12 Progress

AN:

Hello, sorry for the inconvenience. Had to go for a few days without wifi on my computer, so I had no choice but to write on my phone. Oh, how disastrous that was.

Anyways, here's a 2000+ words chapter.

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Whoosh!

The wind blew past Saitama as he relaxed on his balcony. His gaze passed the buildings in the vicinity, all but his apartment was occupied. This was the usual occurrence, never had he seen another soul live in this part of the city since that incident. Only now did he notice, but monsters appeared more frequently around his flat. This did not bother him though, more monsters meant work to do.

His stomach growled, demanding attention. He rubbed it bitterly and thought, 'Damn, I don't even have anything in my wallet...' It was unfortunate, but registering in the Hero Association should come with many benefits. This includes those sweet hard cash, and because he was placed in the highest rank, money would soon flow into his pockets. He wouldn't have to worry about missing a sale or two in the near future.

"Sensei, the HA has contacted me regarding our mission and some information about our salary," Genos said as he slid the balcony door open. He raised an arm to Saitama's eye level and showed his phone with the information inside. "...Since we did not capture nor kill our target, I fabricated some information with the help of Dr Kuseno," The cyborg told his master.

"It would be quite the blow to our reputation once words came out that two S-Class heroes failed to kill a single monster." He continued, "Hence why I believe that such action is a must." Genos did not want his master to be humiliated out in the public. Saitama stared at his disciple blankly, he did not expect Genos to act so drastically. 'Though, I think with Metal Knight around it would be hard to fabricate such lies... But I want what is best for my master, in the case the truth does come out, I shall take all blame and protect my master.'

'It is the least I could do.' He thought bitterly and clenched the phone in his grasp tightly. Genos did not want to stoop so low, but he truly wants the best for his master.

"So... What about our salary?" Saitama asked, most interested in that topic. "Well, they have shipped us a credit card each. It was specially made for S-Class heroes, our pay should be automatically added inside." Saitama's ears perked, this was much better than he thought.

"Regarding our yearly salary, I have learned that S-Class heroes should get around 250,000 to 1,000,000. The Association have given us 50,000 each for our first 'successful' mission—" Genos didn't have the chance to finish his words when a strong gust of wind blew past him and grabbed one card off his hand. He smirked at his master's antics and stared at the wide-open door.

[AN: Those numbers are in dollars.]

...

Saitama was splendidly surprised, he did not expect such great news from his disciple. 'Though it would've been nice if he told that sooner...' He secretly thought. Right now, Saitama searched for somewhere to eat. He couldn't be bothered to find something cheap, with this thing in his hands, it wouldn't matter to him if he bought something expensive.

All he has to do is keep doing his hobby and kill monsters and money would keep flowing. This was the type of job he dreamed of, getting paid to do what you like. Though in his case, it wasn't something as shallow as 'like'. What he sought was excitement, different from the vast majority of heroes.

Right in the corner of his eye, Saitama saw a restaurant that got his interest. It was a luxurious restaurant that he couldn't only dream of entering if he was the Saitama from a month ago. He drooled and imagined the lobsters he could eat, those things were more expensive than his apartment's monthly rent, though, there isn't much to say about how expensive his rent was...

After all, there's a reason he lives in the ghost town of City-Z. Saitama wiped his lips and opened the door to the restaurant. As he entered, he noticed a gaze lingering on him...

...

Saying that Tatsumaki was shocked would be an understatement, she was flabbergasted and utterly speechless. The only man she helped, the only man whose image and reputation she cared about, has entered the same restaurant they were dining at. Was it a coincidence, or does he know?

'W-what am I going to do—! Wait, he doesn't even know me, I haven't introduced myself to him so suspecting me of something that I've clearly done would be slim. Oh, fuck! Right, I'm the number 2 hero! How could I forget that? No one on this planet doesn't know who I am...!' Tatsumaki was panicked, she thought of every possible scenario inside of her mind that she didn't notice her sister's calls.

"Sister... Sister! What are you spacing out for? Our food is here..." Her little sister, Fubuji informed her older sister and dismissed her previous thoughts. When she saw her older sister staring at the man that entered the restaurant earlier, the first thing she thought of was... 'Is it love at first sight...? No, falling for someone so easily isn't like my sister... If it was someone like blast or as strong as him then maybe I'd consider it a possibility... But hey, it's my sister I'm talking about, and precisely because of that it makes it even more impossible...' In Fubuki's mind, she also thought of every possible scenario she could think of. She was only brought out of her deep thought when the server arrived with their food.

Tatsumaki ate away at her food as an NPC inside a game would do. This felt strange and odd to her little sister, usually, she'd be slurping down all of the spaghetti down her throat and would immediately leave. Though, in this instance, she would play with her food for a couple of seconds or minutes. 'Looks like sister is thinking about something deeply.' Fubuki threw the 'someone' part out of the window of her thoughts. Something like that happening is impossible, even if her older sister managed to take a fancy to someone, it's unlikely that they would reciprocate her feelings considering her 'unique' personality.

At the counter, Tatsumaki heard the bald hero order his food, but nobody paid him no heed. Nobody recognized him, though as usual, he did not care.

Fubuki watched his sister's unreadable face. She did not know what her sister was thinking about so deeply about. Then all of the sudden, Tatsumaki started to hurriedly eat her food and as soon as she finished, burst out of the doors and disappeared into the distance. Tatsumaki wasn't ready yet, she wanted to wait a few more days before introducing herself.

'This isn't like me, why am I acting like this...' She thought and flew away.

...

Back inside the fancy restaurant, Saitama ordered his food and ate it in glee. He did not care about everyone's gaze as he ungracefully ate his food. Naturally, a fancy restaurant would attract fancy and graceful-looking diners. Footsteps resounded throughout the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant, save for the noises Saitama made.

Fubuki, who was left speechless at her older sister's sudden department, quickly found the reason why. She didn't want to believe it, but if her suspicions were proven to be true, then her sister wouldn't grow old as a maiden after all. Fubuki walked gracefully, as befitting as the leader of the top group of B-Classes. Her hips swayed with each step, making her voluptuous body more enticing to the eye.

As she neared Saitama's table, she saw his rather... unappealing appearance and ungrateful way of eating his food. She fumed, Fubuki didn't know how this man managed to catch her sister's attention.

She slammed her hands heavily against the top of Saitama's table. "You... what is your relationship with my sister?" She asked, her psychic power beginning to show. "My What?" Saitama responded still with his mouth stuffed with food. "Stop acting like you don't know! I saw it! My sister was looking at you with those kinds of eyes!"

Saitama raised an eyebrow in confusion, he truly did not know what this fair lady was talking about. Seeing trouble brewing, one of the staff members immediately alerted their manager. "Please excuse my rudeness, but can you guys please take this somewhere else?" The manager politely asked them to leave the restaurant.

Fubuki stared at the manager with dagger-like eyes, and then she looked around and noticed the other customers looking at them. She made a 'tch' noise and went out of the door, she did not want to cause a scandal, especially with her sister involved. She looked back and stared at Saitama as if saying, 'I'll ruin your day if you don't come along...' Saitama did not have a choice but to leave when he saw the manager look at him and gestured at the door.

He felt down and kind of annoyed, Saitama was just trying to enjoy his meal. Yet this loud woman ruined that and questioned him about a relationship with someone he doesn't even know.

As far as his memories, the last time he had a relationship with someone and that didn't even last a day. They ended up as just friends and eventually parted ways when high school ended. Never did Saitama have another romantic relationship with someone after beginning his training.

The dark-green-haired woman turned around and faced Saitama, she wore an incredulous look on her face as she bared her gaze at Saitama. "Look, I don't know who you are, but if you know what's best for you then you better get away from my sister." She said, trying to convince him. 'Besides, who knows what she'll do?' Fubuki thought.

"Yeah, and I'll ask again, who?" Saitama said with a dumbfounded look. This woman in front of him was starting to get on his nerve, patience wasn't his greatest virtue, to begin with. "Are you oblivious? Or dumb? Didn't I—" Her words got stuck in her mouth when Saitama pointed at something behind her, "Look, a monster!" Saitama plainly announced the monster that was sneaking behind Fubuki.

"Wha—!" She immediately turned around and her professionalism kicked in. Fubuki was usually laid back, but she knew more than to underestimate a monster. No one would know how dangerous they are until an evaluation of their threat has been conducted. She stared at the lizard-like monster in contempt, its long elongated tongue that reached out to her, trying to grab her ankles sneakily. If it weren't for Saitama's warning, then she would have fallen to the monster's plot.

Fubuki forced the monster with her psychic, lifting it above ground and throwing it somewhere far from the populace. Even if her ability limits her, she still does her best when the time begs so. Meanwhile, Saitama took the chance to escape when Fubuki engaged the monster in a fight, he did not want to linger there any longer. He stared at the dark-green-haired woman and thought, 'She could handle herself at least, this wouldn't be that hard even for Genos.'

...

'Ugh..! I've got to get this out of my mind...' Tatsumaki thought, she was currently hovering above the clouds, thousands of meters off the ground. She did not know where else to go, this was the only place she knows that absolute serenity would ensure. She clenched her head and ruffled her hair, she was embarrassed at herself, Tatsumaki had never experienced this before, fleeing at the sight of that man...

'Is this admiration? Respect? Or is this the thing they call attraction for the strong?' She thought deeply, many things racing in her mind. That wasn't out of the possibility, but considering she doesn't know what it actually feels, Tatsumaki was absolutely clueless about what to feel. The only person she has ever felt respect for was Blast, who saved her more than 18 years ago.

She grumbled, all of this confused her to no end. She did not have anything to bring her anger upon from up here, so she immediately dived down and accelerated at a fast speed. In no time at all, Tatsumaki arrived at the ground which housed many monsters. This part of town was especially uninhabited, only wildlife would be found in this place. Tatsumaki lifted a finger and immediately, two monsters came out of the ground.

"If you don't tell me where you guys live then I'll torture you for the next hour... I'll start with your finger." Tatsumaki lifted a finger and snapped the fingers of the monster. She smiled wickedly and thought how fun the next hour would be...