Beyond Responsibility

Chapter 4: One Bad Night

"A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes." - Present Mic quoting Napoleon

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Safely back home, Peter changed out of his costume. The salvaged remains of Shocker's gauntlet was still webbed to his belt, so he chucked it into a corner of his closet next to his suit. He would love to reverse engineer anything he could learn from the device, but for now it was better that he took the time to apply some first aid to himself. He was pretty banged up, but Peter had found that he bounced back pretty quickly after getting his quirk. The bruising would leave him tender for a couple days, but the marks would be gone by morning, so he'd be able to fake it well enough to avoid most people's notice.

As he was wrapping himself in bandages, he saw the phone on the desk buzz out of the corner of his eye.

Missed messages? Harry and Aunt May called? What could be so important that they'd call me in the middle of the nigh- he slapped his forehead in realization.

Right, time zones. I promised to call them first chance I had, and evening for me is morning for them, of course they're trying to get ahold of me.

He quickly finished his first aid, hid his suit away, and changed into presentable clothing before typing away on his laptop to pull up a video call and invite Harry and Aunt May.

Harry was the first to pick up. "Hey Pete! How's Japan? How are all those cute Asian girls? I never did teach you how to get a date like I promised."

"Nice to see you too, Harry. Japan's been amazing so far, and there are no girls, I've only been here for one day, give me a break."

"Oh come on, you're telling me you haven't talked to one girl all day?"

"Well... I didn't say that." Peter admitted sheepishly.

Harry got a devilish grin. "My, don't you work fast. Not to worry, big bro Harry is here to help you get senpai to notice you."

"She's not my senpai! And you know senpai just means upperclassman! I never said I wanted to take her out, I barely know her."

"Man, you've got it bad. Listen, you don't have to know a girl to ask her out. You have it backwards. You get to know her by going on a date."

"How long are we gonna harp on this? It's been one day. I've got this entrance exam thing to worry about now."

"Please, we both know how desperate you are. Admit it, if you knew a girl would always say yes, you'd ask her out next time you saw her."

"Okay fine, but why does that matter? Of course no one's going to refuse the chance for a free date."

"Because I'm going to teach you a guaranteed method to get her to say yes, and now you have no excuse not to try."

"Yeah right, you're not Japanese. Whole 'nother ballgame over here. Besides, we're too busy preparing for the exams right now, bad timing."

"A study date then."

"I don't know, schedule's pretty full. I'd have to blow off my study date with my pal Harry, I hear he's really struggling."

"Low blow Pete. Now that you're not here, I'm one misstep away from failing. I was really relying on that field trip, fiasco that turned out to be."

"I'll email you all my old notes. But pretty soon all my school work's gonna be the Japanese curriculum, not American common core. So that's not a permanent solution. Hmm..." Peter furrowed his brow in thought. "You know Debra Whitman?"

"Your old geeky rival? What about her?"

"Take your own advice and ask her out on a few study dates. Should be no problem for Big Bro Harry to get senpai to notice him."