Learning to Trust

"One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn't fall apart."
—Linda Poindexter

Chapter 26: One Small Crack

Tetsu scowled at the computer screen in front of him, adjusting more code. Music played loudly enough to annoy neighbors if he had any. But most of this dorm was empty, since few students actually needed to live on campus, and because of this, Nezu separated their rooms enough to allow them space and the ability to live without disturbing anyone else. Tetsu, of course, occasionally even pushed those boundaries, playing his music loudly enough to keep him awake as he worked, but just barely quietly enough to disrupt as few people as possible.

Tetsu was always toeing the line and pushing past limits. But what choice did he really have? If he didn't, he wouldn't be here. If he didn't, his sister would have died a month earlier than she already had. If he didn't, Yagi-San might be in the hospital ward now or worse...

And that penchant to push himself to the limit was why he was up, even though it was nearly midnight, working on his failed program, still trying to figure out what went wrong.

He tugged off his glasses and rubbed his eyes tiredly, having removed his contacts hours ago in favor of the blue light reduction these glasses provided.

"Spiral Tower," one of Tetsu's favorite songs, began playing in the background, and Tetsu began humming along, as he turned his attention back to the footage of All Might on his second screen, split with footage of Mirio.

Blue eyes. Blond Hair. Similar build, although obviously All Might is way bigger and stronger and much, much older. Even human eyes wouldn't be tricked by these similarities though. His program certainly shouldn't have been. Sure, Tetsu didn't have any genetic markers programmed in to accurately identify the Number One using that method, but he was certain the bone structure, mannerisms, and other tiny details he'd carefully analyzed should be enough. Blue eyes and blond hair shouldn't have triggered anything. Those features weren't common around here, but they weren't that strange either. Heck, even Yagi-san has blue eyes and blond hair…

Tetsu paused at that as the music hit its chorus.

…Even if I lose my sight, I'd know your face; I'd do what's right
 …And even if I lose my power, I'd save you from your Spiral Tower…

Tetsu reached over and lowered the music a notch.

Yagi-San was there, too…

…You've trapped yourself in a tower of glass
 …One crack and it all comes crashing down…

Yagi-San works at Might Tower. How many times has he seen All Might up close? He has to be a big shot there. And If he picked up some of All Might's mannerisms, he might have set my program off… I need some footage of him. I could try to hack into the UA security cameras. It probably wouldn't work, but what's the worst that could happen? He paused at that, actually considering it. I could get expelled if I get caught. Or, if by some miracle I didn't, and I actually got in, I could damage the UA security system. What was I thinking? I promised I wouldn't. That I would wait for help…

The song had ended, and Yamada-sensei was droning on about something in between songs in the background.

If I ask Yagi-san to help me, I'll bet he would. I don't have to do it alone.

But why would he help me with this? Why would he bother?

Tetsu thought back to their conversation at lunch. The older man pushing aside his own work with those Fibonacci numbers to listen to him. The answer was so obvious.

Because he cares. I have to trust that he actually cares.

His brow furrowed as he thought back to that day. What was with those numbers anyway? He took his glasses off to rub at his eyes once more.

A strange, cool voice over the radio interrupted his thoughts. "Hello. I have a request for you."

Tetsu squinted at the clock, temporarily forgetting the glasses in his hand. Midnight. Time for Present Mic's request hour.

"Of course! What's your name, caller?" the voice hero replied brightly.

Tetsu turned his focus to the radio. Something was off about Yamada-sensei's voice. In fact, something just felt off in general. That voice…

As though confirming his thoughts, the caller smoothly continued, "You don't need that information. I just want to request my song. It's a golden oldie. I'd like to hear 'The Final Countdown.'"

"'The Final—"

The voice began chanting, almost as though reciting a nursery rhyme. "Twenty-one… thirteen… eight… four… two… one… Let's dedicate this song to fallen heroes, and many more to come."

There was a long silence before a song—not "The Final Countdown"—abruptly began playing, as though Yamada-sensei had just thrown some playlist on at random.

Tetsu just blinked at his radio, trying to process that brief, strange conversation. His lips moved as he recited the voice's words once more. "Twenty-one, thirteen, eight, four…" He dropped his glasses to the table, eyes wide. "The final countdown. Shit."

Tsukauchi had just finished his rather enlightening conversation with Midnight, attempting to work out a best plan of action for their mutual friend, when both of the phones went off almost simultaneously.

Tsukauchi's was a message from Toshi, stating that he had the necessary information on that boy's missing mother to begin a proper lost person search. Sorry this is so late. I have the info on the missing woman. Name's Mitzutani Katsumi. A nurse who went missing from Jaku. Following the message was an enigmatic note from Toshi that they needed to talk privately about her quirk.

He hadn't even enough time to process the text when he heard Midnight swear softly next to him.

"Midnight?"

She was already on her feet. "Sorry, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a rain check on the rest of our talk." She grabbed her coat, and hit the callback button on her phone.

He stood as well. "What is it?"

She began pacing. "That was Yamada. Something happened at the station." She opened her mouth as though ready to say more, but he must have answered the phone just then, because instead she held up a silencing finger, and began speaking. "Mic, what's your status?"

Naomasa's own phone had begun buzzing again, this time receiving a call from the station. He picked up, and almost before he could say hello, Sansa was talking on the other end of the line. "It's Shifter, Tsukauchi-san."

It took a moment for Naomasa to process that before he responded, "Has he taken someone else?"

"Not yet, but from the sounds of it, he's done playing games. Issued what sounded like a declaration of war against heroes over Present Mic's radio show. Dropped us another one of his damn hints again."

"What is it this time?"

"A seashell. A gold seashell pendant with something scratched onto it. It's hard to make out. We're trying to get a hold of Takahashi-san to see if he can use his quirk to make out what it says."

Naomasa glanced up just then to see Midnight staring at him. She had just hung up her phone. Without taking his eyes off of her, he responded stiffly. "Thank you, Sansa. I'll catch the next train back. Be there soon. And I'll contact Present Mic to see if he can meet us at the station. Do me a favor, though. See if you can contact Yagi Toshinori while you're waiting for me. His number is in the top drawer of my desk."

"Yagi-san? All Might's man from Minato?"

"He's conveniently in town. I need to talk with him, too. But if I try to contact him…" Naomasa brought his hand to his temple, already imagining Toshi making record time at risk of his own health. "Let's just say that he'll call in the cavalry. I don't want All Might involved just yet."

"You aren't going to tell me why we don't want All Might, are you, sir?"

"No."

There was a long pause after that as Sanza presumably processed that enigmatic statement. Inwardly, Naomasa groaned, running his hand through his hair. This was what happened when he was too tired. Could I have worded that any more poorly?

Finally Sansa asked, "What do I tell Yagi-san?"

Naomasa sighed with relief. "Just tell him to bring his current case file. He'll know what I mean."

"On it."

"Thank you, Sansa."

"For what, sir?"

"For not pushing back too hard."

He could almost hear the tired smile on the feline officer's face. "Not my job, sir. I believe you're the one who usually gets called out for that. It's just my job to make sure you don't do something stupid."

"When do I do stupid things, Sansa?"

The other officer coughed, and Naomasa could have sworn he was laughing. "Only when you work with All Might, sir. I'll contact him. Get here soon. We're probably going to need your quirk."

The detective grinned. "Right. Guess I can't argue with that. I'll be there as soon as I can."

Naomasa hung up. "It seems our paths cross again," he replied seriously. "Can you get Yamada to come to the station? I want to question him personally as soon as possible."

"He's already on his way," she replied to his surprise. "I figured you needed to be face-to-face when you do your magic." The stern expression on her face belied the light, careless quality in her voice.

He walked over to the coat stand by the door, and slipped on his rumpled trench coat. "I do. Thank you." He then grabbed the tan fedora hanging there and put it on as well. "I'm sorry to have to cut our time short, but we'll need to continue this conversation later."

"How about right now?" she replied, her voice serious, causing him to look up and make eye contact. "Why do you need Toshinori? You know he isn't well. He shouldn't be fighting yet."

"I know," he replied carefully. "And you heard me. I said I'm not calling in All Might, and I mean it. Yagi Toshinori works with me on cases regularly. We're colleagues. This isn't new." He began buttoning his coat. "Yagi-san has been tracking a villain with this exact MO for months now. Sure, this could be a copycat, but if anyone has the information I need to figure things out, it's him."

"You've known him long enough to also know how he'll react. Do you think he'll really just drop off a file and go on his merry way? I couldn't even get him to let me fight Floodgate alone, and I'd given him no reason to even like me. You, on the other hand, are his friend. He'll be coming with all the bells and whistles."

"Yes," Naomasa replied more sharply than he'd intended. "I consider him my friend. And Toshi's a damn good friend. That's the problem, Midnight. I know exactly how he'll react if he finds out about this. If I personally call him in, he'll speed here as quickly as possible to do whatever I ask. It won't be Yagi arriving, Midnight. It will be All Might. And if I don't call him in? If I just leave him in the dark? The man's smarter than you think. He's already going to have pieced half of this together anyway, and will do it all himself to save me the trouble. So the only way I can keep Toshi from getting himself killed right now is to keep him in the loop as Yagi."

Midnight's red lips formed a surprised O. "You're forcing All Might to stay out of it tonight by keeping Toshinori in front of everyone."

"Exactly." He tipped his hat down, and grabbed the door knob. "Any other questions, or can we get moving?"

She finally smiled at him. "I like your style, officer. You aren't the straight-laced prude I initially took you for." She grabbed her own coat and slung it on, walking toward the door. "I'll drive. Can't let him get there before you, now, can we?"

He just sighed and motioned for her to walk out the door. "I'll just take that as a compliment," he muttered.

"Of course."

Just as he stepped out of the room, Midnight's words properly struck the man, and he commented, "Wait. Your car is here? But you took the bus."

"I have experience stalking people."

"I don't want to know, do I?"

"Feel free to question me on the way to the station. Who knows what kinds of fun secrets you could learn about me?"

"No."

The door clicked shut behind them.

Toshinori had been working on some notes for the past hour. He'd finally gotten the chance to send what he had about young Tetsuya's mother to Naomasa. It had been information he'd been sitting on for longer than he cared to admit. He'd been honestly considering just trying to take care of it himself and let his friend have a break for once.

But Toshi knew that the Police Force would likely be able to get this information faster than even All Might, and waiting could cause Tetsuya to have to go even longer without closure about his mother. That realization was enough for Toshi to forward the information to his friend. He'd almost sent the quirk information as well, but instead he decided to hang onto that until they could talk face-to-face.

"She could shift herself completely into another person, quirk and all…"

Toshi's brow furrowed as he brushed the oxygen tube that had almost caught on his pen out of his way in irritation. "It can't be the same person. This has to be a coincidence. One hell of a coincidence though…" Still, he wanted to be absolutely certain about his theory before he lobbed that one at Naomasa. Once the missing person report was checked and he had the date of disappearance to compare to the advent of this Shifter, then he could pursue his theory.

For that boy's sake, I hope I'm wrong…

Toshi set down his pen and took a sip of his tea.

"A MESSAGE IS HERE! A MESSAGE IS HERE!"

The alert startled him so badly, he almost choked, spilling half of his tea on the table. I really have to change that ringtone…. But Nighteye had chosen it years ago, thinking it was hilarious, and Toshi had never quite been able to bring himself to change it.

He sighed, glancing down at the phone, expecting to see a message from Naomasa—fully prepared to apologize again for texting his friend so late in the night.

He picked it up. Not Naomasa. In fact the number wasn't even one he had programmed into his phone.

What the hell?

His eyes dropped down to the message itself. Toshi almost choked again. "What the hell?"

The message was short and to the point.

Meet me in front of UA in twenty minutes. I have a message for All Might.

Author's Note: Thank you so much to Haptronym, Krisington, and lolo popoki for the beta work! It was very much needed, and did wonders to make this chapter readable! Thanks also to everyone who has been reading, following, commenting, sharing, bookmarking, etc. It is really motivating to see the response to my silly fic, and your comments make my day:D. Thanks so, so much. Thanks also for your patience in the long waits there have been lately between updates. Things have been a bit crazy for me lately, but I will do my best to keep the waits between chapters as reasonable as I can!

Thanks again! And just because I am nosy and curious, let me know how you heard about my fic if you don't mind. I always wonder if it's just that this is a plot people look for or if it's more word of mouth that makes people notice certain fics. (This is really just me being nosy and super curious. Feel free to ignore as well! :D)

Sincerely,
Sirius:)