With three monsters on hand to milk for information, Saitama split them into three groups, interrogating each separately.
He hadn't wanted to make such a fuss at first, but Genos's words had given him pause.
Fresh off the battle, Alice was covered in dust, her hair a bit of a chaotic mess. Tagging along with them to hunt people down in that state felt a little inappropriate.
After all, Alice was still a young girl.
If that were the only issue, it would have been fine—they could have just left her behind—but Alice had stared up at them with watery eyes, making it crystal clear she wanted to come along.
That made it rather hard to say no.
After weighing his options for a moment, Saitama told Alice to head home first, clean herself up, and then meet back up with them.
In the meantime, the two of them would cross-examine the three monsters. Comparing their stories later would keep the creatures from getting any bright ideas about feeding them fake intel.
Alice's round trip would take less than half an hour, but factoring in the time she'd need to freshen up, they rounded it out to an hour.
The trio decided to set off in one hour.
Alice was understandably pleased that she got to clean up before heading out, but the Blizzard Group was anything but happy when they saw her walk in covered in a layer of grime.
Smiling on the surface, they watched her walk over to her dorm—which they had rented for her next door once they came into some money—but the moment she was out of sight, everyone's faces instantly dropped.
What did she mean, "I went to an old guy's house today because he was attacked by monsters, so I stepped in and beat them up"?
What did she mean, "To make sure that old guy doesn't get hounded anymore, we're going to hunt down the monsters' nest together later"?
What was the deal with this old guy? What was the deal with these monsters? And why on earth was Alice's friend some "old guy"?
"Miss Fubuki... what should we do...?"
Eyelashes stared blankly at Fubuki, who was sitting in the Blizzard Group's boss chair.
Even though Alice had become the highest-ranking and most famous hero in the Blizzard Group, Fubuki was still the leader; it wasn't about to suddenly become the Alice Group.
After all, anyone who had spent time with Alice knew her true nature. Most of the time, she was just a little girl who loved playing video games—innocent, kind, warm, and affectionate.
They adored her for it, of course, but putting her in charge as the boss was definitely not something they could do in good conscience.
However, if someone was exploiting that sweet nature of hers, that changed everything.
"That so-called 'old guy' must know how strong little Alice is and wants to use her to deal with monsters!" Mountain Ape growled, his face twisting with rage as he jumped straight to conclusions. "And now he expects her to go handle even more of them...!"
"Could he be one of those heroes who steals credit from others?" Lily added, looking at Blizzard with deep concern.
"This is the first time Alice has made a friend outside."
Sitting in her chair, Fubuki's beautiful face was frozen into a terrifyingly cold expression. She crossed her hands over her lap, her voice carrying a chilling, lethal calm as she spoke slowly.
"The 'first' of anything usually plays a vital role as a guidepost in one's life. We cannot allow this guidepost to be stained with filth."
Hearing this, everyone knew Miss Fubuki was about to take action.
"Find that man for me, no matter the cost, and then find a way to make him vanish by some force majeure. Get it done within three days."
With that, Fubuki looked down at her phone.
If necessary, she... might even bow her head to that person for the time being.
Receiving their orders, the Blizzard Group bowed in unison and chorused, "Understood!"
Lily was the first to move.
She slipped into Alice's room and, the moment Alice stepped out of the bathroom, held up a hairdryer and offered to help blow-dry her hair.
Alice's hair was incredibly long, draping past her actual height, so drying it always took quite a while. Having two people work on it—one drying the top half and the other taking the bottom—saved a ton of trouble.
As she worked, Lily slipped into the role of the "best girlfriend" and began casually probing for information about Saitama.
Alice didn't hide anything. The only reason she hadn't mentioned him before was simply because the Blizzard Group had never asked. Saitama's existence wasn't a secret; there was no reason to keep it classified.
Lily quickly organized the intel she gathered and synced it with the rest of the team.
[Bald, twenty-five years old, lives in the abandoned zone of City Z. He's a hero but has no other job, occasionally doing odd jobs. He lives an incredibly destitute life, and his apartment is roughly the size of Alice's bathroom.]
The Blizzard Group fell into a dead silence.
This guy was a total deadbeat at the absolute bottom of society!
Granted, calling him an "old guy" was a bit of a stretch since many of them were over twenty-five themselves, but everything else about him was a massive red flag.
To them, Alice looked exactly like an innocent, clueless girl being completely taken advantage of. They couldn't stand for this!
Three days was too long! They had to get this guy out of Alice's life by tomorrow!
Taking a deep, sharp breath and exhaling it heavily, Fubuki sought out Alice alone.
She didn't want to crush the girl's beautiful illusions about her first friend, but she still gave her a firm warning. "If that friend of yours ever asks you to do something improper, you must absolutely refuse... Actually, if he asks you to do anything at all, you must tell me first!"
Uh...
It was only then that Alice realized the Blizzard Group had developed a massive misunderstanding about Saitama.
It was true that he had no job, no savings, could only afford discounted groceries, had no friends, lived in total isolation, and was completely bald, but...
But he...
Well, Alice honestly couldn't think of any glowing traits to highlight about Saitama besides his overwhelming strength and his unbreakable mental fortitude. And trying to explain those two things out loud would sound entirely too abstract and unbelievable.
Left with no other option, Alice could only offer a dry defense. "Saitama-san wouldn't do anything like that. He's a very upright person!"
But just as expected, Fubuki merely gave her a look that said, 'I'm not surprised you'd defend him.'
On the surface, she nodded, but her eyes held absolutely zero belief.
In Fubuki's eyes, no matter what Alice said, she was just thoroughly brainwashed by the baldy.
Seeing that she was getting nowhere, Alice helplessly gave up trying to explain.
It didn't matter... once Fubuki and Saitama actually met, the misunderstanding would clear itself up!
Strapping on the Sword of Light, which gleamed brilliantly after being thoroughly scrubbed and polished by Piko, Alice offered everyone a cheerful goodbye before leaping away onto the distant rooftops.
A dozen or so minutes later, Alice arrived at the base of Saitama's apartment building at breakneck speed. There, she spotted a thoroughly despondent Armored Gorilla, alongside a frog and a slug tied securely together.
Sensing Alice's arrival, Genos and Saitama leaped down from the ruined room upstairs.
Seeing Alice looking all clean and refreshed, Saitama finally flashed a smile. "Alright then, let's head out."
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL