Chương 7: The Foreign Sky

The evening air of Vale was unusually crisp, the scent of charcoal and burnt mortar slowly giving way to the natural perfume of the surrounding forests. The sun had finally dipped beneath the horizon, leaving behind a deep indigo twilight that threw long, dramatic shadows across the central courtyard of Beacon Academy. Saitama sat on the edge of a shattered stone fountain, his bright red boots dangling over the dry, cracked basin.

He held a crisp, green plastic bill between his thumb and forefinger, squinting at the face of an unfamiliar historical figure printed on the plastic.

"Lien..." he muttered, his voice a flat drone in the quiet evening. He flipped the bill over, staring at the holographic strip that caught the fading light.

"No yen. No Hero Association stamp. No barcode." He shoved the bill into his pocket and pulled out his standard-issue flip phone. He flipped it open. The screen remained completely blank, save for a flashing icon that read No Service / Out of Network. He pressed a few buttons, but the digital clock in the corner had completely frozen at the exact millisecond he had punched Void-Gorgon in Z-City.

"Man," Saitama sighed, his shoulders slouching forward until his bald head almost touched his knees.

"I tried asking that lady with the glasses for a map, and she handed me something called a 'Scroll.' It was just a glowing piece of glass. I clicked on the directory, and there was no Z-City. No A-City. No Ghost Town. Just... Vale. Vacuo. Mistral. Atlas." He leaned back, resting his palms against the rough, cold stone of the fountain. His simple, dot-eyed face stared up into the sky.

"Am I in the countryside? No, those buildings over there look pretty modern, even if they have those weird castle roofs. But the names are all wrong. And there isn't a single hero branch office listed anywhere." He paused, his eyes tracking upward past the spires of the ruined academy, past the drifting smoke, until his gaze settled on the moon. Saitama's breath hitched slightly. His vacant expression sharpened into a rare, focused stare. The moon hanging over Remnant was not a smooth, pearlescent sphere.

It was a shattered, cosmic ruin. A massive cluster of glowing, fractured rock floated loosely around a solid core, like a broken teacup suspended in the dark. The moon... Saitama thought, his mind drifting backward through his own memory. He remembered a fight. A real fight. Before Garou, there was a time in recent memory his heart had actually thudded against his ribs with a spark of excitement. He remembered Boros, the dominant alien warlord who had traveled across the stars just to find him.

He remembered being struck with such immense kinetic force that he had been launched clean out of Earth's atmosphere, breaking through the vacuum until his back slammed into the gray, dusty surface of the moon. He remembered standing there in the silence of space, holding his breath, pinching his nose, and looking back at the blue marble of Earth. Then, he had tossed a small pebble into the air, bent his knees, and jumped.

He had jumped so hard that the sheer recoil had left a massive, cratered scar across the lunar surface, sending him rocketing back to Earth in a matter of seconds to deliver his Serious Punch. Saitama squinted at the broken moon above Beacon. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"Did I do that?" He wondered, scratching his chin.

"No... my jump left a big dent, but I didn't break the whole thing into pieces like a dropped plate. Plus, the shape is completely different. Did Boros have a brother or something who came here and messed up the sky?" He blinked, a sudden, foggy recollection bubbling up from the back of his brain. He thought back to the highway in Z-City, right before everything went white. He remembered that massive, dark monster with the four glowing eyes and the weird telepathic voice.

"What did that guy say again?" Saitama rubbed his bald head, trying to force his memory to cooperate.

"Something about... a consumer of trash-holds? No, thresholds. Yeah. And he said something about...

'I have crossed die-mensions.'" Saitama's eyes went wide, turning into perfect, comical white circles.

"Wait," he whispered, a sudden realization hitting him like a physical blow.

"Dimensions? Another world? Like... like that one late-night anime I watched while eating ramen? The one where the corporate guy gets hit by a truck and wakes up in a fantasy world with a magical sword and a bunch of elf girls?" He looked down at his yellow suit, then back up at the shattered moon.

"Am I... an isekai protagonist right now?" The thought sent a shiver of pure, unadulterated dread down his spine.

"Oh, no. This is terrible. If I'm in a light novel world, that means the plot is going to keep dragging me into long, complicated political speeches. And I still don't know if they have rice here!"

Unbeknownst to Saitama, his existential crisis was being watched by a small crowd of students who had gathered near the edge of the courtyard's intact arcade. Ruby Rose was leaning over a broken stone pillar, her silver eyes tracking every shift in Saitama's expression.

"Look at him," she whispered to Weiss, her voice filled with a dramatic, low intensity.

"He's staring at the moon. He looks so... profound. Like he's contemplating the very nature of existence and the tragedy of our world."

"He looks like an egg with a blank expression, Ruby," Weiss muttered, though she didn't look away. Her arms were tightly crossed, her analytical mind still trying to find a logical slot for the man. He has no identification, no record in the global database, and he reacts to our currency like it's play money. Weiss thought. If he truly is from outside our kingdoms... what does that mean for the global balance of power? A man who can destroy a Wyvern with his bare hands is a walking tactical deterrent.

"I think he's kind of cute in a weird way," Nora said, leaning her chin on top of Ren's shoulder.

"Look at how his cape moves in the wind! It's so dramatic. Ren, do you think we can get him to join Team JNPR? We have an extra slot now that Pyrrha is resting, and he could be our heavy hitter! We wouldn't even need to buy him ammo!"

"I do not think Mr. Saitama is looking for a team, Nora," Ren said gently, his eyes observing the slouch in Saitama's posture. His spirit isn't aggressive. Ren noted to himself. He saved Pyrrha and cleared the sky, yet he looks entirely burdened by his own existence. True strength must be a lonely path. A few paces away, Coco Adel stood with her hands on her hips, her signature sunglasses tilted down her nose as she evaluated Saitama's yellow jumpsuit.

"I mean, the heroism is a ten out of ten, but that outfit is an absolute crime," Coco sighed, shaking her head.

"Bright yellow spandex? Red rubber boots? Who is his tailor? If you're going to save a kingdom, the least you can do is look fashionable while doing it. Velvet, did you get a picture of him?" Velvet Scarlatina nervously adjusted her camera strap, her long brown rabbit ears twitching as she looked at Saitama.

"I... I tried, Coco. But every time I look at the lens, his face just looks so... simple. My camera's auto-focus doesn't even register him as a threat. It thinks he's a background prop." Sun Wukong stepped up beside Ruby, his hands resting behind his head as he let out a low whistle.

"Man, whatever he's thinking about, it must be heavy. He hasn't moved from that fountain for twenty minutes. You think he's waiting for Cinder to come back?"

"No," Ruby said, her voice dropping into a solemn, respectful tone as she watched Saitama dramatically grab his head in despair.

"He's a lone protector. A hero who carries the weight of the entire world on his shoulders, completely silent, asking for nothing in return." At the fountain, Saitama let out another loud, miserable groan.

"Man... I really hope they have a convenience store nearby," he muttered to himself, completely unaware of the legendary status the teenagers had already assigned to him.

"If I have to eat wild berries or hunt those black dog monsters for meat, I'm gonna lose my mind."