Return

Beside Josen, Miles Morales spoke as though he were talking to himself, or perhaps to Josen. "She's pretty great, isn't she?"

"Yeah. Who wouldn't like a slim, pretty blonde who can kick ass?"

"You're right," Miles Morales said with a chuckle. "If we went to the same school, I'd definitely give you some competition!"

"Not necessarily. I graduated ages ago."

"You're a pretty cool guy, man. I'm glad I met you... Wait."

Miles Morales searched through the interface, looking puzzled. "Why can't I find your universe number?"

Josen spread his hands, just as Gwen Stacy had. "Maybe there's a glitch in the settings?"

Miles Morales stared blankly. "Seriously...? Then how are you going to get home?"

Josen opened his hand, and the card for his return trip appeared in it.

At that moment, the fantasy card kept flickering, like Ultraman insisting on showing everyone he was running out of power before showing off.

Stop flashing, stop flashing. I'm leaving now.

Josen grabbed the Black Box Shard and winked at Miles Morales. "Don't worry. I'm different from the others."

"Huh?"

His stand ability activated. The Black Box Shard dissolved into motes of light, and a pitch-black spacetime portal opened before them.

"See you around."

Miles Morales blankly drew back the right hand he had used to fist-bump Josen, watching him step into the dark vortex.

A second later, the vortex dissipated, taking Josen with it.

"He really is something else," Miles Morales said, shaking his head with a helpless laugh. "That guy..."

The One-Punch world.

"Director, you have a call."

The Metropolitan Police Department's senior staff meeting had just ended. The Director took the phone his secretary in black stockings handed him and held it to his ear.

"Serizawa speaking... Oh, Josen!" The Director's eyes lit up. He waved for his secretary to leave, and she immediately stepped out of the conference room, closing the door behind her. "What made you find time to call me? What... You've seized a batch of cutting-edge equipment! Excellent, excellent. That's very thoughtful of you, Josen... No need to bring it to headquarters in A City. I'll send someone straight to Z City to arrange the handover with your chief!"

Beside a small lake on the outskirts of Z City.

The sun shone brightly, the air was rich with the fresh scent of grass and trees, and the lake nearby shimmered.

Everything was just as it had been before Josen traveled to the other world, as though he had never left.

After ending his call with the Director, Josen shook his head.

Whew...

Finally back.

Traveling through spacetime still wasn't particularly comfortable. He attributed that mainly to not having raised his constitution stat enough.

He activated his telekinesis, and a watch flew out of the nearby grass into his hand.

He had deliberately left the watch behind before departing. It was still where he had dropped it, its exterior undamaged and its hands ticking steadily. Only three minutes had passed since he left.

Those three minutes were exactly how long Josen had spent talking to the commissioner.

In other words, time in the One-Punch world didn't pass while he was visiting other worlds.

*It's you, **The World!***

The little lake was fairly close to the Flowing Water Dojo. Since he hadn't seen the old geezer in quite a while, Josen decided to stop by.

Only when he arrived did he discover that the old man wasn't home.

Charanko, the kid left to hold down the fort, greeted Josen at the entrance while leaning on a broom. "Master went down the mountain yesterday. He said he was going to do some hero work, but I don't know when he'll be back."

"Oh, I see. Who knew the old man could be this hardworking..."

Hup!

Ha!

"Huh?" Hearing the synchronized shouts coming from inside the dojo, Josen asked curiously, "Don't you need to train, Charanko?"

"Ah..." Charanko scratched his head awkwardly. "I'm not as talented as the senior disciples, so I thought I'd help out more with the chores."

After hearing that, Josen gave his shoulder a solemn pat. "You'll definitely become your master's final disciple someday."

"Really? Thank you!" Charanko's eyes lit up with excitement. "Do you mean my determination and perseverance will eventually move Master, and he'll teach me true martial arts?"

"No, I think the old man will have to keep someone around who can clean the place."

Charanko: "..."

"Keep at it. I'm off."

Under Charanko's deeply resentful gaze, Josen leisurely floated into the air and flew toward Z City.

As the head of the Z City Police Department's Special Affairs Section, Josen was quite dedicated to his job.

He had finished the vast majority of his work on his first day back from intensive training. He had expected this trip to another world to take some time, but when he returned to the station, it wasn't even noon yet.

"Hey, everyone's hard at work?"

Carrying bags of all sizes, Josen walked into the office and smiled at his subordinates, who were struggling through their paperwork.

"That smells so good..."

Kyoko brushed aside her bangs and looked up. When she saw the lavish assortment of lunch Josen was carrying, her expression softened a little. "Treating us to lunch, are you, my dear section chief?"

"Of course. You think I'm some bottomless pit who could eat all this alone?"

"What did you get?"

"Burgers, fries, pork cutlet rice bowls, eel rice bowls... I bought milk tea and other drinks too. Take a break, everyone, and help yourselves."

"Thank you, Chief!" × N

The officers, who had been busy all morning, rose to collect their favorite food from Josen, then returned to their desks to dig in.

"Since you still have some conscience left, you capitalist, I'll forgive you for now."

Kyoko held an expensive deluxe eel rice set, her cheeks stuffed with food like a stingy hamster preparing for winter.

"Thanks for all your hard work, my dear deputy chief." Holding a pork cutlet rice bowl, Josen stood eating beside Kyoko's desk. "What can we do? The Special Affairs Section was only just established. There's bound to be plenty of tedious work."

Kyoko rolled her eyes at him, swallowed her food, and said irritably, "Then assign us some more people! How are our measly handful of staff supposed to get all this done?"

"Easy, easy." Josen set his empty food container on the desk and straightened his clothes. "Your chief made quite a haul today. Our reward from headquarters should be coming soon."

"Really? How much could you possibly have accomplished in one morning..." Kyoko looked skeptical, then saw Josen turn to leave. "Hey, hey! Your trash!"

"Throw it away for me."

"..."

After Josen left, the Special Affairs Section's office grew a little noisier.

One officer complained, "Is the chief telling the truth? I don't want to touch another piece of paperwork!"

"Hey, don't you think Chief Josen looks handsome even when he's eating? Ow..."

A young policewoman's face lit up, earning her a precision chopstick strike from Kyoko. "Stop swooning. He finished his lunch that fast because your chief is a glutton..."

"Yes, yes, but even if he's a glutton, he's still the most handsome one!"

Kyoko: "..."

How am I supposed to save you, our little office fangirl?

As she thought about it, her own cheeks flushed slightly too.

I hate to admit it, but she has a really good point...