Marvel Brave: A power-lacking boy aims to be the strongest in a world of heroes. - Interrogation in the Spider's Web

Something cold touched his cheek. A drop of water. He had no idea how much time had passed. Had dawn broken? Or was it still pitch black outside? Haruto forced his heavy eyelids open and stared up at the dim ceiling. Exposed steel beams and cracked concrete. This was a room in an abandoned building he had desperately found yesterday—no, just a few hours ago. Every joint in his body ached. He had passed out on the asphalt. Of course he was sore. "…Nn." A small voice came from beside him. Haruto's heart gave a sudden leap. Sakura. Sakura, who had been unconscious this whole time, had just stirred faintly. Her long black hair, reaching down past her shoulder blades, swayed against the cold concrete. The half-up style she usually wore had come completely undone, spreading out around her in a way that looked almost painful. "Sakura…!" Forgetting his own pain, Haruto placed a hand on her shoulder. Her long, dark eyelashes trembled. Slowly, her large brown eyes opened. At first, they were unfocused, not really seeing anything. But then, strength returned to them, and they locked directly onto Haruto. "…Haru…to…?" Her voice was hoarse. But the moment he heard it, Haruto felt something that had been wound tight inside him finally unravel all at once. "Yeah, it's me! Haruto! Thank god, you're awake!" Without thinking, Haruto squeezed her hand tightly. He knew he was probably smiling with a terrible look on his face. He had a habit of forcing a smile when things got tough. The small scar at the edge of his right eyebrow—from a fall when he was a kid—twisted just a little in his awkward grin. Sakura stared blankly at the ceiling for a while, then slowly sat up. Unconsciously, she began twirling the ends of her hair around her finger. It was a habit of hers when she was anxious or lost in thought. "Where… are we?" Her voice trembled. "New York, apparently." "New… York…" Sakura's large, slightly droopy eyes opened even wider. "Listen, Haruto. I was having this really strange dream. Everything in front of me went pure white, and my body felt like it was being torn apart, like I was being flung somewhere far away…" "…It wasn't a dream." Haruto said it bluntly. "This isn't Japan. We can't understand the language, we have no money. No phones, either. And yesterday… I saw Iron Man flying in the sky." "Iron… Man?" Sakura tilted her head, unable to keep up. She wasn't exactly the type to be well-versed in popular American comics or anime. Taking many times longer than Haruto, she was finally beginning to grasp, little by little, the outrageous situation they had been thrown into. "So… you carried me here while I was unconscious, Haruto…?" "Well, yeah. That's about the size of it." Haruto scratched the back of his head. "…I see. So that's what happened." A single tear spilled from Sakura's large eyes. Whether it was from relief or anxiety, it was probably both. This time, she squeezed back the hand that Haruto was holding. Her hand was so very warm. "Thank you, Haruto. Thank you…" Unable to stop her tears, she repeated the words over and over. Her voice trembled gently, and like the warmth of spring sunshine, it slowly filled Haruto's frozen heart. "Don't worry about it. I did it because I wanted to." A little embarrassed, Haruto looked away. (*Thank god. She's here. She's safe. Thank god.*) Sakura wasn't just kind. She had a strong core. Haruto knew that. That was exactly why he didn't want to push her too hard, and why he felt he had to do something himself. Just being near her calmed his heart. That warmth, like spring sunshine, was his one and only reason for fighting against the world. "…Alright. So, about what we do from here on out—" Haruto steeled himself and began to speak. That was when it happened. A strange mechanical sound—*whirrr*—echoed from outside the abandoned building. It wasn't just one. Two, three, countless more. They were circling around the building. "What the…?" Tense, Haruto stood up and peered out through a broken window. And then, he held his breath. No, his lungs stopped moving completely. In the sky, numerous small black drones were hovering. Every single one of them had its camera pointed directly at them. As if to say, "Target acquired." "Sakura, get back!" Haruto instinctively shielded Sakura behind him and retreated to a corner of the room. The next instant— *CRASH!!* The heavy iron door at the entrance blew inward with a spectacular burst. Amid the deafening sound of destruction, a black-clad armed unit in combat gear swarmed into the room with disciplined movements. Every one of them had a specialized rifle aimed. "Don't move!" It was English. But even Haruto could understand that one word. "Hey, this is… some kind of mistake! We're just—" Haruto shouted desperately, but the soldiers showed no sign of listening. Every muzzle was aimed carelessly at Haruto and Sakura. "Stay out of the way." A cold voice rang out from behind the soldiers. The figures parted slowly, and a woman appeared. Her fiery red hair was pulled back tightly. Sharp emerald green eyes gave off a cold light. There was no emotion whatsoever in those eyes. The black tactical suit she wore spoke volumes about the fact that she was a person who had lived to fight. She glanced at the cowering Haruto and Sakura, and as if looking at insects, declared in mechanical Japanese: "Interdimensional drifters, Haruto and Sakura." At her words, Haruto felt the blood drain from his entire body. She knew their names. And not just that. She had been "observing" them from the very beginning. "…Who are you?" "S.H.I.E.L.D. We've been monitoring you since the moment you appeared in Central Park yesterday." S.H.I.E.L.D. Haruto knew that name well. An international peacekeeping organization. A massive, super-sized agency that managed the world from the shadows. And they had caught the attention of a group like that. "Wait, we haven't done anything wrong—" "Agents, non-lethal suppression is authorized." Cutting off Haruto's words, Black Widow gave the order flatly. "—!" One of the soldiers threw something at Haruto's feet. A blinding light and a roar that felt like it would tear his eardrums apart. In the split second that Haruto tried to shield Sakura, a searing impact shot through his back. His muscles contracted. Losing all control of his body, Haruto collapsed clumsily to the floor. His vision whited out. Almost simultaneously, he heard Sakura's short scream. "Sakura…!" He shouted her name, but his voice wouldn't work properly. Haruto's consciousness, mercilessly, blacked out. The next time he woke up, Haruto was restrained to a cold metal chair. The fluorescent light overhead flickered unreliably with a *bzzz, bzzz*. It was a bleak, entirely gray room. A single steel table sat in the middle. The walls surrounding them were probably one-way mirrors; there was an eerie, oppressive feeling. The S.H.I.E.L.D. New York branch—an interrogation room disguised deep underground in Lower Manhattan. How long had it been? Ten minutes? An hour? In this room with no clock and no windows, he felt like he was losing his sense of time entirely. With a *shhh* of compressed air, the room's sliding door opened. That woman. Black Widow. Carrying a thick tablet device, she sat down in the chair across from Haruto. Her left wrist was hidden by the long black sleeve of her tactical suit, so he couldn't see it. But Haruto knew. Beneath it were countless old scars, carved into her in the Red Room where she once belonged. Her emerald green eyes pierced through Haruto. It was a gaze that sized him up, like a predator eyeing its prey. "Answer the questions." There was no preamble. "Who are you people? Why did you come to this dimension? What is your objective?" "We're… just high school students. We came from Japan. Why this happened to us… we want to know that more than anyone." Haruto answered honestly, his voice trembling. Without changing her expression, Black Widow tapped her tablet. She didn't seem to believe the word "ordinary." "Haruto. Age 17. Physical ability below average. School grades are mediocre. No special skills, certifications, or special abilities. Truly, 'just a human.' No power whatsoever." She precisely, mercilessly, gouged out the inferiority complex Haruto had been carrying ever since he arrived in this world. "…You don't have to tell me. I know." "Sakura. Also 17. Your childhood friend. To you, is she the only existence worth protecting?" Haruto bit his lip. "In this world, superhuman heroes like Iron Man and Captain America actually exist. Alien threats, national conspiracies—it's all real. And just the aftershocks of their battles can bring down buildings. People die on a daily basis." She laid out reality for him, mechanically and dispassionately. "How do you intend to protect Sakura? With that useless body of yours?" That was the heart of the matter. She wasn't blaming him for his powerlessness. It was simply a "fact check." "In the past, I have seen many 'ordinary people' who tried to protect lovers, friends, and family die without being able to lift a finger. The more you have to protect, the more cruelly a powerless person dies. That is the rule of this world." Her words were as sharp as a blade, gouging deep into Haruto's heart. His knees trembled with fear. What she said was all too correct. He had no power. His physical strength was below average. He didn't know how to fight, and he had no special talents. But. "Even so." Haruto clenched his trembling fist tightly. "…I've decided I'm going to protect Sakura. I have no choice but to manage with my head and my own two feet. That's why I was aiming for Stark Tower. I thought if I could get there, there might be something." At his words, Black Widow's emerald green eyes glimmered, just for an instant. "…Stark Tower, you say?" Her tone took on a shade of interest for the first time. "Interesting. No power, no wisdom, no money. All you have is that 'head' you mentioned. And Stark Tower happens to be the place where the smartest man in this world resides. How do you plan to use that head to get your foot in the door?" "…I don't know yet. But I have to do it. If I don't, Sakura really will die." There was no lie in Haruto's words. Black Widow fell silent for a few seconds. Rubbing her left wrist, she seemed to be thinking about something. To her, who had lost her own sense of normalcy long ago, that "reckless determination" might have seemed dazzling. She turned a probing gaze on Haruto. "…I'll give you a trial." She declared it in an icy voice. "I'm Black Widow, one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most elite spies. So you can be sure I mean it. After you hear this, I wonder if you'll still be able to make that face." She stood up and looked down at Haruto. "One week. Within one week, you will, on your own, secure a direct meeting with Pepper Potts and make her acknowledge your value. She's the CEO of Stark Industries. She's the lover of a superhero, and one of the busiest women in this world. If you succeed, you will be released on provisional parole, and we will tacitly permit your contact with Stark Industries." "And if I can't?" "In that case, you will spend the rest of your lives under S.H.I.E.L.D. supervision. As nothing more than interdimensional flotsam." It was a nearly impossible challenge. They couldn't speak the language, had no connections, and nothing to prove themselves with. A powerless high school student from Japan, meeting and ingratiating himself with the head of a top company in this country, in just one week. Normally, it was a situation that would make anyone despair and hold their head in their hands. However, Haruto— "…Understood." He looked straight back at Black Widow. His brown eyes, though trembling with fear, had not given up. "I'll take it. That trial." Black Widow narrowed her eyes just sli

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Episode 2

Name: Marvel Brave: A power-lacking boy aims to be the strongest in a world of heroes.
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