Chapter 6

People were staring. It wasn't too surprising, considering that Boros towered over them all. He could easily look over the crowd to see all the heads turning in his direction, the fingers they pointed at him. On top of that, he was much more colorful than they were. There were a few humans that didn't have hair in a shade between brown and black, but colors like pale yellow, red, blue or purple were extremely rare. Not to mention that their skin color didn't vary much either. A dark brown, bordering on black, was the most extreme variation he had seen so far.

His master didn't seem to realize how much he stood out. He was arguing with a woman working in the building they entered to buy one of those futons. There were long shelves with lots of soft objects inside, from pillows in various sizes and forms to all sorts of blankets, and another area filled with different types of beds, most of them exhibiting a frame that kept them higher above the ground than the futons Boros had come to know.

They had split up a little earlier. His master had sent Genos off with a couple of coupons to buy other things they would need from a shop called a supermarket, while Saitama had taken Boros to this one. They were supposed to meet the cyborg once they were done, but it turned out that buying a bed took longer than expected.

Saitama jabbed his finger on the sheet of paper in his hand. "It says here in your flyer that it's 15% off on mattresses the entire week!"

"Uh… no… I mean, yes, there is…" The woman barely got out a sensible response. She was too busy throwing glances at Boros. It was needless to say that the argument was a little one-sided.

"Then why can't you add the discount on this?" Saitama pushed the clear plastic bag containing a thin, rolled-up mattress as well as a pillow and a blanket into her face, which helped her refocus her attention on him.

"I'm sorry, sir, but the discount doesn't apply to futons…"

"But it has a mattress!" Saitama argued.

"The… uhm… it's only for those that are bought separately. Not… complete item sets." Another glance in Boros' direction and his eye twitched.

"Well, then check the items separately. We'll pay the full price for the blanket and pillow and get the discount on the mattress. Where's the problem?"

The woman fidgeted. "I can't do that, it's against policy."

"You can't just print offers like that and then don't go through with it!" His master was extremely agitated. It was justified, since they had gone through another store before this one that didn't have any beds in Boros' size. And even this futon was only one of two custom ones. And, as a horrified Saitama had pointed out, that made it more expensive than usual.

"But we actually mentioned it in the flyer…"

This woman was not only stubborn but it sounded like she was trying to scam his master. Boros stepped forward, his energy flaring just a little, despite it being dampened by his limiter. He was intent on showing her what happened if someone wanted to steal from Saitama, but his master's outstretched arm held him back, even as the woman's eyes grew wide and she scrambled back as far as the small cubicle allowed.

"Hey, Boros, chill. I've got this," he said, not taking his eyes off the blanching woman.

"Saitama, this woman is trying to–"

He looked over his shoulder at Boros with a small frown. "Just because you don't like someone doesn't mean you get to attack them. Actually, you can add that to the 'no killing' rule." Saitama kept the eye contact just long enough to get a grudging nod from Boros before he turned his head back around again. "Look, is there anything I could–"

"I'm sorry, I'll give you the discount!" the vendor exclaimed shrilly, reaching for the futon roll under Saitama's arm.

"Huh? You will?" His face lit up at once and he handed the item over. "Thanks! You're a lifesaver!"

She ran a red laser scanner over it and hurriedly punched something into the machine in front of her. Saitama paid the price she told him and they left the building after he told Boros to carry the futon. Once they were outside, his master studied the small slip of paper she had handed him thoroughly.

"Woah, look at that! She took the 15% off the whole thing, not just the mattress!" Saitama cheered and looked up at Boros with a grin. "See? If you're nice to people, they do nice things for you in return."

Boros just grunted in response, not wanting to contradict him.

"Ah, look, there's Genos." He waved at the cyborg waiting at the corner with a bag in his hand. When he noticed them, he came up to meet them. "You got everything?"

"Yes, Sensei. Was there any trouble on your end? I expected you would be back a lot earlier."

"No, everything's fine." Saitama waved him off. "Well, we had to go to a different store and then we had a discussion about the discount, but the shop assistant was really helpful and bent the rules a little."

"That's great, Sensei!" Genos answered with a smile.

Saitama hummed, looking up and down the street. "We just need to find a clothes store now." After a skeptical look at Boros, he added, "Preferably one that sells some in your size."

Genos frowned. "Do you have enough money? I can pay for–"

But Saitama shook his head quickly, his cheeks turning a bit red. "Geez, Genos, it's fine. I can pay for it myself. I'm not that broke."

The unhappy look the cyborg gave him when he walked off told Boros that his student didn't think so. Boros wondered if there wasn't anything that could be done about the money situation that wouldn't necessarily involve tributes as he followed his master into the first store, but he couldn't come up with anything. They soon exited the building again when they realized there was not a single piece of clothing that would fit him.

They continued like this, visiting several shops and not finding anything useable. By now, Boros had already figured out that humans loved their clothing, but… this was really a bit overwhelming. So many clothes in all kinds of sizes, forms, colors, patterns… and they all seemed to have a different purpose, too! Entire stores full of clothes! Some of them sorting their products by gender and use into clear sections that spread over multiple floors! It was pure insanity.

They eventually found something in a specialty store, though it wasn't clothing. It was a female human with long black hair, her face painted with purple lines. Unlike most other females they had come across, she was wearing pants.

Boros wouldn't have paid her any mind if she hadn't whipped her head around to stare at them with wide eyes when they encountered her between two isles.

"Saitama!" she yelled immediately, pointing her finger at the man. A wide grin quickly spread across her face. "You have no idea how much I was looking forward to this! Our encounter must be fate! Prepare yourself! Today will be the day you will meet your maker!"

So, she knew his master. And she was an enemy.

"Oh, hey Panic."

"It's Speed o' Sound Sonic, you asshole! Are you even trying anymore?!"

At this point, Boros started to suspect that his master was just not bothering with names. Admittedly, it was disrespectful, but then again, he was powerful enough to take the liberty of just not caring.

Anyway, this woman was intruding on their shopping activities. This could not be tolerated. Boros scowled and stepped forward. "Master Saitama has no time to deal with petty challenges. If you value your life, you should leave."

She raised an eyebrow, leaning back and planting a hand on her hip. "And who the fuck are you?"

"I am Lord Boros and I will not let a small fry like you pester my master."

"Small fry?" Sonic casually pulled a sword from her back, holding it in front of her with a toothy grin on her face. "Say that again, I dare you!"

"Guys, stop. People are starting to stare at us," Saitama said with a sigh, pushing Boros aside. "You can't start a fight in a store, they'll throw us all out."

"I know you," Genos said slowly, studying Sonic intently. "You are that pervert from City J. So you are that annoying stalker Saitama-sensei mentioned. What do you want with him?"

"I'm be the one who will kill him right now!"

She rushed ahead with a speed Boros hadn't expected. He reacted just in time to grab the sword with his free hand before it could touch his master, effectively halting it, and pushed back against it, hitting Sonic in the stomach with the hilt. She skidded backwards until she crashed into a clothing rack.

"Boros!" Saitama said, sounding panicked as he stepped in front of him. "You can't do that! You might destroy something and they'll charge us for it!"

Boros blinked. "Ah. I'm sorry, Saitama. I didn't think of that…" With that in mind, he quickly healed the cut in his hand before he got blood onto any of the clothes.

"Ugh…" Sonic was untangling herself from the clothes she had taken down with her, glaring daggers at Boros. "What's your deal, Baby Blue? This has nothing to do with you! Stay out of it!"

A small knife came flying at him a second later and he caught it in his hand. "I won't allow you to bother Master Saitama any further."

"Both of you, stop it. You're going to get innocents injured," Genos tried to intervene.

Sonic completely ignored him. She addressed Saitama instead and jabbed a thumb in Boros' direction. "This guy keeps calling you his master, what's up with that? Is that weirdo your butler or what?"

"Something like that."

"How come someone like you picks up a follower like that?"

"He… uh… kind of followed me home."

Sonic snorted. "Well, tell your new pet and your robot to stay out of things that don't concern them!"

"E-excuse me…" a meek voice behind them spoke up. It was a male that appeared to be not quite fully grown yet. Judging by the logo on his shirt, he worked at this store. He was also sweating profusely. Boros wrinkled his nose.

When he found four pairs of eyes on himself, the boy shrank back, raising his hands. "C-could you, I mean… this is a clothing store and– I'm sorry, but I-I need to a-ask you to–"

He abruptly cut off and threw himself to the ground with a shriek. Sonic had used the opportunity to lunge at Saitama's turned back again, but he just stuck out his hand to grab the purple garment around her neck and used it to fling her out of the store's entrance. She went flying right over the employee's head and landed in one of the buildings on the other side of the street in a cloud of dust.

Outside the store, people started to shout and panic. Inside, Saitama was rubbing his forehead. "What's this guy's problem anyway? He always wants to cause trouble."

"I will take care of him at once and make sure he is put back in prison where he belongs," Genos announced, ready to march out of the store.

"Isn't that just a waste of time? I mean, he'll probably just break out again anyway."

Genos came to a halt and nodded slowly. "That is true, they seemed to have trouble holding him. In that case, I will make sure he won't be able to cause trouble ever again."

"Genos," Saitama sounded strained. "Not you too! I'm trying to set some rules and boundaries with Boros! Could you at least try not to make him think it's okay to go around killing people?"

"I was just going to–"

"No, just leave it. It's not worth the headache. Besides, I don't think he'll start anything else today. Come on, let's go, there are still some stores we can check."

At this point, Boros had completely blocked out their discussion. Something else had registered in his mind when they started talking and it left him rather dumbstruck. They had addressed Sonic as 'he,' which meant, as mind-boggling as it was… that Sonic was a man as well?! Amai Mask, he could see as a male, now that it had been pointed out to him, but this one? What about her– his body shape and the face paint and the delicate features and… ugh, humans were so confusing!

"What are you standing around for? Come on."

When he realized that Saitama was already outside and Genos waited for him with a dark look on his face, Boros quickly shook off his stupor and hurried after his master. Maybe he should start asking every human he encountered about their gender first.

"Ma- Saitama, what did this idiot even want from you? How do you know each other?" he asked as soon as he had caught up, walking half a step behind him.

"Ah, I dunno, he's a little weird. He mistook me for someone else that one time, then he declared himself my rival and now he shows up from time to time to challenge me. It can be a bit annoying, but he's usually satisfied if I play with him for a minute, so it's not too bad."

His… his… Boros' thoughts came to a complete stop for the second time in mere minutes, before they ran at twice the speed. "Your rival?! That weakling?" it burst out of him.

That was just absurd. Rivals were supposed to be on equal, or at least near equal footing. How else would you be able to engage in a competition if one party was leagues above the other? There would be no challenge at all. Even Boros himself claiming to be Saitama's rival would be a bit of a stretch, let alone this pushover.

"Hey, don't be like that," Saitama told him casually. "I'm pretty sure he was faster than last time. He must've trained since then. You gotta give him credit for that. He's really determined to beat me."

And his master didn't even see the problem with the situation. This Sonic idiot could train all he wanted and he still wouldn't stand a chance. Admittedly, Boros technically wanted to train for the same reason, but at least he had reasonable potential to work with. And he didn't delude himself about his chances of actually winning a rematch.

"Are you really sure that it's alright to let him be? I don't mean any disrespect, but to me it sounds like it would be less bothersome to kill him than to let him continue," he argued, itching to wipe out this pest.

"I already told you not to worry about it. He's harmless."

Boros sighed. "I am aware of that…" Resigning himself for inaction, he wondered how the same man that had reawakened his joy for battle could be this infuriating.

"You need to stop being so protective. You can't attack everyone who doesn't like me. You'd never get done," Saitama then said with a smirk thrown over his shoulder. Then his expression changed to a thoughtful one and he turned around to walk backwards for a bit while he glanced between Boros and Genos. When he turned back, he added, "Now that I think about it, you two are actually pretty similar in a lot of ways."

The perfectly in synch answer of "We are not!" as well as the matching glare at each other didn't help their case at all. Boros huffed and looked away over the crowd of people. Comparing him to that walking scrap metal. Did his master want to insult him?

Saitama just laughed quietly at them. "Sure you are. You're overprotective and quick to attack people you don't like, you talk way too damn much and use stupidly complicated words, I got stuck with you even though I said no…"

At that, Genos' indignation dissolved and he hung his head. The "I'm sorry, Sensei," was soft-spoken.

"And you keep apologizing for everything. You both need to stop taking everything so seriously and not be so uptight. Especially around me. There's no need to be all… respectful with me."

No, Saitama was just too lax in his interactions with them. Honestly, he spoke to a student and a servant, but from the way he was talking with them, an outsider might think they were equals when nothing could be further from the truth. All three of them were on different levels entirely.

But it wouldn't help to argue about such matters in public, so Boros kept his mouth shut and followed Saitama into another clothing store where he was instructed to try on more strange garments. Maybe he could bring up the issue in private. Saitama seemed willing to listen to him despite his status, so there was the possibility that he could use that to talk some sense into him.

When they left the store to finally head home, they were carrying several newly purchased clothes. Boros was not looking forward to wearing them.

A/N: I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter ready. There's a bunch of other stuff I should write as soon as possible, so this story needs to take a bit of a backseat for a little while. So, I guess a realistic estimate would be late December or January.