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Gambler Chapter 6: Bloody Mess
🕑 Added 2025-08-04 16:03:12 +0000 UTC~Hakari Kotaro~
Studying history is ass.
But do you know what is more ass?
After studying ass, you get transmigrated to a modern Japan that is almost the same as yours, except more of the history you studied has its values shifted, so your experience is basically worthless.
...Yeah, I think I just had to hope for a good sensory ability to cheat on the exam rather than getting a great grade on my own.
I could probably get a passing grade already as I used to excel in high school, I even won a city-wide competition once, but that was long ago and I was a lifeless nerd doing nothing but studying back then. At least I had Intermediate Biology to help me out.
In truth, I would much rather train with my superpowers than study right now.
Ding Dong.
As I was stretching my back, I heard the distinct chime of a doorbell ring.
Alright, quick quiz.
What reason would anyone have to ring the doorbell of me, an orphan with no friends or family, at 11 pm?
There are basically only 3 big reasons.
One is a delivery for which I ordered none for the last 3 days, so most likely out of the question.
Second is those Yakuza guys coming to finish me off; disabling cameras is trivial. And considering they have guns they could just wait for me to open and blast me. Or blast me with a quirk, same thing really.
Third is a random neighbour asking me for something.
Slowly turning around I turned on Seek Guidance and walked towards the door while reading the messages in front of it.
'Hottie ahead!' 'Impostor Ahead' 'Be wary of sharp' 'Time for sex' 'Correction required ahead'
I was rather distracted by the rather audacious messages and the notification that almost slapped me in the face, and the chime was just loud enough for me to be unable to hear the soft sound of a click.
New Quest! {Bloody Lust}
Quest: {Bloody Lust}
Description: Your Yandere is here and it's gonna get bloody. She is not gonna take no for an answer. Try to make it out in one piece or without being put in a sex dungeon.
Condition:
Escape from Himiko Toga's ambush or defeat/kill Himiko Toga
Reward:
Silver Ability Ticket, Silver Skill Ticket
If Defeat/Kill:
Curse: Yandere is absolved
I just have to say, putting a notification in my face while I am getting ambushed in my own house is a real fucking dick move.
Because of that distraction, I wasn't able to react fast enough to the blur opening the door, slinking through and stabbing me in the shoulder with a knife that went a full 2 inches into my shoulder, would have gone further in if I did not lead back reflexively.
But, my reflexes picked up the slack of my awareness as I quickly swapped out Seek Guidance for Spectral Claw, summoning the arm and swiping at her but she was able to duck under it and flip away.
I saw her land on my couch and winced at the wound on my shoulder.
She was a girl around my age, wearing a school uniform with a beige cardigan over it, she had dirty blonde hair tied into two messy buns on either side of her head, she was really pretty with yellow catlike eyes and a fierce blush on her face and very pronounced canines on her mouth, making her look really deranged. Especially because of the knives she held.
"That was close~ you are so cool Hakari-kun, I am Himiko Toga, please go on a date with me~!"
She charged at me as I opened spectral claw again and lunged at her just for her to leap away like a cat. Great, just great, both of my physical abilities took up space and I was in an apartment, I couldn't alert others and take chances with her escaping and trying again. I needed to keep her here.
She had plenty of cover while I had plenty of obstacles. I could crush her skull like a rotten apple if I grabbed it but she was faster than me. Like, way faster than me. I could barely track her movements, and not only that, but the girl moved like a goddamn ghost, barely making noise or shaking the ground.
"I'd love to go on a date with a pretty girl like you if only you'd ask without the knives and the violence."
She smiled while charging at me again. I shrunk Spectral Claw and summoned it in both hands to try and grab her but she simply weaved around them and slashed my side, making me wince. She could have done much worse with that cut, but she was going for light ones; she was trying to keep me alive. She retreated to a corner of my apartment again and licked her knife. I saw her legs shake.
"Aww~ you are such a charmer, Hakari-kun! But you are just saying that~"
She grabbed a knife out of her thigh and threw it towards my leg that I stepped out of the way of and then she dashed towards me once again like a shadow But this time I was able to see her trajectory and lean back to avoid the slash aimed towards my chest, still getting a cut but not a full injury. And I was able to bat her away with Spectral Claw, but it didn't have enough distance for a full swing, and neither was I able to grab her.
Crash!
I know she felt that hit as she was slammed against my wardrobe and breaking the door of it, she pulled herself out of my wardrobe with a wince, yet the eerie smile on her face did not fade.
Alright, there is no fucking way her ability is just transformation; this girl must be a straight-up vampire to take that big of a hit and walk it off.
She looked weak right now but I knew better than to charge her. She was way faster than I was; she could take the opportunity to counter me and dice me like onions at the slightest misstep.
I had fought a full modern ninja before while on a mission. She reminded me of him, except he used a sword and throwing stars instead of knives and more knives.
"Owie~ you are really merciless Hakari-kun, that's so hot~ but you would be way hotter if you bled a little more~!"
She lunged at me again as I crossed Spectral arms in front of me, trying to guard myself long enough to come up with a plan. If I had Bikaku equipped I would be in a better position but unfortunately, I still had 4 minutes of cooldown and I doubted I would last long enough to wait for it.
I winced, and my eyes widened as I felt her slash away at my arms with reckless abandon. It dawned on me that even if Spectral Claws were durable, they weren't as durable as my Bikuku. And the damage reflects on me.
...The only way I was getting through this was either grabbing her, which would be an instant win for me considering I have over a ton of crushing force in my grip or smashing through the floor and alerting everyone.
I swatted my arms, making her retreat. Despite my attempts, I was dealing no real injuries to her.
And to top that off, I was losing blood, not enough to put my life in danger but enough for me to be reasonably concerned.
The only saving grace was the fact that I could keep a distance with my spectral claws, and she wasn't so fast that she could blitz me.
I flinched as I felt a knife tear apart my calf; her precision with those knives was incredibly annoying. If I remember correctly she was some sort of combat savant.
Just like me.
But unlike her, I was used to uphill combat. I had made it out with my life out of numerous assured death situations. Like being ambushed in a bathhouse by 5 men with baseball bats or being assaulted by a goddamn ninja during my escort mission.
In situations like these, the way to win was simply to get creative.
Especially against opponents who did their homework on you, they expected you to behave a certain way, and if you didn't, you got the advantage over them.
"I wanna drink your blood~!"
And when she charged at me, I changed my posture. She was able to dodge my moves because there was room to dodge, her speed didn't matter if the attack was too large. As she charged at me and buried her knife in my spectral claw, my other arm snaked around out of view and gripped the sofa with a large demonic hand before swinging it.
"Guakh!"
Hitting Toga on the side with full force, hitting the wall and breaking apart the paint as she spat a little blood. The wind was knocked out of her as my other spectral claw shot out and gripped her neck, chokeslamming her against the wall. Just as I was about to tighten my grip and reduce her neck to a shower of gore, I saw tears dribble out of her eyes.
"Haaa~~ it hurts, I don't want to die~ I'm sorry~"
I was shocked still for a few moments. I heard those words tens of times before as I caved in someone's skull, the plea for life was an instinctual response, but for some reason, hers genuinely sounded remorseful and sorrowful.
Seeing her eyes of acceptance and sadness, I recalled what I heard about her, I hadn't watched enough to know everything but I had heard snippets here and there enough to have a vague idea.
She was shunned by society because she had a villainous quirk and wasn't shown how to express her love properly, abandoned by her parents and in a society that wasn't willing to have her, she turned to villainy.
While I couldn't relate to the quirk part, I knew very well how it felt to be abandoned by the world. After I had managed to lose my entire life by sleeping with the wrong person after they misled me. I knew how horrible the feeling of exclusion was after spending an entire night crying and shivering behind a dumpster, not knowing when a yakuza would come out and kill me for unknowingly sleeping with someone's wife.
I sighed.
Toga was a lucky girl; if it were anyone more logical or smarter than me they would have killed her.
But as I have said before, do not dare accuse me of being smart.
If I was stupid enough to sleep with most of my Boss' family, I was stupid enough to spare the cute girl who just pulled a knife on me.
And if she keeps trying to kill me? That's on me really.
⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀
~Himiko Toga~
Himiko shed tears. She felt the end of her life near, she couldn't help it, she didn't want to die, she didn't want to lose her love again. This always happened, she didn't know what she was doing wrong.
And now she was going to die.
She just wanted to feel his love. Any love.
She just didn't know what to do.
But then, she felt the iron grip that could have snapped her neck at any time loosen, dropping her to the floor. She coughed and looked up with eyes still wet with tears, but they were now wide open in surprise and a lack of understanding as she saw Hakari standing over her.
But unlike the reaction she always got, fear, anger or loathing she was greeted with... a smile as his gentle hand wiped the tears away from her eyes. She felt her breath get caught in her throat.
"Are you calm now? I feel like we got off to a bad start. How about we introduce each other properly? No need for knives, I'm not gonna run away or anything. If you wanted some blood, you could just ask for it. I have plenty. No need for such sharp questions."
She felt her ears tear up uncontrollably; she couldn't understand what was happening. It felt too good for her. He accepted her and didn't mind her wanting his blood? He was willing to share it willingly?
She felt her cheeks light up with crimson as she stared up at his handsome face.
"Actually, I got plenty covering my body right now if you are interested-."
Knock Knock
"You alright in there? You were making a lot of noise in there."
She felt her body seize as her love sighed and went up to the room and spoke in a strained voice as if suppressing deep anger, yet his face was calm as ever.
"Sorry about the noise, I may or may not have lost my fifth-ranked LoL match in a row."
She watched as the man behind the door grumbled something about damn kids and went away. He turned back to her and smiled again.
"Alright, now that they are gone, we can get to know each other properly right? Without a need for knives or unnecessary bloodshed."
He extended a hand towards her and she grabbed it, letting him pull her up as her heart beat like a jackhammer in her chest with a heat that almost burnt her.
'Ahh~ is this true love~?'
A/N: Hakari is pretty smart, it's just that he is also incredibly stupid. I quite liked writing the Toga fight; the enclosed space forced him to take the environment into account, while Toga held almost absolute advantage, this fight was more of a puzzle for Hakari to figure out than an actual fight. Did you guys enjoy the fight?
Hakari makes dumb decisions, but you know what? Sometimes the dumb decision is better than the smart one. Not all wise guys survive, and not all idiot savants die. Only time will tell how good his decision will end up.
Comments
BronzDeck
It wasn't really system sabotage, I was writing the fight and I thought "hey, wouldn't the window distract him?" and it did. I just felt like a lot of fics just disregard how distracting it could be.
Alex I
Didn't really like his system sabotaging him at the start, feels like an artificial tweak to make the fight harder on him.
Colin Peden
"She felt her ears tear up uncontrollably;" Was that supposed to be eyes or did her quirk let her ears tear up? 😋
