Hakari in Chained Soldier

[Hakari POV]

Hakari felt like he was in a dream as he wandered the streets of Tokyo. Shinjuku and Shibuya didn't look like they had been violated. Last he remembered, while they were being rebuilt, it wasn't that far along, a mark on the skyline of the King of Curses introduction and exit from the world stage. 

The transfer to a permanent gate was simple with the help of Chief Tenka, and her explanation was enough for him to get the go ahead to leave and come back. He spent a good hour simply wandering around, enjoying what he hadn't realized he had missed. He saw plenty of girls with some pretty blatant powers though. He had expected it, in a way, but the volume of women who apparently had eaten a peach was staggering to see. 

Yet, eventually, he found what he needed. A pachinko parlor. He didn't have any cash on him, and if he had to guess, something changed enough that he highly doubted he had his bank account. So, he had to scrounge from the bottom. He had asked Tenka for a little bit of money for the train, and she had been kind enough to give him a few hundred yen, which meant he now had the ammunition for his greatest skill.

Being the luckiest fucking dude to grace the world. 

Hakari had always been lucky. It hadn't been something he got when his technique made itself known, it was something that just naturally happened. School raffles, sweepstakes, even those free popsicle promos, if it had anything to do with luck, he was the person to go to. 

As he fed the balls into the pachinko machine, he reminisced about how his luck had actually been bad at one point. His underclassman, Yuji, had wanted to try this game called Dungeons and Dragons and, after roping in Kirara and him to join his friend group for a few hours with some snacks, he had displayed just how punishing his luck had been. 

A twenty-sided die, a five percent chance to hit any specific number, was the main piece needed for the game, and he hadn't rolled below a seventeen for the entire time. He was promptly blamed for "ruining the game", Kirara and he not being invited back. 

It was expected, to him at least, to win multiple games at the same time. A half hour later, he had left that parlor with the worker in shock and a few tens of thousands of yen richer. He made his way over to Ginza, another district in Tokyo, in order to do the shopping for his wardrobe. 

The afternoon was spent going in and out of different stores, perusing and choosing what his fashion sense told him was the best to wear, along with some basic loungewear. He had changed out of his dusty ass clothing from before his…misplacement? 

He was now dressed in something that met his sensibilities. A pair of khaki collared cargo pants and a high colored long sleeve. Held together by a suede jacket that had a furred collar, much like the jacket he had grabbed after being suspended. The finishing touch? A pair of #5 Fire Red Jordans to pull the whole fit together. 

With two big bags of clothes in his hands, Hakari drew gazes from everyone as he made his way to the train station. It would be easier to just take one of those instead of trying to backtrack on foot.

That was, at least, till he saw the gendered cars, and how the male cars were usually packed to the brim. Nah, he wasn't going to slum it with them if he could help it. Hakari, instead, made his way up a fire escape to get a proper lay of the land.

When one has the ability to enhance themself with cursed energy, many things that were not thought possible became so. World Records became suggestions, laws became guidelines, and the need to take a train was more of a want, a chance to rest. 

Air whipped past his ears as Hakari leapt from building to building, cursed energy enhancing his physical abilities and durability. Each leap was less like a jump and more like a hurtle, Hakari's feet catching the ground in a practiced stride before lifting back up into the air, bags flapping behind him as he retraced his path through Tokyo back to the permanent gate where he could get back to Mato. 

While he didn't necessarily care if anyone saw him flying through the skyline, he did care about being hounded for it. So, once he got close enough to see the building, he found another fire escape and made his way back to street level, not even winded. As he moved to enter the building, in his peripheral vision, he noticed a storefront that caused him to pause. 

Running a hand up to his hair, he gave a grin, walking towards the salon. 

About time he got his style back. 

[Tenka POV]

Stepping through the portal made by her blessing, Yachiho and Tenka re-entered the squad six dorms. Tenka gave Yachiho a soft gaze, disappointed in her treatment of her younger sister in squad seven, but not enough to reprimand her. She worked hard as her vice chief, and this was a family issue first and foremost. It wouldn't be an issue soon enough, anyway.

"Still! It looks really good, Hakari!" She heard Sahara say, off in the communal lounge area. "Though it kind of makes you look like a delinquent."

"Let people think what they want." Hakari said, chuckling a little at the end of the sentence. "They just mad they can't pull it off."

Stepping into the lounge, with its parallel sofas and coffee table, Tenka saw Sahara standing and surveying the two large bags of clothes. Hakari was sitting in the middle of one of the sofas, arms up against the backrest. His black hair had been dyed and styled into a tight blonde afro, and she could see the two notches cut into his eyebrows. Yachiho gave a disapproving glare, but walked past the lounge. 

"Well," Tenka said with a little smile, moving to sit on the opposite sofa. "You certainly do pull it off, Hakari.

"Oh yeah, I know it." He answered, using his hands to make sure the afro was still set where he liked it. Tenkas lips thinned at his attitude, but she quickly moved past it. 

"Yachiho and I paid a visit to squad seven." She started, Sahara turning to look at her. "We will be having an intersquad tournament with them, to better gauge their ability to handle some recently found humanoid shuuki."

"I expect you to participate, Hakari." Tenka continued, causing the now blonde male to give her a look.

"Oh? You think that's wise?" He questioned her, and her face smoothed into a practiced smile. 

"Of course. Squad seven has their own caretaker, after all, so I want you to face off against him in a chore battle." 

She took a special little joy in how Hakari's bravado seemed to sink in on itself, his mood worsening by the second. 

"I mean, you've had a fair bit of practice today, right?" Sahara chimed in, and Hakari's reaction from sullen indifference to sudden alertness, and he opened his mouth to speak before Yachihos voice carried through in a shrill shout. 

"HAKARI!" She cried out, stomping audibly closer to the lounge. "JUST WHY THE HELL IS THE LAUNDRY NOT DONE?" 

Tenka didn't think she had the makings of a sadist, but seeing Hakari moving to alleviate the situation, she couldn't help but find it amusing.