I frown, slightly uncomfortable due to the light hitting my closed eyes.
Opening them, I pause for a few moments.
'I'm outside? Wasn't I just sleeping in my bed?' I thought before I remembered memories that weren't mine, quickly followed by a tsunami of pain.
My eyes opened wide due to the sudden rush of emotions before quickly closing as the light overwhelmed my eyes and I barely suppressed a scream as the sudden pain nearly made me yell in pain.
"Ackh!"
Taking a moment to get used to the pain, I look at my new body to verify if my new memories were correct...
"It's real... I really transmigrated!" I muttered as I saw my small arms and legs.
I had become an 11-year-old!
'The Hero association was made 2 years ago, so this must be 1 year before the story began...' I thought as I recalled some more of the new memories of this body that angered me.
"Those villains are just as ridiculous as in the anime, a cult about Spaghetti running an orphanage trafficking children. It's ridiculous," I stated as I got up and looked at the various bruises and the scar on my left arm.
'They thought I had died of blood loss when I stabbed that piece of glass into my wrist after they beat me when I tried to run away. The wound was deep and right in my wrist vein... I might have even died before my new soul possessed this body,' I thought while looking around the deserted alley.
Z city really did deserve to be called a ghost town.
Barely anyone appeared even on the main streets.
'There's really no one here!? I don't know where a hospital is or a police station or even a map of the city. I have to get my wounds treated and report those cultists!'
I stopped for a moment.
'Should I even keep searching for a hospital or a police station? If one of those cultists discovers I reported them, they might try to take revenge, and they might even be able to pull some strings and claim I tried to commit suicide and lock me in a mental hospital instead'
It sounded a little too far-fetched even to me, since they seemed like small fries but One Punch Man was full of weird and powerful villains, and it consistently made one thing clear: you can only depend on your own strength!
'Finding someone to hug their thigh isn't to my taste anyway, so what if I'm a kid now? Saitama has been training every day for 2 years now, and he was probably even more wounded than I am now while doing it!'
Ignoring my stomach's rumbling, I raised my right hand, clenched it into a fist and declared to the heavens, "I won't die as a background character. I'll be the main character from now on and, to signal the start of my journey, I shall call myself Cultivation beginner!"
Coincidentally, a tumbleweed just happened to pass me by.
"I will start by searching for some food and then training to bring those villains to justice!" I muttered and then nodded to myself as I continued walking around the ghost town.
After a few minutes, I noticed some of my bruises very slowly fading. 'Is this a benefit of being isekaied? Now that I think of it, the deep cut to my wrist was only a scar when I woke up.'
And after about 30 minutes, upon waking up, I finally found some people!
There was a supermarket nearby.
'People without cars must be pitted if they live in this city. It took me half an hour just to find a store!' I idily thought.
Naturally, my first instinct was to approach the nearest person and, upon seeing me, the NPC had a shocked look as he shouted, "What the sigma! Why are you so beaten up kid!?"
My expression was frozen cold for a moment: 'Did he just say what the sigma? Maybe I should talk to someone else'
Taking my reaction as a sign of trauma, he immediately probed further while others joined in forming a small crowd around me: "Kid, do you need an abundance?", "Where are your parents?", "Did you run away from home?", "your shirt and hair are full of blood what happened!?"
Some were already on a call with the hospital and I realized this might be an opportunity: 'I could just run away from the hospital when they ask me what happened. My wounds should heal by the end of the day anyway, so I can get free food there!'
Ignoring the NPC's and their useless dialogue, I started plotting even further: 'I can even train a little while I'm there, but without fighting experience it might not be that great... I suppose treating it like a free food spawn point is good enough'
'Now that I'm done with planning, it's time to start training for real!' I told myself inwardly as I started doing push-ups, much to the confusion of everyone else.
"Is he doing push-ups with those injuries?"
"Should we stop him? He shouldn't be moving with wounds like that!"
"He looks so pale he must be terrified."
"What if his wounds open up? We should stop him!"
"It might be his coping mechanism let him be. He must be scared."
'These NPCs are so distracting... 10... tsk! If you're going to talk... 11... at least talk about something useful! 12' I inwardly complained.
2 minutes later
"Hey kid, shouldn't you take a break? You look exhausted," an NPC said concerned.
Some people concerned approached me trying to stop me
'Annoying... 69' I thought as I glared at them while continuing my training.
They stopped coming closer but still insisted I stop 'That's the mentality of the weak!... 70... That's why they aren't the main characters!... 71'
Crowd PoV
'This kid is crazy' is what everyone thought as they looked at the beaten-up child clearly pushing himself way too far doing push-ups.
His face was red from the effort, yet he didn't stop at all and whenever someone tried to stop him he would glare at them as if he was a wild animal, making them back off.
"Is he mute?" One of them muttered, wondering why the kid hadn't said anything up until now.
"It seems he can't do any more push-ups..." One of them said with pity, looking at the strange child who was... Foaming at the mouth!?
"Let's just stop him already. It's clear waiting for the ambulance will only make him hurt himself more!" One of them shouted, unable to bear the sight.
"90 push-ups is more than enough for someone your age. You can stop now!" One of them, who actually counted the push-ups, said.
The kid didn't stop.
He kept glaring at anyone approaching him with an even fiercer intensity and kept doing push-ups even as his arms made weird cracking noises.
'...100!' I counted inwardly as I collapsed and turned to face the sky.
"He finally stopped, our prayers were answered!" some NPC said as some others told me to rest and wait for the ambulance.
I naturally completely ignored them all until the ambulance arrived. 'Finally, these background characters talk too much!' I inwardly lampooned.
The medics got out of the ambulance, taking out a stretcher with them. I got up and told them, "I can just sit in the ambulance. There is no need for a stretcher."
While the crowd was shocked I could speak, the medics ignored my words completely.
They immediately tried to put me on a stretcher despite my protests, making me wonder 'are they with the spaghetti cult?' Narrowing my eyes in suspicion, I intensified my resistance and started biting them.
I ignored the NPCs who told me to stop and the ones asking if I had rabies, but with my exhaustion from training and my blood loss, I couldn't overpower the medics.
Glaring at them from the stretcher as they took me into the ambulance, one of the medics asked the crowd what happened, while another one noted, "It seems the kid has some mental issues too he must be a victim of abuse. Let's call the police too."
Soon they returned to the ambulance and took off to the hospital.
I glared at them from the stretcher, unable to move, as one of them told me, "Calm down kid, we won't hurt you, just tell us how you got this hurt we will do our best to heal you."
"Are you with them?" I asked seriously.
"Huh? With who?" the medic asked, seemingly confused, but I couldn't count out the possibility he was acting.
"With the spaghetti cult, who else?" I clarified and waited for a response, but the medic seemed too stunned to speak for a few seconds.
"A spaghetti cult? Kid, please be serious and tell me what got you this beaten up," the medic asked again.
I narrowed my eyes at him and said, "You're with them, aren't you? That's why you haven't denied it!"
"No I'm not! There happy now? Can you say who hurt you now?" the medic said again, his tone more impatient.
"The Spaghetti Cult, of course, they own the orphanage I stayed at and use it as their recruitment center, the ones that adopt failed children supposedly send them to schools they own, but in reality they had been quietly sold. Those schools are empty when there's no inspection!" I whispered after making sure the others wouldn't hear.
"I was adopted by one of them, and they tried to sell me to someone, but I overheard them and ran away. When they realized I had run, they caught up with me and I nearly died," I whispered as I recalled those memories once more.
"... I see," the medic whispered and wrote the words down.
It didn't take long for the ambulance to reach the hospital and this time I didn't resist as they took me to a room.
"I want food!" I immediately stated as soon as I entered the empty room.
"You will get it soon. Just wait a little. A few police officers will arrive to ask you some questions first," a nurse said in a kind voice.
"Fine, you all leave until then," I told the bothersome medics.
"You still need to get checked first," the nurse said, not leaving room for an argument.
Sensing a fierce aura from her, I didn't court death and quietly waited for the medical checks to be done.
The police arrived and, after I finished the medical checks, asked me about what happened.
I didn't hide anything since I planned to get away from here by the end of the day.
After that, they told me a psychologist would visit me in a few hours, and I was left alone in my room.
'Finally!' I thought relieved and did some light stretches before starting to do 100 squats.
By the time I got to 50, it felt like my legs wouldn't move, but I gritted my teeth and kept doing squats, remembering the helplessness I felt when those cultists had caught up to me and beaten me up.
'I won't ever be helpless again from now on,' I thought as my eyes shone with determination.
After a while, I even spat a bit of blood, but I kept doing squats until finally '...100!'
Sweating. I couldn't help but think 'Has Saitama really been doing this for 3 years in the anime? No wonder he got so strong... but I will surpass him. I will be the main character!'
Frowning, I thought to myself 'but if I only do 100 I will only be as strong as him... from now on I will do 101!'
With this resolve, I did one more push-up and another squat before starting to do 101 sit-ups.
A few minutes later
I finally heard footsteps as the door opened and my food arrived.
I completely ignored the concerned looks of the nurse who brought the food and kept doing sit-ups, focusing only on the food 'just a little more and I can eat after.'
Coughing a little bit of blood, I told the nurse, "Just leave it on my bed. I will eat soon."
Finally snapping out of her shock, the Nurse revealed an innocent smile and a terrifying presence akin to that of a murderer.
"What are you doing?" The nurse asked with a kind voice and her eyes closed.
I immediately felt a chill run down my spine, but I kept doing sit-ups.
I only had 5 left!
"I'm just... Doing sit-ups... Can't you see?" I said while looking for something to talk about around the room until I finished my sit-ups.
The nurse opened her eyes slowly and menacingly as she muttered in a cold tone, "With those injuries?"
I nearly stopped out of fear. I could almost see the image of a thousand-year-old demon behind her glaring at me, but... I was so close! Just 2 more sit-ups!
"The Weather... It's nice today... Isn't it?" I said, trying to smile.
The nurse approached, and I gritted my teeth while trying to hurry up with my sit-ups '...100!'
Just one more!
"Stop," the nurse said gently as she touched my shoulder, but looking death in the face, I kept trying to do the last sit-up even as I coughed blood again.
'...101!' I counted as I finally stopped just in time as the nurse lost patience and picked me up from the ground, placing me on the bed and warning me menacingly.
"If you don't stop it, then we will have no choice but to give you injections with sharp needles like this one!" She said as she took a comically large needle from somewhere.
I nodded my head as fast as I could and ate in silence as I was being reprimanded by the nurse until finally nighttime arrived.
Looking at the clock, I opened the window and thought to myself, 'It's finally midnight. Now is the time to escape!'
Going through the doors was impossible, since they were all closed by now that only left the window as an option.
I took the pillow to soften my fall and the bedsheet to hopefully act as a glider, but I didn't put much hope on it.
'Luckily, this is only the 2nd floor' I thought as I got ready to jump.
Gathering my courage, I strengthened my grip on the sheets and the pillow and fell down, spreading my arms wide.
The sheets, as expected, didn't help much, but they slowed me down a bit.
I held the pillow under my legs just as I was about to hit the ground and let go.
I finally stopped falling as I landed on the pillow.
It felt like my legs nearly shattered, but it didn't feel like they broke, and the impact didn't make a lot of noise.
I immediately got up with difficulty leaving the pillow and the sheets where I landed as I left.
It was the middle of the night, and I was wearing only the patient's clothing I was given by the hospital, so I felt a bit cold.
'Saitama didn't just train his body, he trained his mind too, so I can endure a little bit of cold'
Yawning, I looked around and contemplated 'should I try to find a place to sleep today? If I do, I might be found out since they will search for me nearby and by then I will really be locked up in a mental hospital!'
'But if I don't sleep well, my training today will be meaningless since muscles grow when they rest' Stuck in a dilemma, I kept walking around until I finally came to a decision as I saw a huge warehouse that looked abandoned.
'I will sleep in that abandoned building. It seems hidden enough'
As I approached, I heard some noise from the inside and listened, thinking 'so it isn't abandoned?'
As I got closer, I could finally make out what they were saying: "Boss, are you sure you want to increase the price of that drug again? Those addicts might start fighting us for it if we raise it any further."
"So what if they do? We, the Fierce Tiger Gang, aren't afraid of some spineless addicts. Our only concern is our fighting strength, and we need more money to support our new recruits," the boss responded confidently.
"Of course, boss, I was just worried some of our new blood would get beaten up by them," the supposed underling added.
"So what if they do? If they can't even stand up for themselves, they don't deserve to be part of our mighty group!" The Boss said while hitting something, creating a loud banging noise.
"Yes Boss! I understand!" The Underling hurriedly said.
'A gang?' I thought, narrowing my eyes.
'Should I find somewhere else to stay? I've just begun my training. There's no way I can defeat them...' I contemplated, as I briefly thought of the cultists I encountered as the gangsters in the warehouse before I stopped.
'Wasn't Saitama just a regular office worker when he fought the crab monster? What am I so afraid of facing a random gang that's just an excuse!' I told myself inwardly as I recalled something...
'When Mumen Rider faced the Deep Sea King, didn't I want to be a hero like him? Now that I've got the chance, what's my excuse!?'
I took a deep breath as I went into the warehouse and faced the gangsters. "Hey you all!"