Chapter 7
[13]
Suguru Kamoshida was always meant to be a star, and for a time, he was.
Bringing home an Olympic gold medal for Japan, he had been greeted with a hero's welcome back home, everyone knew his name, women wanted him, men wanted to be him. But that all changed when they started popping up.
Super heroes, villains, vigilantes, all taking up the spotlight that was once his, after all, who cares how far you can throw a shot put when there's guys out there throwing cars? Who cares how high you can pole vault when there's people who can clear buildings in a single jump?
Being an athlete means nothing anymore thanks to them, at least that was the message he gathered when his sponsors backed out on him.
Now he was stuck working a dead end job as a gym teacher at his old high school, his own little castle where he was king, that was all the power he held now. It wasn't all bad however, the girls of the school knew who was really in charge, he held all of the power here and when he wanted something, he got it.
When the news came of the attack and Spider-Man's apparent death, he couldn't help but smile a bit on the inside. 'Serves him right.' He thought 'One less showboater taking away the spotlight.'
As he walked through the halls of his school the next day, it was devoid of any students. They had the week off, but the staff were still required to come in to get paperwork done, much to Kamoshida's dismay. If there was one thing he hated more than bratty students, it was paperwork.
He stopped by the office of the prestigious school's electrical engineering professor, Ms. Usami.
"Hey beautiful, whaddya got goin' on?"
The professor blushed as she looked up from her work, the two of them had confrontations like this often, Kamoshida would flirt with her and she would pretend it didn't affect her and try to be professional. He didn't actually find the older woman attractive, it was just his way of establishing power over her.
"A personal project."
"Aww come on don't be like that, show me! I know you love talking about your work."
After some brief hesitation, Ms. Usami sighed, glancing out into the hallway to make sure it was empty, she gestured him in. Sitting on her desk was a metallic rectangle, roughly the dimensions of a smartphone.
"It's a new type of battery, meant to hold a far greater charge than a typical battery." She gestured towards the object. "It's still in its prototype phase, but if it works, just one would be able to power this entire building for days."
Kamoshida whistled "Damn, sexy and brilliant. You really are the full package." The professor tried desperately to maintain her composure as Kamoshida worked his charm on her. Before he could get any further, his phone buzzed with a message.
"My Office. Now" The message read. It was from the academy's principal.
Sighing in frustration, he turned back to Usami. "Sorry gotta run, Ushimaru wants me." He left without another word and headed straight for principal Ushimaru's office.
"What?" Kamoshida questioned the man who dared boss him around.
"Now that we have this time to catch up on our work, it's come to my attention that your behavior is a problem for us at this school. Are you aware of how many female students have come forward about sexual harassment accusations towards you?"
"Ushimaru, I thought we talked about this, those girls were just angry about not making the lineup for the volleyball team. Their claims are bullshit!"
"Perhaps they aren't as fabricated as you make them out to be."
His laid back facade beginning to peel away, Kamoshida leaned forward and lowered his voice. "Look we had an agreement, I get this sports team out of the shitter and you don't bother me about my 'methods.'"
Principal Ushimaru didn't back down. "Yes, that was the agreement, however I recently received this video from one of our students." Turning the computer monitor towards Kamoshida, the shaky video playing was clearly shot from a phone, however it very clearly showed Kamoshida in the act of 'disciplining' one of his less cooperative female players.
"It appears you got careless. The student intends to take this video public. I'm afraid I must terminate your employment effective immediately, clean out your office and be gone before noon."
Kamoshida felt the overwhelming urge to strangle the older man sitting in front of him, but thought better of it. He stormed out of the office, slamming the door shut behind him. He stomped through the building towards his office, when he came across Ms. Usami leaving her office.
"What did Ushimaru want?"
Kamoshida donned the calm, charming mask he typically wore before turning to her. "Oh, he just wanted to congratulate me on getting us to nationals again. He can't wait to see another trophy on the case!" Kamoshida's fake smile physically hurt him as his rage burned stronger.
"Oh that's good. I hope we do well once again this year." Ms. Usami suspected nothing as she left for the faculty office.
When she was finally out of sight, Kamoshida entered Usami's office and snatched the prototype battery off of her desk and shoved it into his pocket. Ushimaru, the damn brat who exposed him, this entire school, they would all pay for exiling the king from his castle. And with this new gadget and some of his shadier connections, he had the perfect way to exact his vengeance.
[14]
Today was the day of the vigil held for those lost in the Shibuya attack. In order to honor the city's hero hundreds of Tokyo citizens donned Spider-Man memorabilia and merchandise.
Futaba, dressed in full Spider-Man merchandise, and Sojiro Sakura stepped into the coffee shop, the bell ringing as they entered to see Ren, in his everyday clothes, sitting on one of the stools quietly sipping a cup of coffee, clearly deep in thought.
"Ren, what are you doing? We're about to leave for the ceremony and you aren't even ready? Go upstairs and get dressed!" Futaba ordered, a little annoyed, but Ren could tell she was concerned for his mental health.
"Sorry, you guys go on ahead. I'll walk."
"You sure kid? Free ride going once…" Sojiro dangled his car keys.
"Yeah, I just need to finish my coffee and get dressed. Don't worry I'll see you guys there."
Futaba was very disappointed at this. She had wanted Ren to be by her in order to comfort her after she had received the terrible news. There was something about being around him that made her feel safe and warm. Sure Sojiro was great, he was her dad and his presence was comfortable, but Ren was different somehow.
He made Futaba happy and excited when she could talk to him about games and memes. But he also made her nervous and any time they touched it felt like electricity on her skin. If she was being honest, being around him made her feel more alive than she ever felt.
Futaba protested Ren's excuse to stay back, but Sojiro accepted Ren's choice, herding her towards the door.
Futaba turned towards Ren and pointed, face disgruntled. "We better see you there in 10 minutes."
Ren saluted her while taking a sip from his mug. "Scout's honor."
The door rang again as the Sakura's exited the cafe. Ren sighed, getting up from his seat and making the trek up the stairs to the attic. On his bed laid a cheap cloth Spider-Man mask, bought from the grocery store next door.
The eyes of the mask seemed to stare at him as his earlier thoughts played over and over in his mind.
'Could the city really survive without Spider-Man?'
He pulled the mask over his head and grabbed a black hoodie out of his box of belongings that he'd brought with him to Tokyo. It was supposed to get chilly tonight and he had no idea how long this may go on for.
As he flipped the cafe sign to closed, he felt a tingle in the back of his head, similar to the one he'd felt right before the attack. Ren feared the worst but turned around anyways, it was distant but with his recently enhanced vision he was able to catch a glimpse of two people right before they disappeared from view. A hooded individual was forcing a woman with short blue hair into an alley at gunpoint.
There was no one else around to see the crime happening, police would mostly be stationed in the inner city where the vigil was being held.
"Shit." Ren knew he should help, but this situation reminded him too much of the one that had gotten him put on probation here in the first place. Stepping in during that situation had only caused trouble and alienated him from his family and friends.
"A no good crook just like his uncle." His father had called him when he had last spoken to him behind reinforced glass in juvie.
"Aggh!" Came a sound of pain from the alley.
Hearing that, Ren knew he couldn't just stand around. With this power he now possessed, he had the ability to stop crimes like this from happening and if he wasted that power not helping others, that would be the real crime.
Running to the alley as fast as he could, he saw the scene laid out before him. The woman being held at gunpoint had a massive bruise on her cheek as the man in the hood continued to order her to give up her valuables.
"H-hey!" Ren's voice cracked as he tried to grab the man's attention. He cleared his throat before trying again.
"Hey stop what you're doing!" The hooded man turned around to see Ren in his mask with his black hoodie pulled up.
"Oh great, we've got another 'hero.' Look kid, scram and I won't- AGH!" The sentence went incomplete as the criminal collapsed to the ground.
Behind him, the woman from before stood with her bag clenched in her hand, clearly having clocked him in the head with it. She was slightly shorter than Ren with a very punk rock look to her outfit. She was probably in her mid 20s and was very pleasing to the eye. Ren stopped himself before he was caught staring.
"Thanks for the assist. That guy was an asshole." The woman stepped over the man's unconscious body, seemingly unphased at the fact that her life had been in danger moments ago.
"Oh, um you're welcome?" Ren didn't really feel he did anything helpful, but was glad that this turned out better than he'd thought. "Are you okay? It looks like he hit you."
"Nothing's injured, although he's going to have a mild concussion."
"I'd still feel better if you sought medical attention. There's a clinic just around the corner."
"I know. I run it." She responded sass dripping from her voice.
"Oh, well then I guess you'd know better than me." Ren awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"So who do I have to thank? What's your name?"
"Oh n-no, I really didn't do anything there's no need." Even if the situation had gone well, Ren didn't want his name involved in this at all.
"A man of mystery huh? I like that, it's sexy." Ren's face was as red as the mask he wore.
The woman pulled out her phone. "I'm gonna call the police now to come get this guy. If you don't want to be involved I'd suggest leaving."
"R-right." Ren recovered his senses and left the scene of the crime as fast as he could.