Chapitre 4: Chapter 3 [Rewrite]
~Thirty Years Ago~
For everyone else today was a typical Monday morning but for one Tomoro Sazaki it was the first day of his second year in high school. The teen got off the bus wearing his school's blue blazer jacket over a white dress shirt with a blue tie tucked in dark blue pants and black shoes. His unique purple hair was brushed down and his violet eyes kept forward as his thought drifted to his impending debut at school.
What's that?
He's making his debut despite being in his second year?
Well that bit of confusion can be attributed to his father who recently got a promotion at his job along with a significant bump in his pay. He was to be the manager at a different branch in another city and thus the Sazaki family moved to Z City and Tomoro was transferred to a new school to continue his education.
He'd like to say he was excited but honestly he was feeling pretty whelmed by the whole affair. Not even underwhelmed just straight apathy in having to deal with anything relating to high school. He'd literally rather be doing anything else but needs must and without the Hero Association being a thing yet he can't rely on being able to punch out monsters as a reliable source of income. No his main gripe with school was the boredom but fortunately that's where the silver lining in moving to Z City came in because this particular city was famous for two things-
*BOOM*
A sudden explosion of noise interrupted Tomoro's musings and for a moment he was frozen in surprise. For a brief moment there was silence that was interrupted by an inhuman roar followed by screams and people started running away while sounds of destruction followed. Tomoro ran as well making his way towards the commotion with a smile of anticipation adorning his face the whole time.
'Z City is famous, or rather infamous, for two things,' he repeated in his thoughts.
Tomoro dodged the crowd of people running away and rounded the corner to view what was going on and it was about what he expected.
'The first being frequent monster attacks.'
"MUHAHAHAHA, RUN HUMANS! TREMBLE BEFORE THE MIGHT OF THE GREAT THORNSCREAM!"
The now-named Thornscream's body looked like a mess of twisted, mangled roots that formed two arms with sharp claws, a massive body that easily covered twenty meters, and a head with a 'crown' of horns. Its mouth was big enough to swallow a grown man and filled with two rows of serrated teeth. Mixed in along its body, which appeared to be literally rooted in place, were vines, flowers, and leaves the latter of which appear to act almost like a green mane.
The monster suddenly reared back and released a roar that visibly rippled the air and shattered nearby glass. So loud it was that Tomoro had to cover his ears even as he braced himself against the wave of force.
'At least now I know why he calls himself Thornscream,' he thought with annoyance.
Thankfully no one was caught up in that…at least no one that wasn't unfortunate enough to be caught up in the monster's no doubt sudden arrival from underground. Tomoro couldn't see any blood on the monster or bodies in the surroundings which meant no casualties though that might not be the case for long as Thornscream's sudden sonic attack stunned a portion of the fleeing crowd. Tomoro was also caught up in the sonic attack though not to the same degree as most, especially the ones who were closer to the epicenter.
He saw several people collapse on the ground with blood leaking from their ears.
"Rejoice humans for your blood will nourish my roots and your corpse will be used as fertilizer for my growth!" Thornscream crowed.
Meanwhile Tomoro yelled a confused "what!?"
Unfortunately the sonic attack did a number on his eardrums so he couldn't really hear anything above the ringing in his ears.
'With how he was monologuing this might be a blessing in disguise.'
Thornscream did not have a pleasant voice.
The monster lashed out a vine towards the closest human intent on crushing them. Despite the suddenness of the action Tomoro bent his legs slightly getting ready to intercept.
"Protego!"
The shout was somehow able to pierce through the ringing in his ear and it was followed by the sudden materialization of a translucent golden barrier that blocked the vine whip.
"Who dares!?"
In response, that same voice exclaimed, "I dare!"
Tomoro wasn't the only person to point his gaze upwards and immediately suffered for it as a golden light flashed before his eyes causing him to curse. As he blocked it however his senses picked up a concentrated wave of energy washing over him and the entire area. Once he blinked out the spots from his eyes he looked up and was greeted by the sight of an angel. The sight of her completely washed away his anxiety and the more he looked at her the more he felt-
'What the fuck?' he shook his head mentally reeling, 'what the fuck was that!?'
The person, the woman, floated in the air at a position where the sun acted as a backdrop casting her body in a silhouette. Even then her form was outlined by a faint yet noticeable aura of golden light. As she descends Tomoro finally got a good look at her and the young man was gobsmacked at what he saw. The woman was young, possibly in her late teens or early twenties. Her flawless pale skin and bright blonde hair that reached down past her shoulder were further accentuated by her golden aura. Her blue eyes were similarly highlighted though rather than seeming like a deep ocean they were more akin to a starry night sky.
She wore a costume that was very reminiscent of the sailor senshi consisting of a white skirt that reached just above her knees, a white sleepless top with a blue-white striped collar going down in a V-shape towards a large gold-colored bow on her chest and gold-colored heels. In her hand she held what appeared to be a gold-colored magic wand with a glowing star at the tip.
At this point in time Z City was famous for two things: its frequent monster attacks and its number of active vigilantes. This was Tomoro's first time encountering one of the local vigilantes and whatever expectations he had it certainly didn't come close to the real thing. Tomoro didn't believe magic existed in this world but he might have if it wasn't for the effect of whatever she did earlier. Even now he might have thought himself under a spell with how captivating she was.
Said spell was broken the moment she opened her mouth to intone the word "Wingardium Leviosa,"
"What?" Tomoro muttered unsure if he heard that right.
Unbeknownst to his thoughts the heroine did a swish and flick of her star-tipped wand causing the surrounding civilians surrounding the monster all levitated away under the faint glow of her golden aura. Upon seeing his victims being carted off to safety Thornscream lashed out once again with a vine whip aimed at the woman at breakneck speed.
"Petrificus Totalus."
With that the monster was encased in her golden aura freezing him in a stasis field including the vine whip mid-motion. Tomoro could see the monster struggling but to no avail after several moments by which the woman touched down on the ground right in front of it.
"Hrr, grr! Wh-who are you, human!?"
In response to the question, the woman gave a beautiful smile, "Who am I?"
'What is she…?'
The woman struck a pose that was eerily familiar to him.
'Sailor Moon?'
"I am the Magical Girl Sailor Star!"
'It can't be.'
Following the declaration of the now-named Sailor Star there was an eruption of noise from a rather large gathering of people.
'How the hell did I miss that!?'
The cheers were almost deafening with the loudest by far coming from a group of guys looking like they were at a freaking idol concert. He also noted that the way they cheered was very reminiscent of that one Gaijin 4Koma meme.
'What is happening right now?'
Tomoro was so lost but he still kept his attention on the woman who continued to speak.
"Unfortunately I am running a bit late so I will have to cut things short" as she said this cutesy tilt of her head she slowly raised her wand which began to glow.
'Why do I feel like she's not talking to Thornscream?'
Judging by the reaction of the crowd, specifically the men whom he's pretty sure are her simps, he might be onto something. Even as the gathered crowd showed their disappointment Tomoro's attention was taken by what the self-proclaimed Magical Girl was doing.
"So I will ask that you..." the woman began as she waved her now glowing wand above her head in an arc "be vanquished in the flames of purity!"
The arc completed and suddenly there was a small ball of flame hovering above the tip of the star wand. Despite the size Tomoro almost took a step back at what he felt building up from it. The almost insignificant-looking flames left a trail as she waved the wand in a complete arc before pointing it at the monster with a single word.
"INCENDIO!"
Tomoro only had a moment to go "oh shit" before a massive wall of flames consumed the monster whose dying screams was drowned out and distorted before quickly tapering off in the conflagration. It would have reached the gathered audience as well if not for the well-placed barriers blocking the fires creating a funnel that sent the flames upwards and creating a pillar that reached a dozen meters in the air.
While everyone was mesmerized by what was essentially a fiery tornado in the middle of the city Tomoro's gaze went down as felt the heat in the asphalt that had begun to deform, meaning that she was directing the flames underground to destroy the monster's roots as well.
'Smart' he couldn't help but compliment even as a bead of sweat went down his brow.
Meanwhile the crowd was awed at the picturesque display with the reaction guys' group somehow gaining more members to exclaim overdramatically. There's nothing like being reminded that your world was based on a shounen comedy manga by seeing a bunch of people reenacting a meme unironically.
This wasn't the first time he's seen it and it won't be the last but by the ROBs it was glorious every time.
The fire lasted for twenty seconds and by the end nothing was left of Thornscream but ash. With that Tomoro figured that the job was done; however he was proven wrong when the woman charged up another 'spell' with a wave of her wand and intoned.
"Reparo!"
"No freaking way" Tomoro whispered in astonishment as the entire street was swept over by gold.
The damages which were quite extensive in places began to, for lack of a better term, repair itself. The ash and smoke from the fire were gone and the hole made by Thornscream was filled out with the pavement restored. The surrounding buildings and vehicles were also swept up in a curious display reminiscent of pressing the rewind button to return everything to how it was before the battle. The only thing that she wasn't able to fix were the injuries of the civilians not that it seemed to put a damper on their overall mood.
But while the heroine was being swarmed by a grateful crowd Tomoro hung in the back observing her. Sailor Star only stayed long enough to ensure that the civilians weren't critically injured before taking off in a streak of gold across the skyline. Tomoro took that as his cue to leave and ponder what he had just witnessed.
While she may style herself as a 'Magical Girl' and even went so far as to construe her techniques as 'spells' he knew the truth of the matter. Sailor Star was an Esper and an incredibly powerful on at that.
'If I hadn't encountered espers before I would have thought she really was magic.'
Few as his encounters with them may have been Tomoro had familiarized himself with their brand of energy. Even if he hadn't he could tell that Sailor Star was on a completely higher tier than them and it wasn't even a question. He'd never seen any esper both in this life and in the One Punch Man story display the kind of power the heroine did. Pyromancy was one thing but to repair the street in the way she did meant that Sailor Star could manipulate matter on the molecular level at the very least.
'She doesn't seem to be able to affect anything organic.'
Tomoro was actually kind of thankful for that. He didn't think he had enough strength yet to resist psychic attacks on that level. Add in biomancy and yeah he would be very concerned about a more powerful version of Mahito running around. Only time will tell whether or not the repairs will stick but Tomoro had a gut feeling Sailor Star wasn't going to have the same issues as Atom Eve in that respect.
Of course there's also the elephant in the room that was her choice of vernacular used for her spells. It could have been a coincidence, except in this world while other languages exist outside of 'Japanese' such as English or rather Engrish, as far as he knew 'Latin' did not exist.
'Then again, it's not like I'm a linguistic expert.'
He could look it up and maybe find that his assumptions were wrong and Latin or an adjacent language did exist. He could definitely see a teenage girl wanting to ape the Magical Girl image searching up obscure languages that sounded mystical to be used as 'spells.' Still her application of the language in her 'spells' was a bit too consistent with what he knew about Harry Potter to be coincidental.
'Unless there's a Harry Potter adjacent book series,' he mused then paused 'shit, that's actually plausible.'
Admittedly, he didn't pay much attention to nerd culture ever since he came across that Street Fighter adjacent series. As a seasoned nerd he thought he could get into One Punch Man's nerd culture but most of the stuff that's popular tends to look like knock of versions or parodies of what he already knew on earth which immediately breaks his immersion. He couldn't force himself to accept it for what it was and he found other things of more importance to occupy his time so he never got into any of his prior life's hobbies as a result.
'I'll handle how to approach her later,' he thought as he arrived at his new school.
Despite the unexpected monster encounter he was able to arrive well before first period. The benefits of being a habitual early riser not that he thought he would get in trouble for arriving late given the circumstances. He made his way to the principal's office who gave him a few words of encouragement after which his assistant gave him a schedule and he was assigned a tour guide in the form of the student council president.
The SCP ("heh") turned out to be a girl from his new class with bright auburn hair tied into twin tails. She wore glasses and the school uniform consisting of a navy blue blazer over a white shirt with a blue feather bow tie and blue skirt.
Tomoro took one look at her and mentally deadpanned, 'you've got to be kidding me. What are the chances?'
Standing before him was the same Magical Girl vigilante he'd seen not even an hour ago as a civilian high school student. Admittedly she was doing a very good job of passing herself off as a normal girl but what she couldn't cover up was the distinct energy that permeated her very being like a heat wave to his senses.
"Hello, my name is Solaria Nova," she introduced herself.
"…"
'Jesus even her name is a dead giveaway.'
Sailor Star, Solaria Nova.
It was so ridiculous that he almost made a joke about it but he thought himself better than that. And so with the silence he was unwittingly prolonging, getting a bit awkward, he decided to answer.
"Tomoro Sazaki," he replied.
~Present Day~
You ever just felt that there was something off but you can't quite put your finger on it?
That's how Tomoro felt from the moment he woke up this morning. He blamed it on the dream he had that consisted of vague memories from the past where he met her. He knew the reason for why that is and it was something he'd been putting off his mind for a while until the last possible minute.
Today was a big day for the firm Tomoro worked at.
About two months ago his firm was contacted by a client who wished to remain anonymous though said anonymity flew right out the window for Tomoro when it was found out that the person was affiliated with Star Enterprise LLC. Now Star Enterprise was not only one of the largest multimedia conglomerates in the world but it was also owned by an acquaintance of his. An acquaintance who he didn't exactly part ways with in the friendliest of terms.
He'd like to think that she would still be too angry to want to ever deal with him again and that this anonymous client just so happened to coincidentally work for her company. Then he got assigned to the project and saw exactly what he was working with. The job in question was to do an audit and it didn't take him long to be convinced that his acquaintance had a hand in this.
Tomoro worked for a medium-sized accounting firm that did work with mostly small to medium-sized businesses. There was no way in hell a multi-billion dollar company would trust them of all people with sensitive accounting information.
Unless they knew said company had an employee that they were specifically targeting.
The fact that their anonymous client was in a position to acquire the accounting books of such a company meant that they must be someone high enough in the chain of command to have access to this information. It was so damn transparent to him that he wondered why she didn't just send an e-mail or text or even a damn phone call to set up a meeting instead of this convoluted shit.
'Ugh, I forgot how much of a drama queen she is.'
Unfortunately there wasn't anything Tomoro could do about it. Sure he could try to reach out, but he didn't want to just in case this was merely a coincidence and she had nothing to do with this. On that not it would be a very awkward conversation to have based on the findings he and his team discovered during their audit.
More on that later…
In any case this was the firm's biggest job yet and they were getting paid a hefty sum for it with room for a bonus if the client was satisfied with the work done. They had a lot of ground to cover which is why the actual work took two months of fine combing and consideration before they were ready to present their findings.
For this the client requested an in-person meeting with the team which was only a little surprising considering how they chose anonymity up to that point. Tomoro didn't see anything wrong with that as he didn't expect anything outrageous to happen at this meeting despite the subject matter and potential individual involved.
And if there is trouble well he'll just have to handle it.
The meeting itself took place in A City which is touted as the business capital of the world where many corporate entities vie for a spot to establish themselves due to the prestige associated with it. He was half expected to be invited to the Star Enterprise headquarters, but that would just be stupid.
Why would their client, who has always been about secrecy, do something like that?
Rather the meeting was set up at one of the many commercial office buildings in the city that businesses can rent out. This one was noticeably on the smaller scale and rather nondescript despite its relative size. This fact clearly signifies that their client was still maintaining their caution in regards to their anonymity.
So here they were on their way to the floor with the conference room their client rented out specifically for this meeting. Some small talk was had before the boss told them to keep quiet unless specifically addressed, and they were sufficiently weary enough to heed his orders. Eventually the elevator opened up and they were greeted by a woman who identified herself as their client's secretary before leading them to a private conference room.
"I have brought them, ma'am."
The woman spoke to an individual who sat at the head of a long table.
"Thank you Shizune" their client spoke in a pleasant voice that was instantly familiar to him.
'Yeah, I figured' he tried not to sigh outwardly.
Out of everyone present he was the only one who managed to control his reaction so he wasn't gaping and gasping at the sight of her. He understood where they were coming from; after all, it's not every day that you meet the billionaire CEO of the largest multi-media conglomerate in the world who also happened to be a legendary retired idol.
Beyond that the woman herself was a sight to behold.
Her skin was pale, healthy, and flawless; her long, wavy, light auburn hair reached past her shoulder; her blue eyes sparkled with a hidden depth that most would miss; and her pouty lips quirked up into a charming smile that accentuated her minimal makeup of a light blush and cherry lip gloss. Her attire consisted of a white long-sleeved blouse and matching skirt combo with a navy blue suit vest worn over it. For accessories she wore a pair of gold earrings and a watch on the wrist of her left arm.
Extending her hand she spoke "thank you for meeting with me today"
Her voice was smooth bordering on sensual but with enough professionalism to avoid being blatantly flirtatious.
It was soothing to the ears.
"N-not a problem, ma'am, Miss Nova," his boss stuttered taking her offered hand for a shake.
"It's quite alright," she waved it off.
Tomoro could tell she knew the kind of effect she had on others and was patient enough to give the man a minute to compose himself.
The boss did just that and she continued, "is this your team?"
"Yes! These are the best and brightest I've assigned to work on the project."
"The best and brightest hmm?" She muttered as her gaze swept over the group.
'Oi, why were you lingering on me while sounding skeptical?'
That was better than what he expected to be honest and by the end of the introduction Solaria took a seat.
"Let us get this presentation underway. I am eager to see your findings."
And so the presentation began yet Tomoro's mind was elsewhere.
'What are you up to?'
Tomoro could say that he had a complicated relationship with this woman. From the moment they first encountered each other it seemed that Solaria Nova seemingly existed to make his life more complicated.
~Thirty Years Ago~
It's been a week since Tomoro moved to Z City and things were certainly more interesting than his previous home. The first day of school he witnessed a monster attack, saw a real-life magical girl, and met the civilian identity of said magical girl in his new school. Solaria Nova, aka the Student Council President (aka the vigilante Sailor Star), might possibly be a reincarnate like him.
If he's being honest Tomoro wasn't exactly thrilled at the prospect of another person reincarnating into the world alongside him. He always pictured this as his power fantasy adventure. He had a vision of what he wanted to do and accomplish in this world and having another reincarnate messes with that vision. It's the equivalent of going to a convention for your secret hobby that isn't quite accepted or understood in your normal social circles and bumping into your colleague from work.
Some people might say it's cool that you guys happen to have similar interests and can bond over it. Tomoro thought such a scenario was awkward as all hell and at the back of his mind he can't help but think this work colleague might end up spreading weird rumors about him. He's pretty sure Solaria would be of the same mind because Tomoro can't imagine she would like the idea of someone having proper context for all her actions and references she did as Sailor Star. Not to mention the embarrassment of being a grown woman (in spirit) cosplaying as a magical girl straight out of a kid's anime or TV show complete with melodramatic acting and ridiculous poses.
Not that he's judging her or anything. This was her second chance at life and she's living it to the fullest with no apparent regrets. He certainly wouldn't appreciate some outsider crashing his ideal power fantasy world and he didn't want to do the same for someone else. So for both their sakes, he opted not to approach her. If he had his way he would keep at least a country-wide distance from her but unfortunately he's stuck in close proximity until he graduates.
'It's just for two years, Tomoro. After that I can wash my hands of this situation and never have anything to do with her for the foreseeable future until canon.'
Somewhere out there he swore he heard a ROB laughing.
~Present Day~
Tomoro internally cringed at that piece of memory as the woman in question sat a few seats away at the head of the conference table. Clearly things didn't go the way of his original vision which would quickly become an unfortunately regular occurrence.
As the presentation went underway eventually the ball was handed over to Tomoro so he could deliver the slam dunk. Including the discussions and a small Q&A session the meeting took a little over three hours to conclude. By the end of it Solaria had a pinched expression looking like someone who was visibly maintaining their composure so as to not let their anger show.
A perfectly reasonable response to finding out that some of your company's top executives were embezzling funds and may be attempting to oust you from the company you built from the ground up.
"It's just as I suspected then," she huffed lightly. "Thank you for your services. You can expect the rest of your payment within the hour as well as a hefty bonus."
"T-thank you, Miss Nova; it was a pleasure doing business with you," the boss replied.
The two shook hands before Solaria turned her attention to Tomoro.
"Mr. Sazaki."
'Here we go.'
"Miss Nova," he nodded respectfully.
She opened her mouth to speak only to catch herself. At the same time he perked up as something entered the peripheral of his senses.
'That power…'
Just then Solaria recovered with a light cough into her fist "apologies but I just remembered I have other urgent business to attend to."
Taking the dismissal for what it was Tomoro and co left the room. While everyone made small talk about the success of their presentation and meeting the former idol, Tomoro kept his focus on the power he sensed earlier. This power could be problematic for the heroes save for Saitama and maybe Tatsumaki which was good enough for him to not be too worried but…
'Who is that?'
The power was clearly heading towards the city and it wasn't alone though one would be hard-pressed to realize it since the power was so much larger than the others. He also noted that the signatures were clearly not human nor were they from a monster but something more alien-
'Wait…alien?'
His memories stirred at the thought and he suddenly remembered what the next event was supposed to be.
'Shit that was today?'
The elevator opened and Tomoro increased his pace to exit the building just as the power settled above the city. Stepping outside, he wasn't the only one to look up as something settled above the city, casting a shadow.
"I knew something felt off about today," he muttered.
Behind him his co-workers caught up "Tomoro, what are you looking…at?"
He gasped as he beheld a truly massive spaceship that nearly encompassed a good chunk of A City.
"Oh-"
The underside of the ship started to glow.
"My-"
There was a sudden flash of light.
"GO…"
The world around Tomoro slowed to a complete stop as his perception increased by several magnitudes. He glanced about the place, watching bystanders standing around like statues and gawking at what was essentially their imminent doom.
He shook his head 'right, I'll have to handle this now.'
As much as Tomoro had a hands-off policy when it came to dealing with these 'canon events' he couldn't very well stand by and just let a city be destroyed when he's literally at the epicenter.
'Blowing up the bullets it is then.'
With that thought he disappeared from his position on the ground and appeared in the air just below the bullets. There were literally hundreds if not thousands of oversized bullets each the size of a truck and covering the entire city like oversized metallic raindrops.
He held a hand aloft to form a bright purple sphere, 'gonna have to time this right.'
The explosion would create a smokescreen for his actions and cause enough of a distraction to the civilians while delaying the aliens' counterattack before they realize it was a premature detonation. Meanwhile, the Hero Association and S-Class heroes currently in a meeting will be alerted to what is going on and mobilize a response.
But before he could let loose his attack a familiar energy signature brushed against his senses, and the massive bullets were enveloped in a golden aura halting their movement completely.
'What?'
~"You were taking too long."~
He flinched at the voice in his head that was not his own before schooling his shocked expression into something more neutral. Looking over his shoulder he found Solaria Nova with her form enveloped in a golden aura floating a few feet away from him with arms folded and her eyes glowing faintly in the same gold color that was her psychic energy.
'Solaria' he greeted mentally.
~"Tomoro,"~ she returned telepathically with a neutral expression before pointing at his hand ~"are you going to do something with that or not?"~
Wordlessly Tomoro gave a sharp flick of his wrist launching the energy sphere at the center of the frozen sea of alien ordinances before it exploded. Despite the speed at which they were moving, which could be measured in milliseconds if not faster, Tomoro's attack expanded in a purple wave that set off the bullets. Unlike the energy blast the explosions from said bullets looked like they were caught in a freeze frame.
Tomoro heard the woman's hum echo in his mind ~"why not just destroy the ship?" ~
'I figured the Hero Association would appreciate having alien technology to reverse engineer.'
~"Is that so?" ~
'…' he kept silent.
~"Did you know there was going to be an alien invasion today?" ~
'I didn't know it was going to be today.'
And didn't it feel like a cosmic joke that it happened this day at this time out of literally all the other times?
Solaria's expression betrayed nothing as she regarded him. In the background the wave completed its arc setting off all the bullet-shaped missiles.
At that he thumbed the blast and thought projected 'I'm going to go now.'
~"I'll be in touch." ~
That doesn't bode well but he didn't even think such thoughts in her presence and instead teleported back to his coworkers in the exact same position he left them. After slowing down his perception back to normal-
*KABOOOM*
Tomoro feigned flinching and ducked as above them. A City's skyline was enveloped in an explosion of epic proportions. Windows were shattered, the ground violently shook, and for a long moment the entire sky was set aflame. Amidst the panic and explosions, the sirens sounded, and everyone started running to the nearest shelter.
Tomoro's body was on autopilot as he and his group was intercepted by Hero Association personnel with a transport vehicle. A part of him was impressed by their response time, but the majority of his thoughts were consumed by a certain woman and her parting words.
"I'll be in touch."
~Thirty Years Ago~
Tomoro would like to think that he's a different man in this life than he was in his past life. The major difference being that he spends a good chunk of his time outside often times to train and exercise. He's also eating healthier and even has a social life outside the internet. But not everything about the direction of his second life was great, however. Unknown to him his newfound hobby would have unforeseen consequences that made themselves known around the time he hit puberty.
This was where the results of several years worth of training would show themselves resulting in a rather appealing physique. It didn't help that Tomoro wasn't exactly ugly before but he pretty much destroyed the 'plain-faced protagonist' energy he had going on up until that point. Hard to be just another face as a 5'7'' 15-year-old with broad shoulders, easily defined muscles, a reasonably handsome face and a strong jawline.
People tend to notice these things and in Tomoro's case guys thinks he's cool and girls swoon around him. If Tomoro was being honest he was not a fan of gaining their attention, especially the girls but was self-aware enough to know that he didn't want social anxiety to be the issue it was in his past life. So with that in mind he forced himself to engage with his peers something he did not do before due to age gap. He just couldn't find it in himself to seek or care for the companionship of children but teenagers are a bit more acceptable.
The good news is he didn't have to make the first move or anything because when you're tall, strong, and handsome, people want to be near you to include you in their social dynamics. If he wanted to he could literally maintain his popularity with his peers by doing the bare minimum and playing into the image of the aloof, ruggedly handsome teen heartthrob all the while using the experience to work out his own social anxiety issues.
So when three of his male classmates asked if he wanted to go to a karaoke bar after school, he agreed. Yeah, he could be doing something more productive, but he could also afford to waste a day relaxing with some acquaintances. Fast forward to after school and it appeared one of the boys managed to successfully invite some girls. He was completely fine with that until he met up with them at the school entrance and saw who was among the four girls they invited.
Solaria Nova.
'Why is she here?'
No really, from what he understood she has to attend to her duties as the student council president after school then there's her vigilante activity. Luckily he didn't need to ask the question as one of the other girls did for him.
"The vice president offered to take care of my duties for the evening, so I decided to do something fun," she answered.
'Bullshit' he thought immediately but otherwise didn't say anything.
As they made their way to the karaoke bar Tomoro kept at least two bodies away from her and dialed the aloofness up to eleven to basically use it as an excuse to ignore her. Luckily she was busy being occupied by everyone else who saw it as a great opportunity to get in the good graces of one of the most popular girls in school. Even the girls for once weren't peppering him with questions and awkward attempts at flirting.
'Should I leave?'
As in sneak away while everyone was distracted.
'No, I'm not that desperate. I'll just make up some BS excuse and GTFO.'
But before he could even think up an excuse, a familiar voice addressed him.
"Sazaki-san?"
He turned towards the one who called him "yes?"
"How are you finding your time at school?"
His brow furrowed at the question "I don't have any complaints."
That wasn't entirely true, but those were more like nitpicks than genuine complaints.
Her lips pursed "is that so?"
She wanted to say more he could tell and that got him curious "there a problem?"
"No I was just curious to know why you haven't joined any of the sports clubs yet."
Tomoro fought the urge to groan at what he saw as the repercussions of one of his more disastrous experiments back in middle school.
"I'm done with sports," he replied.
"I see…"
Solaria turned away, but Tomoro's gaze lingered for a moment before he looked away and a single thought entered his head.
'This is stupid.'
The more he thought about it the more he felt a bit silly about the whole thing with Solaria. He has spent weeks investigating this woman, doing research and at one point attempted to even stalk her and for what? Just so he could declare to himself that he wanted nothing to do with her? Then he spent the month after that declaration walking on eggshells around her like she's some kind of live grenade that could go off at any minute.
Meanwhile he very much doubted the girl even registered his existence beyond being a transfer student whom the principal was keen on getting into one of their sports clubs. It hit him just now how out of pocket he's been acting and thinking towards her.
'Fucking ridiculous' was the conclusion he came to after thinking about it.
He also concluded that it wouldn't be healthy for him to continuously be worried about her for the next two years anyway. He needed to get over himself and prove to himself that she wasn't some kind of threat. And wouldn't you know it the perfect opportunity to disavow any misconception he had with the girl dropped on his proverbial lap. So with that thought in mind he crushed his trepidation and decided not to flake on his friends who from the looks of it needed all the support they could get.
'Especially with those pick lines'
Dear lord he was like this at one point.
Later…
The group of eight was seated in a karaoke box the boys were paying for because of course. Things were going cordial and dare he say he was having fun even though he couldn't sing worth a damn. That was fine at this point he leaned into his terrible singing in good fun. Solaria on the other hand was the exact opposite being a talented singer who had the entire room stunned into silence as she did a rendition of a popular pop song.
One of the girls said it best after the performance.
"Are you sure you won't consider being an idol?"
"I've considered it."
That was the only answer she gave, and the evening moved along until into the night when the paid session came to an end. Everyone went their separate ways except for Solaria, who kept by his side.
"My home is actually in this direction."
So she explained and Tomoro didn't need to press X for Doubt.
"Uh-huh," he hummed and decided to play along for now and kept walking.
That seemed to catch the girl's attention "what?"
"Nothing."
"It's clearly not nothing."
"…"
He stayed silent, to which the girl huffed "you're not a very sociable person, are you Sazaki-san?"
"What gave you that idea?"
He said it sarcastically but was genuinely curious.
"Well, for one, you're not very talkative."
He shrugged at that "I prefer silent introspections to conversations."
"How cool and mysterious" she stated wryly, "is that what you're going for with this act you're putting on? It feels a bit much especially with the dyed hair."
"Okay, first of all this is my natural hair color."
"Wait really?"
"Second," he went on ignoring her words "I'm not going for a 'type' I'm just being me. Not my fault everyone thinks I'm cool and mysterious. That'll be like blaming you for being the stereotypical girl boss who's pretty, smart, and good at everything she does without trying."
He looked back to catch the girl staring at him funny.
"What?" he asked.
"You're really bad at this" at his raised brow she added "making conversation."
"Tch"
"I mean I figured with your reputation you'd be more of a smooth talker."
"Haven't you ever heard of not judging a book by its cover? Also, what reputation are you talking about?"
"Um..." that brought the girl up short.
"Forget it," he dismissed "I don't really care what people say about me."
The two walked in silence for a bit with Tomoro staring ahead for the most part but a flicker of his gaze towards Solaria found her in deep contemplation.
Eventually they turned a corner and Tomoro came to a stop, "whelp, here we are."
Solaria looked to find that they were in a secluded alleyway with a dead end.
"What?" the girl looked at the dead end confused before turning to her companion with a weary expression.
Tomoro for his part distanced himself from her as he regarded her with a lidded gaze "isn't this what you were hoping for?"
"What are you talking about?" Solaria questioned while she subtly got defensive in her stance.
"You wanted to get me alone so we could have a talk but you didn't know how to bring up the question, am I wrong?"
"How did you come to such a conclusion?"
"For one you don't live in this direction."
"And how would you know where I live?"
"Because I've seen the bus you take to get to school and I actually take this route to school in the morning"
"Oh" Solaria blinked and for a brief instance looked unsure.
"By the way, I don't believe for a minute that the vice president is taking on your duties."
"And why is that?"
"You're whole shtick is being a reliable overachiever who's able to do anything and everything thrown at you while making it look easy. You don't strike me as the type of person who would let someone else do your work while you hang out with friends."
"And you think my goal is you?"
"Well, you have been giving me looks throughout the whole time we were at karaoke when you think I wasn't looking."
While Tomoro was dead set on not showing his concern for Solaria's presence, she was doing the opposite. To her credit she was very subtle about it, but unwitting or not, he was very hyperaware in this instance.
"So you want to tell me what you want?"
Solaria looked hesitant for a moment, as if weighing her options before collecting herself and finally asking the one question, Tomoro.
"Tomoro, are you a reincarnated person?"
'You know I could say I should have seen this coming…but that would be ironic.'
He thought this but he hasn't said anything neither has his expression betrayed anything.
Yet Solaria nodded to herself "I'll take that as a yes."
"You know they have a saying about taking silence as confirmation."
"Who says I took your silence for confirmation?"
'What else would you use?'
"A bunch of things actually" Solaria replied to his…
Tomoro started bringing a hand to his head "you-"
"Can hear your thoughts? Yeeaah" she finished in a slow drawl.
Tomoro's fist clenched "stop that."
"Alright" she raised her hands in a placating gesture "just so you know I don't make it a habit of going into people's heads but even if I don't I can still catch stray thoughts if they're 'loud' enough and well the people who are the quietest on the outside often have the loudest voices on the inside."
Tomoro didn't know how to respond to that. Part of him was absolutely livid because the implications were very concerning. He thought telepathy worked like someone basically opening the door into your mind but the way how she says it makes it sound like his thoughts are like radio signals being broadcasted she has a receiver to pick up and translate the signals. That really fucking sucks and no amount of placating by her is going to make him feel better about essentially being an open book to her.
"Since I know you're still agonizing over this and no I didn't read your mind your face says it all."
Oh great now he's an open book to her in more ways than one.
"I didn't actually look into your innermost thoughts. Didn't need to, to be honest" she added
'Twist the knife a little deeper why don't you?'
"So whatever secrets you have are safe."
"How did you figure it out?"
"Well for one the first time we met you did the equivalent of shouting out that you knew I was Sailor Star and compared me to Sailor Moon."
"You're kidding. Are my thoughts that loud?"
"People who spend a lot of time in their head have a more defined 'voice' so…"
As she trailed off Tomoro took a moment to study her and found Solaria's expression and body language screaming nervousness, fear, and hesitance mixed with excitement and anticipation.
Seeing this he closed his eyes in resignation and spoke, "to answer your question, yeah I'm a reincarnate too."
At his words Solaria let out a loud exhale and leaned against the nearby wall in palpable relief.
"Thank God."
Tomoro's expression turned sardonic as he muttered, "poor choice of words."
"What was that?"
"Considering where we are best not to use the G-word too flippantly."
"Why? Where are we?"
That gave the man pause "you…you don't know what world we're in?"
She straightened up "is this supposed to be a fictional world?"
"Yes?"
"You know I figured it was but I don't which one."
"You don't know about One Punch Man?"
Solaria stared at him for a moment before a metaphorical light bulb went off "is it the one with the bald guy in the yellow suit."
'She doesn't know One Punch Man.'
That's impossible
"Where the hell were you in 2015?"
She tilted her head "when in 2015?"
"October to December."
"Ah" she nodded then answered bluntly "I was dead."
Tomoro's eyes widened "oh…oh shit I-"
"It's fine, I got over it" she waved off "so when did you kick the bucket?"
"2021."
"Damn, so did I miss anything important?"
For a moment Tomoro's eyes became unfocused as snippets of six years worth of history flashed through his mind before he shook himself out of the trance.
"Yeah…you could say that."
In a way he kind of envied her that she didn't have to deal with the bullshit that was 2016-2021 but on the other she missed a lot of good things.
Solaria actually brightened up at that "oh cool! I can't wait to pick your brain about that."
"…" he stared at her with raised eyebrows.
"…poor choice of words?"
"Yeah."
"Sorry"
"And you say I'm bad at this."
"Shut up."
He took out his phone to look at the time "my parents don't want me to stay out late on a school day so I have to get back."
He could feel the girl behind him perk up "I get it my parents are kind of the same way too."
"Yeah, so I'll see you later," he went to leave.
"Hold up, yoink" as she said this his phone was enveloped by her psychic energy and pulled into her awaiting hand.
"Hey!"
"Relax I'm just putting my number in."
"What? No Wingardium Leviosa?"
The girl flushed lightly at his words even as she tapped away at his phone "shut up. And it's Leviosa not Leviosa. Get the pronunciation right if you're going to be taunting me TomoRon"
'Fucking Potterhead'
He scoffed "whatever you say Solarmione"
Just then a cutesy ringtone sounded "there now we have each other's numbers," she smirked sending his phone back.
Tomoro caught his phone with a scowl in her direction which she was unfazed by.
"I'm leaving now."
"I'll keep in touch."
~Present Day~
The alien threat was deemed disaster-level Dragon with a possibility of being elevated to God status based on what the aliens had in store for humanity. For all the public knew this was just a vanguard for an invasion fleet of possibly thousands of ships on a direct course for earth. Of course Tomoro knew that wasn't the case. There was no invasion fleet—just that single massive ship filled with what were essentially space marauders.
In any case Tomoro was given the rest of the day off, and he arrived home to find Genos and Saitama already home. The mood was somewhat dour with Saitama having a melancholic edge on his usual blank face. Tomoro found out the reason for this from Genos, as Saitama wasn't exactly in a talking mood.
According to the cyborg prior to the appearance of the alien ship the Hero Association HQ briefly came under attack by a group of avian monsters. These monsters would then be cut down by the alien vanguard posthumously assigned a disaster threat level Dragon. Following this attack against the monsters the alien ship, which had somehow descended onto A City without alerting any of the numerous sensors, attempted to carpet bomb the city.
The action would result in a failure as according to the Hero Association analysts most of the shells prematurely detonated before hitting the city. None could explain the reason for this but nonetheless it resulted in zero causalities and minor injuries and collateral across the city. Following the failed bombardment the S-Class heroes, who were coincidentally having a meeting during the attack, went out to assess the situation.
Atomic Samurai, Silver Fang, Metal Bat, and Puri Puri Prisoner went to immediately engage the alien vanguard. Superalloy Darkshine, Tank Top Master, Tatsumaki, and Child Emperor stayed close by to act as reserves in case more aliens show up, as their position seems to be the focal point of the invasion. That left Genos, Flashy Flash, Pig God, Zombieman, Watchdog, and Drive Knight to venture into the city to survey the situation, search for possible alien infiltrators, and coordinate with others in the city to help with civilian evacuation.
Saitama managed to board the ship in the initial chaos and wreak havoc while in search of the alien leader. Child Emperor made attempts at analyzing the spacecraft and managed to successfully reach out to Metal Knight to help expedite the process. Meanwhile, Tatsumaki became A City's first (and only) definitive line of defense by using her psychokinesis to stop a second bombardment and send it back at the ship.
Saitama confronted the alien leader who was called Boros and the fact that it was Saitama who gave them the name of the alien leader went a long way into crediting his threat level. With how flippant and obtuse the bald man can be it took a lot to leave an impression on him. Most enemies would be lucky he even remembered their name by the end of a confrontation.
According to Genos the battle between Saitama and Boros proved destructive enough to disable the ship's firing mechanism and eventually cause the ship to accrue enough damage to disable whatever system kept it afloat causing it to fall. Thankfully Tatsumaki was able to stop it before it flattened the city and easily ferry the ship outside the city limits and drop it. In the end the invasion resulted in zero casualties on Earth's side, the deaths of all the invaders, and the acquisition of a mostly intact alien spaceship.
Unfortunately the ship's database was damaged so most information relating to the crew and their exploits on other worlds was left unsalvageable. Thankfully the technology within the ship itself was mostly intact. Child Emperor and Metal Knight were commissioned to analyze and reverse engineer it to create better weapons and technology for the Hero Association's benefits.
For his decisive action during the incident, not to mention fighting an opponent who by all accounts could have been the mythic Disaster Level God threat, Saitama was promoted to Rank 4 in the S-Class.
"He was strong" was Saitama's comment by the end of the story.
Tomoro's expression turned wry "but not strong enough, right?"
"…"
The silence spoke more than any words could, and Tomoro actually felt bad enough for Saitama that he was almost willing to offer him an outlet to satiate his battle lust. Before he could decide on his admittedly impulsive thoughts his cellphone started ringing. With furrowed brows he took it out and looked at the screen. The number was unknown which made him damn near groan knowing who was on the other line.
"Aren't you going to get that?" Saitama questioned with a raised brow.
For a moment he contemplated whether he should before ultimately getting "excuse me."
Tomoro made sure he went to the other end of the corridor before he cleared his throat and answered with a thick accent.
"Hello."
"Oh you actually picked up. I was half expecting you to ignore the call or act like I had the wrong number with a bad foreign accent."
Tomoro frowned, feeling offended. 'You think so little of me.'
He didn't say that, though. No need to exacerbate this.
"What do you want Solaria?" he asked getting to the point.
"We need to talk."
'Figures.'
"You have a time and place in mind?"
"I just sent the details to your phone."
Momentarily he took the phone from his ear to see an alert icon denoting a message received.
"Got it."
"You also have my number; save it."
"Fine, was that all you wanted to say?"
There was a brief pause on the other line before she continued, "dress appropriately for the venue."
And with that, she hung up. Tomoro looked at the phone screen and, out of curiosity, opened the message she sent to view the contents.
Upon reading the contents Tomoro gained a baffled expression before shaking his head.
"What in the...?"
~To Be Continued~
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Streggae
Streggae This chapter went through so many rewrites you have no idea. I even made a second version of this chapter that I had to cut. The good news is I have a good chunk of the next chapter written which may or may not be helpful all things considered. In any case I hope you enjoyed this new take and expect more flashbacks and such.
The next chapter is available on my P_atreon for those interested in supporting me.
— Un nouveau chapitre arrive bientôt — Écrire un avis
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
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