"Yeah… it's more comfortable here." Saitama stretched, planning to stop by his usual supermarket to see if there were any new discounts.
He'd barely rounded a street corner when a commotion and a woman's scream came from up ahead.
"Shut up! Hand over the money! And the jewelry! Now!" A masked robber pointed a handgun at the convenience store cashier, while another accomplice held a trembling female customer at knifepoint. Outside, pedestrians panicked and backed away.
Police sirens were already drawing closer from the distance.
The robber was getting nervous. He slammed the counter with the gun grip. "Hurry up! What are you dragging your feet for?!"
Right when all his attention was on the cashier and the approaching police, a bald man in a yellow suit casually walked into the convenience store like he was just there to shop.
"Hey! You! Get out!" the robber holding the hostage shouted, waving the knife.
Saitama acted like he didn't hear him and walked straight up to the robber with the gun.
The robber instinctively swung the muzzle toward him. "You wanna die?!"
Before he could finish, his vision blurred, and his wrist suddenly felt light. He blinked—and the gun in his hand was gone.
A beat later, he saw it: the bald guy was holding the handgun. Saitama brought his hands together casually, like he was kneading clay, and crushed the steel pistol into an irregular lump of scrap metal. Then he tossed it onto the floor with a loud clank.
Everyone in the store froze, dumbfounded.
Saitama turned to look at the robber still holding the hostage at knifepoint.
That robber's hand shook. The knife clattered to the ground, and his legs gave out. He slumped down, muttering, "M-monster…"
At that moment, the police finally arrived. They rushed in and quickly subdued the two robbers, who were now completely incapable of resisting.
Under the officers' mix of awe and fear, Saitama calmly walked out of the convenience store. He bought a piping-hot taiyaki from a nearby stall and ate as he walked.
"Mmm. Red bean filling. Pretty good." Chewing, he calculated to himself, "Tomorrow's supermarket special… limited-time discounts on premium wagyu and eggs. Can't be late."
He strolled leisurely toward home, his figure blending into the evening crowd of people getting off work—ordinary, like any other citizen.
And yet, far away in the sky—somewhere he didn't notice, or maybe didn't care about—a new, strange energy fluctuation was quietly gathering and spreading above the clouds.
A new battle might be coming soon.
Satisfied, Saitama licked the last bit of red bean paste off his finger and tossed the plastic bag into a roadside sorting bin. The sunset stretched his shadow long as it merged into the flow of people heading home. The little convenience-store incident was like water off a duck's back, not affecting his anticipation for tomorrow's sale in the slightest.
…
Just then, a few drops of cold, sticky liquid suddenly splattered onto his shiny bald head.
"Hm?" Saitama touched his scalp. His fingertip came away smeared with a dark green slime that carried a faint sulfur smell. He looked up.
At some point, an eerie mass of dark green clouds had gathered overhead. Unlike the earlier shadows that swallowed light, this cloud bank churned as it released the same dark green, viscous raindrops. The drops hit the street, cars, and people's umbrellas with a soft sizzling corrosion, triggering panicked screams and frantic attempts to take cover.
"Strange rain…" Saitama blinked, watching the crowd scramble for shelter.
He himself didn't really care. The corrosive liquid seemed completely ineffective against him—it couldn't even stain his suit.
(End of Chapter)
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