Chapter 83: The Important Question

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2.5k stones for a bonus this week.

Get cracking.

...

While Anna Marie was going through her enrolment process at Xavier’s school for Gifted youngsters, the comment section of Princess Mononoke had exploded.

To be truthful, it had been in a state of chaos ever since the physical copies rolled out with the soundtrack.

The readers already had good things to say about the story, but the music that paired perfectly with the average reading speed had really grabbed them by the throat.

system—This shit is so magnificent.

DomiMommyLover—I want Lady Eboshi to step on me.

Rodimus_Prime67—Brother Ewwwww... what the hell is that brother?

Tomboy_Enjoyer—I am more into San; the wild ones have extra energy.

Vorvail—Son...

element_wyvern—Why is this place filled with degenerates? I thought this board was for discussing the stories?

Caracolan—We are discussing the story, though.

WeakToYasashiMen—Yeah, I really liked Ashitaka. 10/10, would smash.

Venti—Here we go again.

GreenSandHourglass—On a real note, who was actually right? Humans or the forest?

SadeSucks—Neither.

PowerFantasyGobler—I went in expecting an epic hero’s journey, got slapped with a Philosophical lesson, and now I am contemplating why we have to destroy the forest. Like, can’t we just get along?

David_Jenkins—We need an Ashitaka irl, not that knock off Fight Club.

GailXuan—Fr, bro got caught in a war between gods and humans like ’Can we calm the fuck down?’

IExistToShit—But he was so much stronger, couldn’t he have defeated both sides?

DammSup—And then what?

IExistToShit—Umm... side with the right one.

ReadingInDetail—THERE IS NO RIGHT ONE!!

IAmNotLikeOtherReaders67—Honestly, I felt the plot was a bit forced. Like there was no reason to drag the fight; he could’ve just chosen a side, and it would’ve been way more entertaining.

TheMaker—I strongly disagree. This is essentially a story where two groups each decide that the other shouldn’t exist. In a conflict like that, taking sides won’t help anyone. You need someone who can be the peacemaker, and Ashitaka was the perfect person for that. What I find most compelling is that neither side is entirely wrong. Eboshi’s actions are destructive, but her motivations aren’t inherently malicious. She provides shelter and purpose to people society has discarded. The forest spirits, meanwhile, aren’t simply benevolent guardians of nature. They are defending their own existence. Both sides have legitimate interests, and neither can completely satisfy those interests without harming the other. The Forest Spirit is particularly interesting. It isn’t portrayed as a conventional deity. It represents life and death simultaneously, and its destruction doesn’t result in the restoration of some idealized natural order. Instead, the world simply continues.

EyesGlazedOver—Holy paragraph!

TheMaker—Ashitaka may actually be the most scientifically minded character in the story.

IDKwhatIAmDoingHere—He literally has a magic wolf girlfriend problem.

TheMaker—That isn’t relevant to my point. I expected a story about the conflict between humanity and nature. Instead, I got a story about two sides that are both justified in wanting to survive. Eboshi is destroying the forest, but she’s also creating a future for people who had nowhere else to go. The forest is defending itself, but it has no obligation to care about humanity’s needs. Ashitaka tries to understand both. There isn’t a villain here. There are simply consequences. And somehow, the ending manages to be hopeful without pretending that any of the damage can simply be undone. I feel like I may have repeated a few points ...I may have to read this again.

Conner_grady—Oh My...is this the legendary plot explainer?

Mdhdh19980—Yes, it is him, upvote this guy so more people can see it!

Lion_of_Ruin—I have a feeling that this is just John Doe himself explaining so that people don’t get sidetracked.

Jkfortyseven—If that’s true, it’d be super cute and funny.

FallenDown35—@John Doe, you can come out and say it yourself.

Kds89—We promise we won’t jump you.

Iamhereforthemusic—John Doe needs to answer where the music came from btw. You can’t drop something like that on us without the sauce.

Gimmie_da_Loot—Whoever made this music needs to be arrested for emotional manipulation.

EmotionallyUnstableWench—That fucking orchestra during the Forest Spirit scenes, I am crine.

Furia_d4_noite—I didn’t understand why the music was making me emotional until I realized I was already emotionally compromised.

Raden_Aksel—@John Doe, you bastard. You didn’t need to give us the soundtrack too.

GreenForTheWin—But he does need to give us the name of the one who made it. That shit do be majestic, indubitably.

RedIsTheTruth—I found it on iTunes, and it credits John Doe.

TheRealStark—No way he made this himself while making the story too.

Coolkidsforsale—What is the Da Vinci is this?!

While his readers were crying over the soundtrack as he had intended, John was in his home demolishing the 10th box of deep dish pizza.

Gwen, sitting near him, barely halfway into the first box, looked at him like he wasn’t even human. Even she had never eaten this much.

The worst part was that he had called her over, saying he had ordered too much pizza, but that seemed like a big lie now.

"So, ten pizzas are ok, but you draw the line on the eleventh?" Her eyes narrowed.

"11 is a bit too much. I am not a pig, you know?" John noticed her gaze and shrugged.

She had never seen a more shameless man in her life.

It had been two days since the incident, and he had been calling her phone more often. Still, if he wanted to spend more time with her, there was no need to act like this.

’He could’ve just asked directly.’ She poked at her own pizza.

John, on the other hand, looked at his phone as a message arrived. The message he had been waiting on for the past two days.

Nicolas Fury—It is starting.

Just three words were enough. John turned the TV on and switched to a news channel in a heartbeat as Gwen watched on in confusion.

"J. Jonah Jameson and Daily Bugle under fire for spreading false information and kickstarting a hate campaign against the friendly neighbourhood Spiderwoman." John focused on the words like it was the best thing he had heard all week.

"Insider info and several reliable sources point to the fabrication of evidence, exaggeration, and manipulation of images to slander someone who only had good intentions and saved lives while putting her own in danger..."

The news reporter was already going on about the technical details of the created reason for the crackdown on the Daily Bugle. But John had stopped listening already.

"You didn’t have to do it, you know?" Gwen looked at him with a sigh.

"You knew?" He feigned surprise.

"Well, you didn’t exactly try to hide it." She wasn’t asleep when he sent the message, and he had the entire conversation knowing she was aware and observing it.

It was his way of giving her a chance to stop him if she thought it was going too far. And for a moment Gwen considered stopping him. But looking at that determined expression, while he was trying to look out for her, holding her so dearly, it really messed with her judgement.

’I just lost my window of opportunity, that’s all.’ She could only blame herself for it now. Because even if she tried to sound upset, in the deepest corner of her heart, she was really grateful that he cared so much.

"SHIELD will definitely ask something of you now." Still, it would’ve been better if she handled this herself; she was already a part of the organization after all.

"I know. And I am sorry that I hesitated for a moment." He took her hand for a moment. It wasn’t his proudest moment to be fair, but even then, if he went back to the past, he would do it again. "I’ll never insult you like that again."

"You really have a troublesome mouth..." Gwen could only shake her head at her own thumping heart as his fingers gripped her hand so surely. "Never mind that, why would someone like Fury help you with this anyway?"

It wasn’t like they had an eye on him. At least she had seen no signs of it. Natasha’s actions toward him seemed more like a way of getting under her skin in a way.

’Looks like they didn’t tell her anything related to me, typical of SHIELD.’ Still, John had already considered this question when he decided to help Gwen.

After all, she wasn’t going to just accept things and look the other way. Even right now, she was only asking this so she could help him with whatever SHIELD asked of him in return.

Still, it was a bit too much to say he was John Doe directly. Gwen had no mental defences, and with someone like Charles Xavier possibly on John Doe’s trail, it wasn’t the best option to reveal this to her.

That’s why he had to go through with the lie he had already planted inside SHIELD.

"I am John Doe’s Illustrator." He said like he was Tony Stark at that press conference.

And for a moment it looked as if Gwen.exe had stopped working. Until her brain did a reboot and processed the information again.

"...I beg your fucking pardon?" She blinked.

"I draw illustrations for John Doe’s novels. For the manga, he sends me storyboards, and I draw them." He explained a bit.

"No, I get that... just..." Gwen pinched the bridge of her nose before looking him in the eyes. "I have something really important to ask."

John nodded, giving her the signal to go on. He had expected a hundred questions the moment he told her about this. Honestly, he could’ve hidden it, but he didn’t want Fury to use this information later in any capacity.

That’s why he was ready for any question she might throw at him. He might have to play dumb if it was a bit too close to John Doe, though. But he had made up his mind.

And at last Gwen asked the most pressing question on her mind.

"Since you are the illustrator..." Her eyes turned serious as she leaned forward. "...You must have volume 2 and more of Saiki K, right?"

’...Ouf, Gwen.’ John closed his eyes in resignation.