Chapter 54
[76]
“So the bathroom’s down the hall and the laundry room is in the basement. That should be everything.” Naoto finished giving Ren a tour of her house.
“Thank you again for everything Naoto. I promise I’ll be out of your hair as soon as possible.” Ren told the detective as he set his belongings on the ground.
Naoto watched the boy stand there awkwardly. “Um, do you need to get anything else? I don’t see a whole lot in that box.”
“Nope. Got all the basics. Toothbrush, couple shirts, school stuff, Spidey gear, phone charger, spare glasses...huh, guess I won’t be needing these anymore.” He sorted through his items, listing them off as he went.
Was this kid a Buddhist monk? What kind of teenager could fit all of their belongings in a grocery bag?
It was then that Naoto came to a realization. Other than what was in his file, she knew nothing about what kind of person Ren Amamiya was.
“Hey um…” Naoto scratched the back of her head awkwardly. “Are you hungry? I could go get us something to eat.”
“Oh no I couldn’t possibly impose-” He started but was interrupted by his stomach growling.
Naoto smiled. “Ha. I’ll make sure to pick up alot, if you’re anything like Yu, your metabolism is super too.”
“...Thank you.” Ren held his head down, embarrassed by his appetite.
Naoto headed out the door to the nearest restaurant, a Thai place she frequented on nights she was too tired to cook (which was most nights.)
As he lay down on the couch, his bed for the foreseeable future, pain shot through his spine again and he sat up straight. Maybe tearing off his back brace earlier wasn’t the best call. If he got some hot water on his back, that might help the situation.
Deciding to take a shower, which might also help with his stink, he undressed and went into the bathroom. Turning on the hot water and allowing it to flow down his back, he felt the light sting of each individual cut from the glass shards, they’d healed by now, but he could still tell where they’d entered him. His healing may make his wounds seal up faster and his bones repair themselves quickly, but it did nothing for the pain.
Unknown to Ren, Naoto had entered the apartment a minute earlier holding takeout in each hand. “Food’s here! Come get it while it’s-” She turned around and was greeted by the sight of Ren in a towel with a ‘deer in the headlights’ look. “-hot.”
Ren Amamiya was certainly built for a boy his age. His exposed chest looked incredibly firm with a well defined six-pack beneath it. His arms, while not as bulky as his predecessor’s, were certainly strong. But the thing that stuck out most to Naoto were the scars she saw, four parallel scars running diagonally across his right pectoral and one large stab wound in his left shoulder and as he turned away clutching a handful of clothes, she caught a glimpse of a burn wound on his lower back.
Snapping out of her thoughts as the boy quickly exited her view, she looked down as her cheeks turned slightly red. What the hell was that? He was her guest for all of an hour and she just saw him nearly naked! And why did she stare so much? He was a teenage boy for crying out loud!
‘You aren’t that much older than him.’ A voice in the back of her head thought. ‘He’s nearly 18 and you just turned 22.’ Who the fuck said that? It couldn’t have been her, she didn’t have those kinds of thoughts. Naoto Shirogane was not concerned with dating. Hell, back in high school everyone around her thought she was a guy her first year!
Ren walked back into the room, dressed in a long sleeve black shirt and green sweatpants, she supposed those were his pajamas. With her guest back in sight, Naoto coughed into her hand and began setting out the food.
“...Sorry about that.” Ren was the first to speak. “I didn’t think you’d be home so soon. I hope you don’t mind me using your shower.”
“Not at all! I should be the one apologizing, I didn’t think to check and-”
As Ren shovelled the noodles into his mouth with his chopsticks, he began to laugh. “Why don’t we just say it’s both our faults and put it past us.”
“Great idea.” Naoto said as she helped herself to her own food. “Hey here’s something we haven’t discussed. That electricity that comes from your hands, how do you do it?”
“Oh? You mean my venom blast?” Ren asked as he swallowed his food.
Naoto snickered at that.
“What? It’s a cool name!”
“I’m sorry, it’s just...That sounds exactly like what Yu would call it. Even as a grown man, he thought everything always had to have a cool name.”
“I can also turn invisible.” Ren added.
“I saw that during our fight with Kaneshiro. My guess is that both of your powers stem from a single source, it seems you can manipulate your bioelectrical field to some degree.”
“Seriously? I mean uh yeah, I concluded that too.”
“Uh huh.” Naoto said skeptically. “I wonder what caused that development. Narukami didn’t have those abilities, so was the spider that bit you different, or was your own physiology the deciding factor? We can’t know for certain given that we’ve only seen two instances of this happening so far.”
“That’s actually a really interesting question.”
The two continued discussing various topics of interest over dinner, exchanging stories from their jobs, and recommending books and movies to one another. Ren’s conversational skills were a welcome surprise to Naoto, most of the conversations she had these days were strictly regarding police work and the few that weren’t were shallow at best.
“Oh my god is that the time!?” Ren said while checking his phone. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but school starts back up tomorrow and I’ve gotta get some rest.”
“Good point, it’s about time I prepare for bed as well. Goodnight Ren.”
“Night Naoto! Thanks for the food!”
[77]
“Good morning Senpai!”
Ren was walking towards the school gate when a voice behind him called. He turned around and was greeted by the sight of Sumire Yoshizawa, her bright red hair tied in a ponytail. From the way she was standing, she seemed to be holding something behind her back.
“Oh hey Sumire. You seem especially chipper this morning. Any special reason why?” Ren asked curiously.
“I’m glad you asked Senpai. Look!” She presented the object behind her to Ren, displaying it proudly.
“Whoa, a silver medal!? That’s awesome! Congratulations Sumire.”
“It’s all thanks to you Senpai! If it weren’t for our lessons together, I’d never have been able to do so well.”
“Lessons? I’m confused, weren’t you the one teaching me gymnastics?”
“Not those, silly!” Sumire giggled. “The confidence lessons you’ve been giving me have really paid off. Now I’m the best gymnast I can be!”
“Thank you? Those weren’t really confidence lessons, we were just hanging out together. And wouldn’t getting first be the best you could be? Not that second is bad or anything.”
“Oh I could never get first, I’ve got my sister to compete with afterall.” Sumire waved off the question.
“What, you don’t think you could eventually beat her?”
“Not at all. Ever since we were kids she’s been better than me at everything. I don’t stand a chance against her.” Sumire admitted.
“Nonsense, I think you’re great. If you want, we could continue our lessons together.”
Sumire’s eyes went wide. “That would be great Senpai!” She did an excited little hop in place.
“Great, I’m free this afternoon if you want to go to the park together.”
Suddenly, the younger girl’s face lit up red with a blush. “O-Okay s-sure, let’s go to the park. Wellitlookslikeclassisabouttostartgottagobye!” She hurriedly ran away from him into the building.
‘Huh, that was odd.’ Ren thought as he entered Shujin himself.
The day went normally as he sat through his normal classes, his thoughts distracted by yesterday’s events. He couldn’t stop thinking about all of the reasons Sojiro brought up before kicking him out.
‘Sojiro was right, I could die doing this, I’ve nearly died so many times. But I can’t stop now, this city needs Spider-Man. If I’m going to keep doing this, I need to up my game. Better equipment, better skills, stronger abilities-’
“MR. AMAMIYA!”
“Huh?” He looked up from his desk and saw the professor, along with everyone else, staring at him expectantly.
“Care to answer the question?” Ms. Chouno asked angrily.
Ren looked up at the board. Nothing was written on it. Shit, it was a verbal question. “Umm, could you repeat it?”
Ms. Chouno merely sighed before calling on another student who had been paying attention.
‘And I can’t start slacking off at school either, from now on, it’s 110% no, 120% for everything!’ He thought as he quickly jotted down was Ms. Chouno was saying.
Later that day during lunch, Ren entered the student council room and, to his luck, found Makoto sitting alone. The student council president was quietly eating a sandwich while sorting through some documents.
“Hey Makoto.” Ren greeted through the doorway. “Mind if I come in?”
“Ren!” Makoto said in surprise, nearly falling out of her chair. “Yes, please come in.” She welcomed him as she righted herself.
The boy took a seat at the student council table next to her and set his grocery bag with his lunch (a loaf of bread) on the table.
“How’s it going?” Makoto asked.
“Good, I broke my back and got kicked out of the house, but otherwise good.” Ren said before letting out a laugh. “No but seriously, I’m okay. I found a place to stay and I’m fine now. How’s um...how’s your dad?”
Makoto let out a sigh. “He hasn’t woken up yet. The doctors are hopeful, but there haven’t been any substantial changes.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Ren said, considering his next words. “Um, I had a question...Really it’s more like a request.”
“What’s up?” Makoto leaned in, now intrigued.
“You know how to fight, right? Um, do you think you could teach me?” Ren asked while looking away, scratching the back of his neck.
“Teach you to fight?” She let out a laugh. “Don’t you have super strength?”
“Yeah, as it turns out, super strength alone doesn’t really cut it when it comes to crime fighting. I...got my ass handed to me. I know, it’s asking a lot and you’ve already got so much on your plate as it is but-”
“I’ll do it.”
“Wha-you will!?” Ren was shocked.
“Yeah. Whenever I’ve got the time, I’ll help you out. Your Spider-Man stuff is important and I don’t want you getting hurt. So I’ll do what I can to help you, but you’ve got to be ready to give it your all. Can you do that?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Absolutely.”