Insignificant Parker

"Go on! Peter! Confess to Mary!"

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

"Don't bother. With Peter being such a coward, he probably can't even 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 just now was Kraft's prank!"

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

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

"Kraft?"

Mary listened to Peter's explanation with a smile. She tucked a strand of her fiery red hair behind her ear, her smile deepening. Because of her relationship with Aunt May, she was quite familiar with Kraft. Especially since Kraft often teased Peter using her name. Mary not only didn't feel angry but found it quite amusing.

Mary Jane actually had a bit of a good impression of Peter Parker. However, his timid personality really displeased her. Her childhood experiences had left her with a severe lack of security. No matter how outstanding Peter was, as long as he remained this way, Mary couldn't become his girlfriend.

This was why she didn't get angry when Kraft used her to tease Peter, and sometimes even played along.

"Yes, it was him!"

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

"Actually, today is Aunt May's birthday. He came to invite you to the birthday party for me."

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 tell me?"

Mary Jane frowned, putting on an angry face. In reality, she was a little upset too. 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... I just temporarily forgot to notify you. I was planning to come over before the party started..."

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

"I understand. I'll change and come over."

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

"Aiya!"

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

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

He said this as he ran towards Peter, who was dragging his feet on the way back.

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

"Ned?"

Peter, who had been staring at the ground, looked up and saw his friend glaring at him angrily. He scratched his head inexplicably, then belatedly realized.

"You saw everything!"

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

"I think I made Mary angry..."

"How did you manage that?"

Ned gasped, utterly amazed by Peter.

Kraft, who had walked over a moment after Ned, also looked up to Peter in admiration. He had noticed that Mary had some feelings for 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 such a thing, Peter would have made her furious long ago.

"I don't really understand why..."

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

Ned: "..."

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

Kraft, following behind the two, was also speechless. 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 the fool that was 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 little brat, you tricked me again!"

Peter quickly caught up to Kraft and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back.

"I was creating an opportunity for you. You just didn't have the guts to seize it."

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

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

Peter retorted stubbornly.

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

However, his good friend Ned was also stabbing him in the back at this moment.

"If you relied on yourself, you'd never be able to chase Mary Jane in this lifetime."

"Hey! Ned!"

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

"He's not exactly brave at other times either," Kraft scoffed, curling 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 getting ready, Mary will be someone else's girlfriend. I heard Flash has been showering Mary with attention lately."

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

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

Just as Peter was feeling down because of Thompson, Mary Jane's voice suddenly rang in his ears, instantly energizing him.

"Interested! I'm very interested!"

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

"Then I'll leave the movie tickets 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 what Kraft had used to imitate 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 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 the Parker house, with Aunt May and Uncle Ben's favoritism, Peter couldn't do anything about Kraft.

Soon, Mary Jane, who had changed her clothes, also arrived at the Parker house. 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 notice.

Even so, she didn't have a good look on her face for Peter Parker. She remained aloof towards Peter until the end of the party, making Aunt May and Uncle Ben shake their heads helplessly.

After the joyous birthday party, Kraft's life returned to its usual calm. With Martin Lee away, he could go to Fatty Liao's place every day for a feast, living a very comfortable life. The only thing that bothered him was that he had hit a bit of a bottleneck in dream technology.

Because he couldn't control what he dreamed about, it led to gaps in many technical areas. Even if he could self-study while awake, many relevant textbooks and materials were not accessible to him.

And for many things that Kraft now had the ability to create, he either lacked the equipment, the materials, or the manufacturing process was too dangerous.

Just as Kraft was wondering if he should take 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. Like Professor Agasa, her name was simply "Doctor." Judging by the technology she displayed in the dream, she was indeed worthy of the title "Doctor."

However, the problem was...

What was with being only eight years old?

Were Japanese elementary school students going to defy the heavens?!

Shinichi Kudo, the young detective he had only heard of but never met, was already outrageous enough. But for an eight-year-old little girl, Dr. Shinonome, 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 a lot of scientific technology through his dreams, was truly demoralized after seeing this heaven-defying little loli, Dr. Shinonome.

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

Kraft was so demoralized that his thoughts became confused. In the end, he deceived himself and lay back down in bed, pretending that nothing had happened.

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

And then he discovered...

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

Kraft suddenly became excited.

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

If he could replicate such strange science, then were magic and immortal arts far behind?

Kraft couldn't help but fall into a reverie.