Itsuki Nakano

As I was headed to class, I was busy thinking about how I could even start repaying Parker for what he did yesterday. Every time I thought about what I could do it just kept feeling like I was falling short! What could I possibly do anyways? To be as blunt as Nino was with me, he saved my life. Even now, I can't recall what happened as the truck began leaning towards me!

One second I was frozen in place, without even a chance of thinking about what was happening to me. The next second, I was in the air in his firm, but soft arms-!

'No, no, no, no, no! Why am I framing it like that?! He- He did what he had to help me. That's it!' I shook my head, looking at myself in the mirror as my face bore a shade of pink.

I had to focus! I needed a good way to repay him properly, and just buying his lunch in return would get me chewed out by my sisters if they found out that was how I tried to repay him. Even without that, when we told Papa about it he was adamant about thanking Parker personally on top of me making amends for causing everyone so much trouble.

With a sigh, I tapped my cheeks with the palms of my hands. 'As it stands, I don't have anything to repay him with equally. But I need to thank him properly, at least! So, when I get the chance to talk to him alone is when I'll have to do that.'

I nodded to myself, making last-minute adjustments to the clips in my hair and straightening my uniform before making my way out of the bathroom and towards the classroom. Undoubtedly, Parker would be there early with how studious he is and with how train schedules usually work in 30-minute blocks. It was the perfect opportunity! At least, this was what I was thinking as I peered into the classroom, but he was nowhere in sight. It was both a little relieving and disheartening.

I took a deep breath before walking in and making my way towards my seat. 'Calm down, Itsuki. There's nothing to be worried about. Just wait until he gets here and thank him like normal for now. You can figure out how to thank him properly when it naturally comes to you. After all, it doesn't have to be the next time you see him!'

I waited, and waited, and waited for what seemed like an eternity! At one point, I even wandered over to the window in the back where I could see the front entrance hoping to see him coming through the front gate. I saw all four of my sisters walk through the front gate! But, Parker was nowhere to be seen even up until the bell for class rang. So, I had to retreat to my own seat as class got started.

So, attendance was taken and he was marked absent. Class began and everyone got their notebooks out to start the literature class. It was as soon as I had gotten my book opened to the page we were starting on that the sound of shoes squeaking in the hall could be heard.

Our door slammed open, and the familiar set of brown hair which was certainly unruly took a step inside, panting. With sweat on his face, he raised his hand as he panted.

"I… made it…" He announced through his desperate breaths.

The teacher wasn't having it, however. He crossed his arms to the American. "Parker, see me after class. Tardiness and disruption will not be tolerated."

He lowered his head as he marched in, adjusting his school bag off his shoulder and worked his way towards his seat. As he approached, to say he's looked better would be optimistic. At the very least, it was clear he didn't didn't sleep well. If I were to be honest, I didn't sleep very well either but he looked much worse than I did.

As he sat down, he pulled his own book out and leaned down to set his own bag on the ground. But as he leaned back up, there was an audible pop from his back which made him wince. It made me wince, too. Something was clearly wrong, but it would have to wait until P.E. break to ask him about it after the teacher scolded him.

That time came as literature shifted to become P.E. Parker made his way to the teacher's offices, and I followed shortly after them. At first, I hadn't planned on eavesdropping. But it was when the teacher explained that he wasn't in trouble that caught my attention.

"Your apartment burned down? That's why you were late? That complication is certainly something I can overlook as a teacher." The teacher explained.

There wasn't an exchange of words for a second. But Peter took a deep breath before saying, "That doesn't really describe it too well, but things are definitely complicated."

"Parker, you're one of the most gifted students I think we've ever had in our midst. Even if you weren't, though, the school couldn't allow you to be without a home in good conscience." There was a small amount of shuffling, but at this point I began to move without thinking.

I marched right for the classroom, aiming for my bag to grab my phone. I pulled it out and tapped through to my contacts faster than I think I ever had before. Some students began to stare, but I didn't care.

I tapped on the screen and my phone began to call for Papa. He answered after the first ring.

"Itsuki, is something-?"

I didn't let him finish. "Papa, I know how we can repay Parker."

Peter Parker

Lunch time came, and all I could do was look down at the few coins I had. It would be enough for a week's worth of the cheapest item on the menu, but not much else.

'Damn it, Pete! You just had to go and buy decorative rocks. I have spider-strength, dammit! I could have just broken a piece of concrete and used that instead of BUYING rocks. Who buys rocks anyways?!'

I closed my hand with a sigh, answering myself. "Me, apparently."

I was just approaching the lunch line when I heard someone call out behind me. I haphazardly turned to look over my shoulder, meeting the familiar face of Nakano. However, it wasn't Itsuki. This redhead was one with shorter hair and the single, large green ribbon over the top of her bangs. She also had a very bright smile compared to how Itsuki usually smiled.

She had her hands behind her back as she approached, "You remember me, right? I'm Itsuki's sister!" She flicked her pointer finger open and pointed directly at my chest, "Your name is Parker, right?"

"Um, yeah. You helped scold Nakano with one of your sisters if I'm remembering it right."

She beamed with a nod, "Yeah, that's right! I'm Yotsuba, and from here on it might just be easier for you to call me that rather than Nakano. Otherwise, it gets confusing between the five of us."

"I could imagine that." I replied with a small chuckle as the line moved forward. We both turned towards it to keep up. "Is everyone alright after what happened yesterday? It's not every day that something that scary happens."

I wasn't oblivious to the irony of what I said, having been fighting evil scientists and even a Russian guy in a mechanized rhino suit back in New York. But that was New York, a place that's basically an epicenter of super-villainy and alien invasions! That type of thing outside of America alone is slim to none. Japan even less so, despite there being a known hero team in Tokyo. But, I only heard snippets about them anyways, so they probably only made a super-team so they didn't feel left out.

She waved her hand, "Yeah, it was shocking for sure, but we're pretty close so we have a pretty good support system between all of us."

"Hm, not gonna lie, that sounds pretty useful."

"Right?"

With the sound of someone clearing their throat behind the two of us, we both turned to meet Ichika with her tempered smile. She moved to place her hands behind her back as well, though she kept her posture more upright while maintaining a relaxed posture.

"Yotsuba, you forgot to ask him the question." She brought to the attention of the former girl.

"Oh!" The ribboned girl's eyes widened before she turned back to me. "We were wondering if you wanted to eat with us! Y'know, since you helped us out and all."

Not going to lie, it was a bit jarring to actually be invited to someone's table without being prompted. Not that it didn't make sense in this situation, but it still was a shock to me with how rare it was back at Midtown. Not only that, but it was legitimately impossible for me to be invited by girls who, even I had to admit about the Nakano sisters, were as hot as they were. For a second, I even considered declining just because of how outside of my comfort zone it was. But that option was swiftly converted from a question an offer I wasn't able to refuse.

Yotsuba grabbed my arm, her smile still on her face, "C'mon! It'll be fun!"

I didn't want to seem rude by roughly freeing my arm and with how giddy she was about the idea I doubted that she would relent very easily at all. So, begrudgingly, and somewhat excitedly, I agreed to eat lunch at their table.

"Is everyone there okay with it, though? I mean, it's kind of like intruding on a family lunch if you think about it." I asked, turning to Ichika.

She nodded as the line moved forward again and it was about to be my turn to order. "Don't forget, Petey, you did us a huge favor yesterday. It would be beyond rude for us to deny you with that perspective, right?"

"Hold on, you guys don't owe me anything." I attempted to undermine, turning to the open line to my left.

"What are you talking about?" Ichika marched forward, grabbing my face and pulling it to face her. "If it wasn't for you, our sister would be having a closed casket funeral next week! Don't go thinking what you did was a small thing. We owe you for that, so let us return the favor a little. Starting with this-."

She grabbed my hand with my money and closed my hand completely. "We're covering your lunch today, so order what you want and don't worry about it. Okay?" She winked as she finished her declaration.

I had a feeling that just like Yotsuba, I wasn't going to be able to get an inch from Ichika, so I ordered a reasonable amount and waited for them to order theirs and take the lead even though all I had to do was scan for the large amounts of red among my peers' heads. The table the redheads were sat at was a shorter distance than the usual spot I sat at, so at least that was a silver lining. As the two sisters that lead me to their table took their seats, I took the last available spot next to Yotsuba and across from Itsuki. At the other end of the table on the same side as Itsuki sat Ichika. Between them was a girl with blue headphones and longer hair. Lastly, the girl with two ribbons sat across from Ichika.

As I sat down, Ichika began to laugh a little, "I even told him we would cover it, but he still acted modestly."

"Hey, I accepted the offer. I just didn't want to abuse it is all." I retorted, motioning to begin eating my own food. "Either way, I do appreciate it. This is honestly a lifesaver right now."

Ichika mused to herself but simply turned to her own food. The rest of the sisters got to work on their food, too. The silence was simultaneously a grace and a curse for me though. I felt like I should have been striking up conversation. For Thor's sake, there were five gorgeous women in front of me and I was just sitting there stuffing my face!

Apparently, I wasn't supposed to be breaking the silence. Because Itsuki groaned as she slammed her utensils on the table!

"Fine, I'll say it! I'll say it!" She blurted. I had only just noticed that her face was a shade of red, which in some ways worried me and in other ways made me curious. But that didn't stop her from standing up tall. "I haven't thanked you for saving me from the truck yet, and I don't know how or when I'll be able to repay you for it! So… so, for now, can you accept my apology for putting you through so much trouble?" She bowed a full ninety-degree angle!

'Wait, that's what this was all about? The same thing with Ichika, huh?' The whole thing made me chuckle a little.

Itsuki raised her red face and I noticed the rest of the girls turned to me a little confused, too. I waved my hand in front of my face as I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, I guess I should explain myself a little." I gestured to all five of the girls, "You guys realize I'm from New York, right? The city that gets attacked what seems like nearly every month by some new world-shattering threat?"

I reached down to my bag and grabbed my camera, moving to the album with most of the pictures that weren't Spider-Man-based and that didn't make it in the Daily Bugle's cut of the newspaper because none of the Avengers or X-Men were in them. This included pictures of A.I.M. agents and some otherworldly threats. Fing Fang Foom was even in that album! That was back when S.H.I.E.L.D. started testing me to see if I was Avengers material because of the abilities I had. So, I had plenty of great pictures of big-name baddies that I had stored in a hidden folder you'd need a computer and the right password to access on the SD card. Fury would kill me if he knew I had taken my camera on a few road trips, let alone taken selfies with some of them in the background!

"These pictures are good." The girl with the headphones began, though she spoke much more timidly compared to the other three I had heard talking. "Are you a photographer?"

"Yeah, for the Daily Bugle." I responded with a nod, returning the camera to its place in the bag. "Although, I'm sure that's about to be terminated."

"Terminated?!" Yotsuba gasped, "They're going to kill you?!"

"Fired, Yotsuba." Itsuki corrected, "But, why would they fire you?"

In truth, it was because even a month before I moved to Aichi I stopped being Spider-Man. My whole job was basically to take my own pictures in costume after any bouts with criminals. J. Jonah Jameson did agree to give me my usual amount for a while despite that though, since my life was easily falling to shambles with both of my friends being torn from it. Even with that, however, J.J.J. has his limits. It was a surprise at all to see him be so considerate towards my situation and his patience was bound to be running very thin. My next payment would be my last, I was sure of it. And they wouldn't get their pictures.

But there wasn't any way I was going to tell any of these girls about that.

"Well, here in Japan there isn't much going on. With no pictures and no stories to go after, there isn't much use for a photographer." I answered with a smile before taking a bite of food, "Either way, I should be focusing on schoolwork anyways, not getting myself closer to aliens from another world or evil scientists turned into lizard monsters."

"And finding a place to stay, right?"

I nearly choked on my next bite! I turned to Ichika, the source of the voice, who didn't look as cool and collected as usual. Rather, she looked sharp and calculated. A very new emotion I received from her.

"Who told you-?!" I began as Ichika glanced down to Itsuki. Her face was still a shade of red, but she managed to look back at me this time at least.

"I spoke with Papa- With our father after I listened in to your conversation in the teacher's offices." By now her shade of pink on her face had dissipated and she was sitting a bit more firmly, "Our father wants to repay you for saving my life as well, so he wanted to offer you a place to stay. He wanted to speak to you personally with it, however. He has a few options he wants to go through with you."

"Listen, I appreciate the offer. But… this is my problem. No one else needs to worry about my problems but me."

"If that's your decision, then fine." The girl with the double ribbons responded, in a much more sharp tone compared to the rest of the Nakano sisters, "Regardless, you should at least tell our father that's your decision yourself. He's busy with work at the hospital, so after school you can have Itsuki call him for you."

"Why me?!" Istuki protested.

The former Nakano responded, "You two are in the same class, it would just be easier that way."

It was decided without my say on if I should talk to their father that I would, because with all those heads joining forces, I knew that convincing them of anything else would be breath wasted. So, we all finished our lunches and talked amongst ourselves. At least, most of us talked. I was able to learn that the sister with two ribbons' name was Nino and the girl with the headphones was Miku. I also learned the order in which they were born. Ichika was the oldest, Nino was after her, Miku was the middle child, Yotsuba was after her and last was Itsuki. For Ichika and Miku, I could have guessed their order just because of how they acted in general. But, at first I thought that Yotsuba would have been the youngest.

I also took the opportunity to introduce myself properly as I hadn't given my name to two of the Nakano sisters. Miku received it about as well as the other sisters did even if she did seem a bit more spacey than the other three. And Nino seemed to outright ignore me. I wasn't too angry with those results though, four out of five wasn't a bad result for good first impressions! It wasn't long until the school bell rang and we all said our farewells. We all went our separate ways and back to class. Overall, it was a pretty normal day compared to what I was used to, despite the terrible morning which was a nightmare even by the standards of a day in the Spider-Man period of my life!

I woke up with a dead phone and had to ask a stranger for the time just to find there was twenty minutes before the first bell would ring with three miles going straight from the bridge I woke up under to the school! At first, I contemplated actually using the web shooters to get to school at all, but the train would get me there an hour after school had already ended which just wouldn't be worth it. Plus, if I didn't go to school and the teacher gave Itsuki my portion of homework, she would have found out about my apartment. Although she did still learn about it in the end, I obviously had no way of knowing she would have learned about it and I wasn't planning on letting anyone know about it. So, the only option was for me to use my web shooters.

But see, if it was New York, it would have taken just five minutes and even then, I would be going pretty slow in comparison to when I'm chasing down crooks' cars around Manhattan. But Aichi, while mostly being a city, didn't have nearly as many buildings that were considered skyscrapers like Manhattan. It felt more like Queens, where while there were buildings tall enough to consistently swing from, I had to maneuver in a specific path to be able to swing off them efficiently. So, I was constantly switching from swinging from taller buildings to jumping above rooftops and zipping myself around using the limited amount of web fluid I had remaining just to keep save as much time as I could. It was still fast, faster than most cars and trains could probably ever hope to get there considering traffic and any unexpected delays that usually happens in big cities like these. However, because of a detour I had to make to avoid running on people's homes near when I was close to Asahiyama, it took a little longer than expected.

In short, that was the only bad thing to come of my day so far and it was just the beginning of the day. Too bad that school wasn't the last thing I had to do.

The final bell rang and Itsuki told me to follow her. We walked to a secluded part of the school and she began to call her father. I wasn't exactly nervous, but it still wasn't a walk in the park to be talking to a girl's father.

'Wait a minute- why am I so nervous anyways? I saved his daughter's life! And it's not even like we're dating.' I took a deep breath as she handed me her phone, giving myself one last push, 'I'm just telling him that while I appreciate any offer he has, what I did was what anyone else would have done and shouldn't be treated as anything extraordinary. Nothing to worry about here, Pete!'

Itsuki walked away to allow me and her father some privacy while we spoke. As she rounded the corner, the phone picked up.

"Itsuki, what is it?" A man on the other end spoke. His voice was deep, and had it not been for my experience with Kingpin I might have been scared.

"Hello, sir. This is Peter Parker. Your daughter lent me her phone. She said you wanted to speak with me."

"Ah, Parker. I'm glad to finally be able to speak with you."

"The pleasure is all mine, sir."

"Please, there's no need to be so formal." He reassured, "After all, you saved my daughter's life yesterday as I recall. I value my daughters' lives more than anything else in this world, and because you allowed me to see Itsuki alive and well again that makes you someone important to me, too."

"Um, I appreciate-."

"But don't get ahead of yourself, boy! You may be important to me but you still don't come close to how much I value each of my daughters!"

I leaned against the wall, somewhat thankful that he kept at least some distance between us. The last thing I needed was a clingy dad trying to appease me.

I smiled, "Of course, I would hope any father would feel that way with their daughter."

"Good, then we understand each other a little." I could hear him breathe out in a way one does when they smoke a cigarette. He took another breath before continuing, "With that out of the way, I hear that you came into some trouble immediately after saving my Itsuki. Something about an apartment burning down."

I cleared my throat, feeling it becoming dry as we talked, "Yeah, it was a hiccup to say the least."

"A hiccup, indeed." He took another puff of his cigarette. "Because of the favor you did for me, it wouldn't be right for me to allow you to sleep under a bridge on concrete in return for it."

"Oh, no, please, you don't have to go out of your way for me. It's my problem, and I should be the one to deal with it. I mean, these things happen."

"I applaud your desire to work out your own issues, but I'm afraid I must insist."

I placed my hand on my forehead, getting a little frustrated by how insistent the whole Nakano family seemed to be. I just couldn't wrap my head around why they couldn't take a hint!

"I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than it really is, sir."

"Excuse me?" He began. His tone shifted in a slight way, but it was enough to let me know that what I said wasn't the phrase he wanted to hear. "Now you listen here, boy. My daughter's life is worth much more than the afterthought you're trying to downplay it as! I'm betting you were planning on saying that anyone would have done it, and that you didn't do anything to deserve any praise. But you misunderstand, this isn't about you at all! This is about me and my standing with my colleagues, about how it would reflect on our family if we didn't do something to reciprocate the actions of another. For you to refuse me before even hearing my pleas is an insult to me, whether you view it that way or not! Because at the end of the day, while you say anyone could have saved Itsuki, you were still the boy who saved her life and so you will at least hear me out. Do I make myself clear, Peter Parker?"

The last thing I expected to happen was for me to get chewed out like that. Well, at least after the beginning of the conversation went as smoothly as it did. I completely forgot how formal some Japanese families were about favors like these. I was used to having soda cans thrown at me for saving people as Spider-Man and being called a menace to society! This at least convinced me that Spider-Man would probably gain a lot more respect here than in New York. Actually, that might be more of a problem in some ways.

After a small pause, I was only barely able to squeak out what was a tad inappropriate in hindsight, "Crystal, sir."

The man on the other end seemed to ignore it, however, as he took another puff of smoke on the other end, "Good. I was planning on giving you the option to stay on the thirtieth floor of an apartment of mine without any worry about finances. However, since you insulted me and my daughter I've decided to change that offer a bit."

I mentally kicked myself in the groin, 'Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to just accept a little bit of help. This is a perfect example of that Parker pride creating more problems than it actually solves.'

The Nakano father continued, "You have two options now. You may still live on the thirtieth floor in each offer, but with a distinct caveat with the two options." He paused for a moment as I heard something crumble on the other end. Probably a cigarette in an ashtray. "Option one, you will have to pay your way with rent as anyone would living in the apartment, which would be designated at two hundred sixty thousand after significantly reducing the price to something more manageable."

I was already accepting taking any punishment other than working myself to the bone trying to just survive that. Because if I accepted that, I knew that before the school year was done, I wouldn't be alive.

"And- and the second option was?"

"It's much like my original offer, you get to live in the apartment for free yet again. However, in return, you will help me resolve five problems of my own."

Update: I was made aware of a small error of the spelling of Ichika's name throughout this chapter and has since been fixed. Thanks to TheMist33 and The Gray Wanderer for pointing this out!