It had been several days since the meteorite attack.
The professional heroes involved in this operation had mostly seen their rankings rise.
Among them, the most exaggerated improvements were naturally from Roy and Saitama. Roy had jumped from B-Class 69th to B-Class 2nd in one go, while Saitama had soared from C-Class 342nd to C-Class 5th.
However, it was just a facade.
The giant meteorite capable of destroying Z City and affecting the entire continent was categorized as a Dragon-level disaster.
Saitama, who resolved it without a doubt, could easily have been promoted to A-Class or even S-Class, while Roy, who minimized the damage, was second only to Saitama in merits.
However, according to the Hero Association's judgment, the ones who contributed the most to this incident were Metal Knight and Genos. In their view, the significant rise in rankings for Roy and Saitama was already an exception, and they should be satisfied.
Honestly, if either Roy or Saitama had a more aggressive temperament and directly confronted the Hero Association, perhaps there wouldn't have been so much trouble.
But neither Roy nor Saitama was particularly interested in such matters. They held a somewhat indifferent attitude towards their rankings, so aside from Saitama's feigned surprise about the rapid rise in rankings, there wasn't much reaction from them.
People always believe what they want to believe.
They believed that it was impossible for a human to shatter a meteorite alone or to clear away its debris alone. So even if someone witnessed it, in the case of three people claiming the same thing, they would think they were hallucinating. Thus, the true contributions of Roy and Saitama were somewhat diminished.
Genos felt somewhat aggrieved.
Both Roy and Saitama were people he respected, and he couldn't bear to see them unfairly treated.
But Saitama restrained Genos, who was about to go to the Hero Association headquarters to argue, and joined Roy in organizing a celebration party... inviting even Yumemi Okazaki, Fubuki, and Tatsumaki. The group enjoyed a hearty dinner together.
Hmm... could Fubuki and Tatsumaki really enjoy themselves in each other's presence?
"Roy, Roy! Why did you invite big sister over too!"
As Fubuki, who had been called over to eat by Roy, hummed a tune happily and walked into Roy's apartment, hanging her coat on the rack by the door, her eyes swept into the living room, where she saw the green-haired loli playing with a handheld game console in the recliner, she froze. Then she put on a performance of shock, pulling Roy aside to whisper as he was still preparing in the kitchen.
Roy blinked and said, "I just invited her."
"But... but..."
Fubuki struggled to find a coherent response.
Roy patted Fubuki's head and said, "This is a test, a test from the past. Human growth is about overcoming our own immaturity."
It actually made sense.
Fubuki looked towards Tatsumaki's position, only to see Tatsumaki staring back at her expressionlessly, which frightened Fubuki to the core.
"It's impossible!"
"You're too scared of Tatsumaki, to the point where you've demonized her in your mind. But Tatsumaki is actually quite cute."
Roy didn't lower his voice, but rather said it loud enough for Fubuki to hear, as she looked at him in disbelief. Roy then walked over to Tatsumaki's side, surprisingly picking her up.
"What are you doing-"
"Sibling intimacy."
Unexpectedly, Tatsumaki didn't resist, nor did she say much. In fact, she even hugged Roy back in the end.
Fubuki looked betrayed, stuttering, "When did you two become so close..."
'I was the one who came first!'
Rather, Roy had always been indifferent to her, and she wanted to be close to him too!
'Why is it that my big sister, who's already 28 and has neither breast nor butt, and also has such a bad and arrogant attitude, can be so intimate with him! How many times have you guys done this behind my back!'
No!
More importantly, Tatsumaki, where is your tsundere persona?
This isn't a battlefield!
Fubuki ranted inwardly.
Roy set Tatsumaki back down, and although Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow at first, making Fubuki quite anxious, fearing she might explode at any moment, she ultimately didn't resist, nor did she say much. Instead, she even hugged Roy back in the end.
Fubuki looked like she felt betrayed, sweating profusely as she hung her head. "W-Why did big sister come back here?"
"Is it a big deal?" Tatsumaki said matter-of-factly, "Roy called me, so I came, it's that simple."
There was no arguing with that.
"This is like a battlefield, it's so youthful."
Yumemi Okazaki found herself standing beside Roy at some point, watching the interaction between Tatsumaki and Fubuki, feeling somewhat nostalgic.
"No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem fair, right? Tatsumaki is clearly overpowering Fubuki."
"Hey, hey, don't underestimate this battlefield." Yumemi Okazaki chuckled, "I'm joining in now too!"
"Don't make trouble."
"But I also really like Roy, you know."
Yumemi Okazaki could casually say things that ordinary girls would be embarrassed to say, with a relaxed expression. It was unclear if there were any romantic feelings involved.
Click.
"Excuse me."
"Yo, we're here to crash your dinner. Encountered a strange guy claiming to be from the Deep Sea tribe while on an assignment, wasted some time."
"Is he strong?"
"Not sure, but he was quite far away."
"I see."
It was Genos and Saitama.
The two opened the door and, upon noticing that there were other people in Roy's room, couldn't help but freeze.
Ignoring Fubuki and Yumemi Okazaki for now, they had met before.
Tatsumaki looked at the two of them and said bluntly, "Hey, what's with the baldie and the scrap metal over there?"
"Who are you calling a baldie!"
"Show some respect." Genos stepped in front of Saitama and said loudly, "Although it's true that Saitama-sensei is indeed bald!"
"Hey, Genos!"
"Alright, alright, come on in."
Roy greeted the guests and took the opportunity to introduce them.
"This is my sister, Tatsumaki. Don't let her appearance fool you, she's the second-ranked S-Class hero in the Hero Association."
"Oh."
"She's second in S-Class..."
Roy then introduced Saitama and Genos to Tatsumaki, "And these two are my neighbors, Saitama and Genos. Genos is a newly promoted S-Class hero."
"Hmph." Tatsumaki didn't seem to think much of Saitama and Genos.
But the others didn't mind.
Saitama was currently fixated on the idea of eating a feast, so he didn't have the energy to think about anything else.
With all the invited guests present, Roy announced the start of the celebration. This time, Roy didn't use things like hot pot... although sukiyaki was delicious too, they often had it casually, so for a celebration like this, they should have something different.
Instead, he brought out his Stand... The Walrider, and after a noisy scene in the kitchen, various hearty dishes were prepared.
If he hadn't yet developed a gourmet tablecloth, it wouldn't have been necessary to go through all this trouble.
Cooking could be a hobby, but when it became too tiresome, it turned into a kind of torture. He could approach cooking a dish with a research-oriented mindset, but doing many such tiresome tasks was no longer considered a hobby, right?
However, with various kitchen utensils to help and convenient nanobots like The Walrider, it wasn't too much trouble.
***
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