"Huff… Huff… Thought I was gonna die…"
Saitama paused, holding his swollen lips. The wind definitely helped take away some of the heat and spiciness, but the combination of half a bottle of chili powder and a large cup of hot water left a deep impression.
"Sensei, some milk should help…"
Genos offered him a chilled glass of milk while trying to figure out what deeper lesson his teacher was trying to convey.
After thinking long and hard, he still couldn't find an answer. Regretfully, he chalked it up to the gap between him and his master and jotted it down in his notebook to ponder later.
Having learned his lesson, Saitama cautiously felt the cup. Once he confirmed it was cold milk, he let out a sigh of relief and downed it in one go. Immediately, the fiery burn in his throat faded, washed away by the cool, smooth milk.
"Ahh~ That feels good. I'm alive again~"
Saitama looked half-enlightened, and even more incredibly, the swelling on his lips faded just as fast.
"What a weirdo…"
Tatsumaki studied him with suspicion. That kind of speed definitely wasn't what a C-Class hero should be capable of.
In the past, with her proud nature, she would've just chalked it up to psychic powers being supreme and ignored Saitama altogether.
But after being "disciplined" by Kizaru, the once-arrogant Tatsumaki had been forced to face reality a little more clearly.
She had to admit, aside from Blast, there were indeed others in this world whose strength was on par with—or even beyond—hers.
Just as she was about to ask Kizaru for more info on Saitama, she noticed the jerk had his eyes closed, seemingly resting.
Tatsumaki instinctively opened her mouth to call his name—but then paused. She glanced at Fubuki, who was also dozing nearby, and carefully slid closer to Kizaru.
The oversized beach chair still had plenty of space left, even with Kizaru lying on it. Tatsumaki nestled herself right into his chest.
Not far away, Lily looked absolutely shocked. As Fubuki's loyal secretary, she had long known that Tatsumaki was her older sister.
The problem was, in her eyes, Tatsumaki was strong, overbearing, and unreasonable. Even Lady Fubuki could only grit her teeth and endure her sister's tyranny.
So when had that all changed? When did the all-powerful Tatsumaki turn into a girl who liked to cuddle?
Sensing someone's gaze, Tatsumaki—who had just settled comfortably into Kizaru's chest—suddenly raised her head and shot Lily a death glare that almost made the poor girl pee herself.
As Lily frantically turned around and pretended not to have seen anything, Tatsumaki gave a satisfied nod. She lightly patted Kizaru's firm chest, made sure he was still asleep, then contentedly snuggled back in.
Meanwhile, Kizaru was busy chatting away in the group chat. He could feel Tatsumaki leaning against him but didn't really pay it much mind.
---
[Kizaru: @Passerby Trying to Hug Luo Feng's Thigh – You there, bro?]
[Kobayashi: Huh? What's up, Kizaru-san?]
[Kizaru: Nothing major. Just heard there might be a big crisis brewing in Fubuki's world, so I wanted to see if you had any intel.]
[Passerby Trying to Hug Luo Feng's Thigh: I'm here! Huh? Big crisis? Monster Association? Or Garou? I only watched up to the Garou arc—got isekai'd before I could finish…]
[Kizaru: Don't reme—cough—not sure. Just that some prophet named Shee-Bah-Bah or something predicted the Earth's doomed within six months.]
[Fubuki: It's Shibabawa. She's the most accurate prophet known so far—every single one of her predictions has come true.]
[Kobayashi: Sugoi! A real prophet?!]
[Ai Haibara: A hundred percent accuracy? Sounds like a scam artist. Has anyone actually seen her?]
[Fubuki: I haven't, but my sister once had a mission to protect her. She said Shibabawa was the real deal. Thanks to her, the Hero Association has survived multiple crises—she's definitely not a fraud.]
[Tony Stark: Hey, you never know. There are some pretty slick scammers out there who make vague predictions so they always seem right in hindsight.]
[Orochimaru: Heh. I know one idiot who spent years chasing a prophecy. Still out there, probably…]
[Hermione Granger]: Personally, I think so-called prophets are just charlatans—fooling people by using information others don't know to achieve their own goals.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Prophets, huh... yeah, that was a thing, right? Let me think... Boros! That's it! I remember now—the next arc should be the cosmic overlord Boros!
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Boros arrives in a spaceship to attack Earth, looking for the warrior from the prophecy who can match him in battle. In the end, he runs into the Bald Demon King—Saitama—and gets blown away with a single punch!
[Fubuki]: Saitama?! You mean that clueless bald guy?
[Kizaru]: I see… in a way, you could say the prophecy did come true. Though honestly, I doubt the warrior it spoke of was really Saitama…
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: As expected of Lord Kizaru! Honestly, we thought the same when reading the manga. A lot of people believed the warrior in the prophecy was actually Garou.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Saitama's such a broken OP character, I doubt even a prophet could predict someone like him exists.
[Kizaru]: Cosmic Overlord Boros… sounds pretty strong.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: He is strong—basically the Saiyan template. Only his transformation isn't as busted as a Super Saiyan.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Wait a sec! Lord Kizaru, don't tell me you're planning to fight Boros?!
[Kizaru]: Why not? At my level, I sometimes want a worthy opponent to test myself against… Saitama excluded, of course. I still don't know how strong that guy actually is.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Uh… you're incredible, Lord Kizaru! Just be careful. Boros is legit. Before Garou's final form came along, Boros was universally seen as the strongest after the Bald Demon King.
[Esdeath]: You guys talking about someone powerful? A strong enemy showing up?
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Uh, yeah… kinda. But he's so strong that probably only Lord Kizaru here could go toe-to-toe with Boros in our whole chat group.
[Orochimaru]: @Kizaru If you get the chance, take Boros down and sell me his corpse.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Uh… that might not work, Lord Orochimaru. Boros doesn't use chakra, so I'm not sure you'd get much out of him.
[Orochimaru]: Heh. I want to see if I can use Edo Tensei to summon Boros.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Holy crap! Lord Orochimaru, your brain is even more outrageous than mine…
[Kizaru]: The real issue is—do we even know when Boros is supposed to show up? I can't just stay here waiting forever.
[Fubuki]: Kizaru only has a little over half a month left here. If Boros comes after that, it'll be a problem…
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Where are you guys at in the story right now? Has the House of Evolution appeared yet? What about Deep Sea King?
[Kizaru]: Already ran into Deep Sea King, but haven't heard anything about the House of Evolution.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: Oh, I see. Then it's close—Boros should be showing up soon. You guys might want to head to Hero Association HQ and wait him out.
[Random guy trying to cling to Luo Feng's coattails]: If I remember right, the Boros arc happens not long after the Deep Sea King fight—shouldn't be more than a few days apart.
[Kizaru]: Hero Association HQ, huh… I think I've been there before?
[Fubuki]: Yeah, it's in City A. We went there after you took out Vaccine Man—it's pretty close to City B.
[Kizaru]: Perfect. I've been meaning to have a good talk with the higher-ups anyway.
[Hermione Granger]: Everyone, may I ask—when you travel to other worlds, is there anything important to keep in mind? I mean… how exactly do you travel between worlds?
Back in her room, Hermione had returned home. She bit her lip nervously as she stared at the dialogue projected on her Transfiguration textbook.
She'd already learned how to project the chat group interface in her mind, but after being mistaken for daydreaming several times, she'd gone back to projecting it on her textbook instead.
No one else could see the chat group anyway, and when others thought she was reading a book, they instinctively avoided disturbing her.
The reason she wanted to visit other worlds was actually pretty simple: young witches weren't allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts—otherwise, the Ministry of Magic would send a warning.
For someone like Hermione, who was both diligent and passionate about learning, that rule was incredibly annoying.
But it didn't take her long to come up with a solution: just travel to another world via the chat group and practice magic there. After all, there's no way the Ministry could detect her in another dimension, right?
Having been sorted into Gryffindor, Hermione also had a natural courage and thirst for adventure—traits of a little lioness that were now fully on display.
Luckily, the members of the dimensional chat group were generally friendly. Even Orochimaru could, barely, be considered a good guy—after all, he never turned rogue in this version and even became the Fourth Hokage.
[Kobayashi: Hermione-chan wants to go to another world too? Then you'd better talk to Kizaru-san. He's the most experienced one in the group and super strong—he can protect you.]
[Kizaru: You flatter me, Kobayashi. But if little Hermione does want to explore other worlds, just make sure to stay safe…]
[Kizaru: If Fubuki doesn't mind, you could come to her place first. I can protect you there until you're ready to head out on your own.]
[Fubuki: I keep forgetting to ask—Hermione, how old are you now?]
[Hermione Granger: I'm twelve! But please believe me—I can take care of myself!]
[Fubuki: Uh… I didn't mean it like that. But if you're twelve… I guess it's fine. Come on over.]
Fubuki decided to trust Kizaru's sense of decency—at least temporarily. Though her own sister Tatsumaki didn't look much older than twelve, she was actually a full-grown adult at twenty-eight.
Surely Kizaru wouldn't go so far as to make a move on a twelve-year-old loli… right?
[Hermione Granger: Thanks! But I should let my parents know first. Is there anything I should bring? Like a change of clothes or something?]
[Kizaru: No need to prepare anything. Clothes aren't necessary either—you can always go back and forth to change when needed.]
[Hermione Granger: That's super convenient! I think I'm starting to really like this chat group!]
[Kobayashi: Haha, now I kinda want to visit another world too… but I've got overtime. So tired. I just wanna retire already…]
[Random User Who Wants to Cling to Luo Feng's Leg: Kobayashi, why are you still working? Just trade some dimensional coins with Kizaru for gold—you could probably buy out your whole company.]
[Kobayashi: Huh?! You're right! Why am I still working?!]
[Tony Stark: Preach! I'm sick of the endless cycle of signing papers and sitting in meetings. Screw work! Mr. Stark is taking the day off!]
[Xiao Mei: @RandomUserWhoWantsToClingToLuoFeng'sLeg Li-gege! Nalan Yanran from the Yunlan Sect really came to break off the engagement with Xiao Yan-gege!]
[Random User: Oh damn, the classic scene! "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—don't bully the poor!" 2333, make sure you record that moment.]
[Xiao Mei: Mm-hmm! I've already found a hiding spot. Just waiting for Xiao Yan-gege to show up and slay.]
[Random User: Nice! Once he becomes a Dou Emperor, you can use the recording to blackmail him! "Flame Emperor, you wouldn't want your edgy teen cringe to go public, would you?"]
[Ai Haibara: What kind of chaotic energy is this…]
…
When Kizaru finally logged off the chat group, he looked down and saw that Tatsumaki had fallen asleep snuggled in his arms.
The past two nights had been rough on her—no wonder she was so exhausted.
"Next time, don't you dare bully my sister again!"
Fubuki had just walked in and caught sight of her sleeping sister. Her sharp, icy eyes shot Kizaru a glare as she lowered her voice with visible irritation.
"It's not my fault she's too competitive…"
Kizaru wore an expression of total innocence. He wasn't some scumbag who only cared about his own pleasure—Tatsumaki was the one who wouldn't back down, who insisted on challenging his "authority." How could he be blamed?
°°°
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