Is It Okay To Have Dinner With The Spider

【十一】UTIRF

She'd begun to go to Tetsuki's house more frequently now. It was a place she could escape to, a place she'd feel accepted without having to act like the Spider. No, the person who often visited Tetsuki was Reina. The true Reina. This would be her seventh visit. She paused on a rooftop near his house and blinked, her long dark hair flying in the zephyr. The beads threaded through her plait, clicked together.

The alley where she usually met Tetsuki was already occupied - he was waiting, sitting with a bowl of food at hand. Laughing, she jumped down from the roof, throwing out her legs to stop herself from crashing to the ground. "You're already here? What do you just come here every night?!"

Tetsuki blushed slightly, "No. Shut up."

The girl giggled and sat down. "So what do you have for me today? I especially like your teriyaki, you know?" Reina took the bowl from his hands and peered in, grinning at the food. "Wow, thanks."

"Don't you start demanding what you want like Chika. I do not take order - I ain't your waiter," Tetsuki warned.

"Hhm? Who's this Chika dude?"

Tetsuki rubbed his neck and took a deep breath, "He's a handful of a friend. Used to get into a lot of fights in middle school but he's good now. Even got into a club and is learning the koto. You know, that old traditional Japanese instrument thing? Yeah, that. I'm really proud of him. He's my best friend though it feels like he's my kid brother or something."

Reina wiped her mouth, having already finished her dinner. It was amazing - ever since she'd met Tetsuki, she'd never felt hungry. "Chika? Hang on.... you don't mean.... Ah, doesn't matter. I used to know a guy called Chika, in the Grey Den. But that was a year ago, he disappeared though. Probably isn't the same guy - don't worry. The guy I knew was evil to the bone."

Tetsuki shook his head, "No, we're talking about the same guy. Chika used to hang out in the Grey Den a lot as well."

She widened her eyes and stared at him, "Oh, what? Chika's your friend?" Reina smiled and cocked her head. "He's lucky that he's got you to drag him out of there. I used to see him all the time. He was that type of cool looking guy who'd just beat your ass up if you even got close. I never got close enough to grace his punches though."

The boy beside her snorted and laughed. "You sound like you're in love with someone," her murmured teasingly.

Reina gawked and jabbed his ribs angrily, "Shut up! I do not! It's offensive to even think that!"

Rubbing his ribs painfully, he gave a sly grin, "It was just a thought resulted from the way you spoke of him."

"Tetsuki!"

"Okay, sorry!" When he calmed down from his laughter, he straightened his back and leaned backwards. Glancing at the Spider, he opened his mouth to speak. "I'll bet this on everyone's mind, but I'll ask anyway."

"Hm? What question?" Reina inquired curiously.

"You're really not human, are you?" Reina looked down numbly, "You're superhuman. But that's not meant to be a thing. Superhumans belong in comics, books, shows, anime, movies. But not in real life. How did you get these powers? I don't think even labs do this sort of thing. Do they? Unless you come from one."

Reina shook her head. "It's nothing like that." She paused. "Actually I'm not even sure how I got it. I remember an old man giving it to me. He used to be really nice to me and he was friends with my parents. The old man used to make kotos too, those weird instruments. I used to watch him make them. So then he gave me a fruit, a weird looking one too, and told me to eat it. I did and got these powers."

"A fruit? That's all?" Tetsuki raised an eyebrow.

"A special fruit."

"This is unbelievable," he sighed.

"Then don't believe it."

Tetsuki chuckled, "Well it doesn't really answer my question does it?"

"You think you're the only one who's been trying to figure all this out? The old man moved houses and then I never saw him again. Try living with this unknown power and then start asking questions. All you normal guys don't have anything to do with it yet you still poke your business into it like a bunch of assholes," Reina folded her arms, "That's what the government's trying to do anyways."

Tetsuki gazed at the girl sitting next to him. She was playing with pebbles on the ground. So that was the story of her life? How she turned from human to the world renowned Spider? She looked so different to those images and videos shown on TV. It was more than incredible. The way the government twisted everything she did into such a crime. Sure if anyone was being chased by the government like she was worth a million dollars, and forced to live in the streets. "I'm sorry, it must be hard."

"No. I shouldn't be making you worry about it."

"What are you talking about? You're not making me do anything. You're my friend and I care about you," Tetsuki smiled, "You're not quite used to the idea of friends are you?"

Reina turned red and turned away, "Shut up, Tetsuki!"

He laughed, "Anyway, I did some research one your poison."

She turned back to him, interested. "Did you find anything that could fix me?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I got my dad to help look at it for me and it seems like some sort of mutated poison cell. Mutated strychnine if you want to exact. You're supposed to be dead the minute you have it in your body, but you're still living. It's probably got something to do with that fruit you ate, or how your super body is built. But it's still going to kill you either way, just not right now. The poison is meant to cause convulsions, muscle contraction. Shaking, tremors, stuff like that in your body," Tetsuki explained thoroughly, "I'll try to help find something for it. But I apologise if I can't. Strychnine isn't very common here. But tell me, have you experience any of those effects?"

Reina stiffened, her fingers turning white and cold. "Y-yes. I thought weed might help. But it hasn't happened yet."

"Okay, that may help. I'm not sure. anything could at this point. The strychnine in your body was modified to be stronger - well, that's what I think. So try weed anyway," Tetsuki nodded.

She leaned back and bumped her head on the wall, resting. "You know, people our age aren't really supposed to be taking drugs. It really ruins people lives. I've seen it happen."

He nodded but sighed. "Plenty of high schoolers do it anyway. Younger and younger people take drugs nowadays. I think if you need the drug, then so be it. But if you don't, just don't take it. Like you said, it ruins lives."

"I still feel it's wrong to take it."

The dark haired boy, flicked his head around and stared at her. Bursting out laughing uproariously. "AHAHAHAHAHAHA...! I'm sorry.... HAHAHA.... I just - AHAHAHAHA."

Rolling her eyes and clicking her tongue in annoyance, she could understand why he was laughing.

"You're supposed to be the meanest, most ruthless villain. Yet you think taking drugs is wrong? When it's supposed to be for medical reasons?! You're absolutely hilarious," Tetsuki's laughter toned down to a chuckle.

"BYE," Reina said scornfully and jumped away.

"Don't die!" He teased.

Tetsuki grinned as he watched her amazing figure fly away using her spider legs. It was incredible how well he'd gotten to know Reina. She wasn't the cold killer he'd expected her to be. His touched his beating heart. Was it okay to feel this way towards the Spider?

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FRUIT