The Inspiring Spider-Hope
Issue 4: Meeting new friends
Back during the first day.
Naegi ran towards Mondo who was about to punch Togami in the face.
"Wait! Stop!" he shouted, now attracting the attention of the Biker.
"Uh? Are you telling me what to do? You think you can boss me around, punk?!" Mondo roared at Naegi's face.
"N-No! I was just-"
"SHUT UP!" the Ultimate Biker shouted as he threw a punch straight towards the 'Luckster's face.
Only for him to swiftly dodge to the side.
Not a single soul in the room wasn't surprised at the turn of events. No one expected Naegi to dodge this punch so expertatly. Mondo blinked twice in astonishment before glaring at the brunet in anger and throwing another punch. But just like the previous one, the Luckster dodged and dodged again each punch the Ultimate Biker threw at him.
After almost two minutes, Mondo was sweating bullets while Naegi seemed to have barely sweat.
The young super hero had to hold back a snarky remark that Spider Hope would have said, that'd be way too out of character for Naegi Makoto.
As if the expert punch dodging wasn't surprising enough.
The Biker glared in anger at Naegi, face red and sweaty, before turning around, making a beeline to the door and grumbling "Whatever!" loudly enough for everyone to hear as he exited the room.
Naegi let out a sigh, Mondo will never change, huh? He was about to go back to his seat but suddenly, a boy in white stood up, his name was Ishimaru Kiyotaka if Naegi remembered well.
"I want to thank you, Naegi Makoto, for acting to stop what could have been a very grave event on this first day! I feel ashamed I didn't act first! I would ask you to punch me to help me straighten my thoughts but that will have to wait! I need to bring this delinquent back before our next class!" Ishimaru said with a deep bow before power walking out of the classroom.
"Y-You're welcome?"
Naegi blinked, he'll have to deny that punch request because despite what everyone could think, a punch from him with his super strength could knock out the Moral Compass.
He was about to go back to his seat but got interrupted once more, this time by a tall and strong girl, Sakura Oogami, the Ultimate Fighter. She had a very serious look on her face, almost conflicted. Before he could open his mouth to ask her how he could help her, since she blocked his path, she started patting his body without warning.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" he exclaimed with his face turning red from the physical contact.
"Impressive." was all Sakura said as she stood up again, "I didn't think much when you presented yourself in class as the Ultimate Luckster but after that demonstration of agility it seems you are very well fit." she complimented, "I would like to see what you can do in a sparring match one of these days." she nodded with a smile.
In all honesty, that could be a very interesting proposal. He could use some training from the Ultimate Fighter. Who knows what he would face during his patrols. But that comes with risks of exposing his true identity…
"Oh, uh… I'd like to think about it if that's okay." he smiled awkwardly.
The fighter nodded and went back to her seat where Asahina was waiting for her, the swimmer girl waved at Naegi before starting a conversation with her new friend.
As he finally was able to sit back, Naegi let out a small sigh before feeling someone looking at him, he turned his head to see his neighbor in class, Sayaka Maizono, smiling at him.
"That was impressive back there." she said.
"Uh?"
"I never thought you would be this agile. I mean, you did get hurt quite a lot when helping that crane back in middle school. Do you train?" she asked, bringing her chair closer to him, making the brunet blush.
"Oh well, I mean I do go to a gym and- wait you remember me?!" Naegi asked, genuinely surprised by that fact.
"Of course, I mean saving a crane from the school ground is one heck of a first impression" she smiled, "I know we never talked but I've always wanted to-"
"Wow, you mean all that from going to a gym? Which one? Maybe I should give it a shot if it can make someone like you look so damn badass." a redhead boy suddenly interrupted.
Leon Kuwata took a seat at the other side of Naegi's desk, with a grin on his face.
"Or maybe you could teach me, sounds like less work."
"O-Oh I just had some self-defense classes, this right here? That was mostly luck." the Luckster said, sweat forming on his forehead, looks like it attracted way more attention than expected.
"Wow really? Then I guess you really are the Ultimate Lucky Student. Am I right, Maizono-san?" Leon turned to the Idol with a 'seductive' grin.
"I-Uh… Oh sorry, I think my manager is calling me. I'll see you later Naegi-kun, Kuwata-kun." The blue haired girl suddenly stood up with an apologetic smile and nearly ran off the classroom with her phone in hand.
The two male students kept staring at the door their classmate went through for a few seconds before Leon let out a disappointed sigh and stood up.
"Seriously though, I would love to learn some of these moves, those can make a dude pretty popular with the ladies you know?" he grinned as he patted Naegi's shoulder, "Think about it, please?" he pleaded before slumping back to his seat in class, a few rows in front of the Luckster.
Naegi was about to check the first day's schedule to see if there was any other class later on so he could do his first patrol of the surroundings but yet someone else interrupted him.
He looked up to see a large young man, Hifumi Yamada if he remembered well.
"I have to say Mr. Naegi, that was very impressive! I see that you are a fan!" he exclaimed.
"Uh? A fan? Of who?" Naegi raised an eyebrow, why would he think that?
"Well of our own Spider Man of course! Spider Hope! I recognized some of his movements from your dodges earlier!" Yamada exclaimed some more, imitating the dodges in questions.
Upon hearing that, Naegi started to sweat nervously.
"I got the chance to witness a street fight between this hero and some thugs! And some of your movements looked like his! That's some impressive fan dedication!"
"Yeah, I know right?" Naegi said in a low voice, knowing very well that his shaking voice could be a dead giveaway to the Ultimate Detective who was still glaring a hole at the back of his head, "He inspires me." he added.
"Me too! I've drawn many fanarts of him already!"
"You drew fanarts of him?" Naegi asked, his interest peaked at the mention of fanarts of himself, "I might have seen some. What's your pen name?"
"The Alpha and the Omega!" The Fanartist posed.
That name was familiar, very familiar. Then it clicked.
"Wait! YOU are A&O!? I'm a huge fan! I love your Spider Hope art!" Naegi stood up, excited and shook his classmate's hand.
He saw many fanarts online of Spider Hope, he really likes it and it's the small things like this that inspired him to work harder for the neighborhood, this kind of gesture that gave him hope for the future of Spider Hope. But of all fan artists, one that stood out the most was A&O. Sure all those art pieces were all rather exaggerated like he was fighting some super villain that didn't exist or did some heroic stuff that he hadn't had the chance to accomplish yet (and hopefully never) but he really liked them. Especially one of them:
"I really really love the one of Spider Hope with the other Spider Men from New York! It's so cool!" Naegi said with a huge smile.
"Aaah, that one sure is one of my bests! Thank you. I'm glad to see a fan of my work here. If you'd like I'd be happy to share some Work In Progress of some of my future projects."
"Oh believe me, I'd be very happy to see them!" Naegi shook his hands again, making his classmate laugh happily.
Kirigiri stared harshly at Naegi, something didn't quite add up.
He said he was lucky and went to the gym to learn self-defense but those movements… well he did say he imitated the vigilante Spider Hope, but it looked more… rehearsed.
Like he knew exactly when and where Oowada was going to hit next.
Was the biker that predictable? Was it just Naegi with his luck and agility?
Was that strange talent what made him interesting enough to the Headmaster's eyes to put him before his own daughter?
She mentally shook her head, now was not the time to think about this particular event, she needs- no, she must understand what is up with the Ultimate Luckster here.
And she was dead set on finding out.
A few days have passed since that First Day. Naegi got used to his new school and Spider Hope to his new neighborhood.
Last night was Spider Hope's first ever night patrol. Naegi wanted to learn more about his classmates and had a movie evening with some of them. Then after a nice time with his new friends it was time for patrol.
It went pretty well, rather quiet besides some accidents he managed to stop before anyone got seriously injured.
But he got back to his room pretty late that night, way later than he's used to; so it was no surprise that he was still in a daze the next day. He let out a yawn as he approached his classroom and bumped into someone.
That person was sent down towards the floor and so his instincts kicked in to reach for them and grab their arm before they fell to the floor.
"Ah, I'm so sorry… Ikusaba-san?" he apologized with surprise when he noticed who he bumped into.
He looked at her with wide surprised eyes, and she was staring back with the exact same expression of surprise mixed with confusion.
Naegi couldn't understand how that happened, she was the Ultimate Soldier of all things! She should have been able to dodge the bump with ease, maybe she just let her guard down because it was him that was in front of her?
In any case, he let out an embarrassed chuckle.
"I'm sorry, Ikusaba-san."
"N-No it's fine." she answered, her face turning back to normal.
"Alright let me help you out. I'll pull- Ah!" he exclaimed as the Soldier suddenly pulled him down so she could stand up again.
But because she thought that he was going to pull her back up at the same time, while it wasn't the case yet, he was now the one about to fall on the floor so now she was the one holding him from falling down.
"Ah… I'm sorry." Mukuro apologized.
"No, no, it's okay! It was my fault I should have warned you." he said.
The following times they tried to stand up, one was always pulling harder than the other so one was always about to fall. They went around this strange dance for a dozen of seconds before they finally reached a standstill. They were both standing, face to face, staring at each other and still holding each other's arms.
"DAYUM NAEGI!" they suddenly heard Leon shout followed by a whistle.
The Luckster and Soldier looked inside the classroom and saw that a few classmates were staring at them, probably for a while now after hearing the commotion coming from the entrance.
"Oh my Naegi-kun, didn't expect you to be this bold." Sayaka was smirking in amusement at her friend.
"That is some good RomCom material right there, let me take note." Yamada said with a grin.
"M-Me t-t-too…" Toko whispered in her corner, writing fast on her notebook.
"Get a room!" Hina shouted in a teasing tone, besides her Sakura was looking at them with an amused smile.
The Soldier and Luckster blushed a bit before looking at each other.
"Haha, I'm sorry about that, Ikusaba-san. Hope you're okay!" he smiled at her, a very heartwarming, genuine smile, "I'm going to let go, let's not fall, okay?" he asked, still smiling.
She didn't know what to say that wouldn't sound like gibberish out of her mouth so she nodded, face still red.
They both let go, Naegi let out a small chuckle that somehow sounded very cute to Mukuro's ears as she walked past him, ignoring the 'woos' from everyone else and sat down next to her sister.
Junko had a large grin on her face, anyone from outside would think that she was just teasing her twin, but in reality, she was perplexed, confused and intrigued.
She was the one who ordered Mukuro to bump into the first person she'll come across, she didn't need to go full strength, just enough to throw them to the ground. The reason? Nothing in particular, just to have someone to laugh at this morning, that someone being Mukuro when she'd be all embarrassed in front of the class for being a gorilla girl. And boy oh boy was she happy to see it would be the somewhat hope inspiring Naegi Makoto.
She was certain that that herbivore of a man was going to be knocked out!
But instead she was the one to be sent to the floor! And after that stupid dance, he made Mukuro all bashful and brain mushed! She couldn't believe that her sister got a crush on that boy.
Now for the serious part that she was frantically analyzing: how on Earth did he do that?
Even if Mukuro was holding back from hurting the herbivore boy too much, there's just no way that Naegi would be the one to make her fall.
She did overhear during the first day of school that he trained at the gym, learned self-defense and admired that disgusting hope spider vigilante. People were surprised by the way he dodged and humiliated Mondo that day but it was honestly easy to avoid those weak ass predictable punches so she didn't mind at that time.
But now… she was very very intrigued…
Just what are you hiding, Makoto Naegi?
To be continued…
Baka's notes:ALRIGHT! Time to work on the next chapter of Slayers!
Then I'll be working on some OMORI oneshots that I just got.
And after those, new Spider Hope, we'll learn about what happened between the Crazy Diamonds and Spider Hope
See you all later!