The man's name was Akiyama Botan, and he was harmless. Well, as harmless as a man who took on odd jobs from villains could be.
"I promise I- I didn't know he was a villain!" Akiyama sputtered. "I was just short on cash and this guy came up to me. It was fifty thousand yen for just watching a bloody kid for one day! I couldn't refuse. How would I know he'd kidnap the boy?!"
Naomasa sighed and nodded at Arusawa. He was telling the truth.
"You have still aided and abetted a kidnapping of a minor," Arusawa said ruthlessly. "The charges for this are up to fifteen years of jail, Akiyama."
Akiyama shivered. "Please! I didn't know!"
Arusawa shrugged. "That might be so. But even unknowingly aiding and abetting can have a long sentence. It's up to you, Akiyama."
"What?"
"If you want to cut a deal for immunity for this case," She said. "You'll have to help us out."
Akiyama began to nod furiously. "Anything! Please, I can't go to prison!"
Arusawa smiled thinly. "Good."
Moments later, Naomasa followed her out of the interrogation room. "That was impressive, Detective Arusawa."
She nodded. "Thank you."
"Were you really going to give him immunity?"
"Sure," She said. "If there was a chance he could have been convicted."
Naomasa nodded. He'd thought so. The cameras had been scrubbed, and the only evidence they had was an innocuous video showing only that this person walked from the park to another place, like countless other people that day. And since Memora's memory quirk wasn't admissible in court without additional proof…
"Start collecting any and all data on people with warp quirks," Arusawa barked to her team, and they hastened to return to their computers. "The suspect has a physical quirk that turns him into purple smoke, and he can teleport to different areas, which confirms how Takahashi was kidnapped. Name, age, and other factors are unknown."
"I'll get Cyber on it too," Naomasa offered. "He was already looking into this case before it began, so I'll update him."
Arusawa nodded sharply. "Get him to find any videos or pictures of this man from any camera on the network. Recent ones would be best, but if an older photo can help us ID this guy, that would be fine too."
"I'll update you," Naomasa replied, and spun on his heels. A purple warp quirk… why was this giving him a bad feeling?
On the next floor, he headed straight for the biggest office. It was chock full of computer equipment, wires, and darkness.
"Cyber," He greeted the somewhat sparking man sitting in front of a monitor. "How are you?"
"Alright. What's up?"
Naomasa smiled tightly. "We need to locate and ID a man with a purple mist physical body and a warping quirk, and we need to know where he's been the past few days, especially when Takahashi was kidnapped."
"Isn't this Arusawa's case?" Cyber asked, even as he began typing away at his keyboard.
Naomasa twitched. "I'm… helping out."
"Okay," Cyber replied. "It'll take a while to run through all the images and videos in the database."
Naomasa nodded. "Then I'll be back in a few hours. Inform Arusawa if you find anything while I'm gone."
"Donezo, detective-o."
Naomasa huffed. Cyber.
He returned with Toshinori to find the precinct in an uproar.
"Where have you been?"Detective Arusawa demanded.
Naomasa frowned. "What do you mean?"
Arusawa just groaned and motioned him forward. Toshinori trailed at his heels, looking more than a bit curious.
"This just became your case," The detective explained harshly as they hurried to the group of people in the briefing room. Surprisingly, Cyber, too, was amongst them, despite usually disliking leaving his office.
"'Lo, detective," He greeted. "Toshi-san."
Toshinori gave a short nod, but otherwise went ignored. By now, the policemen had grown used to the emaciated man, knowing him as the indirect liaison to All Might. The glory had left quickly.
"Why?" Naomasa asked, instantly on alert. "What happened?"
Arusawa's face was threaded with grimness. "Our criminal was traced to an old bar in Yokohama. Kamino, specifically. While that wouldn't have particularly affected our operation, further observation revealed that there is a constant, illegal supply of electricity, water, and other necessities under this bar. we can only presume it is a secret underground facility." She sighed. "Cyber's monitoring also revealed the constant movement of villains in that area. They regularly enter and exit the bar, and we were also able to connect several organized criminal elements with them."
Naomasa nodded, though his heart was sinking. "It's a villain organization," He concluded, though he desperately wished he were not correct. Because the only organization that currently came to mind… "Very well." He took charge. "Please continue monitoring the feeds with Cyber. I'll gather a few heroes for the mission."
"You'll need to move tomorrow, Tsukauchi," Arusawa warned. "Cyber's monitoring says there is one window of opportunity when the bar is mostly empty, and that window passed for today. You can't get embroiled in too big a fight and risk losing the chance to rescue Takahashi."
The detective closed his eyes, but reluctantly agreed. "If that is so, I'll have the team ready tomorrow. Forward me the details."
Arusawa's mouth hardened. "I mean it, Tsukacuhi," She said under her breath, her voice quiet enough that only Naomasa and Toshinori could hear her amidst the buzz of the policemen moving about. "The priority must be the rescue and not the apprehension."
Toshinori frowned, probably ready to defend his friend, but Naomasa raised a hand to stop him and stared directly at Arusawa. "I understand," He said, clearly, truthfully.
Arusawa's shoulders loosened. "Thank you. I'll handle the captain if they say anything," She said, then spun on her heels and began walking to her office.
Naomasa did the same, pulling Toshinori into his when they reached the small room, and shut the door.
"Why did she believe you would abandon a child to bag a few villains?" Toshinori asked as soon as they were alone.
After years of friendship, Naomasa didn't have to frown at the lack of empty politeness to start the conversation. "Experience," He answered, mouth curling down. "When Arusawa was a junior detective, she served under Okumura Taichi." He paused but Toshinori showed no reaction. "I forgot you weren't here then. Well, Okumura had a chance to catch a dozen villains at the same time while working to rescue a hostage the villains had kidnapped, and he chose the villains over the hostage. The woman ended up dying before they could get to her."
Toshinori flinched.
"Okumura was removed from duty, but Arusawa still remembers." Naomasa shook his head. "In any case, I have to approve of a roster for the raid tomorrow." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I hate to ask-"
Toshinori stepped forward and placed a hand on Naomasa's shoulder. Despite it being small, shaking, aged beyond his years, Toshinori's hand brought more comfort to Naomasa than his All Might form would have. "Of course," The man said, simply. "Who else do you plan to call for?"
Naomasa grimaced. "On such short notice? I'll have to mobilize some of the rescue heroes off duty. Ingenium will also want to come, and despite him not being suitable for covert ops-"
Toshinori gave a short laugh. "Like me, I presume."
Naomasa spared only a second for a smile before it melted back into tension and worry. "I'll have to take what I can get. And we'll have to keep this on the down low, or the villains might find out."
Toshinori nodded. "I understand."
Naomasa peered at his phone. "I'll get the details soon and tell you. Please…" He hesitated. "Keep your maximum time limit free. I have a bad feeling we may be needing it."