original

Z City Neighbors

Tác giả: Streggae

Chương 1: Chapter 1 [Revised]

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…BEE-Click

The hand receded from the alarm and a man groggily sat up with a groan. After stretching his arms while heaving a great yawn he threw off the covers and left the comfort of his bed to begin his morning routine. Fifteen minutes later he stepped out of the shower while drying his body with a towel. The resulting steam from the shower had fogged up the mirror, and wiping it down revealed a man looking to be in his early 30s. This man could have passed off as being average, but his striking violet hair, sharp purple eyes, and muscular body covered in a few scars meant he was far from being just an average man.

At least that would be the case in other circumstances, but he was able to cover the most apparent of his abnormalities with a professional-looking (if cheap) business suit with a matching purple tie. His short violet hair was neatly combed to be presentable, his sharp eyes became hidden behind the perpetual glare of his rectangular glasses, and to complete the look, he took up his black briefcase.

Finally, after eating breakfast, Tomoro Sazaki left his apartment.

~O~

Tomoro worked as an accounting clerk at a private firm. There wasn't much to the job itself, as all he had to do was crunch some numbers, do some analysis, hand in some documents, and attend some meetings. It was the very definition of a 'dead-end' job where the work itself was a monotonous grind and pay off was unfulfilling but Tomoro didn't mind it much. The work was simple, expectations were minimal, working conditions were acceptable, and the salary was good enough for a man in his position.

His co-workers were also good people. Sure he wasn't really close with anyone but they were nice and he had a good relationship with most of them all the same. Tomoro himself was something of a wallflower but not one who gets overlooked especially when they go out to celebrate. Those infrequent office parties and invites for after-work drinks were the only things that broke up the monotony.

Well actually there was one other thing that everyone secretly looked forward to during work hours.

"Hey, did you hear? There's a monster attack happening in City A!"

The announcement acted a signal as everyone dropped whatever they were doing and tune in. Now this isn't to say that the people here, including himself, would wish a monster attack on anyone, but when you've been staring at spreadsheets and numbers on a computer screen for the better part of a day you take any viable distractions you get. At this point monster attacks are the only sanctioned 'breaks' they get and most employees are happy to exploit this loophole in company policy for all that it was worth.

The citywide alarm doesn't ring for anything below a demon-level threat, so it was up to the people to save themselves until a hero showed up. Monster attacks don't have a pattern to them, so if one happens to be nearby they would need to evacuate. The boss thought it prudent for everyone to be aware and appraised of the situation and so agreed to get that big-screen TV and speakers hung up in the middle of the office.

Said TV showed the news reporting on a monster rampaging in City A and showed no signs of stopping. By now almost everyone had stopped what they were doing and had their eyes glued to the big screen. Everyone except for Tomoro who didn't let the broadcast impede his work. The job was bearable so long as he didn't let anything pile up unnecessarily. Besides that Tomoro had seen this type of thing reported enough times that he knew a hero was going to show up to stop it any minute now.

"We now have word that the A-Class heroes Lightning Max and Smile Man are on their way!"

'Right on cue' he thought upon hearing the reporter.

There was nothing out of the ordinary…until the situation kept escalating even with the arrival of two A-Class heroes. After another half hour Tomoro conceded that the situation might be one of those abnormal cases. His co-workers were starting to get worried and even the boss himself was watching the proceedings from a live feed on his computer from the anxious look on his face.

Tomoro could see why everyone was worried as the headline on TV read HUGE EXPLOSION IN CITY A and from what he gathered a significant part of the city was destroyed with no signs of the monster stopping. With this the monster's threat assessment got bumped up to disaster-level Dragon, which was enough to finally get Tomoro's full attention. A disaster level Dragon monster is guaranteed to have the Hero Association send out one of the S-Class heroes to combat it.

If it was a city that those heroes aren't in or near then it's a genuine toss up as to who would respond to the threat.

'I'm surprised they let it escalate this much.'

Considering City A was where the Hero Association's main headquarters is located there should have been an appropriate response to this already.

'Don't tell me he's the one they're sending.'

Tomoro's thoughts were interrupted by one of co-workers getting his attention.

"Hey Tomoro you want in on this?"

Apparently someone set up an impromptu betting pool which wasn't at all surprising.

'…eh, I could use a few more bucks.'

"Sure, what's the bet?"

"Who do you think is going to stop the monster this time?"

"I'm betting One-Punch Man will handle it," Tomoro said with quiet confidence.

"Tch, you always bet on One-Punch Tomoro," someone laughed.

Tomoro could only shrug since it was true. Tomoro had a preference for the hero and while he has lost more times betting on the man than he won, he was feeling particularly lucky today. Several minutes later, they were given a verdict, and it turned out that One-Punch Man was the one to take care of the Dragon-level monster. Apparently he did it all within minutes of arriving on the scene, after saving a little girl, and like his namesake he did it in a single punch.

"It looks like I'm eating fancy tonight," Tomoro smirked as he accepted his winnings.

"You mean you're treating everyone to the first round of drinks tonight?" one co-worker crowed half-jokingly.

Tomoro rolled his eyes good-naturedly "yes, yes, of course,"

It was something of a tradition in the company for employees to have drinks after a difficult monster was beaten. At least that was the excuse, but really it didn't take much for this lot to go drinking after a hard day's work.

After the situation was settled everyone got back to work though with considerably more gossip on their tongue.

Tomoro himself was in deep thought 'Is it finally starting?'

He dared not get his hopes up as this wasn't the first time he got fooled by a false positive. He was a patient man however the past three years have been a lesson in patience and the wait was making even his patience wear thin.

"I really hope I'm right this time," he mumbled to himself.

After work, he accompanied a few co-workers for drinks, and as he promised, he paid for the first round. Tomoro stuck around for about an hour before he left, much to the disappointment of the others, but he knew most of them just wanted him to stick around so he could bear the burden of sending their drunken selves home safely later on. As much as he would 'love' to do that he could not for two reasons.

First, he wasn't about to let playing keeper for grown adults be a habit, one was enough thank you very much.

Second, his neighborhood isn't somewhere one should be roaming about late or inebriated, let alone both.

City Z was like many other cities; it had its pros and cons but if there was one thing that separated this city from the rest it would have to be that City Z on average has higher monster sightings than any other city. In fact one area in particular had so much that the people abandoned it en masse to move closer to the center of the city.

This uninhabited zone was called the 'Ghost Town' by the locals.

An ironic name considering that the area was in fact inhabited. Tomoro happened to be a resident of the uninhabited zone; he even knew of a convenience store being run out of an admittedly half-destroyed building and that's not to mention the other residents scattered about at the edges of the place near proper civilization.

One could argue the wisdom behind staying in an area known to have frequent sightings of particularly dangerous monsters. Tomoro would argue that if the place wasn't fit for human habitation then why hasn't the government permanently walled off the area to prevent civilians from entering and monsters from crossing over? Why were landlords allowed to rent out the abandoned apartment buildings to desperate tenants? Why were the utility companies still supplying the area with water and electricity instead of cutting it off?

For a supposed 'dangerous area' there wasn't a lot being done to actually sell the idea that people shouldn't stay there. In fact the place was a squatter's paradise if one were so inclined. Tomoro was a model citizen, so of course he would not choose to live in his apartment illegally. In fact, he has no issues paying rent, but he was friends with the landlord of the apartment complex and said the owner didn't mind him staying rent-free.

He supposed he shouldn't be too hard on the government since they (or at least those in a high enough position) would know the truth of the matter of the Ghost Town. The public seemed to still be under the assumption that the area was crawling with monsters. If that were the case then the Hero Association would have sent people to clear them out and to be fair there have been heroes do show up every now and then. Usually they are the lower ranked and desperate heroes looking to meet a quota or boost their ratings.

There have also been investigations into the place, several in fact which made sense. You don't just leave a section of the city abandoned to ruin because of monsters without someone doing updates. Funnily enough one of the latest surveys he read actually made note about the lack of monsters in the area and suggested that the government should try to reclaim it. The thing is that by the time this article came out the place had been abandoned for too long and as far as he knew the initial event that caused the mass exodus in the first place was such a shit show that no one was willing to move back into an area that was a previous hotspot for monsters, at least not without an S-Class hero to act as security at the least.

There are currently two S-Class heroes residing in City Z.

The first hero was Silver Fang who lived in a rather isolated section of the city atop a literal mountain. He did not do patrols, only answered to high-threat situations and wasn't about to move out of his current base for the safety and convenience of the people. The second hero was One-Punch Man however the location of his residence is kept private and presumably only known to the executives of the Hero Association. As far as the public knew he too did not care to play guardian to a specific part of the city.

As such the area was left abandoned and ultimately forgotten by the populace. Not that it seemed to affect the city overall since at this point City Z has already taken care of the issue with the displaced citizens, businesses and infrastructure through several expansion and urbanization efforts. Technically they can afford to leave that lost section of the city as an uninhabited zone 'Ghost Town' which may or may not have monsters lurking about.

And speaking of monsters there are actually some lurking in around though they tend to stay far enough away from civilization. Unless someone is seeking them out or they are specifically looking for trouble monsters keep to themselves and so far Tomoro's experiences with monsters have been few and far between. Actually most of Tomoro's recent experiences with monsters were less like proper encounters and more like passing by leftovers.

Case in point: as he walked down a street on his way to his apartment Tomoro came across the remains of a monster. At least he thought it was a monster—either that or a car imploded though as he looked to the side he found a pair of giant legs with what looked like tires for ankle bracelets and a license plate covering its crotch.

"Definitely a monster" he mumbled.

Then his face scrunched up 'this definitely seems familiar.'

Something clicked and a vague memory resurfaced causing his eyes to widen a bit before he shook his head continuing on his way home without any more detours.

"I won't get my hopes up until I can confirm this."

~The Next Day~

The morning started off well enough; Tomoro got up like he always did, went through his routine, and made it outside looking crisp and clean as he always did. Then he took a few steps away from his apartment and-

*CRASH*

"What the…"

Tomoro stared as the road before him collapsed into several holes from which emerged creatures. All of them were short, brown, and wore some kind of helmet that was vaguely tribal in design. One of them stuck out from the rest and Tomoro immediately pegged him as their leader since he was much taller and had four arms each of which held a sword.

Then the leading creature began screaming a declaration.

"THE SURFACE IS OURS!"

His minions began jeering and cheering as he continued his spiel.

"I AM THE SUBTERANEAN KING!"

At that point, Tomoro kind of zoned out because here was a monster proclaiming himself to be the 'Subterranean King' popped out of a hole in the ground in front of his apartment building to declare war on the surface. He only brought with him a few minions, and he seemed to be content with the fact that his only audience for this decree was a lone person.

'Oh yeah, today's Tuesday.'

*WHAM*

He zoned back into the present just in time to see a bald man in a yellow jumpsuit appear from out of nowhere and drop-kick the 'Subterranean King' right in the middle of his speech, much to the visible shock of his followers. With the 'king' down the bald caped wonder turned to them in a battle stance with a very eager grin.

"Alright, bring it on!"

The bald man's enthusiasm blew out like a candle in a snowstorm the next moment when the rest of the 'mole men' dragged their unconscious (possibly dead) 'king' back through the hole they came from while putting up a white flag with an apology written on it.

Tomoro shook his head. 'If they had that prepared in advance, then it just goes to show how confident they were in an invasion in the first place.'

"I've become too strong."

Tomoro looked at the no longer enthusiastic bald man whose mumbled words he just heard, and after a moment of observing the man's funk, he decided to greet him.

"Morning Saitama"

As if realizing that he wasn't alone Saitama turned his now blank gaze towards him "ah, morning Tomoro."

This man was Tomoro's neighbor, the only other occupant of the apartment building and technically Tomoro's landlord. They were friends who have known each other for three years now.

"What was that all about?" he couldn't help but ask "you actually seemed excited for a minute there."

"I just had a good dream."

"What about?"

For a moment Saitama's gaze was even more inscrutable than normal before he shook his head "doesn't matter."

"Okay…" Tomoro decided to drop it "by the way good job with that monster in City A yesterday."

"Thanks, sorry I missed you yesterday, the Hero Association held me up."

"Nah, I get it."

"Since I'm already up might as well go on patrol" Saitama mumbled.

And with that the two men began to walk and talk. The two made for an odd pair, an office worker in a business suit and a bald man in a yellow jumpsuit. The latter would have looked ridiculous at the best of times however his reputation thoroughly overshadowed the ludicrousness of his appearance. Nowadays there aren't many people who were going to make fun of the 6thranked S-Class hero who held the title of Strongest Man in the World, the One-Punch Man.

"By the way I saw the remains of a car monster while I was coming home last night."

Saitama took a moment to think on that before speaking "I think I remember beating a monster like that."

"You're lucky that thing wasn't organic. The last thing we need is a rotting corpse on our street."

"Yeah, good thing" he replied not at all worried about such possibility one way or the other.

Tomoro shook his head as the two arrived near the edge of the Ghost Town.

Turning to his neighbor who stopped Tomoro kept walking but waved "have a nice day, Saitama."

"Ah, you too."

Tomoro watched him leap away with a single thought in mind.

"And so it begins."

A few days later parts of City D and City P were destroyed by a Kaiju that looked like a giant naked man. The Hero Association issued a press release announcing that the one to defeat the monster was none other than One-Punch Man. To congratulate him Tomoro shared his leftover dinner with Saitama under the pretense of making too much.

~O~

Today Tomoro was given the day off from work in the wake of a city-wide emergency. A plague of mosquitoes was sweeping the countryside, leaving the corpses of animals completely drained of blood. According to an 'expert' these mosquitoes are a new species, which explains their unusual behavior. Regardless, the swarm is headed straight for City Z and will most likely attack any living creature outside, so everyone was warned to stay indoors.

Tomoro didn't mind the free day he received from this incident. At the moment, he was keeping apprised of the situation via the news. They say that people should also lock their windows and doors while blocking any small openings with cloth to prevent entry. Of course bug spray and incense are also options but the overall message was to prevent contact since these new breeds of mosquitoes could be carrying diseases.

Tomoro heard all these warnings, speculations, discussions, and updates from the comfort of his balcony chair blatantly ignoring the warnings. The sky was overcast, the city beyond was deathly quiet as if holding its breath and the entire mood of the place was rather dour. Tomoro actually quite liked these conditions. At the moment, he was enjoying some nice tea, the good stuff, whilst contemplating life, and the silence greatly helped with his concen-

*BAM*

-tration…

*BAM*

*Sigh*

*BAM*

"I knew I was forgetting something."

*BAM*

"God"

*BAM*

"Dammit"

*BAM*

"Saitama"

…

'Is he done?'

*BAM*

Tomoro weathered the earth-shaking blows for a few minutes until one significantly harsher clap shook the entire building which then tilted his cup over spilling his expensive tea on the floor.

"…"

Tomoro inhaled sharply, pushed his glasses up and finally stood up before making his way through his still rumbling house. Going through his front door into the corridor and stopping at his neighbor's door. Tomoro knocked politely but was met with the sound of more obnoxiously loud sonic claps that rattled the whole building still.

"…"

In the interest of keeping the building's integrity Tomoro decided to forgo politeness and enter his neighbor's home.

"Saitama, I'm coming in" he spoke not that the man noticed.

He found Saitama in the middle of a fierce battle with a seemingly invisible foe. The man moved fast enough that after images appeared all over the relatively small apartment ending with man crouching on his balcony like some kind of ninja cat with his hands clapped hard enough for displaced air to blow the already disheveled apartment even more.

For a long moment there was silence as the man stood stock still with the only sounds being the TV and Saitama's own labored breathing.

"Ha, gotcha!" the man yelled triumphantly.

Tomoro understood exactly what this was and he couldn't help but deapan at the realization.

'I can't believe that gag is an actual thing here.'

And what gag would that be?

*Bzzzt*

A mosquito flew seemingly from between Saitama's hands causing an exaggerated look of frustration complete with a furious vein running across his bald head to form. Saitama didn't even seem to notice that there was someone in his home he was so blinded by tunnel vision and rage. Tomoro saw this, saw the mosquito headed his way and so before he could experience those sonic claps at close range (or whatever other asinine actions the bald hero would take to destroy the insect), Tomoro reached up and casually caught the mosquito between his two fingers.

"Huuuh?" Saitama's jaw dropped. He looked to the mosquito struggling between his two fingers, then to the man who caught it. "How did you..."

For his part, Tomoro looked very unimpressed as he adjusted his glasses "yare yare daze, Saitama. Were you seriously having trouble catching this little guy?"

The bald younger man jolted with a look of embarrassment before replying, "I-I almost had it."

"Sure you did~" Tomoro replied with obvious sarcasm.

Now aggravated, Saitama pointed at him, "what are you doing breaking into other people's homes anyway!?"

"What am I doing?" An ominous glare came over Tomoro's glasses, obscuring his eyes and greatly unnerving the bald man. "The real question is: why did it feel like there was a localized earthquake happening in my apartment? You wouldn't happen to know why it felt like some idiot with super strength was doing sonic claps would you?"

"Uh, well…"

"I was enjoying some tea, but then it spilled." Tomoro went on, and the more he spoke, the more an ominous aura enveloped him. "I like that tea, Saitama. It was very good and very expensive."

By this point, Saitama was stuttering out apologies. Tomoro let him sweat for a minute before waving him off with a sigh.

"Forget it; I'm not going to ask you for reimbursement."

At this Saitama let out a sigh of relief wiping his brow "oh good."

Tomoro rolled his eyes at the man's emotional 180 before speaking, "I take it you haven't been paying attention to the news."

"Not really. Why, did something happen?"

"Saitama, there's a swarm of mosquitoes heading for City Z."

Saitama's face froze "eh?"

"It was and still is all over the news. The entire city is on lockdown, and they've told everyone to stay inside and shut their windows or doors."

The more he spoke the more Saitama's face drained of color. "Mosquito, swarm."

"Actually, they should already be here right now."

"I'm going to need a lot of bug spray."

'God help me' Tomoro thought.

"Look, since you obviously don't know, there's a monster attacking uptown."

"For real? Right now?"

"Yes right now. I'm pretty sure it's controlling the mosquito swarm since, you know, it's like a giant mosquito or something."

Saitama adopted a serious look "then I guess I'll go."

"I'll leave you to it," Tomoro said, adjusting his glasses as he left.

Outside Tomoro huffed at the absurdity of what just happened before turning his attention to the mosquito between his fingers. Almost the entire time the insect had been trying to draw blood to no avail. With a flick, he let the mosquito go and watched as it immediately flew away with an urgency that was unheard of in an insect like that.

He made another brew of that expensive tea and was enjoying it on the balcony when he witnessed an explosion occurred out in the distance.

"Yep"

He took a sip of his tea.

Later he caught sight of a naked Saitama casually walking down the street and promptly dumped the rest of the tea off the side in disgust.

"God dammit Saitama."

~O~

Today was the special weekend sale at the supermarket and Tomoro made sure he was present for it. Financially he was in a good spot but he would be an absolute fool to pass up on these bargains. He wasn't the only one; there was also a crowd consisting of housewives, single mothers, old folks, and those in less than ideal financial situations. Today, all of them were his enemies. He learned from past experience never to underestimate the desperation that goes into high-stakes bargain shopping.

Some of these people do not fuck around.

His gaze went to an elderly woman hunched over with a walking cane looking deceptively frail and was even trembling.

'I'm watching you, old hag'

As if sensing his thoughts the elderly woman turned her closed eyes in his direction with a kindly smile.

His eyes narrowed and in response the old woman's eyes snapped open into slits revealing the wolf under the sheep's clothing. The woman, who could have been someone's grandmother, brought a thumb up to her neck and ran it across her throat with a smirk. He imagined her cackling over a bubbling cauldron with lightning in the background. Eventually a nervous-looking employee wearing protective gear stepped outside. Upon seeing the crowd they swallowed before flipping the sign.

After that, all hell broke loose.

It took several hours for Tomoro to be done with his shopping spree and return home looking ragged but feeling triumphant. He arrived home only to find that in his absence a great battle must've taken place next to the apartment building. There were holes in the street, scorch marks on the building and rubble from where explosions must have taken place. That's not to mention how the street plus a few buildings looked as if they had been cut up on a chopping block.

Most egregious of all were the various chunks of what were clearly monsters. The battle must have taken place a while ago because the corpses were decomposing, flies were circling, and Tomoro could smell it from a distance. This was a public health hazard, and the worst part was that from the angle of the street, it just so happened that his apartment was closer to the scene than his neighbor, who probably hasn't even noticed.

"We literally talked about this a few days ago Saitama" he half groaned.

After confirming that the stench of rot would be permeating his apartment, Tomoro put away his groceries and knocked on his neighbor's door. He expected a bald-headed man to answer not a blonde cyborg.

"Who are you?" questioned the cyborg.

Tomoro raised an eyebrow "I should be asking you that," he huffed before looking over his shoulder "where's Saitama?"

"Master Saitama is preoccupied. If you have a message for him I will relay it.

"Who's at the door Genos?" came Saitama's voice, "oh hey Tomoro. It's okay Genos he's my neighbor."

"Yes, Master," the cyborg obediently stepped aside allowing the purple-haired man inside.

Tomoro gestured to the now-named Genos "master?"

"Long story don't ask," Saitama grumbled. "What's up?"

"I came to complain about a trash problem you left outside."

Saitama gave him a blank look, trying to remember any 'trash' he might have left.

"Did you have a fight near the apartment today?"

"Yeah, stupid monsters came out of nowhere and smashed my roof in; Genos just fixed it."

This admission compelled him to look up, and sure enough, while the roof looked unscathed, there were signs that it was an impeccable patch job.

"Yes well, the corpses you left to rot are stinking up my apartment. That's a major health hazard Saitama. You're not setting a good example for a landlord. I could report you to the authorities."

The bald man gave a frustrated grunt before replying "alright, alright, I'll get rid of them."

He went to stand up only to stop when Genos said, "no master Saitama, allow me to take care of this."

"You don't have to," Saitama said, but he was already sitting back down.

"My incinerators will be able to render the corpses to ash" the palms of his metallic hands glowed in response "please leave this to me!"

"If you insist" he stated already preoccupied with watching TV.

"Thank you, master!"

And with a bow the enthusiastic cyborg was off to burn away the rotting corpses.

Tomoro watched him leave and waited for the door to close before taking a seat at the table Saitama was resting his head on.

"So why'd you get attacked this time?"

He waved his hands around dismissively "something about evolution? I don't know I wasn't really paying attention."

"Did you at least get a good fight out of it?"

Saitama mumbled something incoherently.

"I'll take that as a no, then."

After some more grumbling Saitama seemed to finally take note of Tomoro's bedraggled appearance "what happened to you?"

"Bargain sale, stampede, grannies with freaking nunchuks."

The blank expression made absolutely no sense to Saitama, but on the other hand, "it sounds like you had more fun than I did."

What a time to be alive when a cutthroat bargain sale is more exciting than stopping an evil organization bent on world domination.

"Uh-huh. Tell you what? My apartment smells like something died in it right now" the sound of an explosion was heard and the window lit up with fiery orange light "and probably smoke which is going to take a while to air out. Since it's your fault the least you can do is let me use your kitchen. We'll swap stories over dinner."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Uh, is your student going to join us for dinner too?"

Another sigh "yeah Genos is going to stay over."

"He's going to live here?"

"Hell no!" Saitama exclaimed, even making an 'X' with his hands, "don't even joke about something like that."

He grumbled something under his breath.

The reaction was so over the top and unlike him that Tomoro couldn't help but say, "better not let him find out that no one is living next door then."

Saitama looked panicked for a moment "shit, I forgot about that."

"You forgot we were the only two occupants living in this building?"

'This guy, I swear'

"Tomoro…"

"Don't worry I'll cover for you if he ever asks."

Saitama breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Thanks."

"Think of this as my gratitude for beating some monsters. I want to know the details about what happened," he stated, getting up at the same time Genos stepped in.

"Master Saitama, I have finished incinerating the corpses."

"Cool, hey Genos, this is my neighbor Tomoro. He's going to make dinner for us."

Tomoro's eye twitched behind his glasses. "I'm making dinner for me. I'm just borrowing your kitchen, stupid baldy."

"Who're calling bald shitty glasses?" was Saitama's 'mature' response.

Ignoring him, Tomoro held out his hand "Genos right?"

"Yes," he said, shaking the older man's hands.

"I have no idea what you plan to learn from a bald NEET like him-"

"Screw you, old man, I have a job!"

"-but all I can say is good luck with that and him."

"Be right back with the ingredients, bald NEET."

"Shut up, shitty glasses!"

After that Tomoro, with some assistance from Genos, made a meal for the three of them, and with leftovers, Tomoro gave them to Saitama for goodwill. During the meal, Tomoro was given an unnecessarily detailed oral report on the happenings of the day as well as how he and Saitama met and the reason behind Genos' motives for being Saitama's disciple.

By the end of it, Tomoro wished Saitama luck with the younger cyborg.

~O~

A group of terrorists called the Paradise Group had recently destroyed a building they had mistaken for the home of a multimillionaire and showed no signs of stopping. The police and C-Class heroes sent to stop them have failed, mainly because the Paradise Group wore high-tech battle suits. How a group of lazy NEETs managed to get their hands on experimental military technology was beyond Tomoro.

He knew one was for sure however…

'Saitama is definitely pissed.'

All the members of this terrorist group were bald, which is not a common fashion choice among young men in today's generation. While Saitama would never be mistaken for one of these terrorists being who he is, they were effectively copying his style and getting national news coverage because of it. Tomoro could imagine the bald man in his room watching the news and feeling compelled to go and stop this before people start making comparisons.

'Whoops, too late for that, he thought, watching a panel where One-Punch Man's face was being featured alongside members of the Paradise Group.

He didn't even need to hear or read the headline to know what they were talking about.

'Seriously, they're all just bald. Why make a comparison between the two?'

The answer was most likely for the ratings.

'And to think if Saitama wasn't famous, he could have legitimately been mistaken for one' Tomoro's thought process briefly stalled as his eyes widened. 'Now that I think about it with credentials like that, if I didn't already know him, I would think he was part of that crazy group too.'

Luckily, the terrorists seem to have it out for Zeniru, the multimillionaire, so their activities are mostly stationed in City F. Tomoro wouldn't have to worry about a group of lazy, bald NEETs in high-tech battle armor thrashing about disrupting the peace. That was a small mercy, at least. City Z had its own problems to contend with without having to worry about all that.

Later that same day, the entire incident was resolved. The Paradise Group was taken out, presumably by One-Punch Man though Hammerhead was still at large. Tomoro went to congratulate Saitama and was invited to join him and Genos, who had been staying over, for dinner. Saitama gave an unhelpfully brief summary, while Genos gave an unnecessarily detailed report based on Saitama's summary.

"Speed of Sound, Sonic?" Tomoro blinked "that sounds like something an edgy teenage brat would come up with. And you say he's a ninja?"

"He looked like one, I guess," Saitama answered.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine"

"No, you're not; something happened, didn't it?"

"…"

This quickly got Genos' attention "is that true, Master?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Tomoro raised his eyebrow at the man; he could only speculate as to why the strongest man in the world would be depressed. In any case Tomoro needed to change the subject unless he wanted to suffer the awkward silence.

"So Genos, are you going to sign up with the National Superhero Registry?"

"Why would I?" The cyborg was questioned bluntly.

"I mean, Saitama signed up, and he's, you know, One-Punch Man."

"Who?"

"You can't be serious." Tomoro deadpanned.

Even Saitama looked amazed by the slight widening of his eyes "wait, you don't know who I am?"

"You are my master, Saitama."

"No I mean, you've never heard of me before? One-Punch Man? Strongest man in the world? S-Class Hero for fun?"

"The Bald Caped Wonder" Tomoro supplied with an amused look.

If Saitama trained his brain like he trained his body, Tomoro's head would have exploded with how hard he was glaring at him.

"I have spent the last three years wandering the world in search of the Mad Cyborg who destroyed my village. That has been my only focus; anything that doesn't pertain to that is overlooked as secondary or unnecessary information."

In short he didn't know who Saitama was but wanted to be his student because he was awestruck by his strength. Tomoro pretty much summed up what they both thought of that.

"Wow"

Ever since Saitama became S-Class and incidentally started gaining fame through his many one-sided victories there hasn't been a person who at least has never heard of him in recent memory. This was definitely a fresh experience for the two of them.

"Huh and here I thought you were just a really persistent fan of mine" Saitama scratched his head.

While he was doing this Genos with his laptop on the table was currently blazing through the internet. He had multiple tabs open, and all of them were about Saitama, the One-Punch Man. From the Hero Association websites to blogs, videos, fan clubs, and so much more, Genos studied them with the efficiency of, well, a machine. Somehow he was able to make the laptop interface go at super speeds as if it were a visual representation of his own cybernetic brain.

Finally, he shut the laptop down, and a brief silence overcame the room. Tomoro and Saitama gave each other a glance, with the latter pointing and the former shrugging.

Finally, Genos broke the silence by standing up only to promptly prostrate himself before the bald man.

"FORGIVE ME MASTER SAITAMA! I HAD NO IDEA YOU WERE SUCH A FAMOUS FIGURE!! AS A STUDENT I HAVE FAILED YOU!"

"Ah, no you didn't. You can get up now."

"But I have! How could I have overlooked such common knowledge when I was doing reconnaissance on you?" the cyborg mumbled to himself.

"Wait what…?" Saitama shook his head "hey Genos, it's not a big deal."

"How could it not be? You are the One-Punch Man, the strongest hero in the world!"

'He sounds even more enthusiastic than before now'

Saitama realized this too as he gave Genos one of his less often used'serious' expressions, "Genos."

"Yes Master!!"

"Knock it off." There was a pause as the cyborg recoiled. "I get that you want to become strong but I can tell my way of doing things isn't going to be of much help for you. We both know this, and yet you stick around, but that's fine. I don't actually mind having more friends, but if you're going to be a fanboy I don't think we can hang out anymore."

Ah, the fans. Saitama had a mixed relationship with his fans. On the one hand, he appreciated them; it's always nice to be recognized and lauded for his work. On the other hand, they can be annoying and overwhelming, especially for a mildly anti-social guy like Saitama.

When he first started getting popular after joining the S-Class he moved out of the apartment because he could now afford it. He came back less than a month later for a number of reasons, one of which was because his new address got leaked and his 'fans' started harassing him on a daily basis. It made him weary of anyone who called themselves his 'fans' and he abhors the hardcore types.

Genos bowed his head with a more subdued "I understand, Master Saitama."

"Good"

"Should I also join the Hero Association?"

"Eh, I don't see why not. Do what you want," he said dismissively.

Tomoro gave the bald man an elbow shove "what?"

"Are you seriously going to leave it at that?"

Saitama picked his nose and asked "what do you mean?"

Tomoro smacked Saitama's arm down while giving him a piercing look "he may be a cyborg but he's still a kid and an impressionable one. He looks up to you; god knows why, and it doesn't have anything to do with the legend of the One-Punch Man."

"So what do you want me to do about it?"

"I'm not bailing you out this time. You figure it out."

Saitama grumbled. He cast a glance at Genos, who was looking at his notes in contemplation.

"Hey Genos."

"Yes Master?"

He stared for a long moment before his serious expression came in "since you want to be my disciple so much I'll tell you now that I can't really help you without getting a proper measure of your strength. So here is your first task: if you want to become my official disciple, you need to make it into the S-Class based on your test result."

Genos looked on curiously "S-Class?"

Saitama nodded sagely, "that's right. My disciple should be able to do at least that much. Unless you don't think you can handle it?"

Tomoro could have sworn Genos' golden eyes flashed at the challenge. "I shall do my utmost to fulfill this mission you have given my Master Saitama!"

Genos then bowed and left the apartment, presumably to prepare for the test.

Once he left, Saitama released a breath of relief "there, problem solved."

Tomoro gave him a look—not a stern one but a curious one "I am legitimately impressed you managed to come up with a scheme like this. That said if you didn't want him to be your disciple you could have just said so.

"I did" Saitama emphasized

"Ah, so he's one of those persistent types who won't take no for an answer."

"Yep, at least this way he won't have anyone to blame but himself when he fails."

"How're you so sure he'll fail?"

"Genos' isn't strong enough for S-class."

"I don't think the guy who ends all his fights with a casual punch is a good judge of someone's strength."

He could have been but Saitama just wasn't that kind of guy.

"Well, even if he's strong enough there's no way he can get into the S-Class from just the test."

"The written part you mean."

"Hey those questions are deceptively harder than you think. It's like they intentionally made that part unpassable; you'd have to be some kind of super genius to ace that part."

'Or a cyborg with a computer brain able to analyze, absorb and process large volumes of information at high speeds with a single glance.'

Like what Genos literally just did in front of them not five minutes ago.

Tomoro shrugged "whatever you say Saitama. I think my apartment should be aired out by now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Later" Saitama waved over his shoulder while lying sideways in front of the TV.

The next day Genos took the test for the National Superhero Registry and got the highest scores since its inception. He became the lowest-ranked S-Class hero thus fulfilling the conditions for being Saitama's student.

~O~

Ever since it began Tomoro has noticed a stark increase of what he'd deem 'shenanigans' occurring around his neighbor even more than usual. He expected this on some level of course but he didn't think he would be drawn into said shenanigans as well given how he's not around Saitama most times. Now that kind of thinking would seem naïve especially in hindsight but he managed to avoid being associated with the One-Punch Man by the wider public and even the Hero Association thus far and maintain his relative anonymity.

The point is much like with the battles against the giant Titan, the Paradise Group and House of Evolution Tomoro figured he would only get to experience the aftermath of said battles, catch glimpse of it on the news or get anecdotal notes secondhand from the man himself about said battles. He never thought he himself would get caught up in one of Saitama's 'events' so to speak.

In any case it all started in a place he didn't think he'd find the man, in the middle of a busy street. Saitama was dressed in his typical 'oppai' hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. Though his hood was up and he wore a baseball cap under it. Not the best disguise but for someone whose become recognized for his shining bald head and garish bright yellow costume it actually worked to make him inconspicuous to the wider public.

Not so much for someone whose known him for years and has seen him in those wardrobes before.

"Saitama?"

"Tomoro, what are you doing here?" he questioned.

"I should be asking you that" he then adopted a thinking pose with the utmost seriousness "years of study have shown that your species don't leave the nest unless it's for food or your hobby."

"Shut up"

"So which is it, food or hobby?"

"Food," he grumbled grudgingly.

"Yeah I thought so; there's not been much crime around here as far as I can tell. Actually, it's said to be the most peaceful week in a while."

Saitama hummed, "so what're you doing out here? Shouldn't you be working?"

"Jealous?" Saitama smirked with a scoff in response causing Tomoro to chuckle a bit "yeah no, I'm on my lunch break. You wanna talk this over some udon, your treat?"

"Sure"

As the two were about to leave Tomoro blinked and Saitama was suddenly holding something in his hand.

Tomoro pointed at it, "what's that?"

"No idea?" Saitama held up a small weapon that was popularized by a certain group.

"Is that a kunai?"

"I finally found you."

The two men looked over to find some guy Tomoro had never seen before. He was wearing casual clothes and had a sword strapped to the back of waist.

"You know that guy?"

Saitama adopted a shocked expression "you! You're definitely…definitely…"

Tomoro looked between the two, taking the time between Saitama's stuttering to back away from him and the katana carrying, knife throwing, edgelord pretty boy who definitely looked like he had an axe to grind with the bald hero.

Then Saitama went and shouted, "Elbow Joint Panic!"

'That can't be his real name' Tomoro deadpanned.

That is too ridiculous.

"It's Speed o' Sound Sonic," the man corrected with a stone-faced look of irritation.

'That name is not any better either' Tomoro thought.

He remembered Saitama talking about a 'ninja' who called himself Speed of Sound Sonic, but he thought it was Saitama messing up someone's name again.

'Apparently there are people like that out there.'

Go figure.

Well, whatever his naming sense, the guy looked like he was out for blood with the way he was glaring at Saitama.

"Saitama, today I'm going to kill you" the ninja declared only to be halted by Saitama waving him off.

"Sorry but I'm busy right now so come back later."

Sonic wasn't the only one shocked by Saitama's declaration as Tomoro deadpanned 'what is he doing?'

"Hey Tomoro are we still going for udon or what?" He spoke as he walked away.

Compelled by his actions, Tomoro decided to walk with the hero.

"Uh," the accountant would occasionally looked over his shoulder at the casually dressed ninja "are you sure you don't want to take care of him first?"

Saitama waved off his worries "eh, don't worry about it. I can deal with him any time. Besides, I'm hungry."

The casual dismissal was too much to bear for Sonic because in the next moment he was suddenly beside Saitama and broken pieces of metal were falling to the ground. From what Tomoro could gather, the ninja tried to cut off Saitama's head with his sword, but the hero ended up breaking it instead. The force of the movement was so great however that it blew Saitama's hood and cap off.

Tomoro was briefly blinded by the shine reflecting off the man's head.

"I said I was busy, idiot" a pressure of irritation started emitting from Saitama, almost distorting his image "I'm pissed off right now so don't get in my way or I'll hit you."

'It's a good thing I'm not between them' Tomoro thought, having backed away to a safer distance, ready to run away or hide somewhere should a fight break out between the two superhumans.

Tomoro didn't think it would come to that; whatever stunt Saitama did to break Sonic's sword seemed to have affected the ninja's confidence.

'Maybe a fight can be avoided.

"Kyaa! It's him!" A random woman shouted, and suddenly the crowd, which had already been forming out of interest in the happenings, started surrounding them.

At that point, Saitama realized that his cover was blown and his bald head was gaining a lot of attention. There is really only one person who is universally recognized nowadays for his bald head.

"Huh, who's that guy?"

"Idiot, don't you recognize him? It's One-Punch Man."

What!? Seriously!!???"

"The strongest hero—no, the strongest man in the world"

"Can I have your autograph, Mr. One-Punch?"

"Wait, then, is there a monster around here?"

"No way, I saw everything that pretty boy attacked One-Punch."

"EEH!? For real, he must be a bad person."

*LOL*

"Kick his ass One-Punch Man."

"One-Punch, One-Punch, One-Punch, One-Punch, One-Punch"

And now the crowd was chanting his name. From the way Saitama's face pinched he didn't really appreciate it."

"HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON OVER HERE?"

Then another person pushed through the crowd—a muscular man with gold and brown striped hair wearing a tank top.

"It's the C-Class hero Tank Top Tiger!"

Said hero took a sweep of the situation, and the moment his eyes landed on a familiar bald man, his eyes popped up as his jaw dropped "O-One-Punch, M-Man!?"

"Sup?"

"Wh-what are you doing here!?" he stuttered.

"I was just going to take care of this guy," he said, pointing at Sonic.

Tank Top Tiger looked at the smaller, thinner, and effeminate looking man who kept a weary gaze on the bald man, not even acknowledging everyone else. Tank Top Tiger gave a brief contemplative expression before breaking out in a confident grin.

"Hah! For a scrawny-looking guy like that to fight you, that'd be overkill!"

Tomoro did not miss the way Sonic's eyes flashed to the C-Class hero, 'that's not good'

Ignorant of the ninja's reaction, Tank Top Tiger continued striking a fist to his chest "please allow me, Tank Top Tiger, to take care of him!"

Saitama wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and as a result of his 'strength that defies common sense' he doesn't have a very good measure of another person's individual strength. Compared to him everyone is on the same level in terms of strength. Still he wasn't completely ignorant, or maybe he actually seemed to notice the look on Sonic's face?

In any case he felt the need to warn the enthusiastic hero "uh, are you sure about that man?"

"Yes," the man said, going into a battle stance. "I Tank Top Tiger, who fights with the speed and ferocity of a true tiger, shall take care of this!"

He lunged at the stationary ninja.

"DIE"

*BOOM*

And promptly exploded.

A moment later and the charred body of Tank Top Tiger fell from the smoke of the explosion falling face first into the ground.

Saitama casually stooped beside him and started poking him "hey, are you still alive?"

"Huuuuurrrrgggghhhh" was the painful groan that came out of his mouth.

As for the crowd…

"Kyaah!?"

"W-what just happened!?"

"Something attacked Tank Top Tiger."

"Is he dead!?"

"He exploded, lol."

"One-Punch Man, save us!"

"You all seem pretty confident that your hero can save you." Sonic chuckled darkly while a black aura seemed to envelope him. "And you, One-Punch Man, must feel good about having an audience watching you."

"Not really-"

He didn't hear Saitama's reply on account of him leaping up into the air and shouting, "Too bad your precious fans are going to watch you fall!!"

Sonic pulled out and threw several shurikens at Saitama, who got up and raised his hands, as if to catch them, only for the shurikens to veer off and explode into the crowd.

"How do you like that, Saitama!?" He shouted, landing on a hanging street sign, "Your precious fans are all dying, and you couldn't do anything!" He cackled, pulling more shurikens.

His eyes locked on Tomoro, and with a sadistic grin from the devil himself, he threw a shuriken right at him. Tomoro saw the weapon coming at him in slow motion, spinning until jets of fire ignited and exploded into the fist of Saitama who caught it several feet before it even got near Tomoro.

"What!?" Sonic exclaimed before he caught sight of something.

The crowd, aside from being knocked back, startled, or having a bit of ash on them, was completely fine.

"How?"

Immediately his eyes snapped back to Saitama and Sonic noted that the right sleeve of his hoodie up to his elbow was burned off.

"Are you alright?" the bald man asked the startled glasses-wearing civilian.

"Yeah, I'm good."

'He caught them? But when? How!? No one is that fast!'

He looked to Saitama again who seemed to have noticed his burned sleeve "aw man and this was my favorite hoodie too."

A pressure unlike anything he had felt before enveloped Sonic. He was no longer staring at an unassuming bald man but at a predator he just pissed off.

"You better compensate me for this."

RUN!

'I have to escape'

Pride is forgotten, overwhelmed by self-preservation. Speed o' Sound Sonic took off at top speed hoping to escape from the previously sleeping dragon he had awakened. This was not meant to be however, because just as the ninja took to the sky at a leap near the speed of sound, Saitama appeared behind him. Neither the ninja nor the crowd saw Saitama raise his hand and bring it down in a sharp arc, chopping Sonic on the back of his head and sending him shooting down to the street like a missile.

*SLAM*

The crowd jumped as the 'terrorist' planted into the sidewalk face first.

Tomoro cringed when he saw that the man's face had sunk inches into the ground making an imprint.

'That's going to hurt like hell when he wakes up.'

Saitama landed casually with his hands in his hoodie's pocket "I'll let you off with a tap since that attack wouldn't have killed anyone."

At that declaration the crowd went absolutely insane and Saitama could only sigh in irritation and resignation when they started closing in. He was bombarded with shouts of praise, congratulations, and adorations. Saitama's gaze met Tomoro's; the two friends were almost completely separated by the crowd now with the purple hared man on the outskirts looking in. Saitama sighed again before bending his knees and taking off without so much as a word.

Tomoro left as well, making a call to his boss. The two of them never were able to get that lunch together but Tomoro bought takeout on the way home which he shared with Saitama and Genos.

~O~

Breaking News: A METEOR IS ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH CITY Z!!!

The headline of the emergency broadcast played on loop on all channels. The announcement originally came while Tomoro was in the midst of work so one could imagine the chaos that ensued. The office did not even properly close as everyone rushed out to save themselves. Well everyone except Tomoro who went ahead and organized the place before closing the office properly.

That was roughly twenty minutes ago and walking outside he was met with sirens blaring, panicked citizens rushing through the streets in a mad scramble as a citywide evacuation was in full swing. Traffic jammed the highways and more than a few crimes were taking place as the entire city has devolved into chaos. Naturally the city's transportation service was shut down so Tomoro was forced to walk home.

The meteor was stated to impact in approximately half an hour and it goes without saying that evacuating a city within that time window was nigh impossible. As such along with the general chaos of the panicked population there are a lot of people out on the streets having given up hope simply staying indoors, on the streets or on rooftops awaiting the massive flaming chunk of space rock hurdling towards them at terminal velocity.

He too looked up at the Dragon level threat that was already encompassing the sky and growing larger by the second. He knew it would be big but a TV screen and manga panel just didn't do the actual thing justice.

'No wonder everyone's not even trying to escape; the fallout alone from a rock that big hitting the ground would spread for miles beyond the City itself' he mused.

He found it interesting, the subtle differences between what is depicted in a fictional work and how it is presented in reality. For instance that giant Titan was depicted destroying two whole cities, one from a demonstration of power and another when he quite literally fell on top of it. Yet that couldn't be right because a 'city' in this world could be counted as a country in terms of size. So in this reality the Titan only ended up destroying parts of two cities.

It wasn't any worse than your average Dragon level monster to be honest.

Now while the Titan's abilities were exaggerated in its fictional depiction the meteor might have been understated in a similar way.

'Even if it gets destroyed you weren't looking at just a few instances of property damage in the immediate area.'

"Unless it's completely disintegrated, the damage caused by any falling bits could be disastrous on a wide scale."

And knowing Saitama he probably won't take that into consideration and would just punch the damn thing like normal.

With that thought in mind he took out his cell phone to call Saitama only to see that there was no cell service. His phone wasn't the only thing on the fritz either as the nearby TV broadcast went haywire before cutting off completely.

'Is the meteor interfering with the electronic signals?'

That seemed to be case and it caused Tomoro to huff "good grief."

As he said this several massive explosions lit up the evening sky.

"Looks like its starting."

Meanwhile, on a tall skyscraper...

Genos stared up in disbelief as the high-yield explosive missiles Metal Knight launched had virtually no effect on the meteor. There were less than a few minutes left until impact, and doubt started to plague his mind as Genos hesitated over what ifs, leading to frustration.

"Be calm"

The voice brought Genos from his thoughts, and he looked to find the S-Class hero Silver Fang standing behind him.

The old hero went on, "I can see you are frustrated; don't be. You should not concern yourself with such idle thoughts. Rather, you should focus on the here and now because, regardless, it will not change the situation."

Genos took these words to heart 'he is right; thinking about it will not bring forth a resolution. He ripped off his hoodie and opened his chest to reveal his core.

'If the situation will not change'

Thoughts of Dr. Kuseno

'If I am to die'

Thoughts of his Master Saitama and Tomoro ran through his head.

'Then I should at least give it everything I have!'

He pulled out his core, still attached via a cord, and put it into a port in his bicep to power his incinerator.

"Bang, you should take cover."

"Right," the old man agreed, though he made no move to actually follow the suggestion.

Not that it would matter anyway.

Genos agreed, or at least didn't protest further, as he unleashed an overpowered blast from his incinerator canon. The force of the blast was staggering, forcing the roof beneath his feet to form fissures. The massive beam impacted the meteor, but to negligible effect, as stated by Bang, who observed that the meteor was barely being stopped. Eventually, Genos' core lost power, and the young cyborg was forced to his knees with his movements disabled as his systems were close to shutting down.

"There are only nine more seconds left before impact. You should flee with what little time you have left" the defeated cyborg warned with resignation.

Bang did not listen, for he too was resigned to his fate, though he faced it with much more calm than his younger hero counterpart.

Suddenly they were interrupted by a very familiar voice.

"Hey old man."

"Saitama," he said, "I was starting to wonder if you were going to show up."

The bald hero shrugged "Genos said he wanted a shot at destroying it first so I let him take a swing at it."

"I am sorry Master Saitama; I was unable to do it."

"Meh, it's alright, you did your best, I think."

Bang raised an eyebrow at the younger man. "Master Saitama"

"Don't ask," Saitama grumbled before looking up at the meteor with a serious expression. "Do me a favor and take care of Genos for me."

"Very well" Bang nodded.

After such a declaration, Saitama bent forward, with his knees crouched, and with an almighty push (that was, in actuality, minimal effort to the man), he did a hefty vertical jump. The force of his jump crushed the roof under his feet, shattered all the windows of the building, and the vibrations traveled through it all the way down to the streets, creating massive cracks along the road and sidewalks.

Bang watched the strongest man in the world shoot up at the meteor and smash right through the massive space rock, creating an explosion that lit up the gradually darkening sky with a literal meteor shower. As Bang prepared to intercept the onslaught his senses suddenly picked up on something he hasn't felt in a very long time.

A memory suddenly resurfaced a terrifying visage from his past that brought with it a single word interspersed with reality.

"Hakai"

Just then time seemed to suddenly just stop, and right before Bang's eyes, the sky above flashed a deep purple. It was only for a moment—one single moment—the kind where if you blink, you miss it.

Bang did not blink.

The moment was then over, and he could see the caped young man making his descent as clear as the sky that was now suddenly all clear. The meteor fragments, the thousands of flaming space rocks that would have hit the ground were just suddenly gone completely and utterly without even dust to show that they were even there to begin with. Even the clouds themselves vanished leaving a bright blue sky looking like an ocean with only the distant visage of the moon visible like a lone audience member watching the proceedings.

That should be impossible unless...

Suddenly another memory flashed before his eyes of a shadowed figure wreathed in a purple aura with violet spheres for eyes.

Bang suppressed a shudder of alarm as he vigilantly scanned the area. Adrenaline coursed through his veins making him hyperaware of his surroundings and yet he could sense nothing out of the ordinary.

"Amazing…as expected…of Master…Saitama…"

Bang looked at the young cyborg who clearly did not pick up on what had just occurred.

"Hakai"

Destruction.

Bang felt this fist clench at the memory of the individual who wielded such devastating power.

"Shiva"

"What was…that…" Genos stuttered, his mild malfunction coming through his speech.

"Oh, just the mutterings of an old man don't mind me" Bang waved off while moving to help the young cyborg up "come, let's get you out of here."

Meanwhile…

There was celebration in the streets as everyone cheered at the destruction of the meteor. One man went against the wave of civilians as he calmly wiped his glasses before placing them on his face with a small adjustment. The glare obscured his eyes but the small smile was quite visible.

Looking up at the sky, Tomoro wondered to himself.

"I should make something special for dinner tonight."

In the aftermath, One-Punch Man, Metal Knight, and Genos had their ranks in the S-Class bumped up to 5th, 6th, and 16th place, respectively. Consequently, Child Emperor was dropped to 7th place, and Puri Puri Prisoner was dropped to 17th places.

~To Be Continued~