Hi, there, guys!
So, after like a bit of feedback a while back, combined with such procrastination that I didn't get to it until like four months later, but somehow got to the other chapters, I have now started to get into the duel part between Saitama and Genos! I thought it would be best to have it now considering how Genos is buffed up from getting G4 parts, and also because I completely forgot about it.
And lastly, this is released earlier because this day actually marks the one-year mark for this! This story is now one year old!
Initial Release Date: July 23, 2020
~~~~~
"Sensei," I hear a voice come out of nowhere. It's familiar, but my eyes are still absolutely shut closed. I feel way too tired to deal with it.
And then I realize: There is absolutely nobody in this world who calls me that other than one person. It's not registered in my body or my conscious yet, but it's made its way through my mind.
"Huh?" I yawn, but my muscles are barely awake.
I mean, normally they would be fully awake. Actually, I remember having this dream a while back that I woke up from and my muscles were completely awake, to the point where I had punched through the wall by accident. It was a really exciting dream.
But right now was not that sort of time, because I wasn't being jolted awake. When something like that doesn't happen, it usually takes me a few minutes to get up. Even more right now because I stayed up pretty late playing one of King's games that he lent me.
"Sensei," the voice comes again, and my body finally recognizes it as Genos.
"Yeah?" I yawn, slowly beginning to stretch. Just as I ask my question, I hear my phone go off. "Who's that?"
"Well, I was going to ask you a question, but I believe you should answer this call first," Genos explains, handing me my phone. "It's from your girlfriend." He said it in a bit of a humorous way, and I shot him a glare that really held nothing. None of my actions really did. As I snatched the phone from him, he raised his eyebrow with a bit of amusement behind it.
I finally start to really wake up and feel more alert as I speak, "Hello?"
"Hey, Baldy, I gotta question for you," I hear Tats' voice. I smile a bit, but it's a small smile. I sit up, stretching a bit more but trying to keep silent while I do so.
"What do you wanna ask?" I urge her to continue.
"You know the thing that the Hero Association wanted to talk to you about with the monster stuff and all?" I have no idea. I stay silent, hoping that she reminds me just by talking about it.
"Well?" She asks again, her tone a bit more harsh and impatient. After a few more seconds of being silent, I hear her sigh and I honestly don't know if I did something bad. It isn't like Tats likes the Hero Association, so why is she supporting them?
"You forgot, didn't you?" Even though she can't see me, I shrug a bit, trying to shift the blame off of me or at least a bit of forgiveness. Unsurprisingly, it didn't work.
"You forgot," she dryly said, and I could just tell that she was doing that thing she always does when she's annoyed, or impatient. You know, tapping her foot while having her arms crossed. She probably just had her phone on her shoulder just so she could do it.
I hesitantly admitted, knowing my pride would end up ironically being harmed, "Yeah. What's up?"
"Just check your goddamn texts, Baldy," she lectured. "They sent you the text, after all." She hangs up unexpectedly. She's been doing that more often lately; but she usually just comes over without warning because of that, as if it's just an announcement that she's gonna come over and visit, and probably help me with that.
I listen to what she says and open my texts, only to find that there are even more notifications from Sitch, but another text from an unknown number.
Of course, the texts from Sitch were just his own personal alerts to the thing, but the unknown number was just actually the number the Board for the Hero Association used. I recognized it after a few seconds because I deleted it after they sent me what my hero name was supposed to be in blind annoyance.
They said that I had to come to the headquarters, or otherwise they'd just come to my place.
I mean, they're certainly welcome to come to my place. Maybe they'll see some of the monsters here and I'd be moved up to a higher rank. I don't really see too much of a problem with it. After all, isn't one of the things they wanted to address why there was a clear patch around where I live? Or maybe they wanted to ask Genos about all that.
"Oy, Genos," I call his attention as he's getting some stuff out of the fridge. He looks like he's about to start preparing breakfast.
"Yes, Sensei?" He asks.
"What were you going to ask about?"
"Oh, I was going to ask you about something about my strength," he explains, setting the stuff on the counter and approaching me. "As you hopefully remember from a few days ago, there was a robot that challenged King named G4."
"Mhm," I nod. "What about it?"
"I salvaged parts from him to bring to Doctor Kuseno to attach to me, in hopes that I become stronger," he continues to explain. "You've noticed the new attachments on my arms, I see. Now, of course, I wouldn't bring any of this up unless I had something to say about it."
"And that is?" I urge, trying to make the conversation a bit shorter.
"Allow me to get to the point. Sensei, in order to analyze my strengths and weaknesses, I would like--" Genos' words were cut off by intense knocking on the door before a clicking sound was heard, followed by the creak of the door opening. "You gave her a key?" I nod at Genos' question, even though his voice sounded incredulous.
"I don't see why she shouldn't have one. It's not like she's gonna steal something. There's really nothing for her to steal here, anyways," I shrug, finally getting up because I'm still in my pajamas.
"Good point," he concedes, going back to making breakfast. It's clear he still had that thing on his mind, but was holding it back. Maybe it was better that way in general, but I could tell it was itching at him.
"Baldy, you're not even ready?" Tats lectures me, and literally grabs me and pulls me up. I don't happen to resist, but she seems to be putting a decent amount of effort into it.
"Brush your goddamn teeth or something!" She demands, practically shoving me into the bathroom; again, there's no resistance. As I start getting ready, I hear her start to ask questions to Genos about whether or not this happens all the time. It does.
It doesn't take long for me to finish cleaning up. Not like I have to clean a lot of hair. As I just finish washing up and changing, since I usually leave my hero outfit in the bathroom so that I can just change right into it, I get out of the bathroom.
Surprisingly, Genos is already done with breakfast. And for whatever reason, Tats seems to be keeping the food warm...by literally trapping the heat near the food with her powers. Why? I have no idea.
"How do you take ten minutes in there? I just hear the sink run forever and wonder how long you take to brush your teeth!" Tats asks, extremely curious but also skeptical. I don't know why, especially since she probably took a few thousand times longer than me.
"I dunno," I say as I start to dig in. However, I fail to take into account that there's still a barrier that Tats had made around my food and I instantly break my fork.
"Ope."
"Sorry, Baldy!" She seems surprised like she wasn't paying complete attention, and to be honest, I...am a little bit shocked. Genos seems stoic as always, but I can tell that he winced just a little bit at the loss of some silverware. While Genos was fine buying stuff that he needed, buying stuff that could have been avoided was probably one of his pet peeves as well. Tats, on the other hand, was the exact opposite, and knew that I hated having to buy stuff.
"It's...fine," I slowly cranked out, my heart already breaking in half imagining the 150 yen that could have been saved for bargain day.
~~~
"Miss Tornado! What can we do for you today?!" One of the lower-level employees asks me. I swear, the moment I enter this building, I become this legendary deity, this absolute god. It's honestly getting annoying.
Genos nudges my side and whispers to me in the most obvious way possible (which was bending down and practically whispering in my ear), "Miss Tatsumaki, how do you deal with this all the time?" I knew the employee was one of the newer ones; they looked like every other employee I've seen here, down to the hair, height, and outfit. It was clear that they hadn't encountered me often, but they still looked perplexed when Genos whispered when he was known for being blunt and generally aggressive.
"Believe me, cyborg, if I knew, I'd tell you," I roll my eyes before redirecting my attention to the employee. "Anyways, I'm here on behalf of...Caped Baldy." I point at Saitama, who recoils a bit at the mention of his hero name. Other than it being pointed out that he was bald, having it as his official hero name seemed to be the biggest thing that bothered him.
"Oh, I remember that the Board was actually asking for him to be first priority if he were to come in...right this way, please!" the employee grabbed a few documents before walking to the elevator, prompting us to follow. "Oh, excuse me, Miss Tornado and...Demon Cyborg! Could you please wait here?"
I could tell that she was a part of Genos' fan club; her eyes said it all. A youthful innocence, like the middle-aged people now when they used to love Boy Bands. I know cause my mom was a huge fan before...all that.
She didn't want to stop him, in fact, she wanted to be on the elevator even if it meant she could just get a few extra seconds of seeing him.
I guess I'll indulge her. Besides, I have my own personal reasons.
Without saying a word, nearly everything in the room slowly glowed with my signature bright green, and some items started levitating. The girl gulped, and nodded her head. I wasn't using any force, so nobody was really influenced. It was just a sign that, you know, I could. I'm a bit surprised, though; nobody's tried to call the bluff, since even I have my limits. I wouldn't hurt any civilian or employee here. Some of the heroes, though? Maybe. Probably. Most of the S-Class.
The room became tense, and here? I don't have to apologize for being harsh, and I don't expect that I ever will. Even when Saitama puts a hand on my shoulder, I do stop the glow and some of the levitation, but I still retain my annoyed appearance.
Eventually, he gets the clue and nods. As the four of us go into the elevator, the employee starts reading out details for the upcoming meeting that Saitama was going to be in.
I notice that Genos tries to ask a question, "Saitama-Sensei?"
"Yeah, Genos?" Saitama addresses absentmindedly.
"Do you remember what I was asking earlier?" Genos brings up, and I realize that it was probably before I got there.
"Wasn't it somethin' about your arms?"
"Well, it's related to my firepower, but that wasn't what I wanted to talk about."
"Then what was it?"
"I wish to test my current power and analyze my battle data properly, so that I may understand my weaknesses and improve upon them. So please, Sensei, duel--"
The employee pipes up, having finally gathered the courage to speak; I feel a little remorse at her shyness, since I probably caused it; her being intimidated doesn't stop her from shyly interrupting, "I'm sorry for interrupting your conversation, but can I convince you and Miss Tornado to wait outside of the Board Meeting Room? The Board might get angry."
I can physically see the distress and slight annoyance in Genos' eyes as he strains his voice, and I can tell he's putting all his effort into not seeming frustrated at being interrupted for what was probably at least the second time in a row, "Do not worry, Miss. Thank you for your concern, though I believe that is for me to deal with."
The girl nearly swoons. It was probably the fact that she was probably in his fan club that she doesn't notice the inconvenience she just troubled him with. I find it a bit amusing, actually.
Luckily for Genos' sake, we get to the floor where the Board usually meets before the employee can do anything. It's the same floor that the S-Class heroes met that time with the Alien guys.
The hallways are pretty normal, as they always are. It's just one long corridor that's really mundane and followed the exact same color scheme as everything else in the building.
And then, there's just the door that a blind person could tell was the Board meeting room because they embellished it and decorated it to the degree that looked like a preteen's treehouse would, like in a T.V show or just in someone's backyard. There are so many signs and guards about it that you would literally have to be a dumbass not to realize that it was somewhere important.
As the guards see the three of us, they instantly move out of the way. It's more out of obligation than want, because they clearly have some disdain for Saitama. I noticed it with the other employees and some of the heroes that live at the association. Most people still don't like him, and while I can't really blame them for how hard Saitama tries to get the hate in place of the other heroes...they have to be really dumb to not realize that he's faking it.
Cause, oh my fucking god, his acting would make a child's look like Hollywood's biggest star.
Whatever.
As the three of us enter, we notice that the Board Room isn't super filled up. In fact, there are only seven people in here, one of them being Sitch. The other six are just some members of the Board. There are about 30 members, half of them mainly managing the hero ranking system, ten of them taking care of hero matters, and the other five of them focusing heavily on actually doing shit. Sitch fell into that last category, making him one of the only people in the Hero Association that I can give a shit about.
"Ah, Caped Baldy," One of the Board members speaks up. "Please, take a seat." It was a round table, probably where they decided on hero names. With the technology that Metal Knight put in here, it was probably some state-of-the-art shit.
"So, you're probably wondering why we brought you in," Sitch says cryptically, as Genos and I stand to the side of Saitama. Oddly enough, Genos seems more defensive of Saitama than me, and at least ten times as concerned as Saitama is.
I narrow my eyes, seeing the familiar smug-ass smirk on some of their faces. Instantly, I glare at them, and they recoil. They know full fucking well that I don't follow their rules like the other heroes.
"Nope," Saitama pops the "P," leaning back in his seat. "Hey, I see you guys have tea; can I have some?"
The same Board member who spoke up earlier grits his teeth and stands up, "Why, you ungrateful--"
"Calm yourself, Satori," Sitch speaks up, and I instantly forget who he's speaking to; I have literally never tried to learn their names other than Sitch, and that's only cause Sitch is actually active and interactive. "Caped Baldy, we requested you come here on a hero matter."
"And that is?" Saitama asks, getting up and casually strolling over to the side of the room to get a cup, filling it up with a bit of tea. "You asked me to come like a few days ago, so it's clearly not super important."
"Well, if you had showed up, this could have been dealt with instantly!"
"Calm yourself," I order, getting sick of his voice. God, the fact that he sounded like a goddamn loser who hadn't gone through puberty was even more annoying. Coupled with his overall snobby demeanor, it was a shame that killing out of obligation was illegal.
Instantly, he sits back down, nearly instantly. I'm glad he does, and I'm certain that everyone else in the room is too.
I request, "Please continue, Sitch." The air is tense, but I still don't give a fuck. Even Saitama gets it through his skull that whatever's going on here just got a whole lot more serious because of me. And I'm perfectly fine with that.
I don't care if he's my boyfriend; the Board doesn't need to know anything about that.
Oh, yeah, I just remembered that we haven't even hinted at anyone else outside of Tetsuya and the four of us that Saitama and I are dating. Genos and Fubuki made it public a few weeks after they got together, but we still haven't.
It's more convenient that way.
~~~
"As you wish," The Board Director, Sitch, concedes. It appears Miss Tatsumaki has more influence than I initially thought, perhaps even more than the rest of the S-Class heroes. From what I know, the only person who could rival her influence within the organization would be the Class-A Rank 1 hero.
Sweet Mask.
Regardless, I am certain that Master will soon rise up to the same level of fame as them in due time, given...he somehow recovers his relationship with the public. That will take a long time to salvage, however.
I can only wish that I can ask the question I've been hoping to.
I have been interrupted two to three times already, and I have not necessarily paid attention to that exact number. Ideally, it would have been zero, but I will likely have to wait.
That does not mean my patience has waned. I simply wished to test my current skill against Saitama-Sensei through a sparring match and improve from there, though it seems I will not get my wish for the time being. The interruptions, however, are taking a toll on my patience.
"Get on with it, please," I urge, even though I know the decent pause Sitch left in the air was for dramatic effect. "I apologize, but every moment you waste here could be a moment we are doing what you perceive to be our jobs."
Some of the members want to speak up at my...let's phrase it as what they'd call "hearsay," but hold their tongue.
"I understand," Sitch nods his head, standing up and putting his hands on the table. He clicks a button on the remote he holds, and a hologram pops up on the table. It's a map of the entire nation, and marked with red in seemingly random places. It's divided into cities, and the gentle sea-like blue clashes heavily with how bright the marks are. However, there's a particular area that I notice and pay attention more.
"Demon Cyborg, I take it you realize what exactly I wanted to talk about?"
I nod.
"Then I shall explain to Caped Baldy," Sitch takes a sharp inhale. "Simply put, we've noticed that you...are apparently inactive. You haven't sent in any reports of you killing monsters, and people rarely seem to witness you fighting.
"Now, this could be because of the public's opinion of you," He states, and Saitama-Sensei raises his eyebrow, as if prompting him to elaborate. "Yes, we're well aware that you earned the ire of the civilians to preserve the good name of the other heroes, and we're impressed by that."
"And your point is?" Saitama-Sensei asks.
"We are curious as to this area in which there seems to be no monster encounters. We are also aware that City Z, especially the Ghost Town that you live in, is uninhabited. It would be rare to find even a single person in there, and yet you live there and seem to function properly. How is this?" Sitch asks, as if it is a difficult problem. It is not.
"I mean, it's not like the monsters there are too tough. I can usually just take care of them," he shrugs.
"But why live there in the first place when you could live in the Hero Association building? We'd provide funding for all the living expenses!" Sitch states, incredulous.
"Because I like living there. It's cheap, and the supermarket there has the best stuff, and it's super close to my favorite restaurant. Do I need to have a huge reason to be happy where I live?" Saitama-Sensei seems a bit irritated, and rightfully so.
"This wasn't what you wanted to talk about, though, was it, Sitch? Get on with it," Miss Tatsumaki nearly growls, also becoming equally annoyed, as if defensive.
"Fine. I apologize," Sitch calms himself.
"In summary, we have a few questions for you," he succinctly speaks.
"And those are?" I personally feel like the Board is simply doing this for the sake of flair, or because they are simply too incompetent and are forced to think every word through.
"First, have you noticed any increase in the amount of monsters? And if so, have they become tougher?" Sitch reads off of a paper, one that he had undoubtedly prepared beforehand.
"Nope."
"Baldy, say more!" Miss Tatsumaki instructs. She furrows her eyebrows and smacks him on the back of the head, prompting a roll of the eyes.
"Well, there've been like a few more monsters. But it's not like they've gotten any tougher. They all go down the same," Saitama-Sensei explains, taking a long sip of his tea; he's clearly both savoring and enjoying it. "Anything else?"
"Well, it is clear that you are the cause of this vacancy of monsters in the highlighted area, so why don't you report them? It would give you more money, improve your rank, and potentially improve your relationship with the public," Sitch explains. This one seems to concern the Board even more, because the appearance of heroes and the symbol of them as strength mattered far more than actually bringing criminals and monsters to justice.
Unsurprisingly, Saitama-Sensei gives a very honest answer. An admirable one. One that I would only expect from somebody of his caliber, one that fits him as a whole.
Of course, the Board wasn't expecting anything like the answer he gave. Even Sitch was surprised.
~~~
"Really, Baldy?" Tats asks, and I get a bit confused. The three of us are walking towards the elevator, finally finished with the meeting.
"What?" I respond with my own question, and she gives me a look. I glance at Genos, and he has a different sort of expression. He looks...pensive. I don't bring it up, though. If he really wants to talk about it, he would. He's too honest with himself, in my opinion.
"Your response," she rolls her eyes, and her tone is as blunt as a sledgehammer.
"What about it?" I urge her to keep going, slowly realizing how weird of a word "urge" is. A weird thought, but a thought to be sure.
"It's just so you, but in such a stereotypical way! I mean, come on; 'Why would I? I just like fighting. Besides, I thought a hero should fight for justice and not to be famous.' Though, I do have to admit, it was cool to just tell them off and their entire beliefs right there," Tats keeps rambling on about why I should have said something else but keeps going back to why I said was also good that I almost don't hear it, and it seems Genos doesn't either.
Genos speaks up all of a sudden, letting his thoughts be heard while simultaneously interrupting Tats, "Saitama-Sensei, I wished to ask you something this morning. I apologize if this seems rude, but I cannot wait any longer, as it is nearing the evening."
I don't really care about him interrupting, but Tats seems to, "How dare you, cyborg! I don't care if you're his apprentice, don't interrupt me!" She starts to lift Genos in the air, before we're all interrupted, Genos for what was probably the fifth time today, by the sound off a ringtone. It's Genos' phone.
The music was also instantly recognizable. There was only one single person any of the three of us knew who liked pop music, and it was Fubuki.
As Tats begrudgingly released Genos, who'd just been interrupted even more while he answered the phone with a bit of annoyance behind him, "Yeah?"
I don't hear anything Fubuki's saying, and I honestly don't care. It's none of my business, really. I just hear him sigh and talk a bit to her, his tone a bit more tired. Again, I don't care.
Tats, on the other hand, clearly does as she instructs, "Don't talk to my sister like that!" To her surprise, he doesn't even notice her as he's listening to Fubuki.
"It's for you," he hands her the phone and turns to me, resigned. "Is anything else going to interrupt me?"
I roll my eyes a bit at his misfortune, and shake my head, "Nah, I got nothing. Whatcha wanna say? Make it quick so nothing can get in your way."
"Sensei, I would like to spar with you, so that I may--"
~~~~~
End of chapter.
In reality, I kinda had a bit too much fun writing this chapter rather than writing for story purposes, so that's on me. This chapter's probably lower in quality than the others, but I'm fine with that cause this one was just kinda for fun! What's the point of writing this stuff for a hobby if it isn't fun, right?
So, here's the thing. I'm planning on having a little chapter in between this one and the actual sparring session, because my plan is to have them spar a few days later. This time is gonna be used for one thing: Tornado finding out that King's a weakling.
If there's any feedback you guys have, whether it's grammatical, plot-wise (that I haven't already addressed) or anything else that I can fix without messing up the rest of the story, please let me know!
Sincerely,
SpiritBloodDragon
P.S: So, this is the one-year anniversary for my story. Yes, this is sort of a cheesy reflection. You'd probably call it an extremely cheesy reflection.
But, honestly? I didn't think I'd ever get to one whole year of writing this story. I've received nothing but support from you guys and from that, more motivation to keep writing, and I'm so thankful for that. Yes, I do write for my own enjoyment. But I find that the fact that you guys enjoy it? Honestly, it's way better. I'm glad and thankful you do.
So as you'd probably expect me to say, thank you. Thank you for sticking through this story and enjoying it, and hey, if you've been here from the beginning, you're super awesome! Thanks! But this gratitude, it still goes to all of you out there, who've read this story from beginning to end (At least, I think. It's not like I name the chapter "ooh romance" so you could skip straight to it)!
Perhaps this seemed cheesy to you. Unnecessary, even. But I honestly don't know what else to say other than how much I appreciate all the support you guys have given me, and this journey of mine to continue writing and growing isn't near over!
So of course, I'll be back with another chapter. Take care!
Thank you, ever so much.