One Punch Man: Neutral Grounds

Chapter 152

"The last three wore fake garbage as Tacki pointed out, but they didn't give that vibe for me to talk to them. Maybe this last one will..." Inichi thought aloud.

"I hope so!" Saitama said with an eager grin. He noticed that Mitsumi was deep in thought and he nudged her. "Hey. You okay?"

"Just...thinking about something," she shrugged.

"Tell me," he smiled.

"I'm worried about the other training rooms we need to find. I don't know if they're the same routine as the first one. I was trained on how to handle the first one, as Mami Ito knew that room by heart. With the others, I'll be going in blind. I would have to have all of my senses out. Much like how I had to defend myself earlier. I hate to admit this, but what that guy did...I would be in the same situation," she frowned. "We would need to ensure the rooms work, too. Also, I think we need to fix up the basic training part in the first training room we got the scepter from. So I would need to go through each room twice. One for the basic, then again for the advanced."

"Oh? Why's that?" he asked and kissed her forehead. Overgrown Rover grunted and mouthed at his hand to press against her belly. He chuckled and looked at Mitsumi to continue.

"I remember recalling something more," she said softly. "From Mami Ito. The advanced training room was important, of course. But the basic training part also held a secret. You see, there was something with the traps triggering. You destroyed a few traps and deflected them with Bright Bolt. The traps had to land where they needed to in order for the secret to be revealed. They are actually the keys to unlocking what's needed."

"What's this?" Inichi blinked and looked at her to study her thoughts. "So, that's also why the darts weren't on the ground! They locked back into place to signal when the next tile had to go up! You stop one dart, then the key sequence is destroyed. Hmm. We'll need to see if we need to replace the darts and traps that were removed and destroyed by Mr. Saitama..."

"I have robots in there right now to assess the damage. Siren is also assisting with testing the traps to ensure they lock into place. She is not stepping on the tiles, though. The traps do trigger, but if the tiles are not hit properly then nothing happens," Metal Knight assured them from his robot. "Inichi let me see how the basic training room was activated before by your thoughts. I'll have to get the bear traps replaced."

"I didn't know!" Saitama said quickly to get Mitsumi laughing.

"It's okay. I didn't even think about it until now, anyways. You did give Tacki one of the darts, so I'm sure we can replace it and see about fixing up the damaged floor traps. As Metal Knight said, he's working on repairing the room now. I'm sure the room will be ready for us later. But I think each basic training part of each room might hold a location hint of where one of the artifacts we need is. I think. So, we'll have to go back to the first training room and check," Mitsumi nodded. "Of course, we have the scepter. I'm sure the hints are still valuable as Wind Crane Clan secret keepsakes."

"I shall be with you, my daughter," Wind Crane agreed. "I plan to check on the nest tonight. I need to."

"Yeah, we need to check the kids," Zenchu nodded.

"Good. We'll plan to head to that training room first thing in the morning. We can meet you there. Hmm?" Saitama looked over and saw the last reporter being led in. He appeared to be well-dressed with a classic bowler hat, stylish jacket and pants suit with burnished brown leather shoes. Even his black tie was neatly in place at the moment. Mitsumi instantly stiffened with recognition. The bearded man with black hair even paused on seeing her. When he saw who was in the room, all of the color drained from his face.