Chapter 22: The Wrong Kind of Attention

A/N: Question: What would you guys think about a Discord? Most major fanfic writers have their own Discord servers. Personally, I think it would be cool to have a discord of like-minded people of culture.

---Battle 1 Review---

An uncomfortable silence pervaded the viewing room. Everyone had just witnessed the brutal fight that had occurred.

After Tsuyu had been taken out unceremoniously by Todoroki and had to surrender because of her cold-blooded nature not doing well against his ice everyone's attention had shifted to the cameras containing Hakari.

Everyone's breath was held as they watched the intense battle between Hakari and Bakugou. And then Bakugou blasting Hakari with her gauntlets.

Mina had let out a shriek, terrified of what was going to happen to Hakari while on the other hand, Toga's posture didn't betray any hint of worry.

Toga was confident in Hakari's ability, especially against a rude brat like Bakugou. But she was rightfully filled with cold anger as she watched the blast wash over Hakari's body and reveal his injured body.

Still, she did not emote beyond giving the girl on the screen a glare that promised pain far beyond the one she gave to Hakari when they first met. She only felt slightly more vindicated once Bakugou's skull met the solid concrete floor.

Once everyone had finished viewing the camera feed and Hakari had ruthlessly achieved victory All Might turned to them and clapped.

"And that's all everyone, now, who do you think was the MVP in this exercise?" All Might asked with a tinge of nervousness in his voice after witnessing the brutality of Hakari.

Sure, he had seen far more brutal fights and experienced it himself but anything that young Hakari did seemed to put him on edge. He truly hoped that young Hakari would not stray down the same path his nemesis did and so he was on edge to any negative responses he had.

Snapping him out of his thoughts he saw Yaoyorozu raise her hand.

"Yes! Young Yaoyorozu?" He pointed to her and she started speaking without hesitation.

"Well, I think it's obvious to anyone here that Hakari-kun was the MVP during this exercise. Bakugou and Todoroki did not have any co-ordination whatsoever, however, both had fearsome quirks that anyone else in the class would have failed against."

"In spite of his partner being unable to help him out during this exercise." Tsuyu hung her head in shame making Momo quickly add "Through no fault of her own of course, Hakari-kun still managed to cleverly use his quirk to mitigate Todoroki-san's terrain advantage and physically win over Bakugou-san. But I don't understand why he would choose to take Bakugou-san's attack instead of using his teleportation to dodge the blast?"

All Might wiped the cold sweat off his brow, the Yaoyorozu said way more than he expected but now it was time to pipe in. He wanted to seem like a knowledgeable teacher to his students after all.

"AH HA! You seem to not know but young Hakari's quirk actually limits the number of quirks he can use at once to slots that he needs to swap out of. So in fact he did the best he could have with the time and resources available to him!" All Might pointed out as Momo gained an understanding look in her eyes. He also saw his pupil gain a really intense look in his eyes, that usual look of calculation and wonder, he truly wondered what was racing through young Midoriya's mind.

"I see, in that case, Hakari-kun really did admirably with the 'quirks' he had access to at that moment. I would like to add that Bakugou-san acted incredibly recklessly and went to seek out the heroes out of a personal grudge instead of protecting her objective which was incredibly short-sighted of her."

"In addition, this was not helped by Todoroki-kun who did not show any intent to cooperate and acted too confident in his powers which caused him to neglect the walls as potential breach points. In conclusion, Hakari-kun performed exceptionally well and I don't think anyone here is going to disagree with me on that."

Todoroki was leaning against a corner looking like he swallowed a lemon. Just as All Might was going to respond-

"Yeah, I know right!? Hakari-kun was so cool back there!" Toga piped up with an almost infectious fervour making Momo take a step back in surprise but before it became awkward someone else joined in.

"Totally! He was so manly I almost cried, I don't know if I could've tanked that but he went out of that smoke like 'not a scratch' right?" Kirishima high-fived Toga who nodded sagely in response.

"Humu humu. I'm glad you understand Kirishima-kun."

"I also think Hakari-kun was pretty cool back there too!" Chimed in Hagakure, if she was visible a small blush could have been seen... somehow. Hearing this Mina felt like she also had to join in since it felt almost competitive "Well, I can't deny, he did look cool when he busted that door down like that. He totally looked like a pro when he did that."

"...What the fuck? Why the fuck he is he getting so much attention when he isn't even here!? It's so unfair!!!" A certain midget with sticky purple orbs glued to his head cried out audibly in vain as he pounded on the floor out of jealousy while Sero looked at him with slight disdain.

"Dude, get a hobby, seriously. You are getting the floors wet with your tears."

Seeing all of the commotion All Might sighed inwardly.

Young Hakari really stirred up chaos effortlessly, didn't he?

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

~Kotaro Hakari~

Ugh... this sucks.

I just managed to get out of the goddamn infirmary after 8 minutes of nagging and treatment at the insistence of the old bat. It didn't help that I had been knocked out the moment she used her quirk on me due to my depleted reserves. But it was still unfair that I was the one getting nagged by grandma.

How the fuck was getting hit with a missile point fucking blank my fault?

Well, I mean her general complaints were me ending up half dead on her doorstep every other week which was honestly fair criticism of recklessness but at the same time I don't choose to be maimed every time I fight dammit.

God just likes to give his hardest battles to his most despised soldier.

And then I had to convince Toga and the gang consisting of Hardman, Invisible Girl and Mina that I was okay and wouldn't die anytime soon. I let them go ahead of me since they were tired from the exercise while I needed to practice.

I was confident I could finally finish that Blink refinement quest today. Then I could start really cooking with gas.

As I walked over to the practice grounds I heard a familiar rough yet feminine voice call out to me.

"Finally, I found you!"

I turned with an irritated expression ready to tear Bakubitch's face off but held off once I saw her conflicted expression.

"What is it? I'm busy."

Bakubastard looked like she was internally struggling with what she was about to say before she seemed to decide to bite to bullet and shout it out.

"I'm sorry alright!?" She pushed out the words like pulling teeth.

...What?

"...What?"

Did I just hear that right? Bakubitch, the destroyer of dreams, the bully of children, the bloodlusted hero wannabe.

That Bakugou apologizing?

Did my remix curse go up a tier while I wasn't looking or something? How did the world have to change to force her of all people to swallow her pride and apologize!?

What next!? Is AFO going to be a milf!?

"Hey! What the hell is with that look you Yakuza-looking bastard!? Is me admitting fault that fucking unbelievable to you!? Huh!?!?" Yeah, that was more Bakugou alright, I was afraid remix spawned a new villain with the ability to possess people.

She gritted her teeth but then seemed to swallow her anger down(I am terrified, is reality about to collapse?) before sighing and speaking in a calmer tone of voice.

Sigh.

"Look, I'm sorry for using that and almost killing you okay? I thought with your fucking teleportation or whatever that you would dodge but I was wrong ok? I didn't want to actually kill you. I learned from the teachers about it."

...Damn. Is that a flying pig I see? When did those start growing wings? Is that one riding a unicorn?

But real talk, I suppose I can't blame Bakugou that much in that case. I mean I can still blame her but now the urge has gone down from murderous to dislike.

"Mmh, I couldn't use blink during the trial because I needed to swap between abilities so it wasn't in my current moveset. Still, I would advise against pulling the pin on the murder gauntlet you have, also don't flatter yourself, you didn't even come close to putting me down."

She sneered.

"Well, regardless you better watch your back you Yakuza-looking bastard because I'm gonna take you down sooner or later!" Really? I mean I applaud her confidence and all but from here on, I am only going to get stronger faster. Still, I guess I could use a challenge. Who knows, she is a shounen deuteragonist maybe she does have the potential to challenge me a fair amount.

"You are welcome to try Bakugou."

This is bound to be interesting.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

~All for One~

'How interesting!'

All for One almost couldn't contain his excitement. It had been a long time since he had felt passion and interest like this, over time he had grown mostly apathetic but upon seeing the reports of his mole inside UA he almost salivated.

Kotaro Hakari, the boy that had escaped being turned into a nomu had managed to actually enroll into UA, but not only that, he had awakened a truly absurd quirk.

One and All, it was almost like destiny. A quirk that created and developed more quirks without restraint. A quirk that was the definition of a singularity, maybe even beyond it depending on how it developed.

Kyudai, incredibly excited about the prospect of the quirk attempted to replicate the same conditions Hakari himself went through several times to no avail.

No matter what the same result didn't appear, not even anything close to it. 10 people, all placed under the same conditions or similar conditions. They were woken up mid-surgery under the same conditions but nothing happened even if their quirks were similar or functionally identical to Hakari's own.

Some were even placed under more extreme conditions such as torture but that yielded no better results.

Unfortunately, he and Kyudai hadn't taken his quirk and copied it before attempting to turn him into a nomu since basic enhancement quirks like stamina or enhanced endurance were a dime a dozen and Hakari's was on the weaker side.

Although he salivated at the thought of such a quirk and even the name. It seemed like destiny for him to obtain such a quirk but he held off for now.

His current body couldn't handle such an intense quirk now and he had learned a hefty morsel of information.

That it developed more quirks under stress and duress. It made sense with how it was first activated. How fascinating it was, a quirk that worked as a self-defence mechanism that gave the user more quirks to defend themselves with.

He would let the young man develop the quirk for him more first. He wanted to see what heights it reached before he took it for himself.

It would do well to put some pressure on him in that case.

He smirked. They would attack the UA High School soon with the new Anti-All Might nomu Kyudai had made. Shigaraki, his protegee would lead that attack. He wanted to see how Hakari would respond to such a thing.

Would he be able to prevail and escape such a thing? Growing stronger in the process? Or would he fall and be captured by the nomu where he would personally make sure he would put under plenty of stress and danger to force him to make the most of his quirk.

He couldn't wait to find out.

Maybe he should ask Kyudai to add a little extra to push the little singularity a bit more.

A/N: Hakari has started to gain his own following and Toga is getting along with her class and especially Kirishima since they can share a brain cell and relate to each other.

On that note, the tsundere Bakugou route has been unlocked.

Finally, the All for One portion, Hakari had it coming by tempting fate by naming his quirk One and All. He has developed a fixation on Hakari and that can only go well. Well, Hakari can only pray to Lady Luck and RNGesus that they pity him.

What did you guys think of the chapter and the matchup? I would love to know so make sure to share your thoughts about it in the comments. Your comments help motivate me and help me improve.