Chapter 38
[54]
“So you’re sure it’s okay for me to go? Because I’ll stay if you need me to.” Ren held his phone with his shoulder while packing his bag.
The voice on the other end laughed. “Ren it’s fine. Believe it or not, Tokyo can survive a week without you. Besides, after the past month and a half, I’d say you more than earned a break.” Naoto assured him.
The teenage boy smiled. “Thanks Naoto, I promise when I get back I’ll stop twice as many villains.”
They ended their conversation there as Ren finished packing. Now only one thing was left before he could go on his trip tonight.
“Cutting it a little close there with your physical don’t you think?” Takemi asked as Ren sat in her clinic.
“Hey! I only learned about the trip yesterday!” Ren protested as Takemi shined a light in his ear canal. “Plus, they said as long as I turn in the form before we leave I’m good to go.”
“Still, you shouldn’t only be focused on your Spider-Man business.” Takemi placed a tongue depressor in his mouth. “Who knows? You could be ignoring something that’s right in front of you…” Her brown eyes stared directly into Ren’s grey ones.
“Takemi…” Ren’s cheeks burned bright red.
“Oh hey,” She pulled away and turned to her computer. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to show you.” She finished typing and went into her office.
When she returned, Takemi was holding a small vial of bright pink liquid. “Check this out.”
Ren examined the pink fluid, unsure of what he was looking at. “Uhh, what is it exactly?”
“From the samples of blood I took a while ago, I was able to extract the unique genes that give you your abilities. Theoretically, if someone were to inject this, they would gain your abilities.”
Ren felt a bit unsettled by that. “Uh Doc, I’m not so sure I’m comfortable with-”
“Oh relax.” Takemi assured him. “I don’t intend on making an army of evil spider-people. Besides, I couldn’t if I wanted to. This one vial is all I could make, these days your blood now is too mutated to get a viable sample from.”
Ren relaxed somewhat, but was still curious. “So then, what are you planning to do with it?”
Takemi held the vial up to the light. “I intend to isolate the genome responsible for your advanced healing and use it to create a new medicine that could greatly speed up the normal healing process.”
“Wow Doc, that’s like Nobel Prize level stuff. You seriously think you could do that?”
Takemi mocked offense to that question. “I know I don’t look it, but I’m a damn good doctor.”
The pair shared a laugh before the printer on the doctor’s desk whirred to life. Several papers ejected from it which Takemi stapled together before handing it to Ren.
“There you go. I guess I’ll see you when you get back.”
Ren smiled as he accepted the papers. “Thanks Doc, for everything. I mean it, I’d be dead 10 times over if it weren’t for you.”
Takemi smirked at his earnesty. “Damn right. Now get outta here, go have fun with your friends.”
Later that night, Ren arrived at the airport. Dragging his suitcase behind him, he searched for his class among the crowd.
Finally spotting two familiar heads of blonde hair, he rushed over to his friends. Ren was surprised to find how small the group attending this trip was, less than a dozen students were waiting at the gate.
“There you are dude! We were afraid you wouldn’t show!” Ryuji welcomed his best friend.
“Yeah sorry, I had to finish some business before coming here.” He looked around at the small group of students around them. “Is this seriously everyone?”
“Yep, makes you wonder why we even need a third-year here to supervise us. Ain’t Kawakami enough?”
Upon hearing her name, Ms. Kawakami appeared nearby and approached Ren. “Amamiya good, everyone’s here. Do you have those papers?”
“Right here ma’am.” He handed the teacher the physical he’d just received.
“Attention all passengers, Flight 204 is now boarding.” A voice called over the intercom.
As the group boarded the plane, Ryuji and Ren took their seats, Ren next to the aisle and Ryuji the window with a seat between them. Ann separated to go sit with another girl. As the two boys were settling into their seats, another boy with blue hair slid into the seat between them.
“Hey guys! Looks like the Troublesome Trio is going to Hawaii.” Yuuki Mishima said excitedly.
“Uh, Troublesome Trio?” Ren raised an eyebrow at the boy.
Mishima awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Well yeah, it’s what I call the 3 of us. Y’know, ‘cuz we’re always getting into trouble together?” The other two boys gave him a bewildered look wondering when that’d ever happened. “I uh, I designed T-shirts with a logo and everything. Iwroteaboutitinmydiary.” He said the last part very quietly.
Ryuji turned to Ren with a creeped out look, Ren only shrugged in response. As Mishima buckled himself into his seat, he pulled out what looked to be a fanny pack chock full of pharmaceuticals.
“Uh Mishima, whatcha got there?” Ryuji’s tone was slightly afraid.
Mishima turned to the blond and began to explain. “Oh well you see, I don’t do so well on flights.” He pulled some nasal spray from the pack. “The pressure is hell on my sinuses so I need to take this every 3 hours.” He fished another bottle from the pack. “Then I need to take 2 of these for my nausea, 1 of these for my anxiety…” He continued to list his various health needs to an uncomfortable Ryuji who regretted asking in the first place.
Ren stared at the people still boarding the plane. They hadn’t even taken off yet and it felt like he’d already been sitting here for hours. Ren tapped the stewardess as she passed by.
“Excuse me, how long is this flight?”
“Approximately 8 hours from Japan to Hawaii.” She replied with a smile before walking off.
“Ohdeargod.” Ren said to himself.
“...And I take these to help me sleep. Oh by the way, I have terrible sleep apnea. You may want to ask the stewardess for a pair of noise cancelling headphones. Also, if I grab you in my sleep, don’t push me away, it’ll cause me to flail uncontrollably. Aaand I think that’s everything.” Mishima finished with a smile.
“Greeeaaat.” Ryuji replied with a forced smile and pain in his eyes.
“Oh, I have my laptop in my carryon. I can show you guys the indie film project I’ve been working on. It’s about a group of phantom thieves, but they don’t steal money.” He paused for dramatic effect. “They steal hearts. But not like actual hearts, that would be gross. I’m thinking of calling it Love Bandits. I’ve actually got a lot done if you guys wanna help me workshop it.” Mishima bent down to grab his laptop from his bag.
As the boy was bent over, Ryuji turned to Ren and mouthed the words ‘Switch seats with me!’ To which Ren responded with a hard no. Ryuji put his hands together to plead ‘Please?’ Ren shook his head and turned to read a book he’d brought along.
“Here we go!” Mishima brought out the laptop and pulled up some editing software.
“I give you, Love Bandits!”
[55]
Two hours into the flight and one very insightful look into his friend’s state of mind later, Ren sat with his head resting in his palm, bored out of his gourd.
Ryuji’s face was planted against the window as drool leaked onto the glass. He’d somehow managed to fall asleep with the world’s noisiest sleeper next to him. Mishima rested his head on Ryuji's shoulder while both arms tightly grasped the armrests with a deathgrip.
Ren peeled himself out of his seat and left to use the restroom, more out of a need to get away than anything. As he walked down the aisle, he noticed that nearly everyone on the plane was asleep, with the odd person on their phone here and there.
Reaching the bathroom, he noticed that the sign read ‘occupied’ so he waited his turn. Thinking he smelled something bad on the other side (No, not that.) He gently knocked on the door.
“Hey are you okay in there?” He asked quietly. “I smell smoke. Are you alright?”
All he got in response was a short coughing fit followed by the sound of the toilet flushing. The door slid open and Ren was surprised to see his homeroom teacher.
“Ms. Kawakami? Are you alright? I thought I smelled-mmm” He was stopped by a finger pressing to his lips.
“Ssssshhhhh!” She silenced him before losing her balance and catching herself on his chest. “People are sleeping!” She whispered as loudly as could still be considered a whisper.
Not removing her hands from his chest, the teacher instead gave Ren’s pecs a squeeze. She suddenly started giggling to herself. “Holy shit! You are solid! What kind of workouts do you do!?” She suddenly gasped as if realizing something. “Did you get this built in juvie? *gasp* Are you in a gang?”
As she gazed up at him, Ren noticed his teacher’s eyes in the reflection of the bathroom light “Oh my god.” Ren said quietly. “Are you high!?”
He was quickly shushed once more by Kawakami. “I’m also drunk, *hiccup* but don’t tell anyone. It’ll be our little secret. I’ll give you all A’s for the semester if you don’t tell anyone.” She bargained with the student.
“Wow.” Ren was shocked. “You are a really bad teacher.” She once again placed her finger on his mouth.
“Sssshhh! I’m a great teacher. And a great maid. *hiccup* Oh wait, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that. Not that I’d mind cleaning up your place. I bet you’ve got a nice clean room.” She ran her hands down Ren’s shirt. “Hey, do y-*hiccup* do you wanna join the mile high club?” She asked while trying to pose sexy but losing her balance again and falling into a fit of laughter.
Ren’s face became flushed and he looked away.
“Ooooh, looks like someone’s *hiccup* embarrassed. Hey, wanna know what the female professors nicknamed you?” The student picked up the teacher in a fireman's carry. “Oh wow, are we really doin’ this?”
Ren carried his homeroom teacher back to her seat and gently sat her down, buckling her into her seat carefully. She had an entire row to herself so luckily, Ren didn’t need to bother anyone. As he was about to head back to his seat, a hand grabbed his wrist.
“Wait.” It was Ms. Kawakami making a pouty face.
“Stay with me?”
[Bonus]
Love Bandits: Act 3, Scene 12
“It’s no use!” Cougar cried. “Our attacks do nothing! We can’t stop the evil Shino from taking over Japan!”
“He’s too damn strong!” Bones shouted. “None of us can match his power! If we’re gonna defeat him we need someone even stronger!”
“Stronger than him!? There’s no one!” Jokester responded.
“There is one.” A voice called out from behind the group. They turned to face the source.
“Nishima!?” The team was stunned.
A lone boy stood in the midst of the chaos, his fists clenched. A mask sat atop his face, he grabbed it and tore it away in one swift motion causing a burst of wind around him. Now adorned in a flowing black trenchcoat, he pulled a pistol from his side.
Shino stumbled back from the blast of air. “NO! THESE POWER LEVELS! IT CAN’T BE! THE CHOSEN ONE!?”
“You know it bitch.” Nishima pulled the trigger, unleashing a white laser that pierced the villain’s chest.
Now standing atop his fallen enemy’s body, Nishima was surrounded by the other bandits.
“Our hero!” They cried. Cougar, Duchess, Seer, and Nora embraced him tightly.
“Damn Nishima,” Jokester patted the boy on the shoulder. “All this time, I thought I was the badass. But it turns out, it was really you all along. How would you feel about leading the team?”
“Meow Meow! Nishima’s the coolest!” Merlin, the team mascot cheered.
“Thanks guys, but it was a team effort.”
Shino groaned beneath them. “Dammit, I would’ve gotten away with it too.” He coughed in pain.
“If it hadn’t been for that damn Nishima!”