A Fortune?

"By the way, something's really weird!"

"Weird? What's weird?"

"There aren't any monsters. No monsters at all. Before, I used to run into them at least a few times every day. But now, I haven't encountered a single one."

"Monsters? What monsters? Do you mean weird people? Thugs? Hooligans? Or perverts?"

"Not that kind! Monsters are monsters. I don't mean weird people."

"...I don't get it!"

Skye stared at Saitama, at a loss for words. Suddenly, she wondered if there might be something wrong with his head. Of course, she didn't mean that he was bald, without a single hair on his head. She meant that something might be wrong with his brain—that maybe he had a mental problem. It would explain why he was so determined to be a hero.

A superhero, the sort of being who only existed in comics. No sane person would believe that so-called superheroes existed in real life. They were fictional, unreal. Even Captain America, the superhero whose legend had been around for ages, seemed exaggerated to Skye. Maybe he was impressive, but at most he was probably just an elite soldier among the special forces.

"This is terrible. With no monsters around, I'm going to be failing at my job as a hero. I used to get at least a little something from people after I killed monsters. But now even the monsters have disappeared. How am I supposed to make money and survive? Damn it, damn it! I haven't eaten meat in ages!" Saitama clutched his head and shouted in despair.

"Um, your whole superhero persona is really—well, how should I put it? It's kind of awful. Besides, if you're a superhero, shouldn't you be happy there are no monsters threatening the world? At least people won't have to live in fear of them anymore." Skye shrugged and spoke casually. She still thought Saitama's claim to be a hero was just an act he'd made up for himself.

"Huh? You're right, I guess! As a hero, I do hope all the monsters disappear." Saitama nodded, looking serious. "Skye, you're amazing!"

"Um..." Skye felt that she really was too poor. If she had money, she could at least send her lifesaver to a hospital for treatment—mental treatment, that was. She thought Saitama was pretty far gone.

"But, Saitama, what are you going to do from now on?"

"Huh?" Saitama looked at Skye blankly.

Seeing him like that, Skye couldn't help laughing. She put her hands on her hips. "Saitama, even though you saved me, and I really do want to repay you, I'm just a girl who's only recently started living on her own. I don't have a steady income, and after renting this place, I've practically run out of savings. I can barely support myself, so I don't think I can afford to take care of you. Of course, you can stay here for a little while. Luckily, the landlord left us a sofa, didn't he?"

"I see!" Saitama replied woodenly.

"...I mean, you might need to find a job. Oh, I forgot—you're not American, are you? You don't have a Green Card. Damn, you're an illegal immigrant." Skye felt another headache coming on. She was starting to think that being saved by Saitama might not have been such a good thing after all. He seemed like he was going to cause her plenty of trouble.

Of course, that was just a passing thought. If Skye could have a do-over, she'd still want Saitama to save her. She didn't want to fall into the hands of those thugs.

"A job?" Saitama scratched his head, then pulled out a business card. "By the way, when I was asking for directions earlier, I ran into someone who gave me this card and said something about getting me a job."

"A business card? Someone wants to hire an illegal immigrant like you? Could he be up to no good? I've heard that some people specifically look for undocumented immigrants to do dangerous jobs. They're not only dangerous, but the pay is especially low. They might even make you work for free." Skye frowned slightly.

"Huh? Is that so? Well, I did ask him for directions, but he didn't answer my question at all." Saitama suddenly understood, then tossed the card away.

"Maybe he was planning to take you away under the pretense of giving you directions." Skye smiled. "Then again, maybe you really did meet a good person."

"A good person? That mustached guy?" Saitama scratched his head again. Skye had said the man was a bad guy, and now she was saying he was a good guy. But it didn't matter. Saitama had never planned on getting a job anyway. Working was impossible—he'd never work, not in this lifetime. He'd already made up his mind to become a hero. Even if he might have left his original world, he couldn't just give up on the hero he'd decided to become.

And Saitama knew he'd left his original world? Wasn't that obvious? He might look a little slow, but he wasn't an idiot. How could a world where monsters had never appeared be the same world he'd come from? That was why he'd stayed and was temporarily lodging with Skye.

"Mustached guy?"

"Yeah, wait, this is the mustached guy." Saitama picked up a newspaper from who knew when and pointed at the photo on the front page.

"Huh? Him? Tony Stark? You met him? Don't joke around. He's not the sort of nice guy who'd find a job for just anyone he ran into." Skye's eyes widened. She didn't have a very good impression of Tony Stark.

Well, it wasn't as though Skye hated Tony Stark. It was just that they lived in entirely different worlds: one was a globally famous billionaire playboy, while the other lived at the very bottom of American society with an uncertain future. They would never have crossed paths. Besides, the label "playboy" meant Skye wasn't inclined to think well of Tony Stark.

"So he really is a bad guy? Maybe there aren't any monsters, but there are still bad guys. So I can keep being a hero after all." Saitama rubbed his chin.

"Don't joke around. A bad guy? Okay, Tony Stark might really be a jerk. But that has nothing to do with us. Wait, he gave you one of his business cards?" Skye stared at Saitama, eyes shining.

"Um, I threw it away."

"What? Ah! Damn it, how could you throw it away? That was money! Money!"

"Money? I wasn't going to work for him."

"I didn't say anything about working. Tony Stark is the richest man in the world. He's rich. Really rich. Incredibly rich."

"Oh, that's impressive!"

"...We could sell Tony Stark's business card. Lots of people would want one, and they definitely wouldn't be stingy with their money. We're going to make it big. Saitama, we're going to get rich!"

"But I already threw it away."

"...Saitama, you're such a jerk!"