Shouta hates having to go to the police station—any police station—when he doesn't need to.
It's oftentimes loud, and busy, and there were far better things he could be doing with his time that didn't involve standing around making small talk. He's done with work for the day—doesn't have to start his patrol until nightfall—which means he should be relaxing at home with Hizashi and their cats. Or he could be grading homework, preparing for tomorrow's lessons, maybe even taking a damn nap.
But instead he's having to follow up on the villain that's pretending to be him, for whatever asinine reason they have.
Nedzu had decided he wanted to go, and he'd insisted on Shouta joining him.
So, really, Shouta had no choice but to go.
He can admit that he's curious; all of his coworkers are curious about the whole doppelganger situation, too. As far as they could tell, Shouta was the only staff member that was being impersonated, though that of course didn't include the students they think were similarly being mimicked.
So far none of the other teachers had noticed anything odd about their students, and there'd been no more reported sightings of the imitation Midoriya Izuku or Shinsou Hitoshi.
Were there actually multiple people involved, though? Or was it all being done by the same person?
And why were they choosing to impersonate him of all people, anyways?
Surely it would be more advantageous for them to replace some other hero; one that was higher up in the ranks than Eraserhead, an underground hero.
Though... he uses the word 'replace' loosely, seeing as whoever was doing this was making no real effort to hide the fact there were two 'Eraserhead's running about. They'd even shown up to UA while Shouta himself was inside the building. Then just after that, they'd waltzed right into a police station and outright claimed to be him. There was no denying the fact that they were getting something out of pretending to be him.
But if they did intend to 'replace' him, wouldn't it have made more sense for them to kidnap him first?
Shouta knows they're not above kidnapping, and that his doppelganger was found by Hizashi on his walk to UA—very close to their apartment, in fact. So clearly they must have known Shouta lived nearby? Or was it a coincidence?
What he's trying to get at is; wouldn't it have made more sense for them to ambush Shouta on his way to work, rather than going after Hizashi?
Because it doesn't make sense.
None of the things they're doing are making any sense!
Why kidnap a random civilian in broad daylight, right outside of UA's gates? Right in front of the goddamn press? Why remove said civilian's hands? Why bother handing the civilian over to the police afterwards?
And why did his doppelganger then go on to kidnap a child?
The child—another civilian, five-year-old Kibarashi Ami—hasn't been seen since she was abducted yesterday. And when her parents had been contacted, they'd stated that they don't have any known enemies; no one that would want to hurt them through their daughter.
No demand for a ransom had come through yet, but was that what they wanted?
Had the doppelgangers mutilated their first kidnapped victim just to show off what they were capable of?
Was Kibarashi Ami unharmed? Was she even still alive?
What the hell is their motivation for doing all of this in the first place?!
...Well, now that Shouta's doppelganger has been captured, hopefully soon they'll have some answers to those questions.
Shouta's also wondering how his doppelganger had known one of his and Hizashi's secret codes, because that's not something that anyone outside of the two of them should know. That was the whole point of it being secret.
Hizashi certainly seemed convinced that Shouta's doppelganger might maybe be him, in some way or another, but Shouta's not convinced.
He doubts this visit will do anything to convince him, either.
As he trudges his way to the precinct, Shouta keeps his hands shoved in his pockets and his face tucked low in his capture weapon. He tries to ignore the weight of Nedzu hiding in the latter.
They could have just taken a car, but no, Nedzu wanted to go 'under the radar'.
Shouta suspects Nedzu just enjoys curling up in his scarf and scaring people when he pops out, but he doesn't dare say that out loud. He values his life too much for that.
Even without them arriving in a vehicle though, Shouta can't help but notice just how many people are blatantly staring at him as he nears the station. Usually he's able to blend into the crowd well enough, but he supposes people have been on the lookout for 'his' face.
All the news coverage on 'his' capture certainly didn't help.
As people continue staring, Shouta hunches his shoulders subconsciously. Though he's an expert by now in ignoring the way others perceive him, all the eyes on him have the back of his neck prickling; the hairs standing on end.
Nedzu must pick up on it, because one of his paws squeezes Shouta's shoulder in a reassuring manner—or maybe Shouta had just unbalanced him and he was trying to hold on.
Either way, Shouta walks a little faster.
When he finally pushes his way through the front doors of the correct police station, he's surprised to find Tsukauchi already there.
"Nice of you to join us, Eraserhead," he greets, and he looks Shouta over... warily? Tsukauchi tilts his head with a somewhat awkward smile. "You... are Eraserhead, right?
"Last time I checked, yeah," Shouta answers dryly.
"And of course—" Nedzu pops out of Shouta's capture weapon at that exact moment, startling Tsukauchi while Shouta remained impassive, having been expecting it. "—I can confirm! This truly is... Eraserhead!"
Shouta almost feels a little bad for Tsukauchi, and he watches as the man lets out a breath to calm himself.
"Hello... Nedzu-san," he says, awkwardly clearing his throat. "I assume you're here to observe the interrogation? I've only just arrived myself."
"That's correct!" Nedzu chirps. And now that he'd revealed himself, he climbs down from his perch on Shouta to instead stand next to him. He clasps his hands behind his back. "Seeing as this involves one of my staff members, it is only right I step in to ensure the safety of UA." Pausing, Nedzu tilts his head to the side. "...I also had a few questions of my own I'd wanted to ask, if that's alright?"
"Of course." Tsukauchi inclines his head back up in Shouta's direction. "And you, Eraser?"
Shouta shrugs. "I'm just here to watch... Nedzu insisted."
"Alright," Tsukauchi says. He turns then, and gestures for them to follow him with one hand. "Would you two like to tag along with me, then? I was just going to look over what was confiscated from the suspect."
That catches Shouta's attention.
"What was confiscated?" he echoes, and based on the way Nedzu's ears perk up he's just as intrigued.
Tsukauchi glances over his shoulder at Shouta as he and Nedzu trail behind him.
"Yes. I heard there were several interesting items that had been confiscated, and I'd wanted to look over all the evidence before I began any questioning."
"Logical," Shouta remarks with a nod.
He can admit he's curious to see, too. What sort of 'interesting' things would his doppelganger have had?
They head for the evidence room, having to wait for an officer to unlock the door and let them in before they could enter; Shouta gets some suspicious glances, but they do let him inside.
Hopefully once this is all sorted he can go back to being mostly ignored, rather than everyone mistaking him for a villain. He could only be so lucky.
The lights flicker on automatically when they enter.
All the things that had apparently been taken from Shouta's doppelganger have already been neatly placed atop a table. Nedzu ends up climbing back up to Shouta's shoulders so he can see, and Shouta just sort of... lets him.
He's not sure how to feel as he looks over the spread of items.
Obviously he recognizes some of them; the grey capture weapon, for example, along with the exact kind of black jumpsuit he himself was currently wearing. Even the same damn yellow goggles. The jumpsuit looked more patchwork than fabric at this point, though, and the capture weapon was tattered and stained. The thin under-armor looked identical too, albeit very worn down. The combat boots were in a similar condition.
Shouta recognizes many of the weapons on the table as well. The knives look like they've been through hell—some of the blades are chipped, and it seems like it'd been a long time since any of them were professionally sharpened.
There's even a single short-sword next to the knives, which despite looking weathered was identical to the one Shouta himself had on his belt.
Considering what they know Shouta's glad that none of the blades appeared noticeably bloody, though he does, again, know that at least one of them had been used to hack a civilian's hands off just the previous day. He supposes they should be grateful the doppelganger hadn't been carrying around the severed hands on his person, though he had been... armed.
...Geez. It's been months since Shouta last had to deal with Ms. Joke and her humor was still rubbing off on him.
Mentally shaking his head, Shouta turns his attention to the rest of the items.
He finds himself perplexed by the two devices off to one side. They were all black, and consisted of a thin pole with loops of straps attached along the length. It didn't look like any sort of support gear he'd seen before; it looked more cobbled together than anything else. Did the doppelganger make it himself? Shouta thinks it could maybe fit on his forearm, and the length of the poles themselves seemed to support the idea. He's not sure what use they had, though.
Beyond that was a battered-looking wallet that had been emptied of its contents, and Shouta's eyes narrow when he spots what looks like an official hero license. It was damaged to the point of being nearly illegible, but when he looks closer he could just about make out the tiny picture of his own face on one corner, and the word 'Eraserhead' printed in black ink.
Shouta thinks of his own license in his own wallet, and how the details matched up as far as he could tell.
Next to the previously mentioned boots was what looked to be a well-used prosthetic leg, and Shouta frowns at all the bits of filed-down metal sticking out of it and the nearly-gone paint job. It sure didn't look all that comfortable.
The strangest item on the table was perhaps the official 'Put Your Hands Up!' shirt, which also looked years newer and cleaner than everything else. When Shouta asks about it though he's told by the officer watching them that it was likely stolen; apparently just the other day someone had reported clothes disappearing from their drying line. Specifically, an All Might hoodie, a Hawks bomber jacket, and... a Present Mic t-shirt.
...Why would his doppelganger steal a Present Mic shirt? Especially after having run into the real Present Mic the other morning, and... running away from him.
It doesn't make any sense.
All of these things are only adding to Shouta's confusion—adding more disconnected pieces to the puzzle, more questions.
His thoughts grind to an instant halt when he notices the rings.
One of Shouta's hands immediately goes to his own chain, hidden under his scarf, though his only had one ring. That other one looked like...
Hizashi's.
Unlike his Hizashi's wedding ring, though, this one had been dented beyond all repair. Shouta's heart hurts at the thought of what might have caused that kind of damage.
He's not sure he wants to know the answer.
Shouta has to remind himself that Hizashi is fine; they'd split up at UA only less than an hour ago, and he was probably home by now getting some grading in while he waited for Shouta to get back—he'd insisted on hearing everything the second Shouta was done here.
Hizashi and his own very much intact wedding ring were both safe and sound. Shouta had nothing to worry about.
So why did the sight of that dented ring make him feel so uneasy?
Shaking the feeling off, Shouta tears his gaze away from both rings and focuses in on where Tsukauchi had pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, and how he was now inspecting the damaged license.
"...May I see your license for a moment, Eraser?" he asks. Shouta hums as he reaches into his pocket to grab it.
"Here," Shouta says once he's got it, and he hands it over.
Thanking him, Tsukauchi holds up both licenses side-by-side so all three of them can see. "...They're the same," he notes.
"It would certainly appear that way, yes," Nedzu says cheerfully, inspecting everything from his perch on Shouta's shoulder. From what Shouta could see though, Nedzu's smile seemed more tense and contemplative than truly cheerful.
"What do you make of it, Nedzu-san?" Tsukauchi asks as he hands Shouta back his license, the damaged one being placed back on the table.
"Oh, I have my theories," Nedzu replies, but in typical fashion doesn't elaborate.
Tsukauchi turns to Shouta. "...And you, Eraser?"
"Not sure," Shouta shrugs noncommittally. He glances again to the table. "That certainly looks like my license, and most of this stuff looks like my stuff, but that doesn't mean the guy is me."
"Well, we won't find out anything by simply looking at his belongings," Nedzu points out, though Shouta imagines Nedzu would love to look the items over more thoroughly; it's police evidence, so while Tsukauchi can they really shouldn't. Not like any of the disposable gloves would fit Nedzu's paws anyways.
Nedzu continues; "We will have to talk to our suspect if we want any answers."
"That's true," Tsukauchi sighs. He turns to look towards the door they'd come in from, which of course had closed behind them. "We'd better do that now, then. The officers here have already taken his prints—we can check those against yours, Eraser, if you wouldn't mind giving us a fresh sample—so he should be waiting for us in interrogation room one."
"Yeah, 'course," Shouta says with a one-armed shrug.
All heroes get their fingerprints taken when they first start out—for identification purposes, and to check against the HPSC's database—but it's been several years since Shouta got his taken. Guess he'll have to remember to do that before they leave.
Tsukauchi takes a moment to strip off his gloves and dispose of them, before he steps out into the hall. He politely holds the door open for Shouta and Nedzu.
It becomes clear pretty quickly to Shouta though that Nedzu wasn't going to hop down to the floor again—he'd waited to give Nedzu the chance to do so, but he seemed content staying right where he was. Shouta suppresses a long-suffering sigh.
Rather than argue about it, he just trudges after Tsukauchi.
They've barely taken a few steps towards their destination though when they run into a problem.
Well, not exactly a problem, but the person between them and the interrogation rooms was still definitely blocking their way, even if he didn't mean to be.
Iida Tensei emerges from a separate room—still donned in his hero gear, helmet tucked under one arm—and he perks up when he notices the three of them. Clearly he wanted to have a conversation, and Shouta has to suppress yet another sigh. They didn't have time for this.
"Hey there, Tsukauchi, Nedzu, uh... Eraserhead," Iida greets, jogging over to stand in front of them. He quickly focuses in on Shouta in particular. "It's been a while," he says. "My little brother's in your class this year, right? How's he doing?"
"I'm not here to talk about my students, Ingenium," Shouta grits out, pointedly glancing over at Tsukauchi and Nedzu.
He half hopes that one of them will hurry this along, but both of them seemed content with waiting patiently. Tsukauchi at least had the decency to pretend to give them privacy by shuffling through his notes; Nedzu made no such effort.
"Oh, yeah, I guess you wouldn't be, huh?" Iida rubs the back of his neck with his free hand, and the loose, casual way he held himself is so different from his younger brother that Shouta has to remind himself that, yes, they are brothers. Iida continues almost sheepishly, "I actually just finished giving my statement. I'm the one who caught your double, you know."
"Sure," Shouta says, though this is the first he'd heard of it.
He hopes that'll be the end of the conversation, but Iida was still blocking their way, and his half-smile had transformed into more of a thoughtful frown as he stared at Shouta.
"Say, Eraserhead..." he says. "Your quirk, it causes other quirks to stop working, right?"
Now Shouta's the one who's frowning, because Iida should already know that. "...Yes?" he answers.
"And it makes your eyes glow red? Makes your hair float?"
"Yes." Shouta narrows his eyes. "Why are you asking me all this?"
"Oh, just..." Iida tilts his head, still with that thoughtful frown. "When I was fighting that doppelganger of yours, he... well, that's exactly what he did, is all. I'd thought it was a weird coincidence so I wanted to be sure."
That... is weird, yeah.
It was one thing for his doppelganger to be mimicking his appearance and voice, but it was another thing entirely for him to be copying Shouta's quirk.
"I probably should get going now, though," Iida says before Shouta can think of a response. "Got things to do... We should catch up sometime soon though, Eraser! Maybe at the bar?"
"Not a chance," Shouta deadpans, but Iida only laughs.
"See you later, then!"
And finally Iida was off, tossing a grin and a wave over his shoulder as he went. Shouta obligingly offers a lazy wave in return, while Tsukauchi and Nedzu both call their own goodbyes.
"...I didn't know you and Ingenium were friends, Eraser," Tsukauchi remarks once Iida's disappeared from view.
"We're not," Shouta says with a shrug. "He's more friends with Midnight, really. She just likes to drag me along to her get-togethers, so we met there."
Honestly, Shouta doesn't mind 'hanging out' with Iida Tensei. The man was friendly enough, not too loud or pushy, and he was a good hero. The times the two of them had to work together on a case were more tolerable when compared to some other not-to-be-named heroes. Plus, Shouta appreciates Iida's efficiency.
He doesn't say any of that out loud, though.
Tsukauchi hums thoughtfully. "I see... well, I hope you have fun next time they drag you to the bar, then."
"Uh-huh," Shouta says.
"What a fortuitous encounter, though," Nedzu chimes in. And though Shouta can barely see it he knows Nedzu's raised a paw to his mouth in thought, adding in a mumble; "And what an interesting tidbit of information..."
It really was, which at least made up for the interruption.
And now that their path wasn't being blocked anymore, they could finally move forward.
"Ah, I must thank you again for allowing us to join you, Tsukauchi-san," Nedzu says as they continue their way down the hall. "I'm sure this will be quite enlightening."
"Of course," Tsukauchi nods. He glances sidelong at Nedzu. "Will you be staying to observe the entire interrogation?"
Nedzu hums in thought. "...Perhaps not. Shouta-kun and I are simply here to ensure UA's continued safety, after all. I'm sure there are questions you'll be needing to ask that have nothing to do with that, hm?"
Shouta tries not to blush at Nedzu calling him Shouta-kun in front of Tsukauchi.
Oblivious to Shouta's embarrassment, Tsukauchi says, "That's right... I'll stick to questions relating to UA and Eraserhead first, then."
"Thank you, Tsukauchi-san," Nedzu says with a smile, tail swishing behind him.
Before they actually enter the interrogation room, Shouta sneaks a look through the one-way mirror as they walk by, finally getting his first in-person glimpse of his so-called doppelganger. He looks different from how he'd appeared on screen, and not only because his jumpsuit and gear was all missing.
The first thing Shouta's struck with is how utterly exhausted the man looks; his shoulders were slumped in seeming defeat, head hung low and matted hair obscuring his face.
It's... not what Shouta was expecting to see, though he's not entirely sure what he was expecting, either.
Whatever it was, it sure wasn't this.
Ducking his head so most of his own face was hidden, Shouta stays one step behind Tsukauchi as he opens the door to the interrogation room.
The second he does so, the doppelganger's head jolts upright to look at them. He's glaring, but his eyes were too wide to be anything other than downright terrified.
Shouta's not sure what to make of that as he lets the door shut behind him, idling there while Tsukauchi continues forward. He sits down in the only other chair in the room, opposite the doppelganger. No one speaks as Tsukauchi does his typical introduction and explanation for the suspect, though it hardly seemed like he was listening.
Instead, he was just staring at Shouta.
Honestly, Shouta would prefer to loiter by the door and stay out of the way, but Nedzu's still sitting on his shoulder and he silently urges Shouta forward. So, Shouta goes.
He shuffles over to stand behind Tsukauchi, his doppelganger's eyes locked on him the entire time.
Being closer means Shouta gets to have a better look at him, too.
There's deep purple eye bags under both of the man's eyes; darker than even Shouta's would get on his worst days. His eyes were bloodshot, skin unhealthily pale and covered in filth. The plain prison clothes hung off of him oddly.
Shouta also sees the muzzle.
He'd noticed it the second his doppelganger's head shot up, but... seeing it up close has Shouta feeling nauseous. And as much as he does hate that the doppelganger is mimicking him, he... he didn't deserve that.
Nedzu's noticed it too, and he tenses imperceptibly beside Shouta.
"...Why has he been muzzled?" he asks, beady eyes flitting to the officer that had entered with them to guard the room; he barely turns his head to the side to do so, and Shouta could tell his mentor was just as upset by this as he was. Probably even more so, given his history.
The officer clears his throat. "The... suspect bit and seriously injured another officer while we were bringing him in. He had to be muzzled for everyone's safety."
"Kinda hard to question someone when they're muzzled," Shouta mutters, side-eyeing the officer himself.
"I'm sorry, but I wouldn't recommend taking the muzzle off," the officer tells them, eyeing Shouta's doppelganger warily. "The suspect is extremely hostile."
In response to that, the doppelganger's eyes narrow into slits, and he gives a low warning growl that's muffled by the muzzle. Shouta is oddly reminded of a feral cat that's been backed into a corner.
The rest of the visual information filters in as Shouta looks closer—the rigidness of his doppelganger's shoulders, the unconscious curling of his fingers, how his eyes intently track their every movement.
How he's trembling, just a little bit. Just enough to cause his limp, greasy hair to waver.
Those slow, intentional breaths.
Four seconds in, hold for seven... eight seconds out. How occasionally, those measured breaths were interrupted by a stuttered exhale.
It's all the same tells that Shouta himself has never managed to train himself out of. Unconscious, telltale things.
He can see it all with startling clarity; his doppelganger is afraid.
Afraid of them.
Before anyone else can say anything though, Nedzu hops off of Shouta's shoulder and onto the table itself.
"Nonsense," he says, in that tone that Shouta recognizes as brooking no argument. Entirely unafraid, Nedzu walks across the top of the table until he's standing before Shouta's doppelganger. And then he just... stops, standing there and seemingly inspecting him with his head slightly tilted.
Shouta waits for the man to growl in warning again, but... he doesn't. He just stares up at Nedzu with this sort of sad, distant expression. Yet the fear remained.
Nedzu doesn't say anything, simply staring in return for long, long moments.
They can't see much of Nedzu's expression from behind like this, but Shouta thinks he could see his nose... twitching?
Was Nedzu smelling the doppelganger?
Shouta had caught a whiff of the man's jumpsuit and capture weapon back in the evidence room, and it was awful. Like weeks of old sweat and blood. What could Nedzu possibly get out of that?
The tension is finally broken by one of Nedzu's ears flicking.
"I have no intentions of harming you, if you have none of harming me," he says, and his tone is so soft and uncharacteristically gentle that Shouta almost doesn't recognize it as being Nedzu's voice. He's only ever heard Nedzu use that tone when speaking to someone he cared for; student or otherwise, but typically only when they were badly hurt and in need of comfort.
In that same soft tone, Nedzu continues, "Let us get that muzzle off, yes? Then we can speak like civilized individuals."
Nedzu waits until Shouta's doppelganger has nodded in response, but everyone else in the room still tenses when he steps forward onto the man's shoulder to get at the muzzle straps on the back of his head. Rather than shaking Nedzu off though, he just stays still and even turns his head to the side to help.
It only takes a minute for Nedzu's paws to work the straps loose.
Shouta winces when he sees some of the man's hair get caught in the locking mechanism. Still, he stays tensed and ready in case he needs to step in.
But even after Nedzu's lowered the muzzle from the man's face, revealing bruises, red lines from the muzzle itself, and stubble even worse than Shouta's... he doesn't lash out. He just sits there, head hung low, shoulders slumped.
"There we are," Nedzu murmurs, placing the muzzle to the side with a look of barely-contained disgust. "Much better, yes?"
"...Yes," Shouta's doppelganger croaks after a few seconds. "...Thank you..."
Humming, Nedzu places a paw on top of the doppelganger's head, not even patting him but simply resting his paw there atop the man's ratty hair.
Shouta watches in disbelief as the man's eyes widen for a moment before slipping shut, as if Nedzu's touch had actually relaxed him. He even tilts his head towards Nedzu's paw!
That's what really throws Shouta off, because Nedzu was very, very picky about which humans he trusted. The last time Shouta had personally seen Nedzu act like this he'd been a student himself, right in the middle of the worst time of his life and in too much shock to shy away from the unexpected comfort. He hadn't even realized at the time how rare it was for Nedzu to act like that. So, for Nedzu to be treating this grown man they'd only just met like a student he was particularly fond of...
"Sir...?" Shouta questions, honestly more confused than anything else.
"Hm?" Nedzu turns to him, paw still atop the doppelganger's head, and he simply smiles at their obvious bewilderment. "Ah, yes. The interrogation," he says after a moment. "You may begin now if you'd like, Tsukauchi-san. Please don't mind me."
"Thank... you...?" Tsukauchi says. He and Shouta exchange a very confused glance.
All Shouta can offer in response is a shrug.
They look to Nedzu again as he finally takes his paw back, and he casually walks back across the table to stand next to them again. Shouta looks between Nedzu and the doppelganger while Tsukauchi awkwardly shuffles his papers.
From the little Shouta can see of his face, he swears his doppelganger almost looked... amused by Nedzu's antics?
What the hell is even going on anymore?
"Alright..." Tsukauchi flips through his little notebook until he reaches a blank page, and he taps his pencil against it. "We are going to begin the interrogation now..." he says. "To start with... what is your name?"
The doppelganger's eyes flick over to Shouta then away again. He no longer looked amused.
"...Aizawa Shouta," he eventually rasps.
Ugh, Shouta thinks, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Had the guy even been listening when Tsukauchi explained how his quirk works? What was the point of continuing lying when it—
"...Truth..." Tsukauchi murmurs.
Shouta whirls to look at him in shock. "Huh?"
But Tsukauchi doesn't look back at him, instead tilting his head at Shouta's goddamn mirror image, and asking, "You believe you are Aizawa Shouta?"
The man—he has to be a doppelganger, right?—bares his teeth. "I am Aizawa Shouta," he says, firmer this time.
And again, Tsukauchi marks his words as; "Truth."
"That's not possible," Shouta mutters, half to Tsukauchi and half to himself.
His doppelganger's eyes flit to him again, and for a moment Shouta swears he sees the barest flicker of... resentment? No, not quite. But it's gone too quick for Shouta to get a good read on it.
"Think whatever you want," his doppelganger tells him, voice low and tired. "But my name is Aizawa Shouta. That's the truth."
Shouta still doesn't believe him, even despite his insistence and Tsukauchi's quiet mutterings that it is, in fact, the 'truth'. Sure, the guy could believe he's 'Aizawa Shouta', but Shouta knew it was possible for Tsukauchi's quirk to be tricked. Whether by a mental quirk or implanted memories or whatever, it didn't matter.
He isn't Aizawa Shouta. Shouta is Shouta.
But Shouta knows arguing about it isn't worthwhile, so he just keeps his scowl hidden behind his scarf as Tsukauchi moves on to the next question.
"What is your date of birth?" he asks.
"November eighth," Shouta's doppelganger answers, along with the same damn year Shouta himself was born. Clearly these people had done their research.
Tsukauchi next asks, "And... how old are you?"
"I..." That though seems to trip the man up, and his brow furrows. "...I don't know," he eventually says. "I think... maybe thirty-four?"
"Maybe thirty-four?" Tsukauchi echoes, frowning.
Shouta frowns too, because based on the year the doppelganger said, they should be the same age as him; thirty years old, not thirty-four. So why was their math off?
Some part of Shouta's mind supplies that this could be a time travel situation, but he dismisses it just as quick. Time travel incidents were exceptionally rare, and if they did happen then it tended to be only minutes or sometimes hours that had elapsed, not years.
No, something else had to be going on here.
The question is what.
"Alright," Tsukauchi says, breaking Shouta out of his thoughts. He flips to a new page in his notebook. "We'll move on from that for now... My next question has to do with what happened yesterday outside UA; why did you abduct Shigaraki Tomura?"
Shouta's doppelganger frowns. "I already told you," he says, "Shigaraki was going to break in. The gates, he... he was going to destroy the gates."
"UA's gates are quite indestructible last I checked," Nedzu chimes in, a curious glint in his eyes as he considers the man before them. Shouta watches him turn to look at Nedzu when he goes on to say; "What makes you think Shigaraki-kun could have damaged them?"
"His quirk, Decay..." His arm shifts, and it's then that Shouta notices an old scar covering the man's right elbow—only just poking out from under his sleeve. He's not sure what could have caused it. In looking, Shouta also notices countless other old wounds, some of which looked hauntingly familiar. Others were very much unfamiliar to him, like... his...
His right leg.
Where the fuck was his right leg?!
Shouta does a double-take, staring at the empty pants leg in shock.
He'd seen the beaten and battered prosthetic leg on the evidence table, sure, but his mind hadn't really connected that it meant his doppelganger was missing a leg.
He's so shocked he almost misses it when his doppelganger keeps on talking.
"He disintegrated—was going to disintegrate the front gates, which would have let him and the press inside. He was going to steal something while everyone was distracted."
Nedzu tilts his head.
"And what, exactly, was he going to steal?"
"The... class schedule. The one for the next week of classes."
"Why do you think Shigaraki-kun wanted that?
"Because..." The doppelganger's hands clench into fists, and he looks uncertain as he glances over at the officer listening in.
Tsukauchi and Nedzu look, too.
"...Could I ask you leave us for a minute, please?" Tsukauchi ends up asking. The officer frowns and looks like he wants to argue, but Tsukauchi adds, "We'll be fine here, I don't believe he's going to attack us."
"Procedure states at least one officer needs to remain in the room when the suspect is combative," the officer says.
"He's been cooperative for the questioning thus far," Tsukauchi points out. "Besides, he's cuffed, and Eraserhead here is a very capable hero. If anything were to happen he could step in. Couldn't you, Eraserhead?"
That snaps Shouta out of his shock.
"Yeah," he automatically says, grabbing hold of his capture weapon—more to give himself something to hold onto than anything else. "I can handle it."
It's not a lie.
He's a pro-hero, dammit. He could handle one villain.
Not like there was much for him to handle, especially when said villain was missing a damn leg. And, like Tsukauchi had said, Shouta's doppelganger was cuffed to both the table and the chair, even if only one of the ankle restraints was being used. Plus, with the cuffs suppressing his quirk there wasn't anything he could do.
He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Even Nedzu speaks up to add, "I believe he would be more willing to answer our questions if you were not in the room. I do not have all day, if you weren't already aware."
Now that was a lie; Nedzu wouldn't leave until he got his answers.
Shouta really would like to know too, so he shakes off the last of his shock and aims an impatient glare at the officer.
The man's still frowning, and he looks between all four of them for several more irritating seconds, before he sighs in defeat and exits the room.
Fucking finally, Shouta can't help but think.
Once the door's clicked shut behind the officer, Tsukauchi turns around to face Shouta's doppelganger again. "Is that better?" he asks. "This room is secure, so you can speak freely."
Now, Shouta knew they were still technically being watched—there's cameras, and the one-way mirror, and that little tape recorder Tsukauchi always had on him—and he has a feeling his doppelganger knows all that, too. But the absence of the guard in the corner seems to relax him anyways, at least somewhat; his shoulders slump, fingers uncurling, and while he does glance to the door and the one-way mirror, he also answers Nedzu's earlier question.
Shouta watches him swallow thickly, throat bobbing, before he finally opened his mouth.
"Shigaraki, he..." His voice is quiet, and all three of them have to lean forward to hear him. "...He was after your newest teacher, All Might. Shigaraki wanted to know what his schedule was going to be; where he was going to be, and when he was going to be there."
Nedzu frowns. "Do you think that Shigaraki-kun intended to do All Might harm?"
"Yes," Shouta's doppelganger says, no hesitation. "If he'd had the chance he would have taken it, no matter who was in his way. Hero, civilian, child... doesn't matter. That's why I had to stop him."
To himself, Shouta doubts some random civilian barely out of his teens could have gotten the better of All Might, even if they did have the man's schedule. It was absurd.
And Shouta just can't wrap his mind around how it somehow justified cutting the kid's hands off in his doppelganger's eyes.
At the same time he can't help but think about today's USJ trip and how All Might was supposed to be there, only for him to blow them off at the last minute. His name had been on the teacher's schedule, however, and if that had fallen into the wrong hands... If someone had come looking for All Might and not found him, Shouta wonders what might have happened.
...Well, it's not like they needed All Might to protect themselves. Far from it. Even if Thirteen focused more on rescue than combat, the two of them could have easily protected the students if push came to shove.
Shouta's not being arrogant when he says that, either. He's been a pro-hero for more than a decade by this point; he knows damn well what he's capable of.
There was also the fact that the Unforeseen Simulation Joint was a secure facility, so even with something like a 'disintegration' quirk, Shouta doubts anyone could have gotten the drop on them. Perhaps something could have happened on the ride to the USJ when they had all been on the bus, or on the ride back to UA, but other than that it was a perfectly safe and routine field trip.
But clearly, his doppelganger didn't think so. How annoying.
As if reading his mind, his doppelganger looks his way and just... stares at him, head cocked to the side like he was considering whether or not to say something.
"...What?" Shouta asks, a little defensively.
Rather than answering right away though, his eyes flit to and linger on... the spot just under Shouta's right eye? Now that he looks closer, actually, Shouta can see an old scar under the doppelganger's right eye. Didn't Hizashi mention something about that?
When they meet eyes again Shouta's doppelganger finally says, "...How'd the USJ class trip with 1-A go today?"
Shouta jolts, but his eyes quickly narrow.
"How did you know about that?" he hisses, because while it had indeed happened earlier today, it wasn't exactly supposed to be public knowledge. No one outside the UA staff and the students themselves were supposed to know about it.
Unless...
"It was on the class schedule," his doppelganger tells him, pretty much confirming Shouta's suspicions.
And then he smiles at Shouta, just the tiniest uptick at the corner of his mouth; like he'd just told some joke that Shouta didn't get. The bastard.
Shouta glowers at him, but it didn't seem to have any effect—in fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect. And beyond the man's exhaustion Shouta could see his 'fucking with people' face, as Hizashi had so aptly dubbed it.
Their staring contest is interrupted by Tsukauchi.
"...Does that mean someone inside of UA brought you a class schedule?" he asks. They all turn to him, the doppelganger with a tilted head, as Tsukauchi goes on to say, "Since you were seen leaving UA with Shigaraki, you couldn't have taken it yourself, and Shigaraki couldn't have had it yet. Did you have someone bring you the schedule later?"
It would make sense if his doppelganger had some inside help, Shouta thinks. As much as he hates to think that UA could have a leak, that someone in UA could be assisting this villain... it wasn't impossible.
But Shouta's doppelganger only shakes his head. "No. No one currently in UA brought me anything."
"Someone not currently in UA, then?" Tsukauchi asks.
"No one gave me anything, I just happened to know about it already."
"And what about the others with you?"
Shouta's doppelganger stiffens. "The... others?"
"Yes, the others." Tsukauchi reaches into one of his pockets to produce a picture, which he places down on the table in front of the doppelganger. From what Shouta could make out considering it's upside down from his perspective, he thinks it's a picture of whoever was impersonating Midoriya Izuku; from the news segment regarding Monday's incident.
He watches his doppelganger's expression grow ever more weary at the sight of the picture.
"We know that there are more of you," Tsukauchi says, tapping the picture before he leans back in his chair. "Given you didn't revert into some other form when you were cuffed, I can assume your quirk has nothing to do with impersonating people. Therefore, the others we've noticed aren't simply you imitating them."
The doppelganger's frown deepens, and he hunches in on himself. But he does, eventually, speak.
He sure didn't look happy about it, though.
"...There... there are others with me, yeah," he says, "—but they've got nothing to do with this."
"Did any of them tell you about the class schedule? Perhaps not by taking it, but by asking someone who did know...?"
"No. I told you, I already knew about it."
"But how?" Tsukauchi asks, and Shouta actually feels bad for the guy given how exasperated he sounds.
Shouta's doppelganger seems to smile apologetically. "If I told you where I got my information, detective, you wouldn't believe me. Even with your quirk."
"And where did you get your information from?" Nedzu asks, almost... softly?
The tone has Shouta's doppelganger looking away from Tsukauchi and over at Nedzu instead, the two of them locking eyes. And if Shouta didn't know better, he'd say his doppelganger's expression looked remorseful all of a sudden.
It's an expression that Shouta doesn't like seeing on his own face.
His doppelganger stares up at Nedzu through his bangs for long moments, like he was debating how to answer. Or maybe whether he should answer at all.
"...I think you already know... sir," he whispers then, so quietly that Shouta has a hard time hearing him; Nedzu had no such trouble.
"...Yes," Nedzu says, leaning back a tad. "I believe I do."
Shouta's brows furrow as he looks between the two of them, because he sure as hell doesn't get it.
It's not like Nedzu actually believed that this doppelganger—this stranger pretending to be Shouta was, some-fucking-how, also Aizawa Shouta. There was no way. Nedzu's known Shouta since he was fifteen years old, he was damn familiar with how Shouta worked and the impersonator sitting in front of them wasn't it.
There's no way Nedzu believed that the guy was... what? A clone? Or, no... a time traveler?
...Oh, god, that's exactly what he thought, isn't it?
Fuck Shouta's entire life.
Right that second all the evidence that's been piling up in front of Shouta blindsides him.
His doppelganger being able to imitate him so well that it had even convinced Hizashi of all people. All the things that'd been confiscated matching Shouta's own things. His strange inside knowledge of things that, by all accounts, he shouldn't know about. Like the timetable, and the secret phrase Shouta and Hizashi used. Even Nedzu's uncharacteristically familiar behavior towards him.
It's pretty clear now that it was all pointing to one conclusion.
Fuck, Hizashi's never going to let him live this down; both that there are apparently two of him now and that it had taken him this long to figure it out. He has to resist the urge to bury his face in his hands.
God fucking dammit.
This is honestly the worst possible outcome too, or perhaps the most annoying for Shouta personally. He doesn't get paid enough for this shit.
"...Nedzu-san?" Tsukauchi questions, pulling Shouta out of his self-deprecating spiral.
Tsukauchi looks between all three of them with furrowed brows, but based on the way his eyes widen and his mouth falls open a little only a few seconds later, Shouta thinks he'd figured it out, too.
None of them dare say it out loud, however.
Shouta's no idiot; he knows their society is flawed.
It's entirely possible that his doppelganger—and, fuck, he should probably stop thinking about him like that if this is really, actually true—could simply be locked away for what he'd done, or much worse. Someone could abduct him and try to pry information out of him.
Hell, their own government could do that, and no one would be the wiser. It was generally known that time travel quirks and those affected by them were kept under tight wraps.
So, it's best if they kept this to themselves for the time being.
Plausible deniability and all that.
There's also the fact that Nedzu already seemed protective of him, which meant Nedzu wasn't going to accept Shouta's doppelganger falling through the cracks.
...Shouta really needs to think of what to call him other than 'his doppelganger'.
But thinking of both himself and his... future self? As 'Shouta' would get confusing real fast. Maybe he could use his—their? Family name? Still confusing, but a bit less so.
It would do for now, at least.
He'd still like to be absolutely sure before believing him, though.
So Shouta leans forward, not quite enough to be eye level with his dopp—with Aizawa, but enough to catch his attention.
They stare at each other in silence for a minute.
Now that he's really looking Shouta can see yet more similarities between them, but he does his best to ignore them for now—he has to. Even so, the resemblance is... uncanny.
Focus. He needs to focus.
There are so many things he could ask, though. A thousand questions with a hundred thousand answers. He could ask Aizawa something that only Shouta himself could possibly know. Or he could say another one of his and Hizashi's secret codes and see if Aizawa knew the corresponding phrase.
But there's one thing that's bothering him above all else, and he has to know.
"Who did the broken ring belong to?"
Aizawa jolts, eyes widening as he sat up. "Huh?"
"The wedding ring. You had two rings on a chain; I saw them in the evidence room. One of them was broken." Shouta tilts his head. "Who did it belong to?"
Almost like an unconscious thing, Aizawa's right hand jerks up like he was reaching for something, but he gets stopped by the chain connecting him to the table. He grimaces and puts his hands back down.
He's not looking at Shouta anymore, either.
"I... I think you already know the answer to that," he says, fingers curling against the tabletop. Shouta hums.
"Tell me anyway."
Shouta knows he isn't being fair, but this was the only way he could be absolutely certain.
He doesn't back down.
No one else speaks. And though Aizawa was staring stubbornly down at his own hands, Shouta could see as he began to crack.
"It..." Aizawa turns his head to the side—away from Shouta. He swallows thickly. "It belonged to... my husband."
His husband.
Husband.
Shouta clenches his hands into fists inside his pockets.
"What was his name," he pushes.
"Please, don't make me say it..." he hears Aizawa rasp, face obscured by his hair, but Shouta could tell by the quiver to his voice and shoulders that he'd struck a nerve. It makes his own chest tighten, and he has to resist reaching for his own ring. He clenches his hands tighter.
Finally, Aizawa whispers, sounding almost pained, "...Hizashi, alright? His... his name was Hizashi."
Fuck, Shouta thinks to himself.
He leans back, looking away as well and finally reaching to clutch—not his wedding ring, though he wants to—his capture weapon. Fuck, he thinks again, as harshly as he can without saying the word out loud.
Fuck.
Shouta doesn't have the strength to ask what happened to Aizawa's husband.
He doesn't want to know.
"...I think we're about done here, then," Nedzu says, his quiet voice loud in the otherwise silent room. "I have one last question for you though, Aizawa-kun. If that's alright?"
Though he doesn't quite look at Nedzu, Aizawa hums and offers a tiny nod in assent.
Softly, Nedzu asks, "Is UA in danger?"
"...Yes, sir," Aizawa rasps, "It is. But it's not in danger from me or my ki—" He cuts himself off, clearing his throat before finishing with, "...the others."
Tsukauchi, when Shouta and Nedzu turn to him, murmurs a soft; "Truth..."
"...I see," Nedzu says, bowing his head. "Tsukauchi-san, I believe Eraserhead and I will be taking our leave now... Ah, but first—"
Nedzu walks across the table again, leaning forward and seeming to whisper something in Aizawa's ear; quiet enough that this time Shouta wasn't able to make out any words. He is however able to see the way Aizawa's eyes widen.
He's got a sneaking suspicion as to what Nedzu just said, but he wisely keeps his mouth shut.
All too soon Nedzu steps back, offers a short nod to Aizawa which, after a moment, is returned, and then Nedzu hops back up onto Shouta's shoulder. Shouta stoops down to let him on without a word.
"Thank you again for humoring my curiosity, Detective Tsukauchi-san," Nedzu says, next offering a nod to Tsukauchi. "Please, keep me appraised of the situation, if you can."
"I'll do my best," Tsukauchi replies. "Have a nice day, Nedzu-san, Eraserhead."
"Mhm," Shouta hums, distracted.
When he glances to Aizawa before turning to leave, the man looked like he was lost in thought, too.
Shouta knew he had to get his fingerprints taken before he and Nedzu could leave, so despite wanting to just walk out the door he first stops to get that done. He watches numbly as the ink is applied, then as each of his fingers is pressed into the pad of paper, leaving behind distinctive smudges.
He already knows they'll match the prints that were taken from Aizawa.
By the time they finally get to leave, Nedzu's once again hidden inside of Shouta's capture weapon. Neither of them speak as Shouta exits the police station.
Shouta appreciates that Nedzu wasn't trying to talk to him, though that may have had something to do with them being out in public again, and his mentor not wanting anyone to notice him. He'd have to stop by UA again to drop him off before he could go home.
It's then Shouta remembers that Hizashi will be wanting to hear about everything, and he just... doesn't know if he has the energy left to do that.
Even after meeting his doppelganger face-to-face, Shouta still doesn't know what to think, let alone how to feel about it.
This whole time he'd been expecting his doppelganger was just some run-of-the-mill villain; someone that had a reason for doing what they were doing, sure, but a villain nonetheless. He's not sure what to make of that not being the case.
Stranger still was the fact that Aizawa is, well... him. Another version of him from the future.
What had happened to Aizawa for him to wind up where he was?
What the hell happened to him? To his world?
Shouta can't imagine any sort of situation where he would willingly mutilate anyone, let alone a twenty-something year old civilian. He can't imagine kidnapping a child either, or biting a police officer, or any of the things that Aizawa's done in the few short days he's apparently been here.
He can't wrap his mind around why Aizawa is acting the way he is.
But he's got a good fucking guess.
Shouta just... doesn't know what to think.
Nedzu had probably figured it out from the get-go, and Shouta can't even begin to imagine what sort of theories were flitting through his mind right this second. Hizashi had figured it out, too.
Well... maybe not the whole time travel thing, but just from that one short encounter Hizashi had known the doppelganger was Shouta.
Hizashi's always been a smart bastard.
There's also the fact that, if Aizawa is some future version of Shouta, then those other doppelgangers they've been seeing are probably future versions of their current selves, too.
Aizawa never admitted how many there were or who they were, but...
They know about Midoriya Izuku and Shinsou Hitoshi.
Both students at UA.
Midoriya was in Shouta's class, sure, but Shinsou was a Gen Ed student; he wasn't one of Shouta's students.
And yet Shinsou had called him Dad-sensei.
The second part of that nickname was confusing enough, considering Shouta is, again, not Shinsou Hitoshi's sensei. And that's not even touching on the kid calling him dad.
Like, what the fuck?
And don't think he didn't catch that little slip-up of Aizawa's, almost calling 'the others' his kids.
Did that mean all of the 'others' with Aizawa were students? Was it only the two they'd spotted so far, or were there more? How many more? Exactly how far into the future did they come from?
Maybe it wasn't even a time travel situation. Maybe instead it was some sort of... alternate reality kind of thing? Was that a thing?
Fuck, Shouta doesn't know. He really, really doesn't know.
All of this was giving him one hell of a headache.
It'd probably be for the best if he left the thinking and theorizing to Nedzu.
There's still plenty of time before Shouta had to start his patrol, but... he's worried now he'll be too distracted to properly focus. So distracted that he might make mistakes.
Why had Aizawa and the others been sent back in time?
(He doesn't want to know.)
How did Aizawa lose his right leg?
(He doesn't want to know.)
What happened to the future version of Hizashi?
(He doesn't want to know.)
Shouta's got a lot to think about.