Oskirts of…

  “Ain’t no way this is Z-City.”

  After making his way across a set of mountain ranges, Caspian now stood in a grassy field outside of a rge city. Whose roads were but e traffic jam.

  THUD!

  “What was that?”

  Caspian sed the cityscape’s edge, finding nothing unusual.

  Frankly, the cacophony of tens-of-thousands of car horns bring in unison started to drive him mad. To a normal person outside of the city, the sounds of the horns would be faint, but with Caspian’s ever enhanced se’s as though he’s standing in the ter of it all.

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  Currently, miles away from Caspian.

  “Big bro, where are we?”

  “We’re nearing D-City. Soon the world shall withe might of the Brain and Brawn Brothers!”

  With every step, Marugori covered a great dista didn’t take long before a series of mountain ranges came into his view.

  “Big bro, should I test out my strength on this mountain?”

  Fukegao, standing on his little brother’s right shoulder, pointed ahead and said, “No, walk right over it. D-City is dead ahead.”

  THUD!

  The Brain and Brawn Brothers had nearly reached their destination.

  THUD!

  Fukegao shook iement. “That’s it! Just walk right through the city. You’ll cim so many lives with a sie—woah!”

  Before he could finish his sentence, his little brother came to a sudden halt, causing him to nearly fall.

  “Big bro I’m stuck.”

  Fukegao couldn’t believe it. “What do you mean you’re stuck? What could halt your movement?”

  Marugori looked down toward his feet and his massive eyes widened.

  “B-bro, someone is holding down foot.”

  “What! Then shake them off.”

  He obeyed his brother, filing his massive form around, i on fulfilling the and.

  Muarugori’s relief, his foot came free. “Haha! Big bro, no one stop us.” Gng over to receive his brother’s praise, his expression twisted.

  Marugori's eyes widened in horror as he realized his erratients had hurled his helpless big brother to his death. The weight of his mistake shattered his mind.

  “Big bro!”

  “How did this happen?! I just wao be strong!”

  Marugori fought back his tears with ched fists.

  “And I finally am the stro man, but…!”

  Marugori’s bloodshot eye nded down in front of his foot.

  “I don’t know who you are, but it’s your fault my brother is dead!”

  Unfortunately, Marugori never got the ce to avenge his big brother. The st thing he saw was a man in a yellow jumpsuit delivering to him a devastating right hook.

  “Having overwhelming strength is…pretty fun.”

  Caspian remained airborne long enough to watch the gargantuan corpse fall away from D-City.

  “Bye Beefcake.”

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  “How many lives did I save between D-City and B-City? Oh well, it will help makeup for my future decisions.”

  Caspian, after defeating the Brain and Brawn Brothers, was running across a barren ndscape trying to find his home, to the east side of Z-City.

  With the ey in chaos from Beefcake’s rampage, he couldn’t find a single person to ask for dires. Did King mess up? How far did he o run? And run he did, his current speed making him feel like a speedster straight out of the ic books he loved as a teenager.

  He still couldn’t make sense of it all. Why did he have perfect trol over this new body? Would Saitama’s soul and will ever return?

  The thought that this might all be a dream—or worse, that he was in a a—crossed his mind. But he refused to eain the idea of such a trash ending.

  What troubled Caspian even more was “God.” Why couldn’t he have transmigrated a few years ter? He had no clue how powerful “God” truly was.

  Still, he had a few ideas on how to prepare for the iable showdown, though it felt too soon to set them into motion.

  He shook his head, trying to clear the chaos from his thoughts. “I o get out of my head and pick up the pace if I want to make it home before nightfall.”

  In an instant, his body blurred forward, kig up a dust storm in his wake.

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  A purple evening sky ed an expansive, derelieighborhood.

  In a rundown alley, Caspian stood, letting out an exasperated sigh.

  “How many cities did I end up running to?”

  After aire afternoon and an unknown number of miles traveled, he had finally reached the Z-City Ghost Town. To his annoyance, however, he still had no clue where his apartment building hid among this maze of a neighborhood and was sc every street and alley for even a sembnce of a clue.

  g

  Up ahead in the alley, Caspian noticed a rge humanoid figure crouched in front of a destroyed car. The mysterious being appeared to be pulling out the engine piece by piece.

  Mreeeow!

  Caspian tinued forward only for a cat to run past him in fear. He let out a small ‘ah’ as a memory fshed through his mind.

  That 'ah' didn’t go unheard as the Mysterious Being’s bloodshot eye locked onto Caspian.

  “Vroom. Vroom. Kehehe.”

  “No sense running if you saw me.”

  He looked up at the mysterious being with a tight-lipped smile.

  “I”m Super YO649Z Mk. II!”

  “I Love—”

  Caspian didn’t hesitate to interrupt him with an uppercut. Blowing the monster’s upper half into pieces.

  “Like I’m going to give you a ake fun of my big headlight.”

  Caspian turoward the setting sun and resumed walking. “Thank you, Super YO649Z Mk. II. At least now I know I'm getting closer.”

  Nothing hy happened after, so Caspian tinued his exploratiohodically expanding his search area.

  The sun dipped below the horizon, mirr the dee of Caspian's mood.

  Caspian’s gaze swept over the endless rows of buildings. “This neighborhood’s size is ridiculous.”

  The urge to obliterate everything around him crossed his mind, but when he rouhe er, his heart leapt.

  Up ahead stood that signature apartment building. In his previous life, he had always wished to visit the real-life location in Tokyo that the building was based on. But how could he care about such a thing now?

  “Finally! I’ve been trying to find you all day. Now that I’ve found you…I’d really like to go to bed.”

  Caspian walked around the front of the apartment building until he found the entrance.

  He hurried up the stairs. “His room was ohird floht?”

  After ‘opening’ the doors to several rooms, he found ohat was unlocked.

  He pushed down on the handle, pulled the door open, and stepped inside.

  In front of him stretched a small hallway. He kicked off his boots and stepped onto the hard floor. The first door on the right led to the toilet and bath, the door after that opeo the kit.

  Not sparing a sed g either, he headed straight for the living room-bedroom bo.

  Caspian sched his eyes and the sight of the room.

  Though he didn’t feel exhausted, the floor futon called to him.

  Just as he was about to lie down, something important crossed his mind.

  “I almost fot to lock the door.”