One Punch Man: Heroics Start with Dual Kamui

"Did I really see that right? Tanktop Tiger and Tanktop Black Hole both lost just like that?"

"They got completely crushed. The Tanktop Brothers didn't even get the chance to fight back!"

"This is bad. We really underestimated him. What if he holds a grudge against us now...?"

"..."

After a long silence, the crowd erupted into gasps of disbelief.

"Incredible! Even a B-Class hero like Tanktop Black Hole didn't stand a chance!"

Even Mumen Rider looked visibly shaken.

"That's why I told you not to worry about me," Shinji said calmly.

"You were right. I overthought it," Mumen Rider admitted, scratching his head awkwardly.

"There's nothing else going on here now, so I'll head out," Shinji said as he turned and walked away. Tanktop Tiger and Tanktop Black Hole were still lying on the ground, and whoever wanted to deal with them was free to do so.

---

The fridge still had enough ingredients, so Shinji didn't bother going shopping. As soon as he stepped through the door, Saitama appeared like clockwork.

"What's for lunch today? Still got any beef left?" Saitama asked.

These days, eating meat—especially beef—had become a luxury for him, and he was still thinking about that delicious beef curry from the night before.

"There's still half left from yesterday. I'll stir-fry the rest in a bit," Shinji replied.

"Nice. I'll leave it to you then," Saitama said.

This time, he had even brought over all the leftover ingredients and seasonings from his place, clearly planning to cook alongside Shinji.

Half an hour later, the two of them were sitting at the table having lunch, casually chatting while eating.

"Isn't this area rumored to have a lot of strong monsters? Aren't you afraid?" Saitama asked mid-bite.

Though he had dismissed those rumors long ago—having lived here for a while and only ever running into weaklings he could defeat with one punch—the rest of the world still believed in them. Until now, he had never had a neighbor. And not just any neighbor, but one who let him mooch off his cooking.

"It's not too bad. I am a hero after all. If I'm scared of monsters, then I'm not doing my job properly," Shinji answered naturally.

"Oh? You're a hero too? That's a crazy coincidence! I'm also a hero, just for fun. Not only neighbors but colleagues too, huh? Hahaha," Saitama said with a grin. "Hero" was his favorite word, and it lit him up every time.

"You must be pretty strong then. Seems like you've lived here even before I moved in. Those powerful monsters must've had no chance against you," Shinji said casually.

"Well, I'm alright, I guess."

Saitama replied humbly, waving it off. "Honestly, those rumors are fake. There aren't any strong monsters around here. Just a bunch of small fries you can take out without trying. So don't worry about the safety of this place."

"...Yeah, yeah."

Shinji nearly laughed. It wasn't that the monsters were weak—it was just that Saitama was absurdly strong. But he couldn't let that show. He had to act clueless about Saitama's true power or it might raise suspicion.

---

That afternoon, Shinji headed out again and began performing blind jumps using his Kamui space. The way his teleportation worked, he had to move from Point A into the Kamui dimension, and then emerge at Point B. The catch was, if Point B was somewhere he hadn't visited before, he couldn't land there precisely. It wasn't like plugging coordinates into a GPS and instantly appearing where he wanted.

If he wanted to go somewhere unfamiliar, the only option was to use blind teleportation. But the destination? That was completely random. Still, that didn't make the technique useless. For instance, if he randomly teleported into City A, then from that point on he could warp there with pinpoint accuracy. It was exactly like unlocking fast travel points in a game.

So now, Shinji was randomly "activating" teleportation nodes across all the cities.

[Alert! Host has arrived in City Y for the first time. Reward: 2 points!]

When he landed from the first blind jump, he had no idea where he was. Fortunately, the system updated him instantly.

In the world of One Punch Man, there were over twenty cities, each labeled with a letter from A to Z. Usually, cities with adjacent letters were also located near each other. City Y, for example, bordered City Z.

But hold on... he was getting points for this too?

That lit a fire in him. Without hesitation, Shinji jumped back into the Kamui space and began blind jumping again.

Next stop...

[Alert! Host has arrived in City G for the first time. Reward: 2 points!]

...

[Alert! Host has arrived in City H for the first time. Reward: 2 points!]

At one point, Shinji nearly got himself killed. He accidentally teleported into the mouth of an active volcano. Beneath him was a bubbling sea of molten lava. He barely managed to react in time and leaped back into the Kamui space, escaping with his life.

After several more blind jumps, his mental energy was nearly exhausted. And that was with his stamina stat already at 43. If this had been back when he first got the system, just a few jumps would've knocked him out cold.

[Points: 22]

Shinji glanced at his system panel. With 22 points currently available, it was time to level up.

[Alert! Host has exchanged for "Stamina +12". 12 points deducted. Remaining points: 10.]

[Alert! Host has exchanged for "Hashirama Cells ×1". 10 points deducted. Remaining points: 0.]

[Stamina +12]

[Hashirama Cells +1]

[Stamina: 55]

[Hashirama Cells: 2]

Right now, Shinji's strategy was to prioritize stamina, keeping Hashirama Cells as a secondary focus. Not that there was anything else on the list he could trade for yet.

With that settled, he headed home to rest. Tomorrow, he planned to continue his blind-hopping routine across the cities.

---

The next morning, before he went off to blindly explore and farm more points, there was something important he had to deal with first—the Hero Association's interview.

The evaluation was scheduled at the Z-City branch, where several members of the committee would conduct what they called the "Examination Conference."

Shinji was escorted by staff to a wide, empty room. The space was plain and sterile, with nothing on the walls and no decorations to soften the atmosphere.

Next to him stood a chair, and across from it was a long table where four evaluators in suits were seated. Among them was the dark-skinned woman he had seen the day before.

"First of all, congratulations on becoming the top-ranked C-Class hero," said the man in the center.

"Next, about your hero codename—headquarters has already come up with one for you." He paused, then added, "Red Eyes Man."

Shinji nearly blacked out right then and there. The name blindsided him completely.

Could they really not come up with something better? He would rather die a thousand more times after being pounded by Tatsumaki than use that name.

This was his worst-case scenario, and it had happened exactly as he feared. Clearly, the people in charge of naming were using their toes instead of their brains.

"Please don't..." Shinji said, already sweating. "Can I apply to change it?"

"Not satisfied?" the man in the suit asked calmly. "It hasn't been officially finalized yet, so you can apply for a change. Once it's confirmed, though, it becomes permanent."

"Then I'd like to request [Kamui] as my hero name," Shinji said without hesitation.