Chapter Text
“What the hell what the hell what the hell..”
Naoto was panicking as he had his hand under the facet of his bathroom sink. Cool, soothing water ran down the clearly visible spider bite. The bite itself surprisingly wasn’t as bad as one would think. All he felt was a light sting; a quick prick. What scared him however, was the fact that a strange-looking creepy-crawling-critter had hitched a ride in his bag without him even knowing.
Naoto gave it another minute before he shut the sink off and went back to his room, slapping a bandaid on the bite along the way. He grabbed his bag and flipped it upside down, literally pouring his things on to the floor. Everything he had in there, his pencils, his sketchbook and his folders, came out like water rushing out of an opened jug. Naoto feverishly dug through his things, scattering them around the floor as he frantically looked to see if there were any more spiders. He flipped the pages in books over and over. He shook his emptied bag in the area, trying to coax whatever was still in there to fall out. At one point, he checked his school uniform. Naoto wasn’t taking any chances.
Thankfully, he didn’t find anything. Naoto sighed in a huge relief. Spiders gave the boy a bit of the jitters and the idea of being around them didn’t exactly excite him. Once he knew he was all clear, he began to clean up.
Naoto cursed the luck he was having that day. First, some first-year girl made him cry, and now he was bitten by some strange spider not too long after? What a day for him. Naoto simply sighed, deciding to try and not think more of it. Despite his attempts however, the mental image of the spider kept creeping into his head. The color on its abdomen was like nothing he had ever seen.
“What the hell kind of spider was that,” he said to himself. Naoto tried to block those thoughts out of his head by choosing to work on his manga, which would thankfully succeed in doing so.
The rest of his night would go by like normal. Naoto continued working on his manga before beginning to study. Then, he eventually went to bed.
“Look guys! It’s the weird mangaka!”
A pair of hands shoved Naoto down to the ground, causing him to land flat on his ass. He looked up and saw a group of kids looming over him.
They were laughing at him, poking fun at the poor boy. “Show us your manga, nerd,” one of them said. Naoto was powerless as they called him all sorts of names. A boy wearing a baseball cap backwards called him a loser. Another one with spiky hair called him a weirdo. Naoto sighed and closed his eyes, deciding to simply take the verbal beating.
He was having a nightmare, and this wasn’t uncommon for him. Naoto was bullied relentlessly growing up. He was constantly the odd one out, the quiet, awkward kid who was the target of continuous torment by his peers. He didn’t have many friends, and as an only child, unfortunately had almost no one to go to for support save for his parents. His troubled childhood led him to develop his own defense mechanism for safety. Rather than standing up for himself, Naoto would ignore them. He’d allow them to bully him while he avoided eye contact, simply letting it pass him until they eventually gave up. He referred to this as “closing his heart.”
And for the most part, it worked. The years would pass, and while he'd still find himself a victim of bullying, Naoto would never remember their faces, something he was completely fine with.
Naoto simply sat silently, blocking out his tormentors. The nightmare would continue to unfold. It was similar to ones he had before. Relive being bullied and endure it before it eventually came to an end. Nothing made it different from the rest.. Except for one thing.
His eyes opened as he heard a voice. A voice of a girl. He knew that voice. It was new, but at the same time, it was like one he was all too familiar with already. Naoto looked up. He saw the kids spread out, as if they were making room for someone. Then, his eyes locked on to the sight of a teenager wearing a school uniform.
“Awww, Senpai!” She cried. “Are you having a little trouble there?”
It was Nagatoro, the girl from the library. That first-year who made him cry. Naoto’s jaw dropped slightly as he stared at her.
“Come on, Senpai! Aren’t you gonna say anything? Don’t tell me you’re so pathetic that you can’t even defend yourself against kids!”
Naoto’s lips quivered and his eyes began to water. Nagatoro’s evil smile widened, as if she enjoyed seeing the poor boy be reduced to a weak little mess.
“You’re so sad, Senpai! So creepy and sad. I can’t believe it!”
Naoto shut his eyes as tight as he could and looked away, trying his best to ignore her. Nagatoro stepped forward and bent down, looming over the boy. She grabbed the bottom of his chin and gently yanked his head forward, making him look right at her.
“You’re such a sorry excuse for a boy, Senpai..”
Naoto refused to open his eyes. His ears were filled with their constant laughter, and they only kept getting louder and louder. Out of all them however, Nagatoro’s voice was the most prominent. It was her that he heard the most. He tried his best to fight back the tears from escaping his locked eyelids, and he prayed that the damned nightmare would come to an end.
Fortunately for him, his prayers were answered. Naoto’s eyes jolted open and he found himself in his darkened room, gazing up at the ceiling.
Naoto took a second to regain himself. The nightmare he had just experienced was so intense, it was unlike any other. Did Nagatoro really do a number on him? Naoto turned over and reached out for his phone that was resting on a little shelf next to his bed. He checked the time and saw that it was in the middle of the night. 2 AM, to be exact. Deciding that it was best to try and get some sleep again, Naoto set his phone aside and did just that. He closed his eyes and tried to drift back asleep, which he thankfully succeeded in. He didn’t have another nightmare, but the girl’s voice kept lingering in the back of his mind..
The next morning, he would wake up to his blaring alarm and begin getting ready for school.
“That’s weird.. Do I need new prescriptions?”
Naoto looked around his room with his glasses on. His vision was.. Surprisingly blurry. Really blurry, to be exact. It was like his eyes had just given up on life. Initially thinking they were in deep need of a cleaning; Naoto took them off. Upon doing so however, his vision improved dramatically. It was such a change that Naoto took a second to fathom it.
He wasn’t completely blind before without his glasses. His eyesight was subpar at best, and he was able to see decently without them. This, however, was different. Things were so clear and clean that his new vision was quite possibly the best he had in his whole life. It was so pristine, as if Naoto was given a brand-new set of eyes. A big smile soon formed on his face as he realized he wouldn’t have to wear his glasses anymore.
Naoto went back to getting ready. He walked into the bathroom to start brushing his teeth. He grabbed his toothbrush and some toothpaste, only to be startled when a large glug of it was splattered on to the surface of the mirror. A mere gentle squeeze that was only meant to get a generous amount out was enough to have a lot more be launched right out of its tube. Naoto stared at the blob on the mirror in shock.
“What in the..” he quietly muttered. “Did I squeeze too hard..?” He went to grab some toilet paper from its holder to go and wipe the toothpaste off. A gentle yank to rip a few squares off however, caused the metal holder to be pulled right off of the wall. Naoto jumped back, and loud “CLANK” echoed through the house as the holder fell on to the tile floor.
“Nao-kun?” His mother called, having heard the commotion from her room. She and Naoto’s father looked into the bathroom to see what was happening. “What was that? Is everything alright?"
Naoto picked the metal holder and stared at it in disbelief. Maybe it, for some reason, was weakened from the constant wear-and-tear and needed replacement? Naoto scratched his head out of nervousness and looked at his parents.
“Y- Yeah, uhh,” he stuttered. “I.. I accidentally pulled too hard and broke it, I guess..”
“Oh dear,” his mother answered in response. “Be more careful next time please, sweetheart.”
“Don’t worry about it for now,” his dad said. “We’ll fix it later when we get home. Just keep getting ready for school, bud.” Naoto nodded, still trying to ponder what just happened. His parents went back to their room, while he went back to try and brush his teeth again. Naoto set the toilet paper roll and its holder on to the counter, and very gently did he apply a small amount of toothpaste on his brush. Not wanting to also break the sink, he slowly turned it on, making sure to do so very carefully.
All went well, and he left the bathroom without breaking anything else. Naoto walked back into his room and started to change. He grabbed another white button-up and a pair of dress pants hanging from his closet, relieved that he also didn’t dislodge the wooden bar they were dangling from.
Naoto swapped his baggy house-shirt with his button-up. Then, he noticed that it seemed tighter than usual. His button-ups were always a little baggy and easy to move in. There was still some slack but definitely less than normal, and it was even a bit uncomfortable for him.
“Did this shrink?” He thought. Naoto tried adjusting it a bit, pulling and tugging on its collar. He went back into the bathroom, wanting to see if it looked any different in the mirror. Sure enough, his shirt indeed looked way tighter.
“Hm..” Naoto shrugged and simply unbuttoned it so he could change into another, more comfortable shirt. Before he left however, he took one last look into the mirror, and stopped dead in his tracks as his eyes were glued to his reflection.
Naoto’s body had changed drastically. The boy went from being skinny, wimpy, and lanky to being fit, toned, and what girls would say, even hot. He was nowhere near big and bulky like a bodybuilder. Instead, Naoto’s new physique was well defined. He twisted and turned to view himself at different angles, even flexing a bit to really see just how much he had changed.
Naoto was at a loss of words. He didn’t know what to say nor think. How in the world was it possible that his body could undergo such a change overnight? Naoto was never one to exercise. In fact, he even somewhat dreaded the idea of working out, and yet his new body was that of an attractive athlete! Could this be the reason for his increased strength earlier? Naoto shook his head. Surely, he couldn’t be that much stronger!
..could he?
“Nao-kun!” His mother called, her voice echoing from her room. “Are you almost ready?”
“Y- Yeah!” He called back. “I- I’m gonna be ready in just a second!” Naoto rushed back into his room in a hurry, not wanting his parents to see his new body and possibly freak out. He quickly grabbed another button-up and tried it on. It was still relatively tight but not so much as the last one. Naoto then slid on a pair of pants and found that they were also a bit restricting.
“Even my bag doesn’t feel as heavy,” he whispered to himself. His bookbag that contained his belongings like his sketchbook and a textbook for one of his classes, which weren’t really heavy to begin with, definitely felt way lighter than before. Naoto began to sweat as he threw his bag over his shoulder. What happened to him? He wasn’t like this yesterday. How did all of this happen overnight? Naoto thought back to the spider and how strange it looked. Was all this because of the bite? No way, that spider was too small for its bite to mean anything. The most it could’ve done was give him a painful red sore! Naoto looked at the bite on his hand, and indeed saw a little red lump.
“I’ll be okay,” he assured himself. Naoto took one last deep breath before heading out.
The rest of his morning went by as usual. Naoto arrived at his school, Kazehaya High School, commonly shortened to just Kaze High, and walked quietly down the hallway along with the loud crowd of his fellow students. He reached for the collar of his shirt and adjusted it again, not finding the tight button-up comfortable.
“I need to buy new shirts,” he thought to himself. Naoto kept to himself as he continued to walk. No one even noticed him.
Then, the time came for class. The school’s bell system went off, and Naoto found himself seated in his class. The room was silent as him and his peers were quietly working on a morning assignment by themselves as per the instructions of their teacher, Professor Yamaguchi.
“Remember, no talking,” Professor Yamaguchi reminded the class sternly. “You are to complete the morning warmup on your own. We will go over the answers in five minutes.”
No one said anything in objection. The students knew better than to disobey Professor Yamaguchi, for he was known as one of the strictest teachers in the whole school. Unfortunately for Naoto however, those five minutes of silence were about to be utter despair for him.
He began to hear things. Things no one else seemed to hear. It was as if everyone else were deaf, and he was the only who reacted to them.
“Why is everything getting so loud?!” He yelled in his head.
The first thing he heard was like an intense scratching sound that kept getting louder and louder. Naoto looked around frantically, trying to figure out where the hell the sound was coming from. No one was scratching anything. What he was hearing was the sound of his peers writing on their papers.
The next thing he heard was a tapping sound. It was much slower, yet more intense than the scratching. It echoed through his ears, and poor Naoto began to sweat in a panic. His head jolted up and jerked to the side, staring at the classroom door with wide eyes.
It was simply someone outside, walking down the hallway.
The last thing he heard was another tapping sound. This one, however, sounded more.. Sporadic, almost jittery even. It gave him the creeps. He sweat some more and at one point, even had to wipe his forehead dry. Naoto tried to calm himself as he jerked his head to the other side, before slowly moving his eyes upward to scan the corner of the ceiling.
There was a tiny spider. Not the same one that bit him, but rather an ordinary indoor spider, moving along the walls. Its legs surely being the source of the sound.
One of his classmates sitting next to him, a pretty girl with short hair, noticed the boy in distress and whispered out to him. Of course, even that was blaring loud to him. Naoto almost jumped out of his seat upon hearing her suddenly speak to him.
“Hey, you okay?” She asked Naoto, looking at him worriedly. Naoto on the other hand, looked like he had just seen a ghost.
Naoto quickly nodded at her and spoke. “Y- Y- Yeah,” he stammered, trying to regain himself by taking slow, deep breaths. “I- I’m okay..”
Unfortunately for them, not even whispers could escape Professor Yamaguchi’s ears. Their little exchange didn’t go unnoticed by him, and he spoke up, further spooking the boy.
“Quiet over there!” He yelled. Professor Yamaguchi eyed Naoto and the girl, and he immediately noticed the panicked state the former was in. With his stern and intimidating voice, he yelled out to him.
“Hachioji! What’s the matter with you?”
Naoto felt every single pair of eyes in the room be glued right on to him. All of his peers were undoubtfully staring at the poor boy. Class barely started and he already brought forth Yamaguchi’s wrath. He took one last deep breath and answered back meekly.
“N- Nothing’s wrong, P- Professor! I- I'm alright!” In reality, Naoto was far from alright.
“Are you finished with the assignment?” Yamaguchi glared at him.
“..N- not yet..”
“Then finish it! Now! Stop messing around, Hachioji.”
“Y- Yes, Professor..”
Naoto took another glance at his classmates. They kept staring at him for another few seconds before they too went back to working on the assignment. No one else was looking to be the next victim of Yamaguchi’s shouting. Naoto cursed himself. His face was beet red from the embarrassment. He didn’t like being the center of attention. He then quickly followed his peers in finishing their work. Things went by as usual, and all was well as Naoto breezed through the assignment with relative ease. Unfortunately for him, things took another turn for the worse.
He finished the first section of the assignment on the front side of the paper, and upon trying to turn it over to work on the backside, he noticed that his hand was stuck to the paper. Or rather, the paper was stuck to his hand.
“What in the..” He gasped. He shook his hand lightly, trying to get the paper off. It didn’t budge, and it remained in place. “Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no..”
Naoto shook his hand more aggressively. The paper still refused to move. Naturally, his classmates were confused by the sudden rustling sound in the room and turned to look at the poor boy once again. More and more sweat droplets fell from his head as Naoto tried so hard to get the paper off.
“Dude, just let go of it,” said a boy next to him.
“I- I can’t!” Naoto quietly responded. He grabbed the paper with his other hand and tried to pry it off. Horrifyingly enough, it still didn't move. At this point, Yamaguchi had already begun to approach Naoto’s desk, only to see him tear the paper in half.
“Ripping assignments, Hachioji?” Yamaguchi glared ice cold daggers at the boy. Meanwhile, Naoto looked at the other half of the paper in his hand with wide eyes.
“N- N- No, Professor! It was an accident! I didn’t mea-” Unfortunately for him, Professor Yamaguchi didn't listen to his pleads. Naoto saw him reach for two large buckets, and immediately knew what was coming for him.
Sure enough, Naoto stood outside in the hallway, having been forced to hold two buckets of water as punishment for interrupting the class. To his surprise, they weren’t heavy to him. It felt like he could hold them for hours without even breaking a sweat.
“What’s happening to me.. Why is this happening to me?” Naoto looked down at the two halves of paper, which were still glued to his hands. They were crumbled between his grip as he held on to the handles of the buckets. Sighing, Naoto closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall, trying to come up with some idea on what was happening to him.
The time for lunch came, and the students began to gather in the dining hall, happy to have a break from their studies.
Nagatoro and her three friends sat together at one of the tables, gossiping amongst themselves as they ate their food. There was a special that day for karaage chicken, and the group was looking forward to enjoying one of their most beloved meals.
“I had fun with him yesterday, but honestly he’s just not my type,” Sakura told them. The girls listened as Sakura told them about a date she went on the day before.
“Did he do anything off-putting?” Gamo-chan asked as she took a little mouthful of noodles. “I thought you liked him.”
“Well, I did, but the more I got to know him, the more I realized he wasn’t for me. Plus, he kinda seemed a little cocky sometimes.”
“Honestly, those types of guys are kinda annoying,” Gamo-chan said. Sakura brushed her hair out of her face and leaned back against the chair. Yoshi was happily chomping down on some karaage chicken, and Nagatoro was merely eating quietly as she listened in on the conversation. Gamo-chan noticed her silence as decided to speak to her.
“Well, what about you, Hayase? Ya’ got any boys that interest ya’?
Nagatoro sighed upon hearing that question. She was very popular, and well-known amongst boys. Many of them attempted to hit on her and her friends, but each one was met with rejection. Truth be told, Nagatoro was driven away by their antics. Most, if not all, were the same: Overconfident, cocky, and to some degree, disrespectful and immature. They went for her for her looks, and frankly, she found that unattractive. Nagatoro was bored by the boys at Kaze High and struggled to find someone who really stood out.
“Nope,” she answered, sounding as bored as ever to further prove her point. “Never have and probably never will.”
“What about that guy from the library, Toro-chan?” Sakura chirped up. “The one you stayed behind with. What was that about?”
That made Gamo-chan giggle as she spoke up again. “Yeah, what about him? Honestly, that was kinda weird of you to stay with him.”
In sharp contrast to her initial answer, the girls saw Nagatoro’s expression change. She was smiling a bit, and there was a little tinge of red on her face. There was definitely something that Nagatoro wasn’t telling them, but she wasn’t ready to open up just yet.
“Oh him? That was nothing. He just seemed fun to be around with, that’s all.”
Gamo-chan smirked. The orange-haired teenager saw right through her friend. She knew it was much more than that, and she saw this as an opportunity to begin her teasing.
“Sooo.. Ya’ got a crush on him, is what you’re sayin’. You coulda’ just said that, Hayase.”
“Yeah!” Yoshi piped up. “He’s gotta be your crush!”
The blush on Nagatoro’s face became more apparent as her friends continued to tease her. Both Gamo-chan and Yoshi laughed as Nagatoro stammered to get a response out.
“No! It’s not like that at all, you guys! He seemed like a cool person! That's it!"
“Suuuuure, Hayase! Suuuure.”
Sakura quietly giggled. She gave Nagatoro a warm, friendly smile. “Don’t worry, Toro-chan. We’ll always support you no matter what.”
“S- Sakura!” Nagatoro shouted.
Then, out of nowhere, the girls were interrupted by the appearance of two handsome boys. One had spikey-looking hair and the other had a rather messy bowl-cut. They each had a tray of food in their hands as they both waved at the group before them.
“Whaaat’s this about crushes?” The spikey-haired boy shouted. His voice reeked with cockiness. He took a seat next to Sakura, and his bowl-cutted friend plopped himself next to him.
Their names were Ren and Ryo respectively, and they were second-year students. If one were to choose two words to describe them, it would be “stupid” and “cocky.” Ren and Ryo were close friends with Sakura, and they both had a particular interest in the group, especially for Nagatoro, whom they constantly attempted to score a date with. The boys were perfect examples of lazy, teenage delinquents, as they frequently skipped out on studies and club work to partake in mischievous activities. Sakura was the only one who seemed to genuinely enjoy their company, as she smiled upon seeing them sit with her friends. Yoshi looked nervous, but she still kept a little smile on her face. Gamo-chan seemed indifferent and Nagatoro looked downright frustrated upon their arrival.
“Wasuuup, you guys!” Ren called out. The girls responded with their own greetings. “Mind if we sit here?”
“Go right ahead!” Sakura cheered.
“Boy, math really is a pain!” Ryo laughed. “It’s gotta be my hardest class this year.”
“Don’t you guys skip out on classes?” Nagatoro asked. The look on her face, as well as the tone of her voice conveyed both boredom and displeasure with them.
“Give us a break,” laughed Ren. “Sometimes we just need some free time to recharge, yanno?”
“Your teacher’s gonna be mad as hell,” said Gamo-chan. “I heard yours might be just as strict as Professor Yamaguchi.”
“He is! Man, he’s scary as hell!”
Lunch went on, and the boys continue to converse with the girls. Every word that came out of the boys’ mouths had something to do with either skipping classes, their band, girls, or dates. The boys seemed to specifically focus on all of them except for Gamo-chan, something she noticed very quickly. Sakura was engaged in every conversation with them and was overall delighted by their presence.
“So, Sakura.” Ren said, leaning closer towards the girl with a grin. “My band’s been gainin’ traction lately.”
“I’ve heard!” She replied. “I’m really interested in your guys’ music, Senpai. What’s it like, even? Is it like Yaba P?”
Ren chuckled and shook his head no. “Nahh, our stuff’s ain’t too crazy like that. We try to be less mainstream, really. Honestly, I like to think that our music kind of.. Transcends art, if you will.”
“Oooh,” Sakura reveled. “It sounds really interesting, Senpai!”
“If you wanna listen..” Ren pulled out his phone and a pair of earbuds. He opened up an app and slid them both over to Sakura. “You’re more than welcome to. You are my kohai, after all.”
With a big smile, Sakura giggled and happily put both earbuds in, beginning to listen to their music. Her face was a joyous as ever, and she even started bobbing her head lightly. Nagatoro looked over at her and raised an eyebrow, wondering both why she seemed so engaged with them and if their stuff was even that great. She turned her head back at the boys and saw Ren holding out another pair of earbuds to her, nonverbally gesturing for her to have a listen as well.
Just then, as if the Heavens had sent in an angel to save her, Nagatoro’s eyes caught sight of a particular boy with fluffy hair walking into the dining hall. It was Naoto, who had just gotten the chance to get his food. The boy scanned the room nervously, awkwardly moving past the many rows of tables to find a seat. A big smile formed on her face as she excitedly lifted an arm up into the air to catch his attention. Unfortunately for her, she had no clue what he had just gone through..
“Senpaaai!” She called out, waving her hand from side to side. Naoto heard her calls and looked up to see her happily greeting him. “Wassup! Come sit over here!”
Naoto gulped at the request. Here was the girl, who had quickly become the first in his life to make him cry, offering him to sit with her as if nothing happened. Not only that, but she was with her friends, who were all possibly more than likely capable of being just as sadistic, if not more so. Seeing Ren and Ryo didn’t exactly help with his uneasiness either. He recognized them as fellow second-year students who were in the class right next door from his. Naoto took a deep breath before slowly walking over to their table.
“..excuse me,” he quietly muttered, taking a seat next to Nagatoro. In response, her face seemed to have lit up by his presence. The rest of the group at the table looked on over, confused at her sudden shift in attitude.
“You’ doin’ okay, Senpai? Sorry about yesterday!” Nagatoro giggled. Naoto simply looked at her and stuttered.
“..it’s okay. I’m fine,” he told her. Naoto reached into his bookbag and pulled out a hand rag, the same one she left him in the library yesterday, before handing it back to her.
“..I washed it right when I got home..”
“What?” She asked, taking the hand rag from him. There was a look of confusion on her face. “Wait, hold on, Senpai. I gave you that to keep.”
“Oh..”
By this point, the whole group was eyeing them. Sakura had even paused Ren’s music. The two boys had their eyebrows raised, wondering who the hell this newcomer guy was. Gamo-chan in particular was staring at Naoto, as if studying him.
“Who’s this, Hayase?” She asked. It took Gamo-chan a second before she recognized him as the boy from yesterday. “Wait, hold on a minute. I remember ya’! You’re that one guy from the library!”
That seemed to have rung bells in Sakura’s head, who had taken out both earbuds to talk to him. “Oooh, you’re the one with the manga! The mangaka!”
Nagatoro nodded. “Yep!” She replied proudly. She turned to Naoto, who looked as nervous as ever. “Senpai, these are my friends. Gamo-chan, Yoshi, and Sakura.”
It took him a bit to get a response out. “It..” he stuttered. “..it’s nice to meet you all.”
Gamo-chan jokingly corrected him. “Nice to meet you all again, you meant.”
Sakura used this as an opportunity to introduce Naoto to her two Senpais. “This is Ren and Ryo,” she told Naoto, before turning towards the two boys. “We met him in the library yesterday. He’s draws mangas!”
Ryo remained indifferent towards the boy, but Ren had a grin on his face as he acknowledged his presence and greeted him. “Mangas?” he said. “That’s kinda cool. I’m a fan of Dragon Sphere. Wassup, man.” Ren nodded his head towards the boy. Naoto let out a weak response.
“Hey..”
“Tell him about your band, Senpai!” Sakura suggested. “I’m sure he’d love to listen.” Nagatoro rolled her eyes in secret.
“Oh. Right.” Ren turned his attention towards the boy. “Yeah, me and my boy here are in a band. We make some killer songs, honestly. It’s some really sophisticated stuff. Want a listen?”
Naoto nodded slowly. “Sure,” he said softly. He looked over and saw Sakura happily slide Ren's phone and earbuds over so he could listen. Naoto stared at the phone before putting both earbuds in. He pressed the play button and began to listen.
He was never a music-person. It sort of reminded him of your typical hip-hop song, but for the most part, he didn’t know what to make of it, other than it sounded kind of catchy. If there was some deeper meaning or purpose to it that Ren and Ryo had put in, then Naoto failed to understand it.
He listened to the full thing, which was about two minutes in length, before it finally ended. Naoto pulled both earbuds out and reached out to hand Ren both of his belongings back.
“Sounds great, huh?” Ren asked. There was a smirk on his face as he grabbed the phone.
“..I’d say so, yeah..”
Ren then tried to take the phone back from Naoto’s hand..
..only to find out that it wouldn’t budge.
“Oh no!” Naoto thought. He felt his heart stop and his stomach drop. “Not again!”
“Hey dude? I’m gonna need you to let go.” Ren tried again, lightly tugging on the phone. It still didn’t move.
“I- I’m trying!” Naoto replied, being sincere.
“What do you mean you’re trying? Let go!” Ren then grabbed the phone with his other hand and yanked harder, still not succeeding. Things quickly became a tug-o'-war match between the two.
“Let go, asshole!” Ryo called out. Naoto began to sweat as he let out another frantic response.
“I- I can’t!”
The girls were puzzled. They sat there quietly, not knowing what was happening. Surely a simple task of handing someone’s phone back couldn’t be that difficult, right?
“Paisen’s got a grip!” Gamo-chan called out, noting how he was seemingly overpowering Ren’s attempt to take his phone back.
“Senpai..?” Nagatoro called to him softly, looking at the panicked boy. “Let go.”
Naoto tried his best to relax. He knew that panicking would only make things worse. The first thing he did was breathe. Closing his eyes shut, Naoto attempted to ease up by taking slow, concentrated, deep breaths.
“Just breathe.. Just breathe..” He thought to himself. “Just- Just try to let go..” He ignored Ren and Ryo’s shouting.
A few more seconds went by, and Naoto began to feel the phone slipping.
“Relax.. Relax.. Just.. Let go..”
Eventually, his plan worked, and Ren managed to successfully yank his phone out of Naoto’s hands. He was even almost flown back by the momentum. Naoto slowly opened his eyes and sighed in relief as he saw that the phone was no longer stuck to his hand. He had seemingly found a solution to his stickiness problem. His moment of relief, however, was interrupted by Ren and Ryo angrily hauling insults at him.
“What the hell’s up with you, you freak?!” Ren shouted.
“Freakin’ weirdo,” Ryo called him. Naoto’s face was beet beet red in embarrassment, having caused yet another ruckus. He turned and saw Nagatoro and the girls staring at him in confusion.
“It’s just like what happened in class,” he thought to himself. His lips began to quiver as Naoto shot up from his seat, before grabbing his bag and marching right out of the dining hall. His tray of food was left completely untouched. Nagatoro wanted to defend him, but she didn't get the chance to before she saw the boy leave. She reached out to try and stop him.
“S- Senpai! Wait!” She cried, but by then, he was already gone. The girl frowned as she looked on, concerned for him.
Lunch eventually ended and the day had gone down yet another spiral for Naoto. Word of what happened in the dining hall quickly spread throughout the school, and poor Naoto was forced to endure the countless amounts of stares by his peers. He tried to get through the rest of the day without an issue, but he was out of luck. He felt every pair of eyes glue on to him and heard every joke about him amongst their giggles. It got to the point where Naoto wanted to run away, curl up in a ball and cry.
Soon, the final bang rang, and Naoto darted straight for his safe haven: the art club room. He was its only active member, so he knew that no one could disturb him there. Naoto ran out the second the bell rang, and sure enough, he made it to the art room safely.
“What’s going on.. What the hell’s happening to me?” Naoto slid the sliding door to the art room shut and threw his bag on to a table. He began to pace around, trying to come up with any sort of idea on what’s happening to him. He had no doubt had just gone through the worst day in his life, and he had no clue on what to do.
The thought of the spider reentered his mind. Before being bit, his life was completely normal. He had no super strength, no super hearing, and no super stickiness. Naoto sat down on a stool and looked at the bite on his hand. There was still a visible red bump but it had grown noticeably smaller than before.
“Could it really be because of this..?” Naoto stared at it very closely, wanting to find anything out of the ordinary. Any sign of infection, anything unusual for a typical bite. He found nothing strange. It just looked like a plain red bump.
“Am I really like this because of a spider bite..?”
Naoto looked at the rest of his hand. His fingers, his nails, his palm, everything around it. Nothing. He didn’t find anything noticeably different..
..except for what looked like a tiny hole in the both of his wrists, to which his eyes widened upon seeing it.
Naoto didn’t know what it was. He knew for sure that it couldn’t be an injury. He never sustained a wound in that area, and he would certainly never poke or hurt himself there. He lightly touched it with his finger. It didn’t feel weird at all.
“What the..”
Naoto began opening and closing his hand as he stared at the hole with puzzlement. Did another spider bite him without him even knowing? No, it didn’t hurt and it wasn’t red. He continued to maneuver his hand around, before he jumped back in a fright when a string suddenly shot out of the hole.
“AH-” Naoto was so frightened that he landed right on his ass. He quickly regained himself and looked up to see a web on the wall. One that wasn’t there when he arrived..
“..Did..” Naoto stared at the web in disbelief. “..Did I do that?” He walked over towards it and poked it. The web was indeed real.
“I could shoot.. Webs?” Naoto tried to do it again, wanting to see if it was a voluntary thing. He wasn’t successful at first. A closed fist didn’t work. An opened palm didn’t work. He went through multiple hand gestures, before he found one that caused another string of web to be shot out right at the ceiling.
It was a three-handed gesture, with his thumb, index and pinky extruding out while his middle and ring were kept closed to his palm. Naoto looked up at the second web in shock.
“I can.. Make webs like a spider, and stick to things like a spider.." Naoto listed the similarities, before an idea popped up in his head.
“..that means I can also..” Instead of saying it, Naoto went to try it. He approached one of the walls, and after taking a deep breath, placed one hand against it, making sure to specifically keep his strength concentrated on his fingertips. Then, he placed his other hand a bit higher, and kept doing so before he no longer felt the ground with his feet. Naoto looked down and saw that he was indeed stuck to the wall, well above the floor.
He took it a step further. Naoto climbed higher to the top until he was able to touch the ceiling. He placed one hand against it, and with another deep breath, Naoto nervously closed his eyes shut and let go of his grip against the wall..
Naoto opened his eyes and looked down. He was indeed dangling from the top of the room, his feet slightly swaying from side to side. The only thing that was supporting him was the grip of his fingertips that was stuck to the ceiling, a feat surely impossible for a normal person to accomplish.
A few more seconds passed, and Naoto decided to finally drop. He relaxed the tension in his fingers, and down he went. Naoto managed to stick the landing, and he immediately stood back up. He looked at his hands. A little smile formed on his face as his shock slowly turned into amazement at his newfound powers.
A brand-new chapter in Naoto’s life was about to begin..