Hell Gale

Fubuki followed behind Josen, speaking at length with confidence.

"A hero team, on the other hand, is different. The variety among its members attracts fans with different interests, and working together allows them to defeat stronger monsters. Even if they don't do any hero work for a while, interactions between team members can keep them in the public eye."

"That means team members can easily receive far more attention than solo heroes, with benefits beyond imagination for both growing their fan bases and improving their hero rankings... hey, you! Could you walk a little slower?"

"Time to go home, princess."

Fubuki stopped with a frown. Josen's voice drifted back from ahead. "I'm not like you. I work two jobs every day, and it's exhausting. So I'm not joining that Fubuki Group of yours."

"..."

Fubuki wanted to swear. Other cops worked overtime until late at night, while he skipped work at noon, and he had the nerve to call himself exhausted?

At the thought of failing on her very first recruitment visit, Fubuki couldn't help clenching her fists.

"I'm not giving up!"

"Suit yourself. I'm going home to sleep."

After turning past two intersections and sensing that Fubuki hadn't followed, Josen breathed a sigh of relief.

Fubuki alone wasn't hard to deal with, but behind her stood a little green-haired girl with the ultimate sister complex!

Following the principle that less trouble was better, getting Fubuki to realize the difficulty and back off on her own was undoubtedly the best outcome.

A jogger passed in front of Josen, panting hard. A moment later, he jogged backward toward him and wiped his sweat-drenched head with a towel.

"Good evening, Josen."

"Oh, Saitama. Out for a night run?"

Saitama jogged in place and nodded. "I found some temporary work during the day, then had some hero work after my shift. It pushed back today's training."

"Can't stay and chat. I've got to run."

Casually scooping up a Limiter Fragment, Josen waved. "Sure. Keep it up."

The next day.

"Section chief, we received a report from a resident in the west district. A monster is attacking the carriage station!"

"Understood. I'll head over right away."

Josen hung up, drained the last of his coffee, and left a banknote on the table beneath his cup before rising and shooting into the sky.

"Mommy, look! It's Superman!"

"Sweetie, that's Mr. Super Police, our hero here in Z City."

"Huh? The guy eating breakfast here just now was a hero?"

"Damn it! The cup Mr. Super Police used is mine! Hands off!"

"Then the plate is mine!"

The waiter beside them was shoved thirty feet away by the surging fans. He wanted to cry, but had no tears. "You guys... that tip was for me!"

The train station.

A high-speed rush of air tore through the clouds, leaving a clear trail across the sky as it reached the air above the train station in an instant.

Below, a giant, spike-covered durian with human arms and legs was rampaging through the fruit market street outside the station.

"What gives humans the right to slaughter fruit as they please? Fruit lives matter too!"

"Mwahahaha! I am the Durian Monster, awakened to the spirit of rebellion! As the natural enemies of all fruit, you damned humans can all die! Die!"

Watching from the sky, Josen's mouth twitched.

The monster claimed to be fighting for fruit, yet his enormous body crushed the other fruit in the shops to pulp. Covered in his companions' "blood," he gave off an enticing aroma.

A monster's thought process truly defied comprehension.

Perhaps the Durian Monster simply wasn't intimidating enough, and quite a few people present were durian lovers anyway. The surrounding residents weren't particularly panicked. Apart from the shopkeepers fleeing for safety, everyone enthusiastically held up their phones, taking pictures and recording videos.

Some even discussed whether a durian that had mutated into a monster could produce an endless supply of durian flesh. If so, they absolutely had to catch one and keep him at home as a pet.

Listen to that. Was that any way for a human being to talk?

Josen broke into a cold sweat. Just as he prepared to descend and end this farce, a cold female voice reached his ears.

"Hell Gale-"

A gale formed from psychic power sprang up out of nowhere, sweeping up the rubble and steel reinforcing bars left by the monster's destruction. They added to the force of the growing tornado, which surged forward and engulfed the stunned Durian Monster.

Thud, thud, thud!

The dense barrage of rubble accelerated to rifle-bullet speed under her psychic power, becoming razor-sharp weapons that pierced the monster's thick, woody skin and embedded themselves deep within.

"Aaaaargh-"

An agonized howl rang out from the blue hurricane. After a while, as the blue hellish storm gradually subsided, a rich durian fragrance drifted through the street, enough to make the children next door practically cry with craving.

The Durian Monster, deceased. Age: ten minutes.

His Stand Ability passively seized the monster's soul before it could vanish, and an N-rank monster card appeared in Josen's hand. Outdated enhancement fodder like this no longer held much value. He casually tossed it into his deck, planning to gather a batch and dismantle them all at once for upgrades.

Fubuki had beaten him to the kill. Having shown up without needing to do any work, Josen naturally had no intention of revealing himself and stealing the young lady's spotlight.

With the monster card secured, he immediately prepared to leave.

Just then, a cool female voice sounded beside Josen's ear. "Super Police Josen, I won this time!"

Below him, Fubuki had revealed herself to the residents and was now surrounded by cameras of every size. While deftly handling the reporters' interviews, she used her psychic powers to transmit a slightly smug message to Josen. "If you don't want to lose every chance to appear before the public from now on, then be a good boy and join the Fubuki... Group..."

"Heh. Women."

Josen chuckled and shook his head, then turned and flew away without the slightest hesitation.

Watching his figure shrink to a black speck in the sky and disappear, Fubuki's smile froze. Only after taking a deep breath did she calm down.

I'm Fubuki. I won't give up that easily!

Just you wait!

Several days passed.

Z City seemed to have become the safest city of all. The moment a monster appeared, a certain visiting psychic hero would rush over at the news and grind them to dust.

Even Saitama couldn't help remarking when he ran into Josen that public safety seemed much better lately than before.

Josen hadn't started out as a bottom-rung Class C hero, and had never been troubled by things like attendance rates.

Fubuki's aim was merely to demonstrate her strength while competing for achievements and media exposure on the side.

Unfortunately, her strategy targeted the wrong opponent. Josen was delighted to slack off. Every time, he simply collected the monster's soul and left, not even giving Fubuki a chance to speak.

Getting something for nothing felt good once. Doing it nonstop felt good forever.

After half a month, even Fubuki herself was confused.

This guy showed up at the scene every time but never lifted a finger, floating in the sky like an overseer hired by some capitalist. It kept giving her the strange feeling that she was working for Josen.