#but please spare Sekingar

[gofancyninjaworld]

On the Make: How Saitama gets no credit.

Depending on your cynicism index, suggested music for this post range from 'We’re Moving on up’ to ‘Good Luck’.

<20: In bold at the end

Being ‘on the make’ is a term for people looking to gain money or power, often by unscrupulous means. That’s definitely a thing and does mean that we regard anyone openly ambitious with a bit of suspicion. Wouldn't it be nice if the world just realised what awesome people we were and just gave us our due?

The key chapter in OPM to understanding how the story turned from a loosely-connected set of stories about a depressed too-powerful guy wandering around and bashing bad guys to a coherent story about a too-powerful hero and his influence on the world is Punch 14: I Don’t Know You. If you’ve forgotten it, click on the link and go remind yourself. In particular, Saitama was devastated that for all his efforts, he was completely unknown In Punch 15, he complains bitterly about it, describing it as strange that he, who has done more work than any hero he has heard about, should be mouldering in a ghost town rather than be celebrated. Recognition is extremely important to Saitama: it is what pushed him when he was struggling to become a hero and that’s why he decided to become a pro-hero in the first place. As we know, becoming a pro-hero hasn’t as yet led to anywhere like the recognition that Saitama is due.

Punch 93 has given us several ways that people do look to get ahead, in ways that work and ways that most definitely do not. Getting ahead in the Hero Association isn’t based on giving a nice Powerpoint presentation, a clever report, or having sake with the bosses. It’s about being seen to contribute value. So let’s look at them!

First, the ways that can work, along with their risks.

A: Needlestar -- The Straight Ask

Needlestar came straight out and asked for promotions in return for the considerable risk the supporting heroes were being asked to take on at the Monster Association. From the enthusiasm with which the heroes closest to him clapped his back, you could tell that they were all hoping for some sort of reward, but didn’t want to say.

What’s Good: If hero ranking is supposed to reflect the size of the contribution a hero makes to the good of the world, then asking explicitly for undertaking a high-profile, high-risk endeavour to be rewarded with rank is most reasonable. While Sekingal hasn’t said anything about the size of the promotion, the fact that one will be forthcoming is great. It helps Needlestar in another way: now he’s the guy who made sure we all got something out of this mission.

The Risk: Asking for a promotion in return for high profile work is also asking for one’s actions to be given extra-close scrutiny. If the mission goes badly, it could backfire spectacularly.

Don’t ask, don’t get

B: Sekingar -- The Buck Stops With Me

Sekingar has explicitly taken direct responsibility for leading the mission to rescue Waganma and destroy the Monster Association. He may consult others but he shapes it, he has final say and he’s seeing it through in person.

What’s Good: There is nothing like taking successful ownership of an important project for getting a well-deserved promotion. No one can doubt that meeting the Monster Association’s challenge is an important one. The rewards are as he says: a promotion is the very least of his gains. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make an historic impact and he very much intends to take it.

The Risk: If it goes badly (Waganma dies, and/or the monsters aren’t eliminated), Sekingar’s name will be entirely and indelibly linked to a horrific failure. Being asked to resign would be getting off very lightly indeed. One needs only the lightest touch of cynicism to note that Sicchi isn’t trying to share responsibility for his colleague’s actions -- this baby is all Sekingar’s.

For better or for worse, this is his baby

C: Fubuki -- Useful Collaboration

Fubuki's modus operandi has always been consistent hero work and steady points accumulation, aided by being surrounded by other heroes so no one person is over-exposed to risk. As a way of getting ahead, it's unspectacular, but it's shrewd and effective a. She's also very alert to opportunities to be seen to be doing good.

Unfortunately, her usual team has been disabled and so she's decided to latch on to another group of heroes by way of contributing to a successful team effort.

What’s Good: Relatively low risk method of achieving far more than one would ordinarily be able to. It helps that she's taken enough of Saitama's advice to find stronger rather than weaker heroes to work with.

The Risk: The risk of collaborations lies in defining one’s contributions. It helps that Fubuki’s talents complement rather than supplement that of the others. However, her attempt to claim credit for how things turn out if they go well will probably not go down too well, particularly as the ‘New Fubuki Group’ exists only in her head.

D: Genos -- Breakout Star

What in the world are you wearing young man? Genos is aiming to be a top hero, by which he means rank in the top ten of the S-Class, but his approach couldn't be more different from Fubuki's.

Not for him the slow careful process of building an excellent track record of demon elimination and finding the gaps the HA values (workaholism, the ability to fly into impassable regions, the willingness to file good quality reports, can cooperate worth a damn with other heroes on bigger threats). No, he's out to give the HA what it most desperately needs by slamming the head of a dead dragon on the table: heroes who can single-handedly kill one of those monsters.

What’s Good: If it succeeds, it indisputably distinguishes him in a crowded field and gets him to his initial goal. He’ll have gotten in weeks where many others haven’t been able to get in years.

The Risk: Oof, the risks are huge. There’s dangerous and then there’s crazy dangerous, but being killed or permanently crippled is only one of the dangers. You need the hide of a dragon to be able to try this: few things are as easy to mock as high profile failure. The risks are mitigated somewhat by the fact that he’s not told anyone what he’s intending b (so there’s less face to lose) and that the data-gathering nature of his body means that he can still gain from losses. But boy are those risks big.

Wearing his intentions on his sleeve: literally

And two ways that don’t work

E: Amai Mask -- The Naked Power Grab

Amai Mask tries to strongarm his way into not just joining the strike team, but lead it, regarding it almost as his right. It doesn't go down well.

The thing is, all followership is earned to some degree. Without henchmen, a despot is just a shouty man. The S-Class heroes are following Child Emperor by tacit consent. As to Amai Mask, they don’t know him. They don’t understand him. They don’t like him. They sure as hell don’t respect him. He has never acted in their interests, using the media as a threat. He hasn't earned any sort of right to lead them. Then he makes things worse by denigrating them. ‘You’re so stupid that I’d better lead you,’ has never been a successful rallying cry anywhere.

What’s Good: Nothing! At best, you might be able to browbeat people into some sullen following, but be sure to watch your back at all times. It was going to end in bloodshed but for King’s timely intervention.

The Risk: It damages cohesion, trust and respect.

Would he really risk a bloodbath just to get included in the strike force?  Why yes, yes he would. 

F: Saitama -- Gormless

If Saitama wandering aimlessly around the drains isn't emblematic about his approach, I don’t know what is. Wander around, pop monsters like over-inflated balloons, go home and wait for the credit to roll in. Which it doesn't. There was a brief period in which he did report his activities -- as a C-Class hero. As soon as he was no longer a C-Class hero and no longer had to report his activity weekly, he reverted to his old ways and let the world see or not see what he does.

Amazingly, he is getting promoted on a weekly basis on the word of witnesses, but it’s nothing like what he deserves.

What’s Good: No actual effort required. Get to pretend moral superiority to those actively asking their due.

The Risk: No real reward attached. Without ownership of the results, others are free to discount your contribution and even to take credit. Saitama does want to be recognised and his contributions appreciated. Saitama is like that principled, yet embittered guy low on the organisational totem pole who doesn't understand how guys with less than half his talent, even guys he trained himself, are rising in the organisation while he’s given a few crumbs.

Summing up

<20: There’s nothing unscrupulous about asking for your legitimate efforts to be acknowledged and appropriately recognised.

Fail to do so, and I hope that your just reward is in heaven because you certainly aren't getting it on Earth!

It’s going to be very interesting to see who wins and who loses and how things shake out for the different players both in the short and long term. Good luck guys: you're all going to need it!

________________________________________________

Asides

a Truth be told, Fubuki's idea of the Blizzard Group is a good one. What's wrong with it is that in implementing it, she's strong-armed people to join, deliberately sought out heroes weaker than her so as not to be outshone and worse, she's held back their development as individuals. But the idea itself is sound.

b I tell a lie. Other than Saitama, who set him this task, and Dr. Kuseno, who isn't being allowed to sleep in support of this aim, Genos has told Garou of all people about his goal. Then again, Garou doesn't count! [Genos failed to read Rule 7 of the Evil Overlord's Guide which bids one to shoot the hero first, then explain one's motives afterwards. Otherwise they just get rescued in improbable ways at the last possible second.]

[saitamaandmanakoblog]

Manako’s PTSD: The Hero Training Test: 2/2

ZombieMan didn’t know why, but she got the distinct impression that the monster was apologizing for something more than her breakdown. Regardless, he wasn’t about to let his coworkers see her like this, so he took an alternate route to Doctors office.

“Oh dear.” She said the moment she saw ZombieMan with an injured monster passed out in his arms. The monster had a death grip on him even though she’s asleep.

“Testing accident ended up triggering some sort of flashback.” ZombieMan explained. “She didn’t recognize me, and asked if her gang is ok.”

She thinks that I was Mikey and asked if Foapy,MooMoo And Vend was ok.

“Strange…” Her brows furrowed before she turned to tend to his injuries. Manako was barely able to tear the monsters from his arms, and when he did, the she whimpered lightly.

“Mmm She seems very attached to who ever is making her feel safe.” “That’s probably because Saitama always has Bright Light in his pouch.”

“I have to inform the other minister about this development.” He sighed. “Call me when she wakes up. If she’s still in the flashback, I should be able to bring her out of it unless Caped Boldi is here.”

“Right. Thank you for the heads up.”

With that, ZombieMan closed the door behind him. Ugh, today was mess up already. He shook his head. He still had to deal with SweetMask. But first, he needed to inform the other Staff of the now obvious PTSD that Manako had. Ask how Saitama deal with her all the time.

He sent off a quick text to his coworkers. Luckily, it was most everyone’s free period, so Silver Fang, Agoni, the Bearded Workers, The Branch Operator, Bespectacled Workers and Console Operator were all in the Staff Room. He’d have to inform Sekingar of the situation later.

“ZombieMan ? What’s wrong, I thought you were observing the heroes?” Sekingar eyes flashed in concern when he noted the dust and blood on his outfit.

“There was an incident. SweetMask disobeyed a direct order and used an attack of lethal force on Manako.” The room stiffened. “She’s fine. Somehow Bright Light managed to dodge the collapsing building , but her leg got hit pretty badly. She’s in the Doctors Office, now. But the attack triggered a flashback. I was only barely able to pull her out of it.”

“A flashback?” Silver Fang asked in concern.

“She was talking about hearing ‘Mobs’ nearby, and her eyes were tracking invisible enemies. Bright Light was so quiet I almost didn’t find her. But she seemed to recognize me as someone else.” His brows knitted together in concern.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Sekingar asked.

“That’s the thing. She called me ‘Mikey’, and only reacted when I called her by her given name.”

“That’s… strange.” Agoni conceded.

“She also asked about ‘Foap’, ‘MooMoo’, and Vent’.” ZombieMan looked at Silver Fang and Sekingar, She came back to herself before she passed out, but if anything happens again and I’m not around, I think you two could manage to pull her out of a flashback if Saitama is not around, also maybe King too but he’s outside with the other heroes.”

“That’s actually very concerning, having to have Bright Light call me by her friends name.”Unknown scratched her head.

“Do you two know her outside of Hero Work?” Silver Fang asked.

“Yes, we befriended each other after I helped her down from a tree.”

(Manako was being bullied and got hang by a tree, while Child Emperor ask ZombieMan for help.)

“I think we should all keep a closer eye on her. Any idea what specifically triggered it?” Staff A asked.

“Ah… maybe I can answer that question.” TG said, coming into the room. ZombieMan glanced at the clock—it was already the end of the day. “Before the start of the match Bright Light came up to me and confessed that she had bad reactions to crashes and loud noises. I assumed Bright Light was uncomfortable, and said that she was going to talk to Mike or Saitama at the end of the week about it. She wanted to switch partners, but…”

“But you made her face SweetMask anyways.” Silver Fang pinched the bridge of his nose.

“How irresponsible.” Agoni tutted. “Didn’t you read the Hero’s Handbook?”

“Handbook?” TG questioned, causing the entire room to groan.

“Here.” Zekingar chucked the handbook almost hitting his face. “Certain staffs or Ministers is required to have that memorized before even setting foot in a Hero Training Test Room or some certain kind of Office .” He crossed his arms.

“Page twenty-five talks about what to do when a Hero who’s suspected of having a traumatic experience in the past confesses a possible trigger.” Zekingar stated dryly, sending TG a mild glare of his own. “In short, you excuse a hero from the situation that could re-traumatize them, and inform their homeroom coworkers privately before informing the rest of the staff.”

“In this case, you would’ve given her a different opponent and kept a closer eye on him while she observed SweetMask’s fight.” Silver Fang stepped in. “Immediately after the test, you would’ve informed me or someone else of the situation, before I informed the rest of the staff to prevent re-traumatizing her.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” ZombieMan sighed. “You can apologize to Bright Light later after Miss.Doctor and Saitama have cleared her. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a rebellious brat to discipline.” He paused in the doorway. “Silver Fang , I think you or Zekingar should go see if Bright Light is okay. She’ll probably respond better to you two than anyone else right now.” He sent them meaningful looks and the two smiled.

“I’ll go. The Little monster is growing on me.” Silver Fang grinned, heading out the door, closing it behind him with a soft click.

“I’ll inform King” Silver Fang sighed.

“Thank you.”

Time Skip

ZombieMan sighed as he watched SweetMask leave the office. His punishment was light, in Agoni’s opinion, but there wasn’t much they could do for a 1 S Class Hero. So he’d be on restriction for 3 weeks. Allowed to participate in his concert activities while attending Spas when ever he likes.

He looked up when the door opened. Child Emperor had wanted to speak with Manako regarding the incident, and had Flashy Flash and Silver Fang accompany him up to the office. He was bandaged, and had a light scratches, but looked fine otherwise. He looked a little tired, but that was probably from the stress of the crumbling building while Flashy Flash tried to save both of their lives.

“You feeling better?” ZombieMan asked, and the monster nodded. He didn’t miss the way kid relaxed when he saw Manako sitting there. The boy was unusually attached to Bright Light, and once of his life he couldn’t figure out why.

“Welcome, Child Emperor. Please have a seat.” ZombieMan motioned, and Silver Fang stood to leave.

“A-actually, You three can stay if you want?” Bright Light spoke up, and Flashy Flash sat back down. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. He saw the expression mirrored on the other two heroes’ faces.

“I understand that you had quite the experience today. I wanted to apologize for you getting hurt.” ZombieMan said.

“Oh, that’s not your fault. SweetMask’s always has a strong hate towards Monsters off handedly. “I’d have to be more careful if I’d had new who I was sparing, but that’s my fault for not doing my research.”

ZombieMan stared. This monster is surprisingly mature.

“Either way,” Silver Fang, handing a cup of tea to the monster, who took it gratefully. “I’d like to know what exactly triggered your flashback earlier. To prevent any future setbacks, and to keep you on the right track, you need to inform us of any major trauma in your past.”

“W-wait… you mean I’m not getting kicked out of the Hero Association?” She blinked in shock.

Child Emperor startled. “Of course you aren’t.” He stated. “Bright Light, nine out of ten heroes have PTSD or something similar. It comes with the job. To disqualify a hero hopeful for something you’ll likely get anyways is illogical. But we can help you with it before Saitama picks you up.”

She relaxed substantially, and Flashy Flash wondered if that had been weighing on her this entire time. Was she worried about Saitama getting worried?

“I’m sorry. I just…”

“It’s okay, Bright Light . We’re here to help you.” Silver Fang spoke up, and Bright Light sent him a small gentle smile. There was a tinge of sorrow there, though, and he noticed that Manako’s hands are shaking grasping her outfit, like she’s trying to not feel uncomfortable or Nervous.

“I… Part of it is collapsing buildings that reminds me of collapsing caves sometimes. And the smell of decaying bodies… and unfortunately, the burning smell of used TNT 🧨 and whatever else was in a cave mines happened to smell similar enough to, um… well… a building or loud noises and screams but that barely triggers me sometimes.”

Dead bodies?! Child Emperor stiffened, along with the other heroes. What kind of situation had this Monster been through? As far as he knew, The Monster Association must have mess up Manako a lot…, and also the part that it’s hard to find good information or records indicating anything about Monster Association.

Though it was possible that something had happened during that time where the whole world didn’t know about the monsters existed and then no one bothered to document it due to her being a Monster status in the current society. As much as Silver Fang hated it, some people just didn’t care about the civilians monsters who was not part of the evil Monster Association. Also the part that 3/100 monsters are evil instead of good ones like Manako, good monsters barely exist.

“Mostly, the biggest thing is silent or being alone when I don’t feel safe.” She spoke quietly, and Silver Fang noticed it now. He shifted in his seat. He did that in Hero Meeting, too. The monster was always making some kind of small, quiet noise. “The silence with the following creepy sounds or threatening sound are the worst. They tend to scare me or send me into…”

“Flashbacks.” ZombieMan finished for her.

“Yeah. So you saw that?” She winced.

“Yes. Nobody else did, But you did call me Mikey thought.” Manako flinched lightly.

“I-I’m sorry, sir. I meant no offense.”

“I’m not offended, just curious.”

The look on the Manako’s face told him that she was embarrassed, and ashamed. But her eyes told Silver Fang a different story. Grief, regret, anger, loss. The emotions were overwhelming and Flashy Flash looked away, feeling like he was violating some part of the monster privacy just by reading Manako’s eyes. It’s not a open book 📖 but he did catch a few things from that look.

“Can you explain what kind of experience brought on this trauma?” ZombieMan asked gently.

“I…” The monster looked out of the window beside Child Emperor for a moment, and ZombieMan was briefly afraid that she’d fallen into another flashback. “I lost some humans or Monsters very dear to me. It when the Monsters Associated found out that I was being friends on the enemies side… there was this terrible silence afterwards…” She gently touched her right arm. “I’ll never forget that screams. I had to choose to ditch the plans or continue plan B since she wanted to distract the others, but…” Manakos hand clenched, and ZombieMan knew what had happened. Manako had been forced to choose between two options that were precious to her. Likely, if Manako had stayed and ditch plan B and try to help the other, all of her gang would be dead. This Monster was way too young to have an experience like that. To have to make that kind of choice…

Child Emperor looked ready to cry, and Silver Fang looked heartbroken. Even Flashy Flash looked mildly disturbed, though he quickly masked it before Manako could notice.

At the very least, Bright Light already had what it took to be a Hero/Sidekick , of that ZombieMan was now certain. Not many people could even make that kind of choice. Flashy Flash took a moment to digest this information.

“Thank you for telling us, Bright Light.

Are you getting help for your trauma at least?”

“I was going to go visit them in the end of the week, after the test.”

“Good, you’ll start those meetings tomorrow during your free time, then.” ZombieMan smiled. “Now, on to the topic originally scheduled for today—the Hero Test.” Manako relaxed almost completely.

If Silver Fang hadn’t seen how tense she was a minute ago, he wouldn’t have suspected anything. It was like she flipped a switch. Manako was way too good at hiding trauma. Looked like the staff needed to up their game.

Before he can say anything else someone Knocked the door 🚪.

“Can I come in? I’m here to take my friend home.”

“Yay! Saitama your back!

Manako ran up and jump to hugged 🫂 Saitama in happiness.

“It’s nice to see you again Saitama.” Silver Fang said in relief.

“Bye everyone!”

Saitama put Manako in his pouch and left with a wave 👋.

....

“I wanted to know how did Bright Light got that Smoke Screen Bomb.” ZombieMan said in disappointment.

The End