Chapter 33 - Fame?

The next day was also quite uneventful. After waking up and having breakfast, the two went for an early patrol which didn't yield too many results except for the fact that people started to recognize Hiroto more.

Sat on the top of a roof, Hiroto and Rumi were looking at people who were going about their business early in the morning. Hiroto had a drink in hand, while Rumi had some carrot flavored drink.

"Is there nothing else you do?" Hiroto asked her after taking a sip.

"I always find this part boring. Although other people who say things like 'It's great that it's boring, it means that we're doing our jobs properly' Still, I want to be able to kick people every now and then to blow off steam." Rumi said, dangling her feet over the edge as she swung them back and forth in boredom.

"Did the school not give you instructions on what to do for our work experience?" Hiroto asked her.

"Well, they probably did but I never checked the email they sent me. I thought it was spam so I just deleted it." Rumi answered him casually standing back up and stretching her arms in a circle.

"Alright, enough relaxing, I heard some commotion over that way. You want to handle it this time?" Rumi asked as pointing to the two's left past the shopping district, with the tips of her bunny ears twitching slightly.

"You can handle them, I already took care of the ones before this," Hiroto said, standing up and dusting his pants.

Rumi merely shrugged and grinned before shortly hopping off towards the opposite roof towards the shopping district as some police cars started to appear one after another.

Hiroto stayed on the rooftop for a moment as his gaze went over the people who were taking pictures of the racing police cars. Turning towards the direction that Rumi jumped off to, Hiroto shook his head and muttered, "I should buy a game console tonight…"

......

The rest of the day proceeded as usual. Rumi shortly afterward apprehended a criminal that was robbing a jewelry store after their little break on a rooftop. A couple of hours after that they went to 'train' in the forest just outside of the city before returning back to the city for another round of patrolling.

Back at Rumi's apartment, Hiroto was slightly depressed since he found out he didn't have enough money to purchase a game console but consoled himself knowing that after saving up some more he should be able to.

Sitting on the couch, the two merely chatted and watched the news for the day. What surprised Hiroto a bit was that his name cropped up, with a picture of him standing next to Rumi beside of a car wreckage next to 3 criminals they apprehended the day before.

"As you can see from this short crime spree, the Rabbit Hero Mirko is stood side by side with the 1st place winner of this year's U.A. Freshman Sports Festival, Hiroto Moriyama. After inquiring with some of our sources, we now know that he is currently gaining some more experience on the role of a Hero within our society as a part of U.A. High School's program. Not only that, this young man has also told us his Hero name, One Punch Man. Many people at the beginning scoffed at his name, but in the past few days, his moniker has stayed true with people only seeing him resulting in one move to subdue his opponents.

We look forward to seeing this young man's performance in the future and his eventual rise towards becoming a Pro Hero."

Rumi gave a sly grin and poke him with her foot, saying, "Well look at you, Mr. One Punch Man. You're becoming famous now, better not let it get to your head."

Hiroto swatted her foot away and said, "This was bound to happen at some point. Although, I didn't expect it to come so soon."

That was when his phone started to vibrate like crazy as hundreds of messages were bombarding his inbox from various people as they started to spam him.

"Better not keep your fans waiting." Rumi grinned as she headed to the kitchen to grab a carrot. Hiroto rolled his eyes and took out his phone. After scanning his fingerprint, the screen unlocked as he saw immediately that his inbox was already at 99+.

Hiroto sighed and clicked on the little mail icon. He then saw the names of all his classmates appear in his contacts list as they all sent him messages at the same time after the news report about him.

He also saw messages from his parents saying how handsome and cool he appeared on TV. After replying to some messages, Hiroto frowned at Mina's for a moment after reading what she had to say.

Mina - Did you see?! Someone already made a fansite about you! They're calling it the, 'One Punch Fans' page.

Hiroto - …

She also sent him a link, to which he clicked on it. The link took him to a website that had a banner at the top with Hiroto's face splattered across it. There were also numerous videos and photos of him during the Sports Festival as well as his recent public appearances during his patrol.

Leaning over the crouch behind him, Rumi glanced over his shoulder and said, "Ah, you have your own fansite now? Well, just make sure they don't start a cult or something."

"A cult?" Hiroto asked.

"Hey, you never know with these people," Rumi said, plopping down on the couch as she crunched on her carrot with her legs sprawled across Hiroto's ŀȧp without a care.

"Whatever you say," Hiroto said, shaking his head. However, when he scrolled down, he frowned even deeper when he saw someone drew his face onto an egg. Not only that, it was placed atop of a table that was surrounded by candles in a darkly lit room. The title of the post was…

[Pray to the great One Punch Man and he will bless you-]

*click*

Switching his phone off, Hiroto turned to Rumi with a stiff smile and said, "Maybe you're right this time."

Rumi's ears twitched as her head tilted with confusion. She merely shrugged and focused back on the TV, that was until Hiroto spoke up.

"By the way, for the next few days, do you mind if we patrol somewhere else?" Hiroto asked her.

"Huh?" Rumi sounded out, "Why? You find this city too boring for you?"

"Nothing like that. Just call it a gut feeling." Hiroto replied to her. "Do this for me, and I'll let you test out your new moves on me all you wa-"

"Deal."

"..."

......

The next day, Hiroto and Rumi continued their daily patrol and training until night approached. On this day, the two of them had just arrived at Hosu city at Hiroto's request.

Rumi turned to him and said, "I have a friend here who said that she'll lend us her place to crash for the next few days while she's out of town."

Hiroto nodded as the two were currently in their Hero costumes and immediately began their patrol of the city.

"Just don't forget your promise now," Rumi said as they began jumping from roof to roof.

"I won't. Besides, after this, I'm pretty sure you'll be thankful towards me." Hiroto said, causing her to tilt her head in confusion, but deciding to just concentrate on her surroundings with her exceptional hearing abilities.

"You still won't tell me why you wanted to come to Hosu city?" Rumi asked him.

"I told you, a gut feeling. Just consider it as a newly developed quirk." Hiroto replied back.

"Hah, since when did you become such a smartass," Rumi said with a wide grin.

Just as Hiroto was about to respond back, Rumi suddenly frowned as she came to an abrupt halt, turning her head towards a particular direction as her bunny ears started to twitch rapidly.

"What's wrong?" Hiroto asked her.

Rumi stayed silent for a moment, before grinning and turning to Hiroto, saying, "Well, looks like I'll have to thank your gut feeling since it looks like I'll get to have my fill of fighting people."

Hiroto narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to where Rumi was watching. He crossed his arms and thought to himself, 'Well, I thought it was going to happen tomorrow or the day tomorrow, but I guess it was today. It's not like I remembered what specific day the attack happened anyway. I won't have to deal with that guy, uhh, what was his name again? Shitstain? Doesn't matter, I'll just go and deal with the Nomu's. Besides, Rumi can cover for me if the police start hounding me afterward.'

Rumi then turned to Hiroto and said with a toothy grin, "Well, what are you waiting for? Looks like we got some people in need of a desperate beat down. Just make sure to leave some for me, will ya?"

Hiroto smiled and replied, "We'll see."