Chapter 2

It was an average ramen shop when you saw it from the outside. But the aroma coming out of it contradicted what people thought it offered.

That's the reason why I brought Saitama here. This is the ramen shop I saw while going to the mini-market.

"Welcome!"

We were greeted by a pretty girl with brown hair.

We sat down on the chairs after returning the greeting.

The owner approached us with a smile and asked about our orders. Then left after that.

I looked to my left. "Thank you for saving me once again."

I couldn't really say that I wasn't in danger in the first place. I was far away from the monster and had already thought of my escape route. I simply watched what was going on and didn't regret it.

Saitama made a short sigh.

"You already said that two times. It's no issue at all."

I let out a simple laugh.

"Why didn't you stay there, though? The Hero Association might promote you to be a hero if you stayed and took the credit. After all, a high-ranked B-class couldn't even defeat the monster while you easily obliterated it."

I've been meaning to ask this since we started walking to this place but couldn't bring it up.

"I don't really care about any of that. I'm happy as it is."

My eyes widened.

His face, which was always blank, seemed to be more... masculine?

I smiled.

"You know, man, that's really cool of you."

He said that he was a hero for fun? He's more of a hero than most of the current heroes today.

I turned my gaze towards the owner, who came out holding two bowls of ramen as he approached us with a smile.

"Here you go!" He gently placed the bowls down.

********

Sip----!

I gulped it down until no soup was left.

"Phew~"

I didn't regret coming here. It was really good and not costly.

"Aye, that was great!" Saitama placed the bowl down with a satisfied smile.

He looked at me and gave a thumbs up. "Thanks!"

I swiftly grabbed the half of the ripped ticket from before and placed it on my palm, narrowing it down so it wouldn't fall.

"By the way, I forgot to tell you my name. I'm Renji. Nice to meet you!" I stretched my arm towards him.

"Yeah."

He took it without a problem.

Saitama's strength was the main reason I chose him to copy his power. He obliterated a Tiger-level monster without a problem. I could see in his eyes that he was bored. He must have already beaten stronger monsters before, so he didn't think much of a Tiger-level monster.

What if he became serious? He would probably be able to beat Demon-level monsters. It's just my guess, but I'm willing to take the risk.

The monster that killed my family wasn't even treated as a Demon-level monster based on the Hero Association's site anyway...

Immediately, I felt the paper vanish in my palm after I shook hands with Saitama.

It means that it really does work.

"Well then, I gotta go. Nice meeting ya!"

We soon parted ways.

*********

Thirty minutes later.

I arrived at a large forest on the west side of City-Z after taking a ride. This was the perfect place to test if I really had copied the monstrous strength of that guy.

"Phew~ I really hope this works."

Even after arriving here, I still didn't feel any different, so I was starting to set my expectations low.

I even started planning in my head how I would deal with the monster that killed my family without any powers.

My first thought was to hire some powerful guy to kill the monster himself.

But then, I remembered that I was broke and had an average-paying job.

My second plan was to kill it myself.

This was the part where I had the least confidence. I was by no means a weak human with above-average intelligence, but I was not one of those superheroes who could create war machines with their big brains.

Lastly, my third plan was to sit in my house, wait for the monster to appear again, and let the heroes kill it. But I won't do that. I at least want to let my mother and sister know that I've tried my best.

They won't be happy, but I have to do it.

As I walked, the scenery in front of me changed.

I wasn't inside the forest anymore. Mountains filled my vision, and a large plot of land wasn't covered with trees.

My gaze stopped on a group of boulders not far away.

I walked towards them and touched the largest one.

"...!"

While touching it, I suddenly felt every muscle in my body harden. It felt like I became the boulder, unable to move.

I was frozen.

Keuuk---!

It felt like thousands of fists were punching from the inside, trying to break out. I even thought my skin was getting ripped apart. It hurt like hell.

My few seconds of misery ended when darkness suddenly filled my vision.

*********

I slowly opened my eyes as the sunlight hit me. Strangely enough, my eyes weren't irritated looking directly at it.

"... Wha- What the hell is this?"

I saw the boulders from before melted, half of them missing. The land I was sitting on had turned into a small crater with me at the center.

But what bothered me the most was that I was naked.

"Did it also melt away?"

No doubt that something close to a heat ray directly hit me, based on what became of this area.

Weird things happened after I copied his power.

"Could it be that I've really received his power?"

I clenched my hand and felt power surging, smoke starting to rise from the energy in my palm.

"Let me try."

Stretching my arms backward, I gathered all my strength for this punch and released it into the air.

Zhing---!

Boom!

I saw everything. Time seemed to slow down as my fist gathered all the air, even smoking red hot as it surged forward at a speed unknown to me. When I completed the punch, the destruction was beyond what I expected.

The large mountains in front of me vanished, leaving a massive circle on the ground that stretched forward to an unknown distance.

I looked at my fist, still smoking after that punch.

I tremble as I spoke, "What the fuck?"