Chereads / My Hero Academia: Restless Gambler / Chapter 9 - Chapter 8: One And All

Chapter 9 - Chapter 8: One And All

~Here is an extra-long chapter as a treat~

"I'm sorry..." Toga mumbled into my chest with a dejected tone which was understandable since she nearly killed me twice in one day and broke all my stitches. I was kind of pissed at her too since I had to redo all of the stitches and couldn't even sleep in a decent bed but baby steps.

The road to redemption is a staircase, not a door. You have to have patience.

Besides, with what she has gifted me, I am more than willing to be a little patient with her.

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Rolling Gold Ability Gacha Ticket...

An Intermediate Curse!

 

[Intermediate - Remix]

The world is slightly different than you remember

An Elite Ability!

 

Elite - Phase Shift]

|Rarity: Elite| |Type: Active, Changer, Augment|

Allows the user to switch between an Offensive and a Defensive Form by shifting the parameters of their body.

Offensive Form: The user greatly augments their speed and destructive power in exchange for their defence and recovery.

Defensive Form: The user greatly augments their defence and recovery in exchange for speed and power.

____________________________

Alas, finally the days of no offensive options were finally behind me. And it was all thanks to this miserable bundle of luck next to me. In fact, her gift was so good I wouldn't even mind if she stabbed me a few more times.

While the curse seems a bit bad at first glance, I never really knew too much about My Hero Academia and it's only an intermediate curse so it can't be that bad.

Besides, it isn't like I would be dying anytime. Due to Battle Continuation as long as my vital organs were fine, I could keep trucking on. It isn't like I don't need medical attention but I can wait until the entrance exam where Medicine Girl or whatever the old lady's name was heals everyone without question.

Sighing I wrapped an arm around my desponded little bundle of bloodthirsty luck and held her tight as she peered up at me cautiously, she must think I would act like her parents, she is acting less like the energetic girl of yesterday and more like a scared child.

She was scared of losing what she gained now the blood high had passed, plus it must have hit hard for her to wake up without me in the bed.

"Look Toga, I am not angry that you drank my blood, I understand that you have urges and you have trouble controlling them. But at the same time, it's no good to just bite me unprompted all right? Look at me." I lifted her chin gently as she looked up at me slight tears in her eyes.

"Toga, I am not going to abandon you. Everybody can lose control sometimes, even me. It's important to try to control yourself and manage your urges properly, but I am pretty sure I can help you with that. Although I want you to promise me one thing first."

"Okay, what is it?" I could see that she was attentively listening, good, she was taking it seriously.

"Whenever you have the urge to suck some blood you have to ask me, I can just give it to you. Don't worry, I am made of tougher material than most, I can handle some donations as long as they are not too often. On the same note, you always have to ask my permission before sucking blood alright? I may be tough but I am not a bloodbank." Toga nodded at superspeed as she hugged me harder, nearly squeezing the shit out of me.

"Yes! Yes! Thank you Hakari-kun! Don't worry I won't disappoint you anymore! I love you~!" Toga rambled excitedly while I saw black creeping from the corner of my eyes, this girl will truly be the end of me soon.

"Toga, air." "Oh! Sorry~" She quickly loosened her hold over me as I grumbled internally, superhuman bullshit.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

We were lounging in Toga's bed after she prepared breakfast and changed the sheets, Toga was an unexpectedly good cook which she said she took up as a hobby alongside knitting after her parents abandoned her.

Well, I lived alone longer than she had and I only knew how to cook basic stuff so she deserved praise. Also, for some reason, she seemed way less affected than me from our fight, she was walking around all carefree after eating all those Cellular Overdrive shots.

And the answer she just gave me was.

"Oh! That? You are so sweet Hakari-kun, you don't have to worry about me, my quirk has a slight healing factor after I consume blood, besides, nothing was broken. So I am A-okay!"

I was stabbed three times and got lacerated twice. While the most I gave her were hairline fractures that already probably healed to an extent. Quirks are bullshit, I wonder if she descended from some Vampire quirk or something with her quirk.

Anyway, as we were cuddling on the bed at Toga's request she posed a question.

"Hey, Hakari-kun, what is your quirk? I know you pulled all that woosh stuff in the alley, is it teleportation? But if that was the case why didn't you run away? Is it limited to objects? Then why did you switch them instead and why didn't your pants replace my knife? You are also surprisingly durable. I am really curious, can you tell me?"

Right, I forgot how frighteningly observant Toga was. She can imitate people well enough to not be found, which requires some absurd observational skills. Still, what should I tell her? I obviously don't trust her enough to tell her the root of my abilities but I can tell her the effects.

I consider myself a good judge of character, and someone like Toga? She would already take a knife for me. I have met plenty of fanatical types before.

Now, what should I call my quirk?

...I have an idea. It's so fucking stupid but...

It will be so fucking funny.

I ruffled Toga's hair as she leaned into my touch.

"I trust you can keep a secret, so I guess I can tell you." I would be very concerned if a certified doppelganger was bad at holding secrets.

"I call my quirk One And All. It works a bit differently than other quirks, its ability is that it randomly grants me abilities, I don't choose which ones, they just get added to a mental roster in my mind. Of course, I can't really use all of them at once, I can only use one at a time right now."

"The one you saw me use was apport, it allows me to swap items of around similar value. I chose to call it One And All since it's one quirk that can technically be all of them." Toga looked at me with stars in her eyes.

"Woah! That's so cool! You can just develop new quirks? That's such a strong quirk!" Then, however, her excitement dimmed slightly as she faced away from me, hugging her own arm. "Hey, Hakari-kun, you are pretty strong, right? And you have a good quirk, since the UA Entrance Exam is near, do you plan on joining UA?" I could hear the apprehension in her voice.

"Well, that's the plan for now, going to UA would do wonders for my quirk and being a hero sounds like a decent gig." I looked at Toga who seemed disheartened by my response, I had a vague idea as to why she would respond like this but I wasn't exactly a mind reader.

"Why do you ask?" Toga simply averted her eyes from mine.

"...Nothing. I was just thinking it should be so nice to be able to go to a hero academy. I don't want to be separate from you, but I can't come with you either, it's very frustrating." I ruffled her hair as she looked at me in confusion while fixing her hair.

"Sure you can." She looked at me like I had just grown a second head on the spot.

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean, why don't you come with me? We could go to UA and become heroes together."

"You really think I can become a hero? Even with a quirk like mine? Toga asked me both in disbelief and a hint of hope.

Like all teens, she must have had at least one dream of becoming a hero after all.

"Sure? Why wouldn't you be able to?" Hearing my words Toga shifted nervously.

"Well... my quirk isn't exactly heroic as you know. People think it's scary, creepy or taboo." Ah, that bullshit.

No matter where you go, humanity will find at least one way to be horrible. This is the negative side of the hero culture.

If your quirk isn't heroic they will treat you like you are a potential villain. Due to the glorification of Hero and Villain people naturally try to put a quirk into one cast or the other.

"Sure you can, last I checked there was no classification of villainous and no villainous quirk. You can make any quirk out to be villainous and any quirk to be heroic."

"For example, you could call a necromancy quirk noble for allowing fallen heroes to fight for good again, or you could call it evil for desecrating the dead.

"You could call Sonmabulist a creepy quirk for knocking people out, leaving them vulnerable and helpless to the user's whims, you could call it heroic for subduing villains easily."

"What I am trying to say is, don't let some assholes decide what your quirk is and what it isn't. It's a part of you and it is as evil as how you use it." I turned to Toga and grabbed her hands as she looked at me both in wonder and shock."

"Are your hands evil? No, it isn't, it's just a part of your body, even if it could be used for evil it can't be evil. Why is your quirk any different?"

Hearing my words Toga stood still, not talking as tears just dribbled from her face.

Man, I know I'm not a motivational talker but that is just rude. I'm trying my best ok?

Cut me some slack, I am not the best at this.

"Y-you, do you really think even I could be a hero? Even with a quirk like mine?" Toga's hands squeezed mine to the point where it really hurt. She looked at me like I was the last straw she could cling to.

"Sure you can. Your quirk might not be flashy but if someone whose quirk needs a lethal weapon to function why can't yours? There are a lot of heroes that do stuff like espionage or spy work which your quirk is perfect for."

Toga grabbed my collar and looked deep into my eyes, barely holding onto what remained of her composure.

"E-even if I hurt so many people?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Stones from a glass house, I have hurt far more people than you have. But I am still trying aren't I? Nothing is stopping either of us from becoming better."

"Besides, villainy has a terrible retirement plan, isn't it better to become a hero and be admired instead? Plus you get to shove it in the faces of those who called your quirk villainous."

Toga stood silent.

"So, Toga, want to join UA with me?" Toga looked at me with enthusiasm, I could still see apprehension in her demeanor but she seemed to trust me.

Finally, she gave me a shaky and unsure but still determined smile.

"... Sure. I'll give it a try for you."

I smiled in return, baby steps.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

~Unknown Location/All for One~

"Is that so Kyudai?" Hearing the statement of perhaps his most loyal follower bar Gigantomachia All for One fell into thought.

Kyudai was working on multiple nomu's at one time and his method was basically a form of art. It was not unheard of him failing to create a nomu for numerous reasons but this one was quite... unusual.

He used his light-sensing quirk alongside his clairvoyance quirk as a substitute for sight as he looked over the files sent to him by Kyudai.

Hakari Kotaro, no one important, just an orphan you could find just about anywhere, Kyudai had him kidnapped for his quirk Enhanced Endurance, which was very good for creating a Nomu due to him having incredible stamina, and his capacity to endure punishment. He could handle a good bunch of quirks at once.

The surgery to get him ready for quirk transfer had started when something had gone wrong. He had woken up, which should have been impossible with the anaesthetics of the doctor. But that could have been chalked up to his quirk.

What couldn't however was what happened next.

He summoned a burst of impossible strength and broke out of restraints and moved at inhuman speeds trying to escape from the laboratory. Even that could be explained with adrenaline if you stretched your disbelief enough.

As if that was not enough, what happened next could not be explained as such. Hakari started stabbing himself as if aware of something, and in the next second, he vanished in place, teleporting instantly, managing to cross 1.82 kilometres in the blink of an eye, dropping in the middle of a street.

The file switched to a street camera, showing him being crouched in the middle of the street, wounded and struggling, although the camera was a bit far he could see it using his multitude of quirks substituting for sight allowing him to observe things with higher detail than the untrained eye.

That was not the posture of someone who was scared. Panicked maybe, but not scared.

Then yet another surprise, stealing someone's wallet, he dashed away, without waiting for heroes to help him, as if he knew something that made him think that doing such a thing was dangerous. It was obvious to his vision that he was using yet another separate quirk with how fast his acceleration and top speed were.

It took Kyudai a bit of time to find where appeared next, this time fully clothed and getting on a bus to Musutafu. Later he was admitted to the hospital and the file stopped there.

All for One, in all of his long life, had never seen a case like this. He either had multiple quirks, or a quirk with multiple effects but that shouldn't have been possible, Kyudai had already scanned his quirk factor. He had even checked his ancestry down to even his distant ones, none of them had teleportation or teleportation-adjacent quirks.

Mutation was out of the window, his endurance quirk was already proven. Quirks at his age did not just change arbitrarily like that. He knew that much, or this could be something completely new.

He did not know but...

He smirked.

'How interesting.'

It had caught his interest. It had been a long while since he had found something like this.

"Kyudai, keep an eye on him. But be careful not to be caught, I don't want him disturbed either, I want you to find out how his ability works." The doctor nodded.

"I see, so that's what you want All for One. Don't worry, I will keep an eye on him." Kyudai nodded, getting his intentions almost instantly, he knew All for One very well after working together for decades. All for one closed the call as he smiled to himself.

Maybe it was worth it to access some of his contacts to look into him.

~If you liked the chapter then make sure to drop me some stones~

A/N: Just when you thought Hakari finally got properly lucky, the gacha had to throw in a curse to give him a little reminder that luck isn't free. But regardless he now has a fairly strong and versatile offensive and Defensive option. Toga is truly his lucky charm. Just ignore Mr. Steal Your Quirk in the background.

Also, what do you guys think about Hakari and Toga's relationship? He has a unique perspective with her, with both of them being social outcast murderers and all. That is mostly the reason why he is a little attached to her, coupled with the fact that she has given him most of his strongest rolls.

If you liked the chapter be sure to comment, engagement helps motivate me to write more and faster.