Wow, an update so soon! XD
I'm trying to get another point of view on the stituation, and I just love Naomasa so I wanted to give him more importance. He's a great detective :p
I'll try and write a Christmas special, with tons of fluff involving our favourite dork. Wish me luck!
Chapter 17 - Rescue project
The scene of the attack was very clean, compared to the damage it could have created. The police tape delimited a small square in the middle of the park, where the paramedics had set up a tent for Philae's privacy. The prying eyes of bystanders and the media could be kept at a distance that way, even if they would have to move the girl and All Might at some point. One problem at a time, though.
Naomasa let out a long suffering sigh and rubbed the back of his stiff neck. He needed sleep, assapissimo. Forensics combed the area in search of anything useful other than the syringe, but he knew they would not find much. Shigaraki had not meant to linger longer than necessary. He had certainly acted on impulse, and that was that.
Which made Philae Crawford more of a liability than an actual, reliable citizen. A mammoth thorn in his already pricked side.
Not to repeat himself, but if the inspector was honest with himself, he would definitely say that the girl was a nuisance. Sure, she was smiley, polite, very obliging, and cooperative. She meant no harm, quite the contrary. She seemed to appreciate, seek out even, Toshinori's company, regardless of his… current infirmities or lack of self-confidence. She had integrated nicely in the hero course and class 1-A. Aside from her apparent bad luck when it came to attract dubious people, she was fine on every aspect.
That was what worried Naomasa the most.
First investigations had revealed nothing. Philae Rosa Helen Crawford, born Thatch, had never been born, never been registered, never gone to school, never done nothing in all nothingnesses. This tallied with her statement that she did not belong to their world, which the inspector's lie-detecting quirk had confirmed as true, and they had not explored further. Thus, the initial search had become a whirlwind of paperwork so that the foreign girl had an identity and administrative presence, courtesy of Principal Nedzu. If hell existed, it bore Crawford's thick file on one of the Devil's shelves. The poor official who had had to take care of that case must have flipped over in horror.
The Grail had been delivered into Nedzu's office earlier this morning, Naomasa believed. He had not checked for notifications on this specifically, and would not bother right now. He just wanted to sleep for more than thirty minutes at a time.
Those hassles aside, something more preoccupying still troubled his already busy and exhausted mind. The policeman wished he did not worry so much, but the thought would not leave him. With each passing day, the elephant in the room got larger and more precarious. The room itself would soon become too small for it, and the matter would get inevitable.
Philae was a huge liability. She had a talent to get herself in peril, even though it was unintentional. And worse than that, she pulled Toshinori down with her. This was undeniable fact, whether she intended it or not.
She put Naomasa's best friend in deathly situations. And said friend did not care.
That was not new of All Might to jump into action before he fully calculated the risks of such an enterprise. True, the goof had not waited for his new student, to be dumb and reckless with his well-being. Nevertheless, this level of blindness defied reason.
Fellow policemen and paramedics bustled around him in a haze. His eyes unfocused, Tsukauchi wondered if picking up on smoking would be a bad idea. He so desperately needed some kind of stress relief, and his bed was nowhere near him to crash into. Not that he could get some time off before long, but still. An ugly plastic chair like those at the station would have sufficed to please his tired back. Maybe he would end up screwing image and professionalism and sit down on the very floor he stood on. This was tempting.
He was getting too old for this shit. Especially now that shit came from a grown adult and retired hero. Toshinori really should know better. Only he did not and came running when the girl messed up. And running, in the literal sense of the term. The blonde had not waited to hail for a cab, no, he had run two blocks to get here. Two effing city blocks, whereas he normally should not even strain himself. Just because his bloody feelings got in the way and clouded his judgement as regards Philae. Because he cared too much about her. Made her his priority.
The madness of the situation made Naomasa's blood boil. Toshinori was like a huge teddy bear. He wished to comfort the whole world. He needed to comfort people. Helping was in his very DNA, engraved in his soul in bold letters. Without it, he could well wither away and die from helplessness. This made him a wonderful hero and teacher, but a shitty functioning being. Without Tsukauchi to have his back, he might forget to breathe, sometimes.
The inspector was not jealous of the attention the girl received. He did not overreact and was not petty as to accuse a teen of every little thing plaguing his friend. However, he feared no one except him saw what was happening.
Although he was a policeman and therefore a specialist at observing and deducing, he believed everyone with eyes and a brain could figure out what transpired between All Might and his young charge. It was subtle, but it was there, in front of them. The shifting in the dynamics of their relationship to each other was blindingly obvious. What Naomasa could observe in that tent, was not a hero helping a endangered innocent, nor was it a strange kind of fatherly reaction from a teacher towards his wounded student.
The blonde did act like a father with Midoriya, and that was good. They bantered, Toshinori worried about his heir, and he kept tabs of the boy's progress. However, he would never molly-coddle him. He would never hold him so close, that even the docs could not get to touch him. He would never overstep his boundaries, because the boy had legitimate family. Even if Ms Midoriya seemed the kind of woman who accepted many things, he would not risk putting her parenthood into question, nor would he offer himself as a substitute for the boy's lack of a real father. He loved and respected him that way.
This, though. This was nowhere similar to how he acted around Philae. Whenever since she had barreled into their lives, the blonde's thoughts seemed to revolve around her. At first, Tsukauchi had thought it was because as a retired hero, his friend grasped at anything he could to feel useful, like a meth addict begging for his fix. She appeared as his great mission, his Good Samaritan project. For him, she was the solution to his problems, the challenge only he could take up.
As for her, she was earnest in her caring for the blonde. She enjoyed his company, that much was clear as day. Things also indicated that she had laid herself bare to him, entrusting him with information he refused to disclose to anyone, even Naomasa. She trusted him body and soul. Unknowingly, she prompted and nurtured Toshinori's saviour syndrome. She even… No. She could not.
Toshinori Yagi was a loveable man. His hero persona had made many women swoon. His big mushy heart and shy demeanour when in true form made him very touching and sweet. If only he were more confident in himself, even if he was not muscular any more, he could let himself be loved for who he was.
Philae was a likeable girl, objectively. She accepted things as they came, and she was not half-witted. She saw what Naomasa saw in the blonde, and she tried to take it out in the open. She had qualities that every sensible man could notice and appreciate. She could not be after All Might's fame and money, as she seldom knew the hero and had never seen him in flesh. She only knew Toshinori, and liked him just as he was. Really, when one watched her at a distance, one could immediately see how a man could fall in love with her.
Tsukauchi shook his head and snorted. He was too tired, now he was thinking about stupid things. Love. Affection. Feelings. Those words sounded insane when appended to the relationship the pair had. No. Impossible. His eyes saw facts, but his mind refused to give credit to that idea. It had to be some weird obsession that drove Toshinori. Only that. A twisted idee fixe, that would deflate once the girl got independent enough or found what she sought. A passing fit of madness.
He hoped it was. If not, this called for a disaster. Neither would bear the heartbreak.
He had to find that healing or erasing quirk soon. Once he did, Crawford would finally detach herself from the retired hero, who would return to a saner, healthier life. It looked sad if taken from the blonde's point of view, but it was better than the alternative. In any other situation, Naomasa might have encouraged feelings, but not here. Not now. Not with her. She was a temporary obsession, a rescue project. Nothing more. He would make sure it stayed that way, for his friend's sake. He could not bear the thought of picking up the pieces of what once had been All Might's heart. Never.
Maybe Tsukauchi himself was also deluded. He just did not want to take the risk of her ruining more than she had already done. He would not allow it.
All of a sudden, his phone buzzed into life, taking him back to the most urgent case at hand. It was Tamagawa.
"Sir, we're ready. Deployment is imminent."
More work. His bed called for him, but Inspector Naomasa resisted the siren's song. He steeled himself. Work took priority.
"Coming."
They were ready to try and extract little Eri from Overhaul's abusive hands. Tsukauchi's brain suddenly provided him with the disturbing knowledge that the girl, coincidentally, did possess an impressive erasing quirk, hence the reason why her tormentor exploited her. The way she was treated by the Preceipt also resembled those Philae experienced. That made a lot of coincidences. He felt sad for a moment, considering all this. Fate was cruel indeed. At least it proved they could manage to find a Quirk that would help Crawford and have her go back to wherever she came from.
He cast one last glance into the tent. Toshinori was wrapped around his student like a bloody octopus, shielding her from both the outside world and the docs. He said something unintelligible from where Tsukauchi stood, but it seemed to contain the words "safe" and "home". His entire being screamed care, protection... tenderness.
He schooled his thoughts. No.
It was obsession. It was madness. It had to cease while they could.
But what if…?
The blonde's features looked relaxed, alive with an emotion he could not read. It was not like with Midoriya, nor was it like with anyone else. The girl was sound asleep, her body lax and curled up against her guardian. To any stranger of the scene, they could almost come out as a snuggling couple, if not for the age difference.
What if…?
Shaking his head, the inspector forced himself into focus. Work took priority. As he marched down the alley to the busy street and hopped into a police car, he decided that after that rescue mission, he would seriously look for a means to solve this situation.
Or maybe he would sleep before he did. Maybe.