Mayumi
Author's Notes:
Welp, we're near the endgame (pfft). I'll give a more detailed account next chapter but let's respond to reviews:
Ragnarooke: AMOPJCFIRJF[OIREFJNER thank you so much! Your review made my day when I read it, you're so wonderful! I was gonna tell you who the "MJ" was gonna be, but since you spoiled the Gwen thing I'm not gonna tell you. Sorry! :P For real thanks for the review I really appreciate it.
keybladelight: Not in this series sadly. Maybe as a side story.
RealRemainder: Children always carry a part of their parents with them. Even the negative qualities. The key is finding wich ones to keep and which ones to discard. Hopefully Shinji will learn to discard the coldness.
shadowmwape: You're wrong and this chapter will show why.
Edit as of September 14, 2019: Added Shinji defeating the Silver Samurai and Shocker while getting away from the police. It needed closure.
Anyway onto the story!
Kenichiro Yashida waited patiently.
He could have gotten out of this cell some time ago. Even without the money and resources of his company, he still had skills from his teenage years working as a thief for his father Shingen. Second Impact gave him more of a reason to sharpen them.
Yashida did not escape for one simple reason. He was waiting for someone.
He had given specific instructions to seek out any information regarding the whereabouts of his comatose sibling, Shiro Yashida. Kenichiro had kept Shiro in one of his facilities, had doctors watching over the body 24/7. He suspected Yamagishi might send some agents to retrieve Shiro, so Keniciro gave instructions to his top men to get there first.
He wanted his little crybaby brother to be safe.
BOOM!
Kenichiro was disturbed from his rest, seeing the wall behind him utterly demolished. He saw his trusted minion, Shun Oshiro AKA the Shocker, had cleared the path for him.
"Yashida," Oshiro bowed. "The preparations have been made. We even brought the Silver Samurai armor as requested."
Yashida got up. "Thank you. What about Shiro?"
Oshiro hesitated. "We arrived at the facility per your instruction… however, by the time we made it the place was ransacked. Someone also stabbed a knife through your brother's body. My apologies." Kenichiro Yashida never expected a happy ending. He was not a naive sort, he had no delusions that even if he succeeded in his goal Shiro would have hated the man he had become. However, the thought that his brother would be gone for good…
"It is alright, Shocker… we will hunt down the Spider for what he has done."
He could not get revenge on Yamagishi nor SEELE. They were too powerful. But there was one he could kill.
At that, Shun smiled. "Of course sir."
The two stepped out, Yashida having already planned his revenge. 'Soon Spider-Man… the Silver Samurai will have his vengeance.'
"In the name of our Holy Father, we come to you for Grace…"
The opening prayers repeated themselves, just like every morning.
A black haired, red eyed girl with glasses held her hands together, her knees bent over the table. She never really understood this morning ritual, but never said a word. Her father would be disappointed if she did not participate.
".. the father, the son and the holy spirit. Amen."
When he finally finished, Tachiageru Yamagishi looked over his daughter. "I'm going to be spending the day in the lab. The final pieces of my experiment are coming together, so do not disturb me."
He patted her head.
"You have done well. Head to school." Mayumi Yamagishi nodded. "Understood."
Mayumi Yamagishi began her day by walking.
Her house was around the area of the school, so there was never a hurry to get there. She took her time, to get wrapped up in her own thoughts.
She wondered about what books in the library she hadn't read. Or if they added any new food in the cafeteria. She thought of Shinji Ikari and wondered if he was willing to talk today.
What would he even say to her? Would Shinji be listening to his S-DAT Player like he usually did? Would he even so much as look at her? It seems like every passing day he was disappearing more and more. Even before the current week begun he often disappeared during the lunch time to get away from school. Now though, she was even lucky to catch a glimpse of him. Like some kind of cryptid.
Mayumi blinked those thoughts away as she entered the school.
Her days often went by without much trouble. Mayumi was a mousy little thing, never standing out in the crowd. As such, no one talked to her, and she… well, she'd be too shy to talk to them. It was like there was a field that separated her from everyone else.
Lunchtime came.
Mayumi hoped that today would be peaceful at least. That she could eat her food and go back to reading. She had a perfectly nice book on hand for this moment. She even wondered if Shinji would show himself this time, a little fearful of what he would say.
The bean that hit her face said otherwise.
Annoyed, she turned to see a pair of students casually whistling.
She went back to read… only to get pelted.
Again. And again.
Mayumi glared at the students who were now chuckling. She would have tried to say something, but then she spotted Shinji. He saw her, but turned is head away. The news came on, saying something about a bank robbery. At that Shinji ran out of the cafeteria.
Probably went out to get food by himself again. Mayumi got up and went to somewhere she knew wouldn't be disturbed.
Only a few minutes and she opened the door to the school roof.
Students often come up to this place to get away from the crowds below. Either to eat lunch, talk with friends, or even just listen to the sweet vibrations of an S-DAT player, this was an ideal spot for many an anti social sort. The only danger was the lack of a fence around the rooftop.
Mayumi Yamagishi looked at the food she had. She placed it on the ground and walked forward.
What did she do wrong?
It has been a few days since Shinji Ikari walked away from her. He was angry, but she had no idea why. Did she do something wrong? Did he realize what a disgusting creature she was?
She had no idea. He wouldn't talk to her once, not even coming up with an excuse. He looked away as if he was ashamed. Shinji was her only real friend, but he just kept ignoring her and walked away, as if she was a stranger in his eyes.
Mayumi put out a foot from the ledge.
Why did any of this have to happen…?
She brought the foot back.
Mayumi took a deep breath, admiring the sun and taking in the environment around her. The city is a flawed kaleidoscope of buildings and run down streets… but it was home. Home in a way nowhere else was.
Mayumi blinked the tears that started to form in her eyes.
She was such a coward.
She would always be a coward…
Shinji had come to realize web swinging had many advantages.
Compared to cars that always get stuck in traffic, Spider-Man could always get to locations as quickly as possible. The web swinger always felt a sense of freedom like this. He thinks even enjoyed it more than listening to music on his player. How unbelievable is that?!
There is just something about feeling the wind on his face, seeing the people below doing their daily routines… it gave him something sitting on the train by himself never could.
It was an escape from reality.
An escape from thinking about her.
'I can't look at Mayumi the same way…' Shinji thought. 'She lied to me… It hurts…'
In the days he had been avoiding Mayumi, Shinji had time to calm down and think over. In hindsight, he regretted just abandoning Mayumi like that. It might have been a lie for all he knew, but she didn't seem to know anything either. Ikari knew that deep down he should just talk to her to figure out the truth.
He missed her. Her smile, the concentrated look when she reads books, her soothing voice, her ruby red eyes… he missed when they sat down together and just had each other's company. She helped him out so many times.
But when it came for him to help her, he just left.
'I'm stalling… maybe I just don't want the truth.' Shinji thought. 'Tomorrow then. Tomorrow I'll talk to her.'
That was what he said yesterday. And the day before.
Soon, gunshots were heard on the street below.
"Oh what now?!" Spider-Man grumbled to himself. He witnessed a shootout between the police and some gangsters. They were in front of a bank.
'Typical, another fucking bank heist.' Spider-Man swung in. 'Don't these guys have ANYTHING better to do?'
One of the criminals looked up, "Hey it's Spider-Ma-"
He got webbed up before he could finish saying the name. In fact, none of the criminals even had a chance since Spider-Man swiftly kicked them all to the ground.
"Well that was easy, time to see who's inside." Spider-Man said to no one in particular.
He suddenly felt something slice his back.
"Ngeh!" Spider-Man grunted, turning around. He clutched his back as he saw his attacker.
"Spider-Man. We meet at last." It was a man with samurai armor. Silver in color, the symbol of the rising sun in the center of his chest plate. He held out a blade prepared for combat. "You shall pay for the crimes committed against the Yashida family!"
Shinji got into a fighting stance. It would be a difficult fight, but he was prepared.
The Silver Samurai charged. He swung to the left, Spider-Man bending to avoid the strike. As the Samurai swung to the right, the web slinger jumped up and kicked him.
In an instant, Kenichiro Yashida was knocked out.
"..."
"Master, we need to-" Shocker came out of the bank. He instantly panicked on seeing Spider-Man standing over his boss. "Stay back or I'll shoot!"
Shinji didn't even bother. He shot webs directly at Oshiro's gloves, short circuiting them. The Shocker fell as he was electrified by his own invention. Every other gangster looked at each other, and raised their hands up.
"... So was that it? No one gonna attack me?"
Just then, an officer pointed a gun at the wall crawler. "Hold it right there freak! We need to take you to custody!"
"Alrighty, here we go!" Spider-Man instantly zipped away to avoid the officer.
"Get back here!" The officer pointed a gun towards the retreating vigilante. He fired a bullet in the air.
However, Spider-Man's senses were sharp, He instantly moved to avoid the bullet and launched another web line.
"Sorry officer but I'm allergic to bullets! Gonna take my meds bye!"
Shinji grinned as he swung back to the school.
"Where are they?"
Mayumi rumbled through her locker. Her hands were searching for a particular object, one she needed. However, there are nowhere to be found. The girl grew desperate.
"The pills!" Mayumi cried out. "They have to be here somewhere! Just where?" When she was little, her father told her she was unique among other children. He said that she was an Angel, sent from God himself in an imperfect form. The light of her soul would cause grievous harm to whoever witnessed it in it's full power. As such, he gave her a set of pills to keep her condition under control. If she didn't take them…
"Looking for these, Yamagishi?"
Mayumi turned to see the two students from earlier in the cafeteria. One carried her pill capsule in his hand.
"How… how did you get them?" She asked.
They grinned. "We were just passing by the student lockers to look for stuff to borrow, and yours happened to be on our list. You don't mind if we take these do you?"
"Give it back!" She ran over to grab the capsule, but the student was taller and moved it away.
"Oh yeah? Make us!"
The students laughed as Mayumi tried desperately to grab the capsule, but they kept it away from her. They were too tall and she was too weak.
"Say Yamagishi? You want them so bad?"
Mayumi had a bad feeling where this was gonna go. "Here!"
The student dropped the capsule on the ground. Mayumi looked at him, suspicious. She reached out to grab it-
CRUNCH!
Just like that, they were reduced to ashes. Mayumi's hopes were crushed by a fit of despair, as she desperately grabbed to any trace of the pills.
She started licking the floor, trying to get any remaining dust from the floor. Anything, even if it was the slightest sliver. Her eyes brimmed with tears, her face flushing in sheer humiliation over the situation.
The bullies laughed at her.
"Just look at her! She's licking the floor dry just to get some drugs, pffft hahahahaha!"
The student would continue laughing, or at least he would've if it weren't for the hand he felt upon his shoulder. An irritated eyebrow raised, the student turned to see who dared touch him
"Watch it jackass, you think you can mess with-"
A punch to the face sent him to the ground.
Mayumi looked up to see who did that… she was definitely surprised to see Tsuyoshi Kotei, standing right there. He was pissed.
"Get back up. If you have nothing better to do than harass a girl, head to class or you'll get detention." Kotei growled. He raised a fist. "Give me an excuse. Any."
Terrified, the bullies scampered off. This left Mayumi and Kotei alone.
Mayumi didn't know what to make of the situation. She was glad he told them off but…
"That was your medication wasn't it?" Kotei asked. The girl stilled. "You need it?"
She nodded. He turned around.
"I'll tell them you're sick and needed to leave. Go home."
The girl got up. She wanted to say something, anything… but nothing came out. Kotei didn't seem to care though. His expression was firm. So, she did as he said and started walking. "Ikari's been avoiding you for a while."
Mayumi stopped.
"Any reason why?"
"…I don't know. He hasn't talked to me in a while."
Kotei frowned. "Alright. Leave."
And she did.
Spider-Man opened the air vent and crawled inside.
'That was way too easy.' Shinji thought. The "fight", if you could even call it that, between himself and the so called Silver Samurai was laughable. One kick- not even two or three, just ONE- put him down for the count. It wasn't even like Doctor Akagi where she had all sorts of clever tricks with her tentacles that he had to overcome. Yashida just swung his sword at him and WHAM! Down.
It was kind of ridiculous honestly.
When he entered the locker room, Shinji made sure to place the vent back in it's proper place. He opened the bag and took out his clothes to put them on. Shinji blushed when he saw himself in the mirror. No matter how many times he saw it, he still wasn't used to the muscles he had in his body. All the results of the spider two months ago.
For once, he was in before the bell rang, so maybe if he hurried up he could get to class fast.
He had his uniform ready and turned away from the lockers to go outside. However, the door opened. In stepped Tsuyoshi Kotei, who seemed angry.
'When is he ever not angry?' Shinji thought. He decided to get whatever business Kotei had with him over with so he could leave. "What can I do for you?"
At that, Kotei raised a finger at Shinji.
"You stupid son of a bitch!"
Shinji frowned. "What did I do this time?"
Kotei grabbed him by the slacks. "Yamagishi that's what! She's lonely and depressed ever since you two stopped talking. What the hell happened? What did you do to her you asshole?!"
This was about Mayumi? That was new. "Why do you care?"
"She doesn't deserve it and you know it. Now spill you little hedgehog, what the fuck happened between you too?"
Shinji lowered his head, his bangs blocking his eyes "Her… her father ordered her to be my friend. She lied to me. None of it was real."
"Bullshit. You seen how she looks at you? How she only appreciates your company and no one else's? Not even m-"
Kotei stopped himself, before continuing.
"How self centered can you get, ignoring her feelings like that? Have you even talked to her at all?"
Shinji kept silent.
"You didn't didn't you? You just assumed. I should just beat the shit out of you right now. Not everything is about you, asshole! Go talk to her tomorrow and apologize you piece of shit!"
Shinji was confused. "Tomorrow? Why not now?"
Kotei explained. "Some assholes broke her medication so I let her go home."
The boy however, had his own revelation in mind. "Okay, then I'll talk to her right after school."
The bell rang. Shinji ran to his next class. Meanwhile, Kotei sighed.
"I can't believe this kid is Spider-Man… what a whiny little shit."
Mayumi barely reached the entrance to her house before she started gasping for air. "I… I need it…"
Her body fell, hitting the floor. She clutched her stomach, which was causing her pain.
"FATHER! Please, HELP!"
She raised a hadn't to the door. She could barely grab the handle, pulling it down to open the door. As it opened she crawled inside.
"Father, help me! I… I'm in so much pain-AAAAAAAAAAUUUGGGHH-"
Mayumi felt a pain in her leg. She saw how it had developed a line across the ankle… and how it started detaching.
"You're probably wondering why you're deteriorating so quickly, Mayumi?"
The girl's eyes widened at the voice at the intercom. Her father must still be in the lab. He continued speaking.
"The truth is Mayumi... you're not an Angel of God. The true Angel is still asleep waiting for his brothers to appear. You were created to help facilitate a Lilim body he could slip into easily. Because of that, you were never going to survive past the month. Even if you take the pills now, it won't do you much good. I'm so sorry my daughter... you must be sacrificed in the name of God. Good bye."
The intercom stopped.
"GOD DAMN IT!" Mayumi slammed her fist onto the floor.
This was bad news. The pills were the one thing keeping her body together. If they no longer worked...
The torrent of negative emotions inside her heart took their toll. A searing torment passed around her body that wouldn't go away. Continuing to crawl on the floor, Mayumi knew what was going to happen. Her red eyes flashed.
The light of her soul… the AT Field… it was forming.
Shinji decided web swinging would be the fastest way to Mayumi's mansion.
'I'm such an idiot!' Shinji thought. 'I need to talk to Mayumi and fix this mess.'
Kotei was a jackass in every sense of the word, but he wasn't wrong about how self centered he had been acting. Shinji needed to talk to Mayumi. He hoped she didn't hate him… or thought he hated her.
The latter would be worse somehow.
'Thinking about all this stuff is making my head hurt. I just need to find an area to change in.'
He had to make things right.
The web drifted to the right. A strong gust of wind pushed the boy from his intended path, slamming him into a wall.
"Ouch." Shinji rubbed his head. "What was that?" He noticed it immediately. Everything much darker than before. Shinji looked up and saw that the clouds blocked out the sun.
"Weird… I don't remember the weather forecast saying it was going to rain."
He felt himself being pushed. Shinji used his fingers to stick to the wall to prevent himself from falling.
The winds were fiercely strong, blowing from all directions. Spider-Man saw objects flying in it. Papers, trash… he could have sworn a balloon.
Only question remained.
"What is going on?"
"Are you getting any of this Toshiro?"
Sayako Ami had seen many things as a reporter. Second Impact was a massively shocking event that left many traumatized, pushing the world into the brink of despair. The things she heard made her sick. The things she saw in the field left her worse.
Even so, her eyes could not comprehend the sheer terror that she sees.
From her helicopter, she witnessed what could very well be a titan of myth. A being made of black wheels that spinned shudderingly slow. Connected to it's body were over a billion spikes that extend enough to destroy anything in it's path. Below were a set of thin arms with long elongated hands that threatened to crush whatever came near.
A yellow field surrounded it, and released shockwaves that spammed throughout the city. The wind currents were strong enough that buildings were being cut like knives, and Ami could hear the screams of the people below begging for help.
Sayaka knew that today… Kokoro would die.
"Somebody help me!"
An elderly woman flew through the air. The winds were becoming so strong that people were now being carried off. She would have hit a lamppost and gotten killed but-
The woman felt an arm surrounding her waist. "Hang on, I'll get you down from here."
Spider-Man made sure to lay the woman on the street carefully. He quickly launched a web to get to higher ground.
"The hell is all this? Is there some kind of hurricane?" Shinji wondered out loud.
Everything was in utter chaos! So much going on at once that Spider-Man didn't even know where to begin or where to go.
Jus then he saw something. A yellow aura in the middle in the streets.
A yellow aura with a human shape.
"Are you the one responsible for this?!" Spider-Man shouted. He stopped right in front of it. "Who are you?!"
Mayumi's eyes opened. "Spider-Man?"
"Can you hear me?" He immediately recognized the voice. The shape changed, taking the form of the person the voice belonged to.
"What the-? Mayumi!? What's going on?" Spider-Man asked.
The yellow aura shaped like Mayumi shivered. "The AT-Field… my core… it's coming apart rapidly and I can't control it."
"What do you mean Mayumi? I'll get to your house as soon I can to help you!"
The winds started blowing harder. "You won't be able to do that… Only one way I can end it…"
Shinji's eyes widened in realization. She can't mean-
"No… no you can't! I'll be right there just hold on!" Shinji shouted. The wall crawler spun another web in a hurry to prevent it.
"There isn't much time…"
Mayumi crawled to the table. She can't even walk anymore. Her left hand was disintegrating rapidly, leaving behind an orange liquid on the floor.
She crawled and crawled, trying to ignore the pain throughout her body as she does so. If she hesitated, even for a moment… then things would become much worse.
Mayumi reached it. The dining room.
Sitting on the edge of the table was a knife. There was only one thing to do now.
Her goal set in place, she allowed her desperation to fuel her determination. With as much force as she could she slammed the table.
The knife shook a little. She slammed it again.
And again. And again.
And again.
Each passing slam left her weaker and weaker, the knife shaking ever so slightly, moving only a touch closer and closer away from the edge.
Mayumi's ire grew. If it lasted any longer then everyone will die. And it will be her fault.
With the energy she had left, she slammed once more.
The knife fell just a few inches away from her.
At that, Mayumi smiled. Her objective ever so near.
She reached out to grab it as her hand started to dissipate.
Just like that, the winds stopped. The nightmare of a creature disappeared from the heavens. Objects fell back to the ground. The dark clouds remained however. So did the the corpses that scattered the city.
Death took hold over the city.
Spider-Man payed none of these any mind. He swung as fast as he could, moving with a lighting fast speed he never possessed at any other point before this.
From the distance he spotted the Yamagishi Mansion, which was in some state of disrepair.
Fearing the worst, Shinji ran inside the place with fierce abandon.
"Mayumi!" He shouted. Nobody came.
He saw a trail of some sort of orange liquid on the floor. Shinji sniffed the odor, noting that it had the scent of blood.
Absolutely worried, he quickly followed the trail. It led to a open door towards the dining room, then to another door. The kitchen-
Spider-Sense kicking into high gear, he ran inside.
There she was. The girl lied there on the floor, her body missing her legs and an arm. A large puddle of the orange liquid surrounded her.
"MAYUMI!" Shinji shouted. He took off his mask and ran to her side.
There was no mistake now. Mayumi had stabbed herself. She barely clung to life as she coughed.
"Talk to me please!" In spite of his attempts, tears stung Shinji's eyes. "Don't go!"
Mayumi looked up to see the one clinging her. "Shinji… you're… Spider-Man?"
Shinji held her tighter. "Yes, yes I am! Listen, we can fix this I just have to take you to the hospital and-"
Mayumi laughed, her own red eyes brimming with tears. "I should have known… you were there all along… heh heh… it's obvious now… the two of you are so heroic and kind…"
That stabbed his heart more than any other thing could have. "I'm so sorry Mayumi, I don't care if you were an Angel or not you're still my friend! I shouldn't have thrown you away like I did! I'm sorry…"
"I'm sorry too… I guess I should have never existed at all…"
Her eyes closed, exhausted.
"No don't be sorry for that, just hang on we can fix this! Before I met you I was always alone. I never had any friends or people to care about, so caught up in my own misery that I locked everyone out of my life even when all they wanted was to help me. You changed that. Remember how you said Spider-Man gave you courage… you inspired me the same way! Without you I would never have had the courage to be Spider-Man and get out to help others! You mean so much to me Mayumi… I never knew I could love someone like I do now… I'm so sorry Mayumi… I love you…"
"…"
"… Mayumi…"
A gentle shake.
"Please… this isn't funny… I need you… I'm so sorry…"
The shake became harder. Mayumi's body went limp.
"Please don't go… I'm sorry… I love you…"
Her lovely face became wet with tears.
"No… please…"
He raised his head to the sky.
"MAAAAAAYYUUUUUUUUMMIIIIII!"
The heavens did not tremble today.
Today, the boy clung to the girl… another death he was responsible for.
Next Chapter: The Devil