Saitama's Interest

Saitama was sprawled across the couch, rubbing his round belly with a slightly pained look on his face.

"Hey, Saitama, I mean, you—you were already full. Why did you keep forcing more food down? Now you're stuffed and uncomfortable, right?" Skye couldn't help laughing at the sight of him.

"But if I don't eat it today, it'll expire tomorrow. There are plenty of things I can overlook, but wasting food is absolutely out of the question." Even with his belly round and uncomfortably bloated, Saitama said this with complete seriousness.

"You... Forget it. Do whatever you want. Here." Skye shook her head helplessly and tossed him a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

"I looked up the internal networks of all the supermarkets in New York. It lists when they have sales and even how big the discounts are. From now on, you can use it to plan when you go shopping." Skye explained, sounding impatient.

"Really? That's great!" Saitama's eyes lit up. He cradled the paper in his hands like it was a priceless treasure.

Watching him, Skye shook her head, but then couldn't help smiling.

Honestly, after learning how powerful Saitama was, Skye had unconsciously begun to feel a little distant from him. After all, dragons did not consort with snakes. She had never heard that saying before, but she understood the sentiment.

How could a superhuman with such incredible power spend time with an ordinary person?

Skye hadn't said anything, but she had felt deeply uneasy and uncomfortable.

But just then, Saitama had shown her his ordinary side. He cared a great deal about money—well, perhaps not that much, since if he really cared about money, he could make a hundred million in no time.

It was more that Saitama had an ordinary person's side: he could be a little stingy and penny-pinching, liked to haggle over small sums, and kept a little mental ledger.

That was why, aside from his overwhelming strength, Saitama was just an ordinary person. Skye could accept him again and treat him like one.

She liked this side of Saitama, close and approachable.

"Huh? Skye, why are you smiling?"

"I'm not smiling. I'm just in a good mood."

"Oh!" Saitama nodded woodenly, once again lost in the joy of having so much information about supermarket sales.

Back in his yellow bodysuit, white cape, and red gloves, Saitama set out to patrol New York and begin his life as a hero again. That's right, his patrol route covered all of New York. If possible, it might even stretch farther.

After all, there were no monsters in this world. The only people Saitama could fight were ordinary thugs and the like. It wasn't nearly as satisfying as fighting monsters. Well, actually, it was about the same. Whether they were these thugs or the monsters from before, they were all a one-punch job.

No matter how insignificant the thugs looked, or how vicious and powerful the monsters seemed, Saitama saw no difference between them.

Thud!

A figure suddenly fell from a nearby building. Fortunately, it was only two stories high, and the person who fell seemed to be in good physical shape, so he wasn't injured—or rather, he wasn't seriously injured. No, better put, he hadn't died from the fall.

"Um, are you okay?" Saitama looked at the man who had landed in front of him. He was someone Saitama knew: Daredevil, in a dark red bodysuit and a mask with a pair of pointed ears that covered most of his face.

Hearing Saitama's voice, Daredevil's heart jumped. He instinctively raised his head and "saw" Saitama, then let out a breath of relief. "Oh, it's you, Mr. Saitama."

"Yeah! Um, are you okay? You're bleeding." Saitama pointed to the blood on Daredevil. There were quite a few bleeding spots, and the wounds weren't from the fall. They were bullet wounds.

"I can hold on. Get out of here, quickly. Someone's chasing me, and you'll get caught up in it if you stay." Even though he knew Saitama was strong, Daredevil still said this.

How could he describe Daredevil? He seemed unwilling to involve unrelated people in his affairs, especially since he was fighting Kingpin. Kingpin, the crime lord of New York, had a terrifying amount of power. So even though Saitama was capable—very capable, even—Daredevil thought he could still be in danger facing someone like Kingpin.

Matt knew that having someone as powerful as Saitama help him would be a huge advantage. But he still didn't want to drag Saitama into this.

"They're chasing you? You said you were a hero, right? If you're a hero, then the people chasing you must be bad guys?" Saitama looked at Daredevil with shining eyes.

Saitama had been feeling bored lately. He had plenty to eat and wear, and had even gotten information about supermarket discounts. You could say this was the happiest time of his life. Still, he was a little bored. Even patrolling all of New York hadn't led him to anything like the monsters, anything he could hit with a little force.

So Saitama was really bored.

Now it seemed Daredevil was in trouble, and quite a lot of it. Saitama naturally got excited. Maybe he'd find something interesting to do.

"Uh, that's right. The people chasing me are Kingpin's men. I fell into their trap this time." Daredevil shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Then I'll help you deal with them." Saitama clenched a fist, sounding a little excited.

"Uh, thank you, but you should still get out of here. They work for Kingpin."

"Kingpin? Who's that? Is he a monster—uh, one of the worst bad guys? Some kind of supervillain?" Hearing Kingpin's name only made Saitama happier.

"That's right. Kingpin is a supervillain. He controls New York's entire underworld. If he decides you're his enemy, it'll be a disaster." Daredevil put it mildly.

"Then why did you pick a fight with Kingpin?" Saitama asked.

"Because... because of certain circumstances."

"Oh. They're here."

"Get out of here. At your speed, you should still be able to get away easily—" Before Daredevil could finish, Saitama suddenly vanished from in front of him. When Daredevil realized Saitama was gone, he paused, then shook his head with a bitter smile. He had told Saitama to leave, but now that he really had, he still felt a pang of disappointment.

Touching his wounds, Daredevil gritted his teeth. His pursuers were all Kingpin's men, some of the more elite ones at that. Even he could only run from them.

Just as Daredevil was about to leave, he suddenly noticed that Saitama had reappeared in front of him. The entire time between Saitama's disappearance and return had lasted only a few seconds. Daredevil even wondered if he'd briefly lost focus and imagined it.

"Mr. Saitama, why are you back?"

"I took care of those bad guys, so now I'm back. Hey, tell me about Kingpin." Saitama looked at Daredevil expectantly.

"You took care of them? You... All right. I knew you were strong, Mr. Saitama, but I still underestimated you." Daredevil gave a bitter smile, though his tone had grown more relaxed. Then it turned serious again. "Do you really want to know about Kingpin?"

"Mm-hmm!" Saitama nodded repeatedly.