The leading fans of the pairing are currently deep in a brainstorming session.

Page 1 of 3

# Superman and Batman make their first joint appearance!
# Lex Luthor arrested—was it all to bring about the World’s Finest partnership?!
# Live from the scene! Witness the birth of the greatest friendship of the century!
…

Batman had “borrowed” a computer from one of the offices at the Daily Planet. He stared at the explosive growth of Superman- and Batman-related trends on Twitter, as well as one particular phrase that kept appearing again and again.

He looked perfectly calm. His tactical-gloved hand did not tremble in the slightest as he continuously worked the mouse and browsed through the pages.

Yet if you possessed Superman’s superhuman vision and happened to meet his eyes, you would have discovered that all the light had already gone out of them.

It was as though a computer, confronted with a program it could not analyze, had abruptly crashed.

At that moment, certain key phrases echoed repeatedly through Batman’s mind.

…The World’s Finest?

…The greatest friendship of the century?

He and Superman?!

Everything before him was absurd enough to seem like some kind of magical prank played at his expense.

For one brief moment, Batman even suspected that he was dreaming—and in a sense, it was a nightmare.

He, Batman, who was searching for kryptonite and had boldly challenged Superman to a fight; he, Batman, who had made killing that alien god his life’s purpose—was actually being called Superman’s best friend and partner here?

Even for a parallel universe, this was ridiculous!

What was even more ridiculous was that Batman realized he had already begun to believe it was all true.

This was not because of the endless discussions about Superman and Batman scattered throughout this cursed place, nor because of the World’s Finest joint operation he had just learned about online.

It was because of Superman—

Oh, of course. He now knew that the damned alien had a name: Clark Kent.

In any case, that alien creature disguised as Kent had stood before him completely off guard, acting as though they really were close friends!

Batman still could not forget how Superman had reacted upon realizing that he was not the Batman he knew. First, his expression had stiffened, like a child who had just blurted out some embarrassingly grand declaration before turning around and discovering that strangers had been watching him. Then the embarrassment on his face had quickly turned into anxiety.

“Where did you come from…? Wait, then where did my Bruce go?”

He had clearly wanted to locate his partner at once, but just then, a man’s roar rose from downstairs, calling Clark’s name.

And so Superman—Batman had to emphasize this once again: the damned alien had shown not the slightest bit of caution in front of him—changed straight into a bespectacled young reporter right before his eyes!

He had not even considered whether he was exposing his true identity to an unfamiliar Batman. He merely tossed out, “You can wait at my apartment until I finish work, and then come find me,” before hurrying back to the Daily Planet to work overtime!

Left alone on the rooftop in the cold wind, Batman silently watched the direction in which the young reporter had departed. His expression beneath the cowl was complicated, and for a moment, he actually felt rather unsettled.

Page 1 of 3

Page 2 of 3

…It was as though he had unilaterally regarded Superman as his lifelong archenemy, only for the other man to say “Good night, Garden Baby” to his face, leaving him with the feeling that all the anger and vigilance he had accumulated had been thrown to the dogs.

Wait. Had he already equated that savage, violent alien god with the strange young reporter named Clark?

Batman abruptly grew wary. He began to suspect that everything was a scheme by the alien to erode his murderous intent. As expected of a devious inhuman creature!

He tried to recall Superman’s brutal, merciless treatment of him, hoping to summon once more the anger and fear that had nearly set him ablaze and use them to resist his inexplicably softening attitude.

Think about it. That alien had crashed down beside him like a shell and wrecked his beloved Batmobile…

But what did that have to do with Clark? Besides, Clark had just carried him through the air—and Superman’s flight was clearly much gentler. At least it lacked the threatening sensation of a sonic boom.

To be honest, Batman thought that if the Superman in his universe flew with such lightness, the fear he inspired in onlookers would be considerably diminished.

Stop. Don’t think about all this nonsense. Think about Superman’s cold judgment, that threatening stare…

But what did that have to do with Clark? Besides, Clark plainly placed an extraordinary degree of trust in Batman.

Even though he knew perfectly well that Batman was not his own Batman, he had still revealed without the slightest concealment that an alien was hiding within human society.

Batman was suspicious by nature, but faced with such open and unreserved trust, even he could not help feeling at a loss.

After hesitating for a moment, he finally convinced himself: the Superman of this parallel universe belonged to the Batman of this parallel universe. There was no need to extend all his vigilance toward his own Superman to another Superman. After all, they might be entirely different people.

Besides, this universe’s Superman seemed to have been acknowledged by Batman as… a friend?

Though he repeatedly reminded himself that the two Supermen were not the same person, their overly similar faces still caused Batman to unconsciously project one onto the other—and then shudder in revulsion.

Yet Superman’s behavior just now clearly proved that his deduction was correct. After all, he could scarcely imagine what kind of relationship Superman and Batman would need to have for Superman to casually tell him, “Go wait for me at my apartment.”

Oh, and there was also the fact that Superman had just flown with him in his arms…

Batman was nearly losing control of his facial muscles.

All because he had blinked once and found himself being carried through the air in his enemy’s arms, his brain had short-circuited on the spot. He had failed to react and had actually let Clark leave without asking a single question!

Damn it! Were they really that close? And was he really that similar to the other Batman? Similar enough that Superman could naturally slip straight back into the way they usually interacted?

But he was not that overly trusting Batman, nor did he know where Superman’s human identity lived. So he decisively ignored Clark’s suggestion, slipped into the Daily Planet’s corridors with a cold expression, and tried to find somewhere that might provide him with information.

That was how he found this temporarily unattended computer—and was forcibly subjected to the shock of the World’s Finest.

Meanwhile, Clark, who was working overtime with all his colleagues on the major World’s Finest story, had no idea what this Batman was thinking.

If he had known that Batman actually believed he had mistaken him for a substitute Bruce and, like a clueless fool, had given him an absurdly high degree of trust, he would have been utterly shocked and shaken his head repeatedly.

What a joke! Never mind that his image was supposed to be that of a mature and steady Captain America-style Superman. If he were truly so careless with visitors from another universe, Bruce would have thrown him into one of Gotham’s lunatic villain dens for training long ago!

The reason he had so naturally revealed his young-reporter identity before Bruce was that he had assumed Batman already knew.

The reason was simple. Even without using his X-ray vision, he could sense the world-weary aura surrounding this Batman. For all he knew, his universe had already been rebooted several times.

Page 2 of 3

Page 3 of 3

Without question, this Batman’s storyline had progressed much further than Clark’s and Bruce’s. For all he knew, he and Superman had already been an old married couple for years—so how could they possibly still be playing the big-businessman-and-young-reporter identity game?

In any case, because of the stereotypes left behind by live-action actors, it never occurred to Clark that the steel-blue-eyed Batman before him might come from a world designated BVS.

He used a touch of super-speed and completed the task assigned to him by the editor in chief in less than half an hour.

Of course, for the first time in his career, he placed an unproofread draft into Lois’s hands while she stared at him wide-eyed, then hurried frantically toward his apartment.

He was a little worried about Bruce—his Bruce.

If not for the damn constraints of his established persona, he would have wanted to ask Batman immediately what he had been doing before coming here. Would his Bruce be affected if the two of them had switched places?

Though Clark’s heart was full of worry, his super-senses continued to serve him faithfully.

He soon stopped, turning his head toward a dark corner from which a gaze seemed almost tangible.

“Bru—Batman?”

The knight who was accustomed to hiding in darkness revealed himself.

To be honest, he was not used to operating in Metropolis.

The city, much like the particular child of light who favored it, was drenched in illumination from every direction, making it difficult for the Dark Knight to find a place to hide.

Before he could employ a line of questioning that would both extract information and conceal his identity, the alien disguised as a young reporter spoke on his own.

“Why didn’t you just wait for me at my apartment? Don’t you trust me? Did you want to act on your own?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Clark—because this suit had not yet been fitted with lead shielding—had already obtained the answer from Batman’s heartbeat and microexpressions.

“That doesn’t seem to be it… Wait, you don’t know where my apartment is?”

Batman pressed his lips together, faintly irritated.

Once he realized that the Superman of this universe and Batman had an excellent relationship, he had understood that this was a perfect opportunity to gather information. Although parallel universes differed in many ways, he might still glimpse something genuine about “Superman” through this one.

He had therefore planned to cleverly package the relationship between himself and the Superman of his own world, using the identity of a friend to draw closer. He had not expected to be seen through so quickly.

Before he could even settle his frustration, he heard the certainty in Clark’s voice.

“There are discrepancies between parallel universes. The apartment I was looking for and the one your Superman was looking for may not be the same. That was my oversight.”

Batman: ?

So this Superman would rather believe that apartment locations differed between parallel universes than believe that Batman did not know where Superman lived?

And what exactly did he mean by “your Superman”?