Blonde Blazer couldn't help but sigh. "This is for the best." She muttered as she thought about the last evening, the confused and hurt look Phenomaman gave her when she broke up. However, this had to happen. After the countless times she had asked whether they could just spend a normal evening, he still couldn't understand her. Just hearing what he saw in their future made it clear that they had incompatible ideas of what they want in life.
"This is for the best." She said again with more confidence this time. Of course, the breakup introduced some unknowns and a break from her normal routine, but with it, she could figure out what she wanted, who she wanted to spend her time with, and perhaps this time as Mandy and not as the blonde superhero.
With this thought, she glanced at the screen of her phone. Her front-facing camera was filming her mundane self. A normal brunette woman. Mandy locked her screen before glancing at the gem and the clothes in her bag. At least, this time, she wouldn't just leave it unattended inside her office. In hindsight, she hadn't thought straight that evening, too distracted by the absurdness of the situation and still wallowing in her self-pity.
Just thinking about what could have happened if she had been a bit unlucky that evening. What could she have done if someone else had stolen it? She doubted they would give it back willingly. Now, with her bag over her shoulder, she headed out of her office, locked it, and then took the stairs down.
It was 9 pm, and at this time most workers had already quit for the day. There was only the night shift. Most heroes didn't come back into the office regularly at night, but opted on patrolling instead. In truth, those patrolling heroes served mostly as an intimidation factor. Many heroes were on standby, ready to jump in once something overwhelmed the night shift. There was also the fact that all heroes could be called in for any catastrophe.
Glancing towards them revealed that the dispatcher responsible for the night was working on some paperwork, not noticing her leave. She didn't head out of the building, but walked into the basement. He should be there, right? Although he had invited her to visit him after his work hours, it was already a few hours later. It would be strange if he was still here. The only thing she could think of why he would still be here was that their sparring turned into a longer session. Yesterday evening, she had coincidentally seen that they had booked it for tonight as well.
Two days in a row was rather ambitious, as most heroes would sustain some minor injuries during their sessions. Having heard about the destruction during their sessions, she knew they didn't hold back much.
Fortunately, in the basement, she heard it: the sound of someone lifting weights. After walking closer, she saw someone else with headphones on. A hero on night shift, Thundersize. Before the disappointment could truly arise, the door to the changing rooms opened. Out of it stepped Jin. He looked surprised to see her before his expression relaxed into a smile.
"Hey." His voice came out soft and gentle. Although he had a kind and empathetic tone during the few times she had witnessed him addressing his team, there was a certain confidence and strength behind it. Now that had bled away for something softer. It seemed like he was pleasantly surprised that she took him up on his offer.
"Hey, indeed." She smiled slightly. "Didn't you tell me you worked until 5 pm? What are you still doing here?" He raised an eyebrow at her question.
"I had some sparring with my team and then worked out, showered, and changed." He said it so nonchalantly as if it didn't sound completely insane to anyone who knew the workload that came with the territory of a hero. The days were full of things to do, so a hero traveled several dozens of miles every day through the city before fighting someone or dealing with some stress-inducing hostage situation. To have the mind to not only spar but also train afterward was more than even enthusiastic heroes did.
"Do you have a moment to chat?" She asked, strangely nervous that he would decline, but he neither looked disinclined nor too exhausted to talk to her.
"Of course, do you mind if we go eat something? I really need something after my workouts."
"If you hadn't, I would have suggested it." Feeling relieved at his willingness. "Didn't have anything to eat since lunch. I could eat a horse." Embarrassingly, her stomach grumbled in that exact moment, which caused him to chuckle.
"You speak what's on my mind. It's a date then."
Most ability users had a heightened appetite. For Mandy, it was actually most cost-conservative to avoid eating as Blond Blazer- wait, did he say date? Her mind stopped in a screeching halt, while her body continued to follow next to his steps. She wasn't ready yet to be dating again! It was best to be single for a while to figure out what she actually wanted before trying to date again.
"Is Japanese fine? Oh, and don't worry, my treat." Mandy looked up, seeing they had already arrived at a nearby Japanese restaurant that was run by a family. She had visited this restaurant a couple of times. Their tempura sushi was great. The mother, who was simultaneously the receptionist and the waitress, glanced at her with suspicion. Hopefully, the woman wouldn't recognize her as Blonde Blazer. Fortunately, the older woman didn't seem eager to question her as she guided them to a corner spot before asking for their order.
Slightly anxious about getting exposed and not having the mind to think it through, she ordered something familiar, which seemed to have been the nail in the coffin as Mother Yuki suddenly smiled with recognition before winking at her with a, "Good choice, and what about your boyfriend?"
Before Jin could answer, Mandy interjected. "Oh, I'm single- I mean, we aren't together." What the hell was she saying? For some reason, her mouth was faster than her ability to think. He looked confused at her reaction before shrugging it off to order.
"…As for the food, I'll have the menu twice, please. Just keep it coming as I eat, no need to cook everything first." Mother Yuki didn't even seem fazed by the order and just wrote it down.
This close to SDN, she was used to heroes ordering inhuman amounts of food, but still, "The menu twice? That's a lot." Even as Blonde Blazer, she wouldn't eat as much.
"Well, I could eat a horse. Literally." He smirked, causing her to scoff lightheartedly at that. The tension she was feeling eased away as they just enjoyed the ambiance for a silent moment as the drinks arrived. The restaurant had a cozy feel to it, especially at night. The lights were bright enough not to be glaring at the night, while also not being super dim.
After taking a sip from his beer, he addressed her. "So, any progress with your work problem?"
"Kind of, I guess." She wiggled her hand. "I broke up with my boyfriend… we didn't see the same future." Her hand reached for the peach liqueur she had ordered.
"Breaking up with your boyfriend helped with your overtime issue?" He looked at her skeptically.
"Well, not entirely- he is a good guy, honestly, but he is… we worked in the same industry, and he kind of expected me to work overtime too."
"Sounds… kind of toxic."
"Well, he didn't say he expected that of me- he was doing it and thought we were the same, had the same ideal for the future, that we would still be doing this job until we grew old- he couldn't understand what I wanted, that I wanted more from life."
Although it was difficult to explain the details, she tried her best to make it make sense to someone who didn't know she was Blonde Blazer. After all, if he knew who she was… this situation would get complicated quickly, and if she was being honest, she was a bit afraid of what that revelation meant. She liked having someone interact with her for being Mandy. Besides, she knew that it wasn't a great idea to approach him as his boss…
"Sounds complicated."
A heavy sigh escaped her, "You have no idea."
The food started arriving at that point, and Mandy was able to see firsthand how much food Jin devoured. "You've got quite the appetite." She commented as she was barely able to keep up with the speed his hands were moving at. Despite having been together with Phenomaman, who was quite the foodie himself, it was a surprising sight.
"I'm always starving- well, not literally, but I can eat a lot before feeling full." He responded in between his bites, making her notice that he looked a lot… healthier. However, if he was regularly eating these amounts, which he had to since the cafeteria hadn't complained about leftovers, it was no wonder he gained significant weight. It was a wonder that he didn't seem to have gained much fat.
"You're the envy of all women on this planet." People would kill for this ability to eat whatever amount they wanted.
"It comes with my abilities. They demand a lot of food, and accordingly my hunger is that much more pronounced."
"I see. Why didn't you eat more previously then- Oh, right, you won't be able to remember." It was strange that she always forgot that point. The Jin in front of her acted like a completely different person, so that was how she saw him, not as someone who remembered only up to a few days ago.
"I have my theories." He started before finishing his soup. "It was probably mostly social conditioning. It's the way people look at me that makes me guess someone conscious of people's opinions would succumb to them. From the files Blonde Blazer gave me, Kohjin seemed to have had a rough childhood and was now trying to conform to society. A bully who would run away at the slightest notion of opposition. Sounds like someone who would cave in if people made fun of him for his eating habits or at least try to avoid eating in public."
Mandy remembered seeing him avoid the cafeteria, presumably because it was filled with heroes and dispatchers who didn't take shit from him. His explanation also made her self-conscious about the way she was watching him.
"I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable by staring." She couldn't help it. The way he ate was almost like a performance. It was exceedingly quick without being messy.
"No, no. Don't be. I like the way you're looking at me. It feels nice." A genuine smile appeared on his face, though he seemed too shy to look at her.
"Oh, wow." Although she had no mirror to see if she was blushing, she felt blood rush to her face. "...W-what's nice about it?" She stammered before covering up her embarrassment by taking a sip from her drink.
"Well, it looks like you're enjoying yourself without it feeling like you're put off by my eating. You look relaxed, which in turn relaxes me. And it's nice to just chill, you know?" His words resonated with her. Indeed, she felt relaxed around him despite only being the second evening that she was spending with him alone. It was the reason why she didn't want to risk revealing her identity to him just yet.
"Yeah, I know." Eating one of her sushi rolls with a bit of soy before supporting her head with her palm, just admiringly watching as he decimated the seemingly never-ending stream of food. "We talked a lot about me the last time. What about you? Anything troubling you? Or are you as perfect as you seem?" She asked as Mother Yuki filled up her glass again. For a split second, she wondered if it had been truly her third glass already despite only sipping, or was she subconsciously using her Blonde-Blazer-sips?
"I mean, I'm the hero, and you were the one troubled, so it makes more sense to talk about your issues, no?" He said as he wiped his slightly stained corner of the mouth. His comment made her look at him with a raised eyebrow.
"I thought you clocked out?"
Her question made him freeze for a moment before he nodded and smiled. "You're right. I'm just me, and you're just you. Two adults eating dinner with no mind to think about work, in need of a pleasant night." She hadn't realized it at that point, but that had been the correct response she was looking for.
"I'm saying this now, but I don't sleep on the first day." Not to mention, on the first day, it had been years since her last time. After all, Phenomaman and her were incompatible.
"Dang girl, I wasn't suggesting anything, just talking about a normal dinner, but I like where your head's at." He smirked cheekily as he drank deeply from his beer,
Although she hadn't tried it in a long time, she did her best to awaken the seductress in her that she hoped hid somewhere within her. "So, you wouldn't want to spend the night with me?"
"W-wargh" Cough cough Jin choked and started coughing violently.
"Oh- You okay?" She asked worriedly as he patted his chest, feeling slightly guilty, but also happy that he was this flustered about her attempt.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Half of his drink dripped down his chin, making her mind conjure up a dirty thought she tried to push away unsuccessfully as he wiped it away. "You wanted to know what I was troubled with, right?" Clearly opting to change the subject, Mandy let him off with a chuckle, which in turn made her realize that his ears had turned slightly red.
He turned away for a few breaths, seemingly organizing his thoughts before looking back at her with eyes of determination. It was captivating, like he was staring into her soul, making her heart skip a beat. "It's not that I'm troubled with it, but I have a goal I want to achieve, and for that I need to take extreme measures."
"What kind of goal?" She couldn't help but feel intrigued and simultaneously worried about the way he mentioned it.
"I don't just have problems remembering stuff, but I remember a different life where Saiyan wasn't just a name but the name of an alien race-" At that point, his watch started beeping. He glanced at it and turned it off.
"What was that?"
"Just a reminder that I'm supposed to go to sleep soon."
"Why do you have a reminder to sleep?" She asked, a bit perplexed.
"I'm full of energy." He started, "There is so much energy in me that I could probably go without sleep for several days. I need to remind myself that I can't be active the entire time and need sleep to recover better, which is what I'm struggling with. Not sleep, but… the past few days were chaotic, and even breathing feels surreal now, unreal, as if I wasn't living My life. So, I want to keep my sleep schedule… It's the only thing that's still normal." He showed a smile that he didn't seem to realize was quite brittle before shoveling his next bowl clean.
However, despite the strong front he was showing, it was obvious that it truly was a pain point for him. A superhero searching for a moment of normalcy- where had she witnessed that before, her mind ironically supplied. They truly were alike, and he didn't even know that she was struggling with something so similar. There was an impulse to tell him about her true situation, but she thought better of it. He needed a moment of normalcy, and that's what she wanted to give to him.
"It must be hard." She tried to show him that she understood him despite seemingly not being in the same situation. Her hand reached over the table, holding his in hers. Her thumb rubbed over the back of his hand. "A goal that needs extreme measures to achieve is probably opposed to being normal, right?"
"...They are, but once I achieve it, it will give me peace of mind-"
"And if it doesn't?"
"It will." His voice was filled with steel, a reassured confidence that this would be what would happen. This made her realize that he needed whatever he had set out to achieve. And he needed it to work for him since if it didn't… She just hoped that it would give him what he hoped it would.
"I… I'll cheer you on." He looked surprised at her support before smiling appreciatively.
There were clearly things left unsaid between them. The two left out some details, something they both seemed to have noticed, but despite that being the case, this was okay for them. After all, they had just met.
Hic up
"You good?"
Mandy nodded as she glanced down at her still full glass. "How is it still f-full?" Did she slur that last word? Questions filled her mind as her hand guided the glass to her lips, only for Jin to take it away from her.
"I think that's enough for today." She wanted to argue, but her mind thankfully convinced her against it and instead opted to pout at him, which made him chuckle and shake his head.
"Alright, you party pooper."
He laughed out loud, and she liked the sound of it.
...
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP
CLICK
It was rare for him to wake up with his alarm, even now as a Saiyan, but it was to be expected after having gone to bed two hours later than usual. Mandy and Sean had talked for quite a while afterward about small things they liked. Mostly food and what other spots they could visit.
He couldn't help but smile at that notion, and then a little voice reminded him that he might be insane. Some villain that dreamed of a life where he was good and made that his new persona, that everything he knew was made up and that even these new memories he created might just be an illusion. It didn't feel like it, as he usually had a pretty solid idea of who he was, not some lunatic that didn't have a grasp on reality. Not some loser or lunatic that dreamed about having the powers of a fictional character… but here he was, faced with a completely different world and superpowers. He couldn't be sure whether he could trust his own senses anymore.
He groaned into the pillow. It didn't take even a few seconds without something distracting him before his existential dread drilled into his happy thoughts. However, at least he could look forward to something that wasn't training. With his tight schedule, he had doubted he would meet someone, and truthfully, he hadn't been looking for ways to befriend anyone outside of work, so he considered himself lucky to be able to chat with Mandy. Perhaps something more would come out of it.
It usually wasn't his style to date people from his work, especially now that he was forced to work for SDN until he wasn't considered someone with a criminal record any longer. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure whether anyone from work was actually interested in him.
Malevola was a flirt, but he doubted that interest she showed was genuine or long-term. Coupé and Punch Up seemed to have a history, and he wasn't sure whether that was finished, but most of the time some lingering feelings would persist, so he didn't want to approach that with a ten-foot pole. Besides, Coupé looked like she just needed a good friend, which also applied to Visi. She had eased him into the job, so he was grateful to her, coupled with her being a tease-
At that moment, he received a message. He unlocked the screen and saw that the message came from Stacy. Although she had asked the team not to contact her for the next week, he figured wishing her well and that he would be open to lend her an ear over text would be fine.
It didn't feel too overbearing while showing that someone cared for her well-being. Just knowing about her past made it hard to know what she felt hearing what her teammate was involved in after she was opening up to them, someone she should hate. Sean was sure that she had imagined what the person would be like, what she would say or do to them.
His eyes widened a bit in surprise as he opened her messages. The first one was rather mundane about some interesting sights in this new city, like a laboratory studying spiders. However, the second one was what took Jin's attention away. A selfie at the beach with the caption that she was trying her best to process everything and just wanted to take her mind off of things. It sounded like an invitation, especially with the picture showing her off in a bikini. The fuck was going on? He expected her to be down or pissed, but this… He didn't know she had abs… Technically, she wasn't a coworker anymore either…
"You'll do fine if you enjoy life a little, meet up with friends, spend some time thinking about what you want from life, and don't forget to reach out for help whenever you need it." It was best for her to find some professional help, but he didn't want to be too preachy, and besides, sometimes a good friend was all someone needed in this situation. As for the suggested subtext of that picture and caption, he decided not to assume.
Still, it was something he had to consider. His sigh was muffled by his hands as he tried to think how best to handle a grieving person who most likely was throwing themselves at him, for what? Stress relief?
It felt like every person around him was carrying lots of baggage with them, but he figured that was to be expected. Life was difficult to navigate as it was even without superpowers thrown into the mix.
It wasn't like he was any better. Here he was, spending too much of the morning on possible relationships with women that showed some inkling of interest.
"Indeed. I don't have time for this." It was like his mind finally woke up from the land of dreams and fantasies. Once again, his inner voice of reasoning reminded him of what it would take to achieve what he had set out to, how much it would set him back if he didn't grind every day until he got what he wanted. Everything else had to take second place. Perhaps once he finished everything he set out to do that day, he had earned himself some leisure, but until then he needed to prioritize.
With that, he levitated with his blanket on him. His body shifted until he stood in the air with the blanket dropping onto his bed. A wave of his hand released a wave of telekinetic force that smoothed out his bed. Telekinesis wasn't difficult to master after figuring out where the switch was.
For the most part, he used it for mundane things, to use it every day and turn it into something he could use instinctively instead of having to focus on it. Just using it to move stuff felt exceedingly extravagant and satisfying. As for flying, after having - sort of - done it, it was also quite easy. It was like he just needed to figure it out once or see it once, then he could figure out the rest himself.
Obviously, it had to do with the fact that he was Saiyan and not his own genius. If it just needed a prodigy to learn these things, then there would have been more formidable eastern practitioners than what he had seen online.
With a burst of motivation, he did everything he needed to survive the day. A healthy dose of nutrition in the morning, followed by a training session in his dojo, where he learned to restrain himself better before arriving at work.
The day continued with an expected boring workload of written tickets, which were designated as trivial. A mission alone, then another one with Malevola, after which they headed to the hospital and healed a few people until he was barely able to stand anymore. The fact that he could use his Ki in the beginning phase of the wound transfer made it easy to dial the gravity of the injuries, so he wouldn't bleed out immediately while maximizing the damage on his entire body. Even Malevola seemed a bit worried about him, constantly asking whether he truly was fine.
But he couldn't feel any better. After their spar, and now two days later, he had fully recovered, and his strength had increased massively. It completely dwarfed his growth since he had woken up in this world. It reminded him of a video he had watched where it explained that Zenkai Boosts came from the Saiyan adapting to the threat by either sensing it through Ki or by the amount of Ki needed to withstand the threat, for example, the gravity chamber.
In other words, 'Power comes in response to a need, not a desire. You have to create that need.' Indeed, and with his gravity chamber still being a work in progress and the wound transferal coming without an active threat, he needed someone strong to face. Without having witnessed it beforehand, he could have excused not approaching him, but now that he knew how strong he was, there was only one possible solution.
He needed to confront Phenomaman.