Chereads / My Hero Academia: Restless Gambler / Chapter 17 - Chapter 16: Meeting the Principal

Chapter 17 - Chapter 16: Meeting the Principal

As I walked up the steps to the principal's office I did not feel much apprehension or well, nervousness.

I knew Nezu, he was a certified decent person. And he was someone I could trust with my secrets and there was also a decent chance he would help me get additional training to evolve my abilities. Doubly more so when the arms race between them and AFO starts.

Reaching the room of the principal on the top floor I knocked on the door before hearing a... voice trying to sound cutesy say come in, Nezu I am pretty sure unless Remix came into effect.

Opening the door I was greeted by a rather large room, sitting behind a large mahogany(my boss used to have the same kind) desk looking rather comical was our principal Nezu looking like the fusion between a rat and a stuffed bear with a rather nasty scar across his one of his eyes, he wore a custom tailored suit and greeted me with a big smile.

But my eyes were more drawn toward the hulking man next to him wearing a striped gold-coloured suit, he was absolutely massive, towering over even me with muscles for days, hell he was so buffed it was almost like he had his own shading.

All Might.

It was somewhat awkward to stand in front of who was basically the paragon of good and heroism as a murderer, drug trafficker, and overall scum of the earth, I guess former scum I guess.

All right, game face on. You know what to do Hakari.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

~Nezu~

"You called me principal?" Nezu smiled and folded his hands in front of him as he watched his newest student and anomaly enter his office.

"Yep! Thanks for coming all the way here Hakari-kun, I trust you are enjoying your school life so far?" Hearing his words Hakari shrugged, a neutral expression.

" 's been good so far. The homeroom teacher could be better but you can't have everything in life. Also is that really All Might? What is he doing here?" As expected of any teenager Hakari's eyes were naturally drawn to the elephant in the room, Toshinori. He laughed and struck a pose but Nezu saw the cold sweat forming on his head, he was not as casual as he tried to appear, All for One had a deep effect on Toshinori.

"Indeed young Hakari! You would have found it out later this week but I am your Heroics Teacher! Dont worry, you aren't in trouble or anything we just wanted to ask you some questions about your exam." Nezu narrowed his eyes a tad at his former student due to the interruption before speaking again.

"Yes, I was getting to that." Toshinori's posture wavered for a moment "But yes, Hakari-kun, I wanted to ask you about your quirk. The quirk you displayed at the exam did not match up with the quirk you have registered."

"Yeah, about that. Things have been so wild lately that I didn't have the time to change what was registered. Sorry 'bout that, will it cause me legal trouble or something?" That was actually something Hakari was concerned about since he wasn't very well versed in the quirk laws but Nothing Wrong Here should take care of the worst was what he was assuming.

Nezu languidly waved his hands to indicate there was no real problem. He was very well versed in playing the game called laws and governments, if problems did occur he was not against helping his new peculiar student.

"Don't worry about that, you will just have to update it when the time comes. But right now, I wanted to ask you something Hakari-kun, please answer honestly as this is very important." Nezu leaned forward and All Might stiffened.

"Hakari-kun, do you have multiple quirks?"

He could see the tense posture of his former student. Toshinori was almost paranoid of the student but he understood why, he was also at least a tad wary of the new student.

"Sure I do."

Cough! Cough!!!

Nezu blinked slowly in befuddlement while Toshinori went into a coughing fit out of disbelief. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts Nezu continued.

"Now isn't that interesting, thank you for being so upfront, could you elaborate more on that Hakari-kun? Because in your government records it lists enhanced endurance as your quirk. And as you might know, people dont have more than one quirk."

"Oh well, that's simple to explain. My quirk inexplicably changed recently. It was after I managed to escape from the crazy scientist doctor guy." Hakari pulled his shirt off to demonstrate his point, showing numerous surgical scars.

His student grimaced upon seeing the scars, his fist shaking in indignation at a youth brutalized to such an extent. But Nezu on the other hand.

For what felt like the first time in his life Toshinori saw Nezu get visibly angry.

And Nezu was absolutely both angry and sympathetic. As someone who was also a victim of experimentation, he understood the pain his student must have gone through, those scars looked painful, to say the least. His own scar over his eye throbbed.

Taking a deep breath to recompose himself Nezu asked.

"So it really was you who was running that day was it? I am... sorry to have to make you recount the events but could you give me some more details Hakari-kun? If you don't want to that is also fine, there is absolutely no need to force yourself." Nezu could feel his paws straining as he gripped the cup with anger but Hakari simply shrugged.

"No problem, I don't remember anything before getting out of there anyway due to amnesia. In a panic I left the city after developing [Emergency Exit], that's my teleportation power that activates when I am near death by the way, I then stumbled into the police station where I learned who I was et cetera."

Nezu grimaced, it was worse than he had thought. Hakari was compartmentalising his trauma, acting like it hadn't even happened to him and talking about getting kidnapped and experimented on so lightly.

Nezu glanced to the side to see Toshinori gripping his hands so tightly that he was surprised it wasn't bleeding. He knew Toshinori would be beating himself up very badly about misjudging the young man, he was very prone to blaming himself for things out of his control.

"I see, don't worry Hakari-kun, I will do everything in my power to make sure that whoever did this to you is brought to justice and I will personally make sure to help you with any problems you may have with legalities or readjusting, after all, I know how it may feel to get introduced into society after such a thing." Nezu rubbed his scar, gaining a stoic but sympathetic nod from the teen he took some mental notes to look into Hakari's government papers.

"Anyway, Hakari-kun, could you describe your ability to me in more detail? So that we can help you develop it properly and for me to change it on your records." Hakari nodded, Nezu really appreciated and even admired his honesty a little, he knew he himself took a while to trust anyone with anything.

"Sure, my quirk is essentially like a random generator. It randomly gives me quirks, but not only that but also even physical items and practical skills as well. They seem to come to proportional to what I face and overcome like a randomized danger response."

Nezu stilled for a moment. That quirk sounded very powerful, volatile and dangerous at the same time. It was almost unbelievable what he was describing, or it would have been if there weren't already a quirk like New Order existing, it wasn't a plausible quirk but what he was describing was possible.

Nezu motioned for Hakari to continue.

"For example, I am probably more qualified for teaching than most of the teachers here since I have the skills of an experienced teacher, I can also probably fix most cars since I also have Mechanics mastery. Oh and also the skills of a senior masseuse. As I said, it's as random as can be."

"I see, that is certainly a... unique skillset Hakari-kun, I do wonder if they can be improved, for your mechanics skill at least maybe visit Power Loader-sensei? I am more interested in the quirks you have developed or any items you may have gotten, this is a first after all."

"Well, currently I have... 8? Yes, eight quirks. Momentum, Danger Sense, Apport, Radio Waves, Phase Shift, Exoskeleton, Emergency Exit and Blink. It would take a while to explain what they all do but their names are rather self-explanatory. As for items none that I can display right now." Nezu blinked and Toshinoru was stunned still.

It couldn't have been more than a month since he had gotten his quirk yet he already had 8 and a handful of skills, maybe even a few items too. Now Nezu was glad that Hakari did not register himself with the government because chances were the Hero Commission would have taken him in and there would be another Lady Nagant case or worse.

"That is rather impressive young Hakari! I trust you don't struggle to control these quirks or them having adverse effects on you?" Toshinori asked, trying to gauge Hakari's character and quirk better.

"Not really, I get an instinctual handle on all of my abilities and I even know their names from the get-go. I can only use so many at once though, but I am working on improving the limit. Also, I decided to call my quirk One and All."

'...'

Both Nezu and Toshinori were just stunned silent for a full five seconds before Nezu managed to get a hold of himself and voiced his... bafflement.

"Hakari-kun. What did you say you call your quirk again?" Hakari gave them a confused stare before saying it again.

"One and All. Why? I think it fits, it's one quirk that can potentially be all quirks." Nezu's mind went almost blank.

'Oh, the irony.'

*Cough!* *Cough!* *Hack!*

Nezu glanced at Toshinori with concern. He was genuinely worried that he might keel over at this rate.

"You All Right All Might?" Nezu saw the hint of a smile flash by Hakari's lips, that pun was actually pretty clever he noted himself, he would have even laughed if Toshinori didn't look like he had aged by 3 years from the start of this conversation.

*Cough!* *Cough!*

Toshinori raised his hand to indicate he was fine before smiling and giving a thumbs up.

"Yes! I am fine! And no, there is nothing wrong with your quirk- I mean your quirk's name young Hakari. You should be proud of it." Nezu was glad Toshinori at least made peace with it.

Coughing into his hand to attract their attention Nezu tried to move away from the very ironic name Hakari had picked for his quirk.

"So, Hakari-kun, is there anything else about your quirk we should know about?" Hearing his words Hakari diverted his eyes and scratched the back of his head. That was a very bad sign.

"Well, my quirk is actually one of the few quirks I know of that have actual demerits to it. More specifically, alongside benefits I can also get curses from my ability."

Nezu paled a little while All Mighty grimaced, reminding them of Midoriya. It was indeed rare for quirks to have outright negative effects rather than limits.

"I see, Hakari-kun, could you please describe to me the 'curses' you can get from your quirk? We here at UA will try our best to help you with any problems you may face, you can be assured of that."

Hakari wore a mildly apprehensive expression before speaking.

"Well, curses are things that affect my day-to-day life, they can range from giving me insomnia to well, the most prominent one I have at the moment."

He took a breath in as if preparing himself before breathing out with a resolute expression.

"I'll just go ahead and say it. The major curse of lust significantly increases my libido, and prevents me from pleasuring myself and at the same time every day I don't sleep with someone what my maximum strength would be gets deducted by 10%. And after 10 days that's 0% and conversely death." Nezu gripped his cup harder, Hakari was truly of the cursed sort.

That sort of drawback was debilitating, to say the least, especially for a teenager with no memories new to society and no romantic relationships. It was lethal.

"My condolences young Hakari, but how did you *ahem!* manage your curse until now? You seemed to be at peak performance on the exam and the test. Of course, if you don't mind me asking that is." Toshinori asked while averting his gaze, it was a weird topic to ask of a teenager indeed.

"Red Light districts and Soaplands mostly. I managed to use my savings to stave it off. Yes, I know it's illegal but the other option was failing the exam and then dying a few days later. I wasn't flush with choices."

Nezu did not blame him at least, in fact, he truly pitied the youth in front of him. Experimented on without his consent, with a quirk whose consequences he can't control.

"Now, that won't do as a student of UA to have you go to Red Light districts every other day. Don't worry Hakari-kun, we will find ways to accommodate your quirk. Oh, also feel free to visit my office anytime you may need something, I am here if you need me. You can go back to your classes, for now, I need to talk with All Might."

Hearing Nezu excuse him Hakari casually slipped out of the office as Toshinori turned to him.

"Sensei, his quirk really is similar to that man. So what do we do about him and his rather unusual quirk?"

"Well, Toshinori, we do our best to accommodate our new student. And guide him to the best of our abilities."

Nezu saw it in Hakari's face. The indecision, the apathy. He had not yet decided who to become even after entering UA.

And his goal was to lead young Hakari to the right path. He had been in the same place and he could use the help.

And also because if Hakari decided that it was not worth it and decided to go on the path of villainy.

Well, with his skills, stoicism, potential and ability to properly apply his quirk, he would potentially be a monster worse than All for One.

But right now, it wasn't about who Hakari could be. It was who he was.

And right now he was one of his students and Nezu would do his best to help him on the right path and make sure he never ended up on such a path.

Now, about the issue of his curse.

He had a feeling Midnight would be rather suspiciously eager to help the young man.

A/N: Good guy Nezu. Nezu feels a special level of kinship and sympathy toward Hakari because they are very "similar" in his view. So Nezu desires to help Hakari as much as he can, both because they are kin in a way and because he sees that Hakari needs the guidance. Hakarii will be treated as a somewhat special student due to his cirmcumstances.

Also, Hakari utilizes Acting and Nothing Wrong Here to their fullest potential. He avoids lying as much as he can and tries to twist the truth to his own benefit, keeping his sentences short to not get caught on anything.

Why was he so fine with thinking of Midnight taking care of Hakari? Well, first of all, he does not view ages the exact same way humans do and there is nothing wrong here about Midnight taking care of Hakari because he is a victim more than anything they are just accommodating his disadvantages.

This chapter was rather wordy but it had to be done to set things. What did you guys think about it? I would love to hear your thoughts about this chapter.