Chapter Text
It happened without warning.
One moment, the world at large was going about their lives. Heroes were patrolling, villains were causing chaos, and civilians were trying to get by. The next moment, screens… or panels suddenly appeared in front of everyone on the planet… or unobtrusively in the periphery if they were doing something important like driving a vehicle or flying a plane.
They were roughly two feet across by one foot tall, translucent in the center, with a simplistic in appearance coding language fading in and out around the edges in a blue-green coloration. A number of programmers shuddered.
“Did they code these in Assembly?” One muttered in disgust.
These panels hovered in place and seemed to try to at least stay within their target’s range of vision so that they could always be seen. They flickered, and static took over the center as a view of some scientist’s laboratory slowly faded in. An older man with wild, white hair came into view.
He wore reflective goggles over his eyes and a tailor’s tape measure around his neck. His previously white lab coat, now stained by different colored oils and grime, hung loosely around his body, seemingly made for someone significantly larger than its current wearer. Underneath his coat, a faded blue t-shirt and torn black slacks could be seen.
He flailed into place, almost tripping over his own feet, and he opened his mouth wide with a smile, revealing yellowed teeth from a lifetime of smoking. He let out a wheezy laugh that seemed to take up a lot of his energy as he sagged afterward.
“It worked!” He yelled, ecstatic. He threw his arms into the air in excitement. He looked somewhere off-screen and asked, “Is everything stable? Are we global?”
“Yessir,” came a soft androgynous voice.
“Excellent!”
As this was going on, governments the world over were in a scramble to find out just what the fuck was going on.
“Facial recognition doesn’t have anything!” One US intelligence agency worker called out.
In the United Kingdom, one of their MI6 operatives snapped out, “Nothing on our scanners! If it’s tech, it’s not anything we know of!”
In Japan, a certain hero school principal was deep in thought as he stared at the mad inventor in front of him. Files on his desk covering a battle training incident between Midoriya and Bakugo that had occurred earlier that day lay forgotten and slid aside. Theories and ideas ran through the Quirked animal’s labyrinthian mind as he tried to figure out just what the man was trying to accomplish.
“Hello, people of Earth-2785-Bravo!” The man suddenly exclaimed, “I am Doctor Clearsight! For the living lie detectors among your small population, hold onto your keisters because I come from a reality different from your own!”
Detective Tsukauchi inhaled his coffee and jerked his arm to the side as his lungs violently expelled the piping-hot liquid. Coughs and shivers racked his frame as he dropped his coffee mug, causing it to shatter on the ground.
“Tsukauchi!” Another detective came over and roughly patted his back.
“Tr-truth!” Tsukauchi hoarsely exclaimed, much to the shock and worry of the surrounding police force.
“You see,” the doctor continued, well aware of the chaos he was causing, “it is a hobby of mine to peer across the multiversal veil. It can be a fantastic and wondrous thing to experience. So many realities. So many scenarios…” His expression dropped, and he seemed to stare at something only he could see before he shook his head. “After a time, I grew tired of being the only one who could see these things. So I decided to make the selfless decision to spread the experience across the uncountable universes out there!”
He started spinning in place, arms outstretched.
All For One tilted his head to the side as faded memories of science fiction comic books and novels flitted through his mind as he pondered.
“How curious…” he muttered.
Melissa Shield perked up at the idea. She glanced over to see her father still staring off in the distance, a slightly glazed look in his eyes.
“That is not at all what I expected,” Nezu said to himself, his eyebrows wrinkled together.
“Now, these will be… targeted, I guess you could say. The panels you see before you will be chosen at random, and whoever is the viewer of a chosen panel will get to share the experience of seeing an alternative version of yourself with the entire world. Isn’t that fascinating?!”
Class was, understandably, cut short by the recent development. So, many of the first-year students of UA High School were meandering around the grounds as they considered heading home early to be with family or sticking around the grounds to be near their worried and confused classmates.
Class 1-A was clustered together, and to their surprise, their panels all came together into a single large one. Mineta tried to weasel his way closer to the few girls in the class, but a stern glare from Momo - who remembered the looks he sent her way during their battle training - made him stop and head toward where Midoriya, his arm still in a cast, Tsuyu, and Iida were standing.
“That sounds like it could backfire, kero,” Tsuyu said plainly.
Iida looked at her in confusion and asked, “Why do you think that?”
She was quiet for a moment before answering, " People tend to overreact to things when they’re under a lot of stress. Suddenly learning that different universes exist and knowing that a different you might be shown to the entire world, kero…” A small frown appeared on her face. “I could see people thinking that our versions of the people shown could be perfectly capable of doing whatever we see, for good or bad.”
Izuku jerked in surprise, “Y-You think people might go looking for whoever gets put on the screen, Asui-san?”
“Call me Tsuyu-chan,” she stated, making the boy jump again. “And I wouldn’t put it past some people, kero.”
“Now… let us see who gets picked first!” Doctor Clearsight said as he pushed a small, green button.
The screen suddenly flickered as many different people were shown before it suddenly stopped on a short boy with bulbous purple hair. His eyes widened in shock and fear as sweat beaded his brow.
“Me?!” Mineta yelped, his voice jumping up an octave.
His voice came out of all of the screens in the area and echoed what he said. His name and country of origin appeared at the top of the screen, evidently translated into the native language of whoever was viewing it.
Aizawa walked over and stood by his students. His uniform and slouch hid how tense his body was at the idea of seeing an alternate version of one of them. He swept his vision across the grounds as the screen suddenly went black.
As the first viewing started, the head of the HPSC shouted out in a crowded room, “Tell me we got something?!”
“Nothing, ma’am!” One of her employees responded, “Other countries are reporting that their efforts are just as useless. Whatever tech or Quirk he’s got, it’s beyond anything we can influence.”
“Damnit,” she growled. She pulled out her phone and dialed a number, “Hawks, get over to UA.” She turned and glared at the screen. “This Doctor Clearlight says that the process is targeted, but I don’t believe for a second that it’s random. Keep an eye in the sky and inform us if anything happens. Intervene if you need to.”
A crash of thunder suddenly broke through the screen as the sound of heavy rain pelting a window faded in. The roaring wind shook the glass. A breath gasped out as the view of a bedroom wall came into focus. The light from a large neon sign bled through the partially open blinds. The view rolled to the side, and a piercing light from a bedside lamp flickered on. An arm was in view, and a body was pushed up. The focus followed along, seemingly from a first-person perspective.
“Awake again,” a rough-sounding voice muttered as lightning flashed outside.
The resulting boom shook the screens as the other Mineta got out of bed and walked through a nearby door and into a bathroom. He flicked the light on and stared into a mirror as a pair of bloodshot eyes gazed back at him.
The perspective shifted to the third person as it panned down the backside of his body. The view with the mirror revealed a body with a history of scars and a scarred-over, through-and-through bullet wound on the right shoulder. His purple hair was in a short, bulbous afro, and his chin sported a light beard.
“Jeez,” Mineta muttered as he shivered. “What have I gone through?”
“Looks like you went through a lot, whatever it was.” Kirishima absently replied nearby.
Near the front entrance of the school building, the skeletal form of All Might was keeping half of an eye on his screen, most of his attention having been taken up by making sure nothing happened to his ward’s class. A flash of red in the sky caught his attention, and All Might looked up to see the small form of Hawks high above the school grounds.
Mineta splashed water onto his face and rolled his right shoulder as he clenched and unclenched his hand. As he dried off his face, he checked his watch to see that it was almost 2:30 in the morning.
With a groan, he exited his bedroom and walked into the kitchen; the faded finish of the hardwood floor and dark green walls bounced the light around enough for him to get to and open a cabinet, where he pulled out a large, half-empty bottle of whiskey.
Mineta crossed his arms and said with a frown, “Great, I’m an alcoholic.”
Before he could take a swig, his phone rang, and the loud chime permeated his apartment. With a huff, he firmly placed the whiskey on the counter, marched over to the phone, and pulled it off of its receiver.
“Hello?” He snapped rudely.
A harsh, heavy breathing was the only response.
“Who is this?” He asked firmly, his voice still hoarse.
The line suddenly went dead. Mineta pulled the phone away and looked at it in confusion before putting it back in place.
“Well, this is unnerving,” Iida said.
Nearby, Ashido nodded as she wrapped her arms around herself.
“Mhhm,” she hummed. “It’s like the start of a horror movie.”
Mineta shuddered and wailed, “Why would you say that?!”
He groaned and walked past his front door when a step let out a crinkle. He looked down in confusion and saw that he had stepped on a loose sheet of paper. He suddenly leaped back, clearing the door. He paused for a few moments, his heartbeat audible through the screens.
A large number of people tensed alongside him as they waited for something to happen.
He calmly breathed through his mouth, his previous weariness gone, as he stood stiff for several minutes. Once he was certain that nothing was going to happen, he slowly bent down, pulled the sheet of paper toward him, and picked it up.
On one side of the paper were the words “Find Asui Tsuyu.”
“Kero!” Tsuyu croaked as her eyebrows rose in surprise.
She looked around and noticed that her class and many of the other students had turned to look at her.
“This just got interesting,” she said as she turned back to look at the screen.
“Tsu?!” Mineta said in surprise.
His eyes narrowed, and their previous visage suddenly changed to that of ice as he crumbled the paper and threw it away. He stormed to the door and almost opened it before he paused, his shoulders tense.
He took a breath.
He turned and went back to his bedroom, turning on the overhead light as he crossed the threshold. He crossed the room to a standing wardrobe and opened it. Crouching down, he pulled out a small locked chest and heaved it onto his desk, roughly shoving the keyboard aside. He breathed for a moment, his knuckles whitening as they gripped the chest tightly before they loosened themselves and moved toward the large lock.
With a quick twitch, the lock was undone, and he opened the chest to reveal a black cudgel, a set of handcuffs, and an unusual phone-like device with a large screen. The view panned across his shoulders as he pulled out the contents and showed a wall covered with plaques, medals, and pictures of him in a police officer’s uniform.
“I’m a cop?” Mineta asked the open air.
Detective Tsukauchi blinked in surprise as he saw an older version of himself in one of the pictures.
“Looks like he made detective, and I was his Captain,” he said in surprise.
His partner patted him on the back and snarked, “Congrats on the promotion!”
Immediately, the other people in their department congratulated him as well, much to his chagrin.
“Don’t think this means you can sit behind my desk!” His Captain snapped cheekily from his open office, a grin on his face.
Tsukauchi sighed.
Mineta quickly threw on some clothes and placed the cudgel in a loop on his pants and the handcuffs and device in his pockets. He almost threw on a large beige overcoat before he paused and looked at the chest. He walked over and carefully pulled out a leather shoulder holster, a well-maintained pistol secured in place.
He stared as he firmly gripped it before shaking his head, placing it back in the chest, and shutting the lid. He marched out of the room and into the kitchen, where he roughly grabbed some gloves and a face mask and shoved them into his back pocket before putting on a matching beige hat, exiting the apartment, and locking the door behind him.
The screen suddenly cut to an outside view of an apartment complex. In a typewriter font, the words “Heartfield Apartments - 0334” appeared at the bottom as Mineta walked inside. The view followed him through the glass door as he walked down a dark hallway, the overhead fluorescent lights either off or flickering. The light bounced off of a grimy tile floor; the walls weren’t any better as the paint was faded and chipped. He entered an old-timey elevator and pressed a button. The elevator groaned as it slowly transported him upward; the see-through door rattled as it moved.
Ding! “Twelfth floor,” The elevator system chimed as it came to a stop.
Mineta exited the elevator and power walked down a hallway, a security camera catching his movement as he made his way to a particular apartment door.
A typewriter sound emitted from the screens as he approached with text appearing at the bottom again, this time reading “Asui Tsuyu’s Residence - 1227 Heartfield Apartments - 0337.”
He stood there for a few heartbeats as he heard the sound of her television clearly through the door.
“Something’s wrong,” Tsuyu suddenly said.
Mineta looked at her with worry in his eyes as he asked, “How do you know?”
Tsuyu looked down at him and stated, “If she’s anything like me, she doesn’t sleep with the TV on.”
Everyone tensed at that admission as they all turned back to the screen, concern evident in their eyes. Aizawa maneuvered himself to where he was an arms-length away from her as he constantly flicked his eyes between her and the screen.
Mineta took a deep breath and knocked on the door loud enough to be heard.
“Tsu, it’s Mineta!” He called out.
No response.
He frowned and knocked again, harder this time.
“Tsu! I know it’s been a few years, but this is important.”
He waited longer this time.
No response.
He slammed his fist against the door, and a deep bang! resonated through the hallway.
“Tsu!” He yelled out. “If you don’t come out here, I’m kicking the door in!”
Nothing.
He waited for a few moments more.
“Sorry about this, Tsu,” he muttered.
He got into a position to kick the door open but paused as a thought seemed to cross his mind. He stepped off of her doormat and pushed it aside, revealing a key.
“Really, Tsu?” He sighed.
“Whoops,” Tsuyu said.
“Please tell me you don’t do that,” Aizawa asked flatly.
“...no,” came the late response.
Mineta picked up the key and, taking a moment to look at the camera that had a view of the entire hallway, unlocked the door and stepped inside. He softly shut the door behind him and locked it.
“Tsu!” He called out, “Are you here?”
No response.
He walked down the rather barren hallway toward the sitting room, the television getting louder.
The screen suddenly cut to an inward view of the hallway, where Mineta suddenly appeared.
He froze.
His eyes widened, and his pupils contracted.
He leaned over and braced himself against the wall for support as his legs gave out from under him.
“Tsu…” He hoarsely muttered in shock.
The view slowly panned around to reveal-
“Oh my god!” Momo gasped as she covered her mouth.
The rest of the class, and much of the world, was speechless and horrified.
A soft, wavering croak left Tsuyu’s lips as she stared wide-eyed at her body lying on the floor of her living room. Her phone rang, and she answered it to a screaming pair of young voices.
“I’m alright,” she hoarsely said. “I’m still here.”
Aizawa was mentally in a different place; the older form of his student was replaced by an old friend. His fists shook violently as his breathing picked up its pace.
Ashido and Hagakure ran over and hugged the resident froggirl, their forms shivering.
All Might sat down on the ground and sighed, and his form seemed to cave in on itself as he held his head in his hands.
The view slowly panned around to reveal the form of Asui Tsuyu lying on the ground, covered in bruises. A large one, clearly in the shape of a hand, wrapped around her neck. Her chest was drenched in blood, causing her loose shirt to stick to her skin.
Her living room was wrecked. The couch was turned over onto its back, a window curtain was torn halfway off of the wall, and her coffee table was smashed nearly in two. A hanging mirror was broken with what looked like blood in the epicenter.
Mineta’s breath started getting heavy as his eyes shook. A ringing overtook his heartbeat that drowned out everything else.
Suddenly, he closed his eyes as his breathing came through and rapidly slowed down until there was a single breath every few seconds.
Mineta Minoru breathed in.
Detective Mineta breathed out.
When he opened his eyes, there was a hard-as-steel look to them as he pulled out his gloves and facemask and put them on. He quickly pulled out the phone-like device and turned it on.
He tapped on the screen and said, “This is Dete… This is Mineta. It is,” he checked his watch as he stood up, went through the rest of the apartment, and turned the lights on. “0345 hours. I am at Heartfield Apartments, Unit 1-2-2-7.”
He walked into a small office, the computer still turned on, and saw that a large vent door on the wall was open. He positioned the device and took a picture.
“The tenant,” he continued as he reentered the sitting room. “Is Asui Tsuyu.” He knelt down next to the cadaver as he took multiple pictures of the body, the device shaking slightly in his hands.
“What is he doing?” A fresh detective asked Tsukauchi.
Tsukauchi had a solemn look on his face.
“He’s hunting,” he answered.
“The victim is…” He paused for a heartbeat as his breath shook, and he tightly shut his eyes before continuing. “The victim is female, 37 years old, average height and weight. Dark green hair and black eyes.”
He bent down, placed the device over her hand, and waited. A few seconds later, the device’s screen flashed, and a pop-up appeared that said “Fingerprints Analyzed.”
“The victim has severe bruising all over,” he continued to say as he examined the body. “Most prominently around the throat, performed by the left hand.” He looked at his own hand in comparison. “Can fit extra-large gloves.” He moved on to the torso. “The chest is covered in blood. There are…” he paused to carefully shift the shirt around. “Three GSWs, centermass. Small arms fire, 8 or 9mm.” He quickly yet thoroughly looked around. “No evident shell casings on scene.”
He moved on to the lower half of the body and sighed. He turned on the blacklight function of the device and ran it along the body’s inner thighs and pelvis.
He sighed in relief and said, “The victim shows zero sign of pre- or post-mortem sexual intercourse.”
A number of people gagged at the mental imagery.
Through all of this, Mineta shivered in place, face pale as though he was going to pass out at any moment.
He went around the room, snapping pictures of everything.
The view left him behind as the room reconstructed itself to show Tsuyu sitting on the couch and watching TV. A shadow figure came out of her office and grabbed her by the hair. They threw her down onto the coffee table, which broke on impact.
The audio from the TV seemed to disappear entirely as the figure circled around the couch and reached down to pick her up. Every movement of the two, every swish of cloth, every muscle movement and breath exhaled was audible. Tsuyu knocked the hand away and with a yell, kicked them backward, making them fall over the couch, causing it to tip over.
She slowly got up and hobbled toward the wall near her phone. The figure ran over and slammed into her, hand around her throat. The sound of the hand tightly gripping her throat was clearly heard. She choked, unable to gasp in pain, hand instinctively reaching out and grabbing the window curtain. The combined weight of the bodies against the curtain caused one-half of it to snap off of the wall, making them fall to the floor.
The figure forced both of them to their feet. Tsuyu slammed her hand into the crook of the figure’s elbow, making them release their grip. She then punched them in the kidney, causing them to back off as they grunted in pain.
She hurried across the room when the figure kicked out her knee and smashed the side of her face into the mirror.
She slowly fell to the floor. The view revealed Mineta watching as she collapsed, a distant look in his eyes.
The figure stood over her and pulled out a pistol.
Class 1-A flinched as three shots rang out.
Tsuyu gulped as she continued to try to placate her family, now in a group call with her siblings and parents, who were whimpering over the phone.
Todoroki had an unreadable expression on his face as he took everything in. In his pocket, unseen, his fist shook lightly.
The class had, without meaning to, huddled together, previous grievances forgotten.
Mineta stared at the form of his friend as the figure reentered her office. He looked over and noticed a card wedged under the couch. He snapped a quick picture and pulled it out.
“There is a card next to the body,” he said as he turned it over. “It reads, ‘She never had what it takes.’”
Mineta “hmm’d” and hovered the device over the card. It flashed, and a pop-up appeared that said, “New Fingerprints Analyzed.”
He placed the card back where it originally was before he walked back into her office and saw that a decently-sized safe was open, a device sitting atop it. He looked inside and saw that a stack of paper bills and some important documents were left untouched.
“The safe in her office is open,” he stated. “A codebreaker is sitting on top. Valuables are untouched. Whoever it was, they were looking for something specific.”
He scanned the safe with the device, and it popped up multiple times with, “Existing Fingerprints Analyzed.”
The view went cloudy as a large corkboard took up the screen. Pictures and sticky notes were pinned in place and tied together with different colored threads.
The corkboard faded away as he stood up and saw a slip of paper on her desk. He snapped a picture.
“Her work rota is sitting on the desk. From 0900 to 1800, she worked as an Accounts Payable for Rutger’s Ace Supplies.”
“The guy’s thorough,” mentioned an older detective near Tsukauchi.
“Hmm,” Tsukauchi thought for a moment. “Do you think there’s a reason he hasn’t called it in?”
A few of them paused before one said, “He seemed to get into a zone after he found the body to try and disassociate himself from the victim. Mentally he might be thinking that he’s still a part of the force. It probably won’t register for him until later.”
There was a sudden loud banging from the front door.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Police!” Roared out an officer, “Open this door immediately!”
“Fuck,” Mineta said.
He quickly stopped the device's voice recorder function and pocketed it. Looking around, he saw the still-open vent door and ran over to it. He pulled himself inside and shut it behind him, just in time to hear the front door being forced open with a loud Slam!
“Why would he leave?” asked Ojiro, confusion written on his face.
Aizawa sighed and said, “Because the police would immediately assume that Mineta was the killer. He is also not in a clear state of mind.”
He quickly crawled through the surprisingly clean ventilation shaft and forced himself against the walls to slow his descent when dropping a few floors. His feet braced against a downward-facing vent door that led out to a hallway.
He paused briefly to catch his breath before kicking the door open and dropping to the floor. Looking around, he saw that he was lucky enough to fall into a blind spot where no cameras could see him. He clenched his fists, hiding the bloodstained fingertips, as he made his way to the stairs and headed down to the lobby.
He swiftly existed and turned down the street, briefly stopping at a burning barrel to toss in his gloves and facemask, taking care not to get blood on his hands. As he did so, he checked the time.
“4:57,” he said faintly. He sighed and said, “I need some coffee.”
It cut to a brightening sky as the night faded away and dawn crept ever forward. Mineta walked into a small classic-style diner. A large neon sign of red and blue went across the entire front; the name of the establishment, Hungry Bull, was in a fancy font. The only employee in there at the moment was a tall female with long blonde hair and large Prussian blue eyes. She blinked in surprise as he walked in. The bell over the door chimed softly.
“Is that me?” Pony asked in rough Japanese as she pointed a finger at herself.
Her eyes were wide in surprise, not expecting to see herself on the screen, much less working in a diner.
“Looks like it,” said her beastly classmate. “The only thing missing is the horns.”
The woman smiled warmly as she stopped what she was doing to quickly come around the counter. She was wearing a simple two-piece waitress uniform, white in color with red accents.
“Haven’t seen you come ‘round here in a while!” She said, her accent and voice thickened with age.
Mineta smiled a little and said, “Good morning, Cowgirl.” He looked around and asked, “Too early for coffee?”
She waved away his question as she said, “Never too early for a regular! Grab your spot.”
Mineta sighed as she walked off to pour him a cup. He made his way over to a booth in the back corner of the dining area and sat down with a groan.
She quickly came over, piping hot coffee in hand, and placed it in front of him.
“Can I get you your regular, Detective?” She asked homely.
Mineta sighed and said, “You know I’m retired, Tsunotori.”
She raised an eyebrow and gave him a knowing stare as she flatly stated, “Funny, you don’t look retired.”
They stared at each other for several seconds before Mineta sighed and said, “Sure, I’ll have my regular.”
She smiled and said, “Comin’ right up!”
“Looks like she knows you well, hunh?” Kaminari asked cheekily as he lightly tapped Mineta’s shoulder.
Much to the surprise of a couple of other classmates, Mineta didn’t respond. He just continued to stare at the screen, an unrecognizable expression on his face.
Tsukauchi’s partner snorted and smacked his shoulder as he rhetorically asked, “Remind you of anyone?”
Tsukauchi groaned and said, “Don’t bring her up. She’s just gonna pop in out of nowhere and give me extra portions again.”
Mineta took light sips of his coffee as he waited for his food, a contemplative look on his face. The corkboard covered with pictures and sticky notes and thread appeared again.
Average weight, average height, Mineta thought. New sticky notes were added to the board, a picture of a silhouette with a question mark in the center underneath. The pictures of the calling card, Tsuyu’s rota, and open safe enlarged as he shifted thoughts. She liked to take work home with her. Potential coworker.
He knew her well, Aizawa thought.
He slid his eyes over to the duo of the hour, taking in their stances and expressions. Tsuyu was still getting crowded by Ashido and Hagakure as she talked with her family, her expression largely unchanged with the exception of the occasional downward turn of her lips. Mineta was curled tight like a spring, ready to bounce sky-high and never come back down. He was largely worried and unnerved by the current experience, arms twitching every so often as his face was locked into a twisted expression, eyes hazy.
He scowled as he took a heavy drink.
Damn. Should’ve seen who called her last and checked her computer. Amateur mistake, he berated himself.
A large plate of food was suddenly placed in front of him, cutting off his thoughts.
“None of that now,” Tsunotori said with a frown. “No self-guilt trips in my diner, ya here?”
She leaned forward slightly, hands on her hips.
“Sorry,” Mineta reflexively said. “Case hits close to home.”
She stared for a moment more before sighing and sitting across from him. Her gaze changed to one of concern as she smiled sadly at him.
“Haven’t seen ya like this in a couple ‘a years now, hun. Willin’ ta offer an ear if’n ya need it.”
“You know I can’t take you on that, Tsunotori,” Mineta stated before he started to eat.
She just nodded in agreement and replied, “I know, Detective. Jus’ thought I’d offer.”
“Not a detective,” he said through his full mouth.
Tsunotori just smiled knowingly and got up to leave him be, returning to getting the diner ready for a new day of business.
The bell chimed once more as the door opened. Mineta looked up from his nearly finished plate.
“Mornin’ Captain!” Tsunotori called out cheerfully.
“Mornin’ Cowgirl,” replied the new customer. “I’ll take my regular.”
“You got it!”
Mineta minutely tensed as the man came over and sat across from him, a frown on the man’s face.
Captain Tsukauchi looked Mineta in the eyes, a stern expression on his face, badge around his neck, bulletproof armor still worn underneath his weather-resistant jacket.
Tsukauchi’s partner reflexively flinched as he said, “Uh oh, you’ve got your ‘Senior Authority’ face on.”
Tsukauchi turned and looked at him, a confused expression on his face. Looking around, he noticed a number of the greenhorn members of the division had similar expressions.
They continued to stare each other down as Tsunotori, who noticed the tension, quietly gave the Captain his coffee.
“Thanks, Cowgirl,” he said without looking at her. He took a deep drink of the coffee. He asked, “Why?”
Mineta was quiet for a heartbeat. “Camera?” He asked.
Tsukauchi nodded.
Mineta didn’t answer for a moment. “Because they called me and left a note under my front door.”
The Captain’s eyes shifted from judging to protective in a heartbeat.
“Still got your pistol?”
“And a bat next to my bed,” Mineta answered.
Tsukauchi took another drink before he asked, “What do you have?”
“They entered through the ventilation system in the office,” Mineta stated as Tsukauchi mentally cataloged the information. “Average weight and height, potentially left-hand dominate.”
He was quiet for a moment, and Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
Mineta sighed and continued, “What do you want from me, Captain?”
“To stay retired, Minoru,” Tsukauchi said plainly. “Let the greenhorns do their jobs. We are well equipped to figure this out and bring them in.”
Mineta snapped, “And how long until they’re back out because our justice system is corrupt to Hell and back?”
A large number of police and lawyers flinched and sighed. A few of them clenched their fists, having felt similar to him.
Mineta got up, chair screeching across the floor, and threw down money to pay for his meal.
Tsukauchi firmly grabbed his arm as he passed and said, “Don’t try to do this, Minoru, please. You know damn well that if you get caught doing this vigilante justice, then you’ll get brought in alongside the killer. Let us do our jobs.”
Mineta slowly turned and glared at his former boss, eyes glacial, and said, “Then I won’t get caught.”
He wrenched his arm free and stormed out.