Chapter 40: Interrogation

"Remember, everything that you will find out is strictly confidential and cannot leave this room unless authorized. You cannot talk about this to your family, friends, or classmates, no matter what. If required, you can always talk to Principal Nedzu at school," Tsukauchi reminded Koda as they got ready to start the investigation. Tsukauchi and Nedzu were the only two people inside the room, with Sansa standing guard outside. Yagi had been banned from attending since he couldn't maintain his muscle form and would raise suspicions.

Koda nodded, "I got it Tsukauchi-san," he said from his seat opposite the Nomu, "I should warn you though, the voices are very garbled, so I can't understand them properly. It's almost like many voices are overlapping,"

"No problem, just try your best," Tsukauchi assured with a smile.

Koda nodded, "What do I ask?"

"Uhm, what about its name?"

Koda did as he was told. The Nomu only moved its mouth in response but no sound came out this time. But Koda had seemingly understood, "They don't remember, I think. They became confused when I asked,"

Tsukauchi frowned as Koda's statement clicked as truth, "But there was no noise,"

"Many animals speak in infrasonic and ultrasonic waves which aren't audible to us," Nedzu defended, "Carry on Koda! I must ask why you refer to it as them,"

"Well, Watanabe said there were four different bodies in it and the voices are garbled too, so I thought it's better to say them," Koda explained.

Nedzu nodded in understanding, "In that case, can you ask separately how many are inside it, to confirm Watanabe,"

Koda asked the Nomu, "They say there are 4 of them,"

"Hmm," Nedzu sank deep into thought. It did seem like Yagi's suspicions were becoming true... Tsukauchi had caught on to his thoughts, "Maybe it really is just the Shie Hassaikai," he tried to reason.

Meanwhile, Koda was wondering, whether it was in fact 4 animals or 4 humans that were inside the Nomu. Nedzu had earlier discredited Watanabe by saying that it could be the differing heat signatures from different animals but that wouldn't account for the quirks, "Are you animals or humans?" Koda asked, freezing both Nedzu and Tsukauchi. Both of them knew that it was humans but they hadn't wanted Koda to know that to keep him away from the case.

The Nomu squawked loudly this time and Koda's face contorted into anger, "The voices say they're human but animal parts were used too to be more stable,"

The last bit surprised Nedzu. All For One, while intelligent and smart was too proud to use animals in his creations last time around. This would mean that he didn't have the proper resources, which was comforting. Nedzu unconsciously touched his scar, there was a chance that the results obtained from his experiment could have been used... but that would be going down another rabbit hole. He sighed loudly, "Who sent him?"

Koda asked the question, "He doesn't remember what he looks like but they call him sensei,"

"Who's they?" Tsukauchi asked.

"The others. He doesn't remember who they are," Koda replied, "It's getting harder for me to understand what they're saying,"

"Why didn't he attack us after the brainwashing took effect?" Tsukauchi asked.

Koda stayed quiet for a while after asking the question, evidently trying very hard to understand, "He said something like being ordered and couldn't disobey," Koda said.

"What was he ordered?"

"To listen to another person and to kill All Might. They say that they were told the left side is weak,"

"A brainwashing quirk then probably," Tsukauchi pointed out, "Thirteen said that the Nomu only moved according to its master's commands,"

Suddenly the Nomu started screaming louder and Koda clasped his hands on his ears in pain, "They're in pain. They aren't responding anymore,"

Nedzu's eyes widened, "The original brainwashed must be trying to break him. Koda, ask it whether it knows where it came from!"

"No," Koda replied as the Nomu started banging across the security glass separating them, it just says, sorry and 'Can't answer more,'"

"Shit," Tsukauchi stepped back from the glass, "We won't be able to get anything more without aggravating it,"

"Koda, that's enough," Nedzu tried to pull the boy as police officers arrived to subdue the Nomu which was thrashing around wildly, "Wait!" Koda interrupted, "Are there more of you?"

Nedzu and Tsukauchi waited in bated breath. The sickening reply caught them all of guard, "Yes... many,"

Yagi woke up with a start, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He had been waiting for Izuku to regain consciousness. Watanabe and Kaminari had also been exhausted were forced to sleep by Recovery Girl. He looked at the time, "Nearly 5 o'clock," he stretched carefully, making sure he didn't affect his injury. He could hear loud voices arguing outside and stepped out, concerned, and found Chiyo chewing out Nedzu with Tsukauchi red-faced, standing at the side.

"What happened?" he asked.

Chiyo turned in a flash, "What happened is Nedzu decided to use Koda to interrogate someone who was clearly a human test subject. Now the boy is traumatized and has been vomiting constantly!"

"I really do apologize, Recovery Girl. But, we really needed the clues for the case..." Tsukauchi tried to reason.

Chiyo stared at him, fuming, "Try again,"

"We're sorry and promise never to do something like this again without asking for the aid of your superior intellect?" Tsukauchi chuckled nervously.

"Good enough. Hound Dog should be nearly done now and I can try and coerce him to sleep it off. Lord knows he needs it," Chiyo mumbled to herself and disappeared down the hall.

"What exactly did you guys do?" Yagi asked, "She's only that angry when I do something stupid,"

"Well, I guess we did do something stupid," Tsukauchi admitted, "We had Koda interrogate the Nomu for us,"

"And?"

"Well, we didn't find out much. No location or eye testimony of what they look like, but it's definitely All For One. He told the Nomu that your left side is weak and only he would know that," Tsukauchi said grimly, "The Nomu also told Koda there were 4 humans inside and that animal parts were used to make them more stable. I suppose that's why the beak's there,"

Yagi scowled deeply and punched the wall in frustration, "That bastard! I was sure I killed him!"

"Not to be rude, but I did say that it was suspicious a body wasn't found but you insisted..." Nedzu sighed, "To make matters worse, Koda asked it whether there were more and it said yes, there were many more,"

"I can see why that would be traumatizing, especially since he has a quirk that connects him to animals as well,"

Nedzu nodded, "Exactly. I also think that All For One somehow got the notes of my experiments. He shouldn't have been able to stabilize the animal parts so well otherwise,"

"I should let Izuku know about All For One, shouldn't I?"

Nedzu nodded, "I wish you didn't have to and honestly I thought you never would. But we have to do what is necessary,"

Yagi nodded, "...Do you think I can maybe tell Kaminari and Watanabe too?"

Tsukauchi smiled, "Really getting along with them huh?"

"Says the one who dropped in with snacks on our training sessions,"

Tsukauchi shrugged, "That was also to get Torino off my back,"

"Corrupt detective, bribing people," Yagi shook his head sarcastically earning a laugh from his friend.

"It is your secret, so you can tell whomever you want. Personally, I'd prefer if you told Watanabe too. It gives me an avenue for greater chaos!" Nedzu cackled, "But don't mention anything about Koda and the interrogation. They are smart enough to piece it together and considering Midoriya is slightly like you, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to interfere. It's best to keep the students as far away from this as possible,"

Yagi smirked, "I assumed you would want them to meet up to cause even more chaos!"

Surprising Yagi, Nedzu clutched his burly hands and pulled like a kid, "I do! It would cause so much chaos! But the student's safety... but the chaos!" he kept tugging anxiously and then stopped as his face morphed into realization, "Is this what they call a moral dilemma?"

Yagi and Tsukauchi snickered at Nedzu's words, "Well Nedzu, good luck on figuring out about your moral compass. I need to get back to my case," Tsukauchi excused himself.

Nedzu nodded, "Yagi, care to join me from tea?"

Yagi shook his head politely, "No, I will wait for Izuku to wake up. The sooner he knows about All For One, the more time he has to prepare,"

Nedzu nodded understandingly, "That is true but I doubt you would want to piss off Chiyo. One traumatized and restless kid is enough, I think," Nedzu cackled and headed to his office.

Yagi twitched.

A/N: Pretty short chapter I know but seemed like a good place to stop. Leave a review and let me know what you thought of Koda's powerup.