Chapter 28
.::Interview with a High Schooler::.
"Sorry again for the short notice."
"It's cool, I was really bored anyway! Like, really bored." Ashido grinned as Naomasa and the others removed their shoes, hands entwined behind her back while she rocked on her heels. "So, like, where do we do this? Are we all just gonna sit on the couch?"
"Would the kitchen table work?" Naomasa asked, and she bobbed her head.
"Yeah, sure!" Ashido beamed as she bounced over to the table, Naomasa following with a sedate smile of his own. The table wasn't that big, it only had enough space for two chairs. Amusingly it still had a bowl and a spoon at one spot, which Ashido quickly swept up and carried to the kitchen with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, guess I missed that!"
"It's no problem," he assured her, sitting down with a smile. His first impressions of Ashido Mina matched the loose profile Lady of the Night had compiled: cheerful, energetic and probably a good kid. She overall felt like a pretty average teenage girl, a breath of fresh air from the usual witnesses and suspects he usually spoke to. "I know we showed up pretty suddenly, so I didn't expect your apartment to be spotless. My schedule's a bit hectic, so it's hard to plan ahead sometimes."
"Detectives have it hard, huh?" she asked, plopping into the chair across from him. Her gaze flitted to Kageyama and Kayama behind him. "Um, there aren't enough chairs for you guys, though."
"We're fine standing," Kayama assured her with a smile.
"I've been sitting for hours," Kageyama added, folding his arms behind his head. "Standing is way better."
"Okay, if you say so." Ashido nodded, but she looked again at Kayama, her eyes squinting in concentration. "What's your name again?"
"I'm Suimin Sayo, but you can call me Suimin-sensei, if you want," Kayama replied without missing a beat, flashing a cheerful smile. Lie, Naomasa's mind pinged, making him suppress an amused smile. So that's how she's planning to play this, huh. They hadn't fully discussed the plan before coming in, but it seemed she'd be using her civilian cover instead of admitting to being Midnight this time.
Ashido hummed, leaning forward with a frown as she continued to squint at her. "Have we met? I feel like you're really familiar."
"I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Kayama replied lightly. "I'm sure I'd remember meeting someone as bright and colorful as you." Her words seemed to assuage some of Ashido's curiosity, shooting her one last slightly suspicious look before sinking back into her chair. Her attention returned to Naomasa as he pulled out a small tape recorder and held it up.
"We'd like to record this interview, is that okay with you?" Ashido looked at the device for a second before shrugging.
"Sure, I guess?" she agreed, sounding faintly confused. Naomasa smiled as he placed it on the table and hit the record function while she continued. "But didn't you guys, like, already get all my statements about that guy back on Friday? Because I can't think of anything else I didn't already say."
"And I'm sure you did a fine job. This interview is about another matter, though." He didn't miss the way she stiffened slightly, a glimmer of suspicion visible in her eyes as he leaned forward. "Do you use the name 'Alien_Queen_Pink' on FacePage?"
The second the name left his mouth her face lit up with recognition, half-rising from her chair with a look of shock. "How'd you find out!? Isn't FacePage supposed to be like, super-secure or something? Did you hack my phone?" The questions didn't carry a note of accusation, instead sounding almost like a curious if bewildered child, though the last one had a distinct note of suspicion.
Naomasa felt his mouth tick into another smile while Kageyama and Kayama suppressed snorts behind him. "No, we just happened to get lucky," he told her. "I can't explain how because it involves sensitive information, but us connecting the account to you is a one-in-a-million chance." Ashido didn't seem completely convinced, but her suspicious squint subsided as she sat back down.
"Okay, I'll believe you for now," she said, much to his amusement. He had to admit, it was refreshing to have such an expressive interview subject. Naomasa's ability to detect lies had made him indispensable for interviews and interrogations, especially those known for silver tongues and convincing lies. If he wasn't busy investigating a case on his own, he could almost always count on another precinct or even Pro Heroes asking him to handle questioning suspects and witnesses.
All in all, it left him with even less free time than detectives usually had. Today should have been his day off, but the Uraraka case had been too urgent and critical to even consider refusing. They still had absolutely no leads on her whereabouts or even what caused her to disappear. Given her family's status and the fact she'd encountered Shigaraki shortly before going missing, the pressure to find her was justified.
At least Ashido seemed like she'd be easy to talk to. Not even five minutes in, and she was already more expressive than the subjects of his last ten interviews combined. They could probably see through her lies even without the aid of his Quirk.
Still, the case was too critical to risk taking any chances. Every second Uraraka remained missing was another second closer to finding a body instead of a teenage girl. So he slid into a more professional demeanor, not too stern but still indicating the time for small talk had ended. Ashido seemed to pick up on the shift in his expression, sitting a bit straighter and looking tense as she met his gaze.
"We're currently investigating a missing person case," he explained. "We got access to their FacePage account, and found a conversation with your account."
Ashido visibly perked up as he spoke, an almost excited gasp slipping out. "So Infinity Girl really DID run away?" she blurted, and he could sense the two heroes' attention sharpen behind him. The fact Ashido had identified her with just that information stood out enough, but the conversation log he'd read during the car ride to Kamino hadn't said anything about running away.
"That remains to be determined," he replied neutrally. He glanced back to nod at Kayama and she opened her bag, producing a manila folder with printouts of the conversation history. Ashido craned her neck curiously as the heroine spread them across the table, fanning them to make their contents more easily visible. "These are printouts of the chat history between your accounts. Can you confirm this is complete?"
The teen was silent for a few seconds as she skimmed over them. "Yeah, it doesn't look like anything's missing to me," she confirmed. "I mean, I didn't actually read all of it, but it looks like it's all there."
"We don't need you to read everything," Naomasa assured her. "I just want to make sure there wasn't anything deleted, particularly after the last one. Did you speak to her in any other ways through FacePage, such as comments or group chats?"
"Nope."
"Did you communicate on anything other than FacePage? Phone calls?"
"Nuh-uh. We only used the messenger on FacePage." His Quirk didn't pick up on any lies, so he moved on.
"Alright. So to double-check, did Infinity Girl ever tell you her name?"
"Nope."
"Did you know her real name?"
This time she paused, seeming to think it over with a tiny frown. "No," she finally said, and Naomasa felt mildly surprised when his Quirk didn't register it as a lie. Silences like that usually indicated something, especially with such a straightforward question.
The others seemed to be thinking the same thing, because when he didn't give the predetermined signal for lies Kayama spoke up. "Do you think you two might have met in real life?" she asked, and ah, that might explain it. The way Ashido had paused seemed to suggest she was remembering something at least, they may have met without getting names.
Once again Ashido paused, frowning as she mulled over her answer. Unknown to them, she was debating how to answer because she was ninety-nine percent sure it was her Uraraka, but she still wasn't totally, completely sure. And even then, they hadn't actually met outside of FacePage. Had other-Mina met other-Uraraka? Probably not, some subconscious voice supplied, which she decided was good enough for now.
"I don't think so," she said.
And once again, Naomasa detected no lie.
Despite having no reaction, the fact she paused twice like that now suggested to him that she knew something. The pauses had felt meaningful, Ashido clearly thinking hard based on how her face had scrunched up. It felt like he was missing something, but he didn't know what. All he could do was push onwards.
"In that case, can you answer some questions about your FacePage account?" he asked, and she perked up and bobbed her head eagerly.
"Yeah, totally! Whaddaya wanna know?"
"Why did you decide to make the 'Alien_Queen_Pink' profile?"
"I was bored and lonely. All my friends were busy and I didn't have anything better to do." Lie, his brain whispered, and he inclined his head slightly to the left as he rubbed his chin, the two heroes zeroing in on the predetermined signal that he'd detected a lie.
"Just bored and lonely?" he pressed, and she nodded. "And you really had nothing better to do?" Ashido gave a slight flinch at that, squirming slightly in her chair.
"Okay, I... might have had a science project due the next day," she admitted reluctantly, and then added more meekly, "I think." This didn't register as a lie.
"You think?" Kageyama asked, but before she could respond he snorted. "Oh, wow. Okay, yeah, she's clear, she just sucks at school."
Naomasa twisted in his seat to offer the amused hero an unimpressed look, while Ashido uttered a quiet, "Hey?" that wavered between confusion and offense. "Oracle, please allow me to handle to handle the questions," he asked, and the teal-haired man held up his hands with an amused smirk.
"Sorry, I'll be quiet," he said, but he had a glint of mischief in his eyes and Naomasa bit back a sigh. He didn't doubt the accuracy of Kageyama's statement, in fact he considered the man a better interrogator than himself.
Unfortunately, Kageyama's Quirk didn't translate well to outside viewing though. It worked fine when questioning villains on the field and gathering information to decide how to act, but when it came to formal interviews with witnesses or suspects that were part of an official investigation, they had only his word. For rather obvious reasons, that made it less than suitable for documentation purposes.
When he turned around Ashido was still looking at Kageyama with obvious confusion, still clearly stuck on if she should be offended by his statement or not. "Where did the name Alien Queen Pink come from?" he asked to get her attention back, and it worked. Ashido beamed at the question, her face breaking into a bright grin as she practically jumped out of her seat.
"Alien Queen was my original idea for my hero name!" she said excitedly. "But then I got told it was too scary, so I changed it to Pinkie instead. 'Cause, you know, I'm pink!" She gestured to herself with a grin, and Naomasa had to smile at her enthusiasm.
"Whoever told you that was right," Kayama said behind him, flashing a smile of her own. "Alien Queen sounds like a villain's name—and it's probably trademarked, too." Something about her words seemed to jar Ashido, because she did a double-take at the heroine and then her jaw dropped.
"Wait—are you Midnight!?" Naomasa felt his poker face slip while Kayama's face went slack with undisguised shock. Next to her Kageyama just quietly chuckled and shook his head. As the stunned silence continued Ashido slapped her hands on the table and jumped up from her seat, staring at her wide-eyed. "Oh my gosh, it totally is you, isn't it!? Why're you calling yourself Suimin? What happened to your costume?"
At that Kayama regained her composure and grinned, throwing her head back with a laugh. "Oh my, I haven't been recognized by a civilian in years," she chuckled. She straightened herself but now placed a hand on her hip as it jutted to the side, her smile and pose much closer to the dominatrix persona she had been force to largely abandon years ago. "I had to hang up my whip when the world started going topsy-turvy, hun. Midnight's R-18-only appeal was just too popular. I didn't need villains tracking me down outside of work."
Her response made Ashido's excitement ebb, her expression growing somber as she slowly sank back into her chair. "Oh, yeah, I guess being a hero is way more dangerous now, huh," she muttered, and damn if she didn't look like a kicked puppy.
"Don't be too sad, sweetie," Kayama purred, her smile softening into something more gentle and reassuring. "I still do hero work, I just stay behind the scenes now." Her smile turned sly then, and she raised a hand to her mouth almost conspiratorially. "This is a secret, but my most recent job was being the bodyguard for a teenage girl from a rather influential family."
"Really?" Ashido asked, perking up a bit, and then gasped as realization visibly dawned on her. "Wait—Infinity Girl!?"
"Yep," Kayama confirmed with a wink. "You can't tell anyone about this obviously, but I've been her personal guard and tutor for the last two years. I never told her who I actually was, safety and all that, but we became very close. Like sisters, even!" Her smile faded then, her expression becoming grim as she continued, "Which makes her disappearance all the stranger."
Ashido's own face became somber again at the tone shift, frowning as Kayama continued. "I can't disclose many details about her or the case itself to you, but she vanished from her room. As it stands, we have yet to determine if she was kidnapped, or if she ran away—and if so, why." She frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "When Tsukauchi first started the interview, you asked if she ran away. I've read through that message log many times, but she never made any remarks about it. So why did you think that?"
As a professional, Naomasa found himself silently applauding Kayama's approach as he turned back to Ashido. She'd used the teenage girl's unexpected recognition to help steer questioning the way she wanted, giving Ashido just enough information to showcase her concern and command the teen's sympathy. It obviously worked, as Ashido had a heavy frown full of concern.
"I guess I just kinda assumed, kinda," she muttered awkwardly as she shifted in her seat. "I mean, from what we talked about, she was homeschooled all the time and didn't have any friends, so she already sounded lonely. And, uh, um..." She trailed off with a frown, her face scrunching up in concentration before she groaned. "Okay, so Anjou said it sounded like she'd want to run away, and I can't remember everything she said, but she was really convincing so I think she's probably right!"
The three adults instantly zeroed in on the new name. "Anjou?" Kayama repeated, and Ashido nodded.
"Yeah, my friend from school. She looked at the conversation too, and like I said, she was really convincing."
"How many people know about your relationship with Infinity Girl?" Naomasa asked, and only years of practice kept the urgency from his voice. They knew other people likely knew about her texting someone because of the final string of messages between the two, but they hadn't realized (or rather, they'd hoped) that someone might have read it.
"Just Anjou, Kumiko and Kiri," she replied. "I was really freaked out by that last message from her, so we talked a lot. Kumiko said her dad might've taken her phone, but that's when Anjou said it sounded like she was running away. Then Kiri was kinda wondering if she was catfishing me and was actually an adult or something, but Anjou said she wasn't, and—hey! I just realized, you guys totally prove she totally IS a teenage girl! HA!"
She beamed triumphantly at the realization. Under other circumstances Naomasa would have been amused by her smugness, but right now he was more focused on how much these other three knew. "Kiri would be Kirishima Eijirou, right?" Kageyama asked, and Ashido bobbed her head.
"Yeah, totally! Kiri's the manliest guy around!" Lie, Naomasa's Quirk alerted him, and this time he did let himself smile because it was such a trivial thing.
"Is he?" he teased, unable to help himself, and Ashido's smile became static.
"...Okay, he's kinda wimpy," she admitted sheepishly, before adding more energetically, "But we're working on it! By the time I'm through with him he's totally going to be the manliest man ever!"
Kageyama snickered under his breath while Naomasa decided to steer the questioning back on track. "Can you tell us their full names?"
"Right! Kirameki Kumiko and Anjou—" She stopped, her eyebrows furrowing as she muttered, "Anjou, uh... I don't actually know her first name."
"You don't know her full name?" Kayama asked in surprise. "Aren't you two friends?" Ashido just shrugged, the picture of sheepish as she awkwardly laughed.
"No, we're totally friends! Probably. I think." That sounded oddly uncertain. "She's really deadpan and I think she'd say if she didn't like me, so I'm totally assuming we are!" Okay, that explained the uncertainty a bit. "But yeah, her first name's never come up and we don't have homeroom together so I never hear it on roll call. I never really thought about it until now."
"It's cool," Kageyama said. "I've got the school's register, so we can look it up later." The casual remark earned a curious glance from Ashido, and then her face morphed into horror.
"Wait—you don't think they did anything, do you?" she gasped, and her expression quickly hardened as she slammed her hands on the table. "They totally didn't! I've known Kumiko since elementary school and she would never hurt another person! And Anjou—" She paused again, a slightly confused frown marring her face before she vigorously shook her head and slammed the table again. "She gave me her pudding at lunch every day! She's not a bad person either!"
In all his years of interviewing witnesses and suspects, that had to be one of the most amusing character defense statements Naomasa had ever heard. Evidently Kageyama agreed because he covered his mouth with a snort, making Ashido glare at him harder. "I'm sure they're good people," Naomasa assured her before she could go off on him. "We just need to follow up on every possible lead. Do you think there's a chance any of them would have known Infinity Girl?"
"Absolutely not," Ashido replied firmly, turning that indignant frown towards him. "Kumiko, Kiri and I went to school together so there's no way they'd know her. And I don't know where Anjou went to school or where she lived before, but she'd totally tell me if she knew her!"
Her tone veered towards defensive again, and Naomasa quickly went to reassure her. "Like I said, this is just a formality," he said, hoping that would calm her. It didn't seem to satisfy Kayama though, as the heroine stepped forward with a frown.
"Ashido, I can't disclose why, but we have reason to suspect she's in serious danger," she said seriously. "This applies whether she's been kidnapped and if she ran away. I know we might seem overly harsh right now, but we can't take any chances. Even the littlest detail could be the difference between life and death." The gravity of her words seemed to sink into the teenage girl, her frown growing and outright wincing at the last part before her shoulders slumped.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking down. "I really don't know anything. I'm really worried too. But she has to be fine!" she added, looking up with a renewed fire in her eye. "She's Infinity Girl! The girl who can throw baseballs that never return! And if anyone tries to hurt her, I bet she can just punch them and make them back down no problem!"
Her eyes blazed with confidence, fully believing her online friend to be capable of protecting and fending for herself. Naomasa cracked a small smile at that, though one part stood out. "What was that about her throwing a baseball?" he asked, and Ashido paused.
"Oh, uh, one of my classmates threw a baseball with her Quirk and it just kept going up and up," she explained with a sheepish laugh. "We all called her Infinity Girl for a while after that, so... yeah. Whenever I hear the name Infinity Girl, I just think of that. I guess that might not be true for this Infinity Girl though."
"Ah, I see." Naomasa nodded in understanding. He briefly considered asking for more information on this classmate but quickly dismissed the idea. Uraraka and Ashido had never attended the same school, and since his Quirk hadn't detected a lie when she said "classmate" she must be remembering a different girl. It wouldn't be relevant to their investigation.
With that settled he began gathering all the printouts and pushing them back into the folder. "Thank you. In any case, I think that will be a good stopping point for now." Ashido glanced at him before all but collapsing into her chair with a drawn-out groan.
"Oh good, I feel kinda drained now."
"You don't have any other questions?" Kageyama asked curiously, and Naomasa shook his head.
"Not at the moment, no." They'd gotten a decent amount of information, and some potential new leads. It was clear to him Ashido had nothing else she could offer right now. Currently, he was more interested in meeting up with this Anjou and getting some more testimony on her about why she thought Uraraka might wish to run away.
Before he could voice this out loud Kageyama smirked and nodded. "Ah, I see. Sounds like a good move."
"Huh? What move?" Ashido was the picture of confusion, but Kageyama just smirked at her while Naomasa suppressed a tired sigh. He doubted he'd ever get used to that pseudo-mind-reading bit, it tended to leave him feeling frustrated and out of the loop even when he knew exactly what the other man was responding to, but he couldn't argue that it saved time.
For now he picked up the tape recorder and turned to face the two heroes before turning it off. "Do either of you have any other questions?"
"None relevant to the investigation," Kayama responded with a fluid shrug, side-eying Ashido with a smirk as she added, "I do wonder how you recognized me though. I don't think you were in my target demographic when I retired."
Turns out that Ashido's natural pink hue made her blush an even brighter red. "What? H-hold on, I don't look at that kinda stuff!" Kayama just laughed as the girl made a strangled noise of exasperation, while Kageyama snickered.
"Hey, Ashido," he started, and paused as she turned sullen eyes his way. His head cocked to the side, and his smile grew a little wider. "Do you have a crush on anyone?"
The resulting squawk was emphasized by a spoon being thrown at his face, which he easily dodged by tipping his head slightly to the side. "What does that have to do with anything!?" she demanded, her cheeks even brighter.
"Nothing," he sang, and laughed as he strolled to the door. "You're a fun kid, Ashido. I hope you make it as a hero." The last remark seemed to catch her off-guard, and then her face lit up with the brightest smile yet.
"Absolutely!"
Two minutes later the trio left her apartment, their questioning done for today. "Does anyone else feel like we're missing something?" Kayama asked as they walked down the hall.
"Absolutely," Kageyama agreed blithely ahead of them.
"I'd almost question if my Quirk was malfunctioning if I hadn't caught her lie about the science project," Naomasa commented with a sigh. "It feels like she must know something more than she said, but I can't figure it out right now. For now though, I want to go visit this 'Anjou' she mentioned and ask about the remarks about Uraraka running away."
Kayama perked up at that. "Oh, is that what Kageyama responded to towards the end?" she asked.
"Yep," the hero answered in Naomasa's stead. "I figured it'd be better not to let Tsukauchi actually say it in front of her though. She was pretty defensive about her friends."
"Ah, good call." Kayama made a sound of understanding, while Naomasa glanced at the teal-haired man thoughtfully.
"Speaking of responses," he said slowly, "what was the original question you planned to ask her before the crush?" Kageyama hummed, glancing over his shoulder with a smirk.
"Nothing, I just wanted to see how she'd react," he replied, and Naomasa's eyes narrowed as the other turned forward. Lie. He didn't call him out though, not yet at least. Kageyama knew exactly how Tsukauchi's Quirk worked, so he wouldn't blatantly lie about something important. Surely if he'd learned something relevant, he would tell them.
For now, Naomasa just had to believe that.
Meanwhile miles away from Kamino, a single man laid in the center of a cell, arms bound behind his back and a chain connecting his metal collar to the ground. He didn't feel sore or tired today, his arms mostly numb right now. He didn't know how long he'd been here anymore, the passage of time impossible to track without a clock or window. The only light he had was a dim bulb hanging from the ceiling, the cheap kind that gave a constant low buzz that he'd long since learned to ignore.
Footsteps sounded in the hall outside, heavy boots that echoed loudly on tile floor, making his gaze flicker to the door. The steps drew closer and closer before ultimately passing by, a shadow briefly visible in the light under the door before vanishing. As they faded away he let out a sigh, curling into a ball and closing his eyes. Another false alarm.
Perhaps he should be glad no one was coming to check on him, since for so long he associated visits with pain. The beatings had mostly stopped a while ago though, and they'd stopped altogether after the last one ended up cracking a rib. At least they were nice enough to drug him for the first few days so breathing wouldn't hurt so bad, though he suspected that was mainly to make sure he'd stay still so it wouldn't worsen.
As far as he could tell it had healed for the most part by now, the area still a bit sore but he no longer found it painful to take deep breaths. For now, he just felt bored out of his mind. Months of being locked in an empty room did that, and even the constant anxiety and dread which had haunted him at the start had slowly waned with time to nothing more than a quiet ever-present hum in the back of his mind.
More footsteps approached, just as heavy as the last, but this time they stopped by the door, followed by the familiar clank of a metal bar being lifted. He huffed a quiet sigh as he shifted to sit on his knees, listening to the metallic clatter of a key turning in the lock. The door pulled open with a heavy groan, a large man stepping inside.
"Food," he grunted, dropping a plate with two onigiri and a water bottle to the ground as he circled around the bound prisoner. "You know the drill, one hand only. Any wrong moves and you're dead meat." The leather binder securing his arms in place loosened as the man spoke, allowing him to pull his right arm free, and he silently picked up a rice ball.
The man hovered behind him the entire time he ate, making no moves to assist even as he had to hold the water bottle between his knees to unscrew the cap and drink. After finishing the meager meal the man roughly jerked him to his feet and dragged him towards the door connecting to a small bathroom, still leaving only one hand free to do his business. The door remained open the entire two minutes in there, the man staring him down the whole time, but any shame at being watched had faded long ago.
After he'd washed his hand and dried it off the man roughly grabbed his wrist and jerked it back behind his back, his grip harsh enough to make him wince. He bit down on his lip and remained still as the binder wrapped around his arms once more, leaving them folded behind his back. His elbows still protested the position but he'd become used to that ache by now.
Once the binder was secure he received a kick to the back of his leg that sent him toppling to his knees with a quiet grunt. The man scooped up the bottle and empty plate as he strode towards the door. "See you tomorrow, Eraserhead," he said, and slammed the door with a loud wham that made the light flicker for a few seconds before steadying.
Aizawa Shouta just stared at the wall as he listened to the lock turn and the bar get returned to its place on the door, and let his eyes slide shut.
I like how everyone thought Mina would tell them everything.
I also like how everyone worried Aizawa was dead.
Question for next time: what do you think will happen to Aizawa?