Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Page of Cups

Duncan sat on one of the gym seats at school. He was looking at the court in front of him; the sound of shoes squeaking could be heard as the class was playing dodgeball at the time.

He sat alone, waiting for his turn. He could see Parker and his friend Ned conversing in the corner, and Moon conversing with Gwen on the opposite side of the court, both seemingly waiting for their turns.

Duncan sat silently, evidently observing the game closely, as the game progressed. But he was really thinking about something else. He was thinking about the "bonds" he needed to advance in order to get more of those beneficial little abilities. He assumed it would be easy with Gwen because she was a classmate; with Miss Lang, he could chat with her for about a month, but he didn't know where he could talk to her after that.

In his opinion, the Justice Arcana was the most difficult. He couldn't think of a way to approach Gwen's father; after all, she was only his classmate, nothing more, and asking her if he could meet her father would be awkward.

That is, he is assuming that he has to bond with Gwen's father; after all, there was also that sketcher, but he thought the chances of that were slim.

Another possibility is that the bond isn't with Gwen's father in the first place, but he was still puzzled about how this system works—are the bonds exclusively for individuals? Can bonds be formed based on the notion that the other party is, well, a party?

Can he form a relationship with an organization like the NYPD?

He believed that theory made sense, but how can he form a bond with them if that's the case? Every day, he enters the precinct? helping them catch criminals?

Helping them...

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Mr. Wilson, the PE instructor of this class, called his name.

"Plagmann!" he yelled. "You're awake."

When Duncan's name was called, he just sighed. He removed his glasses. While he knew that wearing glasses to school was a bit redundant because he didn't need them anymore, he still felt the need to blend in; after all, he was previously half blind without those glasses, and if people suddenly noticed that he doesn't have eyesight problems anymore, it's a bit suspicious.

Though now that he thinks about it, that's just a stupid notion. After all, he still had to remove his glasses for PE.

"Hurry up, Plagmann!" exclaimed Mr. Wilson. "To the court!"

Mr. Wilson's instructions were plainly followed by Duncan. Each squad consisted of four men and two women; Duncan's team included himself, Thompson, Ned Leeds, Peter Parker, Sally Avril, and Cindy Moon.

Thompson could be heard whispering as they were in position.

"Great, I have literal twigs on my team," he grumbled in displeasure. He then glanced at Sally Avril, who was on the heavier side. "As well as a fucking balloon..."

Duncan thought that this world's Flash Thompson isn't nice at all. He's not like the MCU movies Duncan saw in his previous life. Bulkier, considerably whiter, and a bigger asshole.

Mr. Wilson appeared to disregard Thompson and blew the whistle.

Thompson began the game by throwing the ball as hard as he could to the opposing squad. Midtown High isn't known for its football or basketball teams, so the team in front of them isn't particularly athletic.

Thompson resumed the game by outing three of the boys in less than a minute. It was a massacre, but the final boy on the opposing team, an African-American called Abraham, evaded the ball, and possession shifted to the opposing team.

Abraham demonstrates a tremendous throw. He started with Ned since he was the easiest to beat up, and then he moved on to Parker, who didn't have his powers yet and was easily beaten up.

However, when Abraham targeted Duncan, he effortlessly caught the ball Abraham hurled at him. Duncan then launched a counterattack by throwing it towards the boy. The soft ball flew through the air and landed on the boy's head, putting him out cold.

There were several gasps from the bench when Duncan conceded that it looked terrible from a distance.

"Oooh… Are you okay?" Duncan asked, still in his area.

Abraham wriggled a little in agony before groaning. "Yes, I'm OK. Good throw though."

"Alright, move out of the court, Brown," said Mr. Wilson to Abraham.

The game then continued. The rest of the two enemy teams, Gwen and another girl that Duncan didn't know, stood awkwardly. Duncan, with the ball in his hand, smirked at the blonde girl, which made her frown.

"Okay, you boys, you can stop now," said Mr. Wilson, stopping the game. "Girls, continue playing."

Duncan was a bit disappointed at the announcement. He continued to put on a grin towards Gwen before dropping the ball to the ground.

Though Duncan thought, is this even Dodgeball? It doesn't look like it to him, to be honest...

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder; it was Thompson.

"Good one, Plagmann," he said with a not-so-pleasant smirk.

Duncan merely hummed and looked at him strangely. He then sat on the benches for the remainder of the lesson.

—

Friday late afternoon. Duncan sat in front of the nurse's desk again. Miss Lang just brought her purse and her phone this time. The woman was dressed in a black gown, as if she had just returned from a funeral.

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The woman turned to face Duncan and placed her hands on the table. "How have you been these last few days, Duncan?"

"Fine, I guess." Duncan shrugged.

"Nothing interesting going on in your life?" Marcia queried again.

"No," Duncan replied.

"Well, this will be a brief session." Marcia chuckled. "Do you have anything planned for the weekend?"

"Well, if staying in bed all night counts, then yes," Duncan responded nonchalantly.

"Really? No plans with anyone? For example, Miss Stacy?" Marcia enquired once more, clearly fascinated.

The question piqued Duncan's attention. "Why would I want to make plans with her? We've already done our homework. How do you even know Gwen?"

"Well, I asked the teachers about your friends, and aside from Mr. Peter Parker, you're really close to that girl," Marcia explained. "Sometimes, Duncan, chatting to a friend is better than talking to me."

Duncan simply hummed in response to the suggestion. He asked a question while looking down at the floor. "Do you have an office or somewhere I could go when these sessions are finished?"

"Do you mean my office?" Miss Lang was surprised. "I'm flattered that you want to meet me after our deal is done, Duncan," he says, "but I'd rather see you have friends and not talk to me than you talk to me and have no friends."

Duncan let out a sigh. "All right, I'll ask that question at the end of the last session, but for now, I'd like to ask you about socializing."

"Really?" Miss Lang's face brightened. "Go ahead and ask."

"Well, you see, how can you befriend your friend's dad?" Duncan inquired solemnly.

"Excuse me?" Miss Lang assumed she had misheard. "Befriend your friend's dad?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's quite weird, right? How do you even do that?"

Miss Lang cleared her throat briefly. "Duncan. Is your friend a girl... or a boy?"

"A girl. Why? Is there any difference?"

Miss Lang was staring at Duncan strangely. "Is it George Stacy? Miss Stacy's father?"

"Yeah. that's it."

Miss Lang chuckled awkwardly. "But for what purpose? Do you want to impress her or something?"

"Oh no, I'm just interested in his line of work." Duncan made a shaky motion with his head. "So? Should I just ask Gwen if I could meet with her father to talk about his career or something?"

"Well, it would be the most obvious solution to your problem," Mr. Lang replied, still perplexed. "However, if you want to know how the police do their work, I recommend that you go to their office right away."

"Yeah, that's a good idea too…" Duncan murmured. "So, let's say I want to earn their trust. What do you recommend I do? Cause I imagine they're just not going to accept a random kid into their precinct all of a sudden."

"Well, if you want to join the police force, you can go to the police academy." Lang, Miss. "That's about all the advice I can give you because that's not my area of expertise."

Duncan hummed as he repeatedly tapped the side of his chair. He appeared to be deep in contemplation; the room was quiet for approximately 30 seconds before Duncan snapped his fingers, which piqued Miss Lang's interest.

"Marcia, what do you think the word "bonds" means?" Duncan inquired.

"Bonds? As in relationships?" said Miss Lang .

"Yeah. Do you think that people can form bonds with one another even though they hate each other?" Duncan went on.

"That is certainly an interesting question." Marcia stated. "In my opinion. You certainly can. You did not impose any restrictions on the bonds. Bonds might be family, friendship, or romantic... Bonds can also form when two people loathe each other so much that they are aware of each other's flaws and secrets."

"That makes sense." Duncan made a hum. "Well, I guess I'll do that suggestion you gave me. About asking Gwen if I could ask her dad about his work... So I gotta go now."

"Then, Duncan, thank you for coming." Miss Lang gave the kid a friendly grin. "Although brief, it was pretty intriguing."

"Right," Duncan mumbled. "Thank you, Marcia. See you next week."

Duncan then quickly exited the room, leaving the woman alone. The boy sighed deeply as he turned toward the corridor.

"No rank up, huh?"

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