『Hakari Kotaro』
"All the events for U.A First Years for this festival have been concluded, thank you all for participating! And now, we will begin the Award Ceremony!"
Even from under the stage, I could hear the thunderous applause and the fireworks popping off after Midnight's declaration. I had no idea why they were forcing us to wait underground for the podium to rise up dramatically, but I could not overstate how much I hated it.
"T-This is a bit nerve wracking, isn't it?"
"Yup."
As expected, Izuku and I were of one mind about the whole theatrics. As in, we both were viscerally uncomfortable. On the other hand, the third place podium were two people, Momona and Ibaraki. She looked somewhat proud of herself while Momona shot us a glare but just as he opened his mouth to no doubt talk shit that would get him hit, he was interrupted by the podium starting to rise up from the ground with a burst of smoke and confetti, but I was too tired to even flinch.
It was out of sheer willpower that I was even managing to stand, my energy reserves were actually a full zero right now, they had fully depleted when I used Super Regeneration to fix my internal organs that Izuku had battered with his wind blast.
Everyone who had made it out of the obstacle course stood before us, and the stadium was in full blast in terms of cheers. Fireworks were going off, and to distract myself from it all, I decided to keep my gaze focused and clear on Midnight's breasts as she kept announcing.
"And the presenter of today's awards will be of course by..."
"HA HA HA!"
Appearing on the top of the stadium, All Might jumped and landed in the middle of the stadium and stood to his full height, giving the crowd his iconic shining grin.
"Our very own hero All Might"/"I HAVE BROUGHT THE MEDALS!"
For a dead awkward second, the two stood in silence as they accidentally talked over each other before deciding to ignore that mishap and continuing with the awards ceremony. She handed the medals case to All Might who approached the podium with a wide smile. He put the two 3rd place medals around Ibaraki and Monoma's necks and praised their performance, Monoma's forward thinking and Ibaraki's efficiency respectively before moving onto Izuku.
He looked incredibly proud, and almost glowing as he placed the silver 2nd place medal around Izuku's neck.
"Midoryia-shounen, despite your limitations and handicaps, you managed to make it all the way to second place through ingenuity and hard work. You should be proud of yourself, because I know I am."
"T-thank you, All Might...!"
Izuku looked about ready to burst into tears as All Might gave him a quick hug and oh, nope, he is crying. Looking unnerved by the situation, All Might coughed into his first and approached me.
"Hakari-shounen, you have performed excellently, displaying versatility, cunning, and adaptiveness that can rival a pro. You have gone far beyond anyone's wildest expectations. And for that, I'm happy to present you with the first place medal."
He hung the medal around my neck, and judging by the weight, it may actually have been real gold.
"...Thanks All Might."
All Might seemed to have interpreted my curt reply because of my nervousness as something else as a bead of sweat rolled down his forehead as he patted me on the shoulder and posed for a photo with me.
But instead of posing, my gaze was focused on a notification that appeared in my field of vision.
Feat Achieved! Finish the Sports Festival at First Place
+1x Triplet Platinum Advantage Random Gacha Ticket
Whao.
⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀
After the festival, Aizawa Head took us back to the classroom to give us a rundown of what would happen afterward and congratulate us about our performance. The next two days were also vacations due to 2nd and 3rd years sports events and because they needed to consolidate the internship offers we would get.
I was not paying attention as I was busy napping with the Hypnos Sleeping Mask, but I couldn't help but notice that Ida was missing. Asking someone revealed that the butterflies hadn't screwed me over too badly and that Ida's brother had ended up in critical condition after Shit Stain attacked him.
...Is it bad of me to feel relieved that his brother still ended up in critical condition?
After classes, I rubbed my genie lamp that was Toga with a 5 minute head patting session before rolling my ticket, this was a Triple advantage. So I wouldn't get just two choices, but three. If I had enough energy left, I would be so hard right now.
[Hurricane]
|Elite Ability|
Allows you to conjure and command mighty winds and hurricanes with great power. With enough training, you can devastate several cities with hurricanes and storms.
or
[Fiend]
|Elite Trait|
Race Change - You are a Fiend, a high rank infernal demon. As Fiend, you have considerable physical and magical abilities. You also have a greater affinity towards Unholy, Darkness, Infernal and Fire, being able to master abilities and spells related to them much faster along with the ability to naturally create Hell Flame(Rare Rank Ability). But as a High Rank Demon, you are rendered incredibly vulnerable to Holy, Divine, Light and Exorcisms.
or
[Hamon]
|Elite Trait|
JoJo- You possess a unique physique and affinity, allowing you to instinctively use and master the Hamon breathing technique to utilize the force of Life Magnetism and harness the power of sunlight through your breathing. Practicing Hamon for extended periods of time can grant a superhuman physique, vitality, longevity and a bunch of other effects.
This did not seem like a very balanced selection. On another note, I would have to give Toga even more headpats in gratitude.
Fiend is out, I'm not trading away my humanity for an Elite trait. Not to mention the complications that could cause in this world. Hurricane was a pretty damn good ability, I think it was the ability of that one guy from the other school? It would have been a great selection if Hamon was not right there.
Hamon could get incredible, it harmonized well with my current move set and abilities and would allow me to increase my physical abilities far better. So I picked it without hesitation.
And the moment I did, I felt all wind get knocked out of my lungs as someone punched my diaphragm, making me double over for a second before I managed to take a deep breath.
What a breath it was.
"Hooh, nice."
My lungs were filled with fresh air and I felt invigorated, less like coffee and more like going from feeling like you pulled three all-nighters in a row to feeling you just woke up from a great sleep to a sunny morning.
Despite my lack of energy, Hamon breathing felt incredible, if not a bit hard to do. I felt it slowly recover my energy reserves and instinctively knew I made the right choice. And if I got good enough at Hamon, I knew it could even potentially unlock Future-seeing abilities like Hermit Purple.
Toganium is unbreakable.
As I was trying to get a hang of my Hamon Breathing, I felt a soft pair of hands suddenly cover my eyes and a feeling of immense, incredible softness squish against my back.
"Guess whooo~"
I'd be a fool to not recognize that voice.
"Nejire-senpai."
She withdrew her hands and put them behind her back before leaning forward as I turned around, she smiled cheerfully. I hadn't expected her to see her right now.
"Yup! It's me!"
It's her.
Seeing her suddenly made me recall our bet which had escaped my head with how many hits I had taken to the dome. I wanted nothing more than to fall asleep now. But seeing her face felt like a dose of caffeine strong enough to get my mood back up.
Seeing my rather underwhelming reaction she crossed her arms and pouted slightly.
"Mmm, I'm so sad you didn't come see me when you won Hakari-kun. I had to come find you myself you know? But you were really cool out there so it's fine."
A slight smile tugged at my lips.
"Sorry about that Nejire-senpai, Aizawa dragged us to class right after so I couldn't find you. Did you like my performance out there? I made sure to be extra showy for you. Though if you still do not forgive me, I'll just have to make up for it on our date."
Nejire tapped her lips with an amused expression, likely recalling how I moved in the sports festival before nodding.
"Yep! It was soo cool, you kept switching between Quirk to Quirk. I loved how you made that blood armor against the flames to not get burnt. Even Vlad-sensei doesn't use blood like that."
Yes, that's it, fuel my ego some more. I'm almost there.
"So, about that date, do you think I earned it? I placed first in every category y'know?"
Her eyes twinkled as she lightly headbutted my shoulder. I could hardly read her expression but she seemed to be very amused at the moment.
"Of course! You think I'd go back on my word? Plus, I love hanging out with you, Lion-kun. But we are going to be pretty busy with internships soon, and I'm going all the way to Ryukyu-san's. So it's gonna be a bit hard to plan. Hmm..."
She rubbed her chin in thought while I waited for her. I remembered Ryukyu, she was pretty famous, she was a top 100 hero and could turn into a frankly weird looking dragon, but all dragons were cool so it was not bad. I couldn't resist the urge to poke her cheek when she was silent for too long, making her snap out of it and look at me inquisitively.
"Whenever you can make time, I'm game. I wouldn't miss this date even if I had to sacrifice an arm and a leg for it."
That seemed to please her as she bounced her heels, which was a motion that did amazing things to her breasts.
"Ok! How about tomorrow? This year's 2nd Years are a bit underwhelming so I was planning to just watch them on my phone later."
"Sounds good to me."
Nejire nodded her head, looking proud of herself before suddenly lunging forward and giving me a rib crushing hug.
"Alright, it's a date! I have to go now, Lion-kun, I'll text you the locations and time later ok?"
With that, Nejire trotted away.
...And then trotted back with a slight blush.
"Hey, Lion-kun, what's your phone number?"
I struggled to not chuckle in her face.
⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀
『Hakari Kotaro - Tomorrow Morning - Musutafu Park』
I checked my phone as I leaned against a lamppost, waiting for Nejire to arrive. I still felt a bit of yesterday's exertion, but I was more than in shape for a date. I had spent most of yesterday practicing my Hamon breathing, it was going very smoothly, which I suspected was because of the support from Pugilist.
Deciding to be safe, I had decided to come 30 minutes earlier and wait for Nejire, I was chatting with Toga and Aiba on my phone. My wallet was more than full, ready for this date, while Aiba did spot me on my last date. I still had more than decent amounts of money from my gambling and investments which had gone well thanks to Seek Guidance.
Just as I was starting to get annoyed after 10 minutes passed the designated time for our date, I heard gasps from the nearby people. Turning my head, I saw the sight they gasped at but could not blame them.
It was Nejire in a dress, which was a sight that was impossible to not get that reaction from.
"Sorry for making you wait, Lion-kun! I overslept! I'm not too late am I?"
I pulled on my collar and shook my head, in contrast to my attire which was a black leather jacket, leather pants and a white shirt, which Toga picked out which made me look like a real biker, Nejire meanwhile was wearing a stylish light blue dress and heels that made her look almost angelic.
"Nah, just stylishly late is all. Shall we?"
I extended my arm, and Nejire seemed pleased by my comment as she grinned and linked arms with me.
"You're correct, let's go, Lion-kun."
Still don't know why she calls me that.
A/N: It's time to Overdrive baby!!! Hamon is such a fun power system when you understand how it actually works, which I did after doing days of research on it for a fanfic that didn't go anywhere. With Hemokinesis and Regeneration, Hamon can produce some truly busted results. One must never doubt the Toganium.
Nejire's here! And the date foretold is going to come true! I have plans for this date to make sure it doesn't just blend in with the other date chapters I have written so far. And Nejire is just a charm to write to be honest. She bounces off of Hakari very well. What did you guys think about this chapter? I'd love to know.