Chapter 5: Chapter 4: Fool Me Twice
As the train arrived at Musutafu I stepped out while counting the money in my pockets. Thankfully none of those guys had sensory quirks or else I probably would have been lynched.
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Feat achieved! Pickpocket 5 people undetected +Bronze Skill Gacha Ticket.
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That counts? Great, that will probably help me, anything helps at the moment. Roll it.
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Rolling Bronze Skill Gacha...
A Common Skill!
[Common - Teaching Mastery (Minor)]
You are able to teach and instruct people better. You are able to teach people your skills as long as they are of the same rank as teaching mastery excluding teaching mastery.
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Of course, it is something that doesn't help my situation in the least. I should have expected this. At least it is not a curse, I can take solace in that.
Now then, what the hell do I do?
I rested against a pack bench with my hood down, grimacing in pain.
My current situation was nothing less than spectacular.
I was in a city I didn't know, without any identification with photos of me running through a neighborhood bleeding all over the place in only my underpants. Not getting spotted so far is only through luck.
Oh, and I am also dying.
I could use the medical attention honestly. While the wounds won't get much worse I don't think they will get any better. And I am not thrilled about the lacerations and stab wounds from getting up in the middle of surgery and bruises from pushing my body so hard. I am driven by pure willpower and let me tell you, that is a finite resource.
Shit, should I just bite the bullet and ask the police for help? But in a worst-case scenario, I get put in a group home or foster care which is something I do not want.
...Fuck it, I need an ID at least. I can just pull a no-show after getting my ID if I need to. If this was mundane Japan I could probably find someone to get me a new identity but I don't fancy those chances in quirked-up Japan.
I dragged myself to the police station still wincing from my wounds, they fucking stung all right. I made sure to replace my bandages and clean my wounds again(inciting some major agony might I add) and grabbed a bite since I was starving like a starving dog before grabbing a taxi to the police station.
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I half stumbled into the police station, not feeling so hot, maybe because of the lost blood or the dull ache throughout my entire body but I was not having a very great time. It was actually my body had held up so far.
Seeing me walk up to him in an unsteady fashion the older man behind the desk looked up from his monitor.
"Hm? Oh, what is it? Did you come here to report something?" I nodded, trying to stand up taller but deciding against it with a wince of pain getting a raised eyebrow from the man.
"I uhh, crime." Fuck, it's hard to make sentences right now. What is happening right now?
I feel sluggish, I shouldn't have lost that much blood, is my spectacular tolerance running out now that I am safe? Is it because I used too much of Apport that it drained my energy?
"Kid? You okay?" Worried the policeman rose up from his seat and approached me, alerting the other officers nearby.
"No, I... uh. Could use some-"
Oh, the ground looks really pretty right now. And rapidly approaching my face.
*Slump*
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'Wow... I feel super tired.'
My eyes opened slightly, adjusting to the bright light above as I got a slight PTSD flashback of waking up in the doctor's lab before I remembered what happened and realized that I was probably in a not-so-evil doctor's office.
I tried standing up instinctually and barely found any discomfort in doing so, except for drowsiness of course. God, it feels so good to not feel like a torture victim.
As I tried to properly regain my bearings I heard the voice of an elderly woman coming from the side.
"Oh? You're finally awake."
Shit, did I end up Skyrim now? Isn't this gacha a bit too fickle?
Nono, that doesn't make sense, it is a common phrase. Stop getting so shaken by it.
turning my head I saw a short, elderly woman with grey hair styled into a netted bun, she wore a doctor's lab coat and a dress with yellow and red vest-like designs on either side and purple-tinted visor joining it over her eyes. In addition, she also had a cane designed like a syringe for some god-unknown reason.
Recovery Girl, the white mage of Mha. She is probably the reason why I feel so great instead of lying down and recovering from a surgery. Seems like luck has graced me for once for her to be in this hospital. Then again if I was lucky I wouldn't be here would I?
Snapping me out of my musings, Recovery Girl looked at me sternly.
"Boy! What were you thinking going to the police station instead of the hospital!? Why did you not come sooner instead of relying on some bandages? I say, if you had waited any longer you would have had to go into surgery. Here, take some of this, it's candy, you need to get some of your energy back. My healing is very tiring."
She held out some hard candy which I took from her hands, now that she mentioned it I did feel like I had been starving for a week after she used her healing on me. Popping it in my mouth I started sucking on the candy, strawberry-flavoured I think.
"Yep, I noticed. Thanks for healing me, Recovery Girl-san." I won't even bother to ask why she would still call herself recovery girl, I learned early on that the elderly are very conscious about their age, best not to comment on their age unless you want to get caned.
As I was sucking on the strawberry-flavored candy Recovery Girl suddenly looked at me with a softer gaze as she sat down on her chair again. I could feel the concern and worry in her gaze which made me feel awkward.
"But really boy. What happened to you? How did you get wounded so badly? Those wounds you had were bad, lacerations, fractures across almost all of your body, torn muscles all over. " I felt an awkward sweat go down my back as I winced.
'Sorry ma'am, this is all because my impulsive ass decided to take on a curse. My sincerest apologies for my lack of forethinking.'
This brings up the question, however, what the fuck do tell them? 'Oh yeah, I was kidnapped by a mad doctor who tried to turn me into a biological weapon but I managed to escape by manifesting a new quirk.'
'I fell down the stairs.' Won't cut it either.
Fuck it, this will have to do.
As I was going to speak Recovery Girl raised her hand indicating for me to stay quiet.
"Wait for a second, the police will be here in a second, let them hear too alright?" I nodded, no avoiding it. A minute after a knock resounded as Recovery Girl said to come in, leading to two people entering the room.
A random police officer with a tail that I don't recognize while the other one sparked up some recognition. A pretty bland-looking guy with black eyes and hair, he was pretty tall, I think he was Tsuka whatever.
"Good evening, I am Detective Naomasa Tsukasa, I hope you are doing better, those were some really nasty injuries. I am here to ask you some questions about your situation okay? Don't worry, you aren't in any trouble or anything." With a calm voice and wearing a casual smile the detective pulled a chair next to me while the other officer pulled out a notepad.
He casually reached and grabbed it lightly, shaking up my memories about him. I think his quirk was lie detection, I have to think properly about what I said, if I say something weird and he keeps pushing I won't be able to answer.
"Alright, keep calm alright? Now, you are Kotaro Hakari is that correct?" Oh nice, my name wasn't changed. I gave a slow and hesitant nod while mentally sticking firm to my story.
"I... think? I can't really remember... much of anything really." Hearing my words Recovery Girl winced and covered her mouth while Tsukasa frowned a little as the officer behind him recorded that on his notepad.
"Amnesia? I'm sorry if this is going to be hard to remember. Is this you in this video? And if so do you remember how you ended up there in the middle of the street?" He asked, showing me a video of what happened earlier of me booking it down the street with some nasty wounds.
"Yeah, pretty sure that is me. I don't remember exactly how I ended up there. The earliest thing I remember here was being in pain and confused before well, I ended up in the middle of the street after my quirk kicked in."
I am technically not lying, I don't know exactly, how would I know how teleportation works? And the earliest thing I remembered in this world was being confused and in pain, before my quirk kicked in, which one I am not telling though. You don't have shit on me lie detector man.
The detective frowned and thought to himself before asking me again.
"What do you mean by your quirk kicked in? In your documents, it says that your quirk is listed as 'Enhanced Endurance'. Yet you somehow teleported into the middle of the street?" I gave him a raised eyebrow.
"I... don't know about that. I-I'm sorry, I really don't know what to tell you." I feigned a struggling expression which tugged at the detective's heartstrings as he placed a hand on my shoulder. No good guy would want to push a severely injured teen who was clearly shaken up.
"Alright, no need to strain yourself. I will have to head back and check some things, detective stuff you know? Now, since you have amnesia you need to come over to the police station so we can sort out things like your papers alright?" I nodded, I almost feel guilty for tricking such a nice guy but you always have to look out for yourself.
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That went well, I think.
About as well as it could have at least. I am no longer dying and have my documents with me. I am also back in "my" house, it was a pretty boring and nondescript apartment, it had all the necessities and basic comforts but beyond that, it had zero individuality.
Which was good enough for me. At least the bed was comfortable enough so I had no room for complaints. Plus, that police meeting actually gave me a slight bonus.
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Feat achieved! Fool a Lie Detector +1 Silver Skill Gacha Ticket
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I waited until I got home to roll it in the off chance that someone noticed me change or something. Holding my breath I rolled it.
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Rolling Silver Skill Gacha Ticket...
A Rare skill!
[Rare - Massage Mastery (Advanced)]
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I felt knowledge flow into my mind, experience filling my being as I suddenly felt like I had over a dozen years of massaging skills, I was probably as good as a senior masseuse now, hell, I could even open my own massage parlour with my skills.
...How is this supposed to help me again?
Now, while I admit that I used to look up such things as learning massage to impress women, this skill doesn't look like it will help me much in this world.
*Sigh...*
Tough luck huh?
A/N: Kota managed to trick Tsukasa, not because he gave half lies but because since he was speaking half lies he was so confident in himself that the lie detector quirk did not pick up anything on it. He failed the assignment successfully.
And now that he acquired an identity he can finally start gaining a foothold on the world, or he would get to if nothing unfortunate struck him again... which is almost certain to happen considering so far his luck is the farthest from his namesake.
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