The Inspiring Spider-Hope
Issue 3: Hope's Peak Academy
Naegi Makoto was in his room, today was the first day of his new life in Hope's Peak. He was staring intently at his luggage, in one suitcase was all his normal clothes and some games, and in the other, much smaller, case was all his ingredients to make the web fluids and cartridges, his repair tools and radio linked to the local police station and such for his Spider Hope duties.
Oh man, he'll have to change the settings for the radio too, once there, won't he?
"Makoto! Are you ready? We're leaving soon!" His Dad suddenly called out to him.
Ah crap!
"Yes! I'm ready!" he yelled back as he closed his luggage.
He grabbed his stuff and walked outside where his family was waiting for him. His Dad was going to drive him to school, so his Mom and sister were there for 'finals goodbyes'.
Didn't they know that he'll come back for holidays or what?
"Oh Makoto! Did you bring all of that down alone? You should have called me!" his Dad laughed as he reached for the luggage, 'Let me help you put them in the truck."
But what he expected to be a light but large suitcase was much heavier than expected.
"Oof! Wow! You really have gotten stronger, son! I should start exercising myself, hahaha!" he laughed some more as his son helped him lift the big case into the truck.
Once everything was ready he hugged his mother and sister while bidding them farewell.
"Have fun, Makoto."
"Yeah, and get an autograph from everyone there for me!" Komaru grinned.
"Will do… If I don't forget." Makoto smirked in return before getting in the car.
During the whole ride, he was looking outside his window, looking at the neighborhood… He's been protecting it for the past five months, it was a pretty calm place on the surface, there were those daily little crimes he would stop, there was that gang who was driving him nuts for a month but thankfully it's all cool now. Some accidents here and there he would stop but in all honesty even if he wasn't there it could have gone well.
He'll miss this place. Now he's going to be protecting a new neighborhood… near the school… where they knew his identity.
No, stop. He mustn't think like this. He already planned to talk to the Headmaster as soon as he gets there to ask all kinds of questions about that.
Everything will be fine…
Here he was, in front of the gates of what will probably be the most incredible experience of his life: Hope's Peak Academy.
He looked around, he could see kids his age parting ways with their parents or guardians, some of them will probably be his new classmates for the next few years.
He smiled.
"Alright, think you'll be fine by yourself now, Makoto?" he heard his father ask behind him.
He turned around, only students were allowed in school grounds, no one else except for special occasions or emergencies. But by the looks of it, first days and Entrance Assembly were not part of either category.
"Yeah, Dad. I'll be fine."
The two Naegis hugged before parting ways.
He turned back towards the school buildings towering over him.
Was it strange that he really wanted to climb/crawl up those walls and see everything around him from up there?
Maybe.
He remembered that the new students had the meeting at 8am at the main hall, it was 7:30. He should have enough time to talk to the Headmaster, as soon as he knew where to go.
He saw a teenager wearing the uniform so he guessed he was an upperclassman, he walked towards the young man with the large purple scarf to ask for directions.
A young girl with pale skin and purple eyes, with long lavender hair with a single braid on her left side, tied with a black ribbon was standing in front of the Headmaster's office of Hope's Peak. She was wearing a dark purple collared blazer jacket over a zipped upwhite blouse and brown tie, with a black short skirt, and heeled knee-high black boots. And she was also wearing black gloves.
That girl was Kyouko Kirigiri, the Ultimate Detective. And the sole reason she was standing in front of the Headmaster's door was because she wanted to see her father: Jin Kirigiri, the Headmaster himself.
But not for a nice reunion, no. She wanted to speak to him, say everything she had in mind for the past years since he left the family. Questions, facts, insults too maybe. So many things were in her usually composed head.
She even let herself get scouted and invited to Hope's Peak just to have the chance to talk to him. And then she'll give him a piece of her mi-
"Kyouko! It's you!" she heard someone call out to her.
Despite the long years without seeing each other, his voice was unmistakable.
"Headmaster Kirigiri…"
"Oh come on, you can call me Dad or at least by my name while we're in private." the older man said with an awkward smile.
Jin Kirigiri was a tall man in his late thirties. He had dark purple hair and eyes resembling his daughter's. He was wearing a black suit with a purple tie.
He opened the door to his office.
"Do you want to come in? We have some time before the meeting. We could catch up? What do you say?" he suggested with a bright smile.
Kyouko didn't answer, she just nodded and was about to take one step before another voice interrupted this one-sided conversation.
"Um. Excuse-me, is this the Headmaster Office?"
The lavender haired girl turned around towards the source of the voice, her face stoic as ever but slightly annoyed to be interrupted.
She immediately started analyzing him.
The intruder was a young boy with brown hair wearing a green jacket and black pants, he looked completely normal. No special traits whatsoever besides that antenna hair.
He seems frail too, emphasizing 'seems' because her analyptic eye could discern some muscles under his clothes, and also the fact that he moved his two luggages, which looked heavy, all the way up to the fourth floor of the building.
"Are you Makoto Naegi?!" Jin suddenly exclaimed.
She turned around to look at her father, and she was shocked at what she saw.
Jin looked rather neutral on the surface compared to how he was acting with his daughter a few moments ago. But his eyes… They were wide with… well not excitement per say, but something akin to the emotion one would feel when meeting someone important for the future.
She looked back at 'Naegi' who nodded meekly then back at her father.
"Alright! Glad to finally see you! Come in! Sorry Kyouko, but can our meeting wait a bit? This is quite important.
"What."
"Sorry again, come in, Naegi." he apologized again and moved to the side to let the young boy inside the office.
The boy in question looked a bit uncomfortable as he walked past Kyouko, bowing and letting out a small 'sorry' as he walked in the office.
She looked at the doors closing on her face, her iron mask falling off as she had her mouth agaped and her scowl clearly present on her face, fuming with anger.
"What."
Naegi didn't even need to turn around to confirm it, he could clearly feel the young girl glaring a hole in the back of his head until the doors were closed. And once they did he immediately started to look around the room.
"I have to say it's a pleasure to meet you. And you don't have to worry. The walls are soundproof, there's no secret cameras or microphones. Whatever we talk within the confinement of this room stays here."
"O-Oh. Okay." Naegi said in an embarrassed tone as he was looking under the table in the center of the office, "But are you sure it was a good idea to have me here first? She looked pretty offended… And I came here after her." Naegi scratched the back of his head, he didn't want any problems so quickly.
"Kyouko? She'll be fine… I hope… But I'm sure you have many questions, right?" Jin grinned as he walked to his desk and sat on the other side.
He presented the seat in front of him but Naegi felt like he should stay up.
"I do, actually." all the embarrassment and nervousness from before disappeared as he looked at the man dead in the eye with complete seriousness, "How did you find out? And who else knows?"
"...Are you here to silence us?"
"What?! NO! I would never! It's not the Spider-man way!" Naegi flushed in frustration and embarrassment that anyone would ever think of Spider Hope doing such a thing.
"Oh good! I thought for a second with the way you glared at me." Jin laughed.
D-Did he really look that menacing? Well he was a bit upset about having his secret found out as it could bring trouble to his family but he didn't mean to be scary.
"Anyway, to answer your second question first, only me and our Talent Scout knows about your identity. Some members of security and staff know about Spider Hope being a student, but they don't know which one."
"I-I see… Good… Good…"
"As for the other question, it was actually by luck."
"What?"
"Our scout, one day after finishing scouting the Pop Idol from your school, saw a young man changing into Spider Hope's suit in the middle of an empty alleyway." Jin narrated.
"B-But it could have been a cosplayer! Spider Hope's suit is rather easy to imitate." Naegi tried to defend, despite already having lost.
"Well the young man then jumped on the wall, crawled all the way up to the roof and swung through the street with his webs."
"Ah… But did he see my face then?"
"Actually he didn't, he only saw the back of your head before you put on the mask and hood."
"What?! Then how could he know who I was?!"
"From your picture when you got selected as the Ultimate Lucky Student." the Headmaster explained.
"Oh, so it wasn't just a cover up. But still! That shouldn't-"
"Your hair."
"...Ooooooh, you're so right…" Naegi groaned as he realized that he was completely right, "Alright… That answers my questions… So what now? What is Hope's Peak going to make me do?" He asked.
"Nothing really."
"Uh? What do you mean?" he blinked, confused.
"You're just going to do your Spider Hope duty whenever you want, you're free to do what you have been doing for the past few months." Jin said with a smile, "Was that everything?" Naegi nodded, making the adult smile, "Perfect!" he exclaimed while standing up and approaching the new student, "I am happy to have you here, Naegi Makoto."
He reached a hand forward for a handshake which Naegi gladly took.
"I am happy too! Thank you for keeping this a secret."
"Also have to say, nice touch the school's logo for the costume's 'eyeliner', feeling honored." Jin grinned with a wink.
"Ah, you noticed! Glad you like it!" The Luckster/Hero beamed with a smile.
"Alright! I think the meeting assembly for new students is about to start in a few minutes, you should get going."
Naegi smiled with a nod and turned around, he was expecting some sort of blackmail from Hope's Peak. In all honesty, he was extremely relieved of hearing that answer.
"Ah wait. I'd like to ask you a small request if possible." Jin stopped him before he opened the doors.
"Yes?"
"I'd like you to sometimes patrol around Hope's Peak grounds, there have been some incidents last year and I'd like them to not repeat themselves this year."
Naegi raised an eyebrow, he'd like to ask more but he knew he wouldn't get more information than this. So he nodded and accepted the request.
As soon as he walked out, the gloved girl from before, 'Kyouko' he remembered, was at his face, glaring down at him.
"C-Can I help y-" he started but she cut him.
"Who are you?" she asked harshly.
"U-uh?!"
"What is your Ultimate Talent?" she interrogated him.
"I-I'm Naegi Makoto! The Ultimate Lucky Student!" he exclaimed as an answer.
"Ultimate Lucky Student…? Why would Hope's Peak Academy's Headmaster have important business with you?" she squinted her eyes at him suspiciously.
"I… Uh… You see… Oh! The meeting is about to start! I have to go! Bye!" Naegi literally ran away from the conversation.
"Wait! I'm not done interro- asking you questions!" she exclaimed.
"Naegi-kun! You forgot your luggage!" Jin exclaimed, "Well, I guess I'll have Sakakura to bring them to his room after the meeting. Oh Kyouko."
"Headmaster…"
"I'm sorry about that… But can we talk after the meeting?"
"..." she glared at him.
Once again, Naegi didn't need to turn around to confirm it, the girl from earlier has been glaring daggers at him for the past few hours, from the meeting assembly of new students through the first day of class. Classes were over for this first day and he could still sense her glare on him.
And when he learned that she was the Headmaster's daughter and the Ultimate Detective, he knew that he'll have to calm her resentment towards him asap.
And to think she would be his classmate…
Talking about class.
Their homeroom teacher was the Talent Scout himself, so Naegi knew that that weird man who clearly loves to drink, Kizakura Koichi, was the other person in this school who knew his secret identity.
The secret Ultimate Young Hero discreetly looked at his classmates, they sure were a colorful bunch. Many of them looked and already showed themselves to be friendly, especially Aoi Asahina. Some acted cold towards everyone, like the Togami Heir and some were just plain weird like Hagakure.
His spider sense put him on guard towards a few classmates, notably Sakura Oogami, Toko Fukawa, Mukuro Ikusaba and especially, for some reason he couldn't fathom, Junko Enoshima.
Strangely enough from that list of names, Sakura and Mukuro were on the bottom despite being the Ultimates Fighter and Soldier.
But either way, he really hoped he could befriend the class.
The few last months of his last year of school before joining Hope's Peak were a bit lonely he had to admit. His duties as Spider Hope were taxing on his social life. Sure he had his friends at school but he stopped hanging out with them and used that time for patrolling the streets.
He regretted that…
So this time he hoped he could spend more time with his classmates even after school. Patrolling at night could be fun, crimes also happen during the night. But not today, this first day's after-school was reserved for patrolling and getting familiar with the new neighborhood he'll be protecting. He can get to know his fellow students tomorrow.
But there was one student here he couldn't believe was scouted…
"What are you looking at, asshole?!" someone suddenly shouted.
And speaking of the devil…
How on Earth did Mondo Oowada get accepted in Hope's Peak? How is it that being the leader of Japan's biggest biker gang can be considered a talen- actually nevermind, it is pretty impressive.
While Naegi Makoto didn't personally know Mondo Oowada, Spider Hope certainly did!
He was just hoping very very hard that the Biker wouldn't recognize his voice, it would only lead to trouble, especially after that incident with his gang.
"OH YOU ASKED FOR IT NOW!" Mondo suddenly roared, approaching Togami, something must have happened.
And of course, his hero instincts couldn't stay still and he felt the urge to intervene so that no one gets injured on their first day.
With a sigh, he stood up and rushed towards the conflict.
"Wait! Stop!"
The next few minutes were really embarrassing for Mondo.
Naegi put on his suit, he put the top red and blue bodysuit that had a light golden spider net pattern on it, the big golden spider on his chest forming an H was really a design choice he was proud of, next was to put on his red gloves and the web shooter bracelets he had to make himself, it was a huge pain in the butt building those things, but they were functional and that was the most important.
He then put on a black sports pants that were really comfy and over it his red boots with the same spider net design as his bodysuit.
He looked himself in the mirror and sighed, his ahoge really didn't want to go down, never did and probably never will. He put on his favorite green hoodie, which somehow managed to lower his antenna a bit, just enough for it to be discreet and not a dead giveaway of his hair style.
He hesitated at first to wear the hoodie, scared that someone might recognize him, but then he knew that he could always say that he's wearing it to look like the new hero who managed to make the brand popular again.
He looked at himself one more time, he was ready.
The school had provided him a special exit in case of emergencies like leaving and coming late. And since he knew that Kirigiri was still outside to interrogate him, he used the special exit: a trap door on the ceiling.
After crossing paths and exchanging greetings with the security guard, a green haired man, who didn't look too surprised at seeing Spider Hope crawling out of a vent.
"God damn, I thought they were joking, Spider Hope really is a student here…" he heard the man whisper.
Spider Hope opened the window the man was guarding and jumped out.
He webbed the walls of the building and swung all the way up to the very top of Hope's Peak Academy. He looked around, that big city will be his new neighborhood to protect, he should probably go see the local police so they don't shoot at him or try to stop him when he appears in a crime scene to help citizens.
Yeah that's the best thing to do.
Spider Hope didn't know where the police station was but that's not a problem, he can look for it while swinging through the streets! And if he gets lost, asking for directions is always a fun thing to do.
He took a deep breath and jumped and weaved a spider web thread to attach itself on the corner of a neighboring building and swing down the street. Many people suddenly recognized him, shouted his name, and waved at him.
"Hello!" he waved back.
And underneath this mask, Spider Hope was smiling.
To be Continued…
Baka's notes: So! first 'real' chapter of Spider Hope! Hope you guys like it! I was thinking of doing those chapters between my other projects since they are shorter and the ideas are smalls (except for a few which are rather big and really hope you guys will like!)
Up next before another chapter of SH: Library of Ruins and Despair