Thanks to his extraordinary senses, Peter returned to Midtown High School without attracting anyone's attention.
He also managed to remove his superhero suit and change back into his ordinary clothes.
Almost the instant he finished, the bell announcing the beginning of the next class rang out.
When Peter entered the classroom, none of the other students seemed particularly interested in where he'd been.
None of them except Gwen.
She stared at him without blinking, her expression unusually complicated.
To be clear, this wasn't because she suspected Peter was the Arbiter.
She was simply extremely unhappy about his mysterious disappearance!
After being thoroughly outclassed by the Arbiter and then mistaken for a criminal by the police, Gwen was in an understandably terrible mood.
Once she'd returned to school, her first instinct had been to find Peter and talk to him.
Chatting with him usually made her feel better.
Unfortunately, she'd searched everywhere without finding any trace of him.
That only made her more upset.
Anyone who'd ever had a girlfriend knew how these situations worked.
When your girlfriend was unhappy, even the way you breathed could somehow become a problem.
And if you had the audacity to appear cheerful while she was upset?
You might as well have started dancing on your own grave.
Consequently, when Gwen finally saw Peter approaching with a perfectly happy smile, her cheeks immediately puffed up in indignation.
"Where did you go? I looked everywhere for you!"
Fortunately, Peter possessed the experience and maturity of a transmigrator.
Handling a situation like this was child's play.
"Oh, I heard Ghost-Spider showed up at Manhattan Bank, so I went over to see what was happening."
"But there were so many people watching that I couldn't get close enough to see anything."
"Then I heard someone saying Ghost-Spider was getting beaten up by the robber."
Peter shook his head with apparent disbelief.
"I figured they must have mistaken someone else for her. There's no way a superheroine as amazing as Ghost-Spider would be that weak!"
"So I left early and spent some time reading in the library instead."
He paused, then looked at Gwen curiously.
"Oh, right. Didn't you head over there pretty early?"
"Did you manage to see Ghost-Spider?"
Gwen nearly choked on her own frustration.
Her pretty face turned bright red.
'Sorry for being so weak, then!'
At the same time, however, she couldn't help feeling secretly relieved.
Fortunately, Peter hadn't witnessed her humiliating performance earlier.
Otherwise, he might have become a fan of that infuriating Arbiter instead!
Faced with his question, Gwen hesitated for half a second.
She briefly considered claiming that she hadn't seen Ghost-Spider at all.
But then she thought about the possibility of more footage appearing online later that day.
If someone had recorded the incident, her lie might become difficult to explain.
So Gwen, who'd originally intended to give Peter a hard time, suddenly found herself struggling to answer.
Instead, she awkwardly began explaining just how troublesome Shocker had been and how unreasonable the newly appeared Arbiter was.
Her flustered expression and helpless attempts to justify what had happened made her look like someone desperately trying to defend himself during an argument he'd already lost.
Having effortlessly turned Gwen's frustration back on itself, Peter relaxed and began thinking about his plans during the remainder of the uneventful class.
Even with Herman's extraordinary battery technology, establishing a technology company from scratch would be no simple matter.
Production lines.
Raw materials.
Product designers.
Distribution channels.
Marketing.
Every stage required enormous amounts of capital.
Even if Peter invested all four million dollars he'd "borrowed" from Kingpin, it would hardly make a dent in the total expenses.
And that money had another problem.
He couldn't use it openly.
Therefore, if he wanted to overcome the most difficult early stage of building his company, the best solution was to find a reliable angel investor!
When Peter thought about potential investors, the first person who came to mind was a certain man with a distinctive little mustache and an expression that practically announced:
'I'm a genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist!'
Tony Stark.
As the head of Stark Industries and the future Iron Man, Tony possessed tremendous financial resources and business connections.
There was no doubt that he could provide everything Peter needed.
However, that idea lasted less than a second before Peter discarded it.
The father-and-son relationship between Tony Stark and Peter Parker was something specific to Tom Holland's version of Spider-Man.
It had absolutely nothing to do with Peter's current existence in Spider-Gwen's universe!
Besides, Tony wasn't even Iron Man yet.
At this point in the timeline, he was still primarily known as a wealthy playboy.
If an unknown high school student suddenly approached him with claims about some revolutionary new technology...
The most likely outcome would be something resembling Aldrich Killian's experience in Iron Man 3.
Peter would probably be left waiting on a rooftop throughout the night while Tony completely forgot about their meeting.
He had no intention of enduring that sort of humiliation.
'So Tony Stark is out!'
But if Stark Industries wasn't an option, which other major corporation could provide the investment Peter needed?
The answer was practically staring him in the face.
Oscorp!
In this universe, just as in the movie continuities, Peter had grown up alongside Harry Osborn, the young heir to Oscorp.
The two had been close friends since childhood!
Furthermore, Harry's father, Norman Osborn, had always held Peter in extremely high regard.
In fact, Norman sometimes seemed to appreciate Peter's intelligence even more than that of his own son.
Compared to approaching a complete stranger like Tony Stark, securing an investment from Norman Osborn would be far more realistic!
Given Norman's favorable opinion of him, Peter believed that presenting a working battery prototype alongside his ideas for smartphones should be enough to attract serious interest.
Obtaining tens of millions of dollars in angel investment might not be particularly difficult.
And with Oscorp supporting his business, Peter wouldn't have to worry as much about rival corporations attempting to seize or swallow his company.
Of course, accepting that kind of support would mean owing the Osborn family a considerable favor.
Under ordinary circumstances, Peter preferred not to owe anyone personal debts.
But the Osborn family was an exception.
The reason was simple.
Repaying a favor to them would be remarkably easy!
The hereditary genetic disease affecting the Osborn family might be incurable through conventional medical technology.
But for Peter, who possessed the Horse Talisman, treating its effects would be a relatively simple matter.
Granted, the Horse Talisman couldn't instantly eliminate an inherited genetic defect.
However, if Peter could suppress Norman's and Harry's symptoms while delaying the onset and progression of their illness, wouldn't that already be enough?
If he could help the Osborn family overcome the consequences of their genetic condition, the entire Oscorp corporation would become one of his most reliable allies!
Wasn't that infinitely preferable to begging Tony Stark for attention?
The more Peter considered his plan, the more promising it seemed.
Therefore, the moment school ended, he took out his phone and called Harry Osborn.
"Hey, Harry! Long time no see. Are you free after school?"
Harry was delighted to receive a call from Peter.
His excited voice immediately came through the phone.
"Peter! You finally remembered I exist!"
"I was actually planning to come see you this weekend. Guess the timing worked out perfectly!"
"Give me a little while. I'll come pick you up right now!"
Not long after Harry hung up, a flashy convertible sports car pulled up outside Peter's house.
Harry jumped out and immediately gave Peter an enthusiastic hug.
Then he asked casually, "So, what are we doing today? Basketball? Arcade games?"
Peter's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
"Uh, actually..."
"The reason I wanted to see you is that I was wondering whether you'd be interested in starting a business with me."