Fire

5

Love, friendship, loyalty, revenge, fear, confidence, trauma was part of Genos.

He had no qualms when he was fighting, none of these feelings overpowered him when he was fighting but when he was alone at night, it’s a different story. Some days Genos felt like punching his way through a hundred monsters, and some days he felt like eating ice cream while sitting in the park watching grass grow, that’s to describe how he sometimes felt torturous and other times calm. all kinds of emotion ran through him when he was alone. He was coming to terms with his present state, still on the prowl for the rampaging cyborg who had killed his family, but while at it still able to pick a rose and smell it.

It’s been nine months since the Battle Of Monsters. The Hero Association had invited Genos and Sonic to the rebuilt cities as part of their campaign towards a better world. Genos heard from Metal Bat through e-mail that the Hero Association’s campaign theme was ‘Love will conquer all’. Love was what made them protect the city and he had grown to love his Saitama-sensei and fellow heroes.

Love was a thing which was part of friendship, even friendship had levels of depth. Genos wondered what was his and Sonic’s friendship level of friendship, was there love involved. He had been having many thoughts about the lady ninja ever since the battle. Saitama had said something about Sonic and him needing each other and that Genos needed to experience life for awhile. Smelling the rose, saitama had said. Genos had clung to Saitama’s word though he could easily disobey his sensei and followed Fubuki and her gang, and Saitama to the west where the Monsters were believed to have fled.

So it was time to attend the opening of the new city, it was a lavish affair but the new Mayor of each city which was rebuilt said that it would be a symbolic uprisal of a new spirit for the cities and the citizens. There would always be monsters, they could be quashed again and again, so rebuilding the emotional and unified strength of the people was also a continuous work.

Genos was thinking of visiting Dr Kuseno after the opening, Sonic had some other errand to run but they have agreed to meet for lunch around 12. Dr Kuseno’s old laboratory was destroyed. So after the Battle, Dr Kuseno had moved farther down the rural area and build a temporary lab for his robotics work.

Now, Genos was lying silently, letting his physical metal body rest while Dr Kuseno measured his brain waves. The doctor had wanted to check his ‘son’s’ mental state after seeing a smiley Genos. There was none of the serious, stoic Genos. As a scientist the doctor was first evidence based and wanted an imagery of Genos’s brain activity before he began prodding the young man for information. Dr Genos had shown Genos video clips from the Battle of Monsters and Genos had reacted properly to it.

“Everything looked normal Genos, I am really awed. You responded well to the stimulants.”

Genos opened his eyes and Dr Kuseno proceeded to detach the various wires he had connected to Genos. Being freed from his wire shackles, Genos got up and sat on the bed.

“I think it might be something about being receptive of my fate. There’s me and the present, and…my new life.”

Genos smiled. Dr Kuseno looked at the metal young adult and moved to the coat rack to get Genos his jacket. “Now that we are done, why don’t you run along. Don’t you have a lunch date? I have a meeting with Duchess Zeta at her palace. We can adjourn the analysis tomorrow.”

Genos got up and grabbed his jacket while bowing to the doctor. “Yes, but I am still early. I will see you again doctor. Thank you. I will miss you,” Genos smiled.

Dr Kuseno too smiled and reached for the taller man to hug him. He was beginning to consider naming Genos his heir who will inherit a few of his possessions. Dr Kuseno had many assets and land and he had been thinking of donating them all to the Government, but he was also thinking of Genos. He knew he had loved the boy more than a teacher loved a student. He wanted to boy to have something of his when he eventually leave the world.

Genos patted Dr Kusenos shoulders and said, “I would like to take my friend to the Seafood House in West Street. I heard they have opened a branch in town, so no need to travel by train to get there. I wish Saitama was here so we could all catch up.”

Genos wore his jacket, which was custom made to fit his enormous metal hands. Sonic had picked the design and Genos just went along.

Dr Kuseno let go of Genos and led the cyborg to the door. “Ah, I almost forgot.”

Genos looked on as the doctor went to a shelf to retrieve a pair of still price tagged gloves. Here’s a pair for you and a pair for her.

“Thank you doc,”

“Ok now. Take care and see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you doctor, you too take care.”

Genos flew halfway to save time, and walked halfway to meet Sonic at a park situated at the fringes of the forest. The lady ninja was sitting on a wooden bench, and reading a manga she had found in Genos’ diary box. Genos could easily recognise  the nin since she was wearing a purple muffler around her neck to combat the cold. The rest of her clothes were black.

“Ready?” he asked.

Sonic tilted up to look at him for a second and commented, “This manga uses exaggerated female body parts as an attraction, I wonder how many have wanked using this.”

“That’s not a proper thing to ponder about,” Genos said, if he could blush he would have blushed.

“Where are we dining?” Sonic asked as she pulled her bag from the space beside her to let Genos sit.

“West Street, Seafood House. Ever been to one?” Sonic moved to the empty space Sonic had made for him.

Sonic, paused for thought and suddenly whipped around using her super speed to land on the other side of Genos and said, “Nope.”

“You are faster, have you been working out?” Genos asked as he turned to his other side to look at Sonic.

“Maybe,” Sonic answered. “Come on, I am starving. I would need to buy new reading material, your Diary were too wordy and this manga is sexist.”

Genos was made to get up as Sonic pulled him along with her. “You read my diary?”

“They aren't really your deepest thought, just a day by day post of Saitama’s daily schedule, likes and notes, all I have seen when I was stalking him.”

Genos laughed, he had been a Saitama stalker too, way before he met Sonic and just before Saitama agreed to let Genos be his apprentice.

“So, are we walking or flying there?” Sonic asked as she hid her hands in her parka’s pocket.

Genos seeing Sonic, quickly reached for the girl’s hands and wrapped it in his metal hands. He used his inner warmth to help Sonic’s hand get warm.

“Maybe I should just hug you then, all the way to the restaurant,” Sonic teased.

Genos smiled. He let go of Sonic’s hand and then remembered the gift Dr Kuseno had given him just a half hour ago.

“Here, the doctor gave this to you.”

Sonic didn’t wear his since he has inner thermostat.

“Hmmm, perfect,” Sonic said as she pushed her hand into the purple and black striped gloves. Then she noticed that the price tag was still attached, “I forgot the price tags, aha.”

Sonic bit into the plastic tie which secured the tags to the gloves. She crumpled the tag and kept then in her pockets. Genos who had been looking at her was marvelled at Sonic’s simple gesture to not litter her trash everywhere. His eyes searched around for a trashcan and found one.

“There’s a trashcan over there, let me throw those tags out for you.”

Sonic smiled and clapped her hands gleefully. “That’s nice of you.”

Genos blinked hard at Sonic’s girlish attitude. It was rare for the girl to act like this. Genos needed to know why she was acting abnormal, but now they needed to rush to the restaurant before the lunchtime crowd comes along.

“Come on, let’s walk all the way there. It’s only 3 km away.”

Sonic skipped into the restaurant with a spring in her steps. She had noticed that Genos had a look of surprise when she had clapped her hands at his offer to throw her trash away. She had acted abnormally girlish just to get a reaction from him, and Genos had given her what she wanted. After half an hour, he was still looking at her suspiciously. Of course Sonic chose to ignore him.

“So here we are, Seafood House. Ahh.. those are cute little crabs they had in place of the small a,” Sonic commented.

Genos looked up and saw that the signboard had a crab in place of the a in the word Seafood. He smiled at that and then gestured for Sonic to enter. “After you miss.”

“Such a gentleman,” Sonic replied and entered the premise. She chose the farthest table inside, at a nook of the restaurant and began taking off her outerwear. She unzipped her parka and hung it over the back of a chair. Then she took off her new gloves and stuffed them in her bag. Genos only then noticed that Sonic had been carrying a little sling back which she wore inside her parka. The bag was shaped like a cat’s head.

Genos on the other hand only took off his jacket and folded it. He wasn’t sure where to put the jacket since there were only three seats placed at the table.

“Here, hang it over my jacket,” Sonic told him and immediately took Genos’ jacket and unfolded it. She draped the jacket over her own parka.

Genos only sat when Sonic was seated. Sonic smiled at Genos and the cyborg replied with a frown and smiling confused face.

“Now, let’s call the waiter. Why they don’t just put a menu on each table, I don’t know.”

Genos who had been here ample times, quickly pushed a button on the table and a ding was heard over the restaurant.

“Oh, they got some kind of a notification system,” Sonic mumbled before she pulled her chair to sit closer to Genos.

“Anyway, were you here often. WIth Saitama I guess?” Sonic asked Genos.

“Not really, I’ve been here with the other Hero but never Saitama. We planned to come here but then the Battle happened,” Genos explained.

“Oh,” Sonic said. Now she was surprised that the cyborg did spend time away from his sensei.

“Have you heard about Saitama, where he’s been, is that esp brat treating him well? I kind of miss him, I mean challenging him.”

Genos arched his brows and then said, “If you wanted someone to challenge, I can beat your ass anytime.”

“Bring it on then,” Sonic said. Unlike before the war, Sonic would have meant the words full of spite. But now she had images of her running 10km per day  and doing push ups like Saitama to regain her power.”

“On another note, I’d rather train in my own self if you are planning to use Saitama’s work out. I don’t want to lose my hair forever, once was enough. Sonic still remembered the day Genos cut his topknot though it was a year ago. She paused and flicked her gaze at Genos with a sneer, Genos grimaced.

“No worries, we are even,” Sonic said and then ignored Genos’s pained reaction. In truth since Genos had saw Sonic dead with his own eyes and then started treating the ninja decently, while the ninja had treated the hero like friends, Sonic was no longer sore about his cut hair.

The waiter soon arrived and handed them their menus, a pen and a clip file with an order form.

“So, we write our order here and then we go to the counter to give them these?” Sonic said and she began reading the contents of the order form.

Genos looked at Sonic’s way and then handed her a menu. “We write down the orders and then call them using the button. It’s like a regular restaurant but the only thing different is that they don’t write the orders for us.”

Sonic nodded and without looking at Genos, she flipped open the menu. The first thing she saw was what she was ordering.

“That’s all, what are you having Genos?”

Sonic placed the pen and order form on the table and untied her hair. Her dark hair, purplish when it bounced the lights of the restaurant was already shoulder length. Sonic planned to lwt it grow till it reach her waist.

“Roasted crab, menu number C17.”

Sonic swept her straight hair to one side and got back to writing down the menu. “Drink?”

“It’s already in the set,” Genos said. He was busy eyeing Sonic while the ninja was writing down on the order form.

“You like my hair like this,” Sonic suddenly looked up from writing their orders to look at Genos.

Genos spluttered, “Ahh, I’m just noticing how long your hair are now.”

“Yes, it’s been a year and a half since I started regrowing it.”

“Well, I think I should get you an apology gift for cutting your beautiful hair.”

Sonic looked away, she was moved by Genos saying that her hair was beautiful. She had always known that she had great hair, but no one ever praised it like this. Sonic, being the bitch she was decided to flirt with Genos. She smirked and looked back at Genos.

“Mr Cyborg, here’s the orders. If you could call the waiter now. I am starving.”

Genos ding donged for the waiter and the orders were carried out to the kitchen.

“Have you a girlfriend Genos?” Sonic said, she had made sure that no one was sitting around them. She wanted Genos to feel comfortable. Anyway the lunch crowd would arrive a little later, so for now they were left in privacy.

Genos felt her hand creeping up his metal arm. “You being like this should have attracted a lot of fan girls. Even I have fan girls, and I am a girl.”

Sonic traced Genos’s metal arm with her fingers from his elbow to his wrist. When she reached his wrist she squeezed it tightly and then released it.

Genos felt something creeping in him, it wasn’t discomfort, it was nice though it was ticklish. If he had hair they would stand now. Sure, he had seen her as a rodent when she had been snooping around Saitama asking him to challenge her. But this touch, it was more than friendly and Genos wondered since when did Sonic decided to be touchy feely like this. Genos didn’t think he should ask Sonic about it since maybe she had an epiphany about bneing more girl and less ninhja on a public setting.

Sonic looked up as a couple entered and sat at a table not far from them. Genos checked his watch and it was already 1.10 pm, meant that the couple was part of the lunch crowd.

“I realized that but having fangirls wouldn’t help me fight evil. They were great as part of my public image but apart from that they are annoyances especially when they stalk me and take selfies during a fight.”

“Hmmm,” Sonic said. “Tell me about it. I have some fan boys but whenever they are around I fled before they could ask for a selfie. So damn irritating. I once had one fan boy who started trying to hug me and wanting to kiss me, luckily it was trying and  wanting and not the actual thing.”

Genos thought if he started being touchy feely with Sonic, world Sonic punch him or start dismantling his metal body with her hidden kunai. He knew she must be hiding a kunai somewhere in her baggy attire. Sure Sonic had started with the touches today but he had heard somewhere that touches does not mean a girl wanted to be touched back. Genos had that in bold letters in his mind. It was one thing him being fondled by his rabid fan girls, it was another him touching a girl back without a clear consent. Genos began to think that starting relationship was quite a tricky thing to start.

Genos wondered if Sonic would ask him for a selfie. He thought he was becoming her fan boy, but he wouldn’t admit that just now.

Then Sonic took her phone out and adjusted it. “Genos, let’s take our first selfie before the food arrives.”

Sonic then got up a few inches and leaned over the younger man. She reached for a hand over Genos shoulder and squished the metal boy into her side. Genos was astounded when he was being quashed into Sonic’s side breasts. It was soft, he could tell just that.

Genos instantly blushed as Sonic angled the camera for the best lighting and angle. She was done after a few takes. Sonic let go of Genos and before she sat down again, she looked at Geno's and pulled a few of his bangs aside.

“There you bangs looked a little more orderly now.” Sonic nonchalantly checked her phone for the pictures which she had taken. “Do you want me to send any to you?”

Genos just nodded. He knew what he had been feeling all this while, he liked Sonic a tiny bit. Genos wanted to like Sonic a tiny bit more and he was finding himself wanting more of Sonic touches.

“Hey Genos, you got some dirt on your face, I only noticed it now. It wasn’t showing on the selfies.. Here’s a tissue, wipe it.”

Genos took the tissue from Sonic and noticed that the ninja was checking his face. Then Sonic laughed, “Ah, how could you wipe it, there’s no mirror here. I think I have a wet tissue pack here.”

Sonic turned the other way to get her bag and got out a pack of wet tissues. She turned around and began peering closer to Genos’s face. Her breaths fanning Genos’s lips. Genos was warm inside, he thought with liking Sonic a bit he was warm like this. If he was full on in love with Sonic, how would he feel?

Sonic began biting her lips while trying to get the stain from Genos’s artificial skin.

“Man, it felt like real skin. Like really crazy skin like thing. If I don’t like my scars that much, I would ask for your doctor to give me fake new skin like this. Your doctor is awesome.”

Genos was breathing hard as Sonic’s soft skin slid off his metal arms. She was leaning on his arm for support with one hand, while the other wiping Genos;’s facial dirt.

Sonic blinked at a clean faced Genos and said, “Hmm. That’s better.”

Genos was blurry eyed, was this what they call sexual tension? He wanted more of it. He wondered if it was a normal reaction? Sonic did nothing but wiped his face. He would have to ask Dr Kuseno about it tomorrow.