Hiroko flipped through the pages of Spider-Man: The Manga Volume 3. She breathed a tired, annoyed sigh as she gently closed the novel.
"I still don't know how you enjoyed this as a kid, Shujinkou."
She expected to hear some kind of a defense for the story but instead received silence. She curiously glanced to her left.
Sitting next to her was Shujinkou. His face was distorted with sorrow and it appeared that it wouldn't be long until he would start crying.
What is he reading again?
Her eyes lowered. In between his hands was a comic book. Leaning forward, she read the title on the front cover.
Ultimate Death of- Oh, I get it.
Shujinkou soon closed the book and sighed. "Every time… It gets me every time…"
"And to think that was your third Spider-Man," Hiroko joked.
"He was my favorite Spider-Man," he defended.
"So, can I ask you something?" Hiroko raised the book she was reading for him to see. "How did you enjoy this as a kid again?"
"I just did."
"But how? As a fan, this story is the complete antithesis of Spider-Man. There is no 'With Great Power, There Must Also Come Great Responsibility'. There's no happy endings. There's just… this."
In response to her accusation, Shujinkou simply raised his book and pointed to the words "Death of Spider-Man".
"Okay, let me rewind to the kid enjoying this part. This entire manga is depressing. First story, Yu gets his powers and accidently kills his friend/love interest's brother. I was thinking okay, it's a good alternative to the whole lesson of power and responsibility with an Uncle Ben.
Then there's the second story with the Lizard; Interesting concept and despite my earlier comment about there being no happy endings, the bittersweet nature of the ending fit the story. Same with the third, I gave that a pass.
Then the fourth story and fifth, I kinda got wary. It was definitely something Spider-Man would face but I was a little iffy on the ending. But it's the sixth story where all heck breaks lose.
I will support adaptations going their own direction but I'm trying to figure out what drawn you to this book. Like…
Story 6: Yu Under Suspicion. It starts with Yu getting blamed for attempted sexual assault. He beats the guys up at the end but sticks with the blame.
Story 7: Summer of Madness. An American soldier who was due to go back to Vietnam during the war went crazy with envy over the peace normal Japanese citizens have, started shooting people and we find out that Yu is bullet-proof.
Story 8: Where Am I Going? Yu, still being labeled a delinquent for sexual assault is wondering what to do with that life."
"You told me that was what he was thinking about in the first few pages when he was studying," Shujinkou interjected.
Hiroko anxiously scratched her right cheek. "In my defense, you were 10 when you were asking…
"That's true," Shujinkou conceded. "I'm really grateful you didn't tell me what it meant until I was old enough."
Hiroko cleared her throat and immediately picked up from where she left off.
"Yu gets involved with a charming delinquent and gets to see how delinquents really live.
Story 9: Woman of Winter. Yu skips school for a long time to follow a woman whose power of ice and snow kills people who abused her in the past before she commits suicide for her horrible life.
Story 10: Strangers. The three goons kidnap Yu, a stranger he was following because he felt she would be in danger and a high ranking police official, held them hostage to make a demand to release student guerillas just to be famous.
Story 11: The Mad Demon. Someone causes crashes for existential reasons.
Story 12: Shadow of Spider-Man. Someone Yu donates his blood to gains Spider-Man powers. The events drive his sister, who was also Yu's new love interest, insane and dies due to the blood eventually killing him
Story 13: The Golden-Eyed Witch. A woman with golden eyes seems to bringing out the worst out of everyone but she just can't control her powers and it's human's innate evil that caused the problem.
Story 14: The Woman and the Tiger. Last one. A woman was treated horribly, but instead of spontaenuly developing ice powers, she has an imaginary tiger maul everyone who hurt with Spider-Man cheering the tiger on! That's just wrong.
And the final page of the series practically spells out the overall theme of this story. The tiger is our inner selves, our inner beast, our bloodlust personified.
This is what confounds me about your child self liking this book. From story 6 onward, it's been nothing but in exploration about the worst side of humanity. It deals with really heavy themes like sex, drugs, lust, random violence, pettiness, envy, screwing people over, suicide, inner darkness and overall selfishness and whether or not to deny the true nature of human beings.
I'm surprised Yu didn't snap from all this. He's never seen the good side of humanity; he's always been stuck with the bad. This is an adult novel with Spider-Man just to give it a promotional kick. With how little he appears as Spider-Man in the later stories, you could have just removed the web shooters and gave him the powers of invulnerability and sticking to surfaces."
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. "I feel the first 75% was what you don't care for in the story and the last part is you wondering why kid me liked it."
Hiroko's cheeks grew bright red with embarrassment. "Point taken… Maybe if I removed the Spider-Man parts, I can enjoy it as its own entity."
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She remained silent for 5 full minutes. "…Not bad. Mature and massively depressing, but not bad."
Shujinkou chuckled as he scratched his right cheek. But it was soon stifled by the possibilities tomorrow's meeting.
"Still worried about the meeting?" she asked.
"Yeah. I'm kinda worried about what would happen if Mali did pull 'The Great Water Balloon Prank II'. Me keeping an eye on her was already the alternative to expulsion. If she did pull the prank then she could get expelled this time."
"Well… I don't really know what we can do other than hope she didn't do it."
"Yeah… Guess that is all we can do."
The next morning…
Shujinkou and Mali were in the middle of walking to Fuyu's office. He had planned on visiting her classroom during homeroom but, to his surprise, Mali came to him.
"Ready to go, Senpai?" she asked.
He was about to ask how she knew but figured that would be a dumb question.
"I can't believe Ms. President got Senpai to personally escort me to her office. She must really want me there."
"You can say that…"
"So what's the meeting abut, Senpai?"
Shujinkou didn't know how to answer. She had to know what the topic of the meeting was. Did she really not know why she was summoned and was trying to get the answer from him or was she just teasing him.
Then again would it really be any harm in telling her. Then again again, how would you tell someone that you're suspected for pulling off a big prank. Then again, would she really care?"
Shujinkou anxiously scratched his right cheek until, from the corner of his eyes, noticed Mali staring and giggling at him.
Or maybe I'm giving her what she wants? That or maybe what I'm doing is giving her the answer she's looking for.
"Senpai is so thoughtful, isn't he?" she said.
The two soon arrived and walked through the double doors.
They were immediately greeted with Fuyu's intimidating stare. "Thank you for coming. Please take a seat."
President mode, right off the back.
Following her instruction, the two guests sat down on the couch opposite hers.
"So, why did you call me here, Ms. President?" Mali innocently asked.
"I won't mince words with you, Mali. Were you the one behind the water balloon prank?" Fuyu asked.
Mali giggled and answered. "Nooope. Wouldn't that be too obvious?"
"It would, but I had to ask."
"Besides-"
Mali slid closer to Shujinkou and wrapped her hands around Shujinkou's right arm. He could feel her breasts tightly pressed against his arm and was sure she was doing it on purpose.
"Why would I do anything to jeopardize spending time with Senpai?" she pointed out.
"I see. Well, would you possibly have an idea of who could be the culprit?" Fuyu asked.
"Oh? Does Ms. President think there's a prankster guild?"
"You've been around the school and seem to be well-informed when you don't trick answers out of people."
"Ah, Ms. President wants me to do her job then."
Fuyu didn't respond. She simply adjusted her glasses and calmly continued her stare down with Mali.
"I get it. It's tough to deal with something when you don't know who's doing it," the first-year said.
"It would be helpful if you knew anything, Mali," Shujinkou chimed in.
Mali looked up at him with bright, curious eyes. "It would, Senpai? How helpful?"
"Like keeping the school safe helpful."
"That sounds really helpful and it would help Senpai too."
Mali tightened her grip on Shujinkou's arm and giggled. "Sorry. Won't help."
"Huh?" Shujinkou marveled. "How come?"
"Because I don't want to be involved in this."
Those words threw Shujinkou and Fuyu for a loop. They weren't counting on it, but on a subconscious level, they thought she would want to be involved.
"Confused? It's simple. I was the last school prankster and was threatened with expulsion until Senpai saved me. Sooooooo… It wouldn't be in my best to be involved in this whole affair."
"You say that, but cooperating in the situation would remove you from the suspect list."
"True, but I don't want and you can't force me to cooperate on some unofficial prankster's hunt can you, Ms. President."
Fuyu remained silent. It was as if Mali said; she couldn't force her to help.
Mali giggled at Fuyu's conflicted expression then shifted her gaze back to Shujinkou. "Sorry, Senpai, you're on your own this time."
The young man didn't know what to say. He simply scratched his right cheek as he watched Mali cheerfully walk out of the room.
Once the door firmly was shut behind her, Fuyu sighed. "Well that scratches that prerequisite off the list…"
"So… Mali didn't do it," Shujinkou said.
"I can't say definitively, but I'm not exactly going to treat her like a criminal."
"Right. Right…"
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. This situation wasn't solved nor was Mali fully scratched off the suspect's list. All he could do is what his sister told him to do; hope for the best.
But even doing that weighed heavily on his mind. "What now?"
"I do my job and try to find the culprit," Fuyu stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "Best case scenario is this was a one-time thing and it will never happen again."
"Worst case?"
"The school turns into another prankster's paradise."
"That's scary to think about…"
"Yeah…"
Nothing but silence was heard after their agreement. Shujinkou couldn't tell what brought about the awkward atmosphere that accompanied the silence.
"Well, I guess I'll go now. Tell Rei I said hey when you see her."
"I will," she replied.
Shujinkou anxiously scratched his right cheek. She sounded rather melancholy in her response.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
Fuyu bit her lip as she looked up at him. "…Why do you think she talked to you?"
Hearing that question horrified Shujinkou. He was sure if his heart could burst out of his chest, it would.
"You knew?"
"I kinda overheard it from upstairs."
"Oh. Um…" Words failed Shujinkou as he tried to think of what to say.
"No… That's unfair of me to ask you that. Sounds like I'm accusing you of something and you didn't do anything wrong," she murmured. "It's just… I don't know. Sometimes I wonder what Rei thinks of me."
"Well, you guys been together for a long time right? I'm sure she you two have a strong bond right."
"I keep telling myself that, but I can never really tell. I sometimes think I haven't always been the best sibling to her."
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. The best retort he could manage was a weak, "C'mon, Fuyu…"
"The first thing I did when she came to school here was assign you to look after her," she muttered.
"Because you wanted to someone to make sure she had a good first day and you were busy," Shujinkou pointed out.
"I thought she was weird when we first met."
"Fuyu, I think this we're about to jump into a comedic back and forth where you keep beating up on yourself."
"You're right; I guess I'm beating myself up because she's never talked to me before. I'm jealous and I'm pitying myself, which isn't really a good quality for a student president.
Though sometimes I think I haven't really been the best sister to her."
"I'm sure that's not it. You did go on a trip with her so she could find a flower she was looking for."
A small chuckle slipped through the president's lips. "Shujinkou, are you seriously referring to going to your grandmother's 5-star establishment as a heroic sacrifice on my part?"
"It's the thought that counts," Shujinkou insisted. "Besides the whole Rei talking to me thing was probably that It was probably just the timing of everything. Probably a culmination of something and I was just there."
"Yeah, that could be it. I guess, what's most important is that I'm happy that she felt comfortable enough to talk to someone. So…"
Fuyu stood up and adjusted her glasses. "Thanks for looking out for my sister."
"It was my pleasure," Shujinkou grinned.
…
Shujinkou paced back and forth throughout the empty halls of the school. He had the time since there was no club meeting today. He continued to stroll through the same hallway again and again until one spin of his body resulted in locking eyes with Monika.
"Monika?!"
"Hi, Shujinkou. Something on your mind?" she asked.
"What makes you say that?"
"You're pacing back and forth at school after hours," she pointed out with an amused smile.
"I was just trying something new," Shujinkou scratched his right cheek. Something about that phrase sounded strange. But he immediately shrugged it off. "Hey, Monika, can I get your opinion on something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
"Um… Am I bad person for suspecting Mali could have pulled the prank?"
"No. Why would you think that?"
"Yeah, I asked myself that too. I mean logically and truthfully, I should have always had that at the back of my mind. I know full well that Mali sees me as a source of entertainment for her and it's possible that if she wanted too, she would go back to pulling pranks.
But, on the other hand, she's never shown herself to be the type to go against her word. Not to mention, as someone who watches over her, shouldn't I be unconditionally hoping that she didn't?"
Monika remained silent as she processed what she just heard.. "Wow… You really want the best to her don't you?"
"I mean… Yeah."
"Even though she enjoys teasing you and making things uncomfortable for you sometime?"
"Yeah."
Monika smiled. "Then that's all that matter isn't it?"
"Huh?"
"You're human, Shujinkou. It's only natural for you to have doubts. Honestly, it may be a little worrying if you trusted Mali one hundred percent so soon. But the fact that you're concerned over your doubts is your proof that you are fit to oversee her."
"Right. So, I wasn't self-depreciating myself?"
"Not at all."
"Okay. Thanks for listening, Monika."
"Anytime. That's my non-literature advice for the day."
Shujinkou scratched his right cheek as Monika eyes trailed away from his. He wasn't sure, but he thought they were filled with sadness.
"Is something wrong?"
"No… It's just your patience and forgiveness towards someone who only caused you trouble. It's… It's actually really sweet of you."
"Oh…" Shujinkou's cheeks briefly grew red with embarrassment. "Um, Thanks Monika."
"That's what I'm here for," she replied in a cheery tone.
There was nothing but silence until Shujinkou heard a loud beeping from his pocket. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, his eyes widening with surprise as he beheld the reminder he had set.
"Now I know why my sixth sense was telling me not to try something new today…" he weakly chuckled.
"Forgot you had something to do?"
"Yeah, I promised Mom I would help her with something. See you, later?"
"Hopefully."
Shujinkou waved goodbye as he turned to run.
"I'm a little more upset than before that he doesn't remember the date…" Monika lamented. "Maybe-"
Her next words were soon muffled by a white cloth tightly pressed against her mouth. A distinctive odor flowed into her nostrils, distorting her field of vision.
What's happening?
Her surroundings continued to blur before it was enveloped by darkness.
Sleepy…
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"…Where am I?"