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Gambler Chapter 4: Non-Stop
🕑 Added 2025-08-03 16:06:21 +0000 UTC~Hakari Kotaro~
"Alright, one last question Hakari-kun, can you tell me what those purple arms you used were? Because your official records list you as Quirkless."
...What the fuck do I say against that? That is possibly the most high-risk question he could have asked, but I kept my heartbeat steady. I have been interrogated by the police numerous times before. I knew better than to show weakness.
The fear I had wasn't of lying, it was of saying things that would breed suspicion and lead him to ask more questions that could possibly reveal my true nature.
I scratched my head with a confused expression.
"I don't think I can give a satisfactory answer. I just learned I am Quirkless, but I also have those strong demon arms." There, a perfect twisting of the truth, none of it is a lie, suck on that, Mr. Lie Defecator.
Naoma nodded and jotted down something on his notepad and looked back at me with a smile.
"Alright, I won't bother you any more Hakari-kun. Thank you for your cooperation. I know how stressful this whole thing must have been. I will have them update your quirk registry to Demon Arms for now, but I hope you come in for official quirk testing sometime. But you don't have to hurry."
He stood up and tucked his notepad in his pockets.
"Now, since you have amnesia would you like me to escort you home? We can also drop by the police station and grab your identification. Haha, you're lucky school hasn't started yet, I wouldn't know what to do if I lost my memories during exam season."
I nodded and stretched my arms; they still felt stiff and rough, but I felt fine enough to get up and leave. Recovery Girl was a miracle worker.
"Yeah, I feel good enough, I think, and I need some time to gather my thoughts; maybe I'll jog my memory back at my apartment or home."
He nodded and helped pull me out of bed and walked me to the changing room where I was able to change into new clothes and take a look at how fucked I looked.
...Whatever those Yakuza guys did, they must have been very skilled at leaving people barely alive. There were numerous cut scars, some of them jagged like done with rough glass, one looked like it damn near disembowelled me, but all of them were shallow enough that I wouldn't drop an organ while running away.
At least my face was roughly the same; I had dirty blonde hair with black streaks reaching down to my shoulders and yellow eyes. I missed having yellow hair; they used to make me dye it black for Yakuza work because having blonde hair apparently made me look like a "Gaijin Bitch".
Though the part that I was pissed the most about was my body.
Compared to when I had managed to pack a very good amount of functional fighter muscles onto my body, this body was nowhere near as muscular. At least, while it was a bit on the skinny side, it was still toned.
After wearing the Black hoodie and tan pants they retreived from my house, I walked out of the hospital with Namosa in tow. He truly was a good guy, driving me to my home, which apparently wasn't too far, and while we went I quizzed him about some things.
And learned that, yes, we were in Musutafu, the main character central. My full name was still Kotaro Hakari; I had no parents or any relatives, somehow, all of them dying in separate villain attacks. On top of that, it was roughly less than a month before schools opened. That gave me a lot to think about before he dropped me in front of my apartment and handed me a pair of keys.
"Alright Hakari-kun, here are your keys. Your apartment is number 47 on the second floor. Oh, and here." He handed me a note. "Here is my phone number, if you need something or something happens just go ahead and call me okay?"
He smiled as I took the note and nodded.
"Thank you very much, Detective."
He waved me off.
"No need for the formality Hakari-kun, now, just go and have a good rest."
Naomasa was a great guy.
With that, he drove off in his police cruiser as I walked into the apartment building, not too shabby but really nothing compared to the house I had lived in. I slipped the key into the lock and turned it, hearing the mechanical click before walking inside.
The apartment itself was what you would expect from a young adult living on their own, with minimal furniture except a TV, a couch, and a kitchen that is a part of the living room. I was willing to bet a good chunk of money that most of those came with the house.
My documents were sitting on top of the dining table alongside my wallet and such after the police found them. Inside it was approximately 2000 yen, enough to buy groceries for a few days. I looked around my floor as I still had Seek Guidance on.
'Home sweet home.'
'Welcome to the new world.'
'Poor living conditions ahead.'
'Check under bed.'
Most of it was just idle banter, but the check under bed one caught my attention. I went into the bedroom of the 1 bedroom apartment, it was definitely a teenager's room for sure. 3 posters hung up, of Midnight, Mirko and Mt. Lady, all in provocative poses. Toilet paper roll and lotion on the bedside table, a desk with a computer on it and on top of the desk was also yet another roll of toilet paper.
I got on all fours and checked under the bed. After some rifling I pulled out a plastic bag with 200,000 yen inside, just like how I usually hid my money. I'm pretty sure those are my savings, pretty meagre, but good for an orphan. I am guessing my parents had no life insurance in this world.
Throwing the bag on top of the desk I threw myself onto the semi-comfortable bed, it was just a touch too hard for my preference. Anyway, now that I was alone and had privacy, I pulled up the gacha interface. A Gold Ability Ticket and a Platinum Trait Ticket.
I decided to roll the gold first, because when gambling, it's always better to start slow.
Rolling Gold Ability Gacha...
A rare ability!
[Bikaku]
|Rarity: Rare| |Class: Changer|
Allows you to manifest a tail-like biological appendage made of special RC Cells that allow it to freely go from fluid-like water to tough as metal. The Bikaku forms the shape of a tail at the location of the tailbone and is capable of defending, whipping, and piercing just as well as a giant super-flesh tail would.
Huh, that's... Tokyo Ghoul, nice, I like it. The Kagune in Tokyo Ghoul are busted and look cool as hell, but I don't think mine will be as strong as theirs because I don't have the physique of a ghoul.
I'd like to test it now but I want to roll my trait first.
Alright, platinum, they gave me for living through this bullshit so you better pay your goddamn rent and give me something good.
Rolling Platinum Trait Gacha...
An Elite Trait.
[Boundless Stamina]
|Rarity: Elite|
Your stamina is boundless; even a regular person with this trait would be able to run a marathon with ease and only need a few minutes' rest afterwards. Your stamina recovers incredibly fast, and exhaustion fades from your body much faster.
Yeah, that's my kind of perk. More stamina was always better, especially for the training I was going to have to put this body through to get my beautiful muscles back. I felt the effects instantly too, I felt energised, like I had just downed coffee, even though I felt mentally tired, my body was fine now, albeit injured.
I pulled myself out of bed to test my Bikaku; if I remember correctly it usually manifests as the tail of an existing creature, just considerably more weird-looking.
...Is it wise to pull out a monstrous tail in your apartment? If you asked me this question, I would say 'Of course not, dumbass.'
And I learned the lesson the hard way when a 5-meter-long tail erupted from around my tailbone, thicker than my arm and slammed into the wall of my apartment, nearly shattering the entire thing.
Carefully drawing back the tail, I marvelled at the sensation of suddenly having a tail and just how natural it felt for me. I manoeuvred it around the room and brought it in front of my face.
It looked like a tail that was woven from several featureless tentacles fused into one large tail. It felt rather warm and looked cool as hell as it pulsed like a lava lamp, its primary colour was red with some slight yellow passing through every now and then.
And this thing really did feel as tough as metal yet moved perfectly according to my intentions despite having no bone inside. I also found out I could shrink it down to a more manageable size, I could alter its length, to up to what I felt like was 10 meters at most. The larger I made it, the more exhausting it felt.
Still, I was happy. This tail gave me a very good middle-range combat option while Spectral Claw was my close combat option.
Using my Bikaku as a chair, I sat down and started thinking.
So, what do I do now? I was in My Hero Academia and had the Chaos Gacha by my side. And school was near.
I briefly entertained the thought of becoming a villain, but decided not to.
Really, becoming a criminal was a pain in the ass, constantly looking over your shoulder, never being able to do anything legally again. Not being able to enjoy the benefits of civilisation. Etc. And I was quite done with the Yakuza life too.
So, I think I'll become a hero.
Of course, not out of any delusion of altruism or morality, but simply because it was a better option. They get to use their quirks, they get a lot of benefits from the government, etc. If I was going to make something with my life, Hero was the best option. Plus, I had Hero's Reward as a trait, if that isn't the system trying to send me a message, then I don't know what it is.
Plus, if I don't like heroism then it's not like Villany is off the table. But if I become a villain, becoming a hero is off the table.
Then getting into UA is my goal.
Sure, I could avoid all canon plot entirely and just go to America or something but hell no. I got abilities and such from being impressive and accomplishing feats, and the most chaos was centred on UA.
And it was full of hot girls. That may or may not have influenced my decision.
I hopped onto my computer and started searching about UA while also taking notes for my near future.
2 weeks.
I had roughly 2 weeks to prepare for UA. Definitely not enough time for sure. But I would make do. I always do.
First of all, I needed to get in better shape. I can't make too much difference in 2 weeks, but I could get my body started in being at least semi-useful.
And then, more importantly, I needed money. A lot of money, UA tuition was expensive, and I had to prepare for the possibility of not getting a scholarship.
But I didn't worry too much about money because of my first ability.
After all, what is clairvoyant commentary for if not cheating the world out of money?
I looked at the messages on the ground and smirked.
'Time for cheating.'
'Cheating required ahead.'
'Money.'
'Time for Crab.'
A/N: I guess even the Yakuza can co-operate with the law, huh? They just need some reassurance from the voices in their head. The good thing about Seek Guidance is that you can blame your impulsive decisions on the actual voices in your head and not lie!
Hakari's start is still pretty damn rough even after surviving because duh, nat 1. Can't let him catch too many breaks. That Bikaku will definitely help for sure though. Now all he needs is some capital to start with. And I'm sure there will not be any problems while he is trying to get some money, no sir, I'm sure!
Comments
Alex I
Time for crab indeed!
Colin Peden
If Hikari had said the last line about no problems when trying to get money, I'd say he raised a flag. You saying, it's just telling us what to expect. 😏 Thanks for the chapter and the double drop.
