Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

“Mathison, you really brought Charlie here, but pets are forbidden in the dormitories of New York University.”

Barbara suddenly turned to Mathison and looked at Charlie in his arms and said.

“This is okay, we do not have to live in the dormitory.”

Mathison was careless.

“Are you then planning to rent a house?”

Barbara was a little surprised: “New York house rent is very expensive. Even if you want to squander your family’s inheritance, you don’t have to. You should save a little more money.”

“You worry a little too much. I have found a part-time job that pays well enough for me to rent a house in New York.”

“What kind of part-time job?”

“Private tutoring. I do not take the identity of any educational institution, I simply work in my own name. This is also a part-time job that many college students are doing now, and it only takes an hour to get paid for fifty dollars.”

Charlie can’t help it. In his mind, being a private tutor is a good cover-up job to bring up. It wouldn’t even come off as strange for him to go out alone at night and turn off his phone. Additionally, whenever he would face an emergency, he can simply pretend that his phone is ringing, and leave, in the name of his job.

Barbara frowned at Mathison’s words, “An inexperienced tutor like you can drive up to thirty dollars in an hour at most. It must be a very rich family that is willing to pay you fifty dollars.”

“I’ve heard that many children of rich people in New York have bad personalities, and they can’t be scolded no matter what mistakes they make, can you really stand them?”

“There is nothing that I can’t stand.”

Mathison smiled and stroked Charlie’s head.

“Although Charlie is my teacher’s pet, it is also a part of my family. I can’t just leave him alone in the house. In order to be able to take care of him, I have to earn my own money to rent a room. So, for Charlie, it’s all nothing really.”

After hearing the words of Mathison, Barbara was moved and a bit speechless. At the same time, she was a bit jealous of Charlie…

“Barbara, would you like to rent a house together?”

Only a second later, Mathison proposed.

Barbara was shocked, «this, this, this …»

«What does this mean?»

«Is he really inviting me to live together?»

«When did Mathison become so active?»

«Could this be a sign of love?»

«This must be an act of love, indeed!»

«No way, it cannot be sexual harassment, could it?»

Barbara’s brain was a mess.

“It’s not good for us… to move on this soon, don’t you think?”

Barbara said with a low voice and a red face.

“… However, if you insist…”

The more she spoke, the lower her voice became. To a degree that even Mathison’s ears couldn’t hear what she was saying.

“Huh?”

Mathison said in surprise, “I mean you can also rent a house to live in New York. After all, it will be more troublesome to arrange a dormitory for us, what’s not so good about that? Plus, with your father, you should not be short on money, right?”

“Uh…”

Barbara’s imagination instantly shattered.

“No, I’ll just stay in the school dormitory.”

Her originally red face instantly became cold. Mathison didn’t know what the hell was going on with her, but he thought that the current situation is probably not very suitable for talking.

As for Charlie, the corners of his eyes twitched because of Mathison’s emotional retardedness, and deeply said to himself, “Is he serious or is he playing dumb? He looks pretty charming when in Kid’s form. Could it be that white dress has some effect on him?”

———

A few hours later, Mathison and Barbara arrived at NYU.

They have gone through the casual reporting, submission of information, and assignment of dormitories.

By this point, Mathison offered not to live in the dorm, while Barbara was willing to live on campus.

It was time to pick up her class schedule, and that was it.

The dormitory allocated to Barbara by New York University is in very good condition. It turned out to be an extremely rare double room. Her roommate is a senior student who is one grade higher than her. It is said that she is also from Gotham.

This allows Barbara to best integrate herself into the new life at NYU.

The official report day is tomorrow. Two days after the report is the opening day of school. So, they have about three days of free time.

Right now, there are basically no students in the school, so Mathison was able to follow Barbara into the girls’ dorm.

When the two moved Barbara’s luggage to the dormitory together, they found that her roommate was not there, but the roommate’s bed had already been laid, and all kinds of luggage seemed to be intact.

No one knew where she went.

After helping her to make the bed together, Mathison planned to go out and find a house to live in.

Of course, it was just for show. He has already rented an apartment in New York, which is neither too good nor too bad.

It has three bedrooms, two living rooms. The living room and dining room are separate. There is as well a separate kitchen and separate bathroom, fully furnished.

Its location was in Manhattan’s Chinatown, and with his fluent Chinese, Mathison easily got into the landlord’s good graces and received a half-price move-in discount.

The rent was around $2,000 a month, with additional discounts for long term payments.

The landlord only charged $20,000 for a full year’s rent, which Mathison paid cash.

The landlord, who is called Mo, even told Mathison to call him Uncle Mo. Usually, he liked to wear a Chinese kimono and looked very old.

Some older neighbors say that Uncle Mo is a martial artist, but he looks like a perverted old man who is obsessed with pretty girls all the time.

Not long after walking out of Barbara’s dormitory building, Mathison walked to the entrance of the school.

Although it was not the official reporting day, there were still some students who came to school first today.

And right about it, a beautiful redhead walked into the school with a smile, passing by Mathison, heading for the girls’ dormitory.

Mathison noticed this woman as soon as she walked through the gate of the school.

Because… she was an acquaintance.

Pamela Isley.

It was the poor college girl whose family was ruined by Daggett.

The one who later came to New York with the help of Mathison.

But in fact, this is not the reason why Mathison noticed her. He did not care much about helping Pamela in the first place.

Nearly half a year has passed, and Mathison has gradually forgotten that there is such a person in, not to mention that Pamela did not recognize him at all.

The real reason is that the first time he saw Pamela, he felt an incredible life force from her body.

It was almost as if a whole Amazon rainforest was condensed into a human being.

Among all the people he had seen, there was no existence with more vitality than her.

Even Kingpin was far from her.

The biggest problem was that the last time he saw Pamela, she did not have such a strong life force…