Time flew by.
Before Roy knew it, more than two months had passed.
During those two months, aside from developing ninjutsu, practicing techniques such as Flying Raijin: Second Step and Chidori Blade, and spending time dating Gwen, Roy had also made time to complete several commissions.
Some of those commissions came from Kingpin.
Others came from Daredevil.
There wasn’t much worth mentioning about Kingpin’s commissions.
They were basically the same as before—Roy got paid to help him strike at other criminal organizations in New York.
For example, the Maggia, led by Hammerhead, and the Inner Demons, led by Mister Negative.
As for Daredevil’s commission— Roy had been hired to rescue his ex-girlfriend, Elektra, from the Hand.
None of these commissions were particularly difficult, so Roy completed them easily.
Likewise, the rewards weren’t anything extraordinary.
Kingpin’s commissions increased Roy’s chakra reserves by 3 Kakashi Units.
Daredevil’s commission, meanwhile, rewarded him with— Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness Technique.
Although the rewards couldn’t exactly be called generous, Roy had nothing better to do, so he’d accepted the commissions anyway.
That morning.
Midtown School of Science and Technology.
Roy, who normally slept until noon, had deliberately gotten up early today and driven his Audi R8 over to the school.
As for why he was here, the reason was simple.
Gwen was finally graduating!
Today was the graduation ceremony for Gwen’s class.
As her boyfriend, it would have been ridiculous if Roy didn’t even show up for her graduation.
After parking in the lot near the school entrance, Roy picked up the bouquet of flowers from the passenger seat and headed toward the lawn where the ceremony was being held.
Along the way, he passed many graduates wearing dark-blue graduation gowns, as well as their families and friends.
Looking at all those relatives, Roy unconsciously swallowed.
Although he’d been dating Gwen for several months, he had never met her family.
Just like Gwen from The Amazing Spider-Man universe, this universe’s Gwen also had three younger brothers.
Philip.
Jack.
Simon.
Roy wasn’t particularly worried about meeting them.
What concerned him more was meeting Gwen’s parents— George and Helen Stacy.
Especially George.
After all, from George’s perspective, some random guy who had appeared out of nowhere had stolen away the precious daughter he’d spent eighteen years raising.
And considering that Roy’s public profession was private investigator, George would probably see him as little more than some suspicious troublemaker who had come to corrupt his daughter.
There’s nothing to be nervous about!
I’m just meeting her parents.
I’d have to meet them sooner or later anyway.
Today is as good a day as any!
Roy silently encouraged himself.
Before long, he reached the lawn where the graduation ceremony was being held and spotted Gwen’s family.
Gwen, who had been chatting with them, quickly noticed him approaching and waved.
Roy took a deep breath and walked toward them.
George, Helen, and Gwen’s three younger brothers all turned their attention toward him, silently sizing him up.
Once Roy reached them, George was the first to speak.
“Who’s this?” “His name is Roy.” “He’s my boyfriend.” Gwen answered without the slightest hesitation.
Boyfriend?
Hearing that answer, Helen, Philip, and the others all wore expressions that said they’d expected as much.
George, however, frowned slightly and looked at Roy.
“Were you a student here too?” “No.
I graduated from another school.” Roy answered promptly.
“How old are you?” “Where do you live?” “What university do you attend?” “Who do you have in your family?” “What do your parents do?” George looked Roy up and down and continued firing questions at him.
Before Roy could answer, Gwen cut in.
“Roy is my boyfriend, not one of your suspects.” “I’m going to show him around the school.” “You guys can keep talking.” With that, Gwen grabbed Roy’s hand in front of everyone and pulled him away.
After they’d walked several dozen meters, Roy handed her the bouquet.
“I almost forgot.” “These are for you.” “Congratulations on graduating.” “Thank you!” Gwen accepted the flowers with a bright smile.
A few seconds later, she looked at Roy apologetically.
“My dad’s just letting his work habits get the better of him.” “He doesn’t mean anything bad by it, so don’t take it personally.” “Don’t worry.
I’m not that petty.” Roy replied immediately.
“Strictly speaking, your dad’s attitude was already pretty reasonable.” “He just wants to know more about me.” “If I were him and suddenly found out my daughter had a boyfriend, I’d probably be even less friendly.” Gwen and Roy wandered around the school for a while before returning to the graduation ceremony.
Gwen led Roy to the guest seating area and had him sit to George’s right.
As for Gwen herself, she headed toward the seats reserved for the graduates in front of the stage.
She was the student representative for this graduating class.
Later, she would deliver a graduation speech on behalf of all the students.
Not long after Roy sat down, George resumed questioning him about his personal and family background.
Roy didn’t hide any of his publicly available information and gave him a brief explanation.
When George learned that Roy hadn’t continued university and had instead dropped out to become a private investigator, his frown deepened even further.
Helen reacted very differently.
After learning that Roy was an orphan who had grown up in an orphanage, concern appeared on her face.
“You’re not an ordinary private investigator, are you?” George suddenly asked.
“Uh…
I’m not quite sure what you mean.” Roy replied.
“I’ve dealt with plenty of private investigators before.” “But you don’t feel anything like them.” “And I don’t mind telling you directly.” “While Gwen was showing you around the school, I had someone at the precinct look into your background.” “Your record is spotless.” “You don’t even have a parking violation or a red-light ticket.” “But there’s something very strange about your income.” George lowered his voice and stared seriously at Roy.
“According to the records, you live on the Upper East Side and own more than a dozen luxury cars.” “You’re an orphan.” “And yet, after dropping out and becoming a private investigator, it took you only half a year to accumulate wealth most people couldn’t earn in an entire lifetime.” “I’ve never seen a private investigator who could make money like that.” Although George had noticed some suspicious details, Roy’s expression remained perfectly calm.
He’d already expected George to use his authority as an NYPD captain to investigate him.
And he’d long since prepared an explanation for how he’d accumulated such astonishing wealth in only half a year.
“You’re right.” “I’m not an ordinary private investigator.” “My range of services is very broad, and quite a few of my clients are extremely wealthy.” “On top of that, government agencies occasionally hire me for certain jobs.” “I’m not at liberty to disclose the specifics of those commissions.” “All I can tell you is that ‘private investigator’ is mostly just my public-facing profession.” “In terms of the work I actually do, I’m more like an independent contractor.” “I specialize in dealing with problems other people can’t solve.” “If you want to confirm whether my work is legal, you can call this number.” Roy took a business card from his pocket and handed it to George.