Web of Decisions

Chapter 8: Web of Decisions

"If you don't know where you're going, any path will take you there." -Lewis Carroll.

≈*≈

Peter didn't have lunch that day. Rather, he lied in bed, unable to restfully sleep, but still making himself groggy and slumped in the process.

Eventually, he picked himself up. Finished delaying the inevitable, he went to his computer to deliver the bad news to Aunt May.

It was then that Setsuna came to his door for the second time that afternoon.

Only this time she kicked it open.

"I can't believe you!"

"Huh? Did something happen?" Peter asked bewildered.

"Don't play dumb with me. I'm talking about this!" She thrust her phone out in front of her for Peter to see.

"Your… phone?" he asked. It was the only answer the flummoxed young man could conjure.

"Ugh!" She exclaimed in disgust. "Still going on with this charade, Peter? Think it's funny to play with people's emotions? Why didn't you tell me! And what was with that whole sob story anyway? Were those all just crocodile tears?" I bet this is why he's sneaking out and getting himself beat up! Probably thinks his training is too good for me! "I can't believe I felt bad enough to hug you. You're such a prick!"

"Woah, woah, woah, back up. I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Just tell me what's wrong, I'll make up for it, I swear!"

Setsuna let out another repulsed cry.

Wrong thing to say! Peter winced.

"You're insufferable!" She swung her arms down to her sides to emphasize the point, clenching her fists and grinding her teeth. And considering the fangs she was bearing in the process, it was quite the intimidating sight.

The hand holding her phone detached and flew up into Peter's face so he could make out the screen: no. 1 Peter Parker Villian: 42 Hero: 70

"So? Do you have anything to say for yourself, Peter?" Peter, for his part, was still stunned at the situation, and Setsuna did not take his silence kindly. "A record breaking score in the entrance exam? Why didn't you tell me you were planning on applying for the hero course! Did you think I would have made fun of you or something? You lied to me! I was so worried about you, and you lied to me!"

She was in his face now, and Peter could see her eyes were glistening. While still perplexed, it still broke his heart to see his first and only friend in the whole country (and one of his only friends in the world for that matter) look so betrayed, and he couldn't even understand why.

Of course, Peter could only be sent reeling at the accusations for so long before her words registered. The jarring realization hit him so hard, he only managed to sputter in confoundment. "Wait, what? But- but that's not possible! I told you already, I didn't even take the entrance exam."

"Oh no, you're not squirming your way out of this one. My uncle's a teacher, remember? He gets this stuff before anyone else does. Look! There's even a highlight reel. That's you, isn't it? Fighting robots like some kinda Kung Fu master. Where did all that come from?"

"Wait, that's the entrance exam!?" Peter exclaimed at seeing the footage. "I thought that was a villain attack!" His confusion and astonishment quickly transforming into indignation at the implications.

Suddenly, Peter's attention was far away from the upset girl before him. "Excuse me, Setsuna-chan. I promise I'll explain everything later. But right now I have something I need to set straight." He brushed right past her and towards the door, a determined grimace quickly forming on his face.

Setsuna was stunned in place at his quick dismissal, gaping like a fish at his sudden shift in demeanor. She recovered quickly and turned to look at him as he walked through the door. "D-don't ignore me!… Hey!" Peter didn't even react as Setsuna saw him march out into the hallway with his back to her. She ran to the doorway to see him already heading down the stairs. "Peter Parker you get back here this instant!" He walked out of view. I'm not letting you out of my sights this time! Setsuna sent an eye and an ear out to pursue Peter. Tailing him at a distance so she wouldn't be noticed.

≈*≈

Peter marched into the main U.A. building, slamming the door open. The receptionist at the front desk looked up, her eyes going wide as saucers. She panicked, shuffling around papers, and messing with the phones.

I must not be doing a very good job hiding a scowl. Peter thought. Not that it matters, I don't care if they know I'm angry. "I need to talk to someone." He declared as he strode right up to the desk. "Now."

"R-right. Of course, Mr. Parker. Anything you want. If you'll j, just wait a moment I can…" she stumbled over her words as she tried to stall. Aizawa's recent scolding of her mishandling of Parker was now catching up with her. "What was it you wanted again?" She inquired meekly.

Peter's eyes narrowed as his patience dwindled. "I said: 'I need to speak with someone'!"

"Good instincts. We need to speak with you too, Mr. Parker." A voice called.

Peter turned his head to look at the figure approaching from down the hall only to see a haggard looking man wearing what appeared to be all black pajamas and a whole roll of bandage wrap around his neck in the form of a loose scarf. Everything about him screamed grouchy, lazy, insomniac.

"And you are?"

"Shouta Aizawa. A teacher, and the one tasked with handling your—shall we say—entanglements. With luck we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."

"I'm champing at the bit." Peter spat sardonically. "If you're the one responsible for that hellscape you call an exam, then I'm going to give you a piece of my mind, and won't come back to retrieve the wasted grey matter should it mean seeing any more of your disheveled face!"

Aizawa, to his credit, didn't react to Peter's provocation and maintained his grumpy expression. Whether that was born from an incredible patience for his students, or simply because he was too lazy, tired, and jaded to give a crap about teenage moodiness, could not be discerned.

Aizawa turned his head towards a room a couple doors down and gestured for Peter to follow him. "I can see you're already well aware that we have much to discuss. We'll have room to hash it out over there. Come on, let's get this on with."

Peter ground his teeth at being patronized. His fingernails digging into his palms. But, he eventually capitulated and chased down Aizawa as he shuffled over to designated room. "H-hey!... W-wait up!"

≈*≈

"Sit." Aizawa ordered, pointing at a couch.

"I think I'll stand, thanks."

Aizawa, again, chose to not acknowledge Peter's snipe, and continued with what he was saying. "We know about your situation. We know you mistook the entrance exam for a villain attack. Wasn't hard to figure out with how much you talk to yourself. My apologies for the misunderstanding. First, I want you to know that despite appearances, the lives of the applicants were never in any serious danger."

That was evidently the wrong thing to say. "Not in any danger!? Ojiro just about died out there!"

"But he didn't. We have Recovery Girl on staff for a reason." Aizawa replied, not looking up from the tea he was pouring for them.

"Oh well I suppose that makes it all better then, doesn't it? One person with a healing quirk for seven battle centers. Those robots were shooting guns at kids!"

"Guns loaded with rubber pellets." Aizawa corrected as he pinched the bridge of his nose, quickly getting tired of Peter's tirade.

"And I suppose those were rubber heat-seeking missiles as well then?"

"They're barely more than bottle rockets, and they're programmed to intentionally miss. The explosions disorient and spook the examinees."

"I'm sooo comforted." Peter rolled his eyes.

"I never said it wasn't hazardous." Aizawa parried as he pushed a cup of tea towards Peter in an attempt to placate him. "Accidents can happen. That's why we had the applicants sign waivers before we gave them their exam tickets. But the test is designed so that you're only ever in as much danger as you put yourself in. If you want to retreat, you can easily do so. In fact, a quirkless kid got through the whole thing and wasn't hurt once by the robots. And if someone is ever injured and can't go on, the robots are programmed to get them to medical attention, and if that doesn't work, we have hero faculty ready to step in."

"Hey wait, I didn't sign any waiver. Your robots shot at me! Does that mean I can sue the pants off this place?"

Aizawa's lenient apathy ended with the hard glare he leveled at Peter, the first of many to come. "Don't push your luck, kid. That's a real stupid idea. Your exam ticket is your waiver. We're being gracious here because we believe your heart's in the right place. Don't go proving us wrong by being arrogant and impulsive. You're guilty of trespassing, destruction of millions in private property, belligerent and unauthorized quirk use, causing a panic, and several other offenses that we at U.A. are happy to overlook if you play nicely. I'm going to be frank, Mr. Parker, a stunt like this is enough to get you expelled or worse. And you're going to find that I'm a real stickler for the rules. I wouldn't bat an eye at holding you accountable, even if you're just a kid. I'm holding off because I believe your good intentions give you plausible deniability. You have an out. Don't ruin it. Or do you not want to attend U.A. at all anymore?"

"Eh-" Peter opened his mouth to protest but it died on his lips. Instead he looked away, his lips drawing a tight line. Okay look, I get that we're not happy here Pete, but don't be so brash you end up sabotaging yourself. There'll be plenty of time to push back after you get your bearings and know which lines to cross and which to avoid.

Peter stiffly sat down, and robotically took the offered tea cup, being careful to not grip too tight lest he crush it, something that became immensely more difficult after gaining super strength. "Alright, I understand. Ball's in your court. What do you need from me?"

"First, I need your side of the story. We can already piece it together pretty well through surveillance, but getting your testimony is important for these kinds of things. And then you're going to have to make a choice."

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

"We'll start with why you decided to sneak into the U.A. Hero course's practical exam."

"I didn't decide to sneak into anything!"

Aizawa held up a hand to stay the rebuke. "ｴ know you weren't trying to break any rules. But these are just the questions I have to ask. We all want to clear up the misunderstanding."

"Well ｴ didn't misunderstand anything. If something went wrong it's because you couldn't keep it straight. The lady at the desk told me that all applicants have to take a practical exam if they want to get in."

"Yeah, for the hero course. You're a foreign exchange student and here on recommendation on top of that. We're not going to send you home a week after your plane lands. All you had to do was show up for the first day of school."

"Wait, I'm here on recommendation? But they said I was just a normal applicant.'

"No, they said you weren't on the list of hero course recommended applicants who took the alternate exam. And of course you're here on recommendation, why do you think Mr. Osborn's endorsement was so important?"

"Oh. I just thought he was, you know, putting in a good word and all that."

Aizawa hung his head and grumbled. "Do you not double check these things? You know that U.A. has a website for this stuff, don't you?"

Peter looked away. "I've… had a lot on my mind." He admitted sheepishly.

"Evidently."

"What difference does a recommendation make anyway?"

"Gets you out of the entrance exam, not that it mattered in your case. Beyond that, there's a few other small things, but mostly it just looks better on a resume. But that's off topic. What was your goal in sabotaging the exam?"

"Sabotage? All I did was save people from getting hurt from your bad test!"

"Again, I didn't come up with the questions. But even I have to admit there's something fishy about this part of your story. I can buy the misunderstandings up till now, but It's quite convenient to think you just got lost and made the massive leap in logic in assuming our practical exam was some villainous robot invasion."

"I'm sorry, what would you think if you were walking around Tokyo, and all of a sudden everything was abandoned and there were swarms of robots shooting missiles at you?"

"I'm a pro, you're a kid, I'd be informed about that stuff. Completely different."

"That's not an answer."

Bull headed kid. "Any answer I could give wouldn't change the fact that you acted presumptuously in a situation you had no business meddling in."

"That's why I tried to get out of there without causing a disturbance. It wasn't until I saw your robots actively hurting people that I started getting involved."

"That's another point." Aizawa clicked a remote and a map appeared on a screen in the break room. "This is the street plan for Battle Center E. The green dots are where the robots are, and that moving yellow line is the path you took. First, you take the perfect path to avoid detection, as if trying to sneak in. Then once the exam officially starts, you abandon that idea and shift to taking the fastest possible route to the entrance, presumably to catch up with the crowd and blend in. Then once you meet the other applicants, you change again to the most efficient route to rack up as many points as possible. Now isn't that convenient. Almost seems like you're gaming the system at the expense of the other examinees. Not to mention how you knew to hack the robots. Almost like you were being fed outside information. Mind explaining how you did that?"

Crap, I can't tell them about my Spider-sense. Totally doesn't gel with my whole Simian thing. Then again, it doesn't make much sense as a spider ability either, and I don't think he'd buy any other answer. I'll try and tweak it the best I can.

"Um, well, you see, that's a part of my quirk. I don't quite understand it, but my senses are dialed up to 11... kinda like this supersensory thing? My vision slows down, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Maybe it's because primate brains are so sophisticated they can detect danger faster because their brains can process the sensory data unconsciously, or... something like that. That's actually how humans developed our keen perception and intelligence, you know. Our advanced vision helped our tree dwelling simian ancestors detect snakes and food by color at a distance. And their laughs and screeches were a community wide early alarm system, an early form of language. I guess I can kinda tap into that collective awareness to avoid danger and locate the cries of the other examinees to find the best path to take." That was such a lame explanation. It sounded like something out of a fantasy novel. Was that really the best I could come up with? No way he's gonna buy it.

Aizawa meanwhile had to resist groaning at the rambling response. This kid. No wonder Connors likes him, he's just like him. That guy can go on about salamanders for hours if you don't stop him. Same with the principal now that I think about it. Maybe it's not such a good idea to put them together. Wait, is he still talking?

"*Mm-Hmm*" Aizawa cleared his throat to interrupt the rambling. "That's enough. I suppose that makes sense. Interesting manifestation of that type of quirk. I'm satisfied that you were being sincere in the test. And that means there's nothing left but to make the offer."

Peter looked up in confusion. "Offer?"

"Even if it's not what you intended. It's clear that you're both capable and heroic under distress. And you technically were registered with that exam ticket. You ended up first in our roster, which means you earned passage into U.A.'s hero course. What do you think, kid? Training to be a hero with one of the best programs in the world, quite the opportunity."

"Wait, you want to put me in the hero course? But I'm already in the support course, you can't just rip me out of Dr. Connors class just because of some exam mix up, I refuse! I'm outta here!" Peter objected automatically without giving the idea a moment to actually consider before standing up to leave.

Aizawa's eye twitched. As much as I hate to admit it, this brat's as obstinate as I am. No wonder they dumped him on me. Figures, pit two contrarians against each other and all you get is a mirror. 

No sooner had Peter stood up than he felt his strength drain and his spider-sense go bazonkers.

"Sit back down, I haven't finished." Aizawa's glowing red eyes bored into Peter, causing him to collapse back down.

Aizawa was definitely the source of his Spider-sense buzzing mad as a hornet. Peter could almost see the heat haze aura emanating off Aizawa that his spider-sense screamed at him to steer clear of. He wanted to crawl away but the queasy feeling of weakness from Aizawa's gaze sapping his strength only left him with enough power to clutch his pounding head and groan.

That weird headache again. Aizawa thought. Just like when the zero pointer was released. Kid really does have some gut aversion to danger.

Aizawa sighed and closed his eyes, not wanting to enfeeble Parker any further. Unbeknownst to him, however, something else had been caught in his gaze. A disembodied eye and ear that had been discreetly spying, hidden behind a decorative plant, were now rendered inert and quickly began to dissolve.

≈*≈

"Ow! What was that?" Setsuna yelped in surprise at the sudden shock.

" *Hmph!* " That guy must have weakened me or something like he did to Peter-kun there. Now I won't see what happens next. I've never seen him that intense before. At least I saw enough to know he wasn't lying to me... I should probably apologize for that. I just hope he's not so brash he gets himself into more trouble.

Setsuna looked at her reflection and pulled her bangs over the side of her face to hide the missing eye and ear. "Ugh, I'll have to wait overnight for that to fully regenerate."

She pouted in protest. "Hmmm…. I look horrible in an eyepatch…"

"Hey! What was that about? Gave me a splitting headache."

"Sorry, I erased your quirk. Had to stop you from leaving somehow."

He can do that!? And it works on me even though I wasn't born with this quirk. That's… interesting. Peter quickly pushed aside that thought as his mind whipped back to the conversation at hand. "What for? So you can continue lecturing me about how you're going to railroad me out of the class I worked for six years to get into?"

"For once we actually agree. The scholarship details of your sponsorship dictate a seat in the support course. And I wouldn't let you back out of that if you tried. As far as regular high school classes go, you'll stay in class 1-H with Connors. However, that also means your placement in the top forty leaves a seat in my class empty. Now here's where things become different from a regular school: on top of the normal 6 period school day, hero course students stay for an extra 7th period to study heroics. Your schedule is already going to be somewhat different from a regular student due to being an American. So you'd only really be staying one period longer than otherwise. Here's what we propose. Your first three classes will be with your normal class 1-H home room. That's your ten minute home room, Science and Support with Connors, Math with Ectoplasm, and Modern literature with Cementoss. Next would be English, you obviously don't need that class, so you'll follow Cementoss to his remedial Japanese class with the other Japanese as a 2nd language students right after taking your standard Japanese language and literature class. Then there's lunch. Normally you would go back to class 1-H after lunch for Gym and Homeroom as your last two classes. You would also, on occasion, use your last homeroom period to work in Power Loader's development studio. The development studio is also open after classes during 7th period. Should you choose to take hero course classes, you'll come to my class after lunch instead."

"Like I'd ever choose you over Connors. He may be missing an arm, but at least he doesn't look like a hobo."

Stubbornly loyal too. Aizawa admired begrudgingly. Doesn't know what's good for him either. Kid's already too much like me for his own good. I could offer him a million yen and he'd refuse out of principled obstinance. Don't know if that makes me like the kid more or less. If he keeps hanging around me, he might just pick up my bad habit of not knowing when to quit as well. And he's already starting to look like an insomniac on top of it.

Aizawa cleared his throat. "Like I was saying, you'd go to class 1-A after lunch. There you'd have hero basic training with one of the heroics teachers for 5th period, that'll be your gym class. For 6th period, Midnight teaches Modern Hero Art History-

"Modern Hero Art History? Really?" Peter asked dubiously.

"Trust me, it's better than the subject she wanted to teach." Peter decided to not probe further, which Aizawa was grateful for. "Finally, that extra 7th period is homeroom and hero theory with me. The choice is yours." Aizawa finished.

"Easy choice. Like I said before, I have plans, and I'm not letting you—or anyone else for that matter—screw them up because of some dumb exam." Was Peter begrudgingly aware of the opportunity that hero course classes could pose for Spider-Man? Yes. Was he going to capitulate and let that crucial fact factor into his decision? Absolutely not.

Aizawa massaged the sides of his nose, further emphasizing his furrowed brow. "Kid, you're pushing me to do something I don't normally do."

"I'm shaking in my boots."

"I'm going to give you some credit."

That was certainly not what Peter was expecting.

"Your abilities are still limited right now, much less potent than some of the other applicants. In fact, I could probably beat you without my quirk. But that didn't stop you from making a bigger impact than any of them. That's because none of them had the drive to apply themselves wholeheartedly to the task like you did, utilizing everything at your disposal competently, creatively, and synergistically to go beyond your base capacities. That's the true nature of Plus Ultra: to go beyond the sum of your parts. You've got potential. Don't squander it by being stubborn."

Peter just about cringed from the rebuke. Aizawa, it seemed, knew how to catch flies with both honey and vinegar. That didn't mean Peter was going to give up trying to catch Aizawa in his own web either.

"Alright, say you've got a point. If I choose to go with the hero course, I'd be sacrificing my potential in hero support, and I could help just as many if not more people that way. So shouldn't I avoid spreading myself too thin so I can specialize and do the most good?"

" 'unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.' " Aizawa quoted.

"I'm not saying it will be easy. If you go down this route, your school workload will just about double. And I'm not saying it's fair either. If you think life is fair then you can just drop out of this school, regardless of the course. Truth is, the real world doesn't bother to ask what you're able to bear before dumping its burdens on people. As heroes we try our hardest just to be available, and it's by rising to that call that we're forced to become capable. That's what it means to be dependable. And kid, you've proven yourself to be plenty dependable. Of course, the choice is ultimately yours."

Peter began to seriously contemplate the option. There's no doubt it would be good for Spider-Man's skills. Definitely put him on the path to getting a quirk license too. But then the image of Uncle Ben and his killer flashed in his mind, and he knew he didn't truly deserve the opportunity, no matter how beneficial it may be. "I'm sorry Mr. Aizawa, I can't deny it's an amazing opportunity, but you've got the wrong guy. That opportunity should go to someone else. There's nothing heroic about me, I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and did what anyone should do." And that was that. Nothing Aizawa said would change that.

"Parker, you are hero material. I should know, I see it first hand. Surely there was a time where you wanted to be a hero. Even as a discarded childhood dream. You may not admit it, or even realize it, but you live to help people. It's your prime directive. No one would do what you did otherwise. It just wouldn't be logical to them. because only a true hero would understand that if you have the power to help people, then you have a moral obligation to do so. Got it, Parker? Because taking these hero courses to learn how to use your gifts correctly is how you take responsibility for that power."

"Don't you dare say those words! You don't know anything about me!" Peter interrupted, eyes going wide with fury. How dare he, after what he did to Ojiro. How dare he use his words against me! "Wax poetic about your sappy pure of heart bull crap all you want, it won't change a damned thing! If that were at all true, then Uncle Ben would still be here right now. But he's not, and he won't ever be again. So you and your invitation can shove it." Peter got up and stomped out the door.

This time Aizawa didn't stop him, but rather let the moody teenager have his space. Great, must have hit a nerve somewhere. I think I understand the kid a bit better now. He doesn't just feel obligated to help people, he feels accountable for the ones he couldn't. "Uncle Ben," huh? I'll have to do a background check and look into that. No wonder he got so pissed off.

Peter was halfway down the hall when he heard Aizawa call to him. "Parker."

Peter turned back to match the man's strict eyes with a glare of his own. "What?"

"Here's my card." Peter's automatic reflexes caught the flying card before he even knew it had been thrown. "Just think about it. There's time before you have to make a final decision."

Begrudgingly, Peter stuffed the business card into his pocket before he walked off. He would give the offer some proper consideration later, when he didn't have to look at Aizawa's grungy face looking all smug from Peter's surrender.

≈*≈

By the time Peter had made his way home, cooler heads had prevailed. He now recognized the potential opportunity the hero course could pose for him, and would definitely have to think carefully over whether or not it'd be best to take the offer.

He also regretted his misplaced anger towards Aizawa. In retrospect, Peter had projected all his negative emotions riding the crest of the practical exam onto Aizawa's shoulders. The guy was probably just a regular teacher that had no say in the exam's design, not to mention that he was also a pro hero. And though Peter was loath to admit it, the difficult bedraggled man deserved respect… and an apology.

Another startling realization was that while Peter had said he had plans, he really didn't. He had been wingin' it since he got to Japan. No more of that. If he had taken on the responsibility of managing the details of his schooling, like he had been doing before the spider bite had shoved his attention onto a hundred other things, then this whole mix up wouldn't have happened.

In fact, no more rushing into things, period. He needed to hammer out everything he knew, everything he wanted to accomplish, and how he was going to go about it.

Thankfully, right next to his work desk was a cork board ready to be used to connect and take stock of his scattered thoughts and ideas. Though after rifling through his desk drawers, he couldn't find any of the correlated supplies, or really any school or study supplies for that matter.

It was at that moment he heard Stan humming a familiar tune as he did some basic cleaning out in the hallway. " *mumble* -any size, catches thieves just like flies, look out, here comes… *mumble*"

"Hey Stan."

"Huh!? Who di- I wasn't…" Stan snapped out of his daydream with a start. "Oh, Peter, it's just you. Need something?"

"This place operates as off campus faculty housing for the school, right?"

"That's right."

"So this place should be stocked with stationery supplies and the like."

"Sure is."

"And you're one of the only people with a key to the supply closet, right?"

"That I am. You need a stapler or something?"

"Close. I want to make use of my cork board but don't have the stuff for it. You know: push pins, red thread, card stock; the conspiracy theorist starter pack."

Stan's face suddenly stiffened. He scanned the hallway to the left and then to the right.

Peter tilted his head in confusion. "Looking for someth-"

"Shh!" he hissed. "You never know when Tokage-san might be listening in. She's onto me, I can feel it in my bones. Darn lizard people."

Peter quirked an eyebrow at that. "Setsuna? I think we're good. I left soon after our recent conversation left us off on the wrong foot. You're probably the furthest thing from her mind right now."

Stan nodded in understanding, and made one last sweep before he was satisfied that they were alone. A sly grin spread across his face. "You want stationery, kid? I can get you stationery." Stan flicked him a simple key. "Follow me. I'll get you hooked up."

≈*≈

Peter walked back to his room with 2 things in tow: first, his needed office supplies; and second, a deep morbid curiosity and dread of what kind of plans Stan might be concocting in the strangely spacious supply closet.

Of course, Peter didn't even make it back to his room before running into another of his neighbors.

"Hi, Peter-san. Have you seen Lee-san around at all recently? I need to ask him about something." Setsuna asked as they passed each other in the hall. Wanting to get the interaction over with quickly as she didn't want to have to confront her previous regrettable interaction with Peter earlier that day. It was just too early, and she needed to cool off a bit more before she could bring herself to apologize for her accusations.

"Oh sorry, you just missed him. But hey, while you're here, I should probably explain about earlier."

Apparently Peter wasn't of the same mind, but Setsuna still wanted to get things out of the way and postpone this talk, inevitable it may be.

"It's alright, I forgive you," she quickly responded before trying to walk past and get away.

"Huh? Wait, just like that? Are you sure?" That was far easier than Peter expected.

Setsuna huffed and turned back around, resigned that she was going to have to deal with this sooner rather than later. "Thinking back on what you said before, it's pretty clear you were being sincere. I asked Uncle Curt about it, and he told me more about the exam. I can see why you would've mistaken it for a villain attack. So, yes. I'm sorry for blowing up at you before," was Setsuna's strained reply.

"Oh. So… we're all good then?"

"No, we're not 'all good'! I said I was sorry, not that I wasn't still mad at you. That's not just going to fix itself because I can see where you're coming from."

"I see… well, if not that, what are you mad about then?"

"What am I mad about? What am I mad about! I feel like I don't even know you. One second you're this dorky nerd that studies with my kooky uncle, and next you're this intense fighter that quells robot invasions and gets this blistering scowl on your face. The Peter I thought I knew just walked out on me without any warning. Literally!"

Peter's eyes widened a tinge and recoiled a half step as he was taken aback with shock. A moment's thought more, and his gaze lowered down to the right, unable to meet Setsuna's eye. She's right. I let my temper get the better of me and almost became someone I'm not. And of course I'm the only one who didn't see it. Setsuna forgave me this time, and Aizawa was gracious enough to not kick me out of U.A. for my attitude, but there's no telling how it might bite me in the butt next time if I don't get it under control.

"I'm sorry, Setsuna-chan. I… didn't realize. I Just got so swept up that I wasn't thinking. I should have stayed and explained this morning."

"It's alright. I'm not mad about this morning, really," she cut him off. But the comment was more to correct herself than him. As much as she hated to admit it, had Peter actually tried to stay and defend himself, she almost certainly wouldn't have bought his explanation and only gotten more exasperated. It took her seeing Peter confront Aizawa firsthand for her to realize he wasn't lying to her, and even now it was still tough to not hold a grudge.

"But you are still mad at me. Let me make it up to you, whatever it is I need to do, just tell me and I'll make it happen."

"Fine. Why don't we start with why you're sneaking out all the time."

Peter quickly hid his surprise at the question, before trying to casually brush it off. "Sneaking out? Come on Setsuna-chan, why would I need to sneak out of my own home?"

"You tell me, Monkey boy. Always coming and going through the window. What? You too good for stairs?"

Peter tried to salvage the situation. "Yes, actually. You see, being a monkey, the window is-"

"I can't believe you're already trying to lie to me! Again! You're go out at strange hours, never tell anyone where you're going, and you always come back beat up. So don't even try to say you're leaving through the window to go shopping or sightseeing."

Peter looked away again, ashamed at being caught. "I'm sorry, you're right. That was wrong and stupid of me, I shouldn't have lied."

"So are you finally going to actually tell me the truth for once?"

Should I tell her? And if so, how much? She's a hero student herself, pretty capable. No, it's still too dangerous. Peter looked back up, "I, I can't tell you about that. I'm sorry."

"Can't or won't?"

"What difference would it make?"

"It's a pretty big difference to me!"

They both stood there in silence, avoiding the other's gaze for a moment more before Setsuna spoke up again. "You know, if you're going out to train with your quirk, you don't have to worry about me trying to get you in trouble. You're allowed to use your quirk in private afterall. You can trust me."

Peter sighed and let himself fall down, sitting criss cross on the hallway floor. He could tell this conversation might take awhile and he didn't want to be standing for it. "I know, and I do trust you. It's just that people have things they like to keep to themselves.

"I just wish you would tell me some things! Instead you keep hiding every thing and refuse to open up. Next thing I know, you pull a 180 and become an entirely different person all of a sudden. How do I even know our friendship is based on anything more than this persona you've crafted?"

"If it's any consolation, it came as just as much of a surprise to myself. If anything's a false persona, it's that. The brave face I put on when I'm scared or frustrated. Only this time it was a face I didn't know I had, though I see now that I've been using it a lot lately. And what's worse is that I can't say it isn't my face."

That was an admission Setsuna wasn't expecting, she came and sat leaning against the wall next to Peter, hugging her knees to her chest to keep her guard up nevertheless.

Setsuna is right. Peter thought. She deserves to know at least some of the truth, even if I can't tell her all of it. 

"You've only known me a week," Peter began, "so you wouldn't know, but things were really different for me before I came to Japan. I was shy and anxious and just all around pretty pathetic. But now I'm here, attending the school of my dreams, and at times I feel so free and powerful."

"New school, new you, is that it? So I'm just a test dummy to try out your new reformed image on." Setsuna retorted, unwilling let her guard down so easily, lest she be hurt again.

"No, that's not it."

"Then what is it?"

"It's that everything has changed so fast that even I don't entirely know who I am anymore," Peter admitted. He was answered with a solemn silence.

"I'm not trying to fool you," he continued. "I have some regrets, some things I'm not ready to share, so don't ask. But just know that even if you don't have the entire puzzle, the pieces you do have aren't fake."

"I think I understand." A more sympathetic tone creeping into Setsuna's voice. "In a jigsaw, even though the pieces fit together, they're all still unique. I guess I shouldn't have assumed the pieces I'm missing would look identical to the ones I have. It just means you have more surprises in store. And that definitely fits with the Peter I know."

Peter gave a small chuckle. "Yeah. Life sure has its surprises…" he looked over at Setsuna sitting next to him. "You know, your quirk makes you quite the human puzzle yourself, Setsuna-Chan." She bashfully turned her face away from him, which caused Peter to notice something. "You're wearing your hair differently."

Setsuna went flush with embarrassment. "You noticed," she grumbled as she mussed her hair to further cover the side of her face.

"It's funny both how much and how little we notice about other people." Peter knit his brow as he looked closer. "Is that an eyepatch?"

"Don't try and change the subject. My eye's just a little red and puffy right now. I d-"

"Don't want to talk about it? It's alright, you don't have to tell me about it. Everyone cries and rubs their eyes on occasion. I won't pry."

Now it was Setsuna's turn to meekly lower her eyes. He got me there. I was just getting after him for lying and hiding things, and here I am doing the same thing. Meanwhile, Peter-kun was actually crying and I called them crocodile tears.

"Cut it out."

"Huh?"

"I'm supposed to be mad at you right now, stop making me feel guilty about it." She pouted.

Peter held back a chortle at her cute complaint. "I won't tell you how you should feel. I've only known you for a week, so I don't know enough to try to anyway. But I can still understand why anyone would be surprised at seeing someone get angry, or seeing them get into a fight for the first time. Today was the first time I've seen you get really pissed, and I was pretty shocked too. So I can only imagine how shocking it would have been for you to see that from me."

Another short silence prevailed between the two of them. This time it was Setsuna who broke it. "It's just that I worked so hard to get to where I am. And I was rewarded for my efforts too, got into U.A. on recommendation and everything. I'm supposed to be the best of the best. And then you come along, this nerdy goofball who can barely even make it through a jog. You're always being so modest about how your quirk's nothing special, and how amazing it is that I got into the hero course when you were only just a support course student. But while you're always so aloof around me, you also harbor this serious side of you that's full of hard work and grit. You'll go out for hours, pushing yourself to the brink of who knows what, come back haggard, and then act as if you were just out studying at the library, like it was no big deal! Then right after tripping through a run with me this morning, I find out you're breaking records in the entrance exam. Then you come back, and you're sad, let down, and disappointed that you couldn't have done more. Not only that, you say what you did was nothing special. I see the footage and it was amazing! And, well, I guess it made me feel a little inadequate, like my accomplishments were less than special in comparison."

"Are you kidding me? You're incredible Setsuna-chan! I wish my quirk was as good as yours."

"See, that's what I'm talking about! Stop being so modest and give yourself some credit. How am I supposed to take any pride in my accomplishments if I can't even get results as good as yours in the exam, even though you keep insisting that my quirk is supposed to be so much better?"

"I guess I'm just not used to having anything to be proud of." Peter admitted before pausing to consider his next words. "To be honest, my quirk used to be pretty lame. It wasn't until puberty that it evolved into something useful."

"Come on, in what world are triple backflips lame?"

"I'm serious!" Peter's tone grew more calm and deliberate as he looked Setsuna in the eye. "Do you know how we diagnose quirklessness?"

"No. Why does that matter?"

"When humans first evolved from other simians, our skeletons were built for climbing, not walking. Simian feet are more flexible. They're designed to grasp things and maintain a better grip while climbing, so they had extra joints, particularly in the pinky toe. As we further evolved to use quirks, the human form became more streamlined and we lost that extra toe joint, but quirkless people still have it."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"When I was young, I didn't display any unique traits. Even my hair color is a normal boring brown. So they took me to get some x-rays. Sure enough, they saw the simian-like feet, and declared me quirkless."

She gasped. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's alright. It's actually why I first wanted to get into U.A. I thought that since quirk use is so restricted in Japan, no one would have to know I was quirkless. We know now of course that I was just a late bloomer. Makes sense. How much difference is there between a human toddler and a chimp toddler? But I guess that meek inferiority stuck with me. My friend Harry, he's got everything: rich, talented, trained in a dozen different skills. He once told me he was jealous of me, I didn't understand what he meant until it no longer mattered. It's strange now, having a chance at heroics when for so long I thought it was a dead end. Makes me want to downplay it, not get my hopes up."

"Your friend Harry sounds pretty mature."

"He had to grow up fast. I wish I had his perspective."

"I could have been more mature about this too." Setsuna admitted.

"So are we all good then?" Peter asked.

Setsuna hesitated. "Not all good, but better."

"So then, where do we go from here?"

Setsuna sighed. "I don't know…"

Peter nodded solemnly. That was probably the most progress they were going to get today, so he stood to leave. "Well, I'm going to start by going this way," he gestured towards his room. "Hopefully our paths will cross again. Till then, laters gators."

Setsuna watched quietly as Peter started walking, but decided she couldn't leave things as they were. "Hey, Parker-san!"

He stopped and looked back at a resolute Setsuna, arms crossed. "Yeah?"

"I said this morning that I had better see your name topping the charts. I got my wish, so enjoy it while you can, because I'm going to leave you in the dust! But I'm gonna need a good rival to motivate me, so I better see you on my tail soon, you big baboon!"

≈*≈

To say that Peter was left with a lot to think about was an understatement. Forgetting Spider-Man for a moment, Peter Parker had a lot on his plate just on his own. Between money problems, the mystery of his quirk, his strained relationships, and U.A., he was ready to explode.

Alright. One thing at a time. Let's start with the big issues. Right now there was only one lone card in the center of his empty bulletin board with a single word written on it: 'Pete'

He quickly added a few more notes and arranged them around the central one, with lines of red thread connecting them all back to the center. 'Money, school, quirk, Spider-Man, relationships'

Those were his problems, all the things that demanded his attention and kept him up at night.

Peter began pinning more notes, branching and connecting trees of details. Putting down everything he knew, his choices, and his ultimate goals.

Pretty soon he stood in front of an impressive tangle of red thread and post-it notes that would make any conspiracy theorist proud: A web of his life decisions; a web of his destiny. The only question now was which path would he take.

First problem was money. He had left America with 4,000 dollars. After making travel expenses, converting it to yen, and the rent and deposit for his room, that was whittled down to 280,000 yen. With a rent price of 65,000 yen a month, that should have lasted him till the end of June, giving him until summer vacation to find a job. However, following one of the lines connecting money and Spider-Man showed the next big problem: web-fluid. That had taken 200,000 out of his pocket in one fell swoop. That just about forced him to ration Spider-Man's web slinging to the bare necessities until he had a stable income.

Spider-Man being put on the back burner seemed to be the solution to most of his problems actually. In a city full of pro-heroes in a country with the world's lowest crime rate, Spider-Man wasn't really needed 24/7. But Peter had the sneaking suspicion that trouble would come looking for him whether he liked it or not, and in those cases he couldn't expect a pro-hero to respond in time. So even without active patrols, Peter suspected his current batch of web fluid to only last him a month.

Speaking of next month, he had to figure out a way to pay for March's rent. Considering that today was February the 26th, it was due next week. And after that chemistry explosion had busted the closet door and cost him 50k, Peter was left with only 30k of the needed 65k rent. And he had no way to make up the difference to pay it. Because just like how Spider-Man lacked a hero license, everyone was likewise unimpressed with Peter Parker's work credentials. That meant he was on borrowed time and only had 30 days' eviction notice, so he had till the end of March to either come up with a solution, or wait for a miracle. Otherwise, he'd be left as a spider without a web. It also meant he would be subsisting off 100 yen cup ramen until further notice.

Unfortunately, money and Spider-Man weren't the only limiting factors in his web-fluid problems. Following the zig-zagging red thread from web-fluid, he arrived at 'equipment,' which he could then trace back to 'class representative,' then 'Doc Connors' and finally, 'relationships.'

There was the problem. He could hardly make the web-fluid without the lab equipment, and he couldn't get equipment without improving his relationship with Doc Connors by becoming class representative.

Maybe he wouldn't need the equipment once he got access to the school labs, but school wouldn't start till April. And besides that, there was no way he was going to be given access to those labs after hours without permission from Connors, and if Connors wouldn't let Peter use his personal equipment, he probably wouldn't let him use the school labs either. Plus, something told Peter that breaking into U.A. as Spider-Man to raid the support course's chemistry labs was a non-starter.

So he was stuck in the same chain of events dictated by his cork board's web of associations: relationships Connors class rep equipment web-fluid. It seemed his only choice was to develop that support item to win him the spot. Thankfully, he already had most of the necessary parts to complete his prototype tracer chips. He would just need to recalibrate his web shooters so they could launch the chips as per their original design, instead of webbing only. He also wanted to see if he could attune the chips to his spider-sense, having spider tracers with a signal that only he could detect would be very useful for Spider-Man.

And seeing as how he didn't have school, a job, or anything demanding his immediate attention as Spider-Man, that would probably be how he spent most of his time over the next month.

Of course, that didn't mean he didn't have other priorities. Unraveling the mystery of his quirk was chief among them. Even now, he knew next to nothing about the circumstances surrounding the incident. They said the lab experimented on bugs. Was the spider that bit him a specimen, or just a regular spider that snuck in? Was the mutation just a fluke of the radiation, or was the neogenic recombinator already calibrated to induce Amutagenesis when they used it for that demonstration? Before that, what did they even use the neogenic recombinator for in the first place? What are the details of their research, what do they want, what do they do, how do they do it, and what kind of results do they get? It sounded like they had had no successes thus far. Should Peter be worried about negative side effects of his quirk, what about when his quirk inevitably evolved? He could have a terminal illness and not know.

Most of all, he wondered if it was even an accident. Nezu said seems to imply the result was no fluke. Which led him to question just how coincidental the aligning circumstances had been. Peter shook his head clear of the thought before he got into conspiracy theories. those were paranoid thoughts.

Still, he needed answers, and he only knew one place to get them: Oscorp. They had a branch in Japan, if Spider-Man could get in and access the files, he should be able to connect to the American location's network and access their research. So that certainly gave Spider-Man a job to do over the next month in addition to testing the spider tracers.

Beyond that however, he had to manage his Spider-Man schedule if he wanted to be able to keep up with his school work as well. He would limit himself to only doing Spider-Man stuff on the weekends. But Peter already knew he wouldn't be able to hold himself to such a standard, his conscience wouldn't let him.

Only on weekends... Unless of course there was an immediate danger that only Spider-Man could handle. He amended.

There were plenty of pro-heroes that could pick up any slack that Spider-Man's absence could cause, he justified to himself.

That just left the big question: School. Was he going to focus on the support or hero course? Ironically, the support course would help out Spider-Man the most. Aizawa had said that taking hero course classes would double his school work. That would leave him with even less time for Spider-Man. Meanwhile, the support course would allow him to continue making cool equipment that would help Spider-Man out in the field.

He also was struggling to find any real benefit to taking hero course classes. His quirk was already unusually powerful. On par with most pro-heroes, even—that was something else he would have to investigate at Oscorp.

Sure, the hero course would probably teach him how to use his quirk better and improve his tactics, but was taking 'Modern Hero Art History' instead of working in the development studio really going to make a bigger difference than upgraded web shooters and more first hand experience in the field? He didn't think so.

However, getting a license or even a quirk permit of some kind, so that Spider-Man could help people legally, was something that had been on his list of priorities since before he came to Japan. He couldn't just be a vigilante for his whole life now, could he? And he had planned from the start to take advantage of U.A. to make getting that permit easier anyway. Only he had assumed he'd do it in some roundabout way, not by actually joining the Hero Course.

And if he did go that route, what would become of Spider-Man? Would he just abandon the spider persona as soon as Peter Parker was licensed as some sort of Simian superhero? If so, he'd probably have to kiss his web shooters goodbye forever. And if it was ever discovered that Spider Man was a U.A. hero course student, well, he didn't even want to think about the backlash that would cause to both the school and to him.

Still, a lot could happen in the 3 years between entering U.A. and graduating as a fully licensed hero. He could probably come up with a good solution in that time.

And was he really going to turn down such a golden opportunity? Every kid in the world dreamed about getting into a hero course like this. It was like getting accepted into Hogwarts. And Peter was probably the only quirkless kid in the whole world who would get such a chance. He practically felt compelled to do it just for the sake of every kid with a dream that grew up quirkless. Could he really just say 'no thanks'?

Setsuna would never let him live it down either. She would be so disappointed to hear he decided to pass on it, especially not after that conversation they just had.

That was another problem. Setsuna wasn't the only person rooting for him. If he decided to go the hero course route, what he would tell Harry and Aunt May? 'Guess what, I randomly developed a quirk and am now attending one of the biggest hero courses in the world.' He probably wouldn't even be able to convince them he wasn't joking. But he had told Setsuna part of the truth: that he grew up quirkless. Harry and Aunt May deserved to know the truth too, or at least part of it anyway. He couldn't hide his quirk from them forever afterall, especially if he was going to be in the hero course.

And above all else, Peter couldn't shake the feeling that the support course was the cheap and easy way out, and he didn't like that. Peter didn't do things halfway, he was no coward or cop-out.

Aizawa was right. Getting registered as a real hero by going through the hero course properly was not just the right thing, but the responsible thing to do.

His decision made, Peter took a step back and looked at his mess of a bulletin board. He would have to cover it up with a poster afterwards so no one would see, but for now it served as a good representation of the web of interconnected issues weighing on his mind.

Looking it over he noticed a key omission. He took out a card and quickly scrawled something on it before pinning it to the board, connected to relationships. Make things up to Setsuna-chan.

≈*≈

Peter pulled out Aizawa's business card and let out a deep sigh. Only thing left to do was call.

A moment later and Aizawa's voice spoke from the other end of the phone. "Shouta Aizawa, how can I help you?"

"This is Peter Parker, I'm calling to let you know that I've decided to go with the hero course."

"Parker. That was quicker than I expected. Actually decided to go through with it, huh?"

"Umm, sir? I, uh, wanted to apologize for my behavior. Thank you for being patient with all my bullcrap and not kicking me out of U.A. immediately for my belligerent attitude. I was being real pig-headed back there"

"Kid, if you hadn't been fuming mad after what you thought just happened, I would have suspected you staged the whole thing as a stunt to get into the hero course. I myself have had some reservations about the logic of the exam; your complaints were warranted. Just don't do it again, or I'll have you expelled. Got it?"

"Uh, yes, right. Sorry, and um, thank you sir. I promise I won't lose my temper like that again."

Aizawa hung up the phone and looked at it a moment more with tired eyes. He'd been assigned Parker's case purely because he had no patience for nonsense. To think the day would come that he'd actually be complimented for putting up with someone's bullcrap. The thought made him frown. But then again, so did just about everything.

Nezu was right, Aizawa grumbled. I really have grown a soft spot for the kids.

≈*≈

The CEO of Oscorp adjusted His emerald tie as He picked up the ringing desk phone.

"Hello, is this one Norman Osborn?"

"This is He."

"This is Principal Nezu of U.A. High School. We're calling to inform you that the student you sponsored, Peter Parker, is to take additional classes with the Hero Course."

"Really? What a pleasant turn of events. Though I can't say I'm surprised at all. The boy is quite competent."

"Indeed. You have much to be proud of, he passed the exam with flying colors. We once again thank you for your decision in recommending him to our school."

"Of course. Why, Peter's like the son I never had. I know he won't disappoint. Do keep me posted on his progress, will you?" He said.

"It'd be our pleasure. Thank you for your time." And with that, the call ended.

A kid with no quirk enters one of the most prestigious hero courses in the world? How entertaining. Looks like I'll have to turn a little more attention over to Japan, I hear our offices over there have been making good progress as of late. Peter Parker, you truly are the gift that just keeps giving.

A/N: That was a stubborn chapter, but 10k words is always nice. And it's a necessary one to close out this first part of the story and get into our first proper story arc.

A lot of people have been worried about Peter joining the Hero Course instead of staying in the Support Course. Don't worry, I like the idea of Support Course Peter as much as you do. But all the plot and characters are centered around Class 1-A. So if I want to tell an MHA story as well as a Spider-Man story, instead of just a Spider-Man story set in MHA, I really don't have much of a choice. Of course, no one said you couldn't have both. So Peter will stay in the Support Course, but will come and take classes with 1-A on occasion. Don't worry, Peter will still keep his secret identity and there will still be plenty of regular Spider-Man stuff. I've got a plan for all this.

Figuring out U.A.'s class schedule was much harder than it should have been. The wiki gives a basic time table and reveals that hero course students have an extra 7th period, but it says nothing about what each of those classes are. Thankfully, we can do a little detective work. All the U.A. teachers have a subject they teach. (Yes, Midnight really does teach Hero Art History.) And we know from the early episodes of Season 1 that they have hero classes in the afternoon and regular high school classes in the morning, and it shows them taking English directly before lunch. Then they specifically have All Might's class right after lunch for 5th period, because afterwards Deku wakes up in the nurse's office and says he missed all his afternoon classes. We can also safely assume that homeroom is their last period, as they're always with Aizawa before class ends and they go home. Which leaves Midnight's Art History as the only other Hero class, and would therefore be 6th period.

Another interesting thing is that somehow Peter and Hatsume ended up in the same class, 1-H. I always assumed Mei would be in 1-F or 1-G with Power Loader as her homeroom teacher. So I made 1-H into the Connors class. Makes sense, he's a new teacher, and not a hero like the other teachers, so they created a third support course class for him to teach. However, it turns out that Hatsume is actually in Class 1-H and Power Loader isn't a homeroom teacher, he's just in charge of the support studio, so Peter and Hatsume got into the same class by some stroke of luck.

Some people were concerned that I was writing Peter too gullible or not intelligent enough after his misunderstanding with the Ruby-Quartz bomb and the Entrance exam. This was not the intention. I wanted Peter to be the kind to be brash and not look before leaping, causing him to be uninformed (this will change throughout the story as he gets more experience), however he quickly comes to an intelligent conclusion with the small amount of information he does have. Assuming the entrance exam was a villain attack is the most logical conclusion someone in Peter's situation could come to. And even if Peter suspected that Shocker was bluffing, it would still be smart for him to take the threat seriously on the off chance he wasn't. Hopefully I explained the entrance exam well enough in this chapter, and I made a slight change to chapter 5 so that it isn't revealed that the ruby-quartz would not explode until Doc Connors explains it at the end of the chapter, instead of Shocker's thoughts making it transparent that he's outright lying instead of simply making a gambit.

The cork board idea is admittedly something that would work a lot better in a visual medium where you could actually see the chaos and connections, rather than just reading a description of it. However, I still think it's a good reflection of Peter's psyche and state of indecision that he has to overcome. It also gives a good opportunity to recap all the dangling plot threads and give a general road map and game plan for Peter's goals going into the next arc, so that we're free to just jump into things.

Finally, I changed the first scene with Norman Osborn in chapter 1 now that I have a better idea of what I want to do and where I want to go with the character. The main focus of the passage is the same, but Eagle-eyed readers might notice some key details and hidden narrative upon a careful reading of the text. (I'm actually constantly tweaking and proofreading earlier chapters, so if you go back you may notice new details or foreshadowing that you missed the first read through)