"Let's go."
Makoto gestured to Yu and the others, then extended an invitation to the Shuchi'in Academy's faculty team. "Come with us. We can discuss the superpower academy."
Principal Adolphe straightened up and nodded repeatedly.
On the way back, Hiratsuka was still brooding over her beach volleyball loss. She caught up from behind and slapped Makoto on the shoulder.
"Let's team up after dinner. We'll definitely crush everyone."
'So shameless.'
Everyone thought simultaneously.
Mafuyu rolled her eyes. Although she already knew this colleague of hers was quite childish, she hadn't expected her to be this childish. She looked exactly like a primary school kid getting her parents to fight her battles.
Makoto glanced at her. "Taking you might not guarantee a win."
Hiratsuka's face froze.
"Hahahaha—"
Everyone howled with laughter, clutching their stomachs. Even Yukino almost lost it, her eyes crinkling into crescent moons.
By the time they rejoined the others, the bonfire was already blazing brightly.
Unlike before, when the team's cooks, Erina and Alice, were always in charge, this time the main chefs for this barbecue was the Kotegawa sisters, Nanaka and Chisa. Both were very skilled, flipping, brushing with oil, and sprinkling seasoning in one smooth motion.
Seeing Hiratsuka and the other teachers arrive, Chika, who had already changed her clothes, was quite excited. She waved on the beach and shouted, "Ah! Sensei, you're here too? This way, this way! Come eat some barbecue!"
"Please enjoy."
Chisa sprinkled spices onto the sizzling, greasy meat skewers.
The rich aroma drifted on the sea breeze.
Hiratsuka's saliva surged in her throat.
Chika just reached out to take one.
Hiratsuka snatched the skewer directly and bit into it, grimacing from the heat but not stopping her mouth.
"Hiratsuka-sensei! How can you steal from a student?" Chika's face puffed up like a bun.
"Phew... phew... you've already graduated, you're working adults. Besides, I'm not your teacher anymore. Fair competition... ahh, so satisfying!"
Hiratsuka chewed the meat with no regard for her image, her lips covered in oil. Eating so fast, she kept slurping saliva and air.
Chika looked like she was questioning her life. It was the first time she had met someone more shameless than herself.
Everyone sat around the bonfire, the conversation gradually returning to the superpower academy.
Itsuki, learning that Hiratsuka and Haruno were also planning to change jobs and become teachers there, couldn't help but go over and talk to them. "Um... Hiratsuka-sensei, Haruno-senpai, how does one become a good teacher?"
Hiratsuka swallowed the meat in her mouth and raised her arm to flex a muscle. "You have to be tough with the students. Otherwise, those little brats will think you're a pushover."
Mafuyu, holding a skewer of grilled shiitake mushrooms, nodded silently nearby.
When they learned that Makoto had decided to establish this school specifically to help Itsuki realize her dream of becoming a teacher, Hiratsuka and Haruno looked at each other and rolled their eyes simultaneously.
'Same old pattern. Spending a fortune to pick up girls.'
Makoto took a skewer of grilled meat from the plate and put it horizontally in front of Pochita's mouth.
Pochita opened his mouth and bit down. Makoto pinched his upper and lower jaws and pulled hard. The bamboo skewer came out from between the chunks of meat, leaving all the meat in Pochita's mouth.
"Tasty?" Makoto smiled.
"Woof woof woof~" Pochita chewed, his face grinning into a slit.
Mafuyu walked over, watched Pochita chewing, and the corner of her mouth twitched slightly. Then she turned to Makoto.
"Um... Commander, what will be the admission criteria for this school you plan to establish?" As a very responsible teacher, Mafuyu was quite concerned about this topic. "Will it admit students who have already awakened superpowers, or can ordinary students also enroll and be helped to awaken superpowers through their studies?"
Without looking up, Makoto said, "Modification."
Kirisu Mafuyu paused. "Huh?!"
Just as Makoto was about to explain, Akane put down her juice glass and walked towards the grill. "Let me help."
With Makoto and Four Gay Bros… several big eaters… plus the large faculty group, the Kotegawa sisters were working frantically.
"No, no, no, no."
Narumi rushed out from the side. "Minagawa-sensei, you just sit down. I'll do it. After all, with your beautiful skin, it would be a shame if you got burned."
The Teddy Devil was crouched on the beach, gnawing on a piece of meat with a bone in it. Hearing this, the corner of his mouth curled, revealing half a fang still with shreds of meat hanging from it. "That's way too much simp energy."
The Aizono sisters, the Nakano quintuplets, and the others nearby all paused for a moment. A dog calling someone else a dog somehow felt wrong.
Akane sidestepped past Narumi's arm. "No need, Kanai-sensei. I'll do it myself."
Her tone was politely cold. Normally, given her nasty personality, she wouldn't mind teasing this simp a bit.
But now, she had found a higher target, so naturally, she had to put some distance between herself and the other simps.
Narumi followed her again. "No, no, no, let me do it."
"Really, there's no need."
Watching the two of them tugging, Momoi secretly caught a whiff of a familiar scent.
As they jostled, Narumi's shoulder/waist bumped into the grill's support. The iron support slipped on the sand. The grill tilted forward. The whole tray of skewers, along with the wire mesh, slid off.
Various ingredients scattered all over the beach.
Many skewers dripping with seasoning rolled into the seawater. Caught by a wave, oil slick floated on the water's surface.
Chisa's face instantly turned red. She almost couldn't stop herself from stabbing the adulterers with the bamboo skewer in her hand.
'Did they have any idea how much time I and my sister had spent this afternoon to host Commander properly? And now it was all scattered.'
Hana quickly stopped her. "Chisa, forget it, forget it!"
The atmosphere instantly became heavy.
Itsuki, Yamato, Ryo, and other foodies looked at the skewers covered in sand and the slick of oil floating on the sea, their eyes teary. "Waaah... we haven't eaten enough yet..."
Akane lowered her head, her hands hanging at her sides, her bangs covering half her face. Her pitiful appearance directly made the simp Narumi and the virgin Kiri feel sympathy for her.
Kagei Narumi quickly took the responsibility, crouching down to right the fallen grill. "I'll go buy the ingredients right away. There's a supermarket nearby, so I'll go right away–"
Before he finished speaking...
The sea behind him exploded.
Several columns of water shot into the sky, splashing up waves dozens of meters high.
The spray fell like a torrential downpour. The bonfire hissed out a cloud of white smoke and nearly went out.
Several giant black shadows fell from the water columns, crashing onto the beach, leaving craters half a meter deep.
They were several extremely burly monsters, resembling gigantic marine creatures walking upright.
One looked like a centupled octopus, its tentacles as thick as tree trunks, barbs on the suckers.
Another resembled a giant crab, its pincers wide enough to crush a car.
And there was a sea turtle, its shell covered in gruesome bone spurs.
Their faces were utterly unlike normal marine animals. Their features were twisted, their eyes bulging, the corners of their mouths stretched to their ears, revealing rows of sharp fangs.
Anomalies.
Marine Anomalies!
Hiratsuka crushed the beer can in her hand, couldn't help but recall her experiences in the One Piece World. "Fish-men?"
Makoto studied them for a moment. He couldn't remember if this group had appeared in the original One-Punch Man.
Well, even if they had, they were at the scrub level.
The several Anomalies stood on the beach, their ugly heads swiveling left and right, their scarlet eyes sweeping over everyone present.
The lead octopus monster spread its tentacles covered with suckers and let out a low roar: "Who dares to pollute the sea?!"
Their gazes simultaneously locked onto one person… Narumi, who was closest to the sea. He crouched by the grill, still holding a few scattered bamboo skewers, his whole body shaking like a leaf.
"Was it you?"
The octopus monster's tentacle shot out with incredible speed. Narumi didn't even have time to scream before the thick tentacle wrapped around his waist.
The suckers on the tentacle tightly adhered to his skin, barbs piercing into his flesh.
The octopus monster twisted hard. Narumi's body emitted a muffled sound of bones cracking. Blood seeped from between the folds of the tentacle, dripping onto the sand.
Then, the octopus monster brought the shapeless mass that had been a person to its mouth. Its fangs closed, crunching and smashing it.
The Kotegawa sisters, Mafuyu, and other ordinary people turned pale with fright. Principal Adolphe's legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the sand.
"N-Nee-san... run!" Kiri shouted, his voice trembling.
Hana blinked. "Run from what?"
"Th-the monsters! They're so terrifying! Can't you see them?" Kiri pointed at the octopus monster that was still chewing, his voice changing pitch.
Hana blinked and pointed behind him.
Kiri followed his older sister's finger.
'Oh, right.'
'I had almost forgotten that that man was still here.'