One Punch Man: Heroics Start with Dual Kamui

Chapter 149: White

"Hello, I'm Lily, a B-class hero. It's nice to meet you," Lily said first, introducing herself.

"I'm Boros' younger sister, Loris," Loris replied. She didn't really understand human social customs, so she simply repeated what Lily said.

"Oh, so you two are siblings?" Lily's eyes widened in surprise. But she quickly caught on that Boros and Loris had a lot in common.

So that means… Boros is Shinji's friend, and Loris would be like a friend's little sister?

Seeing that Loris didn't seem particularly close to Shinji, Lily relaxed slightly. However, at that moment, Loris looked at Lily and asked bluntly, "Lily, are you Shinji's wife?"

In her way of thinking, there was no concept of lovers or dating; if someone was a spouse, they were a spouse, if not, then they weren't. She asked directly, without any beating around the bush.

"…Eh?" The question was so shocking that Lily froze on the spot.

When she recovered, her face flushed bright red, and she stammered, "Th-That… could never happen…"

"So, you're not, right?" Loris pressed further.

Lily could only nod, embarrassed. "No, I'm not in that kind of relationship with Shinji…"

"Is that so? That's good." Loris smiled in relief.

"…?" Lily's eyes flickered slightly.

What did that mean…? She looked genuinely happy just because Lily wasn't Shinji's spouse?

It was hard not to overthink that reaction.

….

Lost in thoughts about Loris' comment, Lily seemed to forget why she was really there, to study.

At that moment, Shinji spoke up. "We should probably start studying now."

"…Oh, right."

Snapping back to reality, Lily remembered her purpose. She opened her bag and began taking out her textbooks, exercises, and stationery.

"Wait, let's study in my room. The living room isn't really suitable," Shinji said.

"Eh?! O-Okay…" Lily nodded, clearly a little flustered.

After all, she had never entered a boy's room before, and now she had to go into Shinji's room…

"He's still a student. A professional hero this young is rare. Among the heroes I know, only Child Emperor is similar," Genos remarked.

"Yeah, she's still in middle school. Her midterm scores weren't great, so she came to me for tutoring," Shinji explained.

"Tutoring? Does learning on this planet really have so many rules?" Loris asked.

For their species, of course, every child needed to learn, especially combat and survival skills, but clearly, Earth had a lot more formalized systems.

After all, their environment was harsh, and survival of the fittest was the rule. There simply wasn't time for extra lessons.

By contrast, Earth was relatively peaceful, which allowed for structured learning like tutoring.

"In my time of school, if your exam scores aren't up to standard, you're required to retake them until you pass," Genos explained to Loris. Hearing this, Loris nodded. She couldn't understand since in most manga, school life was about romance. Maybe the system was different.

Then, Lily followed Shinji cautiously into his bedroom.

Seeing Lily and Shinji enter a private space together, Loris felt an inexplicable sense of unease, even though she knew they weren't married.

….

As soon as they entered the room, Lily couldn't help but peek around.

She had never been in a boy's room before, and curiosity got the best of her, especially since it was Shinji's room. But a quick glance surprised her. It wasn't what she had imagined.

She had expected a boy's room to be messy, but Shinji's room was clean and simple, even cleaner than her own.

She kept her room tidy, with a dressing table, toys, and other decorations, making it less minimalistic than Shinji's.

Part of the reason was that Shinji hadn't lived here long, and besides sleeping, he rarely stayed in his room.

Curiosity got the better of Lily again.

She had heard that many boys hid "those" comics under their beds, and she wondered if Shinji might do the same.

At that moment, Shinji moved the room's only desk, preparing it for their tutoring session.

"Sit wherever you like," Shinji said, turning to Lily.

However, Lily ended up crawling toward the floor, almost trying to sneak under the bed. Her posture was… revealing.

Her hips were raised, and her skirt rode up, exposing her underwear.

"White…"

Shinji couldn't help but mutter the color aloud.

Hearing him say "white," Lily, still under the bed, didn't react at first. But then she realized it matched what she was wearing and panicked, quickly trying to cover herself.

Bang!

She bumped her head on the bed frame.

"Ugh…" Lily slowly crawled out from under the bed, holding the spot she had hit.

Her expression showed a mix of embarrassment and resentment.

"You… saw that?" she asked Shinji, voice tinged with blame.

"I did, but it was unavoidable," Shinji admitted. "Besides, if you hadn't crawled under there yourself, I wouldn't have seen anything."

"…Yeah, you're right," Lily said, accepting the blame. Her face was bright red. Who wouldn't be embarrassed in that situation?

Shinji tilted his head. "By the way, why did you crawl under my bed?"

Lily hesitated, then mumbled, "I… I heard that a lot of boys hide risqué comics under their beds, so I wanted to see if you had any…"

Shinji blinked. "You… really thought that?"

Lily nodded timidly. "I thought it might be interesting to see what those comics were like…"

Shinji let out a small sigh. "Well, you're not wrong about what you heard, but I don't actually like that kind of material."

Of course, that didn't mean he disliked it online, but he avoided physical copies to prevent any socially awkward situations. He doesn't understand why anyone would want a physical substance in this day and age when you can just get it online without any risks.

"Oh…" Lily nodded, then muttered softly, "I was just curious to see what the fuss was about…"