A certain man in a certain district within a certai peculiar metropolis was driving along the road with his red car, a car he had bought 10 years ago as a celebration for his excellent work in the company he worked in a few years ago. Since then it had been with him through thick and thin, driving him to every destination within the sprawling metropolis that was Academy City. A 4 hour long commute which would cost almost a thousand yen could be spent with nothing but a couple hundred instead, along with an energy drink and a meal. At one point when he was cut for cash he lived in his car for months until he could earn enough and rent a cheaper apartment- and those were a dime a dozen.
So, with that in mind, the only thing going through his mind right now, was why hadn't he thought of sending his car to the autoshop?
He was currently honking his horn, warding off any potential causalities as a result of his bad decisions. Right now he was unable to stop the car, the chariot which had been with him for 10 years, now a potential death machine to the pedestrians running scared around him. Some have even dived away from the car, or used their powers to evade it. He didn't know why none of these kids, specifically the ones with powers, decided not to use their powers to stop this thing. Were they afraid that they might potentially kill him, at least some of them are? Because he surely didn't care whether he survived or not, all he wanted was to stop this damn thing from hitting anybody!
Unfortunately it seems his luck had ran out, as a bus came into view. Undoubtedly this would be catastrophic to both him and the passengers within the bus, but not if he could do something about it. He tried to turn the steering wheel off the track, to crash into a nearby street pole, only for the wheel to stop working so suddenly.
"Oh shit," he suddenly realized the predicament he found himself in, and closed his eyes to await his impending doom.
Only to feel a strong stop from the front, and him being alive.
He opened his eyes, to see a gradually familiar sight: the Spiderman.
He walked up to the car, and in one go ripped the door off its hinges. "You alright?"
"Uh, y-yeah."
"You should probably get your car fixed next time," he only said before swinging off.
"I'll take note of that, thanks." The man let out a sigh of utter relief, which then turned to disappointment as he realized his situation.
How can he explain this to his boss?
And would Anti-Skill be so lenient on him after an explanation?
XxX
Tsuzuri Tessou sighed to herself, writing down the suspect's rundown of what had happened today in the intersection between 1st and 3rd Avenue.
"...and then I was prepared to die there and now when I felt my car stop, and wouldn't you know it, it's Spiderman who saved my life! He stopped the car by himself! If it weren't for him I would've been a goner."
"Well, it's a good thing you came out of that unscathed. Your car however, has been noted to be behind its yearly maintenance, so it stands to reason why it went the way it did. Next time have your car maintained, but if you can't to do that at least buy something more robust like a Toyota."
"You're telling me ma'am. Ain't making the same mistakes ever again," the man agreed with the officer. "So, this won't go in my record now would it? I mean I'd understand it but..."
"Negligence is what I'd charge you with, but considering this is your first offence, a fine of about 50,000 yen would suffice."
"That's a lotta money. I mean, I'm pressed for cash, but I guess I'll go scrounge up some."
"You better. You've got only 2 weeks, otherwise you're facing time for failure to timely payment," a voice behind her said.
"W-Will do sir!" The man croaked.
After letting the driver go without a fuss she went over to her superior officer who wasn't Yomikawa this time, as she was busy with her teaching duties.
"Uh, aren't you a bit harsh with that man there Yuji? I mean he was planning on paying it."
"I was reminding him of his duties as a productive citizen of this city to perform his responsibilities in proper form, as is usual. Plus, he seems like those type of people, the types who slime their way of situations and shirk their duties to society.
I don't like it one bit, Ms. Tessou. And with all di respect to you, but the sooner you realize it the better."
Tessou only stayed silent.
Yuji was right up to a point, but it still felt wrong.
She sighed as she checked out the transcript she made. 'Spiderman' she highlighted out of the other words within.
She didn't know at the moment, but she had an inkling that things were changing within the city thanks to him.
Less petty crime, a much more affable environment for the student population, especially those in the prepubescent demographic. It seemed that his presence was quite a mood boost for them, considering his choice of name, clothing and the nature of his altruistic activities. Then again, most of them haven't had time to develop their minds and morality just yet. Amongst the adolescent to older teen range it was more mixed. And not to mention the background of said students seemed to influence their view on Spiderman; the highest percentage of students in favor of the vigilante, Anti-Skill and Judgement had noted, were those at the lower ends of the Esper System. While some believe there to be a correlation, others weren't too convinced. Some even were convinced of Spiderman fabricating his heroics to bolster social support for vigilantism; luckily those views were squashed down by her more reasonable colleagues, although she had a feeling she'd hear such wild ideas later on in the upcoming months.
Tessou sighed once more. A character out from the tokusatsu she would usually watch leapt out of the TV, and went around helping people in need. And the one thing they're focused on is whether he was beginning to be a bad role model to the youth. Which couldn't be farther from the truth, she believed.
Maybe the mask should go, but a guy like him saved her life during the time she and her friends were attacked by some weird scary fetus monster. She might be biased, but he couldn't be that bad even if that was the case of that consensus.
'...plus he might be quite handsome under that mask,' the young woman thought with a blush, which she shook off. 'Focus now, Tessou. It's bad enough to gain affection with a prime suspect, it's also another thing to confuse your general responsibilities with your own personal desires.'
But still, she hoped she would find someone nice eventually. She doesn't have a chance in Anti-Skill, and she barely knew anyone outside of it so she occasionally is whisked away by her older partner for partying and drinking, alongside her other colleagues, one of them being a deceptively young-looking girl who's really older than her. She hasn't a clue how that worked but she wasn't one to judge.
"Hey Tessou," a female officer said. "Come on, we gotta get down to the office for reports."
Tessou sighed again.
Paperwork: the bane of every working man/woman's existence.
XxX
Kuroko Shirai sighed again as she stretched out her back, slightly relieved at the short reprieve from the tedious task of filing in paperwork.
"If you're done with that pile, do it with the others as well. No dilly-dallying people," said Konori as she went around the office taking some pens and stamps as she went on her own paperwork.
Keywords: short reprieve.
This was, to Kuroko, the worst part of being an officer of Judgement. Sitting down, continuously jotting down notes and reports regarding their recent and current operations to the administration of Academy City was an important task, sure, but it was so. Utterly. Soul-suckingly. Boring.
What she wouldn't do right now, to just get the hell outta here, and go kick some ass and call it a day, going home with her ever-so-lovely Sissy.
"No. Stay," Uiharu said not even looking at her direction. "You don't get to escape your responsibilities that easily."
"Paperwork is hell."
"I agree."
"Well-"
"Don't entice me with the promise of a Ultra-Triple Fudge and Cream Rocky Road Suffle Mix Shirai, you do not want to play with a young girl's heart like that," Uiharu said.
"Hey guys, what's up," all three perked up to see Ruiko Saten walking into the office, holding 4 bags. She gave each one to each of the officers within the room, and she took her bag to a nearby couch, unwrapping the burger to begin her lunch. "Figured you all must be hungry, so I figured to buy you all something for lunch."
"Well, we did spend 45 minutes in all these paperwork, might as well take a break," Konori said. "But after lunch we're going back to our reports got it?"
"Yes ma'am!/Yes ma'am."
Uiharu and Kuroko engaged with their meals for the days, savoring the taste of processed beef, cheese, tomato, and lettuce as they ate their lunches in general silence.
"Wow. These are... so many," Saten said as she stared at the mountain of files that was Kuroko's paperwork. Konori's pile wasn't as big as hers, and she didn't even think Uiharu had any with the lack of a pile on her desk. She causally took a paper from the pile, reading the first thing she saw. "Spiderman." Then she took another. "Spiderman."
Then another one.
"Spiderman."
And another.
And another.
"Please put them back to where they belong Saten, I don't want to reorganize them for the twelfth time already," Kuroko said.
"Oh sorry. But still, so many 'Spidermen' in there. Are all of them about him?"
"Not all, most of the files there also record about the daily activities of our office. It's just that he is a primary subject for the other half of that pile," Kuroko explained.
"Must be difficult."
"It is, but it's just how it is. Considering the notoriety Spiderman has brought to our district, Judgement and Anti-Skill have been working around the clock trying to find this vigilante, their routine, and waiting for chance of them making a mistake," Konori said.
"Uh, why is that? I mean I get why you would go and try to catch him, it's your jobs after all, but... he did a lot of good for the district lately. Shouldn't we just, you know, work with him pr something?"
"Are you suggesting we break the laws we swore to uphold to the end, just because some unknown man decided to play Sheriff and enforce his own brand of justice, potentially getting himself and others harmed or worse in the process? Because that's not on our agenda right now," Konori said.
"Well... she does have a point there Konori," Kuroko said. "Over the past couple of months he has been a great help to our activities. Especially that whole fiasco on the highway bridge. It may be presumptuous of me, but wouldn't a guy like this be... someone we could rely on most of the time to handle stuff we find difficult to resolve?"
"Kuroko, it sets up a bad precedent for the other precincts, that we are relying on the help of a vigilante to deal with situations we are trained to handle in the first place. If we let this man go around and do whatever he likes who's to say it would just stop to admiration? Others will follow suit, decide to copy his actions, and get hurt in the process, or worse."
"Like I said it's not perfect-"
"Didn't he save you a while back from that crazy brawl in the mall?" Uiharu pointed out.
"Yeah. And I'm forever grateful for his assistance," Konori said. "But, I can't let his actions blind me to my duties as an officer of Judgement. And Kuroko, you might have to watch your words there. They won't be as forgiving and lenient as I am if they heard you."
"...Right," Kuroko said as she finished her burger and got up from her chair. "I'm going out."
Konori sighed as Kuroko disappeared, leaving her, Saten and Uiharu in the office.
"I don't know," Konori turned to Saten. "I mean, I guess his way of helping people isn't as "clean" as you guys do it but, I don't know, it feels kind of nice knowing that there's someone strong out there, looking out for the little guy. Uh, I don't mean for it to be like, rude or anything-"
"Saten you're barely rude to us," Konori said, ignoring Uiharu's glare. "I won't try to change how you should think, but try to understand it from our point of view as well. This type of life, the protecting and serving type, it's a very gruelling and stressful life to live. Seeing the worst of people, and trying to keep going after all the type we've seen on a daily basis. And we're basically glorified hall-monitors. Imagine the type of things someone in Anti-Skill sees on a regular basis."
"Add a vigilante to that, and it's just enough of a mess for us to deal with," Uiharu said.
Saten was silent throughout the conversation, listening. Still, she was a bit conflicted on it.
"You should probably go do something to help clear your mind at least. It could help you think a bit about what we had just talked about," Konori suggested.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. See you girls around," Saten said as she exited the office, waving them goodbye.
They had a point in their reasoning. Yet, Saten was still lost.
"So... what should I do with this," Saten looked at her hands, light sparks flickering and dancing around her fingers. "Should I even tell them about it?"
It wouldn't be until the next month that a System Scan would be done again. She hoped it would result in an increase in her level, but she doubted it would.
Besides, what could she do that Misaka-san could? She seemed to be an ordinary Electromaster by the looks of it, lacking in range maybe but still.
Saten decided to go somewhere off where she can air out her worries for a while. And she felt she was getting a bit rusty with her other skills.
It had been a while since she visited the batting range, after all.
XxX
Within the fabled School Garden, a place where only the elite of Academy City would gather around to perform their daily activities within the confines of their second homes, a certain indigo-blonde duo sat around the outside of an European-style cafe, waiting for their orders to be delivered to their table.
"...and I heard that Ms. Tsukumo has had a remarkable time with developing her esper ability. It's quite peculiar though, because she seemed rather tense, like she has been hiding a secret to her classmates."
"Perhaps a secret paramour? It is quite a common scenario power in such situations like the one you had just mentioned regarding your classmate Hokaze."
"Really, you think so?"
"It does not take a master of the mind to notice details such as that," the blonde girl said.
But in all honesty Misaki Shokuhou could barely care about arbitrary problems which doesn't concern her or her clique. She minded her own business, and expects everyone else to do the same, as unrealistic as that may seem.
As Academy City's strongest mind manipulator she could will anyone she could find to do a simple command, and they will perform said command of the utmost importance. If she said to them the sky was pink, it would take a long time to convince them it wasn't. The complexity of her powers meant that physical "controllers" were established partly by the researchers in charge of her care to better control her powers to a more precise degree than is usual for manipulators.
Shokuhou, for her part, refuses to utterly change a person's mental state and being unless if absolutely necessary. A little erased memory here and there, but to change a person completely to a different degree was where she would draw the line. It would be akin to death but with extra steps; the person's original self was forever erased, replaced by a "new self" unbound by the original's memories.
Shokuhou sighed out the ramblings of her mind as she waited for her tea to be brought in, which was caught by her ever-so-punctual knight in all but name. "Is there something that bothers you my Queen?"
"Oh it's nothing you should worry about. Though it should be about now that that tea should be in here- oh there we are," Misaki sat up straight, raised to be prim and proper at all times. It was something she thoroughly enjoyed, and not just for the grace and elegance it afforded her.
Misaki enjoyed her usual preparatory sessions, the time before she would go on with her day. The numerous skincare products she had on her bathroom were proof of her vanity, and she made it a habit of hers to never be caught unawares while doing anything unladylike.
Unlike that barbaric brat who flings coins around, shooting lightning without regard for decorum, and who doesn't give two shits about what people think about her.
"Uncouth," Misaki said to herself as she drank her tea.
Somewhere in the city, a certain brunette gal, for some reason, felt annoyed.
"Oh, by the way, the girls have brought in news from outside the garden today. Haven't you heard?"
"I can't say I have. What is this news about?"
"The Spiderman. Have you heard of such a colorful character?"
"No Hokaze I cannot say I have," she lied as naturally as she breathed.
Nothing in this city stays hidden from her golden starry eyes, if she didn't think it wouldn't be detrimental to her safety in the future. The Spiderman was no exception.
As Hokaze would explain, this "Spiderman" character possesses superhuman abilities far beyond any Level 0. Which wasn't a dealbreaker for her, as many espers in this city are able to do the same things this character could do.
Having physical attributes far beyond those of an Olympic athlete was the bog standard for many espers with physical augmentation powers.
Even the ability to generate a material similar to spider silk, as well as an uncanny ability to avoid damage even from behind are two abilities that do not interest her, especially with the second one.
Spiders generally could lift and carry prey 50x their own weight, move so fast they seem to teleport, shrug off great falls without a scratch, and it's stated that spiders use the hairlike extensions on their legs to sense air pressure changes to predict whether prey draws near, or a predator seeks to hunt.
The only question was how did this city create a man like that, and not have him placed on the Databank? It simply did not make any sense whatsoever. Any second now and Anti-Skill or Judgement would have him in handcuffs. And she wasn't about to spring forth streams of consciousness involving freak lab accidents, genetic freaks and the like today, not now and not ever. Academy City was a hellhole, she thought, but there was a certain order of logic that exists within this world.
Misaki didn't care anyway, and went on sipping her tea.
"I think it's wonderful having a man like him help out people, it's like something out of those chivalric tales, where the knight errant travels the land in search of weary folk in need of help, and he employs his skills and special talents to aid them in their struggles," Hokaze said, her eyes closed in deep thought. "Although I heard also that there were some who view him with suspicion, which I wouldn't understand. Why would anyone doubt the actions of a person like Spiderman?"
"Because in a cruel world like ours, heroes are but living representations of broken hopes and dreams."
"Hmm? Did you say something my Queen?"
"Huh? Oh, I said maybe they do not trust him because of the mask. For example we all know our dear Ace Mikoto Misaka, better known as the Railgun. Her electrifying deeds and actions do net her a sort of mystique, but people -not all people- do see her as more trustworthy than a masked man due to her public identity. Anyone would hold her responsible for any sort of damages she would be responsible with," said Misaki doubting the last part, "and it would be convenient for anyone to know that she would be someone not to be messed with."
"...I could understand that being the reason but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth seeing so many people distrust someone trying to do the right thing," said Hokaze.
Misaki understood it far too well herself but kept her mouth shut. After all it was her own business.
"Let us enjoy this day instead of conversing about trivial matters, we have a busy day today after all," Misaki said while sipping her tea.
Whoever this Spiderman was, she cared not for one bit.
Not even when they reminded her of her prince.
...A blush formed somehow onto her pretty little face.
XxX
Mikoto Misaka sighed. She kneeled down to the pachinko machine, her eyes focused on a single object within the glass sphere.
It was a bronze-colored Gekota figurine, 1 out of apparently 7 made.
"I need that. I definitely need to get that," Mikoto resolved to herself. She took out a coin, placing it on the slot before turning the knob, waiting for a ball to pop out. Every capsule within the machine was colored yellow, with the transparent covering showing to customers the toy inside.
A thud could be heard, and she quickly took the ball, grimacing when she saw it wasn't the figurine she wanted.
"Dang it," Mikoto said tossing the toy away.
"Oh, a Tetraman figure! Hey lady, you dropped this," she turned to see a young boy, no younger than 5, approach her with a red, black and blue robot figure in his hands.
She waved it off, "No it's fine, you can keep it. I'm looking for," Mikoto said then stopped. She didn't want to let this boy know what she was doing. "U-Uh, um I'm looking for my... lens! My contact lens, they fell off around here somewhere," she said as she crawled around the ground pretending to look for them. "Uhp, found them," she held up nothing before quickly place it in before the boy could see that it was nothing. "I should probably go off now. Stay safe okay-"
"Spiderman!" She followed where the boy pointed at, and saw the aforementioned character swinging across the skyline at fast speeds before disappearing into the street. "Man he's so cool, seeing him go around and swing across the sky like whoosh! and zing! He's like a real superhero!"
"Oh? Well, is there anything else you like about him apart from the swinging?" Mikoto said.
"I also heard he goes around and helps out people from bad guys, like those bullies who take their things even though it isn't theirs, or like helping people with their bad days, like when he helped down someone's cat off a tree, or put down a kite, or when a guy was lost and he helped them find their place, and-"
"Yeah I think I get it, he seems like a good guy."
"-and I heard that he's strong. And fast, like people think he teleports. And instead of using his powers to hurt people he uses them to help people. I wanna be like him, being a hero and stopping the bad guys from hurting my friends," the boy said while doing action poses.
Mikoto tilted her head.
"Well I'm sure you'll grow up to be as strong as him someday," Mikoto said 'Just maybe without the mask and vigilante stuff,' she thought.
"Takuya there you are! What did I say about going off on your own huh? You're lucky I didn't spend an extra 2 hours looking for you. Oh sorry for him miss, he can be a little handful," the woman who ran over the store said. She looked to be in her mid-20s, with a yellow T-shirt and a red long skirt.
"Oh it's no worry miss, though I have to say Takuya it is rather concerning that you'd run off on your own without someone to guide you. Spiderman wouldn't want you to worry your big sis here now, would you?"
"She's not my sister," the boy said. "She's the woman the school got to take care of me."
"But someone who's willing to take care of you that much to the point of worrying when you're gone would be what a sister would do, wouldn't it?"
"I guess so." The boy looked at the young woman, "Can you be my sister Saya-sensei?"
The woman warmly smiled, "If you'd like to."
"Okay!"
"Come on now Takkun, your friends are waiting for us at the bus stop," said Saya.
"Awww, do we have to? I wanted to talk about Spiderman."
"How about this, she'll tell me where you go and live at, and I'll chime in every once in a while, how about it?"
"You mean it?"
"Cross my heart," said Mikoto as she acted it out.
"...Okay!"
"Okay now Saya-san, let me know where your place is, and we'll be good to go," said Mikoto.
"Oh here's my card." Saya gave Mikoto a card from her pocket.
Mikoto checked it out, reading the name of the place. "Thank you. Maybe I'll bring in my friends so that they can help out and cheer these little angels up as well."
"I don't know. Isn't your school a bit strict on special occasions and such?"
"It's just a misconception, only as a project, and even then Tokiwadai does donate their funds to charities across the world," explained Mikoto. "It'll be fine."
"OK then, thanks for your time. Come on Takkun, let's go," she said as she gently grabbed his hand.
"Bye bye, pretty lady! See you soon!"
Mikoto giggled at the boy's rather blunt description of her, waving goodbye at the duo.
She was about to walk away when she remembered what she was supposed to be doing.
"Oh. Right," said Mikoto as she glared at the bronze Gekota at the pachinko. "You will be mine."
X
If you read this far, I would like to say, thank you so much for the support on this story, it means a lot to me. I hope you all stick around long enough to see what's in store for the future.
Sincerely,
Komigakuo.
Last chapter to end 2024 in. Here's hoping...