Naomasa groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose while Sasaki stood across from him with his head held down and his eyes locked on his feet, the both of them standing outside the station.
"Let me get this straight. After you left Toshinori's agency, you've been digging into All For One on your own, in your own time, told none of us anything you found. And once you looked at the file Nezu-San sent you about Deku-Sensei you thought it he was connected to All For One and didn't contact any of us about it?" Naomasa questioned.
"Yes." True Sasaki answered.
"And what part of that plan sounded rational in your mind? I can understand if you were hesitant to tell Toshinori, but why the hell wouldn't you tell me? Or Gran Torino? If you really found something about All For One don't you know how much trouble we'd all be in because you didn't think to bother voicing any of your concerns?" Naomasa asked feeling a touch irritated with the man.
A feeling that was quite justified given that they were talking about All For One, Naomasa wasn't on the battlefield like Sasaki was but he damn well knew what the aftermath entailed.
All the fights he had with Toshinori to not leave his bed after that bastard all but gutted him and the countless times he had to remind Toshinori to take his meds on time or scold him for going over his time limit.
Sasaki crossed his arms and leaned back slightly "Torino-San was quite clear that I wasn't to bother contacting either of you unless it was an emergency." True Sasaki explained and Naomasa didn't need his quirk to know that, he winced when he remembered the massive blowout between Sasaki and Gran Torino in the hospital when Sasaki said he was quitting as All Might's sidekick.
There had been no love lost that day between all three of them, and Naomasa admittedly had a very strained relationship with Sasaki after he left Toshinori like that.
In a hospital bed missing half his organs and having broken the one boundary that Toshinori had made in their friendship, and Sasaki had kept to that decision and never looking back after he left Toshinori's side.
Naomasa was quite bitter over the whole incident, Naomasa could understand if Sasaki was upset Toshinori wouldn't listen to them about not working himself to death.
But Sasaki had straight up abandoned Toshinori when he was in one of his lowest points in Toshinori's life, and he was one of the reasons Toshinori had thrown himself even further into his work to forget all about the heartache of losing Sasaki as a friend.
Toshinori could lie as much as he wanted and he could even lie to himself that he didn't care but Naomasa knew the complete cutting of ties hurt his friend deeply... but Naomasa wasn't so bitter that he'd place all of the blame on Sasaki, Sasaki may not have reached out to them, but Naomasa hadn't tried to reach out either.
Naomasa took a deep breath and calmed down his irate nerves "Right... can you tell me how you think Deku-Sensei is connected to All For One? You don't think... " Naomasa couldn't bring himself to ask, the idea of that bastard still being alive made it feel like everything in his body withered up inside of him.
"No, no. Tosh- Yagi-San was very thorough as he bashed All For One's head in. I think this Deku-Sensei is some kind of descendant, a son or perhaps a grandchild that has a similar quirk." True Sasaki quickly corrected finally raising his head, meeting his eyes, and waving his hands dismissively.
"A child of All For One?" Naomasa repeated shocked, Naomasa knew deep down that All For One was just another human but the idea that he'd ever have kids was a hard pill to swallow.
Sasaki nodded "Yes, there are reports with thin connections between Deku-Sensei to villains whose mediocre quirks suddenly became useful enough to escape heroes in the top fifty, people can train their quirks to be stronger but things like that don't happen overnight and with the knowledge that All For One's alias 'Sensei', it was a foregone conclusion." True Sasaki explained and Naomasa understood immediately.
"And as horrid as the thought of there being more of that man in the world, I can see All For One using women with particular quirks to... create a child with a stronger version of his own, and he'd have plenty of time to wait for such a result." True Sasaki elaborated making Naomasa feel sick at the thought of hapless women being strung along by All For One just for a child.
And that would be the best case scenario for this kind of thing, but it was so believable when he thought it over.
"I wish, I could say that wouldn't be possible." Naomasa grudgingly said and Sasaki nodded muttering a soft "Indeed." T-true
"If that is true, then Deku-Sensei might be just as dangerous as All For One." Naomasa pointed out.
"Which is exactly why I've been trying to find out more about Deku-Sensei, if I'm right then the fact that All For One didn't kill or take the boy's quirk means something must be different about him for All For One not to do so. My current theory is that unlike his brother Deku-Sensei wasn't as rebellious and from his movements I believe that the boy is taking after his predecessor." T... r-r- Sasaki confirmed.
Feeling a massive headache coming up in his future Naomasa sighed and pulled up his sleeve and removed his nicotine patch since it seemed to have expired without him knowing "We should probably get back inside, we're going to look suspicious if we stay out here for much longer." Naomasa suggested as he placed a new patch on his arm.
"Of course. I apologize for not contacting you earlier Tsukauchi-San, not bringing you in when I know how important this is to you as well was an oversight." True Sasaki admitted hands held behind his back and avoided his eyes.
Naomasa exhaled "It's something we'll have to deal with, though I understand your reluctance given we didn't part on such good terms." he told the man before re-entering the station.
Naomasa glanced around for Gang Orca hoping he hadn't left just yet, he had excused himself after they had been 'fully' briefed on the Deku-Sensei situation with Sasaki following shortly after to speak in private, and that talk was certainly enlightening, but Naomasa had a few questions that he wanted to ask Miyake.
Successful in his quest he spotted the man aiding Miyake with some paperwork "Gang Orca, Koi, can I have a few minutes of your time?" Naomasa requested walking over to the two, Gang Orca pursed his lips and glanced back over to Miyake, the boy in question merely tilted his head to the side.
"I don't see why not." True Gang Orca conceded "What do you need Detective?" the man inquired as he placed aside the papers.
"You mentioned earlier that Koi, your intern has met Ren before and the two seem to know each by name. I'd like to know how well you two knew each other so I shall be asking Koi some questions about that, if that would be alright?" Naomasa questioned.
"That would be acceptable." True Miyake said and Naomasa glanced at Gang Orca for confirmation it was alright, the man sighed before he nodded his head.
"Alright. Koi, can you please tell me when you first met Nomori Ren?" Naomasa asked pulling out his notepad.
Miyake gave a soft thrill "It was perhaps either the third or fourth day after I moved into my apartment, we met in passing at one of the stores in Yaizu." True the boy answered surprising Naomasa.
"In Yaizu? That is farther from the Nomori residence than your mentor's agency is. What was Ren doing so far from his home?" Naomasa inquired confused and a little concerned what the boy would be doing in a red-light district.
"Running away from home, only temporarily. When I asked, he said he wanted to be anywhere else, as long as it wasn't home, he didn't care where he was. I can remember him showing up at Yaizu fairly often to escape his home life, but he'd always go back for his father." True Miyake responded.
"I see, so you were aware of the Nomori's marital issues before Ren turned himself in?" Naomasa questioned and Gang Orca glanced at the boy.
"Yes, Ren-San was not shy in telling others of how abusive his mother was." True Miyake answered simply, Naomasa glanced at Gang Orca and saw the man was similarly uneasy by the boy's admission.
"Did you ever bring this information to the attention of the authorities?" Naomasa asked unsure if he'd like the answer.
"Yes, three separate times." True Miyake replied.
"What happened after you did?" Naomasa pressed knowing that no such reports of domestic abuse had been found in the database when he and the others searched for them... which was suspicious because the idea that it had gotten to this point, and it wasn't reported by any of their neighbors was quite unlikely.
Miyake blinked and tilted his head "The officer threw the report in the garbage, he wasn't subtle the second time and they didn't bother writing up a third one the last time I came in." True Miyake responded.
*What?* Naomasa thought as one of his eyes twitched, Gang Orca wasn't so restrained with both of his hands balled in fists.
"Do you know why they dismissed reports of domestic abuse?" Naomasa questioned and Miyake stared back at him, though the boy's face wasn't very expressive Naomasa distinctly got the feeling Miyake was giving him the 'Are you serious?' face.
"Because Ren's father, Soki-San is quirkless." True Miyake answered.
"That's it? They didn't file the report because Nomori Soki is quirkless?" Naomasa pressed, because it was one thing not to file a domestic report, but it was another thing entirely if the crimes were purposely unfiled because of quirk discrimination of all things.
Miyake blinked "Yes, the first time I gave a report of the situation at the Nomori residence they were all very serious about it until I told them Soki-San was quirkless, and while Ren was more than willing to testify no one wished to take up the case without concrete proof, which was impossible to get because Akira-San's quirk; Mending Words, erased all of the damage she inflicted on Soki-San." True Miyake explained in detail to them.
"I, see. Thank you for informing me about this Koi, I shall investigate this matter. Could you please attach the name of the precinct you went to and the names of the officers you spoke with in your report?" Naomasa requested, resisting the urge to ask for their names directly because if he was honest, he was pissed.
It was bad enough they were being discriminatory, but this lack of accountability had led to a child being forced into a god-awful situation where he had to kill someone because they couldn't be bothered with doing their own job, something that was entirely unacceptable.
"I shall." True Miyake agreed with a light nod.
"Thank you, Koi, given these circumstances would you say you were close to Ren?" Naomasa inquired deciding to move on from the topic for now, since he'll have to do it later.
"Not particularly, we just spoke from time to time and would hang out a bit but I wouldn't call us friends." True Miyake responded with a shrug of his shoulders.
Naomasa nodded "And have you ever met either of Ren's parents?" he asked to cover all the bases.
"No, Ren-San never invited anyone back to his house or brought his father to Yaizu." True Miyake replied simply.
"Okay thank you for being so cooperative Koi. If we have any other questions, we'll make sure to contact you for a follow up." Naomasa told the two placing the notepad back in his pocket.
"I'd like to remain in the loop on Ren's case if possible, Detective Tsukauchi." True Gang Orca requested as he and Miyake stood up.
"I'll see what I can do." Naomasa replied walking away and pulling out his phone, preparing to call up his partner Tamakawa so they could get ready to file some corruption charges against one of the departments in Yaizu.