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Z City Neighbors Chapter 3
🕑 Added 2021-10-13 22:11:58 +0000 UTCToday was a big day for Tomoro Sazaki, well today was a big day for the company he worked at and thereby him. About two months ago his firm was contacted by a client who wished to remain anonymous. This person had a high corporate position at Star Enterprise LLC the company which has merchandising rights to the popular character Sailor Star and involved in many different business across the world. This anonymous client was in a position to acquire the entire accounting books of Star Enterprise and they hired their small accounting firm to go over them in search of any unscrupulous dealings.
For this most important task several of the firm’s top accountants were selected to work on it. Naturally this included Tomoro since he was the best and most efficient accountant in the firm, his boss’ words not his. Star Enterprise was huge so they had a lot of ground to cover but after two months of fine combing and consideration they were ready to present their findings.
The client requested an in-person meet with the team who worked on it to discuss their findings. Said meeting took place in City A at the Star Enterprise headquarters. This would be the first time they would have made personal contact with the client so they would not know what to expect. Tomoro suspected that whoever hired their firm must have been a corporate executive or someone along that line. Most likely they were given the order to do so by someone higher or looking to take the initiative to impress.
The client was being very cautious in their methods. They could have hired any number of larger scaled accounting firms who have also proven themselves reliable. Instead they chose to hire one that was small (both in scale and scope of practice), is relatively recent, had yet to make any significant impact or connections in the business world and was located in the city that was geographically the farthest from City A.
Obviously whoever this person was wanted to keep this matter as private as possible which made sense based on what Tomoro and the others had found when going over their books. Regardless of what they thought going into that fancy conference room none of them, not even Tomoro was prepared to be faced with who they actually met.
For meeting them in that private conference on the literal top floor of the 100+ floor skyscraper was none other than Solaria Star.
~O~
For context, the history of Star Enterprise began from a collection of books about the titular character named Sailor Star. It is said that the books were based on the memoirs of a heroine who actually existed and operated in the distant past. The books gained great success and controversy during the times when they were written due to the legitimacy issues of them being based on true events.
The writer of the original Sailor Star series of books was a woman by the name Nebula Nova. Before she passed away some years after the books were published, Nebula used the money gained from publication to put her daughter, Meteora Nova, through school and live in retirement. Meteora ended up graduating with a business degree and used the inherited rights of her mother’s work to pitch the story idea to various agencies in hopes of getting an adaptation.
She managed to successfully pitch her idea and impress a famous mangaka by the name of ZERO who in turn convinced her editor to allow the series to run. It first came out as a oneshot to test the waters before becoming a lengthy series with over five hundred chapters. It was so popular that in the middle of its run Meteora was approached with an opportunity for an anime adaptation. She agreed but only if she had creative control of the process, this was something she would not budge in.
The widespread fame of the Sailor Star anime enabled Meteora to create the Sailor Star LLC to retain the rights to the Sailor Star name. From the original books to the mangas, anime, TV specials, movies, various spinoffs, videogames, clothing line, toys and etc Sailor Star LLC, specifically Meteora, owned the rights to this iconic franchise. Around this time Meteora had a daughter named Solaria who managed to propel herself and the company to new heights.
Solaria did not take after her mother at first, she was not a businesswoman nor was she like her grandmother in being a great writer/storyteller. Solaria Nova was simply and unironically a star, a multi talented individual with singing, dancing, acting, voice acting, directing, producing, modeling, fashion designing, sculpting and painting among her most well known talents. She used her various talents and clout to bolster Sailor Star LLC to global recognition. In simpler terms she was for Sailor Star LLC what Amai Mask is to the Hero Association.
Solaria Nova became the biggest and most recognized idol of her generation. She has won numerous awards and some of her works have been preserved by the national registry for cultural significance. Her reach and popularity is so widespread that at one point her ‘official fan club’ became like a widespread cult dubbed the Nova Stars.
The Nova Stars had multiple branches in every city across the continent, enough members to rival a small country and enough clout that when they petitioned to become an actualreligion it was something the governments had to seriously consider because as it turns out the cult made millions every year through donations.
Solaria herself would retire from the entertainment scene shortly after the passing of her mother Meteora in order take control of the Sailor Star company. Solaria would use her previous contacts in the entertainment industries from her time as an idol and savvy business acumen to turn a single IP focused company into a multi-faceted entertainment conglomerate.
Sailor Star became a mere fraction of what made up the company with other character licenses, TV channels, news outlets, restaurants, theme parks, art galas, museums, charity organizations and other investments now added to the roster. In celebration with the company’s successful transition its name would be changed to Star Enterprise and would continue to enjoy more success as time went by.
~O~
With all that said imagine how a bunch of small time accountants from an equally small but moderately successful accounting firm felt when they walked into the headquarters of the largest multi-trillion dollar conglomerate in the world. Now imagine how they felt when the person they were to meet turns out to be the president and CEO of said multi-trillion dollar conglomerate?
If Tomoro himself was rendered shocked by her presence then he knew for a fact that everyone else could have fainted. His boss in particular looked like he just about shat himself and he couldn’t really blame him for it either. Solaria Nova was a sight to behold, her biography put her in her late fifties, however, she looked like she was in her early forties at least. It should also be said that Solaria is a very beautiful woman and the claim of her being the most beautiful woman in the world clearly had credence.
She had pale creamy skin, light auburn hair tied into a corporate bun, dark eyes, pouty lips and a charming smile accentuated by her minimal makeup of a light blush and lip gloss. Her attire was a modest pantsuit consisting of a white blouse over a blue blazer, matching pants and corporate heels. She wore expensive jewelry in the form of earrings and a choker with a sun shaped medallion on it.
“Thank you for meeting with me today” her voice was lithe, bordering husky but with enough professionalism to avoid being blatantly flirtatious.
It was just really soothing to the ears.
“T-uh, n-no problem ma’am-miss Star” the boss stuttered and Tomoro couldn’t blame him too much for that since speaking from an objective standpoint Solaria Star was an absolutely stunning woman.
Tomoro could tell she knew the kind of effect she had on people as she seemed patient enough to give the man a minute to compose himself. He managed that just enough to hand the ball over to Tomoro so he could deliver the slam dunk of this little presentation. That was the right call as Tomoro seemed to be the only person (man or woman) who wasn’t awestruck by Solaria’s presence.
That’s not to say that he wasn’t affected just not in the way the others were. Tomoro felt something off about the woman, not in a necessarily bad way but noticeable enough that he could tell something was different about her. She must have had the same feeling about him because her eyes locked on his form with a veiled intensity.
Presenting their findings took a little over three hours which included the discussions and a small Q&A session. By the end of it Solaria was looking quite annoyed.
“It was just as I suspected then” she huffed lightly “thank you for your services. I will transfer payment to your account within the hour.”
“Not an issue, it was a pleasure doing business with you miss Nova” the boss replied extending a clearly moist hand to shake.
Solaria did just that then smoothly unearth some wipes to clean the sweat of her petite hand before her attention turned to Tomoro.
“Mr. Sazaki?”
“Yes, Miss Nova?”
“It would seem I have you to thank for the efficient work of this presentation.”
“I was only doing my job.”
“No need to be modest now” she offered a dazzling smile “it would seem I will be in need of employees for my finance department in the not-too-distant future” she hinted “would you say you could be available for an interview?”
‘Trying to poach a talented employee from a smaller business right in front of their boss? The nerve of this woman…’
Well he couldn’t fault her for the action.
Tomoro looked to his rightfully worried boss and spoke “I am unsure”
“Well, when you are sure feel free to give me a call” she handed him a business card that smelled of the expensive brand of perfume she wore.
“Thank you…” he trailed off a bit as some commotion out of the office seemed to grab his attention.
Solaria followed suit except she went ahead to see what said commotion was about. Out of the conference room, just a little down the hall was the wide clear glass window. Star Enterprises had over 100 floors and they were at the very top which was reserved solely for Solaria’s use. After that was the rooftop so everyone had a very clear view of the skyline or would have if not for it being currently obscured.
For the first time Solaria wasn’t the center of attention in a room which was understandable as even she too stared at the massive spaceship floating above, obscuring the city skyline. The ship was truly massive, seeming to cover most of the city and it was just floating there silently. As everyone made their shock, confusion and anxiousness verbally known Tomoro looked up at the craft and a single thought came to mind.
‘I knew something felt off about today.’
Beside him Solaria whispered “oh not this again.”
The comment made him glance towards her however his concentration was taken again when the ship’s underbelly started to glow with hundreds of dark purple blinking lights. This time Tomoro’s reaction was more pronounced in that his eye brows shot above the rim of glasses into his hairline.
“Oh-”
“Shit!”
The voice came from directly beside him where Solaria stood but before he could spare her a glance of incredulity at the use of such crass language. A moment later the flash intensified to blinding and a split second afterwards the entire city was carpet bombed.
~O~
‘This was not how I pictured today going.’
That was the thought of Solaria Nova, former model, actress and idol now turned CEO and mogul.
‘First I find that some executives on the board of directors have been undermining my authority to make under-the-table deals, then there’s an alien invasion and now this.’
“I did not see this coming” beside her Tomoro Sazaki stated bluntly.
“You and I both Mr. Sazaki.” came Solaria’s reply.
The two of them were about the only ones currently not reeling from the massive carpet bombing by the alien spacecraft. They were the only people currently not affected by it at all really.
“Mr. Sazaki, you have some explaining to do.”
Solaria spoke as she noted the man’s hand was raised with his palm facing the ceiling where a hole that definitely wasn’t there before was present.
“I could say the same for you as well Miss Nova or should I say Sailor Star?”
Beside him Solaria Nova had underwent a radical change of appearance. Her auburn hair was now golden blonde, her dark eyes were now a bright blue and most notably she seemed to have a four point golden star dead center of her pupil. Her visage had been youthful before however now she seemed to have regressed in aged appearance to her mid to late twenties. That was not even mentioning the subtle glow that emanated from her in a sort of aura outline.
“Please, Miss Nova is fine” she spoke cordially.
“Alright, as much as we both have questions I think we should save this for later considering the situation” said situation being that a few people had recovered enough to notice that Solaria Nova was now noticeably younger, blonde and faintly glowing.
Solaria blue and literally star-filled eyes met those of the gawkers before she intoned “obliviate”
All around them the eyes of the gawking civilians lost focus before they all fell unconscious. The process took a fraction of a second before her blue and star-eyes were back on Tomoro.
But something ‘piqued Tomoro’s distant memories and he spoke “what was that?”
“Don’t worry they won’t have any memories of this”
Solaria glance at the man and was a little shocked at the intense look of concentration he gave her.
Feeling slightly on edge by his stare she asked “is there a problem?”
“Why ‘obliviate’?”
What an odd question.
“It is from a dead language and its meaning can be derived as to forget.”
Tomoro blinked his mouth parted a bit before he blurted out “was that a spell you just did?”
Solaria rolled her eyes “Yes-yes because I bare a resemblance to a certain Magical Girl.”
Tomoro had made the connection between her and Sailor Star almost immediately already. As annoying as it was she couldn’t actually blame him either because Solaria’s current appearance was almost exactly identical to the character Sailor Star in appearance. And because she looks like a magical girl then her abilities have to be ‘spells.’
“I was thinking less ‘magical girl’ and more ‘witch’ actually.”
“Excuse me?”
Tomoro seems to have collected himself now “you know my memories of home are a little vague by this point but certain things I like to keep alive so I don’t forget.”
“Where are you going with this?”
“There was this series of books I was a fan of back him about a boy who found out he was a wizard and got accepted into a school of witchcraft and wizardry.”
Solaria felt her breath hitch, her eyes widen and her mouth part slightly in shock.
“It’s coming back to me now” he tapped the side of his head “I remember the incantation for all their spells was in a certain language including a memory charm with that same name.”
Solaria swallowed lightly “what…what was the name of that book series?”
“Harry Potter” they both spoke at once followed by a long pause as they reassessed the other person.
“You’re from earth” she stated.
“And so are you.”
Another pause but this one was interrupted by the previously forgotten ship preparing another bombardment.
Solaria recovered well enough cleared her throat with a fist “clearly we have a lot of questions for each other but that can come later.”
Tomoro nodded “agreed”
Just as the bombardment started it was halted as each of the individual payloads froze midair with a faintly emerald outline. Then the shells flipped up and sent back into the ship with tremendous force, lighting the underside with explosions.
“At least we won’t have to worry about that anymore”
Solaria hummed, that first bombardment would have destroyed the city, killing millions. Well it would if not for her intervention but at the same time, her eyes glanced up at the hole in her ceiling and the question had to be asked.
“Mr. Sazaki, could you explain that” she spoke gesturing to the ceiling.
He looked up at it and then back down at her “uh, whoops?”
She crossed her arms and leveled an expectant stare that had him looking at least bashful.
“If that artillery bombing had hit the entire city would have been destroyed”
“I am well aware but that still doesn’t explain the hole”
“Since I couldn’t allow the shells to hit I sent out an energy wave to preemptively destroy them before they came close.”
‘He managed to destroy hundreds of missiles spanning the entire city in the blink of an eye. This man is no joke’
“Well I managed to destroy most of them anyway” he continued in a mutter.
“That…actually explains a lot”
“Explain whatexactly? Also I have the distinct impression I wasn’t the only one to act in that moment.”
“I erected a barrier over the city”
“A magical barrier?”
Her glare was unimpressed though it changed to troubled as she gazed at the ship.
“I can feel a powerful presence aboard that ship.”
“You’re most likely sensing Boros.”
“Who?”
“He’s the leader of the Dark Matter Thieves” he looked to her and at her questioning look he continued “they’re a group of space pirates that travel the galaxy and pillage planets.”
“How do you know this?”
Tomoro looked to her “do you not know the world we’re currently living in?”
“What do mean?”
“We’re in One-Punch Man.”
“What does he have to do with this?”
“Not the person the manga, anime and web comic.”
“I don’t watch that stuff” she informed and a long silence ensued “what?”
Tomoro gaped at her “how did you become a Sailor Moon parody if you don’t watch ‘that stuff’?”
“I-” she cut herself off shaking her head and changed topics “none of that matters” she pointed at the ship “you seem familiar with that ship, I can assume you knew it was coming and if so then why didn’t you inform the Hero Association?”
“I knew it would be here not when it would be here. The series doesn’t put dates on its Arcs so I only know the sequence of events and only up to a certain point since I got reincarnated.”
Solaria huffed “security is going to be here any minute to check on me, how are we going to handle this ‘Boros’ character?”
“We don’t have to do anything. As far as I know the Hero Association has this handled. They were only caught off guard because the ship came out of nowhere and destroyed City A before they could properly react”
“Well obviously that did not happen” Solaria spoke gesturing to the untouched city.
“All the better because the S-Class Heroes would have defeated the aliens even if that opening salvo had hit. Now they’ll do it without any civilian casualties.”
For a moment Solaria’s frown deepened before conceding his words with a nod. She trusted the S-Class Heroes to handle the situation.
“So about that roof, you’re not looking for compensation are you?”
Solaria found amusement in the tinge of worry in his tone.
“The roof can be fixed easily enough” she spoke waving his concerns. Even if the action was unnecessary she could appreciate the effort and a hole in the roof was better to a destroyed city anyway.
“Good”
Suddenly she felt what she assumed was ‘Boros’ get a spike in power and she wasn’t the only one.
“Looks like they’re starting” Tomoro intoned and after a moment more they were both alerted to something else “people are trying to get up here.”
“This is my personal floor that I made only accessible to me. I made it specifically clear that no one is to disturb this meeting” she spoke with a clear tone of displeasure.
One could question the wisdom of having someone like her alone in a room with complete stranger but in hindsight she was never in any danger to begin with.
“Then an alien invasion happened. I’m sure you can forgive them for worrying about the safety of the most valued person in the building”
“Hmph” with a quick gesture Solaria seemingly summoned a card between her manicured fingers and presented it to Tomoro “this is my personal contact information. I wish to continue this conversation at a later date.”
Tomoro took the card, observing the stylized logo and the lavender scent which were features that were definitely not part of the Star Enterprise business card “I can tell not many people have the ‘privilege’ of receiving this” he mused.
“You would be correct so I ask that you not lose or misplace it”
“I won’t, here’s my number” he reached for his phone
“No need, I already have your number” she interrupted.
“…”
“I do background checks on anyone and everyone I intend to do business with Mr. Sazaki.”
“Fair enough.”
Finally Solaria’s appearance reverted back to how it was before “I will contact you at a later date to continue, in the meantime” with a snap of her fingers the unconscious men and women began to rouse.
“Shouldn’t you have used the enervate spell?” Tomoro quipped.
Solaria’s expression betrayed nothing. Her next words on other hand did.
“Shut up”
~O~
In the end Tomoro’s prediction came to be and the Hero Association emerged triumphant against the alien invaders. As it would be later explained to him by Genos and Saitama that evening the sequence of events went as such:
Prior to the appearance of the alien ship the Hero Association HQ had been briefly come under attack by a group of avian monsters. These monsters would then be cut down by the alien vanguard that had been posthumously assigned a threat level of Dragon. Following this attack against the monsters the alien ship which had somehow descended onto City A without alerting any of the numerous sensors attempted to carpet bomb the city.
The action would result in a failure as according to the Hero association analysts, most of the shells prematurely detonated before hitting the city. There was also the appearance of a mysterious barrier covering the entire city that further protected it from harm. This resulted in a total of zero collateral and personal damage to City A, a lucky break if they’ve ever heard one. Following the failed bombardment the S-Class heroes who were coincidentally having a meeting during the attack went out to assess the situation.
Atomic Samurai, Silver Fang, Metal Bat and Puri Puri Prisoner went to immediately engage the alien vanguard with Superalloy Darkshine, Tank Top Master, Tatsumaki and Child Emperor staying close by to act as reserves in case more aliens show up as their position seems to be focal point of the invasion. That left Genos, Flashy Flash, Pig God, Zombieman, Watchdog and Drive Knight to venture into the city to survey the situation, search for possible alien infiltrators and to coordinate with others in the city to help with civilian evacuation.
Saitama managed to board the ship in the initial chaos and wreak general havoc while in search of the alien leader. Child Emperor made attempts at analyzing the spacecraft and managed to successfully reach out to Metal Knight to help expedite the process. Meanwhile Tatsumaki became City A’s first (and only) definitive line of defense from more bombardments by using telekinesis to stop the missiles and sending them back at the ship. Saitama confronted the invader’s leader sometime after the second failed bombardment and the ensuing battle proved destructive enough to disable the ship’s firing mechanism.
Consequently the battle would eventually cause the ship to accrue enough damage to disable whatever system kept it afloat and it began to fall. Thankfully Tatsumaki was able to easily ferry the ship and drop it outside the city limits. In the end, the invasion resulted in zero casualties on earth’s side, the death of all the invaders and the acquisition of a mostly intact alien spaceship.
Unfortunately One-Punch Man’s fight with alien leader damaged the ship’s database so most information relating to the crew and their exploits on other worlds were left unsalvageable. Thankfully the technology within the ship itself was mostly intact, Child Emperor and Metal Knight were commissioned to analyze and reverse engineer it to create better weapons and technology for the Hero Association’s benefits.
In not-so-minor news, for his decisive actions during the incident, not to mention fighting an opponent who by all accounts could have been the mythic Disaster Level God threat that Shibabawa warned them about, One-Punch Man was promoted to Rank 4 in the S-Class.
~O~
While everyone was celebrating the Hero Association’s big win against the aliens or, in some cases, their promotion up the ranks of the Hero Association Tomoro was facing a personal conundrum.
‘I’m not the only person who was reincarnated’
Tomoro had mixed feelings about that, almost as much as he had mixed feelings about being invited out to a private dinner with one of the biggest celebrities in the world. It just so happens that both these problems weren’t mutually exclusive at all, quite the opposite really, they both have the same person as the focal point.
“What’s wrong Mr. Sazaki? You seem troubled”
The aforementioned celebrity (among other things) who was also a reincarnated soul like himself, Solaria Nova, looked at him from across the threshold of the small dining table separating them. On said table were glasses filled with expensive wine, plates with expensive high quality food eaten in various degrees, expensive cutlery and candles. It was all very intimate and combined with the ambience you would be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t think the two of them weren’t on some romantic date. The fact that the restaurant was known for dining wealthy couples and was fairly popular was just the icing on the cake.
Was it also mentioned that both Tomoro and Solaria were single? No? Well he’s pretty sure should any information leak happen the tabloids would be sure to mention that.
And she wondered why he seemed troubled?
“Why did you insist we meet here, Miss Nova?”
“Well I was famished and I figured you would appreciate finer cuisine. This place has some of the best tasting food”
“Yes, I would expect nothing less from the most popular restaurant in City A” he muttered dryly “do I even want to know how much it cost to reserve the entire place for this meeting?”
“Less than you think since I own the building”
“Of course you do” he muttered “can we please get started already?”
He had just finished eating some of the best food he’s ever tasted in either lives and while he wasn’t a cheapskate like Saitama, the urge to milk this for all she had was tempting. Not that such a feat was even possible with how absurdly wealthy she was.
“Hm, did something happen? You seem out of sorts.”
Tomoro sighed and took off his glasses “let’s just say it’s been a few of those days for me”
“Why do I feel responsible?” Solaria sarcastically wondered out loud.
“Guilt perhaps” he snarked back with a snort “I didn’t think there would be another person reincarnated”
“Neither did I but I’ve always wondered” she mused “you don’t exactly sound too happy about my existence.”
“If I was being honest I would have preferred not to know of your existence”
“You certainly know how to make a woman feel special” she stated dryly “keep up that attitude and I might just hold it against you”
“Apologies, up until this point I was under the assumption I was the only person reincarnated in this world. I deliberately kept my presence here small in an admittedly vain attempt at preserving the events I knew would take place”
“Events based on the anime that is similar to this world?”
“Yes”
“Is that the reason why you are squatting in the ‘Ghost Town’ of City Z while working at a small accounting firm?”
“That is exactly why. Do you honestly think anyone would waste their second life doing something so mundane? And in a world like this?”
“I certainly didn’t” she conceded.
“I can see that. A celebrity entertainment mogul running a trillion dollar conglomerate who herself is worth billions helped to shape the entertainment industry as we know it through personal and practical contributions. I should mention that there is no mention of you in the original manga or webcomic.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, I am more concerned with the fact that despite your presence, our presence, events are playing out almost exactly as they did in the story.”
“Are you certain?”
“I’m friends with the main character” he rebutted “I’ve influenced Saitama’s place in the world and right now its far removed from what it would have been according to original events.”
Solaria’s interest was piqued “how so?”
“For one he wouldn’t have joined the Hero Association until about a month ago. He would have also been C-Class despite being as powerful as he is now.”
Solaria frowned “that is impossible. With his strength he would have instantly gained a spot in the S-Class.”
“No he wouldn’t. Call it a mixture of politics, corruption and incompetence but despite shattering all the records of the physical exams he would have still become C-Class because he failed the written exams.”
Solaria blinked “are you being serious right now?”
“…”
“You are” she sighed “clearly a review is in order if such oversight is being had.”
At her Tomoro hummed “I heard that Star Enterprise is one of the major backers of the Hero Association. Can I assume that you are one of the executives?”
“I am, though I keep my involvement in the Hero Association to a minimum”
“Well now’s a good time to get involved”
“So it would seem”
“You really should because a few weeks from now there’s a pretty good chance that the Hero Association will collapse under the weight of the very many scandals perpetrated by staff and affiliates.”
For a moment Solaria’s jaw set something Tomoro noted and he realized “you already know”
“I am aware of some of the proclivities of a few executives and staff, yes”
“My advice, consider cleaning house since things are going to become a lot more hectic in the coming weeks”
Solaria tapped her manicured finger against the table in mild agitation but nodded “what information do you have?”
“The Hero Association had a seer that predicted the end of the world right?”
“Not in as much words”
“The specifics are vague for me so do you mind giving context about that.”
“The seer’s name is Shibabawa and the Her Association believes her last prediction implied the Earth may face a Disaster level God threat within the next six months give or take.”
“Six months” he let out a breath “of course it would be cutting it short.”
“What do you know of this threat?”
“If things continue like it does in the series, I know of at best three threats in the near future. One of them is for sure a God level threat and the other two generally speaking are above Dragon”
Solaria’s expression turned serious “explain”
“I would love to, but first you need to answer some of my questions.”
Solaria held his gaze for a moment before her fingers bridged “go ahead, though forgive me if I answer at my own discretion.”
“Fine, how did you manage to pull off living three generations without aging?” at her questioning look he continued “Nebula, Meteora and Solaria sound vaguely familiar to me, like the name of characters in a show I used to watch. Also the name Nebula is too unique and out there for it to be used for a name by anyone in that time period.”
Solaria chuckled to herself raising her hand up “you are very observant Mr. Sazaki, you’ve uncovered my secret”
“One of your secrets” he pointed out “are you some kind of immortal?”
“What if I said I was? Are you interested to know how I became one?”
“Not really and if you don’t want to say anything that’s fine too.”
“Excellent because I did not plan to” she assured “next question.”
“You’re an Esper.”
“I am”
“How powerful are you?”
In response Solaria snapped her fingers and their plate of uneaten leftovers and utensils were replaced with plates of cake slices with a fork on the side.
Tomoro merely raised a brow at the action looking from the dessert to the woman “that doesn’t really answer my question.”
“I know, I just wanted something sweet~” Solaria used the fork to pick off a piece of her dessert “as for your question I suspect you already have an answer.”
“I take it that given your likely age, experience and proficiency that Tatsumaki is not the most powerful Esper in the world then?”
Solaria did not answer though her smile did grow “no comment.”
“You really should try that cake Mr. Sazaki”
He looked down at the dessert dubiously.
Solaria rolled her eyes “no it’s not poisoned or anything”
“It’s not that” he corrected “I prefer chocolate”
Solaria blinked “oh” another snap and the cake turned chocolate “there, dig in”
“You know I wonder if you aren’t actually magical”
“If true magic exists in this world then I have not encountered it Mr. Sazaki.”
“I’ll choose to take your word for it”
“You will ‘choose’ to believe me?” Solaria raised an eyebrow “it seems to me you have read one too many comics Mr. Sazaki”
“You say that when superheroes exist in our society, cities are attacked by monsters daily, evil organizations, mad scientists, killer robots/cyborgs are a thing and we were recently invaded by aliens”
“Yes well, I’m sure those sharp eyes would have noticed if I had been using anything to suggest that my powers are magical in nature”
“Believe it or not psychic powers could be considered a form of magic Miss Nova” Tomoro informed “after all what is magic but the use of extra dimensional energies used to manipulate reality in varied ways? Espers are able to tap into a unique form of psychic energy via a certain part of their brain and that allows them to wield their power.”
“Yes I am well aware of the theory of Psionics Mr. Sazaki but that does not change the fact that psychic energy is not magical energy and thus is not true magic.”
She got him there and he internally agreed with her but remained silent while she ate more cake.
Tomoro took forkful of cake and at her expectant look he spoke “it’s good”
“Excellent, now about those future threats…” she trailed off meaningfully
“The first one to show up in the story and the least concerning of the three is a young man by the name of Garou. He was Bang’s best student who went rogue.”
Tomoro gave a brief history of Garou from what he remembered, a young boy who disliked the status quo set by a society that dictates that the ‘popular’ will always win. In his childhood he was forced to play the ‘monster’ by other children, particularly a popular child who would play the ‘hero’ and would often get beaten up as a result. After prolonged abuse by his peers he came to despise heroes and sympathize with monsters.
As he grew older Garou sought out strength and conflict. He joined Bang’s dojo and after learning everything he could went on a rampage. He fought the rest of the class and managed to beat them before Bang (violently) dismissed him. After that he travelled the world, crushing dojos and joining tournaments until he started attacking the Hero Association while taking on the title of ‘monster.’
“A lone boyis going to attack the Hero Association in a mad quest to become a monster?” Solaria said with incredulity “how ridiculous.”
“It does sound ridiculous doesn’t it?”
“Since he was Bang’s best student he must be very powerful then”
“Yes and no”
“No?”
As Tomoro explained “yes Garou is strong, in fact he is easily S-Class material. He is a highly adaptive martial arts genius and combat prodigy. Through observation he is able to learn his opponent’s moves, incorporating their techniques into his fighting style and even copy their movement. In his first appearance he took out several A and B-Class heroes and an entire room full of presumably strong criminals. He would go to hunt several more A- and B-Class heroes, take out Tank Top Master, the entire Tank Topper Army and Metal Bat becoming progressively more powerful with each encounter.”
“He sounds formidable. I’m surprised I’ve never heard of him before.”
“Right now Garou is just a brawler going around defeating weaklings, he doesn’t really become dangerous until after he starts his hero hunting quest. The most frightening aspect about him is his growth rate. Whenever he is pushed to his limits in battle Garou becomes stronger. After almost getting killed by Watchdog Man Garou was ambushed by a group of A-Class heroes doing well coordinated group attacks. Even on the brink of exhaustion, poisoned and being attacked from all sides he managed to take each hero out with savage precision using a combination of tactical and even psychological attacks to achieve victory. By the end of it he deflected all the bullets in Death Gattling’s chain gun with his bare hands.”
“If he took out two S-Class heroes I doubt the Hero Association would allow him to roam about. Tatsumaki herself would have been sent out to apprehend him” Solaria pointed out “unless something happened to distract them.”
“It might be that Garou has the luck of the devil because just a few days into his rampage, before the Hero Association could mount a proper response was when the Monster Association struck.”
“Monster Association?” Solaria’s tone said all that needed to be said about how she felt about it.
“You guessed it, a blatant parody of the Hero Association with the same function. It’s a coalition of many different monsters all under the command of a single powerful monster named Orochi. Or ‘Monster King’ Orochi”
Something flashed in Solaria’s eye at the mention of a “monster…king?”
“Self proclaimed though given how powerful he is the title isn’t undeserved.”
“Tell me more about this Monster Association”
“Well their plan is the destruction of humanity as a whole either through systematic slaughter or monsterfication”
Solaria’s expression was stone “what?”
“First of all the Monster Association was created by two entities, there’s Orochi who acts as the figurehead leader using his power to keep everyone in check. The other will go by Gyoro Gyoro who acts as the main strategist and the brain to Orochi’s brawn. The truth is that the ‘monster’ Gyoro Gyoro is actually a meat puppet controlled by an Esper named Psykos.”
A subtle widening of her eyes “Psykos, are you sure?”
“You know her?”
“I know ofher. She went missing several years ago after an accident.”
“She went insane after seeing a vision of the future” Tomoro informed bluntly and seriously.
“What did she see?”
“The Godlevel threat but I’ll get to that later.”
“Continue”
“I don’t know what exactly she saw but it opened her mind to being corrupted. She rejected her humanity and became obsessed with creating the perfect monster. Through research, studies and experiments she managed to create monster cells, a method of turning humans into monsters after consuming them. She turned a particular powerful human into ‘Orochi’ this way and from his body she has a steady supply to harvest these monster cells to make more monsters.”
“Is there a cure?”
“That’s like asking for a cure for being a monster in the first place.”
“I see” she straightened up “start from the beginning, I want to know the exact details of what will happen from here on out”
“I’ll do you one better” reaching into his shirt pocket he pulled out a USB “since I knew my memories would eventually fade over time I just wrote down everything I knew about the One-Punch Man story, lore, confirmation, theories and so on. On this flash drive is a detailed summary of events for both manga and webcomic. Everything I know is here but be warned the story wasn’t finished when I got reincarnated so the information is incomplete and despite events following the script so to speak there could still be events that are radically different from what I have.”
Solaria held out her hand to accept it only for Tomoro keep it out of reach “before that, I have to know something”
“What is it?”
“Have you ever come across a black cube during your time in this world?”
And just like that the tension went from zero to a hundred. Solaria’s expression went from small exasperation to heavy suspicion, her lips were in a muted frown and her dark eyes were like ice.
“You know about those” it was more a statement than a question.
“I do”
“Of course you do” she said in mild exasperation “then let me guess, the definite God level threat?”
“Is most likely him”
Solaria giggled sardonically “God is the God level threat. What irony”
“That thing is not God”
“Perhaps not the God but a God I am sure.”
“Tch, I prefer the term extra dimensional entity. There’s nothing ‘divine’ about that bastard”
“And yet its power cannot be denied” she scowled pushing away the empty plate “wine?”
“Sake or beer, the good stuff”
With a snap of her fingers the empty plates vanished and in their place were a bottle aged wine and a tall glass and a bottle of sake with a cup. The two helped themselves to the alcohol of their choice.
“So we will have to fight him in the next six months?”
“All signs are pointing to that” Tomoro took a sip from his cup “there is a silver lining though.”
“What’s that?”
“I know someone who can beat him”
“One-Punch Man?”
“He is the strongest man in the world”
“Perhaps but it will take more than immense strength to defeat him”
“It’s not that Saitama is ridiculously strong but that his strength defies logic and possibly reality itself”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s all laid out here” he held out the flash drive which was levitated into Solaria’s hand “don’t lose that”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out myself. Speaking of which you mind telling the history behind how you became a Sailor Moon parody”
“I take offense to that notion” Solaria began with a glare before huffing “I’ve never once wore a sailor uniform.”
“But you area Magical Girl though” he pointed out and Solaria twitched “I only assume since Sailor Star was based on an actual hero. Given that your transformation the other day made you look very similar to the character, it was easy to connect the dots.”
Solaria huffed and in a brief golden flash she once again turned into her ‘Sailor Star’ persona. Her hair was now a bright blonde, her eyes a crystal blue and there was a four point star in the middle. More than those blatant changes was the fact that the already youthful woman looked even younger. Whereas she looked middle-aged (for a woman in her late fifties), she now looked as if she were in her early thirties with an even healthier complexion.
Tomoro took one look at her and asked “are you sure you aren’t magic?”
“I don’t use spells”
“Obliviate?”
“That was slip of the tongue and I only use it to focus when I multitask”
“It’s still a spell though you use words as opposed to a magic wand”
“I don’t have a wand”
“A staff then, Sailor Star does carry a magical staff”
Her literal starry eyes narrowed at him “I have one but it is not magical. I use it as a CQC weapon”
“Is that all?”
Solaria took a breath “in my youth, I felt more comfortable using the staff as a focus for my more fantastical powers.”
“You actually played the part of a Magical Girl superhero didn’t you?”
“What of you? What is the story behind your power?”
“You remember Dragon Ball?”
“Yes”
“Well there’s hope for you yet” he chuckled at her look “if you’re a magical girl parody then I’d be a Dragon Ball parody, specifically…” he opened the palm of his hand and in it a sphere appeared. The outer edge of the sphere was colored black, inside was various swirling shades of purple around a tiny black marble in the center. There were two black circles rotating around the sphere giving it the appearance of an ominous atom “a God of Destruction.”
“Appropriately ominous” Solaria spoke in amusement though her gaze minutely betrays this with weariness as she viewed the orb “what is that?”
“Destruction, plain and simple” he dismissed the sphere.
‘Destruction he says’
It fit with what she felt from it and Solaria had never felt anything quite like that before. No that isn’t true, she has sensed something similar and it came from…!
Her gaze snapped to his and he met it evenly “figured it out?”
“How could you?”
“I’ll take that as a yes”
The tension rose as she glared at him “you made a deal with him?”
“If you think I willingly made deal with that thing. That I wanted this then I suggest you think very carefully about your next choice of words Miss Nova” to that he took off his glasses.
Solaria was incensed at first, so many questions and accusations on the tip of her tongue however the look on his face tempered her reaction and she eventually dismissed the Sailor Star form in the process.
“Fair enough, I think we’ve gotten side tracked”
“Right” he placed on his glasses
“You wanted an explanation of my origins”
“Yes”
“I was reincarnated over a hundred years ago with psychic powers. Back then there weren’t as many gifted humans but there were still many monsters. I chose to use my powers in defense of humanity and became a Hero”
“The first hero?”
“Not the first, there were others but they were few in numbers and we didn’t announce our presence to the wider public”
“That’s why there was controversy surrounding your existence”
“And why you don’t hear much of any heroes from before Blast made his debut” Solaria finished “as for me, I used my powers extensively in defense of humanity and in time they evolved and I mastered them to perfection. Eventually I learned how to use my powers to rejuvenate my life force and change my appearance”
“Energy drain and shapeshifting”
“Very astute” she wasn’t even surprised that he managed to draw the correct conclusion.
“Where do you draw your energy from?”
“I don’t prey on innocents if that is what you are implying Mr. Sazaki. There are plenty of monsters skulking about the world”
It was morbid to realize that a world class celebrity and Hero was draining life from other sentient beings to maintain her own but if Tomoro was being honest he could care less about her monster victims.
“Are you satisfied?” she questioned.
“Yes”
“Then I have a question for you. What of those other future threats that might become God level if left alone?”
“Those will solve themselves” he waved dismissively “you can look through the flash drive for the details.”
“I find your lack of reaction to the possible death of innocence disturbing, Mr. Sazaki”
“There’s a reason why I’m not a hero Miss Nova.”
She did not like his response and with the flash drive in her hand “I feel like you’re shifting the responsibility of doing something about this to me.”
“Well you seem so concerned” he began flippantly only to stop at the look Solaria gave him “with your power, wealth and influence you’d be in a better position to do something where it matters.”
‘Not to mention you actually are a hero’
Being a hero was more than just going out beating monsters and saving people. You don’t have to be altruistic or a bleeding heart but heroes have a certain disposition. Most ‘heroes’ in the association think of it as a job and nothing else, something to help pay for necessities. Some are in it for the challenge, others find it’s the only way to utilize their talents and then there are the few who are genuinely trying to be heroes.
Tomoro could see that disposition in Solaria even if her life drain to maintain her youth seemed villainous, the focus on innocence, the outrage at the thought of widespread monsterization and let’s not forget she didn’t even hesitate to throw up that barrier to protect City A. Tomoro only managed to get his attack out to destroy the missiles 1/100th of a second faster than Solaria erected her barrier because he knew what was going to happen.
She’ll do more and do a better job of it than Tomoro ever could. He had no problems shoving the responsibility on her shoulders.
“Thank you Mr. Sazaki, you have given me much to think about”
“Are you planning to stop the coming events?”
“Why? Will you get in my way if I said I would?”
For a tense moment blue eyes met gold before the latter blinked “you should know that interfering is just going to make the future uncertain”
“I would rather an uncertain future where the casualties and collateral are kept at a minimum Mr. Sazaki.”
“Do what you want with the Monster Association but at least leave Garou from your machinations”
“Why should I? According to what you spoke he is responsible for crippling part of the Hero Association forces. I would rather have Tank Top Master, his Tank Topper Army, Metal Bat and however many other heroes to defend against the Monster Association attacks”
“That may be so but I think you’ll agree with me after reading the information on that drive that the Hero Association, specifically the heroes themselves, need this loss to get their act together. Garou doesn’t kill and the heroes will only grow from their defeat at his hands. This is especially true for the S-Class and the battle against the Monster Association. Even you would agree that some of them need to get knocked off their high horse.”
‘The fact that I am even entertaining such ludicrous thoughts is a testament to how far the Hero Association has fallen from its original purpose’ were Solaria’s thoughts.
“This conversation has been quite an eye opener Mr. Sazaki”
Tomoro looked at his watch “yes and it’s getting late, I should leave. You mind if I take this with me?” he gestured to the sake bottle.
“It is yours” she waved his concerns “I can have you dropped off at your home if you wish”
“No thanks I plan to use less conventional means to get back”
And with that he walked away with his new bottle of expensive alcohol.
Solaria watched him leave. What a peculiar man he was beyond his being a reincarnated soul though that does bring up the question.
Are there others like them?
And if so what have they been doing all this time?
She held her quarter filled glass of wine, swirled it a little in thought before her gaze was directed to the flash drive.
“Truly, you’ve given me much to think about Mr. Sazaki.”
~To Be Continued~
Author’s Notes: Bet none of you saw that coming. Yes, yet another reincarnated person from Earth, will there be more? Probably not but you never know.
