Work Text:
The door of the interrogation room opened, revealing two figures, who entered the room before once again shutting the door behind them. The first figure was an average looking man, dressed in a pair of sleek black pants, brown dress shoes, a white collared shirt, with a green tie to accent the look. He put the beige trench coat he was wearing on the back of one of the chairs, gloved hands placing a matching fedora on his side of the table before finally sitting down. This one was most likely one of the detectives assigned to this particular case, given how the second figure was most definitely not someone of the police force. No, the second figure was very much not the ‘average’ of the fist figure at all. Unless a rodent-like animal in a fully tailored suit would be considered average. The rodent was carrying a manilla folder with him, and sitting in a chair specialized specifically so that he can comfortably see over the table. And if that wasn’t enough, that wasn’t the only ‘non average’ thing that this rodent figure had going for him.
“Am I a dog, a mouse, or a bear? What’s more important is that I’m Nedzu, principal of UA!” Nedzu has his paws in the air as he announces himself to his audience of two, whiskers twitching in delight and excitement none the less. The ‘average’ first figure clears his throat at Nedzu, as if to try to remind him of the current situation. Nedzu readjust himself and the manilla folder in his paws, seemingly taking the hint. “Ah, but today, I’m going to be the hero sitting in on your interrogation."
“Hello, I’m Detective Tsukauchi and I’ll be the one mainly conducting your interview today. That is, if Nedzu doesn’t derail us too much from the line of questioning again.” Tsukauchi reaches a hand out to the third figure, across the table from the two of them. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Pristine.”
The third figure, Pristine, makes a face at the name, but after a second of hesitation, reaches out one of his handcuffed hands to shake with the detective’s. He was shorter than the detective, very much shorter than him but still much taller than Nedzu, dressed in what seems like clothes you would find anywhere that could sell them: plain white t-shirt with the kanji for ‘shirt’ written on it, white bandages peaking out from underneath the sleeves, dark navy blue pants, and a pair of bright stop sign red sneakers on his feet. The only thing that's distinct about him, beside the obvious handcuffs on his wrists, was the beak-like mask covering the bottom half of his face. It was similarly shaped to one you would find on a peacock; small, crescent-shaped, and black with a green stripe running along the seam between his face and the mask itself. It also looked like it had some personalized modifications, like the circular dark green and black filters on both sides of the beak, and the dark gray band keeping it held up on Pristine’s face.
Tsukauchi elected to continue on in the interrogation, as Pristine kept glancing between the two without a word. Hopefully he would be more cooperative than the other villains they had arrested and interviewed. “Before we continue the interview, I’m obligated to tell you that my quirk, Lie Detector, is passive, and will be active during this entire process. If you wish to be interviewed by someone else, please say so now and we will find another detective.”
Pristine’s eyes seem to light up ever so slightly at the mention of the detective’s quirk. It was only for a moment however, as once he processed the question, his eyes dim once more as he nods. “Yeah, I- I don’t mind it. Go ahead, detective.”
The mask seemed to also be fitted with a voice filter on it, as Pristine’s voice came out at a register that seemed to be lowered artificially. Tsukauchi assumed that none of the officers that placed Pristine in this room had thought to ask him to remove it, but it shouldn’t affect the interrogation or Tsukauchi’s quirk anyways, so there was no need to comment on it just yet.
“Good.” Tsukauchi takes out a voice recorder from his pocket, placing it in the middle of the table and hits the record button. “This is Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa alongside Pro Hero Mr. Principal, also known as Nedzu, September 26th, 20XX, conducting an interview with one of the suspects arrested at the hero raid on the Shie Hassaikai compound, conducted primarily by Nighteye Agency. The current suspect being interviewed is known as Pristin-”
“Midoriya.”
“Excuse me?” The detective questioned, surprised by the sudden interruption.
Pristine looked surprised himself too, as if he didn’t expect the interruption either. But once he settled again, Pristine lifted his cuffed hands to his mask, pressing too nearly invisible buttons at the bottom. Something clicked within the mask and it was lifted off of his face and placed gently on the table. Tsukauchi had to hold himself back from reacting to what he could now see that previously was hidden behind the mask. Pristine looked like he was still just a kid, a child. Chisaki had involved not just one, but two children in his plans? Sure, the kid was definitely older than the 6 year old Eri, but the baby fat on his cheeks and the small freckles on his face weren’t doing him any favors. That would explain why he was as short as he was, now that Tsukauchi thought about it.
“S-sorry. I would prefer it if you called me Midoriya instead. Please,” Pris- Midoriya shrunk into himself, nervous and unsure about his own response. He started to fiddle with the straps of the mask that was in front of him. “I… I don’t want to use the name that he gave me.”
“Midorya, then.” Nedzu chimed in. He didn’t seem as affected by Midoriya’s unprompted face reveal as Tsukauchi, but Nedzu had a habit of not sharing information that he thought wouldn’t be important until the very last moment. Maybe he knew that there was another child involved in this already but ‘it didn’t seem pertinent to the current conversation, Detective.’
Tsukauchi nodded at Ned’s comment. “Yes, The current suspect being interviewed is known as Midoriya.”
Midoriya’s eyes widened in surprise at the amendment. Was he not expecting them to accommodate his request? Why? Was it because of something he experienced in the Shie Hassaikai? This kid was bringing up more questions that he would have to ask later on in the interrogation.
“Is Nedzu a human?”
“What?” Midoriya now looked at both of them in confusion, looking at them as if they had suddenly grown a second head. Tsukauchi was about to try and clear his confusion, but it looked like Midoriya beat him to the punch. “Oh, is this to establish a baseline? It would make sense if it’s for your quirk, since the name you gave it does suggest that it lets you detect lies.” The small flickering light was back in the kid’s eyes again. Seems like he might like quirks. “In that case, no, Nedzu isn’t human. He looks more like a stoat that had some of its genes or DNA mutated. Maybe even a chimera?”
“True statement,” Tsukauchi responded and sighed. He didn’t have to look in Nedzu’s direction to hear him cackling at the response. It was times like these where he’s glad that Nedzu being the hero that sat in on his interrogations was a rarity and not a common occurrence.
At least Nedzu tried to settle himself down after a minute so they could continue. “Oh, that’s a good one. I haven’t heard that guess before. Well done Midoriya.”
Tsukauchi really didn’t want to dwell on whatever that was supposed to mean. Sure, Nedzu loved to see people’s guesses on what type of animal he was, probably for some sick sense of fascination over the human thought process, but something that wasn’t ever guessed before? Tsukauchi prayed that Nedzu wasn’t already planning on sinking his claws into Midoriya’s personal life just so that he could challenge him to a game of chess. No, that was a problem for later-Tsukauchi. Right now-Tsukauchi wanted to continue the line of questioning. “Now,” he continued, “what’s your name and age?”
Midoriya takes a deep breath, steeling himself to answer an upcoming barrage of questions. “My name’s Midoriya Izuku and I’m 16 years old.”
“True statement,” Tsukauchi supplied automatically. And wasn’t that worrying. He was the same age as the first year hero students from that same raid. Maybe in another lifetime, he was a part of that raid himself, but on the side of the heroes.
He didn’t have to check the questionnaire’s checklist for the next question.“What’s your quirk Midoriya?”
There was a long pause.
“I… I’m quirkless.”
“True statement?” Wait. Oh, that's definitely not the expected answer. “Sorry, you're quirkless?”
Midoriya had tensed himself, shoulders hunched up, cuffed hands lifted up to protect his face, braced for whatever attack he thought would be coming his way. “Yes?”
“Oh my. That is quite the revelation.” Nedzu’s paw twitched as if he wanted to reach for something. If he had to guess, it would be Nedzu showing the faintest sign of wishing he had his usual cup of tea. Typical.
Midoriya relaxed a bit where he was sitting, lowering his hands to the table and once again fidgeting with his mask. “Thank you, I guess?” Was he expecting something worse to happen? It would make sense, the quirkless had a tendency of not being treated the best. Though, it’s never a good sign when your first reaction to revealing yourself as quirkless was to immediately expect to be attacked.
Nowadays, being diagnosed as quirkless was seen by many as a punishment worse than death. Nothing was worse than being seen as less than useless. It was one of the many reasons that this case was pushed so heavily to the forefront by the HPSC. If word got around that there was a way to completely take a hero off the playing field forever, all of Japan would be sent into a mass state of panic. All of that to say, Tsukauchi hated the fact that if the kid in front of him revealed that he had scars that dated back years ago, he wouldn’t be surprised.
The child in front of them was hunched over on himself, trying to make himself a smaller target then he already was. Tsukauchi clasps his hands together, “Sorry to interrupt, but to keep everything on track, it would be best to keep the questioning going as planned. So, Midoriya,” this kid jumped a little in his seat. “What’s your relation to the Shie Hassaikai?”
Midoriya deflated a bit at the question. He was back to fiddling with the mask on the table. “It's… complicated.” He took a breath before continuing, “Um, I was sort of.. recruited by them? But I think that Chi- Overhaul saw me as… a sort of goal? He always mentioned how my quirklessness was something to strive for, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure I helped with a project that he was working on, I don’t know the actual name of it, but he asked me for my ‘guidance’ with some things related to it.”
Tsukauchi was once again at a loss for words. Overhaul not only was using Eri as a source for the bullets, collecting chucks of her flesh and countless vials of her blood just to make the bullets themselves, but he was also using Midoriya as one of the consultants for the creation of said bullets. What’s worse, if the evidence they had found was pointing in the direction he was suspecting, Midoriya might have just been his main consultant and quirk analyst. And all of that wasn’t even touching on the ‘pretty sure’ that he had added to his statement. Nedzu, however, seemed to take this confession in stride, in fact, using it as a transition point for another question.
“Well, it is quite odd for an unaccounted for child to be involved anywhere near a case as sensitive the Shie Hassaikai one, especially a child that happens to be quirkless,” Nedzu started, picking up the folder he had left on the table, quickly rummaging around in it, before finally taking out a couple of pictures and sliding them towards Midoriya, beady eyes scanning the kid for any reactions. “That being said, it seems that some notebooks were found filed away in one of the labs of the raided compound. Some notebooks that just so happen to have your name written on them, Midoriya. Care to explain how this came to be?”
Midoriya freezes when he finally registers what exactly he’s looking at, a wince aimed at the photographs slowly settling on his face. They were pictures the investigators had taken of the filing cabinets in one of the labs and some of the contents that were inside of them. The notebooks themselves seemed almost out of place due to their relative appearance, worn and cared for compared to the neat and tidy scientific paper work stored around it. There was even one that looked like it had taken water damage and lightly scorched. Knowing Overhaul’s tendency to keep everything that’s his clean and sanitary, the officers on the scene had taken them out of the cabinet and placed them on a table in the room to take better pictures. And every single one of the notebooks had the same name scrawled on their cover: Midoriya Izuku.
• ───────────────── • ───────────────── •
The room was filled with nothing but the occasional turning of paper as Overhaul perused through the pages of the messy notebook he was given. Izuku sat directly across from the man, getting more and more anxious as the seconds ticked by with no response. Overhaul’s vulture-like mask hid his expressions from the small crowd that was gathered in front of him, so Izuku couldn’t even use that as a way to gauge how he was feeling.
Two of Overhaul’s assistants, Chronostasis and Mimic if he was remembering correctly, were standing behind the couch on either side of Overhaul. They didn’t seem to care as much about the notebook, rather, they cared more that Izuku had dared to ‘invade’ the same space as their boss, which he thought was a little bit unfair. Sure he may have made a reference or two about his flimsy attempt at ‘analysis’, maybe even bringing his latest notebook to the compound with him once, but it was Overhaul who insisted on reading over them, not Midoriya. He would have been perfectly fine keeping his messy notes to himself but Overhaul was really the one interested in any of his seemingly ‘odd’ hobbies.
Overhaul closed the notebook in his gloved hands and looked up to stare directly at him. “Midoriya,” he drawled. “Does anyone else know about your analysis skills?”
Nobody had shown this much genuine interest in anything he did. It was a little strange all things considered, but then again, it was probably because he wasn’t used to this much attention being laser focused on him. “Oh, um, y- yes? Technically? It's mainly just my mom, my classmates, and teachers. Th- They haven't actually read most of it, just bits and pieces here and there. You’re probably the first to do so in a… long time.”
“And what have they told you about what they have read?”
“Um, they…,” gosh it had been a while since anyone actually went through and read his notes, nevermind him actively showing them to anyone. “My classmates just said that my notebooks are ‘creepy’ and ‘stalker-ish’, and my teachers just tell me to ‘stop getting so distracted in class’. My mom, though, she just says they’re nice.”
There was a moment of tense silence. Did- did he say something wrong? Were they looking for a different answer? Did he just mess up his chances with the one group of people that actually bothered to acknowledge him without disdain?
“Midoriya,” Overhaul raised the notebook in question as he remarked, “These notes are some that most would expect to come from an analyst with years upon years of experience in the field, not a middle schooler. This is extraordinary work and I would very much appreciate it if you’d give me the opportunity to read through more of them.”
“Really? Are you sure?”
“DON’T GO QUESTIONING BOSS, YA HEAR!” Mimic leaned over the couch and jabbed a finger in Midoriya’s direction, “IF HE SAYS THAT YOUR CHICKEN SCRATCHES ARE GOOD, THAT MEANS THEY’RE GOOD!” Izuku had almost forgotten that they weren’t the only ones in this room at the moment.
Before he even had the chance to begin to apologize, Chronostatis decided to finally chime into the conversation around him. “Now, there’s no need to shout Mimic,” he remarked. “Though I will agree. If Overhaul has approved of your notes, I doubt that I could find a reason to disagree with his logic.”
They can't all be serious, right? But why would Chronostasis, Mimic, AND Overhaul all lie to him about his subpar ‘analysis notes’? This notebook wasn’t even the latest in his collection, only being number 10 out of 13. If this was what they thought about some old work, what would they think of the stuff he does now?
Overhaul was now once again paging through the notebook in his hands again. Izuku would have thought that he was just pretending to read it and just faking the compliment, but the one thing the mask on Overhaul’s didn’t cover was his eyes. And those eyes seemed to light up more and more with each page he turned, nodding when he found one of the many tangents scribbled on the page particularly interesting. That’s not something most people took the time to fake.
“You know, I’ve been working on a small project for a few years now, and recently we’ve come across a breakthrough in the discovery process.” Overhaul dragged his gaze away from the work in front of him and back to Izuku.“You wouldn’t mind if I run some work by you from time to time? Working as the head of the Shie Hassaikai and as the lead director of this project doesn’t lend me a lot of time to go over the fine details in the ways that I’d like to. So, I propose that you may be able to help me make massive changes in the current system, all with that astute brain of yours. After all, two minds are better than one as they say.”
Tears were threatening to spill from Izuku’s eyes now, but he didn’t let them just yet.“Y- You want me to help you even though I’m quirkless?”
“OF COURSE HE DOES! THE BOSS WOULDN’T HAVE ASKED YA IF HE WASN’T SURE!” Mimic piped up, again leaning even more so across the couch. It was a miracle he hadn’t fallen over and hit his head on the cushions yet.
Izuku stood up from where he sat and bowed as deeply as he could, thankfully remembering that there was a table in front of him at the last moment before he could smack his head against it. Never would he have imagined that he would be getting positive recognition for anything he’s ever done, let alone something that he only thought of as a side hobby. And for it to be his notebooks that were seen as remarkable?! This was like a dream come true.
“I would love to. Thank you for the opportunity, Overhaul, sir.”
His eyes crinkled up, suggesting a smile under the vulture-like beak on his face. “Wonderful. You may refer to me as Chisaki, since we’ll be working very closely together now.”
“Then call me Izuku!”
• ───────────────── • ───────────────── •
The officers on the scene had specifically taken a few of the pictures to capture the contents written on the inside of some of the notebooks and those contents were what Nedzu found to be the most interesting information out of this entire case. Interesting enough for him to almost demand involvement in Midoriya’s interrogation directly. It was such a golden opportunity that he just couldn’t risk passing up.
The specific photograph that was placed in this particular file was the ‘newest looking’ of the notebooks. Inside were pages upon pages of theoretical work on the applications of a potential time reversal quirk. The ways it could heal decades old wounds, age someone back into their prime years, counteract a potential quirk that could speed up time. But it seemed that there were also some notes that Overhaul had left behind, asking if it was possible to reverse a specific part of someone. Asking how much of the person wielding this potential quirk would have to touch their target to be able to activate the effects of the time reversal. Asking if there was a potential way to get this hypothetical time reversal quirk to only affect a victim’s quirk. Only, in hindsight, none of it was hypothetical. It was all about Eri’s quirk.
Midoriya finally let out a long shuttering breath, fiddling once more with the mask in front of him. “Ye- Yeah. These are my notebooks. I wrote them.” He didn’t look either Tsukauchi nor Nedzu in the eyes, assumed guilt, shame, and anxiety washing over him.
Oh, but that sorrow wasn’t as important to him at the moment, was it? Midoriya must have one of the most marvelous minds Nedzu had ever seen. To be able to do this amount of research, mathematics, and predictions over a quirk that he thought was only a hypothetical? Nedzu’s whiskers twitched with glee. When he had first been shown the pictures of the notebooks, he couldn’t believe his own eyes. He was practically foaming at the mouth just to stop himself from demanding to see Midoriya’s work in action.
“True statement,” Tsukauchi mused from beside the rodent. “Did you hand them over willingly?”
“Yes.”
“True statement. Were the analyses you wrote in these notebooks the only work you’ve done for Overhaul?”
Midoriya appeared to mull over the question a second before mumbling, “Besides attending a few meetings in person, yeah, that was pretty much it. Overhaul wanted me to keep going to school instead of working for him ‘full time’ so that I could maintain a civilian cover.”
“True statement.”
The detective was effective at asking the right questions, he would give him that, but the child across the table seems to be starting to close into himself. Nedzu was prepared for this circumstance however, as there was a topic that he was starting to get a bit curious about. “You were attending high school at the same time you were writing these notebooks? Which one was it, may I ask?”
The change of subject seemed to surprise Midoriya, freezing his hands mid-fidgeting for a moment, knocking him away from the stupor he was falling into. Good, Nedzu would hate to see this interrogation end early. “Um, yes and no? It wasn’t just high school. There’s a couple notebooks in there that were from middle school, before graduation. It was Aldera Middle School, the name of my middle school, that is. My high school though, it’s just a very small one that’s online. I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn't even heard of it, Nedzu.”
A “True statement,” was uttered from Tsukauchi’s direction. And my, wasn’t that interesting all on its own. The rodent’s tail flicked with cheerfulness that he knew was poorly hidden from the people at the table with him.
“I must say, with work like your notebooks here, I wouldn’t doubt that you have easily passed the general admissions test for UA,” Nedzu started to hum with delight. “You most likely would have been able to come up with different strategies to utilize during any of the other admissions tests as well, be it the support course, the business course, or even the heroics course. Were you ever planning on taking the test? Did something stop you?”
Grief flooded into Midoriya’s eyes. “It wasn’t feasible for someone like me.”
“Care to elaborate?” What could have possibly been stopping such a brilliant mind from even attempting to walk the halls of his school?
“I’m quirkless?”
Ah. “I’m failing to see what the problem with that would be.”
Midoriya went quiet. To get to the point where he would think being quirkless was a condition that immediately cancels out any prospect of becoming a hero, Nedzu is wary of the implications that may bring. There mustn’t have been much positive influence in this child’s life. Hopefully they could get that changed soon, now that he was in police custody.
“I’ve seen multiple heroes walk through my halls with quirks which would have essentially left them to rely on mainly fighting quirkless. Some of which have even come back as teachers as well. I’m sure names like Midnight and Eraserhead would ring a bell for you.” Midoriya’s eyes sparkle with a hint of recognition at the names. The kid not only knows his stuff about spotlight heroes, but also underground heroes. Fascinating.
“And they’re not the only currently active heroes who do. Take Sir Nighteye for example. His quirk can only be used once a day, after which, he is essentially also quirkless. Not to mention, I myself would have to fight quirkless from time to time. Just because my quirk gives me heightened intelligence doesn’t mean I also receive heightened fighting prowess. If seasoned pros can thrive without relying on their quirks, who’s to say that you can’t?”
Silence still came from Midoriya. It might not undo the years on top of years of negative attention and possible degrading comments that he must have received, but Nedzu still couldn’t help but at least start to lay some of the groundwork that Midoriya needed to start to heal. Humans have hurt both of them after all, so he couldn’t help but sympathize a little with him.
Tsukauchi clears his throat once more. Ah, it seems that they had gotten every so slightly side tracked from the interrogation once more. No matter, Nedzu was leading up to another one of the important target questions for Midoriya anyways.
“Speaking of Nighteye, a few days before the raid on the compound, an anonymous individual called his agency’s tip line and helpfully supplied the location, patrol schedules, and rough estimates of number of fighters, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the quirks held by Overhaul and the Eight Bullets. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you Midoriya? I would say whoever it was that made the call was showing rather heroic behavior.”
Nedzu’s grin grew wider, eyes sparkling with interest, as he saw the minute flinch from Midoriya across the table at the question he was thrown.
• ───────────────── • ───────────────── •
He should have known.
He should have known that Chisaki was hiding something from him.
Izuku knew deep down that there was something that they were hiding from him, but something like this? Like torturing a child, using her body like… like… like a never ending supply of blood and body tissue. Just a place to harvest his supplies from. It was just like him, a quirkless, useless, nobody, to miss something that detrimental.
He’s lucky that Chisaki was kind enough to give him his own room in the compound. It didn’t have much, just a small futon and blanket combo, a few bookshelves filled with books on multiple subjects (most of them related to the research project he was given), and an old writing desk. It was wooden and massive, like one you would assume belonged to a renowned author, except it was full of empty notebooks and endless piles of pens, pencils, and erasers.
However, Izuku couldn’t bear to touch or even look at anything in the room at the moment. All he could manage at the moment, to ground himself, was to pace in a circle, close his mind off from the outside world, and think.
He has to tell the heroes.
Yeah, that’s how he’ll fix this. Izuku just needs to go and somehow get to them and tell the heroes everything. About the child and the experiments. About the bullets full of flesh and blood cells. About the Shie Hassaikai and their secret compound. About Chisaki.
Most heroes had tiplines connected to their agencies. It wasn’t public knowledge which heroes were working on which cases of course, but they had to have a network set up so that the information they receive gets to the right parties. That’s a good start, doable, even for someone like himself.
But to do that, for this messy plan to actually work, he has to act like nothing’s wrong, like everything is completely and totally fine. He- he has to keep helping Chis- Overhaul. He hates that this is the best course of action. He really wanted to jump ship, leave, get away, run, but he can’t. The heroes would work best with someone on the inside feeding them information.
But that’s just until the heroes arrive. Until the heroes put an end to this.
He just has to hold out until the heroes come to save Eri.
• ───────────────── • ───────────────── •
Midoriya’s eyes started to tear up, seemingly lost in thought. He didn’t say anything but looked down at the mask in his hands. Now that Tsukauchi really thought about it, many of the thugs they had arrested at the raid didn’t have masks that matched Overhaul’s in theming, just the Eight Bullets, which made it a little strange that Midoriya was given one for himself as well. Maybe that was something worth asking about?
“With the degree of trust Chisaki had in you, due to your participation in the creation of the quirk erasing bullets, I’m surprised that you weren’t enlisted as his right hand instead of Chronostasis.” Nedzu was quick to pipe up with a seemingly random thought of his. Looks like he had caught on to this small mask detail too. “Or even, say, as one of the Bullets. You did a lot of work directly under his orders after all, I would assume that would mean something to them.”
The kid started to fiddle with the mask in front of him even more now, “There were some talks that I might have overheard about promoting me to the position of a ‘Bullet’ actually,” Midoriya confessed. “The only reason I wasn’t was because I “wasn’t ready for the responsibility yet.””
“True statement.” That’s definitely not the least bit concerning. The only thing stopping this kid from being considered part of the strongest division of the entire organization was that he wasn’t “ready for the responsibility yet?” If he had to guess, that would probably mean that they all considered Midoriya too young for the position, and Tsukauchi was a little nervous to even start to think about what that would imply.
“Midoriya, do you understand how dangerous it was to be working with the Shie Hassaikai and Overhaul? You could have been killed for even being associated with them.” The detective had to at least make sure that this kid was at least a little knowledgeable about how risky what he was doing was.
“Not really? I mean, I had a feeling that it probably wasn’t safe,” Midoriya muttered, almost to himself again. “But it was still better than any other option I had. Can’t really do much when the title of ‘quirkless’ follows you everywhere, you know?”
“True statement”
Nedzu clapped his paws together in delight. “Ah but that brings up another question that’s been plaguing me. Do you think that Overhaul’s supposed appreciation towards your quirkless status was the only reason you found yourself joining the ranks of the Shie Hassaikai?”
“I-“ he paused, before sighing. He was back to fidgeting with the mask. “Nobody believed that I could be a hero, not even the one hero I believed in and looked up to more than anything. Everyone I’ve asked, even my own mom, said that being a quirkless hero wasn’t ‘realistic’ for me. So, to hear that one person believed that I was great, that I was worth something…I think it made me want to at least try to reach as close to my original dream as possible.”
Oh.
Oh, he really wanted to give this kid a hug. And possibly slap some sense into whoever this hero was, but mainly just the hug.
“One last question, Midoriya,” Seemed like another question had popped up in the rodent’s mind. “You haven’t uttered a single lie this entire interrogation. Every other criminal that has been questioned has lied at least once, even though all of them were informed of the detective’s quirk like you were. I must ask, why haven’t you?”
“I…I don’t know. Maybe because they're all extremely loyal to Overhaul? Maybe the current situation hasn’t set in on them? Maybe they thought the detective was lying about his quirk?” Midoriya paused before a wave of shock and some fear washed over him. He whipped around to look at the detective, hands held up in apology, rambling quickly and almost incoherently, “Not that I think you're a liar, it’s just that it’s easier to fake a passive mental quirk compared to all other quirks you could think of. Also not that your quirk is easy to fake, you’ve probably brought multiple criminals to justice with it alone. Not that you're only good at your job because of your quirk- I- I should really shut up now.” He lowered his head to stare at his lap in embarrassment, balling up his hands into fists and placing them in front of him.
“It’s quite alright Midoriya.” Tsukauchi said placatingly. “I know you didn’t mean it in offense.”
“That should be all the questions we have for you right now anyways, isn’t that right detective?” Tsukauchi nods in agreement as Nedzu continues. “Are there any questions you have for us Midoriya?”
He looks at both of the people across from him, before swallowing his nerves. “Do you know where they’re gonna send me,” he ends up asking.
“Not at the moment,” Nedzu mused. “Although, due to your cooperative nature and your status as a minor, I highly doubt it would be anything with major prison time, or heavens forbid, Tartarus.”
Midoriya looks at Nedzu for a long moment, then up at the detective, before finally replying with a meek, “Okay.”
Tsukauchi pushes his chair away from the table, taking his trench coat from the back of his chair and putting it back on. “If there are any more questions or concerns, be sure to contact me directly about them, alright kid?” He picks up his hat, sitting it on his head while Nedzu, taking the obvious clue that they were done for today, gathers the folder and its contents from the table, hopping out of the seat and walking over to the door.
“Al-alright.” Tsukauchi pushes his chair in at the confirmation. He walks over to the door, putting his hand on the door, but something stops him before he opens it.
“Um,” It was quiet, almost inaudible, but Tsukauchi and Nedzu stopped in their tracks, turning slightly to face Midoriya once more. He wasn’t facing either of them, choosing to rather look at the mask in his cuffed hands instead. “I, um…” the kid takes a deep breath, steeling himself once more. “Is Eri going to be okay?”
The detective looked down at the rodent besides him, only to find his beady black eyes looking right back. Would it be safe to tell the kid anything about the raid, especially any information regarding the current state of Eri.
“She’ll be okay,” Tsukauchi finally ended up saying. He tipped his hat out of habit, but he doubted it gave off the same effect without Midoriya actually seeing the action in motion. “She’s in good hands now, thanks to you.”
Midoriya nodded minutely anyway but didn’t respond. The mask he was glaring at the peacock-like mask now, but it also didn’t say anything to the kid. Hopefully the future would look kindly on him. After all the misery that seemed to follow, he needed some good in his life. The detective turned back towards the door, opening it so the rodent could leave before him. The door closed behind the pair, leaving the child alone with his thoughts once more.
• ───────────────── • ───────────────── •
Boom!
The dead end alleyway they were in was one of the usual ones Kacchan and his lackeys cornered him in after school. He’s just glad that today there weren’t any garbage bags overflowing from the dumpsters and onto the floor.
Boom!
Kacchan had an amazing quirk and would make an amazing hero using it. He just hated to be on the receiving end of it sometimes. Izuku wished that Kacchan would just leave him alone, or even go back to the way things were before his quirk manifested, instead of whatever weird form of friendship this had grown into. Ten years really made a difference, huh?
“And don’t you forget Deku,”
BOOM!
That one was louder than the rest. That means they were finally about to leave him to suffer from his new bruises alone.
“Your quirkless ass won’t be anything but a useless pebble on my path to glory. So stop trying to deny it and learn your place.” Kacchan spat. And with one final kick to Izuku’s stomach, he scoffed, turned around, and stormed out of the alley, lackeys following closely behind.
Izuku stayed still on the floor for a few minutes after they left, taking a few breaths to regain himself. When he finally deemed it safe enough to move, the first thing he did was reach for his backpack and start to unpack the first aid kit. He really didn’t want to patch himself up in the dingy alleyway, but he couldn’t take the chance that his mom would see the bruises and start to worry about him getting any possible infections or side effects for the rest of the week. It would be better if she just assumed that someone like the school nurse patched it up for him instead.
As he was finishing up and putting the kit back in his bag, a large shadowy figure appeared standing in front of him. It loomed over Izuku, staring down at where he was sitting on the dirty concrete floor. Before Izuku could even think to excuse himself from the situation, the figure spoke.
“We’re they telling the truth?” The large figure before him drawled. “Are you really quirkless?”
The man before him looked a little average compared to the everyday people you would find walking the streets. He had a dull green jacket that was lined with purple faux fur. His short black hair almost complimented his golden eyes. The white gloves on his hands practically glowed in the darkness of the alley. His most defining feature, however, was the crimson beak-like mask on his face. It reminded Izuku of a vulture’s beak.
“Y-Yeah.” He managed to stutter out.
The man didn’t seem to mind however. In fact, his eyes widened in realization and awe, “You’re clean.”
Clean? Izuku looked around the alleyway they were in, but it all looked like a normal alleyway to him. No alleyway he’s ever seen or been in was something even close to what he would call ‘clean’. Even being in the alleyway longer than he usually stayed made him feel dirtier by the second. In fact, Izuku was pretty sure that he had stepped in a puddle of some mystery liquid on the way into the alley.
“What?”
“You’re quirkless,” the man repeated, “This world has left you clean of the rot they call quirks. You’re clean. You’re untainted.”