Despite the underground hero's deliberately light step, the first floorboard of the house buckles under his footfall. Instead of creaking, the loose wood groans in protest against the weight of his boot. The ground threatens to break like the furniture that rests atop it. Behind the slits in his yellow goggles, Eraserhead's eyes narrow into a focused squint. Broken bookshelves, their contents spilled out. A destroyed couch and equally splintered chairs. He's not sure yet whether the wake of destruction is a sign of struggle or another type of rampage, but it's concerning to him either way.

Behind the inspective hero, Detective Tsukauchi's rectangular eyes are set in an equal state of strabismus. He too analyzes the damage with a critical gaze, drawing his own conclusions. Eraserhead looks back at him, the two communicating with a quick glance after assessing the environment. Tsukauchi nods before brandishing his badge from the pocket of his overcoat, "Akatani? It's Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. I'm coming in."

Eraserhead moves aside so that the detective can venture beyond him by a few steps. Each footfall carries through the floorboards just like the hero's first. "Let me know you're here if you can hear me.", Tsukauchi cautiously turns the corner at the end of the hall to check another room before calling out again, "Akatani?"

When the detective receives no answer, the underground hero makes an attempt. "Kid?", his usually gruff voice holds a gentle tone that he ordinarily wouldn't use, "It's Aizawa. I'm here too." Tsukauchi checks over his shoulder, assessing his partner as much as the damage to the atmosphere. When Aizawa meets the gaze, Tsukauchi looks away.

"I don't think he's here.", the detective sighs while shoving his badge back into his pocket, "We should still do a sweep of the house to make sure that it's empty though."

The underground hero hums in agreement, not yet having lowered his guard. "The door showed signs of forced entry.", his voice is lowered to be just short of a whisper in case they aren't alone. Rationalizing the situation and the possibilities, he deems it possible that somebody could have kidnapped or blackmailed Akatani.

Tsukauchi isn't quite as convinced, but nods along anyways. Aizawa is renowned for conspiracy theories, and despite some of those notions being proven true, that's his reason for his reluctance. Not to mention the recent news footage showing Akatani back in action as the Tokyo Ghoul. Tsukauchi has to imagine he isn't the only one with resurfacing memories of the crime scenes Akatani had left behind in the beginning.

The detective searches a bathroom, finding discarded box dye. Each container is for a black coloring. Akatani had no doubt been changing his hair hue to hide his identity. Tsukauchi notes the detail before checking the shower, sink, and toilet for damage. When he finds nothing broken, it's safe to presume that the demolition had been limited to other confines of the house.

He has half a mind to check the pantries and the fridge, but pauses in the hallway when he finds Aizawa back by the front entrance. The underground hero is surveying the door's damage, intent on proving whatever thought he has about its hinges being forcibly removed as valid. "It was kicked in.", Aizawa senses Tsukauchi's eyes on him and addresses the detective without bothering to return the look. The hero gestures towards a marking that indicates he's right, "Dead in the center. A shoe imprint the same size as the one from the blood bank."

Tsukauchi balks at first, but quickly recovers when he sees the same evidence that Aizawa does. He mulls over the plausibility and the assumptions that can be made from that piece of information before remembering what Aizawa had theorized about Akatani's partner that night, "The girlfriend?"

Aizawa has his own memory recollection of recent incidents, such as his phone call with the boy and his introduction to the girl not too long ago. "Yes. The girlfriend.", he tries to keep any judgment out of his tone but fails.

Picking up on the way Aizawa sounds, Tsukauchi raises a brow. "You think she's a bad influence?", he wonders.

The underground hero looks between the door that was busted down and the detective before answering, "I don't know yet." He then pushes past Tsukauchi to inspect the other damages, "She couldn't have been the one to have caused all this."

Tsukauchi rests his thumb against his bottom lip, chewing its nail as he contemplates things too. Even if she's a petite girl, it isn't impossible for her to have a quirk that grants strength of such capacity. For a moment, the thought of his dear friend Toshinori comes to mind, and how he as a hero flexes into a muscle form; the unassuming average form he has when not saving the day as All Might doesn't give the slightest hint of power that he's capable of. "How can you be so sure?", the detective asks.

Aizawa pulls his goggles down so that they hang around his neck along with the capture cloth he wears like a scarf. With his eyes uncovered, he meets Tsukauchi's gaze. "I'm assuming she's one and the same girl that he saved from Endeavor's flames during the Hosu news report. If she were capable of such destruction here, I doubt she would have required rescue.", he sounds more contemplative than certain of his words. However, before Tsukauchi can point that out and poke holes in the hero's hypothesis, Aizawa continues. "And if Akatani was capable of killing the entire Yakuza, then I doubt a single individual would give him any trouble. Or, without a larger amount of property damage, at least.", the two find themselves glancing back at the door.

"There's no real way of knowing what happened, but we shouldn't be making assumptions either.", Tsukauchi waves for Aizawa to follow him, "There's more variables to be considered here anyways." The underground hero is led into the bathroom where the detective picks up an empty hair dye container to hand over for inspection, "It could simply be that Akatani decided to run away with his girlfriend. Typical teenage romance."

"And last night was just them being at the wrong place at the wrong time.. ?", Aizawa's expression doesn't appear as hopeful as he sounds. He doesn't believe his own words, and neither does Tsukauchi when he thinks about it for more than a second. "He did sound strange on the phone when he was saying goodbye to Eri. As though it would be his last.", Aizawa weighs the dye box in his hand like it's heavier than it actually is as he mulls over his last conversation with Akatani.

Tsukauchi hesitates to say this next part, uncertain of how Aizawa will react, but works up enough courage to do so anyways, "I know you promised not to pry into his past.. But I think we're way past promises at this point."

Aizawa hears Tsukauchi, but doesn't react. He just keeps staring at the dye box in his hand. Akatani had purposely altered his appearance. The boy has a reason for lying about his name. Under ordinary circumstances, it wouldn't be Aizawa's or anyone else's place to delve into why without his consent. Aizawa had grown close to the kid and his illegitimate sister. Aizawa doesn't want to betray their trust by compromising the relationship they've established. And yet, "You're right.", he must also be rational about the investigation. "If we're going to find him, then we need to know who it is that we're actually looking for.", he discards the dye box and hardens his resolve.

Tsukauchi does his best to look encouraging as he agrees, "And that'll tell us where to look." Then he takes out his cellphone to text Tamakawa orders, "I'll see what I can uncover at the precinct using what we already know about him, but I'm thinking we shouldn't limit ourselves."

Aizawa takes less than a second to decipher the unspoken request from the detective and his answer is a solid, "No."

Tsukauchi looks up from his phone mid typing with an appalled expression, "But-"

But Aizawa stays firm, shaking his head. "It's never a good idea to get HIM involved when it comes to children. Whoever allowed that mammal to teach at a school is just as sick and delusional as he is.", he knows exactly who it is that the detective wants to bring in on the investigation and he downright refuses to make things all the more chaotic by agreeing.

Tsukauchi tries not to look or sound too amused by how resolute the underground hero is being, "I feel like talking like that could cost you your job." He's not taking Aizawa's words that seriously.

Seeing that's the case, Aizawa turns almost somber. He rarely wears his emotions on his sleeve, but he's rather adamant when it comes to Akatani. "I just don't want him getting any ideas. This one is.. A delicate matter.", he treats the boy with fragility as much as he does the girl he's adopted.

Tsukauchi can't help but sympathize with the man and places a consoling hand on his shoulder to say as gently as possible, "It could be more fragile than you already think it is." When Aizawa looks the detective in the eye, he sees the sincerity and understands the importance without needing the added, "That's why we need to know."

He tries to resist, but finally gives in. Aizawa brushes Tsukauchi's hand off his shoulder, "Fine.", and heads for the exit, "I'll talk to Nezu."

Tsukauchi watches Aizawa's receding back, but doesn't bother chasing after it. Afterall, he has to treat the scene properly and get a forensics team over. The detective turns around to get one last good look at the mess that's been made. He doesn't want to regret giving the boy a chance, but he's not so sure he's dealing with a basic boy. All the blood that's been spilled and all the lies that have been told..

Just who is Akatani Mikumo? Was he always just the Tokyo Ghoul in disguise?