Mizuki and I headed out on our first joint patrol the very next day. The ordinary routine of any hero began with exactly that — patrol. First the surroundings of your own home, then the neighborhood, the city, and so on, as far as willingness and strength allowed.
Since both my partner and I lived in City Z — renowned for its high frequency of monster appearances — I expected a fairly quick encounter. However, our first "heroic deeds" consisted of helping old ladies cross the road, breaking up a street brawl, and catching a guy with speed-based abilities who had stolen something from an electronics store. In short — nothing interesting. That sort of thing was usually handled by C-Class heroes, but since we were nearby, we decided not to neglect our civic duty either.
Due to the fact that there hadn't been a single monster sighting report in half a day, Mizuki and I spent quite a lot of time talking. I learned that I could easily have seen her on television or online, had I spent time on that instead of training at the dojo. After all, the gold medals around her neck weren't just props — they were quite real awards. The girl had competed in the local Olympics twice and taken gold in individual disciplines a total of four times.
Although she considered one of those medals undeserved, since her main rival at the time had dropped out due to injury — which was why she only wore three of the four medals.
And even after our very first chase of a criminal, I realized that Mizuki clearly had no business being in B-Class. The third-ranked B-Class hero had also joined us in that pursuit, and he lagged noticeably behind my partner — losing to her not only in speed, but also in the aura I sensed from him. The conclusion was obvious: either the guy had reached the top of his class without earning it, or the athlete had been placed here for future growth — since her actual strength would have easily placed her somewhere in the middle of A-Class, or thereabouts.
When I asked her directly about it, Mizuki simply smiled and shrugged — she clearly didn't care much about her number or rank. Well, she was growing on me more and more... and just as I had begun carefully steering our conversation toward open flirting — which the girl was, it must be said, actively encouraging — an urgent alert signal lit up on both our communication devices at the same time.
"Yes?" — raising the phone to my ear, I immediately switched to speaker. "Garou and Captain Mizuki, on the line."
"Excellent!" — the operator's voice came through the receiver. "Heroes, a monster known as Genie the Fighter has been spotted in the northern part of City Z. He has a Tiger threat level, which means—"
"That this is a creature that endangers the lives of a large number of people. Yes, I remember." — realizing that the person speaking to me apparently had my personal file and had taken me for a rookie — which, technically, was accurate — I briefly waved him off. "Send us the coordinates, we're on our way."
"Transmitting now." — the voice came simultaneously with a soft beep as a large red dot appeared on the built-in map. "This is where the monster was spotted a few minutes ago. An A-Class hero is already en route, but your assistance may also be needed. Good luck!"
"An A-Class hero is working there?!" — Mizuki made a few quick leg movements, obviously warming up for the upcoming run. "It would be great to watch a pro in action!"
"Only if we get there before he finishes." — estimating the location indicated by the operator, I gave a quiet sigh. "No offense, but you're somewhat slower than me — how do you feel about me carrying you?"
"Huh?" — freezing in bewilderment, the girl suddenly turned red. "Um, you know, I have quite a lot of muscle, so... well... I'm quite... quite heavy..."
"The main thing is don't kick." — smirking in response, genuinely charmed by such an amusing reaction, I closed the distance abruptly and before my partner could say another word, scooped her up under the knees and back.
True enough, Mizuki was extremely heavy for a girl — but certainly not for someone like me. Especially since, when we're not talking about excess weight in the form of fat, there should be plenty of a good person to go around.
So, barely noticing my "cargo," I pushed off from the ground and shot forward. Or rather, first upward — onto the roof of the nearest building — and then forward. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally run straight through some guy's girlfriend and thereby set off a whole chain of terrible revenge against all superheroes at once...
Moving across the rooftops, on the other hand, was genuinely very convenient. Thanks to the old man's techniques, my incredibly fast movements and leaps didn't leave small craters or any other destruction in their wake. And yet the speed was still close to my maximum. And even so... I managed to arrive late.
No — when Mizuki and I reached the scene, the monster was still there. As was the A-Class hero who had been dispatched to eliminate him. A large bald man in a prehistoric man's outfit, wielding a chain as his weapon. The problem was simply that right now this same hero was lying on the ground in the middle of a small depression — just about his own size — and was quite clearly in no condition to continue fighting.
"Oh man. He's already been beaten? That fast?!" — voicing my own thoughts aloud, Mizuki reached for the medals around her neck. "Garou, we're going to have to try really hard not to lose!"
"OH! MORE HEROES?!" — the monster, who until now had been looming threateningly over the defeated hero, noticed our arrival on the roof of the nearest three-story building. He looked like a four-armed muscular bruiser with hair sticking out from under a boxing helmet and fists wrapped in white tape. "I'M GENIE THE FIGHTER AND I DON'T RECOGNIZE EITHER OF YOU! WHAT CLASS ARE YOU? ACTUALLY, I DON'T CARE, AHAHAHAHAHA! MY POWER SINCE BECOMING A MONSTER HAS LONG SURPASSED ANYTHING HUMAN. I'LL EASILY GRIND YOU AND THIS ENTIRE CITY TO DUST! WELL THEN, DON'T KEEP ME WAITING — COME AND DIE BY MY FIST!"
Looking down at the monster below, I felt a mild disappointment. First, he was talking nonsense like a cartoon villain. Yes, that was fairly typical of monsters — especially those who hadn't been born that way but had once been human. Still, it was irritating. But even more unpleasant was the fact that the four-armed boxer's aura betrayed him as a weakling...
"Hey, base, come in." — keeping my eyes on him, I raised the phone to my mouth. "We're on site. Your hero, if that is indeed him, has already been defeated."
"What?" — an alarmed voice immediately came through the speaker. "A-Class hero Kong the Heavyweight is defeated? Are you certain? In that case, retreat immediately — the monster's threat level will be elevated to Demon, which means—"
Quickly exchanging a glance with Mizuki, I hung up. Obviously, neither of us had any intention of retreating.
"Can you blow this for me?" — completely unexpectedly, Mizuki tossed me a small whistle, simultaneously pulling a relay baton from her belt. And stepping right to the edge of the roof.
"?!"
"It helps me get into the right mindset." — turning to meet my bewildered gaze, she explained with a smile. "Please..."
Shrugging, and even forgetting that I had planned to offer to handle the monster myself while she checked on the downed hero, I blew the whistle.
In the next instant, Mizuki had already leaped high into the air. At first it seemed to both me and the monster below that the heroine was planning to come crashing down on him from above. However, with about four meters still left before reaching the ground, my partner suddenly grabbed the relay baton with both hands — and it instantly extended, transforming into a proper pole vault pole. Vaulting over the surprised boxer and landing behind him, Mizuki tore one of her medals from around her neck.
"And the first event..." — the gold medal grew in size and transformed into a real throwing disc with sharpened edges. Winding up properly, the girl immediately sent it flying. "Discus throw!"
Moving noticeably faster than a bullet — by about a factor of one and a half — the disc easily covered the distance between it and the turning monster, and nearly struck him in the stomach. Nearly, because the boxer thrust one of his arms out to meet the projectile and fully absorbed the force of the throw, sending the former medal crashing into the asphalt at his feet.
Mizuki, however, was already running straight at the monster, very nearly overtaking the disc she had just launched herself. The pole in her hands extended even further and, colliding with the monster, gave him the faintest wobble. That wasn't the attack, though — my partner had simply pushed off from a new pivot point and was airborne again. Now the pole shrank in size and acquired a sharp tip. The javelin throw happened a moment later. This time Mizuki's throw was far more effective. The spear's tip pierced the monster's arm clean through and even pinned it to the ground. The only problem was that the boxer still had three other limbs. So when, continuing her assault, the girl attempted to engage him in close quarters — apparently aiming for a grapple — she was met with a blow to the body.
Flying some twenty meters down the street, Mizuki skidded across the asphalt another five or so before stopping and rising back onto shaking legs. It was clear that despite relatively minor injuries, she had lost this fight. What could I say — exactly as I had thought, her strength was at A-Class level, no question. She had managed to put up real resistance against a Demon-level monster, and unlike her colleague, had even wounded him. And yet, according to the Association's official guidelines, eliminating a Demon-level monster required approximately ten A-Class heroes... good thing there's such a magnificent me here, right?
Having finished evaluating my partner's combat skills and checking on the previously defeated hero — he would live, but a hospital stay was in order — I stepped between the retreating Mizuki and the monster already heading in her direction.
"AH! YOU'RE STILL HERE!" — laughing, Genie the Fighter swung at me with several arms at once. Three, to be precise — he wasn't using the injured one. "YOU HAVE THE AURA OF A FIGHTER! WELL THEN! DO YOU THINK YOU CAN STAND AGAINST ME, HUMAN?! I—"
The monster didn't get to finish his ranting. Using the Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist style, I elegantly deflected and redirected the first blow aimed at me — straight back into his face.
Setting aside old man Bang and judging purely by raw physical strength, this monster was the strongest opponent I had faced. But even if he were ten times stronger, I could still deflect his strike and remain completely unharmed. A style built on defense and counterattack was the perfect weapon against mindless but powerful idiots like this... though the boxer was obviously not ten times stronger than himself. And so with my next motion of the right hand, I not only deflected the blows from all the remaining fists, but also delivered one of my own — which proved to be both the first and the last the monster would ever receive.
With his head caved in, he collapsed onto the asphalt at my feet.
"Well... I definitely expected something more from a Demon-level monster... or maybe his rating was undeserved after all?... damn, this threat assessment system is so hard to work with... no real specifics at all..."