So,

this is a bit of a recap-chapter to finally end that part of the Story. It got a bit long, but I decided against splitting it in half. Hope you enjoy.

The Interview

As Fuyumi had said, the police came in the early afternoon. Tsukauchi wasn't among them, and Enji wondered whether he was even still working on the case. Instead there was a young woman with curly black hair and glasses and a man with greying hair and beard and a long brown coat. Endeavor had worked with the older man only once and the woman was completely foreign to him at first glance.

"Todoroki-san?" the older one greeted as Enji made to at least sit up in his bed. "Please, no need to stand up. Your injuries are quite severe, we heard," he said with a reassuringly raised hand. Enji frowned unhappily, but the man was right, so he eased back on his mattress. "Thank you, for seeing us," the man said then, as if Enji had actually made an appointment with the police, when in fact they had just come by with little prior notice. "My name is Dan Sato, Detective of the Musutafu Police, this is Detective Ai Ayasegawa." The woman bowed slightly as she was introduced.

Enji nodded. He realized immediately that this time they weren't really working together as hero and police, as he was used to. This time he was a victim and witness. It wasn't the first time the roles were like this. Once there had been a break-in at his agency, and a few times when a series of death threats had gotten so severe, he had brought them to the attention of the police. But still, even then they had mostly treated him with the respect they gave to every hero, as a colleague in law enforcement. Now, however, for the first time he was clearly a victim and witness rather than a colleague. It had started when they had first come in and asked him to lay back down for his injuries. They treated him with sympathy, care and formal distance, rather than the collegial respect he was used to.

"How are you feeling?" asked Ayasegawa with slight concern in her voice. "Are you able to answer some questions?"

"Yes," he said without thinking.

"Good, thank you," she smiled. There was something in her eyes though, Enji realized. Behind her professional smile there was something wary he couldn't place. He pushed it to the back of his mind for now. "This will take about an hour, I think," she guessed and sat down on one of the chairs with a notebook in hand. The older detective remained standing.

"You reported your son Natsuo Todoroki missing on Friday," she began. Enji nodded quietly. "Can you tell us what happened before Friday, that made you contact the police?"

He hadn't actually contacted the police, Enji remembered. It was All Might who had first asked his friend Tsukauchi for help, who had then made the case official. Ayasegawa and Sato surely knew this. Still, with his brain numbed by pain killers, Enji didn't think the question was odd.

"I didn't involve the police," Enji corrected, "I only found out Natsuo was missing on Thursday. All Might got involved because he brought my other son Shoto home from UA. It was he who then told Detective Tsukauchi on Friday."

Ayasegawa nodded. She didn't seem surprised. While Ayasegawa wrote into her notebook, Sato spoke up.

"Can you tell us, why you didn't involve the police when you first found out your son was missing?" Enji looked at the older man, but unlike Ayasegawa, if he had any wariness or suspicions of his own, he kept them well-hidden. The older man was a professionally blank mask of polite sympathy.

"We didn't know if it was even a crime yet," Enji admitted, "Natsuo had been," he hesitated, "in emotional turmoil and asked for some time alone the week before. So, as far as I knew, he could have just hidden at his girlfriend's house and everything was fine." He rubbed his temples, knowing that this was maybe a weak excuse. "Also, because of my position, I feared that as soon as I involved the police the case would become public. It would also warrant the whole attention of the police, and if in the end it was just a fluke, that would have wasted resources they could have spent on other cases." He tried to argue logically, but as he saw Ayasegawa's doubtful frown while she was writing, he realized he was maybe too clinical in his assessment.

"Your son was missing," Ayasegawa explained her doubts, "and you didn't want the police to waste resources?"

Enji realized that sounded unbelievable. "Now that you phrase it like that..." he admitted, allowing hos voice to trail off.

"It's not about how I phrase it," she said calmly. "As an active and experienced hero for many years you must know that in cases of kidnapping, it is imperative that the police act as soon as possible."

Enji nodded. "I know." Then he sighed. "Another reason was, without a doubt, that I wanted to look for him myself. I knew that once I went to the police, I would have to step away from the case. I didn't want to let it out of my hands."

"As a family member, you would have been emotional and prone to make mistakes," agreed Ayasegawa, "as a hero yourself…"

"I know that," he interrupted her, "from a professional standpoint."

Before Ayasegawa might scold him again for that decision, Sato spoke up: "So, on Thursday, before All Might informed the police, how did your own investigation go?"

"Slowly," answered Enji. He recounted what he had done to find his son. How Fuyumi had called his friends, and his secretary had called the University and student dorm management, how they had started to search for the girlfriend and how Silent Tracker had investigated the scene where they had lost the trace of his phone.

Ayasegawa wrote down what he said, but the way they looked they knew all that already. The thought that he was just recounting what they already knew, felt tiring.

When they got to Friday, he explained how Tsukauchi had been introduced to the case and how they found out about the girlfriend's true identity and the involvement of the League of Villains.

"How did you so quickly come to the conclusion, that the phone number was related to Himiko Toga?" asked Sato after Ayasegawa had written that part down as well.

"What do you mean?" asked Enji, not understanding the problem. "The phone number was in our database."

"Of course," Sato nodded, "but as far as we were informed, Himiko Toga in the disguise of Camie Utsushimi never actually started working as an intern in the Endeavor Hero Agency." Enji nodded. "You did not know Utsushimi-san, her application was retracted. Even if her application and phone number were still registered in your database, it seems odd, that you would immediately draw the conclusion that the League of Villains was involved, just because the number existed in your database under a different name."

"I don't understand the question," Enji admitted. "The phone number we found out was Haruka's also appeared in my agency for a different girl. Of course, that would seem suspicious to me."

"That is understandable. But the connection to the League of Villains is not," explained Ayasegawa. She turned back a few pages in her notebook. "Your son and daughter both said that when you found out Utsushimi-san had used that number, you immediately drew the connection to the League of Villains."

"Because Himiko Toga had posed as Utsushimi-san," Enji explained exasperated.

"But that is classified information," said Ayasegawa with a wary glint in her eyes. "For Utsushimi-san's own safety and future, the police and the Hero Association decided to keep the information hidden from anybody who didn't strictly need to know. As far as I'm aware, you were not among that circle of people."

"Her provisional Hero License that she used for her application was invalid by the time of the kidnapping," Enji answered, "I might not have been informed about the identity of the girl before, but I am able to connect two and two. I also saw Utsushimi-san when I visited my son during his provisional license training."

"But wouldn't it take time, to check the Hero-ID?" asked Sato. He sounded friendly, but Enji was sure he didn't quite believe him. Something wasn't right, he only now realized. He felt increasingly like he wasn't being interviewed as a victim or even only a witness, but as a potential suspect. "We have information from the National Hero Association that your inquiry about Utsushimi-san's ID already happened on Thursday, not on Friday."

Oh, now he understood. "I had my secretary check the ID on Thursday," he admitted. Then, he sighed. He wasn't ready to share his suspicions about a traitor in his own agency with the police or anybody quite yet, but he guessed there was no way around it now. "Not just hers. After my battle with the Nomu last week, I suspected there might be a traitor or leak somewhere in my agency. I don't know if it's true, but I had my secretary check everything suspicious. Her application seemed suspicious to him, so he checked it. When my agency found out the same phone number she used for her application was the number Natsuo kept calling, he informed me about what he had found out about her."

Sato and Ayasegawa finally both nodded satisfied. "Can you give us the name and contact of that secretary?"

He did, but then he finally had to ask: "So, what? Call me paranoid, but I'm starting to feel like a suspect here? Do you think I had a hand in my own son's kidnapping?" He asked, straight to the point.

"We're sorry, but we have to check every angle. Your son Shoto told us that you were also working on something else, while your son was missing. Then, adding the fact that you didn't call the police and that you seemed to know so much about Utsushimi-san to immediately draw the conclusion that the League of Villains was involved…There are just a few questions we have," Sato answered soothingly, but it didn't help in lifting Enji's suspicion.

Part of him new that, if he were in his right mind, he would probably ask for his lawyer now. Just in case. But he didn't. Maybe he just wanted to get it over with, or the pain killers stopped him from acting rationally or maybe he didn't care what conclusions they would draw.

"Have you found the traitor in your agency?" asked Ayasegawa.

"No," he answered shortly. "I still don't know if there even is one."

She didn't even write the answer down, he realized; it was just a distraction.

"So, after Detective Tsukauchi and Toshinori-san left your house, what happened then?"

Before Enji could even talk about the phone call, the door to his room opened and Fuyumi and Shoto came in. Enji immediately quieted down.

"Oh, should we wait outside?" Fuyumi asked after the surprise of having the police in the room subsided.

The detectives didn't answer. Maybe they didn't mind one way or the other. Enji minded though. He still did not know if and how he should talk about Natsuo's involvement or Touya's, but he was sure he couldn't talk about any of that at all, not as long as Shoto and Fuyumi were in the room.

"Could you wait outside?" he asked.

They seemed a bit put off by the question. "We know your injuries," Shoto said quickly, "it's not like this could shock us. But we would like to know what happened, too." Fuyumi nodded seriously.

It was important to them, he realized, that he didn't shut them out completely.

"Natsuo doesn't talk to us either, we just want…," started Fuyumi, but Enji cut her off.

"I'm sorry. I'm going to tell you, but not now." With a slight movement of his head he indicated the two detectives. Enji understood his children's worries. Their brother had been kidnapped, their father had been tortured, whatever other issue they had with him, they deserved to know what happened. They must be worried both for their father and brother. And if Natsuo hadn't told them anything, that meant they were essentially clueless. Enji had to tell them. He had to tell them anyway, because they needed to know about Touya. Even more so, if even Natsuo didn't explain anything to them. Just not now.

"If you could wait outside," asked Ayasegawa, obviously realizing that it would get difficult to get any information out of Enji as long as his children were in the room.

They nodded and left, but Enji could see the disappointment on their faces.

"Nice kids," Sato complimented as his gaze settled back on Enji.

"Thanks," mumbled Enji, not really feeling like he deserved that compliment. He took it anyway.

"So, after you and your children were alone in the house…?" Ayasegawa asked the last question again.

He told them about the phone call. Then he detailed his confusing journey with the public railway network, until he finally arrived at his destination. He explained how he arrived at the house and how he asked to speak to his son.

"Did Natsuo sound afraid? Distraught?"

"He sounded calm," Enji answered after a moment of silence. "I don't think he knew what exactly was going on."

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

"I didn't at the time, but that's my conclusion now. I think he went there of his own free will. He probably thought the entire time that he was with friends. One of them was his girlfriend, after all."

"So, Himiko Toga was in disguise the entire time?"

"I don't know," he said.

"Did you meet her in disguise?"

"No," he admitted, "when I saw her after my surrender, she looked like herself."

"Did Natsuo see her in her true form?"

He frowned in thought. He didn't quite remember if they were in his little torture chamber together. "Maybe," he admitted, "I'm not sure. Maybe I saw them together."

"Maybe?" Ayasegawa seemed a bit put off by his uncertainty. "How about the other members of the League. Did he see them?"

"Yes," Enji admitted. "He saw the villain Twice out of costume, and," he couldn't help the hesitation, "and he saw Dabi."

"Are you telling me, Natsuo spent several days in the company of the League of Villains, some of the most notorious villains of our time, and he didn't realize?" asked Ayasegawa. She didn't even sound suspicious now, just confused. "And his father is a Pro-Hero?"

"Natsuo was never really interested in my work," declared Enji. He knew that wasn't entirely true. There had been a time when Natsuo was very interested. He had wanted to be a hero himself, thought that was cool, wanted his father's attention and praise and even asked to accompany his father to work one time. That was when Natsuo was much younger, of course, and Enji never relented. He didn't bring him to work because it was dangerous for a child of four or five years. And he didn't really pay much attention to him nor support him in his wish to become a hero, because at the age of four years his quirk manifested, and it hadn't been as powerful as Enji had hoped. Four years later, Shoto's quirk was the powerful quirk Enji had been waiting for, and from then on he had focused all his time on Shoto, and Natsuo had stopped asking to visit him in the agency, stopped trying to impress Enji by becoming a strong hero himself, and as far as Enji knew, stopped caring about heroes altogether. "We don't have the best relationship," he explained tiredly, as the detectives asked for further explanation. "I don't think he's a particularly big fan of heroes in general. As far as I know, he might have just tried avoiding anything connected to heroes or villains and the like. It wouldn't surprise me if he never looked at a picture of the League of Villains."

Ayasegawa finally nodded and wrote something down.

"So, you think he didn't know that he was actually kidnapped and that his family was looking for him?"

Enji hesitated. "I don't know," he lied. Of course, he knew. Natsuo had set up a fake-kidnapping with the League of Villains, to get at him. To see if Enji would care enough to save him or not. Whether he knew the league or not didn't really change the fact that Natsuo had faked his own kidnapping. Enji couldn't bring himself to say it, though.

"Why did he shut off his phone?"

"I don't know," Enji repeated. "I think he was annoyed that I called and shut it off. Maybe his 'friends'," he spat the word sarcastically, "stole it and he thought he lost it. I don't know. You'll have to ask him."

"He's not very forthcoming with information," informed Sato.

"Then I can't help. I don't know what he was thinking, or how he got there. All I know is that he didn't seem to know the danger he was in. I had no time to ask him, though. I only saw him twice after all and one of those times was only on a TV-screen."

"TV-screen?" they asked.

He explained how Dabi made him enter the house and surrender himself, while he watched Natsuo's release on the monitor.

While Ayasegawa wrote down the new information, Sato frowned in thought. "What about the second time? You said, you met twice?"

For a moment, Enji blinked stupidly. Oh, right, he had said that. "After I surrendered, he came back to where they held me. Toga had already wounded me then, and he was shocked. Then Dabi made Twice drag him out of the room again."

"So, he was in the same room with Himiko Toga?" asked Sato suspiciously.

Enji's eyes widened minutely, as he realized how much he contradicted himself. Maybe the pain-killers made his mind clumsy and loosened his tongue just a bit too much. He didn't answer, though. What was he supposed to say?

"Earlier you said, you didn't know if those two met," Ayasegawa looked down at her notes.

"Well?" asked Sato.

"The painkillers make my brain mushy," he excused himself, "they were in the room together." It was a flimsy excuse for the slip up, he knew. "But only shortly."

"Now, in his own statement Natsuo said he didn't see you at all, but only heard your voice once over the phone." Enji glowered at Ayasegawa as she flipped the pages back to Natsuo's statement. "'I was visiting my girlfriend, Haruka. I shut my phone off, because my father's constant calls were annoying. There was a blonde girl waiting for me at Haruka's house. She knocked me out'," she read. "'Did they keep you in chains?' - 'No, I was locked in a room.' – 'What did they do to suppress your quirk.' – 'I'm not a fighter. I feared they would kill me if I tried to fight back or flee.' – 'Did you see any other members of the League of Villains?'" By now, Enji was sure Ayasegawa skipped some questions and only read those answers that contradicted whatever Enji himself had sad. "'Only one. A blond man with a scar on his face. I didn't know him. Now I know it was Twice.' – 'Did you see your father?' – 'No, I heard him on the phone once, but I never saw him. They let me go shortly after, and I called the police.'"

Natsuo had been lying, Enji realized at once. He couldn't even be mad. He himself was not being entirely honest with the police either. Natsuo was probably terrified about what would happen once everybody found out, that not only had he faked his own kidnapping, but he had even – though unknowingly – worked with the League of Villains.

"So, who's telling the truth?" asked Sato a bit impatiently.

"I might not remember everything," conceded Enji after a moment. He was maybe a bit angry that his son had lied, but he wasn't about to rat him out. It was Natsuo's future that was at stake here. However much he enforced the law in his professional life and would have rather stayed as honest as possible with the police, he just couldn't do it. For him, this whole affair was now a family matter with two of his sons involved. His family and himself had also been the only people that had been hurt by it. As far as he was concerned, he'd rather not have any police or other heroes involved at all and deal with this situation himself. It bugged him, because although not even a few months ago he had wanted to be the #1 Hero just for power alone, to finally surpass All Might, now he wanted to do it right. He wanted to enforce the law, do everything right, bring down the villains and be an example to society as heroes should be. He had wanted to be a symbol of peace, now that All Might couldn't be that anymore. But now, instead, he found himself selfishly lying to the police, because he didn't want to risk two of his sons going to prison for things that could have been prevented if he had only been a better father from jump.

There was no saving Touya from prison, he knew. Dabi was too notorious of a villain to not get sent straight to Tartarus once he was caught. And however much Enji wished there was a different solution for his oldest son, he also knew that he had to be caught. Touya...Dabi was too dangerous to walk free. However, Natsuo had just been a stupid teenager, but with his involvement with the League of Villains and lying to the police the way he did, that could land him in serious trouble. He had promised himself that he would see his family together again, and that he wouldn't let the League stop him. Natsuo was part of this family. Touya, of course, was too, but he feared Touya was too far gone.

"You don't remember correctly?" asked Ayasegawa unbelieving. "Half of what you said is in direct contradiction to what your son told us. That's a bit much to just blame it on general confusion."

Enji snapped at that. "I told you, I don't know how he got to the League! These were all just assumptions. If he tells it differently, then he probably knows it better. And excuse me for not remembering everything that happened while I was tortured!" The outburst had been rather unplanned; he was just angry at the fact that they treated him like a suspect when he clearly had been tortured. They acted as if he had his own son kidnapped and were now trying to use him against his son, or use his son against him. He wasn't sure, yet, if they believed Natsuo's or his version of events

The outburst wasn't planned but it worked in his favor, he found. There was a serious frown on Sato's face and an almost apologetic smile on Ayasegawa's. "Excuse our impudence," Sato apologized. "We simply have to check all angles. I'm sure as a Pro-Hero yourself, you can understand that." He nodded a bit jerkily, because he was still unhappy with the treatment. "It's just that it's uncommon to have such a vague and confusing statement coming from a Pro-Hero of all people," Sato admitted.

Enji had to concede to that. He knew they were just doing their job, and he wasn't exactly being forthcoming either, actually more the opposite as he was willingly withholding information and was now even retracting the bits and pieces of information he had given them. He understood the situation they were in and almost felt sorry for not being more helpful. He was also sure he hadn't cleared their suspicions, but for now he decided it was best to ride out that sympathy wave for the torture victim and use it to change the topic.

"I understand," he relented, "we're trained to remain calm in even the most stressful situations, but even I wasn't really trained for being tortured." He shifted a bit on his bed so that he could feel his own injuries and contorted his face in a sudden wave of pain. "I was hurting, bleeding and light-headed. I thought I remembered Natsuo being there for a moment, but maybe that was just my imagination wanting to see him again. I also didn't think he sounded panicked over the phone," he clarified his earlier statement, "but it was only over the phone."

They nodded, and he was sure they were still a bit suspicious about the discrepancies in their stories, but apparently, they had enough sympathy to move on.

"Can you tell us what happened then? Your torture?" They seemed troubled about the question. "Who tortured you?"

"Shigaraki Tomura mostly. He did the flaying with his quirk." He indicated some of his bandages where the doctors had said the injuries would likely leave scars. "Toga and Dabi where there too, but it was mostly Tomura." He didn't give them many details on what exactly happened, because he didn't feel comfortable talking about it and they thankfully didn't pressure him either. He told them what information the villains had wanted.

"You said, Dabi was supposed to kill you?" asked Sato when he came to that point.

Enji nodded. "Yes."

"Then I assume Dabi is the one who shot you?"

"Yes."

"Your doctors told us those bullet wounds were severe, but not necessarily deadly." Ayasegawa pulled out a medical sheet and handed it to Sato. "According to them, left untreated they would eventually lead to your death, but not immediately."

"I was told the same," said Enji. "I've been shot four times. One hardly scraped my shoulder, the other hit my hip bone. I was hit in the chest once, and then in the back," he reiterated what the doctors had said. "According to them I was very lucky."

"Lucky," repeated Sato thoughtfully. "Yes. Incredibly so. You know that Dabi is known for killing his victims by fire, not with a gun? Any idea why he didn't use fire but decided to shoot you? Not just that, but apparently, he didn't aim very well either, despite the close quarters."

Enji remained quiet for a moment. He could maybe blame it on his quirk. Maybe Dabi had thought he might be immune to fire, at least to a degree, and had thus used a gun instead. Would that be a believable excuse, he wondered. "It was Shigaraki's idea to use the gun," said Enji quietly. He hadn't yet decided if he could tell them about Touya. He had to, he knew, but he needed a little time to prepare himself for that bombshell.

"Why did Shigaraki not use the gun himself?" It was more of a thought spoken out loud than anything else, but of course the question was justified.

"They had promised Dabi he would get the honor of killing me," Enji remembered. Then he added before they could ask: "He's my son."

"He…What?" The revelation was followed by stunned silence. Both detectives were obviously confused and caught off-guard by that new piece of information. Enji could relate, it had shocked him too. He had seen Touya right in front of him and still couldn't believe it.

"He's my son," he repeated. "Dabi…his true birth name is Touya Todoroki."

"Touya Todoroki died six years ago," Ayasegawa said dumbfoundedly, searching in her file for that piece of information. "Here," she finally found it, "died in fire related to his own quirk," she read, "Three witnesses, one was Touya's own classmate. No bo-…"

"You think I don't know that!?" Enji interrupted her with an angry hiss. He didn't want to hear that. Of course, he knew what his son's file said, of course he knew that Touya was supposed to be dead. "But that's wrong. I saw him…I know!" He scowled a bit. "I didn't know before he tried to kill me, but now I'm certain."

"That changes things," mumbled Sato. "Why would Touya want to kidnap his own brother?"

"To get to me, obviously," snapped Enji, a bit short-tempered. What a stupid question!

"And why would he want to kill you, Todoroki-san?" asked Sato patiently.

"Because he hates me." He glowered at the two, then he looked away to the ceiling. "It's not just Natsuo, I don't have the best relationship with any of my children. I didn't think any of them hated me enough to actually try and kill me, but…well, he does, obviously."

"Can you elaborate, why your son would hate you?" they sounded professional, but to him it just sounded like nosy poking.

"I'd rather not," he retorted, scowling at the ceiling.

"Todoroki-san, we're trying to help you, but we need to get the whole picture. And if this could give us some insight on a member of the League of Villains, you as a hero should know how important that information is."

Of course, he knew. But that didn't mean he wanted to share any of his private matters with anybody. If this got out…it would defile Touya's memory, his family, himself. What kind of hero had a son who was a villain? And that was just if the information about Dabi's true identity got out. Never mind what would happen if everybody found out about his family life. It wasn't just him, he told himself, that would suffer from that sort of publicity, but his entire family. However, if he were entirely truthful, if it weren't for his career, he would have probably just told them everything they needed or wanted to know about Dabi.

Being a hero was the only thing he had done in his life that he was actually proud of. He was a good hero. Socially awkward, a bit quick-tempered and not as well-loved as most other heroes, but he was good at the job. Better than in his private life. Enji liked the hero Endeavor more than he had ever liked Enji Todoroki. Out there, despite his grumpy attitude, there were people who actually liked, loved or admired Endeavor. He would lose that, he knew.

That wasn't all there was to it, though. As it was … He was the #1 Hero. He had always wanted to be the #1 for mostly selfish reasons, but now that he was it, it wasn't just himself that would suffer under his disgrace. After his fight with the Nomu, he was seen as some sort of surrogate Symbol of Peace. Not quite All Might, but he had proven himself strong enough to keep Japan safe. He had proven that he would be there when needed and fight for the people's safety. Since then, although it was hardly even two weeks ago, and he had spent most of that time in hospital or recovery, but still, he had witnessed a palpable decline in villain activity. All Might himself had warned that losing Endeavor might be the second bad hit against the hero society, something Japan might not be able to overcome anytime soon. When he had taken that position, he had done it, despite the unwanted way he had achieved it, had even changed as a hero to fill a position All Might left vacant. Even if it wasn't something Endeavor had ever wanted to become – a Symbol of Peace, All Might surrogate – because he had refused to be the #1 under whose watch Japan would crumble. Now, if the truth came out, he might very well be the cause for Japan to crumble.

He didn't answer, just darkly glowered at the ceiling, until one of the detectives sighed and asked a different question. "Do you think Natsuo knew about Dabi being Touya?"

Now, back to Natsuo. He was tired of this interview. But this time, he remembered that Natsuo had said he never met Dabi. "I don't know." He said toward the ceiling.

"How can you not know?"

"I didn't see them interact," he lied.

"You told us earlier, that you saw the two together at one point. You need to cooperate with us."

He gritted his teeth. "Yeah, but that was during the torture. I'm not sure, if that even happened. He might not have known, I don't know."

"But you're at least sure, that Nasuo saw Twice?" Sota asked exasperatedly.

"Yes. Twice was the one who let him go. I saw him on the monitor. He was out of his costume, though."

"Well…" Sato sighed now obviously a bit unhappy with how that interview went. "What about the diary?" he asked then.

"What about it?"

"Do you know why you had to bring it with you?"

"No," he answered toward the ceiling. "Dabi read a few passages from it before he shot me. I don't know if that's all they wanted it for."

"Was Natsuo there, when he read the diary?"

"No," Enji answered at once, angry that they kept coming back to Natsuo, trying to make him slip up and say something either he or Natsuo would regret.

"Then how do you think Dabi or the League knew about the diary and where you could find it?" Ayasegawa still tried to tickle something out of him.

"I don't know. Natsuo probably told his 'girlfriend'," he put more emphasis on the word than strictly necessary. Was it really that surprising that the League might know some things about Natsuo if he had dated Himiko Toga for as long as he did, without realizing who she was? He was aware that they were just trying to make him implicate Natsuo in some way or incriminate himself. They seemed almost certain that either he or Natsuo had some part in this whole thing that they weren't admitting to, and now they were just poking around. He assumed they likely suspected Natsuo more than himself—after all Enji had been the one who almost died—while Natsuo was unhurt from what Fuyumi had told him.

"How did Touya and Natsuo get along with each other?"

"As children?" asked Enji. "Well enough, I think," he wasn't sure because he hadn't spent much time with either. "Most of the time I wasn't there, so you'd have to ask Natsuo or maybe my daughter. But Natsuo was distraught after Touya's supposed death."

"Would Touya have any reason to hurt Natsuo?"

"Not that I know of," admitted Enji.

"Do you think he would have hurt Natsuo, had Natsuo tried to escape or caused trouble, or if you hadn't complied with their demands?"

Enji didn't answer for a moment. Truth be told, he wondered the same. How far would Touya have been willing to go to get to Enji. If Enji hadn't come right away, would he have sacrificed Natsuo for his agenda? Enji didn't want to believe that, but on the other hand…neither he nor Natsuo seemed to expect that Enji would actually come to his son's rescue. And no matter if Touya was willing to hurt Natsuo or not, he was quite certain that the League wouldn't have held back, if they saw a chance to get to Endeavor that way.

"I don't know," he admitted truthfully. "I don't think he wanted to hurt Natsuo. But the other members of the League might have. Maybe he just hoped that I would follow his demands without question."

"But what if Natsuo had resisted?" they asked again.

"I don't know!" he snapped. The question alone gave him headaches. The mere idea of his first born hurting his third born like that was something he didn't want to think about for any period of time. "Do you think your children would do that to each other?" he asked back angrily. "I don't know!"

"Did Dabi not say anything about his brother?"

"He said he didn't want to hurt him. He also …," he cut himself off. He had almost said, that Dabi had told Twice not to hurt Natsuo. But that was when Natsuo had come back to the League. Something he had told the police had only happened in his imagination. He scowled back up at the ceiling.

"He also what?" Sato probed stubbornly.

"He also isn't their leader," he answered quickly. "I don't think he wanted Natsuo to get hurt, but if it came down to it, Shigaraki would have the final decision. I doubt Shigaraki cares about Natsuo. Maybe Touya just hoped Natsuo wouldn't resist. Maybe he knew him well enough to know Natsuo wouldn't fight them." Enji shrugged tiredly. "I think, if it was necessary, he would have probably rather hurt Natsuo, then just let me walk away." It hurt to admit that, but he truthfully thought so.

"Is it possible, that Nats-…"

"STOP ASKING ABOUT HIM!" Enji snapped furiously and this time his quirk activated involuntarily, a single bright hot flame erupting around his eyes where he normally wore the mask, scourging his pillow. "Shit!" he cursed and dowsed the flame immediately. He hurried to pour a glass of water over the pillow to keep the fire from spreading. The sudden movement made him hiss and writhe in pain. The painkillers did their best to keep his aches to a minimum, but whenever he moved it still hurt. "Sorry," he muttered, embarrassed and angry that he had lost control like that.

"It's alright," soothed Ayasegawa. Both of them seemed to accept his apology, but they looked shocked by his outburst. They also appeared a bit afraid, which made Enji feel even worse about this incident, but at least that might stop them from asking anything else about Natsuo or Touya.

Before they could say anything else, the door suddenly burst open and Fuyumi and Shoto stumbled inside.

"What happened?" asked Fuyumi in shock. "Is everything okay?"

"We heard you screaming," Shoto clarified, looking at his father, then at the two police officers. Finally, his eyes zeroed in on the scorched pillow.

"Dad…" that was Fuyumi in a now calmer but clearly exasperated voice. "You burned the pillow!"

Enji couldn't help but smile at her stating the obvious with that disappointed look on her face as if she were scolding one of her pupils for losing control over his quirk.

"I already apologized," Enji answered dismissively. "Is there anything else, detectives?"

They looked at each other, then Ayasegawa looked down at her notebook and cleared her throat. "So, you remember when the police arrived?"

Enji nodded, thankful that the question had nothing to do with Natsuo or Touya. "Yes. The last two bullets hit me, when Dabi heard them." He heard Fuyumi make a sound that was somewhere between shock and sympathy. She had such a soft heart. Shoto just scowled a bit darker than before. It was the first time, he realized, that he admitted that he had been conscious the entire time.

Ayasegawa noted it down in her notebook, then she looked up at Sato. Sato nodded shortly, then he rubbed his grey beard and finally asked Enji if there was anything else he remembered.

"No," Enji answered, glad that the interview was over. "I think, I need some rest now." He felt tired. Then he grunted in annoyance. "And a new pillow."

So, Endeavor is talking to the police! And all the stuff he doesn't want them to know.

How do you think they (the police and Shoto and Fuyumi) would react to Natsuo's part in this whole incident. What would Natsuo have to expect if it came out? What would happen if the people found out about Dabi being Enji's son? So many things still unquestioned.

I hope you liked it so far and maybe you have something specific looking forwart too in the near future?