The Spider-Men: Crisis On Infinite Earths

CHAPTER-26: Round 2, Fight!

ARUSH KUMAR'S POV:
June 2nd, Friday

I made my way to Sewing Room-2 as I had texted Hinami to meet me there, and it would be rude to make her wait.

"Morning, Hinami."

"What's all the fuss about so early in the morning?"

"I might've cleared my small goal." I said, remembering what happened yesterday.

"Oh, so somebody said something! Someone in your family maybe?"

"Uh... yeah. My brothers noticed it last night."

Meanwhile, last night...

'You look gay.'

'Welcome back to my YouTube channel guys. Today's topic is "Top 10 worst trims of all time", and we have our number 1 spot right here–.'

'Bro looks like a pumpkin now.'

...

"I see... Well, you may have attained your goal... but you don't seem awfully bothered by what your brothers said."

"Hey a goal cleared is a goal cleared, right?" I said as I shrugged.

"Very well." She said as she moved towards the board. "First goal: achieved. Congratulations! Good for you..."

"Uh, thanks."

"Well, moving on– your next small goal would be... Go somewhere with a girl from school who isn't me– just the two of you."

Oh, great. Another bullshit task.

"Alone with a girl? That's basically a date." I said, confused.

"Not even a middle schooler would say that– not in this day and age."

"And with that, your task for today– or actually, for every day this week: Talk to Izumi Yuzu at least twice a day."

"Wait, why Izumi? I thought we were gonna prioritize Kikuchi after what you said at the restaurant..." I said slowly, but as soon as I said that, I figured out why she didn't wanna bring that topic up.

"That's... right." She said while biting her lip, before composing herself. "But real life isn't like a dating sim. Raise your affection level with a given girl, and it goes up with other girls too. it can also make them feel possessive– and even improve your status as a male."

"That's not sincere at all." I said simply. "I already told you–"

"I know, I know! I remember what you said. But it's too early for a loner like you to be worrying about that. So we'll save it for when you're in a sincere relationship."

"Alright... I'll talk to Izumi twice everyday this week." I said, before turning around and walking out of the room.

...

"Where'd they keep their salicylic acid?" I asked Ritvik as we entered the Chemistry lab.

"If I knew I wouldn't have brought you along with me now, would I?" he replied. "Find it quickly and let's head to the library."

"Library? Why the library?"

"It's usually pretty empty around this hour."

"I found some toluene and carbon tetrachloride."

"Good. I got the potassium carbonate and ethyl acetate. Now we only need methanol and salicylic acid."

You might be wondering why are we stealing random chemicals from the chemistry lab. A very genuine question... The answer is quite simple, actually– we're making some web-fluid for on-campus storage, and since we can't go back to the mansion right now, we're doing our best to improvise, adapt, and overcome.