Chapter 41
Simon, who forgot his father after having a brother, has forgotten his roots.
While Stacy and her husband were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, the loud sound effects of video games echoed from the living room.
Riley was sitting cross-legged on the carpet, gripping the game controller tightly, his brows furrowed in an exaggerated frown.
Beside him, ten-year-old Simon Stacy jumped excitedly, her fingers flying across the controller.
As the two continued to input their commands, Jamie and Akuma on the television screen engaged in wave after wave of offensive and defensive maneuvers.
If you look closely, Riley has the upper hand in this fight.
Because of Riley's manipulation, Jamie not only drank four mouthfuls of alcohol, but also successfully activated his fully unruly, disheveled state.
In terms of health, Riley's Jamie is clearly superior to Simon's Akuma, whose health bar turns yellow due to low health and who occasionally spams light punches.
That's why, after retreating and taking a sip of wine to replenish his fighting spirit, Riley controlled Jamie Green to charge forward, ready to fight tooth and nail, exchanging blows, in order to forcefully take down Simon's Akuma.
"Aha! You fell for it! Take this! Instant Hellfire—!"
But at that very moment, seeing Jamie close the distance, Simon not only didn't panic at all, but excitedly shouted loudly and inputted the follow-up command for the SA special move.
The next second, Simon's Akuma, radiating a dense black aura, charged forward at high speed. He grabbed Riley's Jamie, successfully turning the tide of the battle!
"Hahaha! Yeah! I won again! It's two to zero now!"
Upon witnessing Jamie's health bar empty and the word "KO" appear on the screen, Simon, who had been on edge the whole time, immediately stood up and laughed triumphantly.
He then put his hands on his hips, looked at Riley with shining eyes, and continued speaking with a beaming smile.
"Now you've seen how powerful Akuma is, right, Riley-nii-san? I told you I'd win this time!"
Of course, what Simon didn't know was...
As Spider-Man, Riley can tap buttons dozens of times per second, even without using his full strength, achieving a speed even faster than in modern mode.
Furthermore, given Spider-Man's extraordinary reaction speed, Riley could easily dodge bullets, so how could he possibly be fooled by Simon's obvious attack?
With two light punches and holding three Qi resources in his hand, what move is the Yellow-Blooded Demon planning? It's really hard to guess!
However, using Spider-Man's abilities to play games is somewhat suspected of cheating.
In addition, Riley also hoped to get closer to Simon so that when Peter formally proposed to Gwen, this future brother-in-law would put in a good word for his brother-in-law based on their past relationship.
So Riley tried hard to resist the tempting idea of helping Simon "quit his internet addiction" and deliberately let things slide.
This gradual guidance led to the dramatic comeback, making Simon laugh heartily.
To make the play seem more believable in Simon's eyes.
When facing the smug Simon, Riley deliberately dragged out his words, putting on a heartbroken look as he shouted loudly.
"Oh no! It was so close! I didn't expect you to get so strong in just a few days! It seems I can't afford to be careless anymore... Come on! Let's play another round!"
"Hmph, bring it on! Take this, Riley!"
Before long, two figures, one tall and one short, each gripped the controller and solemnly threw themselves into a new round of battle.
Every now and then, the two little devils would exclaim in surprise, adding a lively and cheerful atmosphere to this home, which was usually too serious and formal, making people feel a bit oppressed.
Meanwhile, Peter, who had just finished telling Howard a short science story and made a simple toy with the materials at hand so that Howard could slowly study the principles behind it, was obviously much more relaxed and leisurely than Riley.
That's why Peter leaned to the side, propped his face up on the sofa armrest with one hand, and almost burst out laughing at Riley's exaggerated performance of "encountering a talented player and being unable to defeat him despite his best efforts."
Having both Spider-Man's superpowers and having sparred with each other quite often, Peter, who had once been beaten by Riley to the point of questioning his existence, certainly knew just how ridiculously his brother was holding back now.
Furthermore, it is clear that Riley's painstaking efforts to make Simon happy stem from his natural inclination to care for children, stemming from his experience of accompanying Peter from childhood.
More than anything, it was all for the sake of ensuring that her relationship with Gwen would be more easily accepted by Sheriff George.
So when Riley turned around for a moment and found Peter looking at him, and then winked with a smug look in his eyes that seemed to say, "See? My acting is pretty good, isn't it? The Oscars owe me an award!"
Peter couldn't help but smile knowingly, silently nodding in agreement, giving Riley ample emotional feedback.
This satisfied Riley turned around and threw himself into the new round of "difficult challenges" he had launched against Simon.
"Snacks are here! Have something to tide you over before we eat dinner."
While the two lovable characters were enthusiastically competing to see who was better, Sheriff George, who had been "banished" from the kitchen by his wife for his clumsy movements, came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of snacks and soda.
Then, while setting the table and inviting Peter and the others to come and enjoy it, he turned around and looked at his youngest son, who was all smiles and clearly had forgotten his father now that he had a brother. He couldn't help but cross his arms and tease him with a hint of jealousy.
"Hey, look at us now, who's being ignored? I remember last week someone was pestering Dad to play games with them."
"Wait, Dad! I need to finish my three-game winning streak against Riley first... Ah! Wait, I was just talking to Dad, Riley, you can't...!"
But Simon, caught up in his father's aggrieved speech, didn't care about anything else.
In their excitement, as if saying an extra word was a luxury, they continued to concentrate on the battle without looking back, shouting perfunctorily.
However, Riley, who had a somewhat wicked sense of humor, thought that losing too easily would arouse Simon's suspicion. Taking advantage of Simon's distraction, he unleashed a series of fancy moves.
In just a few seconds, Jamie, who had grabbed Akuma by the neck, turned around with a flourish and said "The End," completely emptying Simon's health bar and staging a spectacular comeback from near death!
Simon's face turned visibly red as he watched victory loom ahead.
He couldn't help but turn around and angrily complain to Sheriff George.
"Oh dear, it's all your fault, Dad! Please don't disturb us until we've decided who's winning!"
"Oh my god, Simon, your words are so cruel, Dad's heart is breaking... This hurts more than a special attack in a game! Now that you have a brother, you've forgotten about your old man, it's just too much, waaaaah~"
As soon as Simon finished speaking, Sheriff George acted as if he had been shot, exaggeratedly clutching his chest, staggering back a few steps, and plopping down on the sofa.
He sat down right next to Peter, without any bias.