The world didn't end with a bang, nor did it end with a whimper.
And now, it hasn't ended at all.
Or, it wouldn't end. Not if Shouta had anything to say about it. Which he does.
But the fact that he is indeed in the past is only made all the more obvious to Shouta as he shuffles down clean, unbroken roads that, once upon a time, were familiar.
The biggest plus is that no one's paying him any attention.
He still tries to keep to the shadows as much as possible on his journey, though with how accustomed people are to flashy super heroes he really could just walk around as he is without having to do anything. He's honed the skill of acting inconspicuous over his hero career, and it's as useful now as it ever was.
Unfortunately, he still looks like a hobo—probably smells like one, too—but so long as he keeps to himself, most people should ignore him and mind their own damn business.
After they'd all gotten some sleep, it was decided that they would, in fact, mess with the timeline. At least a little bit.
There was really nothing to lose by doing so.
And if they did somehow get erased from existence, then he supposes it'll no longer be their problem to solve. Shouta honestly sees no issue with that; it's a win-win.
He'd had a lot of time to think last night, having taken the first watch of the night while his kids slept, and Shouta had come to a quiet realization.
This whole situation seems much too good to be true.
Despite his earlier fears, all of his remaining students had come back to him alive and uninjured. They had shelter for the night, no on had been actively trying to kill them, and there was even food in their stomachs.
The world hasn't even ended yet.
It's not like they had much of anything left to live for in the future they'd come from. Truthfully, if it wasn't for his students keeping him going, Shouta's not sure what he would do with himself. Without them, and without Hizashi, Nemuri, Eri—he probably would have just...
...Well. It's not worth thinking on.
His students are alive, and that's all that matters.
That's all that matters.
The night was as uneventful as Shouta could ask for. None of them were good at sleeping through the night anymore, so as expected there were a few nightmares or random bursts of restlessness from all of them.
Fumikage got up for his usual nighttime wandering—though Shouta warned him to be extra cautious tonight—and even Mei had disappeared for a while. By the time she returned more than half an hour later, it was the end of Shouta's watch, and she'd offered to take the next one.
Before he knew it, morning had arrived and it was time for him to head out.
There's not many people out and about this early in the morning either, so it's all the easier for Shouta to fly under the radar.
He's been walking for a while now.
For once, he even knows the exact time; it's nearly noon. Funny how being able to look at a functional clock helped with things like that.
The front gates of UA are straight ahead of him now.
Already, Shouta can hear the reporters all talking over themselves, still intent on being let inside. Not that they would be successful. Or at least, they won't be successful if the gates don't conveniently disintegrate right before their eyes.
Speaking of which, seeing UA whole and unbroken right in front of him is bringing up a lot of memories.
Part of Shouta is tempted to go in and ask Nedzu for help, but he's just as unable to make it through the front gates as any other civilian without a pass. He's not certain he'd even be able to get far enough to see Nedzu, let alone ask for help. The other Shouta must already be inside the the building, so a second Shouta showing up would be met only with suspicion.
He'd most likely be taken out by Snipe of Ectoplasm before he could so much as reach the main building.
And then he'd be no help to anyone, least of all his students.
Really, any situation that leads to him being captured is a no-go in Shouta's mind. The last time he'd been taken hostage had been...
No. Now isn't the time to dwell on the past.
He has a job to do.
It's difficult to shoulder past the sea of reporters and to the front of the crowd, but Shouta makes it with time to spare.
Because there, back from the dead and just about to disintegrate the front gates of UA, is Shigaraki Tomura. Without hesitation, Shouta does the first thing that comes to mind.
He punches the man square in the face.
And then he punches him again for good measure, even though the first punch had knocked Shigaraki out cold. Shouta feels a rush of smug satisfaction flow through him at the sight. He kind of wants to punch the bastard a third time, but unfortunately, beating the shit out of Shigaraki right here and now isn't a very logical decision. He'd better not waste any more time.
Being very careful to avoid the villain's hands, Shouta binds him with the capture weapon snugly. There's no way he's getting out of this one.
"Hey!" Yells one of the reporters, right before she shoves her microphone into Shouta's face. He has to try very hard not to bite the damn thing, though his lip does curl upwards in distain.
"You're that scruffy guy from earlier! Why are you attacking an innocent civilian?!"
'Innocent civilian' she said. What a load of bullshit.
And, had Shigaraki been allowed to destroy the gate blocking their entry, Shouta knows exactly what would have happened. Vultures, the lot of them, eagerly rushing in without so much as a question. These type of people always love to believe they're above the law.
Not that Shouta's any better at the moment, considering he's here to kidnap a seemingly 'innocent' person.
He doesn't say any of that out loud, however.
The clock is ticking now before someone tries to stop him. A hero, the police, or even a good Samaritan. It's probable that Shigaraki's caretaker Kurogiri is watching as well from somewhere nearby.
Shouta needs to get out of here. Now.
He hefts Shigaraki over his shoulder and takes off the same way he came, though with something more interesting to distract them many of the reporters follow after him.
It's easy enough to lose them in Musutafu's maze of alleyways.
Not so easy is the task of getting back to the hideout without being noticed by more cameras or people. There's also the matter of dodging Kurogiri.
Once before he'd been forced to kill the man, and Shouta isn't exactly looking forward to a repeat. And knowing Kurogiri's true identity... in a way, Shouta was technically responsible for both of his deaths, wasn't he?
He's trying not to think about it too much.
Luckily for everyone, Kurogiri never makes an appearance, and Shouta can only hope that's not a bad omen.
It's safe to assume that he was tailed when he left UA, so Shouta takes a winding path back to their new hideout. It takes him a long time to get back. By the end, his right leg is sending a stab of pain up his spine with every step, and Shigaraki's body somehow seems to grow heavier and heavier with every passing minute.
Taking a moment to adjust the dead weight he's shouldering, Shouta knocks their agreed upon passcode onto the hideout door, then waits.
It only takes a couple seconds—though it feels like an eternity when he's out in the open like this—before the door cracks open, revealing the wary face of Ochako.
"You got him," she says, staring intently at Shigaraki while she opens the door wider to let Shouta in.
He nods, and mumbles "I did," in reply.
They've already prepared an area in the basement of this abandoned house for Shigaraki; a pipe connected to the furnace in the center of the room. Shouta deposits his captive none-too-gently next to it, making sure to tie Shigaraki's hands securely above his head and in plain sight.
And so they won't be overheard in the case of Shigaraki waking up, Shouta stuffs some earbuds in his ears. He's been lucky so far that Shigaraki didn't wake up during the journey here.
The sight of his youthful face leaves Shouta feeling struck, though.
How old was Shigaraki at this point in time? Twenty? That's barely older than Shouta's students are now.
Not wanting to spend any more time looking at the face of a dead man, Shouta gags and blindfolds him with the extra sections of his capture weapon.
His kids gather around, circling the unconscious man like predators.
"Have you come to a decision?" Shouta asks them, eyeing the way they've split into two groups, each on either side of the room. They all nod in response.
"One at a time, then. Alphabetical order."
Tsuyu perks up, knowing that in terms of family names she was typically the first. And with how few of them remain... Shouta nods at her, watching patiently as she takes in a deep, steadying breath.
"I vote... kill," she says softly, hugging herself with her own arms as she stares their captive down. "You know what he did to my siblings, kero... I won't let that happen again."
No one says anything to refute her.
They do all know what Shigaraki had done, and it doesn't bear repeating.
Fumikage crosses the room to stand at Tsuyu's side and pull her into a half hug without a word.
Shouta thanks Tsuyu for her vote in a soft voice, knowing the decision must have been weighing heavily on her. He can't blame her.
He won't blame any of his students for what choice they pick.
"Tch. Guess it's my turn," Katsuki says after it's clear Tsuyu is done talking.
"While I'd love nothing more than to get rid of the hand fucker, I vote we disable him." Katsuki's fingers twitch at his sides, before he scowls and crosses his arms, looking away from them all. "Gettin' rid of the body would fucking suck," he adds under his breath, but it's loud enough to make out regardless.
"Couldn't you just blow the body up?" Hitoshi asks, making sure to catch Katsuki's attention before he signs the words.
Katsuki sputters. "NO! I mean, I could, but—we're not talking about this!" He throws his hands in the air, eyes wild. "Who's next?! Somebody else fucking vote!"
His clear distress as he looks around at everyone makes Hitoshi let out a rasping laugh. Meanwhile, Shouta has to resist the urge to sigh.
Luckily for everyone involved, Katsuki's frantic gaze catches on Dark Shadow, who's perked up.
"͏Í wan̸n̡a̧ kil̸l̛ him͝! ̴Can we̸?" Dark Shadow crows in a sing-song voice, wriggling excitedly by Fumikage's side. They flicker erratically, before going still. ".̸.͞.Shoul͟d ͝w҉e?"
"That's what we're voting on, Dark Shadow," Shouta confirms, huffing in fond exasperation at their enthusiasm. "Thank you for your vote."
"̢Y͘ou'̛r͏e w̧e̡lc̶òm̕e,̧ ͜Pàp̧az̨awa~͢!́" they coo, eyes squinting shut before they settle down around Tsuyu's shoulders.
Shouta lightly shakes his head in response, hiding a smirk behind his scarf.
It takes him a moment to mentally go over the alphabet, eyes eventually landing on Mei where she's hunched over in the shadows, completely distracted.
"Mei," he grunts.
"Hm?" Mei looks up from what she's fiddling with, blinking at all of them in confusion before she points to herself. "Is it my turn?"
"Yes, Mei. It's your turn."
Mei nods quickly, humming a bit before her attention switches back to her current invention. Shouta can only hope it won't explode, though he can admit she's gotten much better about that recently.
"I vote disable," she says simply, and pulls her bag closer to rummage through while she continues. "Murder is unfortunately illegal, and I can't work on my babies in jail!" Her cackling bounces around the room, loud enough that Shouta glances to Shigaraki to make sure he's still unconscious.
He is.
"Thank you for your vote, Mei," Shouta hums.
The things she's pulling out of her bag... most of it he recognizes, but not all. Certain bits and pieces look brand new.
Interesting.
Shouta looks away.
"It's your turn now, Izuku," he says. "...Izuku?"
When he looks to see why Izuku isn't answering him, his expression pinches in concern when he sees that Izuku's gaze is fixed firmly on Shigaraki.
After several more moments of silence, Izuku whispers "...Disable." with a faraway look in his eyes. "Maybe this time..." he trails off, mumbling something that Shouta can't quite decipher.
"You still in there, Zuku?" Katsuki asks in an uncharacteristically soft voice, stooping to put himself in Izuku's line of sight and block him from seeing Shigaraki.
"S-sorry! I just..." Izuku jolts, hands flailing before one settles to tug at his own hair. The other he clenches into a fist in front of his chest. "We all got a second chance, so maybe... maybe he can have one, too."
Shouta's not sure what to say to that, and it seems like no one else is either.
Until Hitoshi speaks up, that is.
"Well, I vote we kill him," he rasps as loud as he can, rubbing at his throat in discomfort. "...Bastard deserves it."
His harsh words make Izuku wince. At his side Katsuki narrows his eyes, before he turns to face Hitoshi.
"Wow. Your argument is so goddamn compelling. Look at me. I'm crying," Katsuki deadpans, but his expression quickly morphs into a sardonic grin. "You know what? I change my vote—I wanna kill him even less now."
Hitoshi scowls. "Oh, you son of a—"
"Boys." Shouta cuts them off, pinching the bridge of his nose with a long-suffering sigh. He supposes he should be grateful they're only teasing and not going for each other's throats like at the beginning, but now isn't the time for this. "It's Fumikage's turn to vote."
Fumikage looks up at the mention of his name, one of his hands placed on Tsuyu's shoulder. He takes a moment to clear his throat.
"...It is uncertain how the future may be affected by our actions," he says, head tilted thoughtfully in a bird-like manner as he looks between all of them.
"Either decision may be the one to spell our doom, but I think... I will vote to simply disable our foe." Ignoring the slightly betrayed mutterings of Dark Shadow, Fumikage goes on. "Less blood on our stained hands..."
Dark Shadow sulks, practically melting around Tsuyu's shoulders. "No ͞ḱi͝ll̶, Fum̷i̷...̛?" They sound almost sad about it.
"My vote is merely one of many, the die has not yet been cast." Fumikage shakes his head, though there's a note of a fond smile in his voice despite his solemn expression. He pats his shadowy sibling's head, speaking even softer to say, "Please do not feel the need to change your vote, my friend..."
Then he tilts his head, and says, "I do believe it is now Occhan's turn?"
"I..." Ochako frowns down at the floor, wringing her hands before her until her knuckles turn white. It looks like she's thinking very hard about her answer, despite how she should have already come to a decision before Shouta got back.
Her shoulders tense up. "...I can't vote to kill him, that'd make us no better than them." Ochako all but spits the last word.
Then she abruptly looks up and locks eyes with Shouta, meeting him head-on with a fiery determination. "His quirk is five-point activated, like mine," she says. "We can disable him."
She clenches a fist in front of her chest as she finishes talking, so very reminiscent of the way Izuku used to act before all this. No wonder they'd become so close.
Shouta just nods and murmurs another soft 'thank you', not wanting to take any sides himself. It's not up to him.
The only one left to voice their decision now is Momo.
Her expression is carefully blank when they all turn to her, her arms wrapped firmly around herself.
"Fumi is right," Momo says, "We can't know how this will affect things." She nods to Fumikage before looking back down at Shigaraki's still form, her eyes as hard and unforgiving as ice. "Even so... I say we kill him. Then he can't pose a threat."
And that's that.
All of his students have voted now, so Shouta takes a moment to tally them in his head.
"...So. That's four votes to kill, and five to disable."
He can understand why so many of them did vote to kill. Honestly, he's about half a second away from snapping Shigaraki's neck himself and just being done with it.
But his kids have made a decision, and he'll respect it.
Even if his vote had counted, it would've only lead to a tie anyways.
"How do we want to go about this?" Shouta questions, looking around the room. He already knows he'll be the one 'doing the deed', so to say. He's always been the one willing to do things other heroes deemed below them.
Despite the fact his students are the ones that made the final decision here, Shouta would never expect nor force them to carry out the actual deed. That's what he's here for. Specifically in this case, he's the one willing to mutilate or kill another human being so that his kids won't have to live with the guilt.
All of them have too much blood on their hands.
Mentally shaking the thoughts from his head, Shouta tunes back into the discussion.
Izuku's frowning heavily in thought, arms crossed up high so he can hold one hand up to his mouth. "W-we could cut off both of his pi-pinky fingers," he mutters. "Th-though... they could be reattached..."
"Chop his arms off, like what happened to Overhaul. Can't reattach that." Momo shrugs, Hitoshi nodding along with her words.
"That would risk our captive succumbing due to blood loss," Fumikage helpfully points out. "A fate I had assumed we were trying to avoid."
"His hands, then," Momo counters, and drags a finger over her own wrist as an example. "We can cauterize the wounds so he won't bleed out, and that way there's zero chance of his quirk mutating to use less digits." While she speaks, Momo looks around the room until her gaze lands on Katsuki. He bristles.
"Don't fuckin' look at me! I'm not doing that shit," Katsuki snarls, holding his own hands to his chest protectively.
Arguing about this isn't going to get them anywhere, and they're running short on time.
"No one's doing anything they don't want to do," Shouta says with a heavy sigh, holding a hand up to quiet them. While he's at it, he steps between Momo and Katsuki to break their lines of sight.
"Fumikage is right that cutting off too much could inadvertently kill him, and Momo's right that his quirk could compensate..."
Shouta turns to stare down at their captive.
In the end it doesn't really matter what they chose; Shigaraki won't be leaving here in one piece.
"Regardless, this isn't going to be pretty," he goes on to say. Then, softer; "...Now's the time to leave if you don't want to see that."
None of them should have to see this.
He watches them exchange glances, silent conversations born of months living on the run together. Some of them decide to take him up on the offer. Mei is the first to move, packing up all of her equipment into her bag and heading for the exit. She's followed shortly by Katsuki, Izuku, and Tsuyu.
The four of them hesitate at the bottom of the basement stairs.
Because unfortunately, they've still yet to come to a final decision on what to do with Shigaraki.
"So. Just his hands, or...?" Shouta ventures, gesturing to Shigaraki while he looks between them all.
No response
"C'mon," he says, trying for a joking tone to break the tense air that'd fallen over the room. "I kind of need to know before I go lopping shit off."
The comment earns him a few stiff laughs, but not much more.
Finally, the one to answer him is Ochako.
"Lop 'em off, Sensei," she tells him with a tired smile, most of the others nodding in agreement. It takes her another moment to clarify. "His hands, cut off his hands."
Guess that settles it.
He hears a muffled snort from Hitoshi, and Shouta raises an eyebrow at him in question.
Hitoshi lowers his hand from his mouth to reveal a familiar impish grin, then signs in explanation; "He won't be the hand fucker anymore after this."
Shouta just shakes his head in fond exasperation.
Turning his attention back to their captive, Shouta shuffles over.
To be honest, he surprised that Shigaraki is still unconscious. Maybe he punched him harder than he'd thought?
It'd certainly be for the best if Shigaraki stayed out the entire time he's here, less trouble for them, though Shouta isn't going to keep his hopes up.
Just to make sure, Shouta nudges him with the toe of his boot.
...No response.
Good, so he's probably still out. He doesn't think it's possible that Shigaraki is feigning unconsciousness, as the man strikes him as being too immature to keep his cool in this kind of situation.
But that doesn't mean he can afford to let his guard down. Even unconscious and bound, Shigaraki still poses a very real threat.
Mindful of his hands, Shouta shifts the man around so his bound hands are held out in front of him, and secures the rest of his body to the cold furnace using his capture weapon. Tight enough he won't be able to move an inch. It should hold up well enough in the case he wakes up, so long as he doesn't get his hands on it.
Well, they won't have to worry about that for much longer now, will they?
There was a time once where Shouta would've balked at what he's about to do, but that part of him died long ago. It died along with his husband, daughter, friends, and students.
That doesn't mean he's going to enjoy any part of this.
There's no room for things like emotions right now, so Shouta lets himself fall into the mindset he typically reserved when applying emergency first aid to someone who was seriously injured. It was something cold, detached. Logical. One step at a time.
Take a deep breath.
...Step one; apply a tourniquet.
He cuts the sleeves from Shigaraki's hoodie to expose his arms. He would've had to do this regardless, but now he can use the loose cloth. Working quickly and efficiently, Shouta cuts the cloth into long strips and ties them just above Shigaraki's elbows. He can tighten them later.
Step two; sterilize tool of choice.
They already have a small fire here that they'd used during the night for warmth, and later for sterilizing some water to drink. To avoid a lot of smoke since they're in an enclosed space it isn't very big, but it's good enough for what he needs of it now. He stokes the smoldering flames back to life without a word.
Shouta carefully places the blade of his second favorite knife—he's not going to damage his best knife for something like this—in the fire. This one too is serrated, which will certainly prove to be... handy.
Gods, he's glad he didn't say that one out loud.
He lets the knife sit for several minutes, until the metal glows a soft red and he's sure that it's clean.
It still needs to cool down after that before he can handle it, though. And despite the earlier mention of 'cauterization', burning Shigaraki would be needless torture, and would leave him at a much higher risk for infection.
Step three; final preparations.
Under normal circumstances, the tourniquet would be tightened after the injury had already happened. But these aren't normal circumstances, and there will be much less blood loss if he takes care of this now, much less of a mess to later need cleaning.
He doesn't have much that might work as a windlass, but Ochako offers him a few small metal pipes that she'd picked up at some point for him to use.
Shigaraki lets out a soft grunt when Shouta starts to tighten the tourniquets, but he doesn't fully wake.
Soon enough both of the tourniquets are properly tightened, and the pipes are secured so they won't be knocked loose. But now the clock is ticking, as these can't be left tightened indefinitely without risking tissue damage.
Ironic, isn't it?
Step four; make the cut.
Holding Shigaraki's bound arms to the floor with one foot and his free hand, Shouta positions the knife over the man's right wrist. Going through the joint will be a much easier feat to accomplish than going straight through solid bone.
He knows that from experience.
With a slow breath to steady himself, Shouta's grip on the knife tightens the moment before he presses down and begins to saw. The serrates edges of the knife catch on all the small bones and cartilage in the wrist with an awful grating noise that travels up in knife and into his own arm.
Shigaraki finally wakes up.
He immediately begins screaming in pain, though the sound is muffled by the fabric stuffed between his teeth. He thrashes against his bonds.
Luckily for them Shigaraki's hands are being held palm-up, so he wasn't able to reach anything with all five fingers. Shouta's already cut through the carpal tendons of his right wrist too, so at least one of his hands is now unable to move its fingers. Though while he's unable to escape, the wild movements are making it rather difficult for Shouta to make a clean cut.
It's much too late to back out now.
Despite being muffled, the screams are still hard to listen to as they bounce around the room. Shouta grimaces, cursing his enhanced hearing. The students of his that stuck around to watch must not be enjoying all the noise either.
It wouldn't be good either if someone outside managed to overhear him.
Optional step five; apply a light anesthetic.
Shouta pulls his arm back—the one that's not holding the knife—and punches Shigaraki in the temple. That doesn't seem to do the job, so he has grab the man's head and slam it back into the flat metal surface of the furnace.
That shuts him up.
There's a decent amount of blood spilled already, and Shouta's not even halfway done with the first hand yet.
He grits his teeth at the sharp metallic scent that assaults his senses.
With a white-knuckled grip, he doubles down on sawing through Shigaraki's right wrist. He can hear the man groaning in pain, his body still twitching intermittently like he's trying to pull away, but it's not enough to truly disrupt Shouta anymore.
The short struggle though has his heart racing a mile a minute, and it's all he can do to keep the shaking of his hands from interfering with his work. A sliver of doubt worms its way into his gut.
What the hell is he doing...?
How could he have deviated so far from the logical, no-nonsense hero he used to be? The old him would never have even considered chopping someone's hands off in a dirty, rundown basement. Especially not while teenagers were watching.
He thinks he hears one of them gagging, but his ears are ringing too much to be sure.
It doesn't matter that Shigaraki is a villain. It doesn't matter that in the future he would destroy everything. Right now, in this very moment, Shigaraki hasn't yet done anything worth being tortured over. And this is torture.
It's wrong.
But Shouta can't stop now.
What has he become?
No, he has to do this, as much as he doesn't want to. He needs to stop Shigaraki. Shouta can't just sit back and watch as Shigaraki tears his world—his life—apart all over again. This will end here, before it has a chance to ever begin.
The other Shouta would thank him later.
But as he finishes sawing through Shigaraki's right wrist and the hand falls away... Shouta feels like he's going to be sick.
Biting back the bile that rises in the back of his throat, he throws the dismembered hand into the fire and tries to ignore the way it crackles. The smell of burning flesh and charred skin does nothing to help his nausea.
He works faster to saw through the other wrist, wanting this to be over and done with.
Soon, both of Shigaraki's hands are in the fire.
The first has already blackened, barely recognizable from what it once was. They can't exactly cremate the hands—that would require a much hotter fire, and for it to burn longer than they have time to sit around for—but this'll be good enough. All that matters is that there's no chance of the hands being salvaged.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, it smells terrible. Sharp and pungent.
Shouta can almost taste it.
At least the bleeding isn't too bad, though there's still a decent amount soaking into the concrete floor and Shigaraki's clothes.
Breathing though his mouth in an attempt to not throw up or taste any more of the heavy metallic scent hanging in the air, Shouta wipes the excess blood from his knife off on Shigaraki's pantleg and ignores the trembling of his own hands.
Think logically. What's the next step?
He... he needs to clean up.
They don't have any clean bandages with which to cover the sluggishly bleeding stumps, but he does have some fabric leftover from cutting the hoodie sleeves. Even if the tourniquets have held up so far and are tight enough to stop Shigaraki from bleeding out, this is still an important step.
As he does that, Shouta glances over his shoulder at the four—five including Dark Shadow—kids that stuck around to watch.
Ochako's leaning against the wall and clutching her stomach while Hitoshi pats her back, the telltale splatter of vomit at her feet. Her face looks rather green as she continued to gag softly. Fumikage and Dark Shadow are huddled together, eyes locked on Shigaraki's still form. There's a handful of loose feathers in one of Fumikage's trembling fists. Momo, however, looks scarily calm.
Shouta wishes they hadn't stuck around, wishes they didn't have to see that. Fuck, he wishes he didn't have to see it.
Now, as tempting as it is to drop Shigaraki off at some random hospital and wash their hands—ugh—of him, that isn't a viable option.
Best case scenario, in Shouta's opinion at least, is that Shigaraki ends up locked in Tartarus, never able to cause problems for anyone ever again. But it's not like any of them can just walk into Tartarus and make that happen. No, they'll need help if they want Shigaraki locked up in any prison, let alone a specific one.
Luckily, Shouta knows just the person to ask.
He drops the unconscious Shigaraki at Detective Tsukauchi's feet.
It took him a while to get here since he had to dodge any potential witnesses, especially police officers or other heroes as he approached the police station.
But Shouta remembers how he used to carry unconscious villains right through the station's front door in the past, to the point where it became a normal occurrence. Like those times, no one stops him as he heads straight for the detective's office.
The look of absolute, unadulterated bewilderment on said detective's face is almost enough to make Shouta laugh, if only this weren't such a serious matter. Tsukauchi spends several long seconds just looking back and forth between Shouta and Shigaraki's body, before he gestures at the latter with a sort of helpless exhaustion.
"Why...?"
There's too many ways that one simple question could be answered, and Shouta knows they don't have much time.
Well, more like Shouta specifically doesn't have much time.
So far it doesn't seem like Tsukauchi's aware that Shouta isn't the same Eraserhead he's used to working with, and he's going to use that to his advantage for as long as he can manage. He'll have to work fast though, before they figure out he's not supposed to be here.
Now, Shouta could just dodge the question. He could say something like 'all you need to know is that this guy's dangerous' or something else equally cryptic. Then he could disappear before Tsukauchi asks any more questions.
But that wouldn't be very logical.
What if Tsukauchi let Shigaraki go, or took him to an unguarded hospital where he could be allowed to escape? Shouta's not sure he'd be able to capture the villain so easily the second time around.
So he has to tell Tsukauchi something. Enough to make him truly understand the severity of the danger.
Shouta has never been a very trusting person, and he knows that much of the information he's learned from having lived through the future could cause a lot of trouble if the wrong people got their hands on it. There are very few people that he would even consider confiding in. Though in this particular situation, there's one good thing going for him.
Tsukauchi Naomasa's quirk; Lie Detector.
The fact Tsukauchi's already 'in the know' about the whole All for One versus One for All deal is also a plus. Tsukauchi Naomasa is trustworthy.
So Shouta takes in a deep breath, and tells the truth.
"This is Shigaraki Tomura, previously known as Shimura Tenko before he was taken in by the villain known as All for One," he says, keeping his voice low so he wouldn't be overheard by anyone other than Tsukauchi.
"I caught him about to break through the front gates of UA—his quirk is called 'Decay' and allows him to disintegrate anything he touches with all five fingers on either hand. He and his associates are planning to kill All Might."
That should be enough of an explanation to start with, right?
It's obviously not the answer Tsukauchi was expecting, though. He's gone rather pale all of a sudden, looking as though he may faint.
Moving on instinct, Shouta grabs a chair to drag behind the man so he can sit.
Tsukauchi goes without protest, sitting heavily and placing his head in his hands. He's quiet for a long, long time. Long enough that Shouta actually starts to worry. He supposes it's a good thing Tsukauchi hadn't immediately jumped on the fact that Shouta shouldn't know all of the stuff he just revealed. Shock was funny like that.
So Shouta patiently gives him some time to regain his bearings.
When Tsukauchi does find his voice again, he croaks in a low voice; "And... how exactly did he lose his hands...?" He sounds hesitant, like he doesn't actually want to know.
"Not important." Shouta says, and waves a hand dismissively. "—What is important is that he can no longer use his quirk." He pauses then to frown down at Shigaraki, and adds, "...Maybe get some anti-quirk cuffs on him, though. Just in case."
That's the point where Tsukauchi finally picks his head up to stare incredulously at Shouta. He gestures at Shigaraki with one hand without looking. "On... on where? He has no hands, Eraser!"
...Huh. That does make cuffing him kind of difficult, doesn't it?
"He could still be dangerous," Shouta retorts with a shake of his head, lightly kicking Shigaraki to make sure he's still out cold and not listening in on this conversation. He grunts, but otherwise doesn't react. Shouta's frown deepens. "...And I'd kind of like the rest of my capture weapon back, so if you wouldn't mind?"
It seems like Tsukauchi's started to recover from his shock, enough that he can get up and grab some proper police restraints. There's a distant sort of look in his eyes as the two of them work together to rebind Shigaraki.
"Eraser, these injuries..." he says once they're done, staring at the blood staining his own hands.
Shouta resists the urge to sigh. "He should get medical attention soon. But, Tsukauchi..." He trails off, carefully considering his next words. Shouta doesn't want the detective to die. Not again.
"Please believe me when I say this man is dangerous. He won't hesitate to kill anyone that gets in his way, even if they're only trying to help him."
Tsukauchi's expression is conflicted, an odd mix of a grimace and something more solemn.
After another moment, he nods.
Guess that's Shouta's cue to leave while he still can.
"Make sure to look into the disappearance of the Shimura family, and ask Yagi Toshinori what he knows about them and Shimura Nana," Shouta says, deciding to give Tsukauchi a bit more information to work with. Then he offers a short bow.
"Stay safe, detective... and good luck."
Shouta ducks out of the office, leaving Tsukauchi to clean up the mess.
He's only just stepping through the front doors of the station when he hears Tsukauchi call out a 'Hey, wait a second-!' after him. It's almost amusing, that now is the moment Tsukauchi realized something wasn't quite right.
But it's too late.
Shouta slips out the door and sprints away before anyone can catch up to him.
He keeps going until he's several streets away, then slows down to a more casual pace once he's sure no one is chasing after him.
That went surprisingly well.
And now that it's taken care of, all that's left for Shouta to do is to head to the new hideout location so they all can figure out their next move. He's been doing a lot of walking today too, so a chance to sit and get the weight off his leg would be appreciated.
He can't help but think of his own Tsukauchi Naomasa now that he's finished speaking to him. Or rather, he can't help but think about what happened to him—would have happened to him, had nothing changed.
As useful as a quirk like 'Lie Detector' is—especially considering Tsukauchi's chosen line of work—no one ever seemed to consider how a quirk like that could be used against its user.
Was it possible to torture someone just by telling them the truth?
Shouta wasn't there when the detective had been taken hostage along with the rest of his coworkers. Wasn't there when they were murdered—executed—one by one for the simple crime of working at that particular police station. Not even the receptionist had been spared.
'I'm going to fucking kill you, and there's not a damn thing anyone can do to stop me,' were the last words spoken to Tsukauchi. The last words he ever heard.
And those words were nothing but the absolute truth.
The villain had been right; no one could stop them, and they killed Tsukauchi.
But now the man is alive again, all of them are, with no memories or even so much as an idea as to what sort of fate awaited them.
A fate that hopefully won't happen a second time.
Shouta's broken out of his thoughts with a child-like voice calls out behind him, followed by rapidly approaching footsteps.
"Mister 'raser!"
He freezes midstep, eyes wide.
...What?