Perceptions

"Welcome to the evening news, live. Today we're here to report on the latest exciting topic that's swept the news by storm! We're talking about Kokoro's very own Spider-Man!"

Various scenes of 'The Spider-Man' flashed through the screen; the costumed man crawling up walls, swinging around with his webs, a showcase of his fights with the media dubbed 'Shocker' and 'Rhino;. Some of the footage was shaky, provided by civilians who could miraculously get the shots on their portable cameras.

"While he's made his first televised appearance rescuing a construction worker from falling to his death, further research has proven he had been a a presence in the city for well over a month. The earliest sightings were around the Nonoi area, where he stopped muggers and other criminal activities. His most recent appearance had him facing down the runaway Rhino that rampaged through the streets, chasing it away from civilians and bringing the man responsible behind bars."

A brief clip showed a short blond man with his hands cuffed yelling obscenities and crying, before the police shoved him into the car. One of the officers let out a noticeable sigh of relief.

"Naturally with such a strange character running around the city, people have different thoughts and feelings about Kokoro's famed wall crawler. We've gathered various reactions from the public so far:"

The footage then turned to various people giving their unique responses to the question of the Spider-Man

"Kinda creepy, seems cool," came from a young woman dressed in Lolita garb. She opened up the umbrella and walked away.

"He saves people. I trust him!" came from a scruffy looking construction worker with an earnest expression on his features.

"Fuck that dude, he put my cousin in the hospital!" yelled out a grumpy sunglasses wearing man with dark hair. His face went from anger to realization, before continuing, "Wait no that was my dad nevermind, Spidey you rock man!"

"I'll say, I don't like him at all. Positively revolting creature!" An old lady grunted while petting her cat.

"I think he stole my wife's purse, he's a creep!" A man in a business suit said while pointing his finger at the camera.

"He's a menace to society!" That one came from a large mustached man with a cigar on his mouth and a grey sides on his hair.

The footage returned to the news reporter, a woman with tanned skin and a blue suit.

"Based on what we have seem, the results seem mixed. Spider-Man is either considered a hero or a villain. Let's tune into our resident criminal analyst Goro Komori to see what are his own thoughts on the web swinger." There was a fade in transition to a chair. It spun around to reveal a man who had glasses on, and a stern yet arrogant look on his face. His presence is that of one who demands to be taken seriously. Komori cleared his throat

"Thank you, thank you, well first off everyone realizes he's breaking the law right? I am just shocked and surprised everyone's been tolerating this man, he is an awful influence! No one person should play judge, jury and executioner with the criminal justice system. He is a vigilante, all he's doing is emboldening crime and making things worse for everyone involved. Quite frankly he's nothing but pure scum, the police must bring him in as soon as possible!"

"Fuck off asshole! Spidey's a great guy!"

Tsuyoshi Kotei was angrily shouting. The other students sweat dropped watching him arguing with the TV. Some students whispered among themselves,

"Geez that guy sure is enthusiastic isn't he?"

"I'm just surprised he gets angry like that. He's usually pretty cool."

"Yeah, he's usually got a positive attitude, what gives?"

Shinji could probably explain what gives to these students, but he silently ate his meal since he wasn't sure anyone would believe him to be honest.

The news gave him pause however. While Shinji had already decided that he was going to be Spider-Man no matter what, that analyst just inadvertently reminded him of worries and fears. 'Mayumi or Inumaru might get hurt because of me… what if I hurt other people too?'

He cringed, placing his arms over his shoulders.

When the news switched to another topic, Kotei looks away from the screen frustrated. 'That guy was wrong. Spider-Man's a hero!'

He glanced at Shinji on the table. 'The hell's the little shit doing now? Nevermind, he's getting what he deserves for abandoning school.'

For now, Kotei put on the veneer of a concerned Class President.

"Oh Ikari, remember that you're remaining after school. You missed two whole periods of class yesterday." Kotei crossed his shoulders. "Whatever reasons you may have had, it wasn't worth it." Shinji nodded his head. If only he knew…

"Good! Unfortunately I won't be overseeing your detention." Kotei shook his head, "Instead, Shiarishi is going to keep guard to make sure that you do your job cleaning the homeroom like you're supposed to. Got it?"

"Yes Kotei." Shinji said.

"Right." Satisfied, Kotei walked over to his own table.

Shinji knew he had to face the music sooner or later. He was surprised that Shiraishi is the one who's going watch him.

He wasn't sure what to think of the other boy. Shiraishi seemed like a nice person, but he was friends with Kotei. Should he be concerned?

'I guess only one way to find out.' He thought.

A guard thought about his boss.

Kenichiro Yashida essentially ruled over the city of Kokoro. Not only had he reconstructed it from the ground up with his company, the one he made for himself after the Second Impact occurred using his family funds. He united the criminal gangs of the city under the Kuzuryu banner, using them to do his bidding, keeping himself afloat with the profits they make. To those who serve him, he is someone to be feared. To be respected.

Yet the guard noticed some things about Yashida. Things no one thought about.

He didn't keep any photographs on his desk. When he struck his opponents down during his sword practices, his eyes were filled with the subtle sent of rage; as if he saw someone else in place of his opponent and needed to prove himself by destroying it. He always had a fond look whenever he rubbed the thorns of his plant. The guard wondered if he was remembering an older time.

Perhaps that was what compelled him to sneak into Yashida's office.

His mind berated him over this decision ever since he walked in. Quite frankly the guard knew his chances of surviving today are slim, approaching the level of zero. Even so… he had to know. The guard was compelled to find out his boss' secrets. It was human nature, after all, to let curiousity guide their paths even if it came at their own destruction.

Coming upon the table, the guard took a good look at the plant that sat on it. It was an old one, some of the color having faded and small leaves fallen. Only the thorns remained as sharp as ever.

He moved behind the desk. Six shelves. He opened one shelf, which had a case of small knives. Nothing else there.

So he opened another. And another. And another.

He reached the last one, and sure enough, there was something in there. The guard took it out, blowing off the dust that gathered upon it.

It was a faded photograph. A black and white image that showed two boys holding up a fish together, with a large bald man standing behind them. He had a yukata and a large sword holstered around his belt. The guard wondered, could this be…?

"What do you think you're doing?"

The guard put the photo down on the table as he found Yashida staring him down with an unreadable expression. The Kuzuryu boss walked over to him.

"Sir… I'm sorry sir! I know I shouldn't have but-"

A sharp pain on the chest.

The guard looked down to see the knife stabbing at his heart. He turned his head to see the subtle scent of rage right on Yashida's eyes staring right at him.

His last thoughts before his permanent unconsciousness were simple ones.

'Knife… to the chest…'

The guard laid dead on the floor. Yashida took the phone and made a call.

"Secretary, I need you to send some guards in. Some trash needs to be removed. Also make sure to send a replacement guard soon."

Cleaning was something Shinji often did.

Yamashiro had taught him many valuable life skills when he was alive. Shinji learned how to cook, how to clean, how to play the cello…

That's why mopping the floors wasn't too much of an issue for him. It was what he was used to.

"You're a steady trooper aren't you?"

Shinji stopped his chore to look at Rai Shiraishi. The other boy had his own mop and was cleaning the floor as well.

"Gotta admit, running off for two whole periods. That doesn't seem like your kind of thing, Ikari." Rai shrugged his shoulders. "Then again, nobody knows what your kind of thing is anyway."

Shinji thought about how to approach this. His tone sounded condescending... but it could be sincere. "I was… doing something. It took longer than I thought."

Rai raised an eyebrow. "What was it?"

Shinji said nothing. The other boy sighed.

"The teacher was gonna give you a harsher punishment, but I managed to convince him to give you a lighter sentence."

Now this surprised Shinji.

"Why?"

Rai shrugged. His eyes turned to the floor in a contemplative manner. "I guess it's because… I understand what it's like. You lost your guardian a month ago didn't you?"

Shinji froze.

Rai took that as an invitation to continue, "Don't mean to open up old wounds but… when my mom died years ago, I would often run away and skip school so I could go see her. It was kind of my way of coping with something and it took me years for me to get over it. Even now I still think about her sometimes."

He raised his head to face Shinji's. "My guess is that you went to see him too."

Shinji's eyes widened. He was surprised Shiraishi would open up like that, even more so that the other boy came to that conclusion about himself.

Figuring it wasn't a total lie, decided to play along with that.

"Yeah… I miss him. He was the only one there for me all this time."

Rai nodded. "Not that I'm in any place to judge, but I bet he wouldn't want you getting into trouble like this." He laughed despite himself. "I know Sunako would have my ass if I tried skipping out again!"

"Sunako?"

At that, Rai got a fond smile. "Oh, she's my older sister. She dropped out of high school to take care of me since my dad just upped and vanished from the face of the Earth." He lost that smile. "Hope the bastard rots in Hell."

Shinji nodded in understanding.

"Hmmm… you're a lot different than i thought you'd be, Ikari. Tsuyoshi said you were some kind of arrogant jerk who's super rude, but you seem like an alright guy."

"Wait, arrogant?" Shinji asked, clearly confused. "Why?"

Rai raised a finger to his chin. "Well I remember Kotei saying something about you rejecting his invitation or something, he explained it like…"

So I was just with my friends, and we were gonna head to my house and play some games right?

Well there was this kid in the class who just sits there by himself. His name was Ikari. He seemed lonely, so I thought hey why not invite the guy over too?

"Hey Ikari, wanna come to my place? Everyone's heading there to play some games, so wanna tag along for a change?"

Then that Ikari guy… he just looked at us with this smirking condescending face. He had the aura of someone who disdained the very concept of humanity!

"No thanks. I'm not interested in any games. Inviting me just to be nice… you don't have to do useless things like that."

Useless?! Where did that shithead get the idea he was so high and mighty?

I told him to fuck off. I hate jerks like him.

"Oh." Shinji remembered the incident. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah, I did say that… to be honest, I thought he just wanted to humiliate me. Nobody cares about what I do. I… well, I just don't like being with people that much."

Rai nodded. "I thought something like that might've been happened. Kotei acts super nice, but he takes stuff like that very personally. He's kind of petty like that."

That only made Shinji wonder. "Why are you two friends then?"

"The two of us have been friends since childhood." Rai said with a smile. "I just couldn't abandon him no matter what. He can be a nice guy when he wants to. Everyone's got their perceptions about people."

Shinji nodded, wondering about his own flawed perception. For years he thought Yamashiro didn't care about him in the slightest. That he only took care of him out of obligation. Because he was asked to by-

His thoughts didn't go there.

As Shinji found out, Yamashiro DID care about him in the end; He wanted to set things right. The boy wondered what else about Yamashiro he was wrong about…

Mayumi sat alone in the Joho Café.

Normally she would be reading a book, but the subject on her computer screen were various websites and articles about the Spider-Man.

Hero or Menace? That was all anyone on the forums was talking about. With how polarizing comment sections could be, reaching for a decent consensus on the matter seemed downright impossible.

Even so, Mayumi investigated these things in her own search for meaning.

She knew Spider-Man as a hero. That much was proven when he saved her from that crazy guy two nights ago.

Even so, she wondered about his motivations. 'How… why is he was so strong…?'

She wondered if she could be strong like him. Maybe then-

"YOU! GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS ESTABLISHMENT!"

Mayumi let out a small eep noise, before she turned to figure out what was happening.

It seemed like some kind of confrontation was going on. A boy with a Spider-Man shirt was being pulled away by an older man with a cigar on his mouth and grey sides to his hair.

"Let me go- AAH!"

"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING KID! In this café we don't accept fans of crazed criminals like you! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY PROPERTY'!"

With that, he tossed the boy out the door. "SCRAM YOU LITTLE PUNK!"

The cigar chomping man slammed the door and went right back to work, causing everyone to visibly cringe at the exchange that happened. They went back to whatever they were doing before then to ignore it.

Just then, Mayumi heard a ping.

She looked back to her computer screen, showing that she had received a message. It was from T. Yamagishi.

Don't forget the pills. Come home tonight.

Mayumi felt herself choking.

She was gasping for air, desperately trying to breathe only she wasn't able to. It was like she was drowning.

Her hand reached inside of her pocket, desperately clawing for the contents inside. When she felt it, she quickly took out a box of pills.

She took one pill out and placed it in her mouth. She quickly sipped a drink to push the pill down her throat.

Immediately she felt better. The choking feeling had all but disappeared. Her father recommended this for her ever since she was little. He would tell her how expensive they were to make.

Mayumi didn't mean to cause anyone troubles… yet she felt like that was all she did.

The patrol tonight was rather boring.

Spider-Man swung through the air looking for any criminals on the street, and so far none had shown up.

Shinji could consider this a relief in some sense. After the hectic battle he had yesterday with the Rhino, he could use a break. Using his webs to travel the city was very relaxing. Sure he preferred listening to music on his S-DAT Player any day, but he had grown to appreciate the sensation he got when he made his way through the city like this.

It was invigorating. it was EXCITING!

If you told someone Shinji could grin so happily, they would laugh at your face and walk away with your pocket money.

The web swinger finally spotted something. He perched on the roof of a building to get a closer look.

Four suspicious burly men with baseball bats walked into a store. To any onlooker, they would look like thieves about to rob a store.

With that reasoning, Spider-Man jumped from the roof onto the street to confront them. He got into his battle position, ready to take them on.

"So fellas, gonna break into a store in the middle of the night?"

The four guys turned around and shrieked. "OH MY GOODNESS! SPIDER-MAN'S ATTACKING US!"

Wait what?

One of the burley men got on the ground and raised his hands together, "Please mister Spider-Man we were just going to turn in our baseball bats so we could get higher quality gear, don't hurt us!"

Shinji looked up at the store. Baseball uniforms, gloves and bats were present on the window, proving it was indeed a store that sold baseball gear.

"JUST SPARE OUR LIVES MAN!"

As the cries of the men rang louder, Shinji turned around and saw people gathering around to stare at him in fear.

Spider-Man waved his arms around, "Wait you got the wrong idea!"

"Drop down on the ground now!"

As if Shinji's string of bad luck wasn't finished yet, two cops were now pointing their guns at him..

Spider-Man launched a web line and made a swing for it. Luckily his reflexes had improved so he avoided get hit by a bullet again.

Shinji could only sigh. The only way it would get any worse is if he stepped on a crack on the ground or a black cat crossed his path. That would suck.

"You look tired. Are you alright?"

Shinji and Mayumi walked to school together. Both had the appearances of recently resurrected zombies, their eyes barely adjusting to the morning sun. Mayumi asked that question to the boy next to her, who was limping a bit in his movements.

Shinji for his part shook his head, "I… had problems sleeping last night."

Shinji let out an audible yawn. As he did so, he got a good look at Mayumi. "You seem kind of tired too. Did you get any sleep too?"

Mayumi looked away, "I- I'm good! Don't worry about it."

The boy wondered why she hesitated. Should he ask her what was up or…

No, if she was having problems she would tell him. He shouldn't push.

Mayumi changed the subject, "Did you hear the news last night? About Spider-Man?"

Shinji cringed at hearing that question. "No… what did they say?"

The girl frowned. "Apparently Spider-Man attacked some guys in front of the baseball store and he left before the police could interrogate him."

"Oh." The boy scratched the back of his head, "That sounds kind of bad."

"It does." Mayumi said, "Honestly though, I don't think Spider-Man attacked those people on purpose. He doesn't seem like the kind of the person who would do that. I think he should lay low for a while though."

Shinji's shoulders relaxed a little upon hearing that. At least Mayumi seemed to believe in him. He'll take up on her advice and wait a little bit for it to blow over before going back out.

"Hey Ikari!"

The boy turned his head to find Shiraishi waving at the two of them from across the street. Mayumi looked towards Shinji, a confused face on her.

"Do you know him?"

Shinji nodded, "Yeah… we talked a bit yesterday while we were in detention."

Rai started running across the street to meet up with the duo. Shinji's eyes widen when he felt his spider senses tingling.

Before anyone knew it, a car suddenly hit Rai.

Author's Notes:

A shorter chapter, not much really happens in it except for some character development stuff.

Originally, I was going to have the chapter set from the police's perspective as they chase down Spider-Man for breaking into Yashida's compound. Then I realized that would mean making a whole bunch of OCs that won't be relevant after this arc, not to mention it being too soon for a confrontation. I was left clueless as to how Chapter 5 would go.

Then I got around to writing Chapter 4 and I realized that I wanted to do something with how the public perceives Spider-Man, as well as having a character bonding moment with Shinji and Rai. It hit me: I could make the chapter about perceptions. One of the major themes of Evangelion is essentially miscommunication, how people's perceptions of others influence them. So that's how the chapter came about.

Taking the advice from one of the reviews and going for a chapter ever two weeks. Let's see if I can do it.

Also for the record, Goro Komori isn't going to be a reoccurring character. He was named for convenience and won't be graduating to main/supporting character status any time soon.