"Saitama! Saitama! I'm a reporter from the Global Daily! How do you feel about single-handedly saving the Moon and defeating the invaders from another dimension?"
"Saitama-sensei! Over here! Now that you're Earth's savior, will your future life plans change? Will you still insist on going to the supermarket for discounted items?"
"Hero! Has S.H.I.E.L.D. awarded you the highest honor medal? Compared to Iron Man and Thor, who's stronger?"
"What kind of kenpo do you use? Who taught you? Are you taking disciples?!"
Questions crashed in like a tidal wave. Flashbulbs popped nonstop, almost blinding people. Microphones practically stabbed Saitama in the face.
Saitama was a little dazed by the scene. Instinctively, he protected the shopping bag in his hands especially the eggs and milk inside. Frowning, he tried to shove his way toward the building entrance.
"Make way. Seriously, move aside. There's nothing to say. My milk's about to expire—I need to get it back inside."
His answer obviously didn't satisfy the reporters. The crowd only pressed in tighter.
And then—something unexpected happened!
From behind a large recycling bin at the corner of the street, there came a sudden rustling sound.
A half-person-tall rock monster—clearly one of the rare stragglers from the lunar battle that had slipped through by other means or had been hiding on Earth earlier—burst out from behind the bin!
Stimulated by the noisy crowd and all that activity, it let out a sharp hiss, opened its mouth, and lunged at the nearest target—
A little girl holding a lollipop.
The girl froze in terror. Reporters and civilians screamed, but it happened too fast for anyone to react.
Saitama happened to be pushing through in that direction.
He didn't even really look at the monster. Like he was casually swatting away a fly that had drifted too close, he lifted his hand and swung it once—his palm landing perfectly on the rock monster's forehead… if that could be called a forehead.
"Pa!"
A soft sound.
The vicious little rock monster's lunge locked in place for an instant—then its whole body collapsed with a clatter, crumbling into a scatter of lifeless stones. That lollipop-sized energy core dimmed and shattered as well.
The whole thing happened so fast nobody around them even saw what had occurred.
Saitama withdrew his hand, still shielding his shopping bag, and spoke to the stunned reporters and citizens who were standing there wide-eyed.
"See? There are still stragglers. Shouldn't you reporters be covering this more, so the relevant departments actually deal with these safety hazards? Surrounding me doesn't really help."
With that, while everyone was still frozen in a fresh wave of shock, he quickly forced his way through the crowd and slipped into the apartment hallway, leaving behind dead silence—followed by an even louder explosion of frantic discussion and shouted questions.
A few days later, one afternoon, the sunlight was as bright as ever.
Saitama-sensei showed up again at the supermarket he knew so well, as if the heart-stopping lunar war had been nothing more than a meaningless side episode. Life returned to its ordinary track—and that was what mattered most.
He pushed a shopping cart, wandering leisurely between the shelves. Today's goal was restocking soy sauce and miso. He held a carefully calculated list and a small calculator, sinking once again into the happy misery of comparing different brands and different bottle sizes for the best soy sauce value.
(End of Chapter)
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