One Punch Man: Neutral Grounds

Chapter 115

"How much longer?" Saitama droned out while resting his head on Mitsumi's shoulder with complete boredom.

"There's still a bit of a line," Mitsumi shrugged and kissed his forehead. "Don't you have your portable game?"

"I try to play it and get asked questions. It's pointless," he muttered.

"Well, maybe we can talk about what songs you'd want to sing with me at karaoke. Hmm?" she smiled and snuggled Overgrown Rover's tiny form.

"Oh. Hmm..." he found himself lost in thought. "That's a pretty good question. I'm not good at singing, but..."

"You'd still be with me on stage," she grinned and let him kiss her softly.

"We'll see," he smiled and squeezed her. He blinked at the soft lick Overgrown Rover gave his cheek to get her giggling. On Wind Crane's back, Fumio was watching everything with Black Sperm. He noticed it looked a bit down. He pat its shoulder to get it to look at him.

"What's wrong? You can tell me," Fumio smiled.

"I weak now," it sighed.

"What? Nah! You had a rough deal. Just rest and get stronger," he said. "You'll get back up to strength fast! Just, um, don't make Dad mad. Okay?"

"No! Master good!" Black Sperm said with a look of fear. "He kill all! Everyone! No make mad!"

"Just stay calm, okay? How strong were you before?" Fumio asked. Saitama tilted his head slightly to listen in from where he was sitting with Mitsumi.

"Had cells. Thousands. Millions. Trillions! Then...all gone. Made more like me. Stronger. Deadlier. But...now just me. Others...they dead now," Black Sperm sighed. "Other than new ones. Others before? They gone. Too weak now. Can't make more. Not too many."

"Well...how long does it take you to recover your cells?" he asked.

"Long time..." Black Sperm sighed.

"Have you tried eating really good food?" Fumio had to ask.

"Ah...huh..." Black Sperm blinked. "Never...needed food...really..."

"So, if we gave you really good food, would it help?" Fumio grinned.

"Maybe!" Black Sperm found itself grinning at the idea.

"Hey. Come here," Saitama said over his shoulder to it. It blinked and jumped down to appear in front of him with a smile on its white, mask-like face. "I know you can be strong. You're my pet now, and it's fine. But...if you make others that are stronger than you, they must agree to become my pets, too. Even woken up. Here. Eh, Mitsumi? Can you have my pet monkey smell the fans?"

"Pet monkey?" Mitsumi grinned softly.

"Eh...yeah. It made sounds like one. I know it can talk now, but..." he shrugged. She giggled at him and let a fan set swirl around Black Sperm. It breathed in the calming scent of rainwater and roses. Closing its eyes now, it felt a form of complete peace unlike anything it ever knew.

"Good. Now I know you're fully awake," Saitama nodded and pat it on the top of the head. It opened its eyes and grinned at him with pride. "If you want to make your powerful friends again, then fine. But I don't want them to ever attack us or anyone innocent. Protecting the home is fine. Protecting the family or our friends is fine. I'll kill them if they do anything else."

"Okay. Um...I eat?" Black Sperm asked.

"I can see if something can be fetched for you," Inichi agreed and focused. "We do have a table of food here, but nothing really 'hearty' for you. Orotsu will prepare something now. Did anyone else need to eat?"