Chapter 85: S-Class Hero Assembly!
A-City, Hero Association Headquarters.
This was Bane's first time here, despite being an S-Class hero for so long.
Bang and King clearly had been here many times before. The two navigated expertly through the building, leading Bane, Fubuki, and Saitama toward the large conference room upstairs.
"Suddenly assembling all the S-Class heroes—I wonder what major incident has occurred?" Bang said with his hands behind his back, walking ahead thoughtfully.
"Don't know," King replied with a serious expression.
Actually, he was panicking inside, but he could still suppress his emotions without showing it.
Bane had a pretty good idea what this was about—probably that fortune teller had died after saying something about Earth being in trouble, followed by the universal overlord Boros descending on A-City, only to be ended by Saitama's serious punch, concluding his legendary life.
This was an S-Class assembly, so naturally Saitama and Fubuki hadn't been officially notified. But since they happened to be there, Saitama had nothing better to do and wanted to join the excitement, while Fubuki took the initiative to follow along. Since they were all friends, Bang and King naturally had no reason to refuse, so the whole group came except for Bomb, who stayed at the dojo.
As soon as they exited the elevator, Bane saw three figures waiting right at the entrance.
"Hahaha, Bang, King, long time no see!" a hearty voice called out first—it was Atomic Samurai.
Beside Atomic Samurai stood Genos and Zoro, whom they hadn't seen in a while. As soon as Genos spotted Bane and the others, he immediately approached excitedly: "Teacher Bane, Teacher Saitama, it's been too long!"
"Thanks for looking after Zoro during this time, Genos," Bane greeted with a smile.
"Not at all. Following Zoro-senpai, I've learned quite a lot myself," Genos said earnestly.
Obviously, Zoro ultimately hadn't accepted Genos calling him "teacher" like Bane and Saitama had. Now Genos called him "senpai" instead of teacher.
Bane didn't know what this cyborg had actually learned from Zoro, but he tactfully didn't ask further questions. After chatting with Zoro for a few moments, he quickly became acquainted with Atomic Samurai as well.
Without lingering at the elevator, the group headed toward the conference room while chatting.
"How have things been lately?" Bane asked, walking beside Zoro.
"Very productive," Zoro's face showed a satisfied smile, then he inquired, "What about you? Have you made progress with the martial arts you're learning from Bang-sensei?"
"Are you kidding? According to Bang-sensei, I'm a martial arts genius!" Bane laughed heartily.
This period of studying under Bang had indeed been very effective. Among other things, even Bane's Haki had grown considerably—this was the result of cross-integration with martial arts systems. If nothing else, at least Bane's control over Haki had become much more refined, especially his Observation Haki, which had improved by leaps and bounds.
Just as Bane and Zoro were chatting, suddenly a loli voice came from in front of the conference room entrance: "Fubuki, how did you end up hanging around with these guys?"
"Sister..." Fubuki's tone was somewhat complicated as she greeted her.
That's right—standing in front of the conference room entrance was none other than S-Class hero rank 2, Tornado!
With her green curly hair and extremely arrogant expression, her eyes revealed a kind of disdain that looked down on everyone equally. She wore a black dress. Though she was Fubuki's sister, she was completely opposite in every way—while Fubuki had a mature, charming figure and appearance, this one looked completely like a little loli.
"Who's that?" Saitama asked curiously.
"Teacher, that's Tornado, S-Class rank 2. She's a very powerful psychic user, called the 'Ultimate Weapon' by the Association!" Genos explained from the side.
Since Blast, the rank 1 hero, basically never appeared in public view and wasn't controlled by the Association, Tornado as rank 2 was considered the strongest in the Association's eyes!
Seemingly having heard Saitama and Genos's conversation, Tornado said irritably: "How did some baldy sneak in here? And you, Fubuki, this is an S-Class hero meeting—how did you come too? What's about to happen isn't something you can participate in. Wait for me downstairs—after the meeting, I want to have a good talk with you!"
Tornado had an almost twisted protective desire toward her sister, but she didn't know how to interact with her properly, so their conversations seemed quite rude—it felt like Tornado was bullying Fubuki.
Perhaps it was this attitude that made Fubuki harbor very complicated feelings toward her sister—on one hand being proud of her, on the other not wanting to see her.
"This brat is so rude!" Saitama said angrily.
He hated being called baldy most of all!
"Brat?!" Tornado also hated being treated like a child most. She immediately got angry too, her body emanating powerful telekinetic force, as if ready to fight at the slightest disagreement.
"Enough!" At this moment, Fubuki stepped forward, her tone somewhat firm: "They're all my friends, and I don't want to hear your lectures!"
"This is Association headquarters—you're not thinking of fighting here, are you?" Bang also stepped forward, looking at Tornado.
Obviously, Tornado still had some respect for Bang, who held rank 3. After glancing at Bang, she didn't continue her outburst, instead snorting coldly in displeasure before entering the conference room.
Bane stroked his chin and said to Fubuki: "Having such a domineering sister must be tough for you."
Fubuki said helplessly: "She's actually very good to me, but her personality is just like that..."
Upon entering the conference room, aside from Blast and Metal Knight, all the other S-Class heroes had actually assembled. And because of the addition of Zoro, Saitama, and Fubuki, there weren't enough chairs arranged here.
Saitama was truly shameless—he directly grabbed additional chairs from along the wall. Seeing this, Fubuki and Zoro followed suit.
"Fubuki, sit over here by me," Tornado commanded domineeringly again.
Hearing this, Fubuki frowned. She had originally indeed planned to sit beside her sister, but now she directly changed her mind, placing her chair next to Bane and sitting down without saying a word.
This made Tornado even more displeased, but she wouldn't blame her sister. Instead, she looked at Bane with somewhat hostile eyes: "So you're that guy who also has psychic abilities?"
Bane actually wasn't interested in Tornado. Though she was very strong, her personality was too domineering, and she completely wasn't in Bane's strike zone—he preferred beauties like Fubuki.
So Bane completely ignored Tornado, which made her so angry she pressed a dent into the table.
Seeing this scene, Zoro, who had originally wanted to sit beside Bane, shook his head with amusement and went to sit with Saitama beside Genos.
"Sorry about my sister, she..." Fubuki seemed to want to say something, speaking quietly beside Bane.
But Bane directly interrupted her: "No need to apologize. You are you, she is she. I'm friends with you—how she is doesn't matter to me."
Hearing these words, Fubuki couldn't help but smile slightly. Bane's words seemed to give her some courage. After pausing for a moment, Fubuki continued: "Actually, when I first approached you, I also wanted to learn methods from you that could enhance psychic abilities. I want to become stronger so my sister will know that I'm amazing too..."
"That's perfectly normal. Having a heart that yearns to be strong is a good thing in my view—nothing to be embarrassed about. When I first approached Bang-sensei, I also had the idea of learning something from him, and now aren't we good friends?" Bane comforted her.
After pausing slightly, Bane's lips curved into a smile: "As for psychic abilities, honestly, I do have a method that could let you master stronger psychic powers."
"Really?" Fubuki became somewhat excited, looking at Bane with bright eyes.
"Of course," Bane nodded, but then continued: "However, you'd definitely have to pay a price for it..."
Fubuki was startled, then immediately looked at Bane with wary eyes: "I consider you a friend—you don't have any improper thoughts about me, do you? Although I know I'm beautiful and charming, and you might have fallen hopelessly in love with me, but how should I put this... sorry, please allow me to refuse!"
"Hey hey, those words are way too hurtful!" Bane's face twitched.
Just then, some officials from the Hero Association also entered the venue, so Bane stopped continuing his conversation with Fubuki.
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