02/04/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 7 - Interview

Hitoshi sat down and looked over the table at the person who was going to question him. It was an older man and he just wore a shirt and pants. He didn't appear special which was… Hitoshi wasn't sure what it meant at the moment.

"Usually we wouldn't do this," the man said without preamble. "But given the current situation-" he shrugged and then appeared to want an answer.

Hitoshi didn't sigh though he wanted to. Aizawa had warned him there'd be games within games and that he'd have to play at least one level of them.

"It's a special situation," he replied.

The man gave him a look and then nodded. "We want to pre-empt any questions," he explained.

Hitoshi returned the nod.

"And we want to help him," the man continued.

For a moment Hitoshi didn't understand and then he nodded. He knew how this went. The official line wasn't trotted out much because most villains were older but there had been a few who were tagged that way officially when they were young. Then the Hero Public Safety Commission always said the same thing. He wanted to brace himself to say it but knew he couldn't. If he did that then they'd know he was lying.

Instead Hitoshi blew out a small breath and half closed his eyes as he nodded and looked down at the table. "I understand. The sooner Izuku can be brought in, the-" he paused, making a face as he considered. "The less time he will have had to commit crimes and-" he shook his head. "Hopefully they won't be that bad, so the punishment won't need to be that bad," he said with a slightly hopeful note in his voice.

"Exactly," the man said. "Now, let's start," he added. "What is your name?"

"Hitoshi Shinsou," he replied.

"Age?"

"Sixteen."

"Quirk?" While they weren't meant to ask about his quirk, he knew this question had been coming. These days, the standard set of questions always included information about your quirk.

"Reaction based brainwashing," Hitoshi said. Aizawa had counselled that it would be better than saying brainwashing. Adding the two words somehow made his quirk seem far less dangerous because it implied there were conditions. There were conditions but most people considered them to be dangerously easy to achieve. But until someone knew what the conditions were, the words acted as a protection. The underground hero had explained it was all about perception.

"Your occupation?"

"High school student."

"Where?"

"UA, first year, General studies course."

The man nodded at him. Hitoshi didn't react. He knew these basic questions were to establish a baseline.

"How long have you known Izuku Midoriya, also known as Mitei Chui or Izuku Chui?"

"Since I was eight," Hitoshi said, and did not volunteer any further information.

That had been another of Aizawa's instructions. The man had told him to answer the questions but to do nothing more. Hitoshi hadn't needed an explanation as to why that was best.

"How did you meet him?"

"Izuku walked up to me one lunch time and said he wanted to be friends," Hitoshi answered. It was a little bit more complicated than that. He still remembered being confronted by a giant of a man the day before but essentially that is what had happened.

"Just like that?" the man seemed sceptical.

"Just like that," Hitoshi confirmed. "We were eight. There didn't need to be other formalities," he added somewhat sarcastically.

The man stared at him for a moment before he nodded. The pause made Hitoshi wonder if the guy was wired? Had someone just reminded him that kids made friends easily? Unless something else, far more obvious happened, Hitoshi decided he probably wouldn't know. Or be able to work it out.

"What did you think of him?"

"What do you mean?" Hitoshi asked. That was another thing Aizawa had told him after making him run around the training field. If there was an open or vague question, then he was allowed to ask for clarification. While he was being questioned, he wasn't charged with anything or even under undue suspicion. There was obviously some suspicion since he was being questioned but they knew he wasn't a villain. The underground hero had reminded him that they couldn't treat him as a villain. The nebulous they might like to but they couldn't.

"What were your impressions of Izuku?" the man clarified.

"He seemed sincere," Hitoshi explained. "He knew about my quirk and said that didn't matter," he added. He really didn't want to mention his quirk again but he also knew the HPSC would have been able to find out quite easily that people had been suspicious of it. These days people didn't really consider that, because he had friends, but when he was alone… They automatically assumed he was alone because he had driven away his friends using his quirk on them.

People were idiots.

"Your parents moved when he did. How did that happen?"

"I don't know exactly but they were after a sea change," Hitoshi said.

Apparently the guy was happy to leave that question there. He'd said nothing but the truth. He didn't know but he remembered his parents had told him they wanted to move. He was pretty sure that so long as he continued to tell them the truth then they would have to accept that, though Hitoshi was curious if the person with the truth detection quirk was the guy or someone watching.

"So you have been friends with Izuku Midoriya continuously since you were eight."

"Yes," Hitoshi acknowledged.

"Did you know his father was a villain?"

"Not then I didn't."

That acknowledged that he now knew Izuku's father was a villain but didn't tell them exactly when he'd found that out. It might only be a few days early - during All Might's fight that he'd worked it out - but those few days were important. The rest of the world hadn't known that man was Izuku's father until later.

The guy appeared surprised. Hitoshi remained silent. Did they think that Izuku's dad went around announcing that he was a villain? That was stupid.

"When did you find out?"

He hadn't really wanted to answer that question but he could still be vague. "With what happened now," Hitoshi said and was glad that he sounded calm.

The man gave him a sharp look and Hitoshi knew he wasn't going to be able to keep being vague about the timeline. "When exactly?"

"The night of All Might's fight." There was no point in trying to deny it. Aizawa had been clear on what would happen if they thought he was lying.

"Why didn't you report Izuku?"

"What do you mean?" Hitoshi said.

"Your friend is a kidnap victim," the man said.

"I didn't know that then," Hitoshi told them. He hadn't. He'd only learned that later. "I didn't know he was Izuku Midoriya until the Yaoyozoru interview," he offered the information freely.

Reluctantly Hitoshi could see that the guy had to accept that. "So why didn't you report Izuku as a villain then?"

What type of dumb question was that? That implied that Izuku was always going to be a villain… Hitoshi shouldn't be surprised now. He knew how the world worked. "Because he hadn't done anything."

"But he was going to."

"No, he wasn't!" Hitoshi snapped back before realising the answer had been a mistake.

"How do you know?" the man seized on the information.

Hitoshi gritted his teeth. This was something personal to Izuku and he didn't feel right revealing it but he knew he had to. He took a deep breath and met the man's eyes. "Just before our last year of Middle School, Izuku's father let him go."

"Let him go?" The guy's tone was clearly doubtful.

"Let him go," Hitoshi repeated. "He told Izuku to go into the world and make his own decision."

"Oh, come on! There is no way-"

"Izuku believed it," Hitoshi said before the guy could say anything further.

That shut him up and Hitoshi watched as he obviously bit the inside of his lip. Even if Izuku's father didn't mean for Izuku to make a choice, for the line of questioning they were taking, all that mattered was what Izuku believed.

"Very well," the man said before fixing him with a look.

Hitoshi braced. He didn't know the exact question that was coming but he had a fair idea.

"And what do you think of Izuku Midoriya's actions now?"

He knew what they wanted him to say here but Hitoshi also knew he'd be lying if he said that. Hitoshi allowed himself to sigh now. "I'm conflicted," he said finally, knowing he couldn't remain silent forever.

The man nodded, as if to acknowledge the truth of his statement but also to indicate he should continue.

"The public punishment given to Ochaco Uraraka, far outweighed the supposed crime, especially when compared to the public punishment given to Kaminari," Hitoshi explained. Ochaco had been expelled from UA for supposedly just knowing Izuku, while Kaminari, and others, had travelled to an active hero raid and then used his quirk on national television. It was beyond vigilantism.

The man said nothing. Hitoshi was kind of thankful for that because even if they tried to claim there were other things going on that they weren't aware of, without details of those other things, the punishment was extreme.

"But taking their quirks is not going to help Ochaco. And going to be a villain is not going to change the system," he continued, but added the words by itself in his mind. That way he was completely truthful but he had no idea if it would work. He could only hope that the person reading his honesty wasn't only based on his words. He thought it would be okay since there were other ways of telling if a person was lying.

"The system?" the man asked.

"The system," Hitoshi confirmed but knew what he was asking. "No system is perfect," he explained. "The current hero system could use some improvements."

The guy looked at him almost disbelieving before his expression morphed slightly. It became the type of expression adults gave children who were too young to know better.

"If Izuku came out and said that his real quirk was one that allowed him to take other people's quirks permanently, he'd be called a villain, whether he was one or not. I know what that's like," Hitoshi explained.

The man remained silent. Hitoshi hoped that was for the best.

"But it's not-" he huffed. "It's not a reason to go out and actually become a villain," Hitoshi concluded. That was true. Your quirk alone shouldn't be why you became a villain but it was the reason at least some people did become villains, at least in society's eyes, so Hitoshi wasn't lying with that statement.

It took the guy a moment to realise that and he nodded.

Hitoshi waited for the next question but nothing came and silence stretched between them. He sat quietly, not sure if they wanted him to say something more, something that might be incriminating or if they, those he hadn't seen, were debating his answers.

The man sat as well and Hitoshi took the opportunity to examine him. He was dressed simply and didn't appear to have any mutation. If he was wired, then that was well hidden and he didn't have the air of someone who was listening to a conversation so if the others were discussing him, they were not broadcasting it.

A minute passed, and then they moved into the second. Hitoshi was reminded how time crawled when in silence. There were times when it flew, but for now it was crawling. He was kind of amused when the man started fidgeting.

"My name is Jinsha," the man told Hitoshi.

He nodded a response but the name didn't mean anything to him.

"I'm not the one who can tell if you are lying," he added.

"Ah," Hitoshi smiled. "So they are discussing things?"

"I think so," Jinsha said with a shrug.

"Eraser Head must like you," Jinsha added.

"What do you mean?"

The guy smiled. "Eraser Head must like you," he repeated. "He obviously spoke to you about how to answer, and what we were expecting."

Hitoshi shrugged. He wouldn't deny it but he didn't have to confirm it exactly.

"He wouldn't have bothered if he didn't like you," Jinsha explained.

Oh, that was interesting to hear. The underground hero had been… Hitoshi knew he'd been peeved that he'd been instructed to take him on as an apprentice but he also knew the underground hero would take it seriously. But it was interesting to hear that something he'd done must have made an impression on the man.

"I'll make sure to thank him," Hitoshi said.

Jinsha gave him a slightly disbelieving look before he laughed. "You do that," he encouraged before he sighed. "Given the time this is taking, I think you've put the cat among the pigeons."

"I didn't lie."

"Oh, I don't think you did," Jinsha agreed. "I just… I don't know what they were looking for."

There wasn't anything he could say to that and so Hitoshi just nodded and remained silent.

Again there was silence between them but this didn't seem as difficult and while it was long, it didn't stretch as it had earlier. Then Jinsha shifted slightly and Hitoshi knew he was listening to something.

"If Izuku asked you to help him, what would you do?" the question came suddenly.

Hitoshi blinked. He knew he had to answer truthfully. "I'd help him, but I'd also tell the Heroes," he finished forcefully. "At the very least I'd want to hear him out," he explained.

Jinsha nodded at his answer and went silent.

Hitoshi hoped that answer wasn't going to ruin things. But if Izuku asked him for help he would want to do it.

"All right, you are good to go," Jinsha said suddenly, faster than Hitoshi would have expected given the answer he'd just given.

"Just like that?" Hitoshi asked with a frown.

"Just like that," Jinsha shrugged.

For a moment Hitoshi hesitated, wondering if he should ask something before he realised it was obvious. Anyone in his position, or rather, the position they wanted him to be in would be wanting reassurance that their Apprenticeship wasn't in danger.

"What about-?" He paused, as if unsure how to phrase things delicately.

"What about?" Jinsha prompted.

"What about my Apprenticeship?" Hitoshi asked, sounding worried. He was worried. He didn't know what he wanted to do in the future but the Apprenticeship would give him options and would give him insights into the hero industry that couldn't be made from outside.

"There's no change," Jinsha told him.

Hitoshi felt himself relax at that and nodded.

"If Izuku approaches you, tell Eraser Head immediately and he will let the appropriate authorities know," Jinsha said before he gave a small huff. "And I would do that, if I were you. Your friend-" Jinsha shook his head. "He's not your friend anymore. He might want to be but-" he sighed heavily. "I don't think he's the person you knew anymore."

Hitoshi frowned. "What do you mean?"

Jinsha looked at him for a few seconds before he shook his head. "I can't say," he said. "But-" he paused. "I can't say he was lying to you the entire time you knew him, because you knew him since you were eight, and he wouldn't have been lying then. But now… He's not the friend you once knew and it would be better if you thought of Izuku Midoriya as a different person from the Izuku you knew."

Hitoshi swallowed and then forced himself to nod. Izuku had said he was- He hadn't really said much but apparently he'd been busier than he'd indicated. But that was the way things were going to be. "I'll… I don't think he'll ask me for anything," Hitoshi said.

"He might," Jinsha replied immediately.

Hitoshi didn't frown but he wondered what information he didn't have. Or were the heroes thinking that because Izuku was young, he'd make simple mistakes? That seemed like something they would do, in which case- He didn't smile or roll his eyes but it was a close thing. If that was the case, then the Hero Public Safety Commission were underestimating Izuku and they'd pay the price.

He'd just have to wait and see.

-ted-

They might come to regret this. Eventually.

My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.

-ted-

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