My Hero Academia: Restless Gambler

~Toga, Mina and Kirishima~

Toga tripped up a villain charging her and slammed her elbow into his spine before grabbing his hand and twisting the knife out of it. With her new weapon, she deftly danced between the villains and cut their tendons and arms incapacitating them with a ferocious expression on her face.

A large red villain charged at her but she did not pay attention as Kirishima stepped in and tackled the villain with his hardened shoulder and downed them before punching their jaw to turn off their lights.

Mina blasted several villains with tens of litres of incredibly viscous white acid that stopped them in their tracks, the thick slime made it nearly impossible for them to move.

They grouped up, standing back to back as they had mostly dispatched the C-grade villains.

"Wow, your skills with the knife are insane Toga-san." Kirishima said with some awe in his voice as he glanced at the villains writhing on the floor that were covered by Mina's new 'Slime'.

"Thank you Kirishima-kun~ I practised a lot, it takes a lot of effort to use a knife non-lethally." Toga smiled slightly at the non-judgemental tone of Kirishima but then frowned again.

A villain attack, as a former villain herself she was quite disturbed by the turn of events, unlike her classmates she knew very well how brutal the villains could truly be.

Even though she had told Giran that she stopped working as a freelance villain she still felt disturbed by the reminder that she could have been a part of the people who were attacking them, her friends, right now.

She shook her head, that didn't matter right now. Right now, all that mattered was keeping her friends safe and taking care of the villains. 'Don't dwell on the past, you are living in the right now.' is what Hakari would tell her.

"Shouldn't we search for Hakari-kun? I couldn't see clearly but I am pretty sure he got snatched by that Dragon." Toga shook her head at Mina's nervous tone of voice. She had also seen Hakari get snatched, she initially worried but whenever she thought about Hakari's face she just couldn't picture him losing. He may always get bloodied but he always overcame it.

That's why she loved him after all.

"No, we have to regroup with the others first, Hakari can handle himself better than we can together."

She knew in her heart that Hakari would come out on top always.

He was her symbol of peace.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

~Hakari Kotaro~

'Am I... still alive?'

I raised my trembling arms in front of my face and looked at my hands, my vision blurred and darkened.

Pain worse than any I had experienced before assaulted my body, almost every bone felt broken. I was barely still awake thanks to Battle Continuation but I didn't feel like I was.

I felt the taste of blood in my mouth.

'I gotta run away...!'

My survival instincts kicked in, that was death, if I stood around I would die again. This was way above my pay grade. I had to run.

My mind rested on the mental trigger to switch out Frostflare with Emergency Exit. I had to leave.

'And just leave everyone to their fates?' A voice nagged at me.

Yeah, duh. I don't owe them anything. I am a yakuza, I am not a hero, I live to survive.

'But isn't this your responsibility? You are the reason why this is all happening.'

So what? I don't care, I have abandoned people for less. I am NOT a Hero. I don't need to save them, I don't need to risk myself for anyone. Sorry, I am not the hero they are looking for to save the situation, I am just not that kind of person.

'That doesn't mean that you can't be one. Will you just abandon Toga? What kind of flimsy excuse is that?'

The kind that keeps me alive! I didn't survive by being a good person. They need a hero to save them, I am not one. I haven't changed.

'So what? Are you the you from your previous life? Are you content with being stuck in the shadow of your past? Don't you remember what you said to Toga?' The voice nagged at me as I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Nothing is stopping either of us from becoming better."

'After saying that you can't just run away! What would Toga think? You don't need to be a hero to be her hero. So just move!'

The image of a crying Toga flashed past my eyes.

I don't want to, but what can I do with my body broken like this?

'You can do what you always have done.'

'Risk it.'

'Spin the wheel. Roll the dice.'

I opened my eyes and light returned to them, my vision was focused once again.

Right.

What was I thinking? This was my mess and I was going to be the one that would wipe this down. I was not going to let her down.

I opened my logs and saw what I had to work with as time felt like it had slowed down to a crawl.

____________________________

You have defeated the Dragon Nomu +1 Golden Ability Gacha Ticket

You have defeated a group of C-Rank Villains +5 Bronze Gacha Tickets

You have saved Momo and Jiro +1 Silver Gacha Ticket

____________________________

Time to bet it all.

Spin the wheel.

____________________________

Rolling Bronze Gacha Ticket...

A Common Trait!

[Common - Noctis]

|Rarity: Common|

Reduces your need to sleep drastically, not sleeping will not affect your physical condition.

____________________________

And again.

____________________________

Rolling Bronze Gacha Ticket...

A Common Trait!

[Common - Natural Scent]

|Rarity: Common|

You naturally have a pleasant scent around you.

____________________________

Grace did not give me face but I remained stoic in the face of despair and gripped the dice again.

____________________________

Rolling Bronze Gacha Ticket...

A Common Ability!

[Common - Judgement]

|Rarity: Common| |Class: Thinker, Master|

Compel someone to tell the truth to you by making eye contact. Cooldown: 8 Hours

____________________________

Even as fate tried to pull me down by my ankle I threw the dice.

____________________________

Rolling Bronze Gacha Ticket...

An Uncommon Trait!

[Uncommon - Tough Claws]

|Rarity: Uncommon|

Improves the toughness and sharpness of your fingernails into powerful claws, all claw-based abilities are boosted.

____________________________

Even as dangersense blew a fanfare of warnings into my ears about what I was attempting to do my hands did not leave the dice, I shook the dice and threw them down again.

I kept taking the chance.

____________________________

Rolling Bronze Gacha Ticket...

A Common Ability!

[Common - Regenaration]

|Rarity: Common| |Class: Recovery|

Gives the user a minor regeneration factor, allowing them to recover from most minor wounds.

____________________________

You know that's not enough.

Even in the absence of light, always look for a way to turn it around.

When you have nothing, bet it all.

____________________________

Rolling Silver Gacha Ticket...

A Common Trait!

[Common - Half Light]

|Rarity: Common|

Your fight-or-flight response is beyond the norm. You are more attuned to your baser instincts.

____________________________

Even when disaster looms over my head, even when the darkness looks bleaker than ever, even when the end is near. Reach for the light.

I grasp the dice tightly.

You will never hit the jackpot if you never risk it.

____________________________

Rolling Gold Ability Gacha Ticket...

A Rare Ability!

[Rare - The Fool]

|Rarity: Rare| |Class: Trump|

"Beginners Luck"

When activated, The Fool is replaced with a random ability or skill that is weaker than itself and is best suited for your situation for 8 hours.

Cooldown: 7 Days

____________________________

Jackpot.

I replaced Dangersense with The Fool and activated it.

___/Abilities\_____________

-Active(1/1)-

[Rare - The Fool] => [Rare - (The Fool)Rapid Recovery]

[ Elite - Phase Shift]

[Elite - Frost Flare]

__________________________

I felt strength come back to my body, I felt the broken bones shift back into place and the wounds on my body forcefully mend themselves. I pushed myself out of the crater on the side of the hill.

There is no going back, no room for regret or hesitation.

I felt my connection to Half Light, fight or flight, and it screamed fight right now, and I listened to my body. A bloody smile found its way to my lips.

'Polar Channel Flow - Cellular Overdrive'

Power flooded my body as I activated Phase Shift, Offensive Form.

I saw Nomu gripping Aizawa by the head about to slam him into the ground. Not on my watch.

"Hey!!!"

My voice boomed making everyone turn their heads to me including the Nomu who stared at me blankly. Shigaraki looked taken aback by me having seemingly come back from the dead.

"Hey hey, doesn't that kid know how to stay down?" I ignored him and shouted at Aizawa.

"Sensei! USE YOUR QUIRK NOW!"

He listened to what I said, turning his head slightly he glared at the Nomu, his eyes took on a red hue and his hair floated slightly.

'There is your chance, grasp it!' My instincts blared.

My feet dug into the floor and I pushed, my body flew like a missile at the Nomu who had little time to react before my fist slammed into its face which made it stagger now that it didn't have Shock Absorption. It was absurdly fast but its brain wasn't.

I followed it up by raising my hands and letting off a car-sized blast of frost fire right into its chest, sending it staggering back and freezing over its body, making it release Aizawa who quickly stepped away.

"What the fuck!? A second phase!?" I flipped in the air and landed on my feet next to Aizawa.

"Sensei, I'm sure you know how fucked the situation is, so you have no chance but to bet on me. As long as you keep your eyes on the prize and turn off his quirk I can put him down, or at least hold him off until All Might gets here." Aizawa glanced at me briefly but nodded anyway, protective he may be but even he recognizes the lack of choices during a crisis.

"Fine, I'll make sure his quirks off, go wild." But then he was butted in by the blue-haired baby man.

"Oi! Don't just ignore me! Nomu! Focus on the yellow-haired brat, I'll take Eraser Head." Right, things just couldn't go my way. My job now was to stall the Nomu while Aizawa took care of the manchild.

"Change of plans, take care of mr. Hands, I will stall the-"

Crush!

-Nomu broke out of the ice encasing him once it heard Shigaraki's order, I kept my eyes trained on the Nomu, not taking my eyes off for even a second. All of my hopped-up senses from Half-Light and Cellular Overdrive were focused on him and him only.

Woosh!

My eyes were barely able to track as the Nomu dashed over to me and stopped in front of me with its fist raised, winding up a large haymaker before throwing it down while I stepped to the side and punched it right in the gut.

A large storm of wind was generated from the sheer force behind its punch, even uprooting a tree nearby yet the shockwave did not even phase me, Wind Resistance - Epic made me practically immune to any wind effect that couldn't wipe Japan off the map.

The Nomu withdrew its outreached hand and raised the other before striking down, I moved before it moved its hand, I did not focus on its arms but on its chest and shoulders, my speed was comparable enough that I could actually dodge his attacks somewhat reliably, I read the movement of his shoulder before the fist moved to attack.

I weaved around the next punch and hit it right in the face with a punch covered in Frost Flare. Of course, it did not even flinch even when the frost covered its face.

But this was fine, I could keep up with the Nomu, normally it would be way faster and I would be overwhelmed but I had an advantage. Its mind was slow, its reaction speed was slow and it barely had object permanence. My reaction speeds were barely faster than the living bag of meat without direct orders.

My ass was clenched tight as I danced the beast, any stray hit would turn me into paste without Defensive Form, and if I used Defensive Form I would get hit. I could only stall Nomu, but unlike him, I had limited time.

I was running on fumes as I weaved and countered the Nomu, Cellular Overdrive was taking its toll on me. Why the fuck was All Might taking so fucking long?

Ducking under another attempt to grab me by the Nomu I blasted its foot with ice but it simply bulldozed, I couldn't even spare a glance at what the others were doing or what state Aizawa was in as even a single moment of distraction would be fatal for me.

And then...

Just as I was dodging yet another attempt to grab me I felt my footing disappear. A split-second glance showed a cloudly void-like portal swallowing my foot. In the corner of my vision, I could see Kurogiri glaring at me.

"This won't do, your slipperiness is quite inconvenient."

Fucking...!

The Nomu grabbed my left arm and pulled me up with a vacant expression, its hand felt like a hydraulic crusher, and dread bubbled in my heart.

"Hakari!" "Hakari!" "No!" "Bastard!" I heard a chorus of voices shout, I saw Aizawa turning to me with a panicked expression, I could see Midoriya and Tsuyu in the corner with horrified faces, and I could even see Bakugou rushing toward the scene.

Bam!

"Kuagh!"

I didn't even get a chance to attack as the Nomu slammed to the ground like a flail, my elbow was completely twisted and shattered, my shoulder was completely dislocated, I felt my ribs crack and the ground tear apart my eyebrow.

Bam!

It knocked the breath out of me, I activated Defensive form to mitigate the damage but then it squeezed my arm, and the arm gave out like playdough, I could feel the bones in my arm completely get pulverised by its grip, my arm was completely ruptured and it was beyond saving. I couldn't even scream from the pain.

"You fucker! Release him!" Boom!

Bakugou flew up and blasted the Nomu in a futile attempt to stop him but the Nomu did not even seem to care about its existence as it raised my completely brutalized arm to slam me again.

But just as it was about to slam me again I switched to offensive form and raised my other arm.

"""!!!"""

I chopped down without hesitation, severing my arm.

A/N: Hakari finally decides that even if he himself may not be a hero he can act like one, He chose the life of someone else above his own and chose to fight when he could have fled. He pushed down his negativity and forced himself to act like a hero for no reason other than being someone'shero.

Also, Hakari rolls the dice and keeps rolling it, his whole story is of chance, he bet on himself and he won. He really rolled the thematically perfect ability and no, I did not rig the roll for him to roll The Fool or any other roll here. The dice just rolled in his favour.

Always bet on Hakari.

What did you guys think of the chapter and Hakari's character development? Hearing your thoughts about it would really help. Your comments help motivate me and help me improve

_______________________________

If you like my works and want to support me and my works you can do so at my P*treon at: p*treon.com/BronzDeck. You can also read up to 10 chapters ahead on all of my works there.

Just replace the * with an a.