Chapter 58
[82]
Things were finally looking up for Ren Amamiya, while he had been forced to leave Leblanc by Sojiro almost two weeks ago, he was doing pretty well for himself right now. As he walked down the recently rebuilt streets of Shibuya, he couldn’t help but reflect on how great things had been recently.
He finally had some money thanks to his new job, which he was surprised to find he enjoyed so much. He was doing important work at school that would help millions of people. Tokyo crime rates were falling for the first time since the original Spider-Man’s death, and as a result, he got to spend more time with his friends.
His thoughts were interrupted by the loudspeakers playing on an electronic billboard. Turning his attention towards the billboard, he saw a familiar mustached reporter yelling into the news camera.
“-You wanna hear the truth people!? Here’s the truth! The falling crime rates have nothing to do with that damn wallcrawler! It’s because criminals are finally realizing that the police are a far more threatening force than any vigilante! It’s thanks to the hard, thankless work of our officers that this city is still standing! Especially thanks to the Detective Queen herself, Naoto Shirogane. Who has arrested numerous costumed villains including the most recent offender, Wakaba Isshiki, better known as ‘Miss Negative.’ I, for one, cannot wait for the day when she arrests the greatest villain of them all, SPIDER-MAN!”
Ren couldn’t help but let out a laugh, little did Toranosuke know, that same cop he was praising was giving Ren a place to live right now. Speaking of which, as Ren felt the large wad of cash in his pocket, a thought crossed his mind. All of the great things that had happened to him were thanks to Naoto, he needed to show his appreciation somehow.
As he thought about what he could do, he saw a grocery store out of the corner of his eye and he realized what he had to do. He was going to use his cooking skills to make Naoto the best dinner she’d ever had.
Naoto Shirogane sat in her office late into the afternoon, despite the lowered crime rate, she still had to work just as hard to ensure that it remained that low. While she was typing out her latest report, she received a text from Ren.
‘Don’t come home too late tonight.’
Naoto smiled and shook her head. This boy. He reminded her so much of Narukami. Not just his powers, his kindness, his selflessness, his optimism, his body, his intelligence, his...wait what?
What was she thinking!? Why did her mind keep coming back to that moment from two weeks ago!? Gah! She was supposed to be a professional! So why was she so damn fixated on this boy!? She supposed it may have been her latent feelings for Narukami, but this was ridiculous! She was 5 years Ren’s senior!
As much as Naoto was ashamed to admit it, she had feelings for the late Yu Narukami. Ever since they were teenagers working together to stop small time crooks in Inaba, Naoto had deep, strong feelings for the masked hero. She recalled the day Rise and Yu got engaged as the worst of her life, that is, until the day she found him dead under a collapsed building.
When she’d first heard the news about a new masked vigilante with spider powers on the streets, some small part of herself found her believing it was Yu, back from the grave somehow and continuing his fight. She was disappointed, but not surprised when her investigation revealed the hero to be a 17 year old delinquent from the countryside. And the rest between them was history.
When Ren reached the door to Naoto’s apartment with two grocery bags draped around his arms, he saw a pink slip of paper hung on the door. Reaching into his pocket and fishing out the key Naoto had given him with one hand, he grabbed the paper with his other.
It was a flyer for a maid service called Victoria’s. Apparently if he used this flyer, he’d get 10% off of the service charge.
“Not a bad deal.” Ren said to himself as he pocketed the pink paper.
Stepping into Naoto’s apartment, he was ready to set to work on making her an unforgettable meal. However, as he glanced around the apartment, he noticed just how messy it actually was. Before coming here, Ren had assumed Naoto would be a bit of a clean freak, however he couldn’t have been more wrong. The Detective Queen was so busy at her job, she didn’t have the time to worry about how clean her apartment was, or the time to even cook for herself.
That settled it, on top of cooking for her, he would clean Naoto’s apartment as well. That being said, Ren Amamiya wasn’t the best at cleaning either. However, he knew just how to solve that problem.
“Hi, you’ve reached Victoria’s maid service. How may we serve you Meow-ster?” A woman’s voice came from the other end.
“Hi um,” Ren felt a bit awkward, never having called a maid service before. “I’d like your cleaning services for tonight...please.”
“Not a problem meow-ster. Do you have any particular requests?”
“Umm, cleaning?” Ren reiterated, confused by the question.
The voice on the other end giggled. “You’re so funny Meow-ster! I mean any requests for a particular maid, silly!”
“Oh.” He got a choice? Why did it matter as long as they cleaned? “Uh, nope. Send whoever.”
“Excellent. And now we just need an address.” Ren gave them the location and apartment number. “We’ll have someone over within the hour. Have a nice night Meow-ster!”
Ren hung up the phone, feeling strangely dirty for some reason. Shrugging that feeling away, he set to work on cooking. The food tonight would be Italian cuisine, everybody likes pasta afterall, so he figured it would be a safe bet.
While he was in the middle of boiling the noodles, there was a knock at the door. “It’s open!” He called out, desperately hoping it wasn’t Naoto.
“Victoria’s maid service!” A woman’s voice called as the front door opened.
‘Thank God!’ Ren thought as he continued to stir. “I’m in the kitchen!”
The maid entered the kitchen and saw him at work on the stove. “Oh? You’re cooking? You know we offer food services as well, right Master?”
“It’s fine. I’m just really trying to surprise someone with a home cooked mea-” Ren said as he turned around, stopping when he got a good look at the maid’s face. The two stared at each other with wide eyes and open mouths.
“A-Amamiya!?” The maid stammered out.
“Ms. Kawakami!?” Ren said, shocked to see his homeroom teacher here, in a maid outfit.
“Oh God. I’m going to lose my job.” Kawakami murmured to herself before looking up at Ren angrily. “Who told you about this!? Was it Ms. Chouno!?”
“What?” Ren was incredibly confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about! I just needed someone to help me clean!”
Kawakami glanced around the apartment, seeing that it was, in fact, a mess. “*sigh* Fine, I’ll believe you. But on one condition! Don’t tell anyone about this!”
“You got it Teach.” Ren said, wanting to just forget about all of this and continue prepping his food.
“And don’t call me that.” Kawakami said before setting to work on cleaning.
The two each worked at their tasks for the next hour, Ren preparing a lovely chicken and mushroom risotto with garlic bread, and Kawakami doing an okay job cleaning the apartment.
“Holy shit.” Kawakami looked over the meal laid out across the table. “Where’d you learn to cook like that?”
“Years of practice.” Ren said as he finished laying out the food. “I also work as a cook at a nightclub.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t ask me to cook. I wouldn’t be able to make anything close to this.” Suddenly, while staring at the food, Kawakami’s stomach began to growl from the smell. She clutched her belly and her cheeks turned red. “S-Sorry.”
Ren just laughed it off, thinking it was cute. “No problem.” He walked over to the pot of pasta. “I made plenty.” He began to scoop her some.
“N-No, I couldn’t possibly-”
“Oh just take it. You can be my guinea pig.” He handed her a plate of steaming pasta.
The woman ate her meal greedily, clearly much more hungry than she was letting on. As Kawakami finished her meal, she looked back at her plate and was disappointed to find it empty, only to be surprised as a tupperware container filled with more of the delicious pasta was being handed to her.
“I’m gonna assume you liked it.” Ren said with a smirk.
Kawakami suddenly remembered the situation she was in, a student, her student, was standing over her, in his apartment, giving her food, knowing her unfortunate secret. This should be a nightmare, she could lose her job if the school found out. So why was she enjoying herself so much?
“It...It’s alright.” She said turning away, face red.
“Well, if you don’t want any more…” He began to pull the container away.
“No!” She yelled as she snatched the container from his hand.
Ren laughed at his teacher/maid’s antics. “Alright. Just be sure to return that container, it’s not mine to give away.”
Suddenly another thought crossed Kawakami’s mind. Whose apartment was this? It couldn’t be his. And who was the dinner for? And the cleaning? Oh God. Her student had a date tonight! And here she was sitting on his couch in a maid outfit! What if they walked in and saw the two of them!?
“I have to go.” Kawakami said abruptly, grabbing her things, including the tupperware, and leaving as fast as she could.
“Wait! But I didn’t-” The door slammed shut before Ren could finish. “-Pay you.” He said to no one in particular.
Ren sat alone now, thinking to himself. Was he a creep? Was he way out of bounds asking her to help him clean? And giving her food? Students and teachers didn’t interact like that. Outside of pornos that is. But what had he said that’d been the final nail in the coffin? What made her run out like that?
Before he could continue this line of questioning, the apartment door opened once again, and believing it to be his teacher once again, he ran to greet her.
“Hey, I’m sorry about before-” Ren began.
“Sorry about what?” Naoto Shirogane asked as she stepped into her apartment.
“Uh, s-sorry thaaaat I forgot to lock the door! Some-um, hooligans could’ve broken in at any point and I would’ve been defenseless to stop them!”
“Hooligans? Oookay?” Naoto paused before smelling the air. “Did you order takeout already? Hopefully it’s enough for two. I’m starving.” She said as she stepped further into her home, only to be surprised to see a shockingly clean kitchen and two plates already prepared with food sitting out on her tiny dining table.
“Surprise.” Ren said, scratching the back of his neck. This moment was more awkward than he’d anticipated.
“Whoa. Ren, where’d you get all of this?” She asked looking at the spread before her. She didn’t know any places around town that made Italian food.
“I made it.” Ren answered, glad she seemed to appreciate it. “Come on, let’s not waste any more time.” He pulled her chair out for her. “Dig in.”
Naoto took her seat and began to eat. Holy shit! It tasted even better than it smelled! The chicken and mushrooms were complimented so well by the white sauce and the noodle texture was-
Before she’d even realized it, the Detective Queen had cleaned off her plate. She’d been so enveloped in the food, she didn’t notice Ren hadn’t even sat down yet, he was entranced by how fast she’d consumed the meal.
“I’ll uh, go get more.” He grabbed her plate and filled it once more from the ever-shrinking pot of pasta on the stove. At this rate, he wouldn’t get any for himself.
This time, Naoto was far more courteous and allowed Ren to sit down before beginning her meal. The two enjoyed another nice conversation over dinner and Naoto found herself in disbelief at the seemingly random act of kindness Ren had done for her. He was proving to be a more and more amazing person the more she got to know him.
As Ren slurped up the last bit of his pasta, he didn’t notice the sauce that had landed on his cheek.
“Hey you’ve got a um,” She pointed towards her cheek. Ren attempted to wipe the sauce from his face, only to guess the wrong cheek. “Here, let me…” She leaned in and used her napkin to wipe the boy’s face.
When she looked up, their faces were inches apart and Ren’s cheeks were bright red. This close, she really saw just how handsome Ren’s face was. Clear skin, a soft but firm jawline that contoured very well, fluffy black hair that hung just around his sharp grey eyes with long, almost feminine eyelashes.
Maybe it was because it’d been a hard day at the office. Maybe it was because of the show of gratitude he’d just done for her. Maybe it was because it’d been so long since she’d last...you know...Or maybe it was because she had genuine feelings for this boy.
She kissed him.
Not a kiss on the cheek, not a cute kiss that didn’t really mean anything. Naoto kissed him directly on the lips, her eyes closed as she enjoyed the taste of their meal together on his lips. As she pressed further into his mouth, Ren accepted the kiss, opening his mouth to hers.
Their tongues danced together, and much to Naoto’s surprise, he seemed pretty inexperienced. She’d figured with his looks and personality, a boy like him would have girls lining up. But if Naoto had to guess, this was Ren’s first time french kissing a girl.
But the heat of their emotions didn’t end there. Naoto grabbed the boy by his collar and led him to her room for further...study. Naoto began to unbutton her shirt as they moved along, gesturing for him to do the same. He complied, and Naoto was once again treated to Ren’s impressive physique, this time however, it was up close and personal. Tracing his various scars with her fingers, the two ended up more or less falling into Naoto’s bed, laughing at their shared clumsiness.
As Naoto undressed herself further, she was nervous as to how Ren would respond. Sure she kept herself fit for duty, she was an active police officer of course, but she didn’t exactly dress like women her age. Instead, she still chose to buy a lot of her clothes from the men’s section, and her underwear, while meant for women, was the cheap type one would buy in packs at department stores. Her fears however, were misplaced, as Ren looked at her with immense lust in his eyes, disappointment was the furthest thing from his mind.
The pair ended up going all the way together, to both of their immense satisfaction. As Ren laid in Naoto’s bed, basking in the afterglow, he turned to the detective and saw her out cold, murmuring softly. It did sound like she’d had a stressful day when she’d described it over dinner. As he pulled her blankets further up to warm her up a bit, he heard her murmur something just a bit more clearly.
“I...love you-”
Wait what? She loved him!? Was she serious!? After one night!? Ren stopped to sort out his feelings for her. He couldn’t say he didn’t feel something close to-
“Narukami.”
Ren stopped, his blood suddenly running cold. Narukami? Yu Narukami!? Naoto loved Yu Narukami!? The same man who had been married to her best friend!? The same man Ren had replaced as Spider-Man!?
He got up out of the bed and got dressed, deciding it didn’t really seem right to stay here right now. Grabbing his jacket and shoes, he headed out the door. A nice walk would help him sort out his feelings. The cold September air hit him as he stepped out of the apartment and onto the street.
Ren soon found himself back in Shinjuku, in the same area he’d been in earlier this morning, the soft glow from the electric billboards illuminated the streets packed with Tokyo citizens visiting the rebuilt section of the city.
How could he have been so stupid!? Of course Naoto had feelings for Yu! The way she talked about him, it was so obvious now! Ren wasn’t mad at Naoto, not in the least. He was mad at himself. He’d taken advantage of this woman who was grieving for her lost friend, a friend she’d loved more than she’d let on to anyone else. And here he was, a guy who just happened to get the same powers as him, trying to take the place of someone irreplaceable to her.
Things were going so great for him this morning! He had everything! And yet he’d stupidly wanted more. In the back of his mind, he knew that his gesture was a romantic one, and maybe he had secretly been hoping to get closer to the woman he now knew he had strong feelings for. But he’d denied all of this and made it out as a gesture of gratitude, he didn’t know how he’d face Naoto in the morning. What could he say after hearing that? What could he-
Ren’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the soft blue and white glow of the various billboards being replaced by a gaudy mix of green and purple. Looking up to the billboards, he saw an almost hypnotic swirl of the two colors on the screens with an image of a cloudy crystal ball in the center.
Suddenly, the swirl dispersed into a cloud of smoke on screen and revealed a costumed body beneath the crystal ball, with the ball sitting atop the shoulders like a head. The figure's costume was a padded green suit with gold accents and a flowing purple cape behind him.
“People of Tokyo!” The figure on the screen spoke in a man’s voice. “You have been led astray! Made to rely on worthless technology manufactured by corporations who want nothing more than to see you become weak and complacent! I am here to show you a new way! A better way! With my magic,” The figures hands lit up with bright green glyphs that floated around his palms. “I shall liberate you all from such a feeble existence! And make the corporations that have hindered your potential, pay for their crimes!”
The camera zoomed in on the crystal ball and held there.
“Soon all of Tokyo will have a new savior! One who will lead you to a brighter future! I am MYSTERIO!”