Hello everyone, Lealius here with a new chapter
In this one, Izumi goes to a party
With that, 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
Saturday, November 16th
Izumi´s mom, Motoko, had just left her workplace, and was just to get into her car, when
-"Hand over everything!" a random thief said, holding a knife on his hand
To this, she let out a scream of fear
But before things could get any uglier
-"Leave her alone!" someone yelled
Looking at the direction where that voice came from, they saw Izumi, or rather, Spider-man
The superhero fired a web rope at the thief, and by yanking from it, he pulled the criminal towards him
-"Eek" the thug yelled in fear
Only to be knocked out by one of Izumi´s punches to his face
A thud sound was heard at the criminal fell down to the ground unconscious, no longer a threat
-"Are you ok?" he asked her mother, although, from her point of view, she was just a stranger to him
-"Yeah" she let out a sigh of relief "Thank you Spider-man"
-"No problem. Anyway, I better go now, call the police"
But just as he turned around to leave
-"Wait, Spider-man" she called for him
-"Huh?"
-"I never got the chance to thank you. Back when the attack at the amusement park happened, my son was there, and he told me how you saved him, so I wanted to say that we are both grateful for you"
Izumi smiled under his mask. He knew that in fact, he saved himself, but he accepted her gratitude regardless
-"Just doing my duty" and he climbed up a nearby building, disappearing into the rooftop
A couple of minutes later, Izumi was watching as her mother left from the scene, and the police took the criminal into custody
-"She´s safe, thank goodness" he did say that he was gonna be there, whether as Yuuki Izumi, or as Spider-man
With that, he went back home, he needed to be there before she arrived
Monday 18th
It's been a couple of days since Izumi´s encounter against Vulture, and no sign of the feathered villain as of yet
But, if Captain Kamiya´s hunch was correct, then Izumi already knows where and when he's gonna strike next, so for now, he had no other choice but to play the waiting game
Right now, after another day of classes was done with, he was with his friends and girlfriend, and it was time to discuss something important
-"So we´ve agreed on sunday, the question now is, where should we have our study group?" Nekozaki asked
It was proper to have one, after all, they ́ll have exams soon, and they better pass if they want to enjoy the holiday season. Plus, studying with friends is always better
-"What about your house, Inu?" Hachimitsu asked
-"It's small, so no way. Nekozaki?"
-"It could be hard to fit five people. What about Hachimitsu´s?"
-"I´d play games, so it´s no good"
That's when something sparked deep within Izumi "This flow!" he felt excited "So are we going to my house!?"
They have never gathered all of them there, so it would be like a dream come true for him
-"I´m"
-"Then how about Michhon´s house?" Nekozaki suggested
-"Eh?!"
And thus, his hopes were crushed
-"Shikimori-san´s house!?" his mouth was wide open "Going for such a high level move… You're incredible, Nekozaki-san!"
That's when he remembered something important
-"I have never heard about her Family, let alone go to her house"
While he was busy with his inner monologue
-"Hmm"
Shikimori looked conflicted
-"Oh, is there a problem?" Nekozaki asked
She had a drop of sweat on her face "There's not a problem, per se…"
She glanced at her boyfriend
Once he realized of the implication
-"WE CAN'T GO BECAUSE OF ME?!" he was shocked "WHY!?"
-"Um" she grabbed the back of her neck, ashamed to admit the reason "I didn't… tell my family… About Izumi-san yet"
That hurted him more than all damage he took from his battles against Shocker and Vulture combined
-"What?!" Nekozaki yelled "For real?!"
-"I didn't find the right timing...and it got harder to say…"
That's when Nekozaki´s eyes flashed, she had found a new goal
So did Hachimitsu
Raising her fist into the air, the small blondie said "Well, at this point we should take the chance to show them!"
-"Eh?!" Shikimori yelled, while her own fist were being raised by a cheerful Nekozaki
-"But my mom doesn't let me bring people when she's not at home"
-"Well, ask them right now!" Nekozaki said
And thus, she went outside to make her call
-"There's no real reason to force her if she' s so against it" Inuzuka said, not sure what to made of the situation
-"You don't get it, do you?!" Nekozaki said "She's just lacking a bit of courage!"
Eventually, she came back
-"How was it?" Hachimitsu asked
With a face drenching in seat, and the light having left her eyes, she said "I have her consent"
-"Hell yes!" Nekokazi and Hachimitsu went to hug their friend "We gotta think of a good way of introducing lzumi"
-"Let´s make up a plan" Hachimitsu said
-"We' re going there to study, you know" Inuzuka said, apparently being the only one remembering the main objective of the group
To this, Izumi just stared at her girlfriend
Once they were done, Izumi was walking down the sidewalk, a hurt expression on his face
-"san" a voice said, it was Shikimori "Mi-san"
Suddenly, he felt his vibrations going off
And jumped back, just before a truck hit him
-"Wow" Shikimori said somewhat impressed, she was extending her hand in order to grabbed him, but it seems it was not necessary
-"A truck"
-"Are you ok?" she asked
-"Yeah, thanks"
-"You were spacing out, though. Did something happen?"
-"It's nothing. Sorry" his smile did not reach his ears, and she noticed it
He kept on walking
-"Are you angry?"
-"Of course not. Why would I be?"
-"Then what is it?"
-"I'm saying it's nothing"
-"Are you sulking?"
He turned around to looked at her, or rather, away from her, his lips were quivering
-"I'm not sulking" he was
-"You totally are" Shikimori said, somewhat taken back "I´m sorry. Was it something I did?"
-"...Hold hands with me, Shikimori-san"
-"Huh!?" she was blushing. She took a look at her surroundings, and realized that "Maybe… not now, there's too many people"
Izumi looked down, he had to ask something that's been bothering "Shikimori-san, are you embarrassed of me?"
She tightened her brows "There's no way I´d be"
-"Then why are you hiding it?"
-"Gh!" that caught her off guard
-"I… I didn't want it to be a throwaway thing like that. I wanted to be properly introduced to your family.I want to say that I'm dating you seriously. So I really… can't just accept"
-"THAT'S NOT IT!" she was scratching her head, making a mess of her hair, and glaring at him fiercely "I… just really, never dated anyone before, so… I just really don't know… How I should be telling my family about it!" she really felt guilty "I'M SORRY THAT I'M SO UNCOOL! SO PLEASE DON'T FEEL INSECURE ABOUT IT!"
-"Really?" he felt slightly better
-"YES!" she grabbed his hand, still mad "ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO COMPLAIN ABOUT?!"
-"Not really"
She calmed herself down
-"I´ll say this because I don't want you to misunderstand… But I'm not hiding us because I'm embarrassed. I don't want to flaunt us around because I feel special about it. I Feel like I don't want to show this kind of stuff to people… So like, that's not why I don't like holding hands or why I didn't tell my family" She took a deep breath "I'm sorry that this thing made you uncomfortable, l was really just being shy about it. But I… I resolved myself… So can you please lend me your support, along with everyone else?"
He softened his gaze, he couldn´t be mad at her
-"Yes"
-"So, have we made up now?"
-"Yes, thank you"
-"Um" she continued "As reference, can you tell me how you told your parents?"
-"Me? Well"
He started to remembered what exactly went through when it came to that
-"Going out again?" his mother asked "Is it a girl?"
-"Y-Yes"
-"It is? Is she your girlfriend?" his father asked
They were both quite curious and excited
-"It´s a girlfriend, right?!" both of them asked
-"Yes"
Once he was done reminiscing, the realization of what really went through that day painted his face of blue
He began to sweat
-"Huh. ..now that l think about it, didn' t tell them myself either. . . It was more of a guided interrogation?!"
He gulped, now he genuinely understood how she felt
-"That's right… it takes a lot of courage to say it yourself…I´m the pot calling the kettle black"
-"Izumi-san?" Shikimori asked, noticing the amount of time her boyfriend has been silent
-"I´m… I´M THE WORST!" he gave her a full bow "I´m so sorry, Shikimori-san!"
-"Wha" she was at a loss
After buying her some consolation crepes, which she didn´t considered necessary, but still gladly ate, they went home
As Izumi was on his way to his house, something clicked on him
-"I get upset to her for hiding something, yet I am hiding her and the others something far more important"
His secret identity
-"I want to tell them, but" he remembered how Kyöshinja Kuruoshī, his former senpai, overheard their talk about him visiting Nekozaki, and what that caused
-"Nekozaki-san was kidnapped because someone thought Spider-man, that is, me, was in love with her. If someone were to learn that they know the secret identity of Spider-man, they would do far worse"
If somehow Kingpin were to find out that
-"I won't tell them, I can´t, they´ll be safer this way"
The days went on without anything in particular happening
And now, it was Friday 22, night time
And it was a special night at Fisk´s skyscraper, where the offices for his company, Fisk Industries, were located at
Of course, this was the front he used to hide his illegal activities. For the regular folk, he was just someone in the business of shipping spices and other food related items
In a ballroom located in one of the building´s middle floors, a gala event was being held
Tables were spread across the floor, each one carefully and beautifully decorated
Ladies and gentlemen were either at the dance floor, dancing at the rhythm of the orchestra, or chatting among others while enjoying a delicious glass of champagne, offered by the many waitresses
In the kitchen, the chefs were preparing the exquisite dishes that the guests will soon enjoy
It was the typical gathering that the crime lord liked to host, in which people from either the political, financial, medical branches would come and have a good time
And it was also yet another way for him to earn the people´s love, as well as keeping up the appearance of a successful and loveable business man
Among the many guests here, there was one in particular
-"I´d rather be anywhere else" Captain Kamiya bitterly said, then he looked at his wife, Yumi "How are you holding up?"
-"It looks lovely, dear" she replied with a small smile, then she looked at the dance floor "I only wish we could go for a dance, I miss doing that"
-"I´m really sorry, Yumi" he closed his eyes in shame
He felt a warm hand holding his "Don´t. It was not your fault, and we both know it. You weren't wrong for doing your job. The one to blame is"
-"Ah, Captain Kamiya!" Fisk said as he approached them, followed by his right hand man, or his assistant in this case, as well as some other people, all well dressed up "I was worried you wouldn't come"
-"Wouldn't miss it for anything" he replied politely, no need to provoke him
-"Once more, I am glad you came. And it's good to see you as well, Yumi-san"
-"Thank you for the invitation, Fisk-san" she replied
-"I gotta say, Captain Kamiya, I am surprised you were invited to begin with" one of Fisk's companions said. He was a rather chubby politician that exuded an aura of arrogance "Considering how long it took you to order the arrest of Spider-man. Why, one would think you don't care about the population anymore"
This earn a chuckle from the others
-"That was never my intention" Meiyo replied
-"Now gentlemen, there's no need to be like that" he glanced at them "What matters is that the good Captain finally realized what´s important" he looked at Meiyo "Isn't that right, my good Captain?" he was not hiding the smugness in his voice
-"You are correct, sir"
There was no love lost between them
-"Good, I trust that you will stop him. After all, Spider-man's a menace to all of us, your daughter included, so, be careful"
The mention of their daughter made him let out a grunt. Fisk was pushing it, yet he couldn't do anything
Noticing how tense her husband was, Yumi spoke "Thank you for taking the time to greet us personally, Fisk-san. If you excuse us, we´ll return to our seats"
-"But of course, enjoy the rest of the evening"
And with that, he walked away while pushing her wife´s wheelchair
-"Hey" she spoke to him "Don´t worry. He's not stupid enough to do something to Ai out of nowhere"
-"I know" they kept on going to their table "I hate keeping this hidden from Yumi and Ai, but they can´t know I am meeting Spider-man"
After some time, Fisk was now standing at a podium
-"Good evening my friends" he said, his voice resonating through the speaker system "Once more, I am grateful to you all for taking the time in your busy schedules to attend my humble party"
He was met with a roar of applauses
-"As the year approaches to an end, I want to wish all success in the upcoming future" he raised his glass "May the best for Hino arrive. Cheers"
They all raised his glasses, although a certain captain did it in a foul mood
But before they could further enjoy themselves, the sound of shattering glass was heard
And before they had time to react, the entire room was filled with smoke
People were coughing, others hid under the tables
-"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" someone laughed
Once the smoke cleared, Vulture was above them, holding himself by the chandelier
-"Good evening, everybody"
-"Toomes?!" Meiyo thought as he made sure his wife was safe. Once he did, he went to surround Vulture, alongside some officers
-"Now, there's no need to be like that, officers" he flapped his wings, throwing his sharp blades feathers at them
-"Take cover!" the Captain yelled
Some were able to do so by hiding behind tables or chairs
Except
-"Agh!" an officer yelled as one of the feather blades dug into his ankle, making him fall to the floor
-"You´re not going anywhere" Vulture said as he placed one of his talons on the officer's head
-"Don´t do it, Vulture!" the Captain yelled
-"Are you really in a position to negotiate?" he applied a bit of strength on his hostage
-"Ngh" the officer could feel the pain as his head was being squeezed
If Vulture were to squeeze harder
-"What are you here for?" the Captain asked
-"Easy. As I did with Gregory, I plan to take revenge on the person who did me wrong"
-"What are you talking about?"
To this, he pointed a finger at Fisk, who looked rather shocked, as the others did
-"What?! How dare you accuse me?! I have never even met you!"
-"Keep up the appearance" he looked at his hostage "Now, why don't I put you out of your misery?"
But before anything further could be done
Vulture felt something attaching to the back of his head
-"Huh?"
And he got yanked with great force, breaking another window on his way out of the room
It was
-"Spider-man!" both Fisk and Captain Kamiya yelled, but only one of those genuinely felt relieved
-"Ngh, you again?!" Vulture said once he gained his balance "You really are an idiot! Wasting the one warning I gave you!"
-"I won't let you hurt them!" Izumi said as he jumped and swung his way out of there
-"Fine, I'll take care of you first!" Vulture began to chase him
As he swung through the buildings, Izumi could feel his heart beating fast
Until Vulture fired his feather blades at him
-"Ugh, not those again"
Izumi maneuvered his way out of them, the blades just centimeters short of cutting him
Eventually, Izumi made his way to a building´s wall
-"Why are you trying to defend someone like Fisk?!" Vulture yelled from above "If only you knew what he's capable of"
-"I know what he's capable of!" the young hero yelled as he dodge more feathers "But that doesn't justify killing him! or hurting innocents in the process"
-"Innocents?! Please, no one is truly innocent, freak. All the people that are there are just his friends, eating from him!"
-"That's not true!" he yelled back, thinking of his ally, Captain Kamiya, who has helped him when he was feeling down
Vulture clashed with his talons at the building, debris falling down to the street
Taking this opportunity, Izumi jumped at the flying villain
-"Ngh"
Both were circling across the sky as they struggled over dominance over the other
-"Why you" Vulture grunted as he tried to take the hero off him, who was trying to get a hold of his arms
Izumi was able to climb over the villain´s chest, and delivered a couple of punches to his jaw
-"Ngh, you are annoying" he said as he had blood dripping from his lip
Vulture was able to break himself free, and grabbed the hero with one of his talons
Once he did, he crashed the web-head against a nearby wall
-"Gah!" Izumi yelled in pain
-"Let's go for a ride, shall we?"
Moving up, the feathered villain dragged the hero against the wall, leaving a crater as they did so
Izumi could feel as his suit´s fabric was being shattered apart, leaving his back exposed
It felt as he had sandpaper being passed through it
-"Ngh" he clenched his teeth in pain
Once they made it to the top, he let go of the hero,, who landed on his hands and knees
-"Ngh, that hurts" Izumi said as he stood up, trembling as he did so. He then passed a hand through his back, and went wide in concerned once he noticed it was tainted with his blood
-"Impressive, isn't it?" Vulture said from above "I'm hovering in a genius harness of my own design that allows individual self-guided, heavier-than-air flight"
-"It is indeed impressive" Izumi replied "Which is why I don't understand, why are you doing this? You could help people with it"
-"I am tired of helping! Because when you do, you only get stabbed in the back!"
-"What are you talking about?"
-"I still remember the day we opened the plant"
He reminisced as he was standing with his friend Gregory in front of his recently opened business
-"This is just a start, Adrian! with your know-how and my business savvy, we'll be bigger than rca in no time!" Gregory said to him once cheerfully
-"I thought Gregory and I were friends, but then he chose to leave me out and embezzled my hard-earned money" he looked at the hero "It's when I realized that people only know how to look after themselves, Spider-man! They'll betray you the moment you look to the other side!" he fired more feathers at him
-"I´m sorry for what you went through!" Izumi said as he dodged the projectiles, despite the pain "But not everybody is like that! There are genuine good people out there!"
He thought of Shikimori, Inuzuka, Nekozaki, Hachimitsu, Kamiya, his mom, dad, and Captain Meiyo
All good people who have his back no matter what
-"Live in your fantasy world for as much as you want, freak. I have my own plans"
Izumi fired a web rope at the villain, who dodged
-"I can't keep up like this!" Izumi thought as he dodged an upcoming diving attack "I need to think of something!"
That's when he remembered something that Vulture said
-"I'm hovering in a genius harness of my own design that allows individual self-guided, heavier-than-air flight"
-"Harness? So under that green jumpsuit he's wearing, there must be something that helps him fly! If I can destroy it, then"
Dodging one last time, Izumi began to run towards the edge of the roof
-"What?" Vulture was confused
Then, Izumi jumped over the edge, falling down
-"You are not going anywhere, freak!"
Flying, Vulture followed him, going down the building, but, no signs of Spider-man
-"I don't get it" Vulture was hovering "I know he jumped this way"
In his blinding rage, Vulture failed to notice Izumi sticking to the wall of the building, with Vulture´s back to him
-"Now"
Izumi fired two web ropes at his opponent´s back
-"Huh?!"
And immediately yanked himself, flying in the air, and perfectly landing on his opponent´s back
It was as if he was standing on a surfboard
-"Get off of me!" Vulture said as he was shaking himself to get rid of the hero, but he couldn´t
Thanks to his powers, Izumi was adhered to him
-"Take this!" and punched in the back of the villain
His hand went through something he could only describe as hard and metallic, as he got a hold of a piece of technology with cables on it
-"Agh!" Vulture yelled in fear as he began to lose stability
With his damaged suit, he could no longer fly, and began to fall
After a few minutes, Izumi had Vulture tied up in a cocoon attached to a lightpost
-"It´s over" izumi said as he could hear the police´ sirens getting closer
-"Hehehe, you really think so?"
That got him worried "What are you?"
-"I left a little something at the party. In the chandelier to be specific, Fisk should thank me, his party will go off with a boom!"
Realizing what he meant, Izumi made his way back to the party
At the ballroom, people were still recovering from the shock that was Vulture´s interruption, while a doctor tended the wounded officer
-"Spider-man!" someone yelled as Izumi made his way into the room
Ignoring the looks from the people, Izumi got to the chandelier, where he found a small device beeping
-"That must be it"
Grabbing it carefully, he went to the window from where he came from
Using a little rope made out of web, he tied the bomb. After spinning it a few times, he threw it with great strength up in the sky
What followed was an explosion followed by two smaller ones, creating a big smoke cloud
Breathing a sigh of relief, Izumi left, no need to tempt fate
-"That explosion" one of the guest who saw the device exploding said "That winged creature must have left it there"
-"We have no idea that it was there" another guest said
-"If it wasn't for Spider-man, we would all be dead" another one said
This cause people to begin talking among each other
-"Spider-man saved us"
-"What was that winged creature? He seemed to be after Fisk-san"
-"Do you think they are enemies?"
Some people looked at Fisk, not knowing what to think of him
To this, the crime lord just looked through the window Spider-man came from
He was not happy
Meanwhile, Captain Kamiya had a grin of his own
-"You did it, Spider-man"
Back at his house, Izumi was at his room, tending his wounds
Years of accidents had taught him ways of do so, even if the wounds were in places hard to reach
-"The police had taken the criminal Adrian Toomes, also known as Vulture, into custody" Izumi´smartphone was displaying the news footage
-"Thank goodness, he won't hurt anyone"
He then checked his damage suit "I´ll have to fix it up. Nothing some needles and thread can´t fix"
He heard his door opening
-"Yuu, I'm back! I've brought dinner" his mother called from downstairs
-"I'm coming" putting on a shirt to hide his wounds, he went to greet her
It was Saturday 24, and Fisk was on his way out of his building
When he was met by a barrage of light flashes and microphones
-"Fisk, sir!" a reporter called "What do you have to say to the declarations Vulture, I mean, Adrian Toomes, made last night?"
-"I have no idea who he was" he said as he pushed through the crow "And"
-"But some witnesses last night confirmed that Vulture accused you of doing something wrong to him"
-"He's just another menace like Spider-man"
-"But witnesses also confirmed that Spider-man stopped Vulture, and he stopped one of his bombs from going off, saving dozens of people"
-"That´s"
-"Does this mean that Spider-man is not who you think he is? Despite what happened before, he saved you and your guests. Do you think you were wrong about him? Lots of people are saying that"
-"This interview is over" he got into his car, and was taken away from the noise
-"Damn it, that arachnid" he cursed
-"This isn't good, boss" his right hand man said "His support has increased since last night"
-"I know, and here I thought his spirit was destroyed" he put a hand on his chin "Something feels off… Get me in touch with our mole at the police"
-"Will do, but what about the freak?"
-"We get rid of him" he slammed his armrest "NOW!"
And that´s the end of that, put another win on the board for Izumi
But Kingpin it´s not gonna let this stand, what will his next move be?
And so, this is the last chapter of the year, really dissapointed because I was hoping to at least finish the 2nd year of Highschool Saga before the year ends. But things never go as planned
Next time, Izumi meets a certain lady
So, it´s the end of the year, and boy this year was quite wild for me, I did some things I regret, and hurt people who didn´t deserve it, but all I can do is do beter next year, hopefully I´ll be able to do so
As usual, thank you all for reading, leave a review or send a PM, and I will gladly answer. Merry Christmas and happy new year, blessings for you and your love ones
Until next time
Peace