-New day, new me. Literally-

  Downtown TB—Shiromori Residence, Ryu’s Room

  Waking up used to be a groggy mess. Now I'm painfully aware of everything–the hum of the fridge, the insufferable squeaking of my ceiling fan, every creak of the floorboard as Mom prepares breakfast.

  Honestly, it's not that it's annoying…just different. It's more like your senses woke up before you did. Goodbye quiet mornings, I guess.

  I quickly freshen up before joining Mom for breakfast. The smell of egg and toast fills the kitchen. Minami Shiromori, my mom, greeted me with her usual tired smile as I transferred the fried eggs that she cooked onto two plates.

  “You seem full of energy today, Ryu.” She was pouring tea into her favourite cup.

  “And you should get more rest, mom. You work too much at the shelter.” I handed her a plate of fried eggs and toast.

  “Hey you're the one who got sick last night!” she snapped back, grabbing the plate from my hand. “Is the fever gone?”

  Buzzing. My spidey sense flared. A warning sensation.

  Mom. Elbow. Teapot.

  A split second later, she knocked the teapot over. I reached out, catching the teapot mid air, a few drops of tea spilling out of the spout. I gripped the handle too hard, and I could feel the handle splitting.

  Mom, wide eyes, looked at the teapot and back to me. “Fast hands for a sick boy.”

  “Still got that boxer’s reflex.” I said with a nervous chuckle while pouring myself a glass.

  “So, how is Neuroflex?” Mom asked as I bit into my buttered toast.

  “A headache. Most of the data we pull is static or useless.” I shook my head slightly in frustration.

  “You three will get there. You always do.”

  “Speaking of you three,” Mom took a sip of her tea. “I haven't seen Ming in a while. How is she?”

  I choked on my toast–my thumb pressing the fork hard, bending it like it was soft clay.

  Mom stared at the fork, and I placed it on the counter like nothing happened.

  “She's fine. Why’d you ask” I grabbed myself a new fork.

  “Well, she wasn't here yesterday. Asri was the one that helped me take care of you.”

  “Maybe she was busy.” I took a bite of my fried egg.

  “I'd expect the ‘girlfriend’ to stay and nurse you too.” Mom smirked, sipping her tea.

  I nearly choked again. “She's not my girlfriend, Mom!” I blurted out.

  “Of course not. I'd sooner hear you get into another fight with those troublemakers down the street than hear you and Ming make any progress.”

  I blushed at the thought of confessing to Ming. “I don't like her like that. She's a good friend.”

  “Hm, just like your late father. He'd blush as well when his friends would talk about me.” She finishes the last bite of her toast.

  Dad, Hiroto Shiromori, was a firefighter–a damn good one. He died as he lived: charging into danger without hesitation. A gang of street thugs set fire to an apartment–something about loan shark debt. A few families were trapped inside, and he charged in at once. Kept going even when his oxygen mask malfunctioned. The fire didn't kill him, but the smoke did. But not before he got everyone out.

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  “You know,” Mom suddenly spoke. “You're just as much a firefighter as your dad.”

  I looked at her confused. “How? I'm a science student. Dad's a hero.”

  Mom smiled, ruffling my mullet. “Yeah, but you take ‘fighter’ in 'firefighter’ too literally, and you have a fire for science.”

  “Hey, I haven't been in any fights lately!” I gave her a smug look.

  “That's because you're stuck in a lab. What's there to fight? Your science project?”

  “See, proof that I've been good.”

  “You sure it's not proof that you want to be with Ming more?” her teasing smirk widens.

  “MOM!” I jabbed my eggs a little too hard. Crack. A small chip formed in the plate where I stabbed it.

  Thank God Mom didn’t hear that. I quickly grabbed a tissue, brushing away the tiny shard before she could notice, then finished my breakfast.

  She grabbed my empty plate and reminded me that if I don't go now I'll be late for class. Crap.

  I grabbed my sling bag and my spare lab coat, kissed Mom goodbye and rushed out of the house.

  Downtown TB– Bridgepath, TBU, Main Campus

  TBU was always a busy place–especially in the morning. Students were scattered around the main hub. A group was discussing their group projects at the Study Nook–something about synth music. Another group of students were discussing last night’s local e-sport tournament by a vending machine. Guess VGs lost again to Red Giants. Some were hanging by the Graffiti Wall, talking about going to a famous nightclub at Neon Row.

  I found Asri on a nearby communal table–buried away in his laptop, surrounded by a small group of robotic engineering students. A small humanoid animatronic stood on the table, connected to his laptop that was plastered with Hack The Planet or Free Wifi Access stickers plastered on it.

  “So if we rewrite this section of the code like this…”He muttered to himself, frantically typing on his laptop.

  He hit the Enter button, and the small animatronic on the table started to move.

  “Huzzah!” a student exclaimed.

  “As, you're a genius!” Another exclaimed.

  Asri just sat there, looking at the animatronic dancing, satisfaction filled his gaze.

  I pat him on the shoulder, reading the code that he wrote.

  “Did you have to add your tag at the end of the code?” I point at the last line of the code, which was #asriwuzhere

  “Hey, it's so that people know that's my work!” He pushes me away playfully.

  “Uh huh, narcissistic much?”

  Asri shakes his head, grinning. He saved the code into a pendrive and tossed it to a nearby student.

  “Here, send this to the robotics department. Tell them it should work if they don't mess with it.” The student nodded and the group dispersed, some of them glancing shyly at Ryu.

  A sharp voice cut through the noise, unmistakable in its tone.

  “This early in the morning and you're hitting on girls?” Ryu didn't even need to guess who that was.

  “Aww Ming, you hurt me.” I clutched my chest, staring at the pixie-haired girl.

  “I could make it worse.” She snapped, punching me in the shoulder.

  My Spidey sense softly flared at Ming's fist, but I let her punch land. Wait… that should’ve hurt more.

  “Ouch Ming, no love for me anymore?” I looked at her with puppy eyes, bracing my shoulder, but the pain was not there.

  “I'll dig those eyes out if you keep making that face.” She sharply sighed. “C'mon, we got class.”

  Asri packed his laptop, while me and Ming continued to bicker.

  That was our usual morning. Asri doing something with his laptop, me and Ming bickered back and forth. Even with these…spider powers, it couldn't change my morning routine with these two.