Tony's Embarrassing Past (Part 1)

Tony was still miserably cleaning the garage, while Sherlock happily returned to his guest room. After taking a shower, he went straight to sleep.

He slept dreamlessly through the night, not waking until the next morning. He sat up groggily, freshened up, and finally stepped out of the guest room.

By then, the mansion had returned to its usual spotless state, luxury evident everywhere.

Only after reading the note by the front door did Sherlock learn that Pepper had already taken Doro to work through Sherlock's Anywhere Door. Only Tony and Sherlock remained in the mansion, and Pepper had made breakfast, reminding them both to make sure they ate.

As Sherlock put down Pepper's note and headed toward the dining room, he happened to see Tony emerging from the master bedroom, all tidied up.

Tony no longer looked as disheveled as he had the night before. His beard and hair had returned to their carefully groomed billionaire appearance, though the single eyebrow he had left still made him look rather strange.

Even so, Tony could not hide his resentment when he saw Sherlock. He immediately curled his lip and began speaking in a sarcastic, mocking tone.

"Oh? Isn't this our good little boy? If Sister Pepper likes them, then give them all to her~"

With a curl of his lips, Tony began imitating Sherlock's pretentious act from the previous night. He swayed his head around, looking incredibly punchable. Yet Sherlock was not upset in the slightest by Tony's imitation. Instead, he looked at him with an amused half-smile.

"What? Is our great Casanova, Eagle's wildest man, the legendary super genius, jealous?"

Sherlock showed no mercy, striking directly at Tony's weakest spot.

But after spending so much time around Sherlock, Tony's combat ability was no slouch either. Seeing Sherlock fight back, he immediately sneered and pointed at his lone remaining eyebrow, mocking Sherlock outright.

"No, jealousy isn't quite the word. I just want to ask our genius alchemist why you didn't properly show Sister Pepper those bullshit things you made."

Aside from mockery, Tony's face held nothing but mockery as he spoke. He looked as punchable as punchable could be.

Yet this incredibly punchable Tony left Sherlock speechless.

How should he put it? Tony's eyebrow really was Sherlock's fault. As for the culprit behind it all, there was no need to say—it was naturally the Zanpakuto, Ryujin Jakka, now lying quietly in Sherlock's Fourth-Dimensional Pocket as a collectible.

When Sherlock had created this Zanpakuto, he had put in a tremendous amount of effort. He had almost perfectly recreated its soul-targeting properties from the anime, even making its Shikai and subsequent Bankai.

Most importantly, the thing had no cost whatsoever. It did not even require the troublesome communication with a blade spirit like in the anime. As long as one knew the release command and shouted it, Ryujin Jakka would be released immediately.

It was no exaggeration to say that if an ordinary person got their hands on it, they could become a powerful "superpowered individual" in minutes by relying on the Zanpakuto's abilities.

But that was also where the problem lay. Sherlock's recreation had been far too faithful.

As a result, unless the user possessed some sort of temperature- or fire-related superpower, using it in its Shikai state would almost certainly leave them burned within minutes.

As for Bankai, there was even less need to mention it. As long as the wielder dared to shout the command, Zanka no Tachi would dare to appear and vaporize them on the spot.

Tony's hair, eyebrows, and beard had disappeared because Sherlock had demonstrated the Zanpakuto he had created back then. No wonder Tony's mockery today showed no mercy.

Faced with Tony's ridicule, Sherlock merely twitched at the corner of his mouth. Then he reined in his emotions, looked calmly at this man whose tsundere traits were maxed out, and spoke in an almost tranquil tone as Tony followed him into the kitchen and sat down at the dining table.

"No, no, Tony. That was only a small mistake. Besides, my Zanpakuto is far from a failure. At most, it only means the user was too weak."

"Even you, its creator, can't control it?"

Tony shot back without the slightest hesitation.

But Sherlock had long mastered the proper way to deal with someone like Tony: never let himself be dragged into Tony's rhythm. Calmly taking a bite of the sandwich Pepper had prepared, Sherlock maintained the same even tone.

"That's right. I'm weak too."

At Sherlock's words, Tony's eyes widened. He seemed completely unable to believe Sherlock would use such a reason to counter his mockery. He stared fixedly at the utterly "calm as water" Sherlock before him in complete disbelief.

His understanding of Sherlock's shameless behavior and that soul filled with wicked humor deepened once more.

Under Sherlock's tsundere-specific strategy of responding to all changes with constancy, Tony, unsurprisingly, had his defenses shattered yet again in front of Sherlock.

He threw down his sandwich, shot to his feet, pointed at Sherlock's nose, and shouted irritably.

"Fine, even if that's true, then tell me this: why didn't you show off those ridiculous things of yours? Don't think I don't know—you also made two transformation devices!"

The moment Tony said those words, an eerie silence fell over the dining table. Tony, standing up, and Sherlock, sitting in his chair and chewing on a sandwich, both froze at almost the exact same moment.

Sherlock in particular lost all of his earlier calm. The shock and disbelief that had just been on Tony's face were copied directly onto his own. He even forgot to keep chewing, simply staring dumbly at Tony.

As for Tony, the instant the words left his mouth, he froze as well. The regret on his face was completely undisguised.

After the two remained silent in that strange atmosphere for a long time, Sherlock finally erupted into earth-shaking laughter.

"Hahahahahahahaha! Tony, don't tell me you secretly used my transformation devices while I was away! Hahahahahahahaha!"

Sherlock laughed so hard he was practically about to fall out of his chair. Even when his stomach began cramping from laughter, he could not stop. He kept slapping the table, trying to force himself to stop laughing.