Beside Johnson, Miles seemed to be muttering to himself, yet also speaking to him, "She's pretty great, isn't she?"
"Yeah, who wouldn't like a slim, beautiful blonde who can fight?"
"You're right." Miles couldn't help but laugh, "If we were in the same school, I'd definitely compete with you!"
"That might not happen. I've already graduated."
"You're cool, man, nice to meet you... wait?" Miles searched through the control interface, looking puzzled, "Why can't I find your universe number?"
Johnson shrugged like Gwen, "Probably a settings glitch?"
Miles was dumbfounded, "No way... how will you get back then?"
Johnson opened his palm, and the return item appeared in his hand.
At that moment, the fantasy card flickered on and off — like Ultraman showing he's running out of power before transforming — continuously blinking.
Stop flashing, stop flashing, I'm going now.
Johnson firmly grasped the Mysterious Cube Fragment, the Special N-Card, and winked at Miles, "No worries, I'm different from them."
"Huh?"
The Stand ability activated. The Special N-Card dissolved into points of light, and a dark space portal opened before the two of them.
"See you."
Miles bewilderedly withdrew his right hand after fist-bumping Johnson, watching him step into the dark vortex. In the next second, the vortex dissipated, taking that man with it as it disappeared.
"He really is special." Miles couldn't help but smile and shake his head, "That guy..."
✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
One-Punch World.
"Director, you have a phone call."
As the high-level meeting at the Police Headquarters concluded, the Director took the phone from his black-stockinged female secretary and held it to his ear.
"This is Serizawa... oh, Johnson!" The Director's eyes lit up as he motioned for his secretary to leave. She immediately understood and promptly exited the meeting room, closing the door behind her, "What brings you to call so suddenly? What... you've seized a batch of new equipment! Excellent, thank you Johnson... no need to send it to the A-City headquarters — I'll have someone come directly to Z-City to handle the transfer with your chief!"
✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
Z-City, outskirts, by a small lake.
The sun shone brightly, the air filled with the rich fragrance of plants, and the nearby lake sparkled. Everything remained exactly as it was before the dimensional travel, as if he had never left.
After hanging up with the Director, Johnson shook his head.
Phew... Finally back.
The sensation of space-time travel was still uncomfortable. He attributed this mainly to his physical attributes not being fully upgraded yet.
Activating his Psychic Powers, a watch flew from the nearby grass and landed in his hand. This was the watch he had deliberately left behind before departing. It remained in its original position, perfectly intact, its hands ticking steadily — only three minutes had passed since before his journey.
Those three minutes matched exactly the time Johnson spent talking with the boss. This meant that while he traveled to other worlds, time in the One-Punch world had stood still.
It's you, The World!
{T/N: A joke referencing JoJo, since Dio's Stand can stop time.}
This small lake was quite close to the Water Stream Dojo, and Johnson decided to visit the old man since he hadn't seen him in a while.
When he arrived, he found no one there.
Charanko, the boy left behind, was leaning on a broom at the entrance when he greeted Johnson, "Master went down the mountain yesterday for hero activities. Not sure when he'll be back."
"Ah, I see, the old man is actually being diligent..."
Well, okay then…
"Hmm?" Hearing the uniform shouts coming from inside the dojo, Johnson asked curiously, "Charanko, don't you practice martial arts?"
"Ah..." Charanko scratched his head embarrassedly, "My talent isn't as good as my senior brothers, so I thought I'd help out with chores instead."
After hearing this, Johnson patted his shoulder solemnly, "You'll definitely become your master's successor disciple in the future."
"Really? Thank you!" Charanko's eyes lit up with excitement, "Mr. Johnson, do you mean my perseverance and determination will eventually move my master to teach me the true martial arts?"
"No, I think the old man will always need someone to clean the house."
Charanko: "..."
"Keep it up, I'm off now."
Under the boy's resentful gaze, Johnson floated up elegantly and flew toward Z-City.
✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱✱
As the head of Z-City Police Department's Special Affairs Division, Johnson was quite dedicated to his job.
On his first day back from training, he had already completed most of his work. Though he'd expected his interdimensional trip would take longer, he returned to the office before noon.
"Everyone looks busy." Johnson remarked as he walked into the office carrying bags of food, smiling at his subordinates who were struggling with paperwork.
"Smells good..." Kyoko brushed her bangs aside, looked up, and noticed the abundant lunch in his hands. Her expression softened, "Treating us to lunch, my dear division chief?"
"Of course. Did you think I'd eat all this myself? Do I look like a glutton to you?"
"What did you bring?"
"Burgers, fries, pork cutlet rice bowls, eel rice bowls... I also bought milk tea and drinks. Everyone take a break and help yourselves."
"Thank you, Chief!" ×N
The officers who had been working all morning stood up one by one, took their preferred food from Johnson, and returned to their desks to eat.
"Considering you're a capitalist with somewhat of a conscience, I'll forgive you for now." Kyoko cradled her expensive deluxe eel rice bowl, her cheeks puffed with food like a hamster storing for winter.
"Thanks for your hard work, my deputy chief." Johnson said, standing at her desk eating from a box of pork cutlet rice, "Can't be helped — the Special Affairs Division was just established, so these trivial matters are inevitable."
Kyoko rolled her eyes at him, swallowed her food, and complained, "Then you should assign us more personnel! With so much work, how can our handful of people possibly manage?"
"Calm down, calm down." Johnson placed his empty lunch box on the table and straightened his clothes, "Your division chief had quite a good harvest today. The rewards from headquarters will be coming soon."
"Really? How much could you possibly accomplish in just one morning..." Kyoko looked skeptical as she watched him turn to leave, "Hey, wait — your trash!"
"Throw it away for me."
"..."
After Johnson left, the entire Special Affairs Division office began to buzz with chatter.
One officer complained, "Is what the chief said true? I really don't want to deal with these documents anymore!"
"Don't you all think Chief Johnson looks cool even when he's eating? Ouch..."
A young female officer's face glowed with admiration, earning her a precise chopstick attack from Kyoko, "Stop being lovesick! He eats so fast — your chief is just a glutton..."
"Yes, yes, even if he's a glutton, he's still the coolest!"
Kyoko: "..."
How am I supposed to save you, office fangirl?
As she thought about it, her own cheeks turned slightly red. Although she didn't want to admit it, what the girl said made a lot of sense...
✱✱✱
T/N: Favorite, comment and save to your library of best reads in the world, thank you for reading this far!
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