54godamora: Read on and find out.
magic145: You're about to see the answer.
Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]
Disclaimer: I don't own To Love Ru, or any of its characters...
One Month Later
"WOOOOOOO!"
Rito shouted as he jumped over another building, reaching up to 30 feet in the air before landing on another house in the distance without a problem.
He jumped again and uttered the same shout before landing on the nearest one. Rito continued his jump from house to house until he reached a group of five story-apartments, causing him to jump onto the wall instead.
Like a real spider, his feet stuck to the hard surface despite the fact that he was wearing shoes. He quickly assumed a crawling position, his hands sticking to the wall as well, before he began climbing up the building.
It was quite a miracle that nobody down there was seeing a teenager climb up the side of a building like a spider.
After reaching the top, Rito couldn't help but laugh in enjoyment and excitement. He's been doing this whole thing every weekend when he had nothing else to do, and it was just as fun as the first time.
"Never gets old," he chuckled.
It's been over a month ever since he received these spider-powers from Garia in what was the most realistic dream ever, thirty days since Rito swore to himself that he would use those abilities for good and help other people.
And here he was, having fun with his powers.
Well, Rito preferred to call it 'training' but instead of pushing himself to the limit and going further than that, he simply opted to test out everything that he's capable of doing and see how far he can go.
Oh, and he also wanted to do this while having a bit of fun too. Can anyone blame him, though? If anyone else received these powers instead of him, they would do the same thing.
Rito walked over to the other side of the apartment and climbed on top of the edge, keeping his balance perfect without any worry. Even though he was over 16 meters above the ground, Rito looked unphased.
Why?
Right after figuring out how to climb walls and jump really high four weeks ago, Rito worked on how to shoot webs out of his body next.
It was a tough challenge, since Garia didn't tell him anything about how to do this, but Rito didn't let that deter him. After several attempts (including an embarrassing attempt of trying to shoot webs from his butt), he eventually managed to figure out how to shoot webs from his wrists and he spent the next few weeks trying to utilize it on small and medium-sized objects so he could get used to how it worked.
However, this week was different.
What he first tried on little and average-sized things that can be found in a warehouse, he was going to try on buildings instead.
Yes, it was a crazy idea, but it's one that he should try! If this becomes successful, then he would be able to practically fly across town using webs, his jumping ability, and wall-crawling!
The possibilities while he's in the air are almost endless if that can be a reality.
Rito can't pass up this opportunity.
"Oh right, gotta put this on."
Before he could do anything that involved throwing himself off the ledge, the boy pulled out a plain red mask from his hoodie. The eye holes were cut out and replaced with sunglasses lens, before he put it on.
He didn't want his face to be seen and be the gossip of the whole town this time tomorrow. Or worse, he gets aired on the news channel, which will lead to Mikan and Haruna finding out about his powers and that was the last thing he wanted to happen.
Good thing he thought ahead of time and made this mask before going out today. In fact, his whole body was covered to ensure that he wouldn't be recognized by anyone. He wore a black beanie, an orange shirt underneath a green hoodie, dark pants, and white sneakers.
With the mask on as well, Rito was completely sure that he wouldn't be recognized by anyone, not even Mikan.
"I hope I can pull this off," the boy whispered to himself as he took a deep breath.
And with that, he launched himself into the air.
After reaching the peak of his jump, Rito let himself fall down, feeling the strong force of gravity pull him down to the Earth. But before he could be within ten meters from the ground, Rito threw out his arm and fired a web line to the nearby building.
Rito immediately grabbed onto the web as the momentum carried him upwards instead, saving him from crashing to the ground and spilling his guts like an insect.
He remained with the web he fired up until he reached the peak of his swing, before letting go as he began to fall again, this time faster than before because of the added momentum.
He shot another line, this time to an electric post and swung again, this time positioning his body to go along with the movement.
"WOOHOOOO!" Rito yelled as he performed a flip in the air and let himself fall yet again, before firing another web line to a nearby apartment and continued the rhythm.
Rito felt weightless while he was in the air, as he performed more flips and even twisted his body like an acrobat, as he continued to swing above the streets.
"THIS IS AWESOMMEEE!"
The young boy felt a sense of freedom as he swung through the town, as if he could do whatever he wanted and be whoever he wished to be while he was out here. It was a feeling that couldn't be described with mere words, and Rito couldn't get enough of it.
He didn't even care if people could hear or see him from down below. The feeling of the wind against his body and the thrill of such a dangerous feat made him numb to almost everything else.
Once he felt that he was completely comfortable with swinging, Rito began to experiment and mix his other abilities with this whole thing. He shot two web lines from both of his wrists towards a pair of houses and used them like a slingshot to propel himself and make him faster.
Rito also experimented with a tall condominium near the mall; instead of crawling up the wall, he chose to run up instead before firing two web lines towards the top and propelled him upwards, reaching a new height at his peak before falling down again.
He was completely unaware of various people looking up at him in a mix of awe at what he's doing, amazement at his movements in mid-air, confusion on why he was doing such a thing, and worry for his safety. Most of them even brought out their phones and began to record his actions, obviously so they can gossip about it not too long from now.
But Rito didn't care. He was enjoying the feeling of being free out here in the open, with nothing else to worry about.
As a matter of fact, Rito enjoyed web-swinging a little too much that by the time he finally chose to stop, two hours have passed and the sun was beginning to go down.
He chose to land on one of the tall buildings at the shopping district, choosing to sit on the edge with his dangling freely, clearly not caring about the possibility that he might fall off.
"That… has got to be one of the best moments of my life," Rito said happily, pulling up his mask slightly to reveal a big smile on his face.
The feeling of the wind against his body, the thrill of falling only to pull himself up at the last second, the sense of freedom that relieved him of everything else while in the air, all of those were things that he could only feel while
"Swinging works perfectly well with these webs… now I can easily get to a place without having to walk the whole way," he praised himself for coming up with the idea of using webs to swing across large distances, as well as his ingenious ideas to try out different ways in web-swinging. "I think my spider-sense helps out too. I had no idea where I was shooting webs earlier, honestly… I was just following my instincts the whole time…"
"Still… I shouldn't forget about the main reason why I chose to accept these powers," the smile on his face disappeared and was quickly replaced with a more serious look. "Now that I know how to use them, I should stop taking this lightly like I'm playing a game. I promised myself that I'll use this to help other people like what I did for Haruna-chan, and that's what I'll do."
Rito took off the mask completely and tucked it in his pocket again along with his beanie, before he stood up and walked towards the back of the building, where there was an alleyway for him to land instead of out in the streets.
Unphased by the height of the building, Rito simply jumped down and let himself fall, before shooting out a web line to slow himself down after a few seconds. When he was only about 10 feet off the ground, the boy let go of the web and walked away like it was nothing.
Rito walked out into the street like nothing was wrong and began his journey home, all while he was deep in thought.
"All right, I know how to use these spider-powers now, but how exactly can I help other people? I can't just do the same thing I did for Haruna-chan, especially if I'm gonna need to use my powers. What do I—"
Rito then stopped in his tracks when he felt his spider-sense go off, as he turned to the convenience store that was across the street.
His eyes widened when he saw two masked men inside of the store, pointing guns at the people inside. The boy was ready to rush over to the place and stop those men from hurting anyone, only to remember one important thing.
"Wait a second…" he stopped himself, realizing that his face can be seen right now. "I should help, but I can't show who I am…"
An idea then struck the boy, and he wasted no time running back into the alley where he came out of. A few seconds later, he ran back out into the street, now wearing his beanie and mask to cover his whole face.
Rito rushed over to the other side, where he quickly went behind a wall to see what was happening.
One of the masked robbers was at the counter, threatening the cashier while the other was focused on the customers inside, likely shouting at them to keep quiet. Rito knew that he can't let these guys leave, and he can't have the civilians be harmed either.
"I think I have an idea," he smirked.
The boy then walked inside the store almost nonchalantly, surprising a few customers inside as he walked up to the first robber, who had his back turned against him.
"Give me all the money in the register now, or all of these people will get hurt!" he threatened the store clerk, who could only follow the man's orders out of fear.
"Hey," Rito called out, tapping the robber's shoulder to get his attention.
The masked robber turned around angrily, where he came face-to-face with a strange kid wearing a red mask, eliciting a look of confusion from him.
"Down low."
Too confused to figure out what's happening, the man looked down and was immediately met with a knee to the gut, making him groan and fall over in pain before being knocked out cold with an elbow to the back of the head.
"Too slow!" Rito cheered. "That's one down! Boy, that was easier than I thought."
While the boy reveled in his little victory, the other masked robber left the customers that was supposed to be watching to check on the counter because of someone else's voice, only to see that his partner was unconscious while a boy wearing a mask looked happy for some reason.
"Who the hell are you?!" he shouted, aiming his gun at the boy in a threatening manner.
Rito's senses flared up, as he playfully threw up his arms in the air as if he was caught, before turning around to face the other robber.
"Oh, you know… just a normal guy around trying to help people?" he replied, showing no hint of fear in his voice despite the fact that a gun was aimed towards him.
"Help people? You think you're some kind of hero, kid?" the man laughed in amusement. "Look, I'll give you one chance to turn your tail and leave now or I'm gonna pull the trigger and blow your head off your shoulders."
Rito put on a thinking pose and thought about the man's offer jokingly.
"Hmm, that's a nice offer, but I'm gonna have to choose Option B where I take the gun off your hands, knock you out cold, and send you to jail where you belong."
"Wha—"
Before the man could say anything else, Rito shot a web line at his gun before pulling it off the robber's hand. The man could only stare on in shock, wondering what the hell did he just see.
"What the fu—"
He wouldn't even get to finish his words because the masked boy quickly closed the distance between them, as he delivered a straight right hand to the man's jaw.
"Roocketooo Puunchuuu!"
The strength of the punch was enough to send the man flying towards the wall, knocking him out instantly.
"And that's two!" Rito threw his arm in the air in triumph, feeling proud of himself for stopping these men before things could get worse. "Now to make sure they don't get away…"
Rito quickly brought the two robbers together and webbed them up, which would prevent them from getting away. He didn't care about the customers around him staring in awe and amazement, nor the group of people that had formed outside of the store and started taking videos of what was happening inside.
"Haha, this was pretty fun!" The masked hero laughed as he turned to the cashier. "Oh, you should call the police now. These two are gonna wake up soon, so it would be better if the police were here when that happens."
"O-Okay…" he stuttered as he picked up the phone, still shaken from the events that just transpired.
"Well, I guess that ends my job here! See you, everyone!"
With that, the boy gave a salute to the people he just saved and jogged outside, where he was met by a crowd that was formed by the people who were closely watching the altercation that took place inside the store.
Rito could feel the stares of the people around him but he shrugged it off and simply jumped high into the air, before swinging away, much to the amazement and growing excitement of the crowd below.
Thus began the tale of Sainan's masked vigilante.
Monday
"Hey, did you hear about what happened a few days ago?"
"What exactly?"
"My friends back home told me that there was some guy in a mask running up buildings like he was some kind of spider!"
"I actually saw that guy! He was zipping through the air using ropes or something! It's almost like he was flying…"
"Uh, don't you mean webs?"
"Webs? Why?"
"Because he's obviously trying to be like a spider, duh!"
"A human spider? It sounds impossible. It's like something you can only see in a manga. I'm sure there's one about a spider-human somewhere…"
"But I did see him! You gotta believe me!"
"Sorry dude, but it just sounds too impossible to be true."
"Oh, then you gotta see this! I got this from my uncle, it's a video of that masked dude stopping a robbery."
"Oh yeah, I heard about that too! They said that he tied up those robbers like he was some kind of cowboy."
Hearing his male classmates talk about the 'masked vigilante' from last weekend, Rito had to stop himself from letting out a chuckle. He didn't expect to be the talk of the class so soon but considering that he was literally screaming his lungs out while web-swinging, he wouldn't be surprised if the whole town heard him.
Plus, there's also the little incident at the convenience store where he stopped two robbers and a lot of people were watching.
In fact, when he got home that night, Mikan didn't even interrogate him on where he's been for the whole afternoon, because she was watching the news about a boy with a mask zipping around town, jumping over buildings and houses completely without any regard for his own safety.
Oh, how glad he was that Mikan didn't recognize him from his clothes. He was honestly nervous about his younger sister figuring out that it was him under the mask simply because she knew the clothes he wore while he was swinging.
Anyway, he actually made it to the news!
But that's for another time.
Right now, he was at school and he should focus on what was in front of him, particularly the group of girls near the corner of the room where the girl he had feelings for could be found.
The boy approached Haruna and her friends with a smile on his face, which made the blue-haired girl blush. Ever since he saved her from that molester weeks ago, her feelings for him only grew deeper, and now she was incapable of keeping herself composed around him.
In other words, she was completely smitten with him at this point.
Haruna felt so embarrassed that she felt this way, but who could blame her? Rito came in to save her like he was her knight in shining armor, and he made sure to make that perverted man pay for what he tried to do.
"Good morning, Haruna-chan."
Rito smiled at the girl, forcing her to return the same expression.
"Good morning, Rito-kun… is there something you need?"
Feeling the biggest surge of confidence that he's ever had, Rito decided to be straightforward this time and ask the question he had in his mind without any hesitation.
"Haruna-chan, do you want to eat lunch with me later?"
The girl's eyes widened right away, as she stared at her crush in shock. Since when has he been straightforward like that?! Normally, he would stutter and be nervous about his actions like when he asked her the same question during the school trip, but he wasn't like that right now!
Haruna's face was as red as a tomato, realizing that she must be the one who looked like an idiot because of how much his presence caused her to get flustered now.
While the girl in question was left silent after Rito's question, one of her friends decided to speak up for her. From the frown on her face alone, it's obvious that she didn't appreciate him suddenly coming over to ruin a girls' conversation just to ask Haruna a stupid question.
"Uh, hate to break it to you, Yuuki-kun, but Haruna is—" she tried to say, only to get cut off by Risa Momioka, who slapped a hand over her mouth to stop her from saying anything.
It was only after that when Haruna finally decided to answer the boy.
"S-Sure… I-I-I would like that, Rito-kun…" she tried her best to smile despite her growing embarrassment.
Rito didn't even try to hide how happy he was at hearing her response. "Then I'll see you at lunch, Haruna-chan!"
With that, the boy bowed his head and returnwd to his seat, looking even happier and brighter than before. Haruna's friends could only stare at what happened in surprise and slight jealousy. For some reason, Rito looked cool and handsome while he was inviting Haruna to eat with him, very different from the shy and nervous boy whom they were all used to seeing.
"What was that for, Risa-chan?! I was trying to tell off Yuuki-kun for butting into our talk out of nowhere!"
Risa ignored the girl whom she silenced earlier in favor of commenting on Rito's new attitude, because even she was surprised at how he acted.
"Wow, Yuuki sure has gotten bolder, hasn't he?" she whistled in amazement, before looking teasingly at the blue-haired girl who got practically asked out on a lunch date. "I guess he's bound to confess to you soon, Haruna-chan~"
"W-W-What are you trying to say, Risa…?!" Haruna stammered, having a bad feeling about where this was going.
"Oh, come on, Haruna-chan…" Risa patted the girl on the shoulder a few times in an encouraging manner. "The guy just asked you to eat with him even though you were with us! That's a big sign that he's definitely going to ask you out sometime soon!"
"I don't know about that… maybe Rito-kun just wants to be with me because we're friends…" Haruna said nervously, trying her best not to think too much into this, but it was exceedingly hard.
Risa almost wanted to groan in frustration. "Haruna-chan, you can't be this dense…"
Haruna could only bow her head, because this was making her frustrated as well. Frustrated with herself, that is.
"I'm sorry, Risa…"
While Haruna was left confused and conflicted about her own feelings, Rito was on his way out of the class for a trip to the restroom. The smile on his face looked like it would stay there for the rest of the day because of how happy he felt from Haruna accepting his offer to eat lunch together.
And all it took was being straightforward and honest!
Rito suddenly wondered why he never thought of doing this before, but oh well.
He supposed that it's because he was too nervous and shy back then. But after he literally flew through the air and let himself fall from buildings, things like feelings and love don't scare him anymore.
But before he could leave, one particular girl stood in his way.
"Yuuki-kun, what are you planning to do with Sairenji-san?!" said Yui Kotegawa, as she threw him a scowl and pointed accusingly at him.
"I'm planning to eat with her when it's lunchtime?" he answered her whilst raising an eyebrow.
Wait, how did she know that he was planning something with Haruna? Was Yui watching him or something?
"Is that all? Or are you planning to do something shameless to her?!" she accused.
"Is she for real?" he deadpanned, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm not 'planning' anything, Kotegawa. I'm just going to eat lunch with Haruna-chan like normal friends, or are you saying that a boy and a girl can't be together without keeping an eye on the guy?"
Now that answer silenced her right away, and it made her think twice about what she's doing.
"I…"
He shook his head in amusement. "Trust me, Kotegawa. I'd punch myself in the face before I even think of doing something shameless to Haruna-chan. You can be assured that I'm not planning to do anything."
Patting the girl on the shoulder a few times, Rito then walked past her and left the classroom, unaware of Yui staring at his retreating figure as he did so.
"Maybe I'm doing this wrong…" she thought to herself.
Four Months Later
"Congratulations to all of you students! We wish you good luck in your chosen high school!"
Rito smiled and nodded in response, before turning his attention to Mikan, who was sitting with his classmates' families.
Their parents were busy people, so they understood why they couldn't be around all the time, which was also the reason why Mikan pushed to be more responsible in order to handle the chores at home on her own.
Still, it would have been better if they were both here to be with their son on his graduation day.
But oh well, Rito looked really happy at just seeing his younger sister clapping and smiling for him. In the end, it didn't really matter to him because it's Mikan who was always with him no matter what. The fact that she was here was enough.
Besides, in Haruna's case, only her older sister was present and her parents were nowhere to be found too.
"It feels like time passed by so fast…" the boy thought to himself, thinking back to everything that happened until now.
Four months have passed, and it was now graduation day for Rito and his classmates, taking another step forward in their journey through school.
While he didn't end up as the top of the class (that went to Haruna and then followed by Yui), he was just happy that he got to walk up the stage with his friends.
Four months have also passed in being a masked protector for the people of Sainan in the young boy's case. After the first time he stopped a robbery with little to no effort, news about him spread like wildfire that when he was swinging across town a few days later, people were already cheering for him.
Rito had begun to bring along his 'vigilante' clothes (the same clothes he wore that day) with him almost every time after the incident at the convenience store, as it convinced him that trouble might occur almost anywhere, anytime.
And thanks to that, he was able to change clothes whenever he needs to right after going to school, in case there's someone nearby who needed saving.
Since he had nothing to do during weekends other than do homework, he was able to sneak out of his house and roam around the town to see if there's trouble anywhere. He would then go home afterwards and if Mikan asks where he's been, he'd make up an excuse to keep his secret.
So far, his sister hasn't been suspicious of him yet. It's probably because he's been doing his best to help her out at home, because he wanted to make up for a lot of his shortcomings as an older brother.
Within four months, he had built up a favorable reputation with the townsfolk thanks to his heroic actions and willingness to help people anytime he could.
In the eyes of the law, it was a different story.
Since he was known as a vigilante to the public, he was also treated as a possible danger to society and he was asked to surrender on the news several times.
The only thing is, the Sainan Police have got to be the laziest guys for the job in the whole world.
Every time he was on the scene, those men would only look on and not do a thing, as if they were waiting for him to actually give up and let himself be arrested without doing anything. Even if they ask him to surrender, they would just stand and stare while he would swing away.
As far as Rito was concerned, he wasn't worried about the local police at all. Unless they seek help from national security, that is.
Oh, but this shouldn't be about his double life as a hero of the town.
This is about his graduation from middle school!
Rito turned his attention to one particular girl among his classmates and took a deep breath.
"Today's the day. It's now or never."
It wasn't just graduation day for the young boy, by the way. He was also planning to do something before the day is up, and it's one that he cannot fail no matter what.
"...once again, congratulations to all of the graduates this year!"
Applause followed once again, and it was at this moment that Rito kept his gaze locked on Haruna, while doing his best not give in to his growing nervousness.
As soon as the ceremony ended, Rito didn't waste time and led Haruna by the hand before they ran out of the hall, ignoring their classmates' crying for their names behind them. The adults in the room only stared at them in confusion before thinking that the two just couldn't wait to celebrate their accomplishment.
However, Mikan and Akiho knew better. They both had smiles on their faces as they looked at their respective siblings before they disappeared.
"Go get her, Onii-chan/Don't screw this up, Haruna-chan."
Despite Haruna's pleas for him to stop, Rito continued to bring her along with him before stopping at one of the benches that was underneath a tree. Upon letting go of her hand, she immediately threw him a confused look.
"Rito-kun, why did you bring me out here?" she asked.
The boy tensed up for a moment, before quickly snapping out of it. "I… I wanted to ask you something, Haruna-chan."
"Couldn't you have asked it inside? You really surprised everyone with what you did."
"I want this to be just between the two of us, Haruna-chan. This is important," he said in a more serious tone this time.
Realizing that this was about something important to Rito, the girl gave him his full attention. It's the only thing she could do right now.
"W-What is it…?"
Rito took another deep breath.
There was no going back now.
"Haruna-chan, I know we only graduated just now, and… we're just starting high school next month, but I figured that right now is the perfect time for me to ask this…"
The girl's eyes widened as she felt heart beat faster.
"No… it can't be…" she thought to herself, having a clear feeling on where this was heading. "Is Rito-kun…?"
"Would… Would you go out with me, Haruna-chan?"
Haruna gasped as Rito stared at her afterwards, looking calm outside but actually feeling nervous on the inside.
She couldn't believe it.
What she only thought of as an imaginary scenario in her mind actually happened. What her sister and Risa were trying to tell her about for months and months came true, despite her continuous attempts to deny it every time. What she tried to think of as pure, genuine friendship wasn't the case at all, because Rito wanted something else.
What she wished to happen deep down inside ever since she realized her feelings for him, just became a reality.
In fact, Haruna was already tempted to jump into his arms and hug him tightly out of happiness, and it was taking every bit of her self-restraint not to.
Her heart started beating faster as it swelled with joy, a huge smile breaking out on her face.
"Y-Yes…! Yes, I would… I would love to go out with you, Rito-kun!"
Rito's eyes widened even more.
"R-Really?!"
She nodded rapidly with tears in her eyes.
Unable to hold herself back, she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around the boy in a loving hug, which completely surprised him at first before he returned the gesture, as realization struck him.
"YES! SHE SAID YES! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! HARUNA-CHAN SAID YES!" he cheered in his mind, putting on the biggest smile he could muster right now as he lost himself in the hug with the girl he loved.
While the two embraced each other tightly, they were completely unaware that someone else had seen them.
This person had tears in her eyes as she watched Rito and Haruna embrace, and also because she heard everything that they said just now. She saw them running out of the auditorium earlier, which made her suspicious about what they were planning to do and caused her to follow them.
She had no idea that she would only cause her own heart to get broken.
Not wanting to show herself, the mysterious individual walked away quietly, wanting to save her broken heart from getting hurt any further and to save the pair from being in an awkward situation if they saw her.
As this person left, several of their other classmates suddenly arrived, having followed Rito and Haruna out here after the two left. They were also confused why Rito brought Haruna out here so fast and they wanted to see why, not that they were going to spy on them.
The group immediately noticed the two teens pulling away from the hug as they got there, causing their eyes to widen in shock.
"Wait, what's going on here? Did you two just hug each other?!" asked Saruyama, his jaw dropping to the ground in shock.
Rito and Haruna blushed at the same time, before they looked at each other as though they were asking what to do.
"Woah, woah, does this mean you two are together now?" asked Risa, not even giving them enough time to make a decision.
Instead of answering verbally, Rito simply wrapped an arm around his new girlfriend and hugged her close to him. Both teens smiled as well despite the flustered looks on their faces, giving everyone the answer that they wanted.
"It's about damn time!" Saruyama exclaimed, running over to his friend and began patting him on the back, praising him for finally confessing his feelings.
At the same time, Haruna's friends surrounded her and began asking for details on what happened. Even two of her friends who didn't really think highly of Rito could only squeal in excitement as they hounded the poor girl for answers.
Rito threw a glance at Haruna who did the same, before they smiled at the same time.
The boy felt like he could stop the Iron Cross Army single-handedly at that moment due to how happy he was.
One Month Later
It was the first day of high school for Rito Yuuki, and he couldn't be any more excited to start.
He was having arguably the best year of his life due to recent events these past months and because of it, the boy only felt motivated to start high school in the best possible way.
Between being a superhero to the people of the town and the boyfriend to one of the most beautiful girls in school, Rito had a lot more weight resting on his shoulders now and he couldn't afford to screw up.
As soon as he entered his new classroom, he was immediately met by his best friend, who ended up going to the same school as him.
"Rito! Good to see you, man!" the black-haired boy greeted him with a big grin on his face.
"Good to see you too, Saruyama."
After sharing a high-five, Saruyama then flashed him an excited look, something that Rito took notice of right away.
"Oh, have you seen the news about Spiderman lately?"
He shook his head.
"No, I haven't. Mikan's the one who usually watches him on the news. Did something happen?"
"He stopped another attempted robbery again! The gang he was fighting against tried to be a lot smarter this time, but they couldn't do a thing against him!"
"Really? I guess he's one step ahead of them."
Rito couldn't help but chuckle.
Months ago, he was only known as 'the vigilante' or 'the kid in the mask' when he started his hero act. But after months of dealing with crime and other problems in Sainan, he had become so popular with everyone in town that the people started calling him different names whenever they refer to him.
There were names like 'Spider-Guy', 'Spider-kid', 'Bugboy', and even 'Webslinger'.
But the one that struck him the most was 'Spiderman'.
As Saruyama continued to ramble about his alter-ego's endeavors, Rito's eyes flew towards the blue-haired girl in the room, who met his gaze with hers right away.
Rito walked over towards his girlfriend, who was already in her seat with a gentle smile on her face.
"Good morning, Haruna-chan."
"Good morning, Rito-kun."
And the two were all over each other from there, a completely inseparable couple. They didn't get to spend much time during the one-month break other than a few dates, so they were going to make the most of this new school year by being together as much as they can.
The day went along just fine, with nothing important happening the whole time. After introducing themselves during homeroom, what followed after during the next periods was the teachers explaining various things about their respective subjects.
During lunch, Rito and Haruna ate together as they always did, with Risa suddenly joining them in the middle of it and then asking them embarrassing questions that shouldn't be spoken about…
Typical of her.
All in all, it was everything that one should expect from the first day of school.
On the way home, Rito was walking home with his girlfriend while they were talking about what they thought of their new school thus far. However, their conversation would eventually be interrupted by a passing fire truck with its siren blaring.
Rito looked in the direction of where the vehicle was heading, as he could already tell that something had gone wrong.
He needed to be there in order to help, but there's just one little problem.
"Uhm, Haruna-chan…?" he called out to his girlfriend.
Haruna turned to him. "What is it?"
"I just remembered I need to buy something for Mikan at the supermarket. You can go on home without me," he lied smoothly. Of course, while this was for the greater good, he still felt bad for having to lie to his girlfriend. "I'm really sorry about this."
Fortunately for him, Haruna was as pure and kind as an angel and he didn't even have to worry about her being suspicious or anything.
"It's okay," she giggled, shaking her head in amusement. "Have a safe trip home, Rito-kun. I'll see you tomorrow."
After sending him one more smile, Haruna continued on her way, with the young man staring at her retreating figure fondly.
There were times when Rito would think that someone like him doesn't deserve a girl like Haruna because of who he was, but when the girl found out about such thoughts, she started saying the opposite. After finding out that their girlfriend/boyfriend felt that way, it only left both Rito and Haruna even more embarrassed.
In other words, both teenagers were completely head over heels for each other.
As soon as Haruna was out of sight, Rito began running the other direction, where the firetruck was heading earlier. After making sure that nobody was around to see him, he leapt to a nearby rooftop and set down his school bag before bringing out a set of clothes inside.
"I think it's time for a little upgrade in costume," he smiled to himself as he quickly changed outfits.
Rito had ditched his previous vigilante look two weeks ago and began wearing a new set of clothes whenever he was out swinging across town.
He started thinking of a new costume two months ago in an effort to lessen the suspicion about him being the vigilante fighting against crime around here. While he was sure that nobody has ever connected the man in the mask to him yet, Rito wanted to eliminate any possibility of someone being suspicous
And so, he put together a new set of clothes weeks ago and began patrolling the town in them from that moment on.
"This can still be changed in the future, but I'd say it's a good start!" the boy smiled, admiring the costume he put together.
He now sported a blue long-sleeved sweater which was underneath a red sleeveless hoodie with a black spider emblem at its center. He wore blue track pants with red shoes, as well as a pair of red and black gloves. His mask was the same fabric, but had bigger holes for his eyes this time and the sunglasses lens looked shinier than before.
With that, Rito jumped into the air before swinging away into town, following the direction where he last saw the firetruck.
At home, he was a brother to a more responsible and mature younger sister. While Mikan was the one who took care of almost everything inside the house, Rito was trying his best to share the burden with her and be a better brother than ever.
At school, he was a high school student and the boyfriend of one Haruna Sairenji. While he's not an exceptional student by any means, he always does his best to study and makes sure to help out anybody that needed it.
But out here, when nobody was around to look, when nothing else matters other than the safety of other people and protecting them…
...he was Spiderman.
Couple of things before I end it here:
1. Rito has organic webbing instead of artificial. He's not that smart to figure out a formula for it and I don't plan to make him that way.
2. Rito and Haruna are a couple before canon events officially start, which should create an interesting twist to what his relationship with Lala will be as well as the members of his harem.
3. His new costume is the Homemade suit from Homecoming but with a different mask. Will be upgraded as the story progresses.
4. No, you are seeing it right, Rito is 'Spiderman' without a hyphen. Supaidāman referred to himself in that way and that's what I'm basing it on.
5. Canon events start next chapter. This is just the prologue.
MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*
-Lance