Chương 9: The Philosophy of the Ordinary

The shattered fountain area of Beacon Academy was quiet, save for the dry rustle of Saitama's white cape shifting against the rubble. He was still staring blankly at the five-hundred lien bill when the sound of multiple footsteps approaching made his bald head tilt. A small army of teenagers was moving toward him. Ruby Rose led the pack, her silver eyes practically vibrating with an intensity that made Saitama instantly uncomfortable. Behind her stood Weiss, Yang, and Blake, flanked by Jaune, Nora, and Ren.

But they weren't alone. Sun Wukong was swinging his arms casually, Neptune Vasilias was adjusting his jacket, and the entirety of Team CFVY, Coco, Velvet, Fox, and Yatsuhashi, formed a intimidating semi-circle around his fountain perch. Saitama's shoulders slumped. Oh great. He thought, his face drawing into its most standard, dot-eyed expression of mild annoyance. More kids. If they ask me for an autograph, I don't even have a pen.

"Excuse me! Mr. Saitama, sir!" Ruby burst out, dropping to one knee before the fountain like she was addressing royalty, her hands clenched into fists.

"We just... we've met each other, but we haven't properly introduce ourselves and thank you! I'm Ruby, and this is my team, and these are our friends, and--""Yeah, hey," Saitama interrupted, raising a red-gloved hand to cut off the tidal wave of words.

"Look, you don't have to do the whole bowing thing. It's weird. Just stand up." Ruby snapped upright, her face flushing slightly, but her curiosity remained completely unsatiated. Weiss Schnee stepped forward next, her posture rigid, her blue eyes scanning Saitama with a severe, analytical gaze.

"We are deeply grateful for your intervention," Weiss said, her tone formal but laced with an undeniable undercurrent of bewilderment.

"But as the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and a Huntress-in-training, I must ask. What kingdom do you hail from? And what exactly is the nature of your Semblance? We've reviewed the biometric data, and your Aura signature isn't registering. Are you using a cloaking technology?" Saitama blinked. His dot-eyes didn't change size.

"I've already heard that word plenty times. What is it actually? Like... a brand of hair gel or something? Because obviously, I don't use it." A collective wave of confusion rippled through the students. Neptune leaned over to Sun, whispering loudly, "Is he joking? He has to be joking, right?" Sun shrugged, his faunus tail twitching in sheer curiosity.

"Wait, you don't know what a Semblance is?" Yang Xiao Long asked, stepping forward despite her bruised shoulder. She crossed her one good arm over her chest, a smirk fighting its way through her exhaustion.

"It's your inner power, man! The thing that lets me punch harder when I get hit, or lets Ruby run fast. How did you vaporize that giant flying dragon without an Aura shield or a Semblance?"

"Oh, that thing?" Saitama said, scratching the back of his bald head, his rubber glove making a dull squeak against his skin.

"I just hit it. I didn't use any shields or weird soul stuff. I just threw a normal backhand. Honestly, I don't know anything about this 'Aura' or whatever you're talking about." The students look at each other, thinking like he is either not a human or an uneducated person.

"Look," Saitama continued.

"To be completely honest with you kids..." Saitama leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his face shifting into a slightly more serious, blocky expression.

"I think I might have been transported to another world." Silence fell over the courtyard.

"Another... world?" Blake Belladonna repeated, her cat ears flattening beneath her bow as her literary mind immediately tried to categorize the statement. Like the third-rate fantasy novels Roman used to smuggle into the White Fang camps? She thought, her brow furrowing.

"That's... structurally impossible. Remnant is the only known world."

"No way!" Ruby suddenly shrieked, her eyes expanding into massive, starry spheres as she leaped into the air.

"You're an extra-dimensional traveler! Like the Legend of the Four Maidens, but from outer space! Weiss, do you hear this? He's a dimensional hero!"

"Ruby, don't be ridiculous!" Weiss snapped, her face turning pink with frustration.

"He's clearly suffering from some sort of localized amnesia or psychological trauma from the battle! People don't just fall through dimensions!" Saitama sighed, ignoring the bickering. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He looked over at Jaune, who was standing quietly, his arms wrapped around himself.

"Hey. How's that girl doing? The red-haired one I carried down from the roof?"

"She is fine," Jaune answered, his voice thick with emotion as his body language relaxed slightly.

"She's in the infirmary. The doctors said she's stable, thanks to you. If you hadn't stopped that woman with the fire powers..."

"Ah, the lady with the floating fire and the glowing eyes," Saitama muttered, nodding his head.

"Yeah, she was really loud. Kept talking about destiny and grand designs. Who was she anyway? Some kind of supervillain leader?"

"That was Cinder Fall," Coco Adel said, stepping up and tilting her sunglasses down to get a better look at Saitama's face.

"She's the one who orchestrated this entire nightmare. She hacked the Atlas military, brought the White Fang to our doorstep, and unleashed the Grimm on Beacon Academy. We're Huntsmen and Huntresses. It's our job to protect humanity from them."

"Huntsmen?" Saitama repeated, tilting his head.

"So... you guys are basically like the Professional Heroes back in my world. Except... you all go to a fancy school for it? We don't have hero schools. You just take a fitness test and a written exam at a local testing center, and then they give you a rank." Ruby's jaw dropped.

"A rank?! Like an official hero rank?! That is so cool!"

"It's mostly just paperwork and bureaucracy," Saitama said, his voice dropping back into total boredom.

"But yeah, my world has monsters too. We call them Mysterious Beings. They pop up in the middle of the city all the time." Velvet Scarlatina nervously leaned forward, her rabbit ears twitching.

"Are... are the monsters in your world like the Creatures of Grimm? Do they seek out negative emotions?"

"I don't know about emotions," Saitama said, rubbing his chin as he thought about it.

"But the designs are way crazier. Like, last week I fought a giant bipedal shrimp who mutated because he ate too much seafood. And there was also a guy made entirely of vaccine fluid who wanted to wipe out humanity to save the Earth."

"You fought creatures that powerful everyday?!" Nora asked with widened eyes.

"Not literally everyday, but, yeah. Guys like those appeared very often," Saitama said.

"Honestly, compared to them, those black dog things and the giant crow monsters you guys have here are pretty simple. They just bite and scratch. The monsters back home can blow up entire city districts with a single energy beam." Fox Alistair and Yatsuhashi exchanged a heavy, silent look. The idea of monsters capable of leveling cities with a single breath made the Grimm sound almost manageable.

"If the threats in your world are that severe," Lie Ren said, his voice calm but his eyes sharp with curiosity, "then your training must have been legendary. To achieve a level of physical strength that surpasses magic and Aura... what kind of master did you study under? What ancient style do you practice?" Saitama stood up from the fountain, stretching his arms over his head. The entire group of students leaned in simultaneously, holding their breath, waiting for the profound secret of a god.

"I didn't have a master," Saitama said simply.

"And the training wasn't that big of a deal. I just did one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a ten-kilometer run. Every single day. For three years." A dead, heavy silence echoed through the plaza.

"And?" Weiss prompted, her pen hovering over her scroll as she waited for the rest of the equation.

"And what else? What Dust attunement? What atmospheric gravity training?"

"That's it," Saitama said, his face completely flat.

"Oh, and eat three meals a day. Just a banana in the morning is fine. And never use the air conditioner in the summer or the heater in the winter, so you can strengthen your mental fortitude. At first, I thought I was gonna die. My legs felt like concrete. But I kept going. And after three years, I realized I was bald, and I was strong."

"Are you... are you pulling our legs?" Yang asked, her eyes widening as a sudden, erratic laugh escaped her throat.

"One hundred push-ups? Dude, I do that before I brush my teeth! If that's all it took, my dad would be able to punch through the moon!"

"I knew it!" Coco groaned, throwing her hands up.

"He's completely unhinged! He's a combat genius who doesn't even know how his own brain works!" But while the rest of the students scoffed or looked completely baffled, two people in the group reacted entirely differently. Jaune Arc stared at Saitama's red boots, his mind racing. One hundred push-ups... every day... without Aura... Jaune thought, his chest tightening with a sudden, desperate surge of hope. He had always been the weakest. He had cheated his way into Beacon.

He didn't have a legacy like Pyrrha or a Semblance like Ruby. But what this man was describing wasn't a magical gift or a bloodline trait. It was just... work. Pure, stubborn, repetitive work.

"Did it... did it really work?" Jaune asked, his voice shaking slightly as he stepped closer to the fountain, his eyes locked onto Saitama's vacant gaze.

"Just... by doing that? No shortcuts?" Saitama looked at Jaune, noticing the raw, insecure determination in the boy's eyes. For a split second, the simple lines of Saitama's face softened into something resembling a mentor.

"Yeah. It works. But it takes everything you've got. You have to train until your bones click and you feel like you're gonna throw up, and then you keep going anyway. That's how you break your limit."

"That's..." Jaune whispered, his fist clenching at his side.

"... unbelievable." Before Ruby could ask a fifty-fourth question about the Hero Association, the heavy, rhythmic click of a heeled boot and the distinct, dragging stride of a leather coat cut through the conversation. Glynda Goodwitch and Qrow Branwen stepped into the light of the fountain, their expressions severe.

"All right, kids, break it up," Qrow said, waving a hand lazily to disperse the crowd of teenagers. He stopped a few feet from Saitama, nodding toward the main doors of the administrative building.

"The adults are done talking. Come on, baldy. We managed to find a room for you that isn't completely covered in soot, and Jimmy managed to authorize some food vouchers for you." Saitama's eyes instantly lit up into massive, excited circles.

"Food? Real food? Like... rice and meat?"

"If that's what you want, we will provide it," Glynda said, her voice smooth but commanding as she adjusted her glasses.

"But we have a great deal more to discuss regarding your temporary deployment here at Beacon. Follow us, please."

"Awesome!" Saitama said, completely ignoring the stunned, reverent stares of the students as he hopped down from the fountain, his white cape billowing behind him.

"Man, I hope your cafeteria has those little pickled plums. I haven't had one of those since Z-City!" As Saitama followed the two senior Huntsmen back into the shadows of the building, Ruby Rose watched him go, a bright, unshakeable smile on her face. The Fall of Beacon had been a tragedy of fear and darkness. But as she looked at the clear blue ring in the sky above them, she knew that Remnant had just inherited something completely outside of destiny's control.