Chapter 36: Brotherly Beatdown

A/N: For those wondering wondering where Crawling x Chaos is, Webnovel decided to lock it for zero reason(Even they couldn't figure out why that was when asked) and support hasn't done anything for 3 days now so I can't release anything and nobody can see it. If it isn't released by the end of the week I will probably delete and re-release it. But I really don't want to lose the comments so I am still waiting.

~Hakari Kotaro~

I grinned in slight excitement and Deku did the same to me, it seemed like he was still truly a shounen protagonist, he wanted to fight and test his limits. That was good, he was slowly proving himself to be best friend material.

I wouldn't accept a boring or weak best friend.

"Alright, Deku!" I pointed to him "Come at with me with all that you got, don't you dare hold back alright? You saw the hits I could take from the Nomu. If you can take me down I'll treat you to ramen, if you don't it will be a trip to Recovery Lady got that? The nagging will hurt more than the beating." Deku nodded with a strained smile.

"I prefer Tonkotsu ramen Hakari-kun!" Seems like getting a handle on his power really turned up his adrenaline, cheeky boy.

Been a while since I have been this excited to fight, show me that Main Character Aura!

I pulled on Scary Monsters as the skin around my jaw cracked and my teeth grew to a maw full of fangs, my fingernails became claws and a tail sprouted out of my back. Gripping my shirt with both hands I tore it away revealing my bare upper body full of chiselled muscles and riddled with scars.

"Come on then! Take your ramen from me!" Deku nodded with a determined face before charging at me.

"Nice speed!"

He quickly closed the distance between us, he just edged me out in movement speed when I only used Scary Monster, good! I held one hand out to block his fist but to my surprise-

'It's damn heavy!'

He punched harder than my Phase Shift, I had to brace with my other arm too as the punch slid me back and I felt the impact in my bones, that felt like getting hit by a truck, what a little monster, no hesitation behind the hit too.

Deku looked at his own hand in surprise and then over to me but before he spoke I shook my hand.

"You throw a good punch! Let me return the favour!"

Crack!

The ground beneath my feet cracked since instead of running, I pushed off the ground like I was jumping with my superior leg strength, leaping at Deku with my fist raised, he was only able to throw his arms up in response as my fist connected with my full force behind it.

"Gah!"

Deku was lifted off his feet by the weight and flung back until his back met a tree, I did not relent and chased after him, but as expected of my buddy he did not disappoint, he quickly regained his bearing and ducked under my next punch that tore a large chunk out of the tree.

"Good reflexes! But are they good enough?" I lifted my leg and stomped on the ground, cracking it and throwing Deku off balance before releasing a quick jab with my left hand toward him that he managed to block before being forced to roll from the weight of the punch and accidentally dropping full cowl.

"Come on Deku! In a real fight, they won't just let you turn your quirk back on!" I jumped toward Deku before slamming my foot down next to him as he was forced to roll away.

"I know...!" I got back up from my position slowly as he got back on his feet and-

"Oh, ya cheeky fuck." I waved the handful of dirt and dust away from my face, which nearly got in my eyes, instead of taking my moment of distraction to refocus he dove behind a tree, I see how it is!

I walked around the large tree he had taken cover behind, my tail swishing behind me, my maw twisted into a feral grin.

As I turned the large tree the sight I saw actually surprised me, the moment I appeared Deku pushed off of the ground with his legs while rearing his fist back and charging at me.

"Smash!"

'Exceptional analysis skills huh?' He was copying my move, one-to-one.

"It's good to take inspiration buddy. But-" I quickly ducked under his punch before grabbing his wrist with my left hand pulling him in with my far faster reaction speeds and reflexes before pushing slightly off the ground and driving my right fist into his gut.

"Cough!" 

"-keep in mind that they are more experienced with that move than you are." With my grip still on his wrist I bent my body and threw him against the tree.

Bam!

"Argh...!"

His full cowling faded as Deku fell to the ground unceremoniously, approaching him I bent slightly and put my hands on my knees.

"Can you keep going?" Deku panted on the ground, I made sure to not him too hard to the point where it would genuinely injure him but I made sure to make him feel every hit I gave him, he needed to toughen up because in the future he would face far worse.

"I... *huff* can still... *huff* fight!" Deku turned to face me and I saw that the light of fight in his eyes did not fade in the least.

Yep, he was truly worthy, he had the drive and the grit.

"Good, then get up brother, you still haven't landed a hit on me yet!" Deku seemed to have been hit by whiplash as he lifted his head to look at me again.

"B-brother? What do you mean?"

"You will learn one day brother, now get up and face me! The sun is still up and you are still on your knees. Come on, how can you expect to save people lying down?" Deku got up from his knees and wiped his sweat away.

"I got it! Let's keep going Hakari-kun!"

That's what I like to hear.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

"*gasp* *gasp*, Hakari...kun, I don't think I can go on anymore," Deku mumbled into the dirt while I sat and leaned against a tree. There were several bruises on my body, I let Deku land hits here and there to let him have some confidence in his own skills. After all, it would just be demoralising if I just never took any hits from him.

But damn did he hit hard, I felt every hit he gave me, One For All really was a busted quirk if someone can do something like that after having it for less than a single month. But I cared not for the wounds since my dear bro had left me quite the gift.

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Feat Achieved! Defeat Izuku Midoriya 5% Full Cowling! +1 Gold Gacha Ticket

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Just crediting how impressive that is to One For All is downplaying my brother a little. Sure, he was no rebirth of a war god or a prodigy but he could learn. That was the most important, he knew how to learn and apply what he learned without a fuss, he wasn't stubborn and knew how to change himself and not just fall into old habits.

For me, that was more important than raw talent. It doesn't matter if they are talented, if they won't listen to you and just fall into their old habits again, what's the point of trying to teach them?

Shaking my head I got up and stretched a little before slotting in Regeneration, these bruises should fade in about half an hour.

"Alright bro, let's get you to Recovery Girl." Deku mumbled something into the dirt again but I did not hear, instead picking him up by the scruff before hauling him over my shoulder like a sack of rice and walking to the infirmary.

⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀

After getting smacked by Recovery Girl's cane over the head for going so hard on my poor bro I was actually told by her that Nezu had called, how he had known to tell Recovery Girl thi,s anticipating that I would visit her I did not know but I did visit him and surprisingly he gave me some great news I had been waiting for.

Nezu had gotten us our house as he said he would, he said he had to get a different one than the one he originally planned but he said it was both for the better and that it was a "gift" for me. And that, with the threat of AFO existing, he decided to get me a more secure and private house as fast as he possibly could.

I have no idea what he did but I trust Nezu, he has never done anything bad to me and has been fully supportive of me. I have no reason not to trust him with this stuff even if the reason why he keeps supporting every little thing I do remains obscure to me.

Anyway, that's why Toga and I were now riding the subway station towards central Musutafu, if the apartment was there it must be pretty darned expensive. All of our furniture and such were already moved by Nezu's contacts or something so we did not have to worry about moving ourselves.

"Wow~ I never really wandered around central because... y'know." Toga hopped around as she looked around, the buildings were more high-rise around these parts and the hero agency concentration here was higher too. The reason why Toga never really hung around these parts was obvious. Before she was a criminal, she was a poor orphan.

"Nee nee~ did Nezu-sensei really buy us an apartment around these parts? Doesn't that seem like a bit... much?" Toga narrowed her eyes slightly in suspicion. She didn't really like authorities, and I shared the sentiment but Nezu was different.

I put a hand on her hair and ruffled it, making her try to stop my hand from messing her hair up.

"Don't worry, Nezu is trustworthy, I am a good judge of character you know?" Understanding what I was getting at Toga's suspicious expression faded into a light smile. "Anyways, let's see, we should be around there now." After a bit of walking, we came across a large-ish apartment building with a decently large garden space around it, if I had to guess it had about... 5 floors? Not exactly a skyscraper but the building was clearly of a high quality, the kind that upper-middle-class to high-class people would live.

Well, I wasn't exactly impressed unlike Toga, I was absolutely loaded in my previous life and lived in a high-end apartment owned by the family.

I showed the card Nezu had given me at the large and sturdy metal gate which opened once I did, strangely there were no guards or security or anything. Strange but whatever, Shivers or Half-Light hadn't pinged me anything so it wasn't concerning.

"Wait, we get to live in the penthouse!? Uoh~! That's gonna be so much fun! I can't wait to see the view!" I smiled a little at Toga's enthusiasm as we boarded the elevator that took us to the top floor quickly. Getting out, I went up to the door the keycard belonged to and opened the door to our new home but what I didn't expect was-

"Finally, you two sure took your time didn't you?"

"Midnight-sensei!? What are you doing here!?"

Standing in our new apartment waiting for us was Nemuri, wearing casual clothes.

A/N: Cast for chapter 36: including Yuji Itadori as Izuku "Deku" Midoriya and Todo Aoi as Kotaro Hakari. Deku got carried away by Hakari's infectious energy, turns out everything he needed to wind down was not just sex but an actual proper fight without his life on the line. What do you guys think about Hakari and Midoriya?

Also, Hakari and Toga finally get their house upgraded. And well, Nezu can't have two teens staying in one house without adult supervision right? Plus, having Midnight there both protects Hakari and takes care of his curse. And Midnight gets to freely get freaky with her favourite student, win-win. What do you guys think about his new living situation? I would love to know. Your comments help inspire and motivate me to write more. 

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