted before running down an alley. Ryo quickly chased after her, telling her to wait, but by the time Ryo got into the alley Chieko was in, the little girl had already tripped and fallen. She started to cry again.

Ryo ran over to the girl and kneeled beside her. "Are you okay, did you hurt yourself?"

Chieko nodded as she wailed, holding her scrapped knee tightly. The scrape wasn't bad and Ryo had just the thing. She dug into her goodie bag from the first aid seminar and pulled out a box of hero-themed bandaids. "You'll be alright. Look, I've got just what you need." Ryo shook the box in front of Chieko, distracting the girl from her mildly hurt knee. "Which hero do you want?"

As Chieko examined each band-aid and decided which hero she wanted on her knee, Saitama looked around the alley. "So was that your cat?"

Chieko shook her head solemnly. "That cat didn't even have a collar!" the little girl cried.

Ryo couldn't imagine trying to console this girl if her poor cat was found dead. "Don't worry, Torako has got to be around here somewhere." Ryo took the band-aid that Chieko had chosen (the A Class hero Okamaitachi) and put it on the scrape. "Are you ready to keep going?"

Chieko nodded but she didn't take a step. Instead, she pointed at Saitama and said. "I'm tired and I can't walk anymore!"

"Come on, you barely even cut yourself," Saitama dismissed.

Ryo laughed and picked Chieko up, Saitama groaned but bent over, allowing Ryo to put the little girl on his shoulders. "Onward then!"

The crowd thinned and the trio started to head their way towards a part of town that was nearly void of all people.

"Why did you have band-aids on you?" Saitama asked as they walked.

"Oh before I met up with you I went to a first aid class," Ryo explained. "I learned a whole lot. I'm going to practice stitches on a banana! You can never be too prepared."