Hellish Blizzard

Even in China, asking someone of the opposite sex for their contact information could carry romantic implications.

That went double for the Japan-based world of One-Punch Man, where men and women generally did not exchange contact information casually.

That was why Lily had made a point of emphasizing it to Bai Ye.

"Relax, relax. I'm not that full of myself."

Bai Ye exchanged contact information with Lily, his expression calm.

They now had each other's phone numbers, which also let them find each other on LINE, an app similar to WeChat.

"All right, see you."

With that, Bai Ye took off.

Lily also prepared to take the subway back.

Although she had not managed to ask where he lived today, she had at least gotten his contact information, so it had not been a complete waste.

As she walked, something suddenly occurred to her, and she took out her phone to search for Bai Ye's number on LINE.

She found that Bai Ye had a blank profile picture, and his name was just a single period.

Lily double-checked the number to make sure it was right. Otherwise, she would have had trouble believing this was his LINE account.

Then she tapped to send a friend request.

Meanwhile, Bai Ye's phone suddenly vibrated.

He took it out and found a notification from LINE. He had casually registered an account before but never added anyone, so he had not expected to receive any messages.

Then it occurred to him that it might be from Lily.

He opened it, and sure enough, it was Lily's friend request. Her profile picture was a photo of her with Fubuki.

Bai Ye accepted the request.

A little while later, Lily quickly sent him a message.

[Don't tell anyone I cried today!]

[Don't worry. I'm not that bored.]

Bai Ye sent back a reply.

[Good.]

Then Lily sent a reaction sticker and stopped messaging him.

Bai Ye put away his phone as well and teleported straight home.

Although Vaccine Man was now under Bai Ye's control, his home had limited space and only one bedroom.

So he simply told Vaccine Man to pick any vacant apartment on that floor to live in. Apart from his and Saitama's apartments, every unit in the building was empty. In fact, the entire No Man’s Land was...

Since Saitama had become an S-Class Hero, he could earn bonuses for defeating monsters, and he had recently received a substantial payout.

The first thing he did after getting the money was carry his broken television to the residential district for repairs, then run back with it in his arms.

Now he would no longer have to borrow Bai Ye's television to play games every day.

He still kept mooching meals, though, because Bai Ye's cooking tasted better.

Unlike before, Saitama now had the money to buy more ingredients.

"So being a professional hero pays this well?"

Saitama sounded a little surprised as he ate at Bai Ye's place.

"Capable heroes make pretty good money, but the ones at the bottom have a rough time."

Bai Ye explained.

"I see... Something feels a little off, but I accepted it anyway. At least I won't have to keep eating your food every day."

Saitama mused.

A large portion of that money was the bonus for resolving a Dragon-level disaster, which was why Saitama felt something was off.

By rights, the bonus for that Dragon-level disaster should have gone to Bai Ye...

Bai Ye naturally knew that, but he never brought it up.

He did not care about money. Whether he had more or less made no difference, as long as it was enough to get by.

It was not that he regarded money as worthless. Rather, in a world like One-Punch Man, strength was what truly mattered. Money was nothing in comparison.

Over the past few days, Lily had been waiting for Bai Ye to give her an answer after thinking things over.

But he had not sent a single message. She had not even seen him come online.

"Lily, have you finished processing the documents I assigned you?"

Just then, Fubuki walked into the office.

This was the Blizzard Group's base, a space inside a building that looked much like a studio.

"They're all done. I'll get them for you right away, Miss Fubuki."

Lily searched through a drawer and handed the documents to Fubuki.

The woman before her, with shoulder-length dark green hair, a long deep green dress, and a fur coat, was the top-ranked B-Class hero, Hellish Blizzard.

Not only was she fair-skinned and beautiful, but her figure was the complete opposite of her older sister Tatsumaki's. She was a tall beauty with stunning curves.

If Tatsumaki was the little-girl type, then Fubuki was the mature-woman type.

One thing the sisters did share, however, was their rather unpleasant personalities...

As she took the documents, Fubuki gave Lily a seemingly concerned glance.

Her lips moved as though she wanted to say something, but she ultimately said nothing.

After leaving the office, Fubuki immediately questioned the other members of the Blizzard Group. "Be honest with me. Has someone been bullying Lily?"

The members all shook their heads.

"No, none of us have been bullying Lily."

"Exactly. Lily is your trusted aide, Miss Fubuki. How would we dare bully her?"

"Come to think of it, though, Lily really has seemed a bit distracted lately. She keeps checking her phone... Could she be in love? Waiting for a message from someone she likes, maybe?"

"That really could be it. Lily's at the age when girls start falling in love."

"..."

And just like that, a rumor began to take shape.

Meanwhile, Lily sat in the office, completely unaware.

"..."

Fubuki also fell into thought.

She did not know much about these things, but what everyone was saying did seem to make sense.

"Maybe that really is it. In that case, there's nothing to worry about."

Fubuki did not dwell on it. As far as she was concerned, everything was fine as long as no one was bullying Lily.

The members of the Blizzard Group, on the other hand, grew increasingly curious.

"Miss Fubuki, do you have any idea who Lily might be in love with?"

"I'm really curious what kind of guy Lily would like. Or maybe it's a girl...?"

"Keep your voices down. Lily's still in the office..."

"..."

Their curiosity largely stemmed from knowing just how much Lily admired Miss Fubuki, to the point that it even seemed like romantic affection.

That was why they did not really believe Lily was in love with someone else, whether that someone was a man or a woman...

"How would I know? That's her private business."

Fubuki said calmly, "Go back to your own work. Don't stand around gossiping about other people's private affairs."

"Yes, Miss Fubuki!"

Everyone nodded and stopped chatting.

"By the way, you've already found out where that fourth-ranked B-Class hero, Kamui, is, haven't you?"

Just then, Fubuki remembered that there was still someone on the B-Class rankings who refused to follow the rules.