One Punch Man: Heroics Start with Dual Kamui

Chapter 170 170: The House of Takoyaki

After massaging for quite a while, Do-S kept probing for an opening.

She still could not tell when Shinji might lower his guard. He had seemed relaxed the whole time, as if he held no suspicion at all, and that made her hesitate to act recklessly.

Gradually, her patience wore thin.

She decided to treat him as careless, convinced he had already been charmed into complete trust.

She slipped a whip from behind her back while keeping one hand on his shoulders, still pretending to massage.

Moving as quickly as she could to avoid detection, she lashed at his back.

But just as she thought she had succeeded, Shinji caught the whip with a reverse grip.

"What?!" Do-S was taken aback that he could react so fast.

She still looked confident, because her whip did not need a clean strike to work; mere contact would trigger the effect. Although that would be weaker than a direct hit, it should be more than enough to control a human.

"You idiot, you actually grabbed my whip with your bare hand," she sneered, assuming he was already under her influence.

"Oh? Is that so?" Shinji turned his head slowly to look at her.

The cold, contemptuous look in his eyes made Do-S shiver.

At the same time, she was baffled. His hand had clearly touched the whip, so why had her power had no effect?

Shinji gave the whip a small tug, snatched it from her hand, and cracked it back at her.

Whip!

The whip was covered in countless barbs, enough to rend the flesh of an ordinary person.

"Ah!" Do-S cried out in pain. That damned human actually whipped her with her own weapon?!

However, before she could process what to do, she was struck again, making her scream in agonizing pain.

"...?" Shinji tilted his head, puzzled. What was going on with this reaction?

After a moment, he decided there was no point in continuing.

"Consider this a lesson. Next time I may not be so merciful," he said coldly. "Leave."

"...Yes." Do-S quickly snatched her whip off the floor, then slunk out of Shinji's office in humiliation.

...

Once outside...

"Damn that man... I'll never let you off!"

Clearly, she had not given up. As for why she was so persistent, only Do-S herself knew.

Later, in Psykos's hidden chamber, Psykos brought up what had happened that day.

…

"President Shinji, I heard you had a little clash with Do-S today?"

Psykos' [Third Eye] gave her sensing abilities similar to a clairvoyant, but it could not penetrate underground stone to see distant events. She only knew there had been a conflict, not what exactly had taken place.

"Mm, just a minor issue. Nothing worth worrying about," Shinji said with a nod.

"That's good. Do-S has a rather unique ability and counts as an important combat asset for our Monster Association. As long as she hasn't done anything unforgivable, it's best to spare her life," Psykos explained.

"Don't worry. I only gave her a small lesson. Though it doesn't seem to have had much effect," Shinji rubbed his chin.

"I'll warn her myself tomorrow," Psykos added. She had no idea what had actually happened, but if she did, her reaction would probably have been very different.

...

For now, the Monster Association's only activity was constant outside recruitment. As long as someone was a monster, regardless of strength, they were welcome to join. Usually, humanoid monsters were sent out to spread the word, and as long as they stayed cautious, the Hero Association would not catch on.

"Lord Shinji! I happened to run into a monster group today. They seemed fairly strong, but no matter what I said, they refused to join us. The reason I say they're strong is because one of our tiger-level members was taken down by them in a single move!"

A monster rushed into Shinji's office to report.

"What's this monster group called?" Shinji asked casually, though without much interest. A Demon-level monster beating a tiger-level one in one strike was hardly worth his attention.

"They... they called themselves the [House of Takoyaki] or something like that?" the monster answered uncertainly.

"House of Takoyaki?"

The name caught Shinji's attention immediately.

It was because the [House of Takoyaki] was once the [House of Evolution].

He remembered that it had been rebuilt by Dr. Genus, who led the survivors of the [House of Evolution] to open a takoyaki shop. The only monsters who had survived with him were the Armored Gorilla and Mosquito Girl.