One Punch Man: Neutral Grounds

Chapter 25

"I can't...believe this..." Fubuki managed to hiss out from where she sat on the long couch.

"Another will be here shortly. I also sent over this information," Inichi said. At a knock on the door, he nodded to Rendor to let in Sweet Mask. He walked in and found a place to sit a bit away from the others as a form of tolerable neutrality. Saitama frowned and kept Mitsumi at his side. She blinked at him with a small shrug of confusion.

"I thought I recognized you," Sweet Mask said to Mitsumi. "Your mother wanted me to...propose to you. This was after your father had passed on. I found it odd, but I also knew how she was. I knew how I was. I also recalled something I was told long ago. I politely declined."

"She...wanted you to...?" Mitsumi blinked with surprise.

"Granted, the political fields for popularity would have sky-rocketed me to even further grounds. But...I knew how she was. She would have used me and tried to...dispatch me right after you. Your father had warned me beforehand. He feared that she would try something. He strictly told me that anything involving you should be rejected and avoided at all costs. He and I...we weren't close friends. But we were a bit of allies in respected areas. The moment I saw you approach the Hero Association as you look now...I kept thinking that I knew you from somewhere..."

"You knew my father?" she asked softly.

"I did. He sort of...mentored me a bit. Then he started to warn me of things. He told me he had a new outlook on how things should be. And how things shouldn't be. In all honesty, I knew I had no time for marriage or children. As much as I knew I would have enjoyed it, my career held no time for it. As well as my place as a hero. And with how your mother needed to hold all the cards, well...I needed all of mine, too," Sweet Mask frowned.

"Has she tried to reach out to you at all?" Mitsumi asked and got held closer to Saitama. He had a neutral look on his face, but he was ready to defend her the moment the wrong thing happened.

"Funny you asked," Sweet Mask said with a small grin. "She sent me an email politely asking for me to cease trying to investigate her for fraudulent credibility with the Hero Association. I replied back asking why one of our board members was tasked with killing her daughter. I even sent her the copied text message. I haven't gotten a response yet."

"You won't," Inichi muttered. "She knows we are on to her."

"Oh? Can you hear her?" Genos asked.

"Hmm. She is a political figure...ah. Turn on the television," Inichi said. Zenchu used the remote to let them all watch the news. At the report that the Takashi family was mildly retreating from the public eye due to breaking news of their fraudulent deeds and lies, Inichi was quick to catch a glimpse of what the vile woman looked like. "I see. Black hair, brown eyes...rather fat..."

"Yes. She loves her food," Mitsumi sighed. "Father often berated her for it. Kept telling her she would lose her figure."

"She lost it and then some," Zenchu smirked.

:Inichi! Help me!: Shenjou mentally cried out.

"Shenjou!" Inichi hissed and burst open the door to rush out. Mitsumi gasped and Zenchu was soon out the door to help his monster brethren. Saitama gathered her up and was quickly out with them to see what happened.

"So...I play with a monster and I get all of you?" Sonic smirked from where he stood over Shenjou's temporary enclosure.

"Zenchu..." Saitama nodded and let him hold Mitsumi. Before Sonic could even blink, Saitama was right behind him and back-handing him onto the ground in the middle of them all. Then Inichi encased the man in a blue bubble.