Chapter 2: Psychotic Breakdowns
Peter, Makoto, and Sae were at the school Peter was going to attend. They were showing him around before meeting the principal and the teacher of the class Peter was going to be in. They entered the principal's office, as Peter was taken aback by the appearance of the principal. The principal was a bald, morbidly obese man, wearing a garishly yellow suit with a red bow tie. Now the teacher was a young woman with a slender build, dark brown frizzy hair, dark brown eyes, and a rather tired face. She also wore a yellow long-sleeved shirt striped with white and red horizontal lines, a blue denim skirt, and white kitten heel pumps.
"So you must be Peter Parker?" Principal Kobayakawa asked, as Peter nodded.
"Yup, that's me," Peter said.
"So you know why you're here in Shujin. In your school, Midtown High, you're regarded by your teachers as the brightest student, despite your records showing that you're constantly late for class. Because of that, you decided to enroll in an exchange program, to help your school curriculum, is that correct?"
"Yes sir," Peter said.
"Very well, you'll be in class 2-D, Ms. Kawakami's class," the principal said, as Kawakami began to talk to Peter.
"Here's your student ID and rule book, tomorrow make sure to arrive at the faculty office as I'll guide you to your class," Kawakami said, as Peter nodded before taking his school ID.
When Peter left the office, he noticed another student the same age as him. That student had short messy black hair and sported glasses. Peter was curious as to who that student was, since it was only him and that student for the day.
"Hey there," Peter said, trying to start a conversation, as the student looked at him.
"Ummm, hi," the student answered.
"My name's Peter Parker, what's yours?" Peter asked.
"I'm Ren. Ren Amamiya. I see you're not from around here, aren't you?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, I'm an exchange student from New York city," Peter said, which surprised Ren.
"Wow, well I'm from a small town not too far from Tokyo and I transferred here," Ren stated.
"Is that right? Well then, I wish you a good school year," Peter said.
"To you as well," Ren said, as Peter nodded.
The two talked for a bit, until a man named Sojiro told Ren it was time for them to leave. Soon Peter left on his own, as Makoto and Sae already left early.
So far, Peter was getting used to the city despite it being only a few days for him. The city was way different from New York, but nothing he can't handle. However as he entered the train station, his spider-sense kicked in.
'What the hell?! Where is the danger coming from?!' Peter thought to himself, until he found the problem.
It sounded like a speeding train coming fast and almost close to the civilians standing nearby the platform. Using his web shooters, he managed to pull the two civilians away right before the train crashed with the train tracks.
"Get to safety, go!" Peter yelled, as everyone tried to evacuate.
Peter rushed to the train and tried to open the doors, which wasn't easy. Eventually, Peter managed to get everyone out and no one died. After some time, Peter heads back to the Nijima residence only to find a rather worried Makoto.
"Peter-kun, oh thank goodness! I saw what happened on the news, are you ok?!" she asked worriedly, checking up on Peter.
"I'm fine, just a little dirty from the debris and stuff. Wait, where's Sae?" Peter asked.
"She's at work after seeing the accident on the news. Apparently it seemed connected to the psychotic breakdowns that have been going around recently," Makoto said.
"I'm sorry, what kind of breakdowns?" Peter asked.
Makoto explained what the psychotic breakdowns were, as people were suddenly doing random and irrational things, which lead to events such as what happened at the train station.
"Jesus, what do you think might be the cause?" Peter asked, as he thought about what was causing the problems.
"I'm not so sure, but please be careful ok?" Makoto said, as Peter nodded.
Soon Peter turns in for the day, but that doesn't stop him from thinking about what the cause of the psychotic breakdowns was. A lot of questions to be asked, but Peter decided to hold off on it, as he's got the first day of school tomorrow.
The Next Day
Peter soon woke up and got out of bed as he saw Makoto already sitting at the dining table.
"Morning Makoto-san," Peter said, as he yawned.
"Good morning, Parker-kun. If you're wondering where Sae is, she's already at work," Makoto said, as she took a bite of toast.
"Ah gotcha, so how are you feeling about the first day of school?" Peter asked.
"Well today is technically going to be the start of my last year at Shujin. I'm feeling excited, but also kind of nervous as I got to worry about college. How about you?" Makoto asked.
"For me, well since I'm an exchange student, I'm worried whether I'll fit in or not, but then again I'm used to being somewhat of an outcast," Peter said.
"How come?" Makoto asked.
"Well back home, I was kind of bullied for being a nerd and as such I was an outcast. I never really fitted in with the others except for a few people I know," Peter said.
"I must ask what made you want to be in this program?" Makoto asked.
"To be honest, the reason why I wanted to be in this program was because I needed a fresh change of scenery. I grew up with my aunt and uncle ever since my parents died in a plane crash when I was around five years old. We didn't have much, but we were happy. But last year, my uncle died and I had to help my aunt with our financial situation. That along with some other personal reasons that I don't want to talk about. Hell, when I heard that my school was having this exchange program, my teachers, my friends, my aunt, and even my boss pushed me to pursue this opportunity. I wasn't interested at first, but soon I realized I could use this as a chance to start fresh and maybe find myself," Peter said.
For Makoto, she was shocked by what Peter said. In a way she sympathized with her fellow brunette, as he too knew what loss felt like and what he had to go through to help his family.
"Don't worry Peter, you'll fit in just fine," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder, assuring him everything will be alright.
Peter was surprised at first, but soon he had a warm smile and nodded at Makoto.
"Shoot we got to get ready! Hurry, put on your school uniform," Makoto said, as she rushed to her bedroom to change.
Peter does so as he puts on his Shujin Academy Uniform and packs his school bag, not before storing his Spider-Man suit inside. Once he was done, he and Makoto soon left the apartment. It was raining outside, as everyone carried an umbrella. Hurrying to the subway station, they board the train that goes to the school. After getting off the train, they arrived at the school just in time.
"I'll head to my class right now, I'll see you after school," Makoto said, as Peter nodded.
"Alright Peter, it's showtime," he said to himself, as he entered the school.
Everyone was staring at him, as they were murmuring about him. Luckily it wasn't something too malicious or anything, but it still felt a little weird given it's his first day. Peter soon arrives at the faculty room, as he sees Kawakami doing some paperwork.
"Good morning, Ms. Kawakami," Peter said, greeting the teacher.
"Morning Parker-kun, I see that you have arrived on time. Anyways, I'll be showing you to the class, please try to keep up," Kawakami said, as Peter nodded.
The two walked to the classroom, as they saw everyone had already taken a seat. They stared curiously at Peter, who felt a little awkward.
"Everyone, can I have your attention? As you already know, we are having a foreign exchange student come to our school and he is here. I would like to introduce Peter Parker. Please say something to the class," Ms. Kawakami introduced.
"Hello my name is Peter Parker and I hope we get along this school year," Peter said, as he waved to the class.
Everybody was murmuring about Peter, but he didn't pay any attention to it. Soon he took a seat next to a blond girl with pigtails. As class began, Peter began taking notes of what the lesson plan is going to be and all that jazz. Once class was over, Peter was about to leave, when someone called his name.
"Hey you're that exchange student, correct?" she asked.
"You would be correct," Peter jokes.
"The name's Ann, Ann Takamaki. It's nice to meet you," she said, offering a hand.
"The same to you as well," Peter said, shaking her hand.
"So how are you liking the school so far?" she asked.
"Well it's different from Midtown High, but so far I think I'm starting to have a good impression," Peter said.
"Oh good, cause I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch with me?" Ann offered.
"I'm down for that," Peter said, accepting the offer.
The two sat at their seats eating their homemade bentos. As they ate, they decided to get to know each other.
"So where were you before coming here?" Ann asked.
"I came from New York, I'm from Queens," Peter said.
"Really? It must be nice there, huh?" she asked.
"How so?" Peter asked.
"Well I mean it's the city of superheroes, you get to see them almost everyday," Ann jokes, as Peter chuckles.
"Well if you count alien attacks, giant lizards, and people dressed in spandex swinging around stopping crime, then sure. But otherwise yeah, New York is the place to be. Way different from Tokyo, that's for sure," Peter stated.
"What's it like in your previous school? Is it any different from here?" Ann asked.
"Well I'm not so sure, but compared to here it is a different experience. I mean back at my old school I was bullied for being a genius, but here I'm treated in a more positive light," Peter said, before noticing something off.
There was a blue-haired kid sitting alone, eating lunch by himself.
"Hey, who's that kid over there?" Peter asked, as Ann turned around to see who Peter was pointing at.
"Oh that's Mishima, he's part of the school volleyball team," Ann said.
Peter was going to ask more, when he heard someone coughing. The two turned around to see a tall man with long black unkempt hair wearing gym clothes.
"Ann, I need to talk to you privately in my office. It's about an important matter we need to discuss," the man said, as Ann turned rather pale.
"Yes, Kamoshida sensei. Listen Pete, I gotta go right now, it was nice talking to you and hope you have a great year in Shujin," Ann said, as she left before Peter could get a word in.
'Man what was all that about?' Peter thought to himself, as he noticed Ann wasn't looking particularly thrilled about the situation.
Soon Peter went to the boy named Mishima, who was sitting alone. But Peter was taken aback by the amount of injuries he had. Wanting to get to the bottom of this, Peter decided to initiate a conversation.
"Hello there," Peter greeted Mishima, who turned around in surprise.
"Um h-hello, you're the exchange student, correct?" Mishima asked timidly.
"Yeah, my name is Peter Parker," Peter answered.
"My name is Yuuki Mishima, but you can just call me Mishima," Mishima answered.
"Nice to meet you, I saw your injuries and I got curious. What's up with that?" Peter asked.
"O-Oh these? Well they're just from volleyball practice, that's all," Mishima said timidly.
Peter knew Mishima was hiding something as hinted by the tone of his voice, but before he could get a word in, the bell rang, indicating lunch was over.
Note: I saw a comment regarding something about this story and I decided to add some background as to why Peter wanted to be in the program. Thank you for that comment, it will really help with the future chapters. If any you guys want to add some ideas that can help with this story, feel free to comment or pvt message me, that will really be appreciated. Oh and if you were expecting Peter to be in full costume in Japan, it will be in the next chapter. Remember the story will be slow at first but soon it will all kick in