Mrs. Snow.
Her full name was Selina Snow, and she was the counselor for their eleventh grade class.
From personal social and emotional support to individual development and college admissions guidance, all of that fell under Mrs. Snow's responsibilities.
Unlike counselors at public high schools, who had to oversee a hundred or even two hundred students.
Midtown High School was a private school, so Mrs. Snow was responsible for only thirty-five students in total.
This allowed her to provide deeper, more personalized support to the students under her care.
It was another coincidence.
Both he and Gwen happened to have Mrs. Snow as their counselor.
However...
Just as he was being hurried along by Gwen to Mrs. Snow's office after failing to quickly shower and change into clean clothes.
Hawk curiously asked Gwen beside him.
"Did Mrs. Snow say what it was about?"
"She didn't. She just asked whether I knew where you were. If I did, she told me to find you and bring you to her office."
"Really?"
Hawk thought for a moment, then looked at Gwen. "Could it be about college? Maybe your early admission and scholarship from Berkeley came through?"
That was the only reason he could think of for Mrs. Snow wanting both him and Gwen in her office.
After all, once this month passed, they would be Twelfth Grade students when school started in September.
They would graduate from high school next June.
But before that, outstanding students had already secured places at their preferred universities, and those universities had also begun securing their preferred students.
For example, Gwen had her sights set on Berkeley.
Located in California, Berkeley was a public research university known as a Public Ivy. It had produced more than a hundred Nobel Prize winners, ranking third in number.
Gwen shrugged and looked at Hawk. "What about you? Are you still set on studying law at New York University? You really aren't considering Stanford?"
New York University's law program was quite good too.
But everything feared comparison.
Compared to Stanford, at least when it came to law, Stanford absolutely crushed New York University.
That was why Gwen did not understand.
"I heard Mrs. Snow say that she also recommended Stanford as your first choice."
"Because there's no way I'll get a scholarship from Stanford."
Hawk shrugged as well. While walking with Gwen toward Mrs. Snow's office, he explained, "New York University is different. I might not get the highest-tier scholarship, but I'll definitely get some kind of scholarship. Once I have one, I can negotiate the interest rate when I take out a bank loan."
Yes.
It was that simple.
He wanted to study law at Stanford too. He even wanted to study law at Yale University and see whether he could join some mysterious organization.
But...
It was not simply a matter of whether he wanted to go. Leaving aside whether they would even accept him, even if they did, Stanford and Yale's tuition fees would be enough to crush him.
Hawk's considerations were very practical.
Since he would have to take out loans for college anyway, why not choose a school that would most likely give him a scholarship and let him borrow less tuition money?
He did not want to still be repaying student loans every month when he was fifty or sixty.
Of course, that had been his thinking and plan before awakening Cosmo.
Now?
Hawk had even less desire to go to Stanford or Yale.
New York University was quite good, and New York City was the only place he was familiar with in this life. He was doing all this so he could live comfortably, so staying in his comfort zone was not bad either.
Gwen listened to Hawk's almost joking explanation and frowned slightly. She had wanted to say something, but when she thought of Hawk's current situation—seventeen years old, with no car, no house, and no phone—she ultimately gave up on saying it.
Very soon.
Hawk and Gwen arrived at Mrs. Snow's office.
Knock, knock!
"Come in."
Mrs. Snow's voice came from inside the room.
Gwen pushed open the door and greeted Mrs. Snow, who was seated behind her desk in the office. She wore glasses, looked to be around forty, and gave off a kindly impression.
"Mrs. Snow."
"Gwen, have a seat."
"Hawk."
Mrs. Snow smiled at Gwen as she pointed toward the sofa, then looked at Hawk entering right behind her and sighed. "Once again, Hawk, you really should get a phone."
Not having a phone these days was far too inconvenient.
When he had first enrolled, after learning about Hawk's circumstances, Mrs. Snow had offered to give him an unused phone. But Hawk had refused, saying he would get one as soon as possible.
And then...
From the start of Ninth Grade until now, when eleventh grade was nearly over, every time Mrs. Snow asked Hawk about his phone, he would always say yes, yes, yes, he would get one as soon as possible.
Sure enough.
Hawk's answer this time could not be said to be exactly identical to before. It could only be said to have been copied and pasted.
"I'll get one as soon as possible."
"You say that every time."
Mrs. Snow felt somewhat weary upon hearing Hawk's answer. Just as she was about to say something else.
The office door was knocked on again.
The next second.
Another familiar face walked in from outside.
Hawk, who had just taken a seat on the sofa, raised his brows at the familiar person entering through the door.
Peter Parker.
But for some reason, this Peter Parker standing before him looked somewhat different from the one Hawk had seen in the shower room last time.
How should he put it?
This time, Hawk saw a trace of Bully Maguire in Peter Parker.
More precisely, if Hawk had previously seen Peter Parker as merely Peter Parker, then the Peter Parker before him now made Hawk feel as though he were seeing that superhero, Spider-Man.
The Maguire version of Spider-Man.
The original Spider-Man.
Yes.
Although this was the Marvel Universe, logically speaking, Spider-Man should have been the Little Spider from the Avengers version.
Yet the Peter Parker Hawk saw was the Maguire version of Peter Parker.
Very strange.
He could not make sense of it.
"Mrs. Snow."
"Peter."
Mrs. Snow's eyes lit up when she saw Peter Parker walk in. "Wow, Peter. I haven't seen you for a few days. Why do I feel like you've suddenly gotten so much stronger?"
Yes.
If Peter had previously been a skinny stick, then Peter now was a young bull.
Peter scratched his head awkwardly at that, then smiled somewhat shyly. His gaze then fell on Hawk, seated on the sofa, and his entire body froze as though he had been stunned.
Hawk happened to be looking at Peter too.
Their eyes met.
Hawk saw it clearly.
The moment Peter Parker's gaze landed on him, Peter's pupils rapidly contracted and expanded at a frenzied speed.
Sure enough.
If nothing unexpected happened.
Peter had probably mutated.
The true original Spider-Man, who did not need technology and could shoot webs from his wrists, had successfully gone online.
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