Chapter 013: I Have Another Friend Named Harry?

After a night of playing hero, Su Ye went to school the next day feeling refreshed, as if nothing had happened at all. And in truth, that was exactly the case. In a single night, fewer than ten street crimes were thwarted—a drop in the ocean in the bustling metropolis of New York, hardly enough to cause a ripple. Most of the women he saved didn’t report the incidents, and the common thread in those cases—the spider silk—dissolved on its own within a few hours, leaving the police with no evidence to collect. The matter never reached S.H.I.E.L.D.; their attention was wholly consumed by the Green Goblin’s scandal, leaving them no time for minor disturbances. Aside from a handful of police officers, no one in the city had any idea what had happened during the night.

At Midtown High, Su Ye slung his backpack over his shoulder and stepped off the school bus. He had barely set foot on campus when a voice called out from behind him.

"Hey! Xiao Ye! Su Ye!"

Though the name was pronounced a bit awkwardly, it was unmistakably his Chinese name, not the anglicized "Yeah" or "Yeah-Su."

Su Ye turned to see a handsome foreign boy jogging up to him.

"Xiao Ye, it really is you! I almost didn’t recognize you," the boy exclaimed.

Su Ye was a little puzzled. "Are you… Harry?"

The face was the same as Harry from the old Spider-Man movies, but why was he suddenly here, acting so familiar?

"Yes, I’m Harry. It’s been years, but you still remember me," Harry said, pulling him into a quick hug before turning to introduce him to the middle-aged man behind him. "Father, look, this is Xiao Ye—Su Ye—the friend I met at the English Corner in Dragon City when we went to the Dragon Country during my ninth-grade summer vacation. It’s been three years, and he hasn’t changed at all."

"Uh… Hello, sir," Su Ye replied, putting on a face that suggested everything was perfectly normal, though in his mind he was carefully combing through his memories. He vaguely remembered hanging around the English Corner in Dragon City, but whether he’d met a foreign kid like Harry, he honestly couldn’t recall.

Still, the system’s arrangement of Harry’s backstory made sense—much more believable than having them grow up together from childhood.

"So you’re the one," the middle-aged man said. "Harry told me he’d made a friend in the Dragon Country. I almost didn’t believe it. With his personality, I didn’t think he was capable of making friends."

The speaker was Norman Osborn—Harry’s father, the notorious Green Goblin from the first Spider-Man film, and the villain responsible for Aunt May’s death in the third MCU Spider-Man installment.

Give us Aunt May back, you damn old bastard!

And in certain comic versions, he was even the father of Gwen’s two children—a detail the writers only hinted at, but the implication was clear: Gwen hadn’t given her consent. At this thought, Su Ye nearly wanted to throttle Norman Osborn right then and there. If he could break the fourth wall, he’d have gone after the brainless writer who came up with that plotline, too.

But on the surface, he simply smiled and exchanged pleasantries.

"Harry’s a good guy. We got along well back then. After he left Dragon Country, keeping in touch just got harder, that’s all."

Harry straightened his back and quickly added, "See, I do have friends! Not like you think—that I’m a total loser. Go on, Dad, I need to get to class. Xiao Ye will show me to the room."

Harry had transferred to Midtown High several days ago, but something had delayed his arrival until now.

After bidding Norman Osborn goodbye, Su Ye walked side by side with Harry toward the classroom. Harry chatted with him animatedly, with the easy familiarity of an old friend, not a trace of awkwardness in sight.

"Xiao Ye, how long have you been in America?"

Harry knew the "Ye" in Su Ye’s name sounded somewhat like "grandfather" in Chinese, so he always used his full name or called him "Xiao Ye," never just "Ye" or "Yeah."

"Almost three years," Su Ye replied. He’d come to the U.S. alone to start tenth grade, the equivalent of his first year of high school, and couldn’t help but marvel at how carefree his parents must have been in this world.

"Three years already, huh? Got a girlfriend yet? Need me to introduce you to someone?" Harry grinned.

Compared to the Amazing Spider-Man version, the original Harry Osborn was much more gentle. Despite being a super-rich heir, he didn’t act like one at all—no wild parties or messy affairs. The only questionable thing he’d ever done was, upon Peter Parker’s urging, flirt with Mary Jane, the girl Peter liked. But Parker had rejected the chance to talk to Mary Jane himself, and even encouraged Harry to go instead.

In fact, before discovering that Parker was Spider-Man, Harry was always the perfect gentleman—so much so that, when Mary Jane was secretly seeing Parker behind his back, you couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him.

So, in Su Ye’s eyes, Harry was the kind of friend worth having—regardless of how attractive "sister-in-law" might be.

"Heh, what’s a girlfriend but a distraction? She’d only slow down my punches," Su Ye joked, then pointed toward the classroom. "You’ll see when we get inside—the hottest girl in there is my girlfriend."

"Is that so? Then I really have to see for myself," Harry replied eagerly, trailing Su Ye into the classroom. By then, most of the students had already arrived.

Harry glanced around, then clapped Su Ye on the arm and laughed. "I see what you mean—she’s viciously hot!"

With that, he walked over to a window seat where Mary Jane—her long red hair dyed, dressed in her usual low-cut top with a hint of cleavage—was gazing pensively outside. Harry gave a gentlemanly bow and looked straight into her eyes.

"Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Su Ye’s friend, Harry Osborn. Pleased to meet you."

"Nice to meet you!" Mary Jane replied. She didn’t quite understand why Su Ye’s friend was being so friendly, but he was good-looking, well-dressed, and clearly came from money—not a bad acquaintance to make. Who knew, he might become another fish in her pond.

After greeting her, Harry shot a triumphant look at Su Ye—only to discover that Su Ye had sat down behind a blonde girl, the two of them chatting and laughing, oblivious to everyone else.

"Uh…" Harry was momentarily stunned. Was that girl really hotter than Mary Jane? No curves, no cleavage—aside from big eyes, what did she have? He really couldn’t understand the aesthetic tastes of these Chinese guys. Now, Mary Jane—she was the real deal, a true bombshell!