'It's been almost a week since Saitama-kun debuted as a professional hero.' thought Masami while vacuuming the floor. 'But there hasn't been any serious incidents so far. I wonder if he'll be alright, knowing that he'll sit at home and read manga the whole day?' She then looked to the blaring TV screen and saw no news on attacks in the city. 'But of late, the city seemed peaceful.'
After vacuuming the floor, Masami rummaged through her refrigerator again, wondering what she would have for lunch. But she realised that there wasn't much ingredients inside and sighed. "Time to go grocery shopping again." she said. She went to her closet and changed her t-shirt and shorts to a navy-blue knee-length dress with a brown belt buckled around her waist, tying her hair into a French braid. Grabbing her tote bag and umbrella, she put on a pair of black flats and walked out the door.
She was heading towards the city junction where she had to cross the road to reach the grocery store when she saw a panicking Saitama, who was frantically looking around for something. "Saitama-kun!" she called, making his head turn to look at her as she walked towards him. "What are you doing here? You look like you're looking for something."
"I am, Masami-chan!" he said, grabbing her arms to pull her closer. "Genos said if I, a Class C hero, don't do any hero activity within one week, I'll have my name removed from the Hero Registry! And all I have been doing for the past week was staying at home and read manga!"
This made the said woman gasp. "But the city has been quiet lately!" she said.
"That's the thing!" he said, letting her go as he continued to frantically look around for any incidents. "And today's not any different! There's nothing to do! I'm gonna lose my hero registration!"
Suddenly, he snapped his head to his left and held a familiar kunai with his fingers that was thrown at his way. The two of them looked at the direction and there stood the familiar ninja, only this time, he wore a long-sleeved black t-shirt and long pants with a belt around his waist, strapping his katana to his back. "Hey! You're that guy... What was it?" Saitama placed his finger on his chin as he looked up to remember. "Seed-on-the-Ground? Lost-and-found...? Jack-o'-lantern Panic!"
"It's Speed-o'-Sound Sonic." corrected the ninja angrily. "I've finally found you, Saitama. Today is the day we-"
"Hey, sorry, I'm busy." interrupted the said man as he walked away with Masami. "See you 'round."
But this seemed to annoy Sonic, who was unsheathing his katana. "You think you can run away from me?!" He teleported next to Saitama and swung his katana, which was bitten by the hero, breaking it into pieces. 'What the-?' questioned Sonic, landing on the ground. 'I didn't see what happened. His face should have been slice open, but the blade...'
"I told you... I'm busy." muttered Saitama. "Plus, I'm pissed, so anyone in my way other than Masami gets punched." He looked up and glared at Sonic, who started to feel uneasy.
"That's him!" shouted a voice from behind, causing the three to look to see a girl pointing at Saitama. Standing next to her was a tall, muscular man with tiger stripes running through his hair and eyebrows wearing a tiger print tank top. "He's very, very dangerous. Please stop him."
"So you're the offender, eh?" yelled the man. "Well, the hero Tanktop Tiger is here!"
"Sonic, they think you're some sort of criminal." said Saitama teasingly. "Maybe getting tossed in a cell will cool off your hot-" He was suddenly interrupted when the big man grabbed his head.
"She means you, cue ball." he corrected.
"Huh?!" exclaimed Saitama and Masami.
"He's been running around town with this scary look on his face since yesterday!" explained the girl as the passers-by started to look at the scene.
"But I'm a hero, too!" defended Saitama.
"I've never heard of a hero like you." said Tanktop Tiger, causing Saitama to defend himself again. "In any case, you're causing problems for everyone. If you're really a hero, then don't go around frightening people. You're hurting all the other heroes' reputation." Some of the people around them started to talk about him upon recognising him, much to Saitama's annoyance as the respected man chuckled. "Even C-class heroes get recognised if they're in the Top 10." He then leaned forward, mocking Saitama. "So how about it, new guy? Wanna go a little wild here and make me look good?"
"Exploding Shuriken!" Three shuriken were thrown at him and exploded, making him land on the ground, unconscious.
Masami looked at the egoistic man before turning to look at the culprit. "What are you doing, Sonic?" she asked.
"He was interfering, so I put him to sleep." he replied before the people around them ran away in panic. "Saitama, so you too have become one of those worthless 'heroes'? Then all I have to do is create a situation where you have no choice but to fight me, Saitama the Hero!" He then leapt up and threw shuriken at him. "Hail of Carnage!" Saitama thought they were coming at him but the blades avoided him and went to other places, causing havoc from the damage.
"Hey, cut it out!" he yelled.
"Saitama, come stop me!" challenged Sonic as he continued destroying the buildings around them. "You're a hero! I'll kill them all!"
Masami looked around and saw a crying boy running away when a damaged car was thrown at him, who stopped and tried to guard himself out of panic. She rushed over, holding the umbrella by the handle and sliced the vehicle into halves, preventing it from hitting the boy, who stared with amaze. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern, crouching down to look at him.
"Yes!" he replied, smiling widely. "Thank you, big sis!"
The woman smiled and ruffled his hair. "Now go to your parents." she said, gently pushing him to where his parents were waiting for him. Once the boy was safe in his parents' arms, she looked up and saw Saitama knocking Sonic to the ground, stop him from furthering destroy the city. "I guess that's it. Hopefully this will count as work for Saitama-kun."
~Time skip~
"Thanks for helping me with the groceries, Saitama-kun!" said Masami gratefully as the two walked along one of the alleys in City Z, their old residence.
The said man, who changed into a blue tracksuit, smiled at her while carrying bags of groceries. "As long as I get to eat your cooking, then I'm glad to help." he said.
"That can't be it, right?" she asked teasingly.
Saitama chuckled. "You're right." He looked up to the sky before his gaze landed on her, smiling genuinely. "It's always a pleasure to help someone who was there for me since day one."
She smiled back at him, with some tears welled in her eyes, touched by his sincerity. "I'm glad to help you, Saitama-kun."
The two continued walking until they stopped in front of a mystical being bearing the silhouette of a young person with big round eyes and seaweed as hair. Its hair then elongated and attempted to attack the two. "Saitama-kun, I think we forgot to buy konbu soup stock." said Masami, gripping her umbrella handle.
"Well, let's get some." he replied with a smirk.
~Time skip~
In Saitama's apartment, Masami was in the kitchen chopping up some vegetable while he was boiling the seaweed. Just then, they heard someone entering the apartment. "Master, I saw a lot of konbu right outside the door." Genos pointed out.
"Oh yeah, we just..." trailed off his mentor, glancing at the busy Masami before looking back at the pot. "Just happened... to get it for cheap."
Genos walked over and looked at the cooked seaweed Saitama took out from the pot with a pair of long chopsticks. "Yes, they said that konbu is good for hair growth, but since there is no real scientific proof, its real effects are yet to be confirmed." Masami glanced, seeing Saitama frozen on the spot. "I did some research, some I am sure, Master. For example, according to this site-" He was suddenly interrupted by Masami, who covered his mouth with her hand.
"I think you better not mention anything related to hair, Genos." she advised, noticing the depressed Saitama, and she earned a curt nod from the cyborg.
~Time skip~
The following morning, a group of four heroes were sent to where two Class A heroes were defeated by the mystical being Saitama and Manami encountered the previous day. What caught their attention was the condition of the abandoned building; sliced into quarters and a huge force seemed to have caused the center of the building to be pulverised, causing the remaining building to crack and some of the ruins collapsed, creating a huge mess that none of the heroes could explain how it happened.
"Holy crap, what is this?" questioned the hero with light brown hair and suited with a light blue mechanical armor, along with orange-tinted glasses. "What kind of monster could cause such violence? I'd hate to face off against this thing."
"Hey, what's this?" questioned another hero upon noticing a piece of seaweed with multiple thin needles pierced through it. He had slicked back blond hair that was tapered to a point anda lightning symbol on his left cheek, wearinga tank top, shorts, long socks and sleeves that went from his mid-bicep to mid-forearm with black and yellow lining.
He picked up the seaweed by holding the part where the needles didn't go through and observed it. "Is it a part of the monster Spring Mustachio fought?" he asked.
"There may have been a territorial dispute between the monsters." assumed another hero wearing a dark blue Kung Fu suit with white trimming, who had short black hair and dark eyes. "Seems like there's definitely something here."
"We must continue our investigation and maintain vigilance over City Z." said another hero wearing a red bodysuit with a smiley face printed on and a black mask.
Meanwhile, back at Saitama's apartment, Genos was using Saitama's laptop while he was reading the newspaper and Masami was watering his cactus. "Master, I filled in the holes in front of the house." he said, getting Saitama to thank him for the effort. "Also, your rank has gone up from last place, 388th, to 342nd."
"Because of that Panic guy?" he asked, remembering that he stopped Sonic from destroying the town. "He boosted my ranking."
"It's been a week now." pointed out Masami after entering the apartment and locking the sliding door. "Have you done anything, Genos?"
"No, not yet." he replied. "I'm still ranked last in Class S for ability... in 17th place."
"Sounds like you've still got a lot of training to do, Genos." said Saitama, taking a sip on his green tea.
"But in the public polls, for popularity I ranked 6th." Genos' statement made his mentor spit out his tea.
"WHY?!" he asked, slamming his hands on the table.
Masami knelt down behind Genos and read the comments that complimented Genos' features out loud, making Saitama become jealous after one and another. "Well, looks like you have admirers, huh?" she teased.
"These comments are based on impressions from my photo, not evaluations of me." he said. "I think nothing of them."
"Oh, yeah?" asked a depressed Saitama.
"Well, I do think you're handsome, Genos." complimented Masami, causing the cyborg to turn and look at her. Though she complimented him like the ones in the comments, he could feel small amount of heat rising to his cheeks and ears. "Even more handsome than the time your master still had his hair stuck to his head."
"Enough already!" yelled Saitama.