18

Chapter 18: As A Tool, Not As A Crutch

Chapter Text

Naomasa stares through the one way glass at the single occupant of the interrogation room. The man, Kaiyō Samehada, stares back, his hands trapped in quirk suppressant cuffs before him, his body and face littered in bruises. Naomasa wonders if his staring is some sort of intimidation tactic, or maybe an act of defiance. Either way, it isn't too original; Naomasa has seen it all before.

Sansa walks into the room he's in, breaking him out of the silent staring contest. He holds a clipboard in one hand and two coffees in the other. Naomasa accepts the offered coffee wordlessly and takes a sip. He lets out an exhale of appreciation.

"We haven't even started yet, and you're already tired?" Sansa teases, cracking open the lid of his own coffee and lapping at the liquid within.

"I'm always tired." Naomasa replies with a sigh. "Why do criminals have to be active at night? Why don't they sleep like normal people?"

Sansa chuckles and slaps him on the back. "You're just grumpy because they call you in all the time to oversee the interrogations."

Naomasa glares at his feline partner, but the action holds no heat. Sansa chuckles again.

"Yeah well, when are we gonna get this one started? We have two more after this and I don't want to be here all night."

Sansa shuffles through his clipboard. "Should be starting in a couple minutes. Rui and Daoji will be leading."

Naomasa nods his head. "Good. Let's see what we can find."

As promised, Officers Rui and Daoji walk into the other room. Naomasa watches as they set up the recording device and take their seats.

"Good Evening. I'm officer Daoji and this is my partner, Officer Rui. We're going to ask you a series of questions about the events of tonight and we'd like you to answer them as honestly as possible…"

Naomasa leans over to Sansa. "He didn't ask for a lawyer?"

Sansa shook his head. "Must have thought there wasn't a point. He was practically caught bare-handed."

Makes sense to him. Criminals usually weren't that smart though, and would still ask for a lawyer despite everything. Those at the precinct used to get a kick out of it, but now it was just annoying.

"...And what were you doing at the docks at that time of night?" Officer Daoji asks.

"I was going to buy some merchandise." Samehada replies lazily.

Lie.

"Man this guy's a real bastard. Can't believe he'd just admit to it like that too." Sansa whispers beside him, but Naomasa is hardly paying attention.

He turns on the radio in his ear and speaks to Officer Daoji within. "Have him clarify."

"What kind of merchandise?" Officer Daoji asks.

Samehada looks at the man with a sneer. "What kind do you think? Do I have to spell out everything? The people dipshit. I was going to buy a person. "

Lie.

Naomasa stares in shock. Sansa watches him out the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?"

He doesn't answer, instead he turns on his radio again. "He's lying." He informs Officer Daoji.

"What do you mean he's lying?!" Sansa hisses quietly, as if they might hear him in the other room.

Naomasa is unsure himself, but his quirk notified him, and that is absolute.

"He's lying about what he was doing that night. He wasn't there to buy anything." Naomasa tells him. But…

"Why would he lie?" Sansa wonders, mirroring Naomasa's own sentiment. It doesn't make sense for someone to implicate themselves in a crime they didn't commit. And yet, it also doesn't make sense for the vigilante to capture someone who is innocent. Samehada must've been doing something suspicious if he was caught. Is he trying to cover up a crime even worse than human trafficking?

"...to buy a person?" Naomasa tunes back into the interrogation and catches the tail end of Daoji's query.

"Yes!" Samehada shouts, a bit annoyed. "What's so fucking hard to understand?"

Lie.

Naomasa pinches the bridge of his nose. He turns on his mic again. "He's lying, but drop it for now. Proceed with the other questions."

"... Alright." Officer Daoji pacifies before changing the subject. "And when you met up with the others involved, what happened next?"

Samehada rolls his eyes. "They talked about their product, where they got it, what price everything was set at."

Lie.

Naomasa feels the lie, but doesn't stop the interrogation this time. He needs to hear more. He needs to find out where these discrepancies in the story are coming from. Why would he lie?

If it were anyone but him listening in, if he couldn't tell when Samehada was lying, they could book him right away. Hell, he really did just admit to his crimes and his story makes sense. But, knowing that he's lying, knowing that there was something else going on tonight, he can't drop it.

What are you hiding?

"...and then that fucking vigilante came." Samehada relays. "What's his deal anyway? You see that dumbass mask he wears? What a fucking lunatic."

"Did the vigilante say anything to you when he appeared?"

"Nah. He took out first two guys like it was nothing, then rest of us ran and he chased me down. Wouldn't let me get in the water." He says the information casually, like he doesn't care that he's been arrested, but this time everything rings true.

"Your quirk works better in the water, correct? How did the vigilante know?" Officer Daoji asks.

"Dunno. But it was fucking annoying. I thought it was gonna be easy."

"What was going to be easy?"

"You know...gettin away and all that."

Lie.

This time Naomasa isn't quite sure what triggered the lie, but he interrupts.

"Keep asking questions about the vigilante." He orders over the earpiece. But then a realization hits him. How did Samehada know to call him a vigilante? If anyone were to see a person dressed like that, they wouldn't assume that person was a hero or anything of the sort, right?

"Can you describe the vigilante for me?" Officer Daoji questions.

Samehada huffs. "Short. Wore all black. Had a stupid All Might mask on his face. Thought you police knew that already?"

Naomasa cuts in. "See if he's encountered the vigilante before."

"Has the vigilante tried to stop you before this?"

Samehada scowls. "No. I'd probably be here a lot sooner otherwise."

Naomasa scratches his chin. That wasn't a lie either. But, whatever Samehada's covering up has something to do with the vigilante. He can feel it. And yet, he isn't sure what to ask.

"And what did the vigilante do after he caught you?"

"Tied me up. Then left." Samehada answers.

Naomasa groans. He wants to bang his head against the glass. This isn't going anywhere.

"So let me get this straight." Sansa whispers from beside him. "Samehada was with a group of human traffickers, but he wasn't there to actually partake in any human trafficking. He was seen by our vigilante friend and caught. However, for some reason he wants us to believe that he was there to buy someone, in order to hide his real motive." Sansa looks at him. "Did I get that right?"

Naomasa nods. "And he knew that the vigilante was a vigilante, despite never seeing him before. While some heroes and police know about him, I don't think there have been any public articles or segments about him." He runs a hand through his hair. "So he had to have been told by someone else. Maybe a different villain who encountered the vigilante before and wanted to warn him?"

"You think what he's trying to hide has something to do with the vigilante." Sansa states. He scrunches his nose up in confusion. "Maybe they're working together?"

Naomasa shakes his head. "I don't think so. The vigilante hasn't shown any indication that he sides with criminals. I don't see any benefit for getting his supposed allies arrested either."

"Okay, that makes sense. So if they aren't working together...then maybe they were trying to catch the vigilante in a trap?" Sansa suggests.

While Naomasa had thought of that too…"That also doesn't make sense. The vigilante obviously succeeded, right? So their trap failed. Why wouldn't they admit it? Why hide the fact that they were trying to catch him, or even kill him? Why the secrecy?"

"You're right." Sansa muses. "I hadn't thought of that. This is tough. You should just ask him directly then."

Naomasa sighs. "Oh, I plan to. But right now, we'll just finish this interrogation and start on the others. If we don't get any answers tonight, we'll try again tomorrow. Believe me, we'll get to the bottom of this."

Sansa smiles. "Don't worry, I believe you. And if that doesn't work, you can always ask our vigilante friend once we catch him. Maybe he'll know."

"Haha." Naomasa responds dryly. "If we could catch him, he'd be caught already."

"We just need to ask more heroes. You know vigilantes never last long." Sansa says. A ding from his pocket alerts him and he pulls out his phone.

"Speaking of our vigilante friend, Officer Tanaka texted me that he just caught someone else."

Naomasa doesn't recognize that name. He thought he knew everyone on the force. "Officer Tanaka?"

Sansa grabs his coffee and gets ready to leave. "He's new. Just transferred from missing persons. You got everything here?"

"Yeah I got it. I'll keep you updated if I learn anything new. Let me know how things go on your end. And stay safe."

Sansa smiles. "'Course. I always do." Then he walks out of the room.

Naomasa smiles at the white lie and turns his sight back to the interrogation. He's missed what they've been saying, but it doesn't matter. He'll find out what's going on sooner or later. And if it's up to him, Samehada is going to stay in his cell for a long, long time until he talks.

Kaiyō doesn't stay in his jail cell for long. It isn't more than a couple hours or so after his interrogation before a portal made of darkness appears below him and he is swallowed whole. There is a moment where he is blind and numb, and then he is landing on the hardwood floor of a familiar bar.

Surrounding him, Kaiyō recognizes the other bastards involved in tonight's plan; the ones who were captured as well as the ones who weren't. He also sees that both of the bosses are present. The mist man and the guy with hands on his face. Kaiyō shudders. Although employed by them, if he could go for weeks without seeing them, it'd still be too fucking early.

"These are the ones that encountered the target." The mist man says. Kaiyō glances at him, but he's more worried about the psycho scratching his neck with a fucking hand on his face. The guy looks irritated and Kaiyō doesn't want to stick around him when he's angry.

"So the small fry were not enough…" The hand man muses, his voice grating on Kaiyō's ears. "They have outlived their uses, why did you bring them here?"

A tremendous pressure fills the small space and Kaiyō can't breathe. Sweat rolls down his face and all he can think is that he will die here. He claws at his throat, tears slipping out of his eyes. What the fuck was happening?!

"Tomura." The mist man warns, and with that one word, the pressure is alleviated. Kaiyō gasps, as do the others present and he rubs his throat. Oh how much he'd love to show that bastard…

"These 'small fry' may have valuable information. But regardless of that, you know we cannot afford to lose the manpower we have." The mist man continues and Kaiyō watches them warily. So they needed info, huh? Well if it meant he wouldn't be killed…

"You guys were wrong." Kaiyō announces, a bit of his usual confidence leaking into his tone. That's right. He has info that they don't. He's sick and tired of being treated like some two-bit thug.

The hand man growls, but the mist man holds up an arm to stop him.

"We were wrong? Wrong about what?"

Kaiyō smirks. He has these fuckers right where he wants them. Serves them right for acting so self important all the time and treating the rest of them like shit. That's right, he can be useful too! Ha!

"You guys told me the vigilante had a strength or speed quirk. But he doesn't. Maybe if I had the right information at the time, I could have caught-"

A cold hand is wrapped around his throat. Jagged fingernails dig into his skin and his words die on his tongue. Kaiyō doesn't dare to breathe, doesn't dare to even swallow.

"You're awfully brave for an expendable NPC. You would blame us for your failure? You would lie to us ?" The hand man says, his rank breath flooding Kaiyō's personal space. The fingers close tighter around his throat and a whimper escapes him.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't his brightest idea to antagonize the murdering psychopath.

" Tomura ." The mist man demands again, and Kaiyō's throat is freed. He drops to the ground, coughing and spluttering for breath. He hears the hand man 'tsk'.

"Now," The mist man sighs. "You said we misinformed you?" The glowing lights floating in the mist stare into him. Kaiyō shivers. He's having second thoughts on getting involved with these bastards.

"Y-yeah." Kaiyō replies, voice scratchy. "The vigilante was fast, like you said, and strong too, but I don't think it was his quirk."

It was hard to see any signs of quirk use in the dark when the vigilante took out the other two. Sure, there was some sort of light emanating from him, but Kaiyō saw the rope-like shit he was using at the docks. Those two don't exactly go together.

"And what makes you think so?" The mist man asks.

Kaiyō massages his throat. "Cause that fucker used his quirk on me! It was like some sort of rope made of darkness. He could wrap it around stuff. That's how he got me. But if I had known-"

"Interesting." The hand man interrupts, his nails scratching bloody trails through the skin on his neck.

"Indeed." The mist man agrees as Kaiyō tries to figure out what's so goddamn 'interesting' about what he said. "So either the vigilante's predicted quirk was wrong, or…"

The hand man smiles and Kaiyō doesn't think he has ever seen something that instills more fear in him than that man's face.

"Our vigilante has more than one quirk."