My Name Is Red Scarf

Three days passed quickly. Kraft brought the gift he had prepared for Aunt May and took a ride to Queens.

"Aunt May, happy birthday."

Walking into the Parkers’ yard, Kraft handed the gift to Peter Parker beside him, then stepped forward to give Aunt May a hug before greeting the middle-aged man at her side.

"Uncle Ben, long time no see."

"Hello, Kraft."

Benjamin Parker stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder. Smiling, he said, "I saw the news about you on TV a while back. It really gave me a scare."

Kraft curled his lip. "It was all that troublemaker Stark’s fault. He’s been driving me crazy."

"Hey! How can you say that about Mr. Stark?!"

Peter Parker stood up for his idol from the side.

"Why can’t I? He’s not my idol. To me, he’s just a huge pain. That’s all."

"But your products only sold so well because of Mr. Stark’s promotion!"

Peter Parker argued with righteous conviction.

"Oh? Do you think my family is short on that little bit of money?"

Kraft lifted his chin, his face full of disdain.

"You’re really annoying right now, Kraft! You’ve become exactly what you used to hate!"

"Yes, because I was just imitating what Tony Stark usually acts like."

Kraft shrugged and mocked him.

"See? Without the fan filter, you actually find Tony Stark pretty annoying too."

"Th-That’s completely different!"

Peter Parker stubbornly retorted.

At that moment, Aunt May came over to smooth things over. She put a hand on Kraft’s shoulder and pushed him toward the house.

"Enough, enough. Stop bullying Peter. Come try the apple pie I made."

"Oh, fine. It really is a bit improper for a seventh grader like me to bully a big eleventh grader."

Kraft spread his hands and let Aunt May guide him inside.

"Come on, Peter. Help me bring out the grill."

Uncle Ben patted Peter on the back in consolation, then pulled him toward the house.

"Oh! Look who it is! Our little genius, Kraft Lee!"

The moment he entered, chubby Ned Leeds came wobbling over, his fat jiggling as he shouted in an exaggerated tone.

Kraft was fairly friendly toward this fellow Asian chubby kid. He held out his hand and high-fived Ned, then modestly said, "Come on, Ned. The stuff I make isn’t that technologically advanced. Haven’t a bunch of knockoff products already appeared?"

America’s copyright laws were already considered quite strict, but capitalists could always find loopholes. After Stark made the mechanical lock popular, all sorts of similar yet slightly different puzzle locks quickly appeared, along with forced-exercise equipment like the Shatter the Cauldrons Treadmill.

"But none of them got recruited by the famous Tony Stark, did they?"

"Oh, don’t joke around…" Kraft rolled his eyes. "Do you really think Tony Stark sees me differently? He just said it casually."

Without the fan filter, Kraft was still clearheaded. With Tony Stark’s unreliable personality, he might have forgotten Kraft’s name the moment the interview ended.

Chatting and laughing with Ned as they entered the living room, Kraft picked up a slice of Aunt May’s homemade apple pie and looked over the other people in the room while eating.

A few familiar faces were probably staff from the shelter, while two or three strangers might have been Uncle Ben’s friends. Other than that, there was no one else.

"Doesn’t seem like there are many people here."

Kraft swallowed his apple pie and looked at Ned in confusion. With Aunt May and Uncle Ben’s kindhearted personalities, they should have had more friends than this. Martin had thrown Aunt May birthday parties at the shelter twice before, and every time they had been packed to the rafters.

Ned answered irritably, "The Parkers’ place is this small. Where would all those people even stand?"

"Okay, that was dumb of me."

Kraft slapped his forehead, then looked around.

"Where’s Mary? Why hasn’t she come either?"

Mary’s full name was Mary Jane Watson. Besides being Peter’s neighbor, classmate, and crush, she was also the niece of Aunt May’s friend Anna Watson. Logically, she should have attended Aunt May’s birthday party too.

"I heard Aunt May gave Peter the task of inviting Mary, and then… you know."

Ned shrugged helplessly.

"Oho~"

Kraft narrowed his eyes and flashed a foxlike, crafty smile.

"There’s a Chinese saying: a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. Isn’t it rude not to invite Mary to Aunt May’s birthday?"

"Tell Peter that."

Ned shook his head and picked up his fourth slice of apple pie. That was only the number Kraft had seen since entering; Ned must have eaten plenty before that too.

Kraft reached out and patted Ned’s big belly. "Looking at you, I can practically see David’s future."

"David? Oh, the one whose family owns a restaurant!" Ned licked his lips and quickly remembered Fatty Liao. "Their food is really good! It’s just too expensive!"

"Wait! Weren’t we just talking about Mary Jane? Why did we start talking about my figure again?"

Ned slapped away Kraft’s hand, which had been harassing his belly, then took a deep breath in an attempt to make it look less round. Unfortunately, he failed.

"What about Mary Jane?"

Hearing the name he cared about, Peter hurried over from where he had been working and fixed Kraft with a wary stare.

"Don’t do anything crazy, Kraft!"

"How am I doing anything crazy?" Kraft retorted indignantly. "Is inviting Mary over for the party doing something crazy?"

"Uh…" Peter’s face turned red at once. He fidgeted and said, "But wouldn’t it be too late to tell her now?"

Kraft looked at the coward who wanted it desperately but still could not make up his mind with contempt. "And whose fault is it that it’s this late, huh?"

Peter Parker covered his face in shame and fled.

Ned shook his head and sighed helplessly. His friend really was a little too timid, getting completely bullied by a kid four or five years younger than him.

"Come on."

Kraft tugged Ned’s arm.

"Let’s go get Mary."

"If you’re going to get Mary, can’t you just go by yourself? She’s right next door anyway…"

As Ned spoke, his eyes kept drifting toward Uncle Ben, who was carrying raw steaks and hot dogs outside, and he swallowed now and then.

You’re going to eat yourself to death!

Kraft said with a face full of black lines, "You really aren’t coming? Don’t complain later that I didn’t include you."

"Hm? Are you planning to mess with Peter again?"

Ned tore his attention away from the barbecue and looked at Kraft seriously.

As Peter’s friend, Ned had seen more than once how this brat came up with all sorts of ways to bully Peter. Thinking of Peter getting set up by Kraft again, he took a deep breath.

"Please, you have to bring me!"

Kraft stretched his neck and looked around. Peter was being kept busy by Uncle Ben and was not paying attention to this side. Then Kraft grabbed Ned’s arm and quickly ran outside.

The two ran out of the Parkers’ house, went around the back, and arrived beneath Mary’s home.

Ned watched Kraft pull a palm-sized electric megaphone from his pocket, fiddle with it a few times, and raise it to his mouth.

"Hey~ Ned, it’s me, Peter Parker, your best friend!"

Yet the voice coming from the megaphone was Peter Parker’s.

"Holy shit!!!"

Ned’s chubby face twisted into an exaggerated expression. He snatched the megaphone from Kraft’s hand and held it to his own mouth, trying out a few lines.

"I, Peter Parker, am Ned Leeds’ most loyal lackey."

"Whoa! This thing is amazing! Kraft, you’re a genius!"

Ned fondly fiddled with the megaphone in his hand and gave Kraft a thumbs-up.

Kraft took the Voice Mimic Device back from Ned, turned its volume all the way up, then aimed it at Mary Jane’s house and shouted in Peter’s voice, "Mary! I miss you! Mary! I miss you so much I can’t sleep!!!"

The instant he finished shouting, Kraft quickly put away the device and took off running. Ned froze for a moment before hurriedly fleeing after him.

The amplified voice startled not only Mary Jane, who had been resting in the house, but also Peter Parker, who was helping Uncle Ben and Aunt May.

"Who was that? Confessing to Mary?!"

Peter Parker’s heart clenched. When people spoke, the voice they heard themselves differed somewhat from the voice others heard, so he did not realize that the voice just now had actually been his own.

But Uncle Ben and Aunt May knew Peter’s voice far too well.

"Peter, wasn’t that just your voice?"

Uncle Ben scratched his head in confusion and instinctively reached out to touch Peter in front of him. Even now, he had not figured out what was happening.

"My voice?"

Young Peter might have been timid, but there was nothing wrong with his intelligence. In fact, he was far smarter than the average person, so he quickly worked out what had happened.

"Kraft!!!"

Peter Parker dropped what he was doing and sprinted toward Mary Jane’s house.

Then he happened to run into Mary Jane, who had pushed open her window and leaned out to see what was going on.

"Peter?"

Red-haired Mary Jane raised an eyebrow, her expression almost a smile.

She and Peter Parker were neighbors as well as classmates, and their elders were best friends, so they knew each other quite well. Mary could naturally sense Peter’s affection for her. Usually, this guy could barely squeeze out a word, yet today he was suddenly so bold?

"N-No, it’s not like that… I… um…"

At that moment, Peter Parker seemed to have fallen into the greatest crisis of his more than ten years of life.

Comic-book Peter Parker wasn’t this timid. The Spider-Man here was a fusion version; his early characterization was closer to Maguire’s version, and even a little more timid than that. Personally, I prefer the early storyline from Maguire’s version. Tom Holland’s version has a more interesting character setup, but the character still feels a little less fully developed than Maguire’s.

As for Garfield’s version… his presence was too weak. I barely remember anything about it…

Also, thanks to Cousin Who Passed By for the tip. It seems like it was from the day before yesterday, and I only just noticed it…

Mainly because, as a flop writer, I never expected to receive any tips, so I usually didn’t pay attention… Though I don’t think I had a habit of naming people who tipped me in my previous book either… I’ll mention it if I see it in the future; if I don’t, then so be it. Let’s leave it to fate. ╮(╯▽╰)╭