The entirety of City Z had been paralyzed. Most of the damage came from the enormous rupture Tatsumaki tore open when she dragged the Monster Association out of the ground. Fortunately, evacuation sirens had sounded before the attack began, so there had been no civilian casualties.
City Z had been struck by a meteor before. At the time, Saitama had erased the thing with a single punch, but the scattered fragments had still destroyed the houses here once already. Back then, Saitama had wondered why the building belonging to one particularly obnoxious rich man had somehow remained intact. This time, even that building had not escaped.
At a dojo in a remote part of City Z, Bang, S-Class Rank 3, who had missed the entire incident, watched the news and slowly stood up with his hands behind his back.
Tatsumaki was impatient by nature. When the matter involved herself, she could not wait long enough to gather everyone, so she had simply called in nearby helpers and come over. Ironically, she had not invited Bang, who actually lived in City Z.
The old man was not the type to care about that. His gaze remained fixed on a corner of the news footage.
A helicopter shot had captured Garou standing off to the side, looking darkly at every hero present. He had spent especially long staring at Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask, as if choosing a target.
Why had this brat shown up there?
Garou had been Bang's most talented disciple. The boy possessed extraordinary talent and could reproduce most techniques convincingly after seeing them only once... but his heart was in the wrong place.
On the day Garou left the dojo, Bang had initially been away. Garou simply said, 'Enough. I'm bored. Let's start fighting for real,' then brutally beat every senior and junior disciple present. The incident caused a huge number of Bang's students to quit afterward.
"Bang." Another old but dignified voice came from behind him.
"Onii-chan, you came after all."
The newcomer was an elderly man with a bald crown and a long goatee. Unlike the hunched Bang, he still held his back straight and looked expressionlessly at his younger brother.
"You looked concerned. Besides, if we leave that brat alone, sooner or later he'll probably come rip down the signboard at my place too. I've dismissed my disciples for now."
Bang narrowed his eyes and smiled. "Because you're worried about your dear little brother? I love you, Onii-chan."
He picked up the remote and turned off the television. "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call that brat's growth rate one of a kind. I can't imagine how much stronger he's become after being gone this long. Maybe even I can't beat him anymore."
But the old man was still an old man and was not especially familiar with television controls. He accidentally pressed the channel button instead.
"Now, let us present a Commendation Banner to the Good Samaritan who helped the heroes secure victory! Everyone, please applaud!"
Amid loud applause, a banner was presented to Garou, whom they had just seen on the previous channel.
He even had a sign on his chest reading 'Civic-Minded Citizen.' With a dead expression, he numbly shook hands with a man who appeared to be the mayor.
"..."
Bang sat back down. For a very long time, he did not turn to look at his elder brother even once.
* * *
"Sit."
Yimi pointed at Overgrown Rover. The dog's appearance had not changed much, but it obediently sat down and wagged its tail back and forth.
The kitten clenched a fist and pointed at it. "It still wants to fight."
"No. For a dog, wagging its tail is a friendly gesture, right? Even if it is a monster." Child Emperor had never expected the day would come when he defended a monster, but Handsomely Masked Sweet Mask had just set a precedent.
Although Rover's appearance had not changed much, it still looked far less threatening overall. After all, its body had shrunk until it was only about one size larger than Yimi's cat form.
"All the vegetables I bought during the big sale are ruined. I was planning to have hot pot." Saitama was still crouched on the ruins of his home, digging around.
City Z had been destroyed. This was the place with the cheapest rent in the entire world!
"Master, this morning the Association invited Metal Knight to an emergency meeting. It seems they want to rebuild City Z from the ground up and raise every building's safety level to something comparable to Hero Association Headquarters. Existing residents will receive priority housing compensation."
"Really?" Saitama's reaction to Genos's words was flat.
"Aren't you happy, Master?"
Saitama looked up at him. "There aren't that many people in City Z to begin with. When the time comes, the leftover houses will definitely get sold to rich people. The cost of living here will rise to something even more terrifying than City A."
That was not all.
Watching Saitama, Child Emperor lowered his head, then shifted his gaze toward Yimi, who was taking turns pressing paws with Overgrown Rover.
He had also joined that meeting remotely. The Association apparently wanted to grant A-Class Heroes and above, as well as their families, priority free housing rights. It looked like a benefit, but it also seemed like an attempt to build a city of absolute safety.
Child Emperor naturally opposed the idea completely. For one thing, City Z's transportation did not allow everyone to rush immediately to support other cities. More importantly, gathering powerful people in one place to protect the wealthy would make the Hero Association deviate from the ideals it advertised.
But if they truly went through with it, civilians angry about the plan would probably establish another Hero Association of their own.
"Come to think of it, you people came here to rescue a hostage, right? Wasn't the hostage that little girl's kid?" Saitama kept his dead-fish eyes and remained crouched on the ground.
But something like an anger mark seemed to appear on his head. "Why did the brat who came here looking for a kid leave the kid here?"
That was because Yimi had let Overgrown Rover go and had curiously run over to touch his bald head.
"Brat, don't be so rude to Master!" Genos completely ignored the fact that she was a child and put Master's dignity first.
"No, you don't need to be that harsh with a little kid." Saitama tried to stop him.
"Master, she took out a Colored Marker."
Saitama instantly changed his tune. "Maybe being a little harsh is fine."
"Little Tatsumaki said she had something to deal with and flew off in that direction. I can more or less guess what she's planning." Child Emperor took out a communicator used specifically for contacting Metal Knight.
Metal Knight had just sent robots to cooperate with the Hero Association in transporting captured monsters. Psykos, as the mastermind behind everything, was being escorted personally by Fubuki. Little Tatsumaki probably considered that woman too dangerous and wanted to kill her directly. That was simply the kind of person she was.
Still, she had looked so furious when she came here. What did it mean for both guardians to just leave the child with them? Though Child Emperor could understand why she felt safe leaving Yimi here.
When he looked up again, Yimi had disappeared.
"Where's Little Yimi?"
"She flew away. Looks like she went to find her mom." Genos carefully used his clothes to wipe the smiling face drawn on the back of Saitama's head.
The paint that had taken Mimi ages to wash off came off Saitama's head with a single wipe.
"Hah..."
"Crap!" Saitama suddenly cried out guiltily, apparently having dug up something.
"What is it, Master?"
"The Game Console King lent me is broken."
It had King's perfect save file on it too. This was going to cost quite a bit to replace, right?
"A Game Console? Come to think of it, King-san may be very strong, but he really does like playing games to relax." Child Emperor once again abruptly inserted himself into their conversation.
Naturally, he saw nothing wrong with that. He often played games with his friends from Cram School too.
"Wait. You didn't break the Game Console King-san just got, did you?" Child Emperor suddenly ran over in alarm. Only after seeing it was an ordinary Game Console did he relax.
"Just got?" Saitama looked at him curiously.
"Something like VR goggles. Little Yimi gave it to him. I couldn't find the same model before, so there may only be one in the whole world. If that broke, the loss would be enormous."
"VR goggles?" Saitama's bald head gleamed.
Child Emperor nodded without any intention of keeping it secret. "You can fully dive into it. It's a game where even touch feels completely real."
Saitama's bald head gleamed repeatedly.
King had actually been hiding something that fun. Though Saitama could understand it. He had already broken two of King's Game Consoles by mashing the controls too hard.
He looked down at the Game Console in his hands.
In any case, he should compensate King for this one first.