Shouta was not asleep. He wasn't, he swears. Tsukauchi can vouch for him.

"Are you sure he's coming? Maybe he forgot," Tsukauchi said again. Demonstrating exactly why Shouta wasn't asleep.

"Yes, he's coming. No, he didn't forget. He probably got caught up with something on the way here."

"What could he possibly get caught in between the classroom and here?"

The door slid open and shut quickly. "Sorry I'm late, Aizawa-sensei," Midoriya-kun said quickly, bowing. "There was a crowd blocking the door to the classroom. It took a while to get them to clear out so everyone could leave."

Shouta sent a quick told-you look to Tsukauchi before turning to handle Midoriya-kun. "You're fine. Take a seat." He waited a second for the boy to do just that, shucking his backpack and sitting at the ready across from them. "Midoriya-kun, this is Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa. He's in charge of the League of Villains case."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Midoriya-kun," Tsukauchi said with a warm and disarming smile.

"Nice to meet you, too, sir," Midoriya-kun replied politely. "Shouldn't my mom be here for this?"

Well, at least the kid knew his rights as a minor. "We spoke with your mother earlier she already gave her permission for me to act in her stead. This was the easiest way to work out our schedules." Shouta nudged the coffee table with his foot (curse his broken hands), directing his student's attention to note that had Midoriya-san's signature giving Shouta permission to act as Midoriya-kun's guardian to oversee this police interview.

Midoriya-kun looked over the note carefully, nodded once he decided it was authentic, and set it aside, turning his full (prim and proper) attention to the detective. "What can I do for you, Tsukauchi-san?"

What Shouta wouldn't pay for a classroom like this. Actually, no. That would be terrifying. Teenagers are not meant to be this quiet and still and respectful in large groups like that. One or two is fine. Twenty is a horror movie.

"Just a standard statement," Tsukauchi said, pulling out his notepad and pen. "We've got a pretty good idea of what happened, but, well… every perspective is useful, and you certainly have a unique one. We would have done this earlier, but it was agreed it would probably be best to wait for you to recover more fully."

Midoriya-kun nodded slowly. "Where would you like me to start?"

"From the beginning please. Just after you were introduced to Thirteen-san."

Midoriya-kun took a slow, deep breath, then started. It was what Shouta had expected. Midoriya-kun noticed the warp gate first and began directing his classmates out. The warp villain had seemed to notice Midoriya-kun was directing them, and, when scattering the class after the statement of intent to harm them, sent Midoriya-kun to the plaza with Shigaraki.

Midoriya-kun carefully skated past the smoke bombs he shouldn't have had without technically lying and moved on to the rest of his fight with Shigaraki, if it could be called that. Midoriya-kun had avoided engaging or attacking where possible, especially after his mouth guard had been reduced to dust with one touch.

Then the warp villain, Kurogiri, had returned, Shouta had gone down, Midoriya-kun lost his composure, and got caught. Shouta managed to give Midoriya-kun an opening but couldn't stop the Nomu from attacking him when All Might finally arrived.

After that, Midoriya-kun confessed to not being able to keep track of things very well and wound down his recounting of events.

It was quick, clean, and to the point. No unnecessary embellishments, no rambling. Exactly how it should be.

Almost like—

"Thank you very much, Midoriya-kun. I just have a few more questions."

"Alright. I'll answer them as best as I can."

"Of course. By all accounts you were the first to react to the villains, even when the rest of your classmates thought it was just another test. Did you recognize Kurogiri from somewhere?"

"Ah, no, not really," Midoriya-kun said. "I noticed the smoke from his quirk—probably by luck if I'm honest—and I just… assumed. Even if it was one of Aizawa-sensei's tests, I figured it would be better to overreact and treat it as a threat than to just ignore it and wait."

Shouta saw Tsukauchi pause for the barest thread of a second before he wrote down Midoriya-kun's response and make a small mark next to it. He really didn't like that. He knew what it meant. He'd been working with Tsukauchi long enough to know his ticks and tells.

"Are there any other details you noticed about Shigaraki, Kurogiri, or the Nomu?"

Shouta let his eyes fall shut, pretending to sleep as he waited out the questioning.

"Shigaraki seems to focus his fighting style on his quirk alone," Midoriya-kun said after a long pause. "I also… I'm not sure, but I think Kurogiri was wearing a suit and some armor."

"A suit?"

"Yeah, I only saw it for a second when Bakugou and Kirishima-san tried to attack him. They kinda… blew away some of his mist-smoke stuff and gave a small opening where I could see under it around his neck. I just saw the collar and tie."

That was interesting. They knew about the armor from Uraraka-kun and Bakugou-kun, who'd gotten a nasty shock when they'd tried to grab onto it, but the suit was new information.

"Well, thank you for your time, Midoriya-kun." Tsukauchi stood and began walking to the door.

"It's no problem, Tsukauchi-san. Enjoy the rest of your day."

Shouta opened his eyes, watching Midoriya-kun closely. "Where did you learn free running?" he asked bluntly. If Midoriya-kun was lying about why he started evacuating his classmates, he might as well take advantage of Tsukauchi's quirk to hunt down one of the—hopefully—more harmless mysteries about this kid. And see if Isogai-kun was telling the truth.

Midoriya-kun glanced over, confused. Tsukauchi stopped at the door. "The forest around my classroom was a good practice ground, and my homeroom teacher knew free running, so he taught us for gym class as long as we promised not to run anywhere other than the mountainside."

Tsukauchi left, sliding the door shut behind him.

Midoriya-kun glanced over at the door, then back to Shouta. "Do you need anything else, Aizawa-sensei?"

Shouta nodded. Good, he was still getting to the point. "You were directly targeted and attacked during the events at the USJ," he said. "You should consider talking to a therapist about what happened and how you're handling it. If you need, I can help set up an-"

"I already have a therapist," Midoriya-kun interrupted. "And I've talked to them. And I'm going to keep talking to them."

"That's good to know." Well, that solved one problem. Maybe this person and Bakugou's therapist could actually do something about the horrendous relationship those two have, seeing as Shouta clearly hadn't been able to do much. They were getting somewhere, sure, but not fast. "Don't think I didn't notice the smoke bombs you used on Shigaraki, or that you didn't mention them to Tsukauchi."

Midoriya-kun smiled sheepishly. "And?"

Shouta snorted. "I'll let it slide for now, just don't do it again. And make sure you pick up your certification paperwork from Power Loader."

He perked up at that. "Of course!" he chirped. "Thank you, Aizawa-sensei!" Midoriya-kun hopped up and grabbed his bag.

"Midoriya-kun," Shouta said, stopping him from leaving. He wasn't done just yet.

Midoriya-kun watched him closely, waiting.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm not the one that's almost in a cast from the waist up."

"My well-being is not—"

"Don't say that!" Midoriya-kun snapped. Shouta had seen him flinch slightly when he'd said that in class but had hardly thought Midoriya-kun would shout at him for it. "Don't ever say your health doesn't matter. It does. How would you feel if one of us said that? Is that what you want us to learn?"

Shouta had not expected that. One of his students saying that would wind up in Hound Dog's office before the end of the day. It didn't matter if they had graduated or not, he would make them talk to Hound Dog.

"'Cause if that's what you want, you're doing a good job." Was Midoriya-kun crying? Yeah, those were definitely tears. "If you had said that in front of me a year ago, I would have taken it at face value. I would have thought that's just what heroes do. I know better now. I take better care of myself now, but I know some of my classmates have already brushed it off as normal!"

Shit. That was what he was doing, wasn't it? "I'm… sorry. You're right. I shouldn't have said that." Midoriya-kun rubbed at his cheeks, wiping away the tears. "I'll try to set a better example in the future."

"By resting?"

"Homeroom is only ten minutes a day."

Izuku glared at him through red rimmed eyes. "How is that supposed to set a good example?"

"Ten minutes, and you know I already sleep through it most of the time anyway. You all get to see me rest."

"We get to see you do what you always do. And the floor is not a good place for you to be sleeping with two broken arms."

"How about I check in at the start and leave the rest to Hizashi. I'll be resting in the office for the remainder of the day where my coworkers can keep an eye on me and if anyone actually needs me, I'll still be available."

Izuku nodded. "Good enough. Hizashi… Present Mic-sensei? I didn't realize you two were that close."

"We went to UA together with Midnight and Ingenium. Is that all, Midoriya-kun?"

"Pretty sure I'm supposed to be asking you that."

Shouta sighed. "You're free to go, Problem Child. Please don't make any trouble for Power Loader."

He nodded again, rubbing the drying tear tracks roughly again. "Until tomorrow, Aizawa-sensei," he said, before scurrying to the door and leaving Shouta alone with his thoughts. He'd really fucked this one up.

Nothing he could do about it right now, and if he knew Tsukauchi at all, the detective was probably waiting for him somewhere so they could talk about whatever it was that made him concerned. Shouta pulled himself to his feet and started walking.

As expected, Tsukauchi was waiting in the office. And talking to All Might. "Leave him alone, Tsukauchi," Shouta said. "He's got a lot of work to do."

"No, I don't," All Might huffed. "I'm up to date."

"I have seen your lesson plans, All Might. You still have work to do."

Tsukauchi burst out laughing. "Sounds like you've got your work cut out for you. I was waiting for Eraser anyway, so I'll leave you to it." He grabbed his things and stepped away from All Might's desk. "Let's go."

Shouta raised an eyebrow under the bandages and turned to follow him. "Where are we going?" he asked once they were out in the empty hallway.

"Nedzu-san's office," Tsukauchi said. "I have a feeling he'll want to hear about this."

"That bad?"

"Maybe."

Well shit. The rest of the walk was silent, Nedzu-san welcomed them in warmly, and was quick to start plying Tsukauchi with tea. "Now, what brings you here?" He finally asked once they were all settled.

"Ah, we just finished with Midoriya-kun's interview," Tsukauchi answered, setting his tea aside. "There were… some interesting things."

Both UA staff members shared a look but stayed silent as they waited for Tsukauchi to continue.

"Are you familiar with my quirk, Nedzu-san?"

"Yes, actually," Nedzu-san responded. "Your quirk gives you the ability to detect deception in verbal communication, does it not?"

"To put it bluntly," Shouta muttered.

Tsukauchi shot him a wry smile. "Well, yes, but, as Eraser knows, it's often not that simple. Just like how the truth is no simple thing, there are different levels of deception. Half-truths, stretched details, and bold-faced lies are all different. And telling them apart is not easy. It also depends on how the subject thinks about it. If they honestly believe they are telling the truth, my quirk is useless. And Midoriya-kun…"

Tsukauchi leaned back, running a hand over his face. "It was strange. He was honest for almost everything. But the things that pinged my quirk… Every time he referred to Kurogiri as the 'warp villain,' I got a small deception. And he was lying outright when he said he didn't recognize Kurogiri."

Shouta sat up. "He recognized Kurogiri?"

Tsukauchi nodded. "And then hid it. I don't know what happened that put them in contact, but… if he feels he needs to hide it, it can't be anything good."

Shouta nodded. His problem child had contact with villains and was hiding it. Did it have anything to do with the government cover up? Or was this a separate problem? When did this start? Did he need to worry about Midoriya-kun going bad? No. No, he knew this kid. He'd watched Midoriya-kun learn how to fight. He'd watched him fight for every inch he got. Then again, that could very quickly turn bad. Having to fight for everything didn't exactly endear society to you.

"I agree," Nedzu-san said. "Is there anything else of note from the interview?"

"Um, yes," Tsukauchi nodded. "As I mentioned, he was honest for everything else. Most of it isn't new information, but he did mention that he thought he saw a suit under Kurogiri's mist after Bakugou-kun and Kirishima-kun's attack. I don't know if that will be very useful yet, but it's something."

He frowned for a second. "Eraser, why did you ask him about free running?"

Shouta slowly leaned back. "Midoriya-kun has a lot of skills we can't account for. Some of them are more questionable than others. I figured he'd freak out less if I asked about free running instead of bomb making."

Tsukauchi spit out his tea, coughing and sputtering. "What making!?"

Shouta grinned. "You heard me. He's also read restricted material. Claims the Ministry of Defense has, and I quote, 'bad reading material.'"

"And that isn't a concern!?"

"Oh, it's a concern," Nedzu-san answered. "But his statement wasn't necessarily wrong. Midoriya-kun was in the custody of the Ministry of Defense for a week about a month ago. If there is something to be concerned about, we cannot afford to spook him. He has great potential as a hero, and I would hate to lose him."

"I suppose," Tsukauchi muttered. "Is there anything else odd about him? Seriously. I need to go run a background check on him, now. I'd rather know what you've found already."

"You won't find much," Nedzu-san said. "He's clean. In our initial background checks we found nothing, and since then we've only dug up the first hints of a government cover up."

Tsukauchi pulled out his note pad. "Please."

Nedzu-san briefly explained how Midoriya-kun's class had potential contact with the villain that had blown up the moon, and how the Ministry of Defense had hidden them away in the days leading up to the villain's defeat. "Beyond Midoriya-kun's time with the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry's lack of acknowledgment to Midoriya-kun and his class, there is also the fact that Midoriya-kun's costume was paid for and green lit by the Ministry of Defense directly," he finished. "I can't find anything beyond the authorization orders, which don't say much, but it's still there."

This was news to Shouta. "The Ministry of Defense gave Midoriya-kun that?" he snorted. "Must be trying to pay him off or something."

"That is the most likely option. And it is likely that whatever it is they're trying to hide has to do with the villain they found near his classroom." Nedzu-san frowned slightly. "And with our own lack of information regarding this villain, we cannot rule out connections to the League through that contact."

Tsukauchi finished scribbling his notes. "Thank you, Nedzu-san. Is there anything else you can give me?"

Nedzu-san shook his head. "Not yet, I'm afraid. I'll make sure to tell you if I find anything interesting, if you promise to do the same."

"Of course."

"Now, you mentioned something about Midoriya-kun's free running?"

"Oh, right. That's what we were talking about. Yeah, he lied about that, too. Not as much as with him not recognizing Kurogiri, but more than the warp villain parts."

"Do you know what parts were a lie?" Shouta asked, sitting up.

"No," Tsukauchi shook his head. "It was all too jumbled together."

Shouta sighed. "Well, I'm pretty sure he did learn it with his class, so they probably learned it from his teacher, unless I'm missing something pretty big."

"How do you know that?"

"Because I found a video of his class scaling buildings to get away from some particularly aggressive reporters. It was the same video that strongly suggests they had actual contact with the villain. Likely on multiple occasions. I also spoke with one of his classmates who gave me that same story."

"It would make sense for them to have learned some odd things for gym class," Nedzu-san mused as he took a sip of his tea. "Their homeroom teacher last year was an agent for the Ministry. Karasuma Tadaomi. Quite the brilliant young man. He's received a promotion recently, despite his apparent break from work to teach middle schoolers."

Shouta sat up. "Karasuma-san works for the Ministry of Defense?"

Nedzu-san cocked his head at Shouta. "He does. You've heard of him before?"

Shouta nodded, leaning back again. "He's the one that introduced Izuku to Sentoki-sensei so he could learn to fight. According to her, Izuku had already learned a few things from Karasuma-san."

Tsukauchi hummed. "I suppose that's not too much of a surprise if he works for the Ministry of Defense and was already willing to teach a bunch of fourteen year olds free running. That said I will need to follow up with her."

"I'll set up a meeting and introduce you."

"Thanks." Tsukauchi-san hesitated. "Taking all of that into account would suggest… it would suggest that the lie is in the conditions. He did learn it as part of his course work, and most likely in gym class."

"Either they didn't learn on the mountain, which I find unlikely, or they weren't told to only use it there," Shouta said. He did not like where this was going.

"Which begs the question," Nedzu-san added. "Why did Midoriya-kun feel the need to say that?"

Midoriya-kun signed the paperwork in one last place, handing it back to Higari. "Alright, that's everything. You are fully certified to handle small explosives and disarm a bomb if no one else is available on short notice," Higari said, taking back the papers. "Which leads us to the smoke pellets your homeroom teacher subtly mentioned to me."

Midoriya-kun grinned sheepishly. "What about them, Power Loader-sensei."

"I know those aren't licensed gear, Midoriya-kun. Aizawa is willing to let you keep them and pretend that they were always there, but that means it is now my job to get them cleared. I need to know how you made them."

Midoriya-kun said nothing for a long moment. Right when Higari was about to assume the boy would never answer, he spoke. "I can't tell you much off the top of my head, but I can email the schematics and chemical composition to you once I get home to my computer."

And gave possibly the worst answer Higari could think of.

"You didn't make them did you."

"No, no," Midoriya-kun said quickly. "I made them. I just. Wasn't the most well versed in chemistry? I had a friend that's basically a prodigy look over it for me and give me some tips on safe handling before I did anything, but the design is mine and I did all the work."

Higari narrowed his eyes at the fidgeting student in front of him. "Fine, but there are some more conditions before I let this go. I will be verifying the safety of these devices and the compounds in them independently, they will be made by a registered support technician from here on out, and I will not be filing your certification forms until I have those files in my inbox. If they aren't sent to me in a timely manner, or you break one of my stipulations, I will revoke your certification. Am I clear?"

Midoriya-kun nodded quickly. "Crystal clear, Power Loader-sensei. Um. Do you need anything else from me?"

"No, get out before I change my mind." Higari expected he was going to regret this, but if Midoriya-kun and Aizawa were to be believed, Midoriya-kun had only used his untested gas pellets on a villain threatening Midoriya-kun's life. Not that Higari actually believed that Midoriya-kun had designed these himself. The boy was a lot of things, but he wasn't one to make things he didn't fully understand. If he had made them, he would have been able to tell Higari everything without a thought. But he couldn't prove that, so for now he would focus on making sure those damn things were actually safe to use.