Versatile Jadeite

Luke set out at 8:23 that evening.

When he stepped through the supermarket entrance, he raised his hand and checked the time.

On his wrist was the Versatile Jadeite he had taken from Homelander's wrist.

For convenience, Luke had put it on for the time being.

The watch read 8:26.

The supermarket was 8.7 kilometers from the Shaxian Snacks where he worked. It had taken him three minutes to get there.

Luke pushed aside the door curtain and walked in, without a flushed face or a hint of breathlessness. His heart wasn't even racing.

Luke was slow to catch on to things, and he wasn't much good at calculations, either.

He had no idea his speed had gone far beyond what ordinary people thought possible and entered the realm of the "superhuman."

He just checked his watch, let out a long breath, and said, "Good. I made it."

There were still plenty of customers inside.

Just as he had expected, quite a few people had come for the evening discounts before closing.

How could people scraping by turn down buy-one-get-one-free boxed meals, half-price cakes and pastries, or yogurt nearing its expiration date at absurdly low prices?

That was San Andreas. Some people could throw money around at nightclubs without a care, while others wore themselves out chasing meager wages. Day after day, their thoughts revolved around something as small as how to fill their stomachs for less.

Perhaps only adults understood that "surviving" and "living" were two entirely different things.

The rich lived. People like Luke survived.

Luke headed briskly for the fresh food section.

The discounted beef shoulder he had been thinking about all day was there, and the refrigerated case beside it still held some marked-down boxed meals.

As he walked, Luke sensed something off about the atmosphere. His brow gradually furrowed.

Ever since he had entered the supermarket, everyone around him had been staring at him strangely.

Their eyes kept settling on his chest. Shock or confusion would cross their faces, and then the corners of their mouths would rise.

Some even laughed out loud without bothering to hide it.

Luke followed their gazes down to his chest.

Instantly mortified, he wanted to crawl into a hole.

Only then did Luke notice that Homelander's lasers had burned two coin-sized holes in his shirt. They were perfectly symmetrical and sat right over a certain unmentionable spot.

Damn Homelander.

Luke didn't want anyone else looking at him like a pervert, so he held his left arm across his chest.

It neatly covered the two strange holes in his shirt.

Luke reached the beef counter in the fresh food section. "Two jin of beef shoulder, please."

The vendor looked up and noticed the odd way the man in front of him was standing.

Then he spotted the gleaming gold watch on the wrist of Luke's raised arm.

He knew nothing about Versatile Jadeite, but judging by Luke's pose, the watch was clearly worth a fortune.

It's just a watch. Do you really have to show it off like that? the vendor thought.

He handed Luke the wrapped beef shoulder, his face full of disdain. "Here."

Luke was puzzled. The vendor seemed rather unfriendly toward him.

But he had done such a good job of hiding the fact that he was a pervert.

Could he tell anyway?

Luke shook his head. Oh, come on. I'm not a pervert.

It's all that damn Homelander's fault.

Luke silently cursed Homelander once more.

When Luke reached the refrigerated case and saw that it still held his favorite Curry Pork Cutlet Rice, he quickly forgot his troubles.

He had meant to take the beef shoulder and Curry Pork Cutlet Rice straight to the checkout, but then he thought better of it and turned toward the men's care aisle.

For some reason, Luke had been losing a lot of hair lately.

He seriously suspected he might be going bald.

But he was only twenty-two.

Luke didn't want to be bald at such a young age, so he decided to try doing something about his hair loss.

He made two circuits of the men's care aisle before finally finding what he wanted.

He took a bottle of Wangba shampoo from the shelf.

That was right: Wangba shampoo, endorsed by international superstar Jack Orange.

Luke remembered the slogan well.

"Fight hair loss with Wangba."

No one facing baldness could resist a slogan like that.

Simple and blunt, it spoke right to the soul.

Luke hoped the shampoo would work as simply and directly as its slogan promised.

He put it in his basket. With his shopping done for the day, Luke headed to the checkout.

Luke noticed that plenty of people were still staring at him.

There was less open mockery in their eyes now, but their attention still made him uncomfortable.

The other shoppers could hardly be blamed. Anyone who saw such bizarre behavior would look twice.

It was obvious to everyone that the man was holding his arm high across his chest to show off the gleaming gold watch on his wrist.

Plenty of people liked flaunting expensive watches, but there was no need to make such a deliberate, theatrical show of it.

Most people looked down on that sort of wealth flaunting, but a few gazed at Luke with burning desire.

Jill, for example.

Jill was a down-on-his-luck office worker.

Shabby as he was, he was probably the only person there who recognized the watch on Luke's wrist as a Versatile Jadeite.

Others might have guessed it was an expensive watch, but they had no idea what brand it was.

Jill knew it was a Versatile Jadeite. At a glance, he could even identify its year and model, along with its current market value.

It was a limited edition Versatile Jadeite released the previous year, worth several hundred thousand.

That was right. Jill might have been flat broke, but he knew watches inside and out.

The world was strange that way. Some people could speak with authority about things they would never own, listing every detail from memory. Their expertise could rival that of specialists who had spent decades in the field.

Jill would never be able to afford a Versatile Jadeite, but he knew plenty about them.

Now, though, Jill saw a chance to own one in his lifetime.

He quietly moved up behind Luke, then struck like lightning.

Luke sensed someone was up to no good, but he didn't fight back.

Before the man could touch him, he froze in place.

A delicate, fair-skinned hand rested on Jill's shoulder.

It held him fast.

Jill turned his head with difficulty and saw a petite woman standing behind him.

She had long golden hair and alluring blue eyes.

She looked like a little wildcat.

"St... Starlight?" Jill said, crestfallen.