Saitama’s Choice

"Master, why are we still here?"

Genos was also wearing a yellow apron as he and Saitama continuously restocked the empty shelves throughout the supermarket.

Perhaps because of the recent increase in various incidents, many people had begun to panic and stockpile supplies.

Business was especially good for the supermarket at a time like this.

All kinds of data continuously flashed through Genos’s electronic eyes. He was far more adept at this sort of work than Saitama.

As long as he had seen a product’s location and price once, he would never make a mistake again.

Saitama, on the other hand, despite having worked here for some time, kept scratching his head as though lost in thought.

Faced with Genos’s question, Saitama stopped again.

Yeah, why was he doing this stuff here again…

He felt that he had probably forgotten something, but it was likely nothing important, so he did not dwell on it.

After only a brief pause, he resumed working. Turning back, he saw the "gift package" the manager had left for him in the staff break room.

It contained plenty of goods nearing their expiration dates. They were still within their shelf lives, but were no longer easy to sell, so they would generally be put on special offer.

But after learning about Saitama’s circumstances, the manager would always pack those things up and have him take them home after work.

Saitama paused again.

The manager’s gesture was indeed considerate, but it somehow… felt a little strange.

Saitama could not say what exactly was strange about it, but he felt that he did not like this kind of "convenience" all that much.

He suddenly sat cross-legged between two shelves. Customers passing by merely frowned at the employee sitting there, then went around the shelves and shopped elsewhere.

Saitama watched this through his dead-fish eyes.

Even though he had done something like this, no one seemed particularly inconvenienced. They merely took a slight detour and continued living their own lives.

Whether he stood here or sat here, whether he did this job or not, would not have any effect on these people…

He looked again at the huge bag of "benefits" and suddenly realized what he vaguely disliked about it.

Before—perhaps a long time ago, amid those feelings he had gradually forgotten—there had been the joy of rushing to grab discounted goods at the supermarket.

But now, he no longer needed to pay attention to that sort of thing. He no longer needed to make time for it, and he no longer needed to compete with all those aunties for bargains.

This "convenience" had made many of his actions unnecessary.

He did not need to do those things. He did not need to do these things. But… what should he do?

Saitama suddenly realized that, without noticing, these conveniences had taken many things away from him. And because so much time had passed, he had grown used to it and had not even realized what he had lost.

Saitama abruptly rose to his feet and looked around. He remembered that television program in J City.

On the television, he had seen a child being held up in the air by something, struggling frantically, yet he could not hear a single sound.

Then someone—what was her name again, Peach? Forget it, it did not matter. Anyway, someone had saved that child.

That woman had said that many people were calling for help, calling for heroes.

But… he had not heard them…

"Hey, Genos."

"Yes, Master?"

"Use those eyes of yours and take a look. How many people have been calling for help lately?"

Genos looked at his master in confusion, but he still pulled up the data. Soon, he spoke.

"Today, there have been 135,764 calls for assistance to various hero agencies, as well as attempts to dial the former Hero Association hotline. That is approximately a 3% increase from yesterday."

Hearing that number, Saitama still could not truly grasp it.

"Have you heard them? Their cries for help?"

Genos nodded.

"Of course, Master. I deploy an average of thirty-one times per week."

Saitama stood there, looking at the goods in his hands and the employee uniform on his body. Suddenly, he thought once more of that weak, tearful face.

The person who, when he said he was about to die, had truly prayed desperately. God, hero, anyone at all—please save me.

He wanted to hear what tone they had used to call out to him, for him not to have heard them.

Saitama took off his employee uniform and said calmly, "Forget it, Genos. Let’s go."

"My shift should be over now~"

He then headed outside.

The chubby manager immediately came over from the front. He was not angry, merely blocking Saitama’s path as he asked in confusion, "What’s wrong, Saitama? Are you dissatisfied with the work here?"

"Actually, I have other stores next door as well."

Saitama continued forward.

"If you’re dissatisfied with the pay, we can discuss it…"

Genos watched this in puzzlement. Could it be that his master’s work ability was so exceptional that the boss could not bear to let him go?

But the two shelves Saitama had been responsible for still had many empty spots.

Even Genos could not bring himself to praise his master’s work ability.

Then… why was that?

Saitama suddenly turned around. Looking at the boss, who had once appeared so kind, he said calmly, "I don’t want to work anymore. I want to do something else."

He took another step toward the exit.

Crackle!

The supermarket lights suddenly began to flicker. Beneath the shifting illumination, the kind manager’s expression changed back and forth between coldness and benevolence.

He suddenly sighed and said, "Why, Saitama? With an existence like yours, you should understand that this world holds no meaning for you."

"No human would care about graffiti on a beach."

"No god would live forever in a temple built by humans in worship."

"You are the same…"

Saitama watched as the supermarket manager’s face continued to change, his bearing shifting as well.

He shook his head, unwilling to argue pointlessly. He himself did not know what he wanted to do in the future, but one thing was certain: at this very moment, he wanted to hear that kind of voice again.

Crackle!

Outside the supermarket, lightning crashed down from the sky.

The surrounding space began to distort. The lights in the supermarket went out completely, and Genos suddenly found himself unable to see anything around him.

Even with infrared thermal vision activated, he could not detect the existence of anything.

He tried to speak, but no sound came out.

Saitama was the same. He realized that everything around him had vanished.

"Saitama, you should be familiar with this environment. Only this void is the final dwelling capable of containing you…"

That voice continued to echo, but Saitama suddenly interrupted it.

"You’re really noisy."

He extended his fist toward the front and threw a punch.

Crack~

The sound of space fracturing rang out.

Then, boom!

The pitch-black space exploded, and the supermarket vanished.

Saitama looked around. He was standing in the middle of a road.

There had never been any supermarket, and Genos looked at him in bewilderment as well.

Beep, beep~

Genos’s communicator kept ringing. After he answered, a familiar voice came from within.

"This is Fubuki. A catastrophic disaster has occurred in J City!"

"No, not just J City. Many people in other areas have turned into monsters. The gods may have revived!"

"Ah!"

Fubuki cried out in alarm.

Saitama bent his knees and stomped down with force.

Boom!

The entire city block shattered with a thunderous crash, and his figure had already vanished.

Almost at the exact moment Saitama shattered that supermarket, several people reacted at once.

The Spirit World Evil Lord let out an enraged roar, ignored Tatsumaki entirely, tore open the spirit world, and vanished without anyone knowing where it had gone.

Beneath the desert on the outskirts of Z-City, the man standing within that massive ruin likewise had streams of information flowing through his eyes.

He shook his head with a sigh, then withdrew the hand he had inserted into the ruin.

"That is fate… Saitama, in the end, you still chose such an ending."

Above Z-City, Bai Cangshu, who had remained in a state of Limit Break Spiral, also sensed at that instant that an extraordinarily complex stream of information had appeared somewhere in the desert, far beyond anyone else’s.

Compared to it, if the information emitted by the Sage was as simple as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, then this information was as obscure as advanced mathematics.

"That is… a Supreme Expert?!"