Baton Pass Chapter 1

UA didn't advertise such amenities, but the school did have completely functional simulation areas. The most obvious were the training grounds and areas like the USJ, meant to emulate the scenarios heroes-to-be would face once they left school. But there were also lesser used ones. One such area were the interrogation rooms in the basement and that was where Shouta was heading.

He had to fight for this role. Nedzu hadn't wanted him to be the interrogator. Shouta was compromised, could accept it. The only person more compromised than him was All Might, and wasn't that a painful realization, that somehow a criminal not only managed to infiltrate UA but that they had also managed to get him to care for them. Shouta was almost tempted to storm back upstairs and let Nedzu deal with it, but his pride held him back. He'd never hear the end of it if he left now.

Besides… he was obligated to see this through. Both for his and the kid's sake.

Shouta didn't hesitate to open the interrogation room door; hesitating wouldn't change the person inside, after all. And how Shouta wished he didn't know the person inside, that it was just a stranger—someone from general studies, perhaps, or a management course student. Not one of his. Not 1-A.

But reality held steady. Shouta pulled out the chair across from the suspect and sat down, placing the heavy file on the table between them. Nedzu was watching now; he had to hold steady if he wanted any choice of getting out of here with his job intact. Not like he deserved it anyway, since he didn't even notice the villain in his class.

Realizing that didn't make seeing Izuku Midoriya's determined stare from the other side of the table any easier.

Shit, the kid didn't look like a villain. He didn't act like a villain. There were no signs: he had a stable relationship with his mother, a diverse group of friends both in and out of UA, good grades, an impressive quirk… Where did things go wrong for him?

"Sensei."

Shouta glared. He had the audacity to not even flinch. "Midoriya. Do you know why you're here?"

He lifted his hands, the handcuffs chaining them to the table clicking. The anti-quirk material glowed an eerie blue. "I can guess."

"Still, I must state it for the record. The suspect is Izuku Midoriya, age 15, quirk: Baton Pass. You are being charged with being a member of a villain organization, infiltrating UA, spying on UA, blackmail, defamation, breaking and entering, theft, conspiracy to commit crimes…" He sighed. The hard part. "And attacking a pro hero. Are you aware of the serious nature of these crimes?"

"I am."

"And how do you plead in regards to these charges?"

"Guilty of the last, innocent to the rest."

This child… denying all crimes but the worst. "Are you saying that you are not involved with the villain organization known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?"

"I am involved, but we are not villains."

"Your crimes say otherwise, Midoriya."

"Villainy, by common law, is defined as committing a through the use of a quirk. While the actual technicalities are expounded upon in more detailed laws, it is a common fact that for a case to even be defined as villainous, it must meet the prior standard. As the crimes believed to be committed by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts are not perpetuated through a quirk, it is not villainy and therefore not your division, Aizawa-sensei."

"Are you telling me that the Phantom Thieves are somehow changing hearts without the use of a quirk?" This went against all current information on how the Phantom Thieves committed crime. The SIU specifically noted that the "changes of heart" had to be caused through the use of a brainwashing quirk, but if it wasn't a quirk, then what was it?

Midoriya shrugged. "Believe what you want."

"You're acting awfully calm for someone in your position."

"Why wouldn't I? You'd never hurt me, Aizawa-sensei."

Shouta bit back a curse. "That won't be the case for long. Soon enough, we'll have to transfer you into the care of the Special Investigations Unit, Midoriya, and believe me, they won't be as gentle as UA in their interrogation tactics." He never wanted one of his students to face the SIU, not even… "So either you confess here, where you still have protection, or they'll make you confess. Do you understand?"

"Confess…" he murmured, lost in thought. Green eyes grew glassy as he thought it over, sharpening when he looked back at Shouta. "Alright then. I'll confess here. What do you want to know?"

Too easy. What trick was Midoriya playing? He'd seen the boy's analysis work before; there's no way someone as smart as he wasn't planning anything. "The beginning."

"Ah…" he cocked his head. "I wasn't there for the beginning though; should I just tell you what I heard or from the part where I ended the picture?"

Shouta exhaled. This problem child… "From wherever you feel comfortable, Midoriya."

He nodded. "Okay then. Technically it started roughly a year ago, but I've been… involved with the situation for almost a year and a half now when I found a little hiding spot in a different prefecture…"