The ride from the USJ to the police station took about an hour, passing by Musutafu in the sunset. Black was sitting in the passenger seat of a police car with the cat officer as the driver and Tsukauchi next to his coworker. Although these two stood no fighting chance even if they managed a fusion via the Potara, the Saiyan knew full well that he couldn't use brute force to tear his way out of this situation yet. Even though his powers have returned to planetary levels of destruction, knowing how limited mortal life in this universe is, he still needed Earth's inhabitants to regain his power. Although none of these quirks could beat Black in a head-on fight, miscellaneous abilities such as Momo Yaoyorozu's could prove to be quite a bother. Understanding the broad range of quirks possible, Black guessed that the detective must have a sort of 'lie detector' quirk.
When they got to the station, Black followed the police officers into the building, where he was placed into a well lit room with lightly colored walls and a blue table. The Saiyan sat on one side and the detective and cat officer sat in front of him.
"Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice," Tsukauchi said. "This officer besides me is Sansa Tamakawa, who informed me that he has had a history with you prior to the USJ. He will be taking notes and assisting me with this interview."
Black looked back, stern but blank. This interview could prove to be the end of Project Zero Mortals if he wasn't careful.
"So tell us, Goku," the detective began to say. "As our information has it, you are currently employed by Hopper's Cafe in East Naruhata. Why did you make your way towards Musutafu so suddenly while on your job?"
An interview? Black thought, having mixed feelings about the way this was being conducted. No, this is an interrogation! This seems to be a very generic question so I think I can tell the truth pretty comfortably.
"I was on my job doing some deliveries when I saw that Shota Aizawa wanted his desserts to be delivered," Black said. "I aim to perform my tasks to perfection so I always deliver as promptly as I can."
The detective seemed to be neutral at this answer as nothing in Black's speech indicated something false.
"That is good," Officer Sansa said. "However, Midnight, the woman you were talking to before going to the USJ, informed us that you were going to wait instead of directly going to the USJ itself. What is your rationale for the change of mind?"
Black took a moment to think and tried to choose his words very carefully. The full truth would make him seem like a power-hungry brute, which could cause some problems. He would have to say something ambiguous but still technically true.
"I wanted to see Aizawa," Black explained. "Talking to him when he visited Hopper's a few weeks back made an impression on me, so I went a bit overboard, although I did not know the grave state he and his class were in. I do take great pride in my work." He said the last sentence with an especially fiery conviction.
The officers continued taking notes with the detective looking a bit puzzled but unable to find any real fault in the Saiyan's words.
"Alright," Tsukauchi said. "We can take this as fact for now. However, UA High is very well guarded, USJ included. Although there is indisputable evidence to suggest that you helped class 1-A out of their predicament, how were you able to infiltrate the facility in the first place? Aizawa informed us that you can warp as well."
The Saiyan remembered what the cat officer said about quirk use a while back. How could I forget that quirk usage for non-heroes is actually a problem here? Granted, his powers do not classify as a quirk but it would be an extreme discussion that could bring about the end of Project Zero Mortals just from incarceration.
"I just move very fast," Black said. "My life has always been very intense in my physical regiment. There was no quirk involved."
The officers continued taking notes with Tsukauchi making a forced straight face. This was incredibly strange; none of what Black said made any sense yet his quirk couldn't detect a single falsehood.
"Interesting," the detective said. "In that case, what is your quirk?"
Black's head started to form sweat droplets. Although he also possessed superhuman abilities, none of his powers are technically quirks, just an extension of his natural body. There was indisputable evidence of his energy attacks…but that could be what saves him for this question!
"I have incredible manipulation over life energy," Black explained, careful not to mention the word 'quirk.' He then formed a multitude of energy balls and energy blades to show them that he did have a quirk.
The officers took notes again, this time, the detective looked visibly confused. Although this was very clearly a quirk, for some reason, his intuition told him Black was still hiding a few things. He concluded having a full quirk rundown would be a waste of his time so he moved on with the questions.
"Alright, thank you for your answers to these questions," the detective remarked. "Now, about the villains. There was an army of villains, which you helped defeat. Were you able to see anyone or anything that resembled a leader of theirs?"
"Yes, there is," Black said with absolute confidence. He then recounted his initial fight with Nomu to the officers, droning in a furious tirade.
"Such uncouth mortals are absolutely unsightly!" Black yelled out. "I had to do what I did to purify my sight!"
"Pardon?" the officer asked, trying to hide being intimidated. The word 'mortals' rang out very clearly amidst the sea of details.
"Well, are they not?" the Saiyan asked, realizing how close he was to blowing his cover.
The officers looked over their notes and analyzed them.
"Well, I think this will do for now," the detective said. "Thank you for your time. You may return to Naruhata now."
Black nodded, stood from his chair, and bowed. He promptly walked out the door and out of the police station.
"So what do you think of this guy?" Sansa asked.
"There's something very odd about Goku," Tsukauchi replied, reading the notes they just took. "A lot of what he said didn't seem to add up but there was no falsehood said."
"Is it possible he anticipated your quirk and deliberately prepared ambiguous phrasing?" the cat officer asked, trying to figure out this problem.
"Could be," the detective replied. Although he and his quirk served his position extremely well, it was not exactly foolproof. "We'll get more information about Goku when Aizawa heals up. For now, I think we should tell him to keep watch over Goku. But I think the most concerning thing he said was the line about 'uncouth mortals.' That was pure truth and said with such raw, burning hatred."
"I agree," Sansa replied. "That line was most concerning but we will need more information from Aizawa and All Might before we can really draw a conclusion."
"Ah, speak of the devil," Tsukauchi said. "I'm supposed to visit All Might in the UA infirmary. I should get going."
The two waved their farewells and the detective left the interrogation room with a new motivation.
Goku, the detective thought. I'll get to the bottom of you eventually.
Business was extremely busy for Hopper's Cafe even in the evening hours. Although activity was booming inside the cafe, Jiro and Ichiro Hotta received many angry calls in their office regarding the deliveries that were supposed to have been promised much earlier.
"Damn it, where is Goku?" Kamayan said, trying to contact the Saiyan.
"I have no idea!" Jiro replied. "He NEVER does this!"
"Come to think of it, does he even have a phone?" Ichiro asked. The trio stared blankly at each other then collapsed from such an oversight. "Crap, he doesn't have one!"
"What do we do?" Jiro asked, overwhelmed.
As the trio lost hope, Black reappeared before the three.
"Ah, sorry for the wait," Black said. "Aizawa was in a pickle."
"GOKU!" Kamayan screamed. "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?"
"It should be on the news later," Black said. "I suggest that you pay him a visit while he's still recovering."
Ichiro turned on the TV in his office, greeted by the news.
Our top story today, a major villain attack on UA has been thwarted by the brave class 1-A and the pro heroes there, All Might included. However, there is talk that there was one vigilante who assisted the heroes in putting the attack to a halt.
"So THAT'S why," Jiro said. "Vigilantes huh, brings me back to the old days, remember?"
"Yes, I do," the giant mantis said, feeling cold memories about his operation to become an instant villain. "That is why I don't do Trigger anymore."
"We had to make a ton of excuses about the deliveries today," Ichiro said. "Though it's partially on our end as we never thought to consider that you don't have a phone, or any electronics for that matter. This is coming out of your pay but we'll be buying you a phone and a laptop."
"Isn't that more expensive than his original salary?" Kamayan said, holding up the budget book.
"Ok, true, but this'll pay itself off in the long run," Ichiro replied.
Hmm, mortals do seem to use their devices a lot, Black thought, trying to make sense of this deal. I suppose this is an acceptable offer.
"Thank you for the gracious offer, Ichiro," Black said.
"Just make sure you make up for the deliveries tomorrow!" Ichiro said. "There's also some dishes that need to be cleaned so you'll need to attend to that."
The Saiyan walked out of the office and into his kitchen sink, where he started scrubbing dishes.
"That Goku sure is an oddball," Kamayan observed.
"Yeah, but he does good work," Jiro said. "He multiplied our usual delivery output by 720%! There'll be some bad days I suppose but the work done is still excellent."
The trio accepted the predicament for what it is and then continued to do their usual work in the office.
In the middle of an empty bar, a dark, purple portal opened up from the ground. From there, a skinny man with various hands attached to his body and face crawled out, kneeling on his knees.
"I've failed you, master," Tomura Shigaraki lamented. "Nomu couldn't even get the chance to see All Might."
"WHAT!" a gruff voice said from a control tablet attached to the bar. "How so?"
"There was a man," Kurogiri explained. "He was wearing dark clothes and spiky hair. His power felt incredibly unreal."
"That cheater literally just one shot Nomu!" Shigaraki yelled. "How could anything stand up to All Might if they can die so easily?"
"Nomu was WHAT?" the same gruff voice replied.
"Now now," a more calm voice said from the tablet. "I wouldn't lose too much hope yet, Tomura. We still have plenty of more chances. We will still need you to destroy hero society for what it is. I hope you understand."
"I-I do," Shigaraki replied, still very agitated by the recent events.
"Good," the calm voice said. "In that case, we shall talk again some other time."
The call stopped on the tablet, leaving Tomura Shigaraki in a fit of rage. He punched the table multiple times, chipping off a piece of wood.
"So, what are we to do about this man he talked about?" the gruff voice man said, watching Shigaraki from afar through cameras in the bar.
"I think I have an idea of who this could be," the calm voice man replied. "Didn't Gigantomachia get knocked down quite easily recently? If it's power that is not All Might, then I'm willing to wager that the man in the USJ and the man who defeated Gigantomachia are, in fact, the same."
"Well, the information should come out soon on the news anyway," the gruff voice said.
"Yes, yes it will," the calm voice said. "You better fix me up quick, doctor. I may have found an alternative quirk if my pursuit of One For All ends up being too bothersome."
Author's Note: So that's chapter 9! Kind of a return to slice of life but the first major villain arc is done! Forgot to address this last chapter but I'll be writing Kyoka Jirou as 'Jirou' and Jiro Hotta as 'Jiro.' I believe 'Jirou' and 'Jiro' are interchangeable in English but for clarifcation's sake, I'll be using them differently depending on the person.