Insignificant Parker

"Go on! Peter! Confess to Mary!"

From a street corner nearby, Ned poked out half of his chubby face, watching Peter, who was frozen in place and unsure what to do, anxiously. He kept whispering encouragement to him.

"Don't bother. Peter's such a coward. He can barely say a full sentence to Mary."

Kraft leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, sneering.

Things unfolded just as Kraft had predicted. After Peter stammered for a long time, he finally calmed down.

"No, no, no! That voice was Kraft's prank!"

Peter frantically waved his hands, explaining to Mary Jane, who was leaning on the windowsill with a radiant smile.

"I don't know how he did it, but it really wasn't me!"

"Kraft?"

Mary gently tucked a strand of her fiery red hair behind her ear after listening to Peter's explanation with a smile. Her smile widened. Because of Aunt May's relationship with Peter, she was quite familiar with Kraft. Especially since Kraft often teased Peter using her name. Mary didn't feel annoyed; instead, she found it quite amusing.

Mary Jane actually had a bit of a crush on Peter Parker. However, his timid personality greatly displeased her. Her childhood experiences had left her feeling very insecure. No matter how outstanding Peter was, as long as he remained this way, Mary couldn't become his girlfriend.

This was also why, when Kraft used her to tease Peter, she not only didn't get angry but sometimes deliberately played along.

"Yes, it was him!"

Peter nodded frantically. Then, he finally remembered to seize this opportunity to invite Mary Jane to Aunt May's birthday party.

"Actually, it's Aunt May's birthday today. He came to invite you to the birthday party on my behalf."

Unfortunately, the timing of this opportunity was not good at all.

"So, if he hadn't come to play a prank, you weren't going to notify me?"

Mary Jane frowned, putting on an angry expression. In reality, she was a little upset. Regardless of her relationship with Peter, she had always deeply respected Aunt May as an elder. She wouldn't want to miss her birthday party for such a reason.

"Ah... no... I just... I temporarily forgot to notify you. I was planning to come over before the party started..."

In his haste, Peter blurted out a perfunctory and full-of-holes lie, which made Mary Jane even more displeased.

"I understand. I'll go after I change."

Mary's face turned cold. She left Peter, who was staring blankly, and returned to her room from the windowsill.

"Oh, man!"

Seeing Mary's figure disappear from the window and Peter hanging his head in dejection, Ned, who hadn't heard their conversation, knew that Peter had chickened out again. He punched the wall in frustration.

"What a great opportunity! Why did Peter let it slip away like that?"

As he said this, he ran towards Peter, who was trudging back.

"You idiot! That was such a good chance! Why didn't you confess to Mary then?"

"Ned?"

Peter, who had been staring at the ground, looked up. Seeing his friend glaring at him irritably, he scratched his head inexplicably before belatedly realizing.

"You saw everything!"

Thinking that his embarrassing moment had been witnessed by his friend, Peter panicked. But soon, he became dejected again because, compared to this, something else made him sadder.

"I think I made Mary angry..."

"How did you manage that?"

Ned gasped, utterly amazed by Peter.

Kraft, who arrived a step behind Ned, also looked up to Peter with reverence. He knew Mary had a good impression of Peter, which was why he had teased him repeatedly. Logically, even if Peter hadn't seized the opportunity to confess, Mary shouldn't have gotten angry. If she got angry over something like this, Peter would have made her furious long ago.

"I don't even know why..."

Peter ran his hand through his hair in annoyance and recounted his previous conversation with Mary to Ned in detail.

Ned: "..."

"You could have just said you were going to notify Mary, and I intercepted you to play a prank..."

Kraft, following behind them, was also exasperated. He rolled his eyes and quipped.

This startled Peter.

"Kraft? When did you get here?!"

Shaking his head speechlessly, Kraft had nothing more to say to this fool Peter. He walked past Peter and Ned towards the Parker house.

"..."

Peter realized he had said something foolish. He fell silent for a moment before remembering to settle the score with Kraft.

"Wait! You scoundrel, you set me up again!"

Peter quickened his pace to catch up with Kraft, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him back.

"I was creating an opportunity for you, but you were too cowardly to seize it."

Kraft broke free from Peter's grasp, looking at him with disdain.

"I don't need you to create any opportunities for me!"

Peter said stubbornly.

"Oh, Peter, forget it. If it weren't for Kraft, you wouldn't even dare to talk to Mary."

However, his good friend Ned also chimed in, twisting the knife.

"If it were up to you alone, you'd never have a chance with Mary Jane in this lifetime."

"Hey! Ned!"

"Yelling at me won't help, Peter. Admit it, you're a coward when you're around Mary."

"He's not exactly brave at other times either,"

Kraft sneered, puckering his lips.

"Oh no, I just... I just wasn't ready..."

Peter didn't have the leisure to bicker with Kraft at this moment.

"If you keep 'preparing,' Mary will be someone else's girlfriend. I heard Flash has been showering her with attention lately."

After Ned said this, Peter became even more dejected. He had heard rumors too, but considering the gap between himself and Flash Thompson, Peter had no confidence in winning the girl's heart.

"Hey~ Peter, are you interested in going to the movies with me next weekend?"

Just as Peter was sinking into despair because of Thompson, Mary Jane's voice suddenly sounded in his ear, instantly perking him up.

"Interested! I'm very interested!"

Ecstatic, Peter spun around, but didn't see Mary. He only saw the mischievous Kraft holding a small megaphone, grinning wickedly at him.

"Then the movie tickets are up to you. I want to see the latest Nightmare on Elm Street!"

Kraft continued to tease Peter in Mary's voice.

Meanwhile, Ned was laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

"Kraft!!!"

At this moment, Peter finally understood how Kraft had mimicked his voice.

What an interesting invention. I wonder what the principle behind it is.

Peter thought to himself as he chased Kraft. Even though he was filled with anger, Peter was still fascinated by the small megaphone in Kraft's hand.

Although Peter was several years older than Kraft, Kraft had already adjusted his Power-Enhancing Shoes beforehand. With Peter's weak stamina, it was impossible for him to catch up. After escaping back to Parker's house, with Aunt May and Uncle Ben's favoritism, Peter had no way to deal with Kraft.

Soon, Mary Jane, having changed her clothes, also arrived at the Parker residence. Fortunately, America wasn't too particular about gifts; otherwise, Mary wouldn't have had time to prepare one if she had only just received the notification.

Even so, she wasn't exactly friendly towards Peter Parker. She remained aloof towards Peter until the end of the party, causing Aunt May and Uncle Ben to shake their heads helplessly.

After the joyous birthday party, Kraft's life returned to its usual calm. Moreover, with Martin Lee away, he could go to Fatty Liao's place every day for a good meal. Life was incredibly comfortable. The only thing bothering him was a slight bottleneck in his dream technology.

Because what he dreamed about was beyond his control, it led to gaps in many of his technical skills. Even though he could self-study while awake, he couldn't obtain many of the relevant textbooks and materials.

Furthermore, for many things Kraft was now capable of creating, he either lacked the equipment, the materials, or the danger level was too high.

Just as Kraft was considering taking a break, new characters appeared in his dreams.

"This is unscientific..."

Kraft woke up from his bed once again, clutching his head and questioning his existence.

This time, the person appearing in his dream was another Japanese person. And like Professor Agasa, her name was simply "Doctor." Based on the technology she displayed in the dream, she was indeed worthy of the title "Doctor."

However, the problem was...

What was this about being only eight years old?!

Were Japanese elementary school students going to defy heaven?!

The young detective Shinichi Kudo, whom he had only heard of but never met, was already exaggerated enough. But for an eight-year-old little loli, Dr. Dongyun, to single-handedly create an intelligent robot indistinguishable from a human was too unrealistic!

Kraft, who had been feeling rather pleased with himself for mastering numerous scientific technologies through his dreams, was truly demoralized after seeing the heaven-defying little loli, Dr. Dongyun.

"I must be dreaming... No! I was already dreaming... Oh, it was just a dream, then it's fine!"

Kraft's thoughts became somewhat jumbled from the shock. In the end, he deluded himself, lay back down on the bed, and pretended nothing had happened.

When he woke up again, Kraft had fully accepted the fact that he was inferior to an eight-year-old little loli. Only then did he have the time to recall the details of Dr. Dongyun creating the robot in his dream.

And then he discovered...

"With my current skills, I think I can do it! Heh!"

Kraft suddenly became excited.

A robot that was almost indistinguishable from a human in appearance and behavior could be manufactured with such relatively simple technology. This Dr. Dongyun must be another unscientific scientist like Professor Agasa. And if he could truly replicate a similar robot, it would mean that his dreams were definitely not just about imparting knowledge.

If he could replicate such strange science, would magic and immortal techniques be far behind?

Kraft couldn't help but fall into a reverie.

It's been ten consecutive days of 3K updates! I'm amazing... <(￣ˇ￣)>