One Punch Man: Neutral Grounds

Chapter 177

The moment everyone started to wake up was when breakfast was made and sent out. Saitama and Mitsumi were still locked away in the penthouse suite, and that was how it needed to be for the day. Their growing son was promised it, and they had to keep their promise to him. She ran a hand up Saitama's chiseled chest after he yawned, and he glanced at her with a warm smile. "Plans for the day?"

"I thought we were sleeping in," she chuckled.

"Hmm. True. But, we should still check any camera feeds. Stable Rock, you can get multiple, eh, crystal televisions going, right?" Saitama asked and rested a hand on her belly. Overgrown Rover now rested its head over his hand and sighed with contentment. Scritch was getting belly rubs from Mitsumi and laying fully stretched out against Saitama's side.

"Easily..." his pet nodded with a grunt. "I just...get...bigger..."

"Trying to be on point today, eh?" Mitsumi giggled softly. Then she paused at his rather serious, neutral stare.

"I have to be," he said. "This is concerning stuff about your past and future. Not so much the present, but a lot of crap came up last night. I have to be alert to keep you and our son calm. We'll tackle it all a piece at a time, but it's gotta get looked into. Let me see who's on the voice chat..."

She nodded and watched him unmute the microphone to ask for a roll call. King, Kamikaze, Bang, Cold Snap, Child Emperor, Genos and Garou responded. Zenchu responded a moment later and asked, "What's going on?"

"We have a shopping list of events," Saitama said.

"Hey! Inichi's taking a quick shower, but he's mentally listening in," Fubuki said when she chimed in. She blinked and laughed softly. "He'd like me to speak for him. He admitted that it's been a very long time since he enjoyed such a luxury. Usually he'd float in the rain to clean himself."

"Yeah. That's fine. Hot baths are worth it," Saitama agreed.

"Should we take a bath?" Mitsumi murmured softly.

"After I go over a list of events we have to see to," Saitama said and returned his attention to the microphone. "Okay. I'm going to set a bunch of teams together to tackle this. If you want another teammate, battle it out."

"Okay. This is interesting..." Bang mused over his microphone.

"Zenchu and Garou, I'd like the two of you to go to the mine in City E. I say the two of you because Wind Crane's eggshells need places to hide there. Maybe even other egg pieces, too. Garou can help scout and check out if more gems can go in various places. Don't go to your old home yet, Zenchu. Just see to the mine," Saitama said.

"Ah! Yeah, I can handle those shells. But with Garou? Really?" Zenchu gave a cringe in his tone. "I get the mine as I work with shadows...but with Garou?! He might just get in the way!"

"What? Can't take it?" Bright Bolt snorted out laughter.

"Zenchu...might be right about me. I dunno..." Garou sighed. Lily was already giving him a small chuckle.

"Master, why the two of them?" Genos had to ask.

"Yeah. Why Garou and I?" Zenchu asked.

"I'm saying the two of you as you'll both know how to challenge each other in your tasks around the mine. You will both look for intricate places to put the shells to keep them safe. You will both try and outdo each other while you both look for gems that may be good for Tacki. Furthermore, you'll both find other ways to let Stable Rock implant new gems in the walls.

"We want that gem mine worth ten times as much from when it was bought. Take some gems from Stable Rock, plant them around and he can do the rest at a distance. And make sure to plant some diamonds around for camera angles," Saitama explained. Zenchu was speechless at how correct he was.