Hello everyone, Lealius here with a new chapter
In this one, Izumi meets this saga´s main villain
With that, please enjoy
Shikimori´s not Just a Cutie and its characters belong to Keigo Maki
Spider-man and its characters belong to Marvel Comics
Cover Image made by KrystalDragonArt
The day for the sport festival finally arrived
After having participated in different events throughout the day, it was time for the gang to undertake their hardest challenge
-"May all the mixed relay runners please gather" the announcer said
-"Let´s do our best, Hachimitsu" Shikimori said, smiling at the shorter girl
They heard a yawn, looking at the source, they saw Inuzuka, who had a big belly
-"This is a big issue" he said "I ate too much for lunch"
-"What an idiot" Nekozaki said, she then looked at Izumi "Right, Izumi?"
-"Oh?" he was caught off guard, since he was also holding his own stomach "Y-Yeah, I guess"
-"Anyway, we should probably pray for Izumis shoelaces?"
-"Even if we pray, some other accident will happen"
-"How rude" the young hero replied, though he was not offended, as he was thinking of something else "Now that I think about it, if my shoelaces were to break, or if I were to trip, would my vibrations, need a better name for them, warn me about it?" he shook his head "No, bad Izumi!, that's cheating, I just hope I don't react by reflex and start doing the same dodges, or shoot web, with all the people here, I´d become national news for sure"
He could already imagine the headlines
-"Local highschool student discovered to be the first ever superhero"
Plus, with the amount of fans he's been gathering over the last couple of days, as Spider-man of course
He gulped "I think I would rather lose the relay, not that I am letting that happen anyway"
-"Hey, Izumi!" Inuzuka yelled "Time to move"
-"Oh" he was brought back to reality "Coming"
At the starting line, Nekozaki was stretching herself "Nice, everyone is full of energy"
-"Nekozaki-san!" Izumi yelled "Do your best!"
She gave him an ok sign "Will it go as planned though?" she then thought of a certain masked hero, and slightly blush "I wish he could see me now, god, that would be so great!"
For some reason, Izumi felt a shiver down his spine
-"Get ready" the announcer said
She got into the initial position
-"Set"
She was prepared
-"Go" with the bang from the pistol, they all began running as fast as they could, with the public cheering for their respective class
Hachimitsu could not stop sweating, with each step her friend made, her turn came closer
-"Hachimitsu" she looked at the source of the voice, it was Shikimori "It's alright, because I´m here" the determination on her eyes was inspiring
-"Sorry!" she heard Nekozakis yell as she got closer "I couldn't get much of a lead!"
The shorter girl extended her arm, ready to receive the batton
-"I´m leaving it to you!"
Grabbing it, she began to run as fast as her legs could
However, that was having a toll on her body
-"This is bad" her face was sweating, and there was a line of vomit coming out from her mouth "I´ve never moved my legs this much before" and suddenly, her feet got tangled up, causing her to fall face first on the ground
This cause shocked and concerned faces on all of her friends
Inuzuka facepalmed "Izumi´s shoelace curse mustve been passed to Hachimitsu"
-"Is that even possible?!" Izumi asked
Meanwhile, with her
-"Oh, I still haven't passed the baton, then I should"
-"Hachimitsu-san!" she heard Izumis voice "A little more!"
Reminding the young man who, despite his recent lost, still wanted to practice and ensure their victory, was enough to had her stand up
Extending her hand to her friend "Izumi, I´m leaving it to you"
The young hero gave a quick nod as he grabbed the baton "Leave it to me!"
Now it was his turn to run if he wanted to caught up to the lead
-"Were in last place, but the gap isn't that big"
And what everyone feared, happened
He tripped, losing a shoe in the process
-"Ah! I knew it!" Nekozaki lamented it
He was about to fall, cursing his misfortune
However, the events of the last weeks, the motivation of his friends, and the people he has saved
-"No" he planted his other feet on the ground "This time, powers or not, I am not gonna lose to bad luck, no matter what!"
And he managed to recover his balance, despite losing his other shoe
And kept on running in order to pass the baton to his girlfriend "Sorry, Shikimori-sa" his words got caught up when he saw the determination on her eyes
She was not giving up
To this, he smile
-"I wonder why, even though she´s in front of me, and not saying anything" he felt a hand on his back "It feels like she´s pushing me forward" he felt the rest of his friends hands "They all are" and he felt Spider-man´s hand "And ever since I became Spider-man, I feel that I can do more"
He passed her the baton, and she smiled confidently
-"Win, Shikimori-san!"
Leaving the rest to her, he went to Nekozaki and Hachimitsu, the former retrieving his shoes
-"Thank you"
-"No problem, man, Micchon already got ahead of two people! That's crazy! Everyone's getting hyped about it!"
No answer, he kept on looking at his girlfriend
Nekozaki could barely hold her laugh "She's so cool, I love her?"
-"Dont dub over my thoughts!" the purple haired complained
-"Well, you love Spider-man, Nekozaki" Hachimitsu said
-"I DO NOT!" she was blushing madly
Izumi coughed nervously
-"You ok?" Hachimitsu asked
-"Y-Yeah, my throat is a bit dry, I´ll get some water later" that was his excuse, but on his mind "Wish I haven´t heard that"
They saw the rest of the race together, and saw who came first
-"First place! Class 4!"
Those words, the words they wanted to hear so much
-"Hell yeah!" Inuzuka said as he crossed the line, winning them the race
-"Inuzuka-kun!" he heard a scream
-"Izu" he was hug and thrown down by Izumi and Nekozaki
-"We really went and won" Hachimitsu said
-"Hachimitsu" Shikimori approached her "Good work. Are you tired?"
-"Yep"
-"Shikimori-san" Izumi yelled as he ran towards her
-"Izumi-san" she brightly smiled "You too, good work out…"
She was interrupted by his sudden tight hug "You were so cool!"
-"Eh?"
He had stars on his eyes, further reflecting his happiness "Everyone took notice when you started getting ahead! Geez, you were so cool! We really won! You were just like a superhero!" Irony at its finest "My heart was thumping so much!"
The amount of love he showed her was making her eyes spin "Y-Yeah"
-"That guy is too honest" Inuzuka said
The class representative handed a flag with a number 1 to Hachimitsu "Hold this and stay over there"
-"Ah, ok"
Seeing all of her friends being happy that they won
It made her feel warm
-"Thanks" she said
-"Huh?" they all said
-"It was fun"
-"..." They smiled back "It really was"
Izumi looked at his friends and girlfriend as they were ready to get a photo "I am glad I have all of them" he thought of his mother "I am glad I have mom too" he looked at his hand "And my powers as well" he felt fortunate "There's nothing stopping me anymore!"
The following morning, while everyone else was celebrating
He was in bed with a cold
-"So much for nothing stopping me anymore" he wanted to laugh at the irony "I want to see Shikimori-san and the others"
He heard knocks on the door "Yuu?" it was his mom
-"Yes"
-"Mii-chan is here"
-"EEH?!" he sat up, did he hear that right?
The door opened, revealing a happy Shikimori
-"Excuse me" she said
-"Get comfortable" his mother said, closing the door
-"W-Why are you here?" Izumi asked
-"Sorry, but I couldn't help but worry, I did send you a few messages"
He checked his phone "Ah, it's true, sorry, I didn't check it at all" he could feel his body temperature increasing, and not just because of the cold "S-Shikimori-san is in my room?! W-What do I do?! And I'm in my pajamas too, this is so embarrassing!"
He felt tired, not being able to remain sit anymore, he rested his head on the pillow
-"Thank you, sorry that my room is so messy"
-"Come on! Don´t push yourself, plus, your room is clean"
Later, his mom returned with some jelly for them
Taking some on a spoon, she got it closer for Izumi
-"Here, I'll feed it to you" her own face began to heat up, she then smiled weakly "Ju-Just kidding"
-"Really? this helps" he ate the jelly, his fever was so high that he didn't worry about the embarrassment
-"Y-You're welcome"
After finishing their meal
-"I feel like, its been a while, since we could be together like this"
-"Yeha, we've both been kind of busy"
-"We should go somewhere together… Let's decide now"
-"But youre not feeling well. Let's do this later, there's no rush"
-"But" he had a sad tear on his eyes, almost with pleading eyes "If were not talking, then you´re going to leave"
Her face began to sweat, her heart was fluttering "This is bad, any more of this.. just no good"
-"Eh?" he was confused "What is it?"
-"Fine, let's talk until youre satisfied"
-"Hehe, thanks" he then remembered something "Ah!"
-"What?"
-"This one amusement park has an amazing commercial"
-"Really?"
-"Yeah, here" he went for his phone "Let me show you"
He showed her the commercial, the bright lights, the people having fun, the beautiful dresses
A couple riding a boat, kissing as the lights decorated the sky
That last one made her blush
-"How about it? Wanna try?"
-"Let's go" she had a fierce yet nervous smile "We…are going, ok?"
-"Eh? Ok, let's go then, didn´t know you wanted to go there so badly"
-"No, that´s" she grabbed her head, feeling panicked "Sure, let's go with that"
-"Eh?" His cold was starting to affect his reasoning, because he did not realize what exactly he propose "Oh well, so long as we have a good time"
Eventually, he felt asleep
Once she made sure he was ok, Shikimori left
3 days later, now thursday, Izumi was back in shape
After classes were done for the day, It was time to do some patrolling
-"I missed 3 whole days. Tomorrow, November starts. I just hope the city doesn't think that I gave up on being a superhero. The news showed that some people find it strange that I suddenly disappeared" he shook his head "Now it is no time to doubt myself, I just have to work harder"
Having changed into his costume, he was on a rooftop, overlooking the city
-"I wonder if one day I will be able to bring Shikimori-san here, or my friends, I bet they would enjoy the view" that thought gave him an idea "Now that I think about it, how many people can my web hold? I had used it to climb, but never with someone else. If only there was a way for me to practice that, but I don't want to risk hurting someone"
His train of thoughts were cut off by a scream
-"Help!"
He looked at the source of the voice
He saw a man with dark brown hair being held by two other men, and being pushed into a white car
-"They're kidnapping him!"
The car began to drive away
-"I have to follow them!"
Jumping from building to building, he kept chase to the black car
-"What should I do? I never stopped a car before, should I try shooting some web to see if it slows down? But If I make a mistake, I could injure that person"
Suddenly, the car turned into a rather wide alleway
-"I can´t lose them"
Jumping down to ground level, he followed the car the further it went
-"Guess they haven't notice me yet. Ok, once they get out, I´ll immobilize the criminals with my web, and then grab that person and run, no need to take any chances fighting. I can come and grab then once I ensure his safety"
The car eventually stopped, the victim and his kidnappers getting out
-"Hurry up!" one of the thugs said as he was forcing the hostage to move, turning right
Izumi followed them, waiting for the right moment to interfere
Eventually, they all made it to an abandoned parking lot covered by some fences
-"This is what you get for resisting us" one of the criminals said, taking out a gun, ready to shoot the victim
-"Enough!" Izumi yelled once he reached the parking lot
-"Eh?" the second criminal looked at him "Hey, look! It's the guy from the news!"
-"Yeah, it´s Spider-man" the first one said
-"Let him go, and surrender yourselves!" Izumi warned them
-"Hehe" the victim began to laugh as he stood up "The boss was right, glad you could join us, superhero"
-"Eh?" Izumi was confused, the victim was no longer restrained, and the criminals stopped aiming at him
Suddenly, he felt the vibrations on his head "What's going on?"
Out of all places, two more vehicles, one red and one blue, showed up, and parked in said abandoned parking lot, 2 thugs coming out from each, forming a circle, alongside the 3 original criminals, around the young
And finally, a long black limousine showed up, parking right next to the opening of the circle
The door of the vehicle opened, revealing a a tall skinny but handsome man with blonde hair and a goatee, this time with no gun
Followed by him, a rather obese man in a white suit and a cane came out
Izumis eyes went wide, he knew who that person was, he saw him on the news
-"That´s"
-"Good afternoon, Spider-man" Kingpin said "I am sure you´re aware of me, but just in case, my name is Wilson Fisk, or you may call me Kingpin if you wish"
Izumi gave no answer
-"You looked surprised… Ah, you´re probably wondering why am I here, and not giving some random donation to some random hospital or something, right boys?"
His men laughed
-"I don't get it, why is that funny?"
-"Ah, people are so gullible, just throw a little money here, and they leave you in peace, and I can do my other business, if you catch my meaning"
-"Business" he said "Wait, are you a criminal?"
-"Criminal is a harsh word, Spider-man. I am just a businessman, drugs, guns, and sometimes, people, they are just another type of goods, or "spices", as we call them"
Izumi felt a cold shiver on his back, how can someone that was loved by everyone do something like that?
-"And it was going fine, that is" he looked at the masked hero, not hiding his anger "Until a certain freak showed up, and began to put my men in jail cells. You're making me lose money here, those jewels were gonna fetch me quite a good price"
-"W-Well, I don´t care about your profits!" he said, voice trembling a bit "I care about protecting the people, and not letting people like you hurt them just so you can make some money!"
-"Hoh?" he sounded surprised "I admit, I wasn't expecting you to be so innocent"
His men laughed at this
-"What do you mean?"
-"Please, Spider-man, don´t be an idiot. I just accepted the harsh reality of this world, and did what I had to do to survive. Do you really think everything is sunshine and rainbows? the truth is"
-"I know that!" he yelled back "But I also know that criminals must be stopped, and you just admitted to being one, which means I have to stop you"
-"Ah, but you haven't let me finish. You´ve been a thorn at my side, but, as a businessman, I recognize an opportunity when I see one" he snapped his fingers, his right hand man retrieved a briefcase from the limousine, and tossed it at Izumi, who grabbed it
-"Huh?" he was confused
-"Open it, it is not dangerous"
Against his better judgment, he did
And what he saw made him almost dropped the case, because of the shock
-"W-What is this?"
-"There´s 100000 yen in there" Kingpin said "You get that now, and another 100000 per month, in exchange, you work for me"
-"Eh? Why would I do that?"
-"You have been a problem, albeit, not a big one yet, which is why, I want to make a deal, I pay you, and in exchange, you don't interfere anymore with my… workers"
Izumi looked at the money, then at Kingpin
He was serious
-"Of course, if there is a big situation, like a fire, or a natural disaster, you´re more than welcome to interfere. I just want you to look the other way sometimes" he took a cigarette and lit it "The times I tell you to"
Izumi looked at the money once more, and then he remembered his mom, and the financial documents that´ve been causing her distress
With this money, they could be in peace
But
-"So, Spider-man?" Kingpin asked
He knew that was wrong, and he did not wanted this money, not earned like this
He threw the briefcase back
-"No thanks"
Kingpin looked at him angrily "What? Do you have a price or something?"
-"No, I don't care how much money you offer, this is wrong money, and I don't want it!" he looked at the criminal boss "So stop, now!"
The crime lord took a puff from his cigarette, and let it out, shaking his head "Such a shame, but if you want to be an idiot, so be it"
-"No one is an idiot for protecting the innocent!"
-"The only innocent is you, superhero. don´t think you will always be the talk of the town, or at the very least, in a good sense"
-"What are you talking about?"
-"You´ll see" he looked at his men "Take him down"
Two of them approached Izumi, one from behind and one in front
The one in front threw a punch, which Izumi dodged, and it ended up hitting the thug from behind
-Agh!" the one from behind grabbed his nose in pain
-"S-Sorry"
Taking this chance, Izumi delivered a punch and a spin kick to the one he had in front of him, knocking him down
Another one went to, with a crowbar, to hit Izumi
He dodged the incoming attack, hitting the criminal that was punched before, knocking him down
-"Yikes"
Then, Izumi threw some webs against the one with the crowbar, latching it into him, and then begin to spin him, accumulating momentum, and threw said criminal against the remaining four, knocking them down like bowling pins
-"Damn it" Kingpin cursed, and looked at his right hand man "Shoot him"
But before he could take out his gun, he and Kingpin hands were restrained by Izumis web, like handcuffs
-"That's enough!" he said "Your men are defeated, and so are you, Fisk-san, or Kingpin, or whatever, give up now, and turn yourself in!"
-"Y-Yes!" he nodded in a hurry "I will, please, don´t hurt me any further!"
-"I won´t!"
Suddenly, he could hear police sirens getting closer
-"That's odd, I haven´t called them yet, were there any witnesses?" the young hero thought, but, not wanting to stay to be interrogated, and risk having his identity exposed, he left from where he came
Now that he was far away from that scene, he rested on a nearby rooftop
-"I can't believe that Fisk-san is an actual criminal" he passed a hand through his hair "This is gonna be the news of the town, even more so than Spider-man" he let out a sigh "At least I stopped him, now no one else will be injured"
He felt satisfied, as he should, and thus, began heading home
Back at the parking lot, the police got off from their cars
-"Hino police department" one officer with black hair said "You're under"
-"Knock it off" Kingpin said, sounding rather bored, and break free from the web, shattering it into pieces "You got everything recorded?"
-"Yes, sir" the police officer said, not hiding the grin on his face "Man, I wish I could see that freak´s face once he sees this"
-"All in due time" he then released his right hand man "Check the others, and then get out of here. I´ll meet you at the office later"
-"Got it boss"
-"You" he pointed at the police officer "Make sure to send this to the local news stations, and upload it on the internet, make sure to keep it anonymous"
-"Will do, sir, what will you do?"
-"I need to call Nakamura, and Montana"
-"Montana?!" his right hand man asked, having heard that "Why?"
-"He owns me some favors, plus, well" he opened the door of his car "If Spider-man still wants to be a hero, let's give him a villain to fight"
The following day, Izumi was having breakfast, until he heard some news from the TV
-"This just came in, Spider-man attacked Mr. Wilson Fisk yesterday afternoon"
That made him dropped his cup of tea, thank goodness his mother did not wake up yet
-"Huh?"
-"We are now live with Mr. Fisk, president of Fisk Industries, to further explain"
The Tv showed a rather sweaty Kingpin
-"Fisk-san, tell us, what happened?"
-"I find it strange too. I was just discussing something with some workers in regards to this week shipments, when out of nowhere, Spider-man showed up, and started to attack my men for no reason"
-"WHAT?!" Izumi was in disbelief
-"We have some footage submitted by an anonymous source, let's see"
The footage showed Izumi as Spider-man, beating the criminals, and using his web against Kingpin to restrain him
-"That's from yesterday! Someone recorded this?!"
-"I find it hard to believe" the news anchor said
-"Me too, I thought he was a hero, but to attack us just like that, he sent some of them to the hospital, I am at a loss for words" he sounded like was about to cry
-"B-But, you are a criminal, you confessed it yourself, why are the recordings not showing that?"
-"I am really sorry for this, Fisk-san
-"It's ok, I am just disappointed, he looked like he was one of the good guys"
-"We all are dissapointed"
-"If it is OK, I would like to step away for now"
-"Of course, take care, and sorry once more"
Fisk was gone
-"I… I can't believe this" Izumis mouth was hanging open
-"This just came in" the reporter said "People over the internet are mad at Spider-man actions. There are reports of people protesting, requesting that the so called hero is arrested. The police has yet to make an official announcement in regards to this. I am now live with my colleague, Yusuke-san. Yusuke-san, can you hear me?"
-"Yes, I can, and as you can see" he showed the live footage of people protesting outside a police station "People are not happy over this" he went to a nearby citizen "Excuse me sir, can you give us your opinion on this?"
-"I am mad, we all are! How dare that freak to attack Fisk-san? His company gives jobs to many of us, not to mention the donations he does to charity, this stupid bug thinks he can come and attack someone like that? We are not gonna tolerate this!"
-"As you can see, Ryuji-san, the people are not happy"
-"No one is, we all thought that Spider-man was a hero, but with this… He has showed us his true colors"
Izumi turned off the TV, and grabbed his head "How… How did this happen? I don't get it, I stopped a criminal and now I am the bad guy?!" It was hard to fight back the tears "I mean, How did he even get that footage? It's almost as if"
He remembered certain words from yesterday
-"The only innocent is you, superhero, don´t think you will always be the talk of the town, or at the very least, in a good sense"
The realization of the true meaning behind those words made his eyes wide, a cold sweat beginning to form "What happened yesterday… It was a trap?!" he remembered the sudden arrival of the police "That would explain them arriving so fast, and the footage, and being from an anonymous source, It was all a trap to frame me!"
Realizing of that barely made him feel better, because now
-"The people want me arrested, granted, the police has yet to make an announcement, but"
He was now an enemy for everyone
-"I… I dont know what to do… Is there even something I can do? If he can influence everyone like that, how can I fight back?"
Kingpin was right, he was an idiot
And what he had yet to realize was
A new threat was on his way
And that´s the end of that, yikes, talk about things going south
Sorry if it is not the first enocunter you guys expected, but I wanted to try a more... Strategical approach. Don´t worry, the punches between these two will come later
Next chapter, we have Izumi dealing with the consequencens of him being framed, as well as meeting a secondary villain for the Second year of Highschool saga. Kingpin is the main one here, but he will send some secondary ones to take down the hero, this will be the same for the following sagas, plus a few twists here and there
So, what do you think? Leave any reviews or send me a PM, and I will gladly answer
Until next time
Peace