Chisaki raised his hands : the handcuffs clicked, the wire connecting them with the table rattling ominously.

"You said we'd talk," he said, calm for now. "May I ask why am I handcuffed ?"

Arms crossed, mouth resting on his closed left fist raised, the officer in front of him examined him intently.

He then sighed and straightened up, tapping the file on the table with his knuckle.

"There are some inconsistencies in your story, Mr. Chisaki," the soldier said. "We'd like to clarify a couple of things"

"And does that warrant me being treated like a prisoner ?"

"Your Quirk deserves at least these precautionnary measures"

Kai had no outward reaction.

Didn't they know that he could-

"Although it's not much use since you can also affect non-living things..."

Ah, there went his advantage over them.

"But it reassure my colleagues," he said, gesturing to the stained glass window overlooking the audition room.

Kai's eyes slid over it for a second : how many people were watching him ?

"Listen," Chisaki said. "I was asked to help against the creatures last night, and that's what I did. Give me back my nephew and let me go home"

The officer tapped on the table, impervious.

"Speaking of your nephew... I hope you know he's the reason you're here"

Kai fell silent.

He feigned surprise and straightened.

"Neito ?"

"This is what we're going to do," the soldier explained. "We'll ask you a bunch of questions that you'll have to answer honestly. Once you've done so, we'll let you go, alright ?"

It sounded too good to be true, but with all those soldiers out there, he wouldn't be able to get out of there by brute force.

And he still didn't know where Neito was.

"Understood ?"

"Yes"

He opened a folder.

"You went out last night around 5 a.m. to get your nephew, who"d sent you a text. Correct ?"

"It was around that time, yes"

"What were you doing awake at that time ?"

"I have insomnia"

The soldier shot a discreet glance at the window.

Kai watched intently.

"Why did you get out despite the chaos you knew the city was in ?"

Kai raised his hands ; the handcuffs jingled.

"You said it yourself : my Quirk"

"Did you went out in order to hurt people ?"

"My Quirk enables me to defend myself well, and I have a licence to use it on public places. As you know, this includes self-defense in the eventuality of an attack"

"Were you attacked by anyone ?"

"Only by Nomus"

"Did you use your Quirk on them ?"

"Several times, actually"

"Did you use your Quirk on civilians ?"

The girl had been a Hero in training.

"No"

"How long did it take you to get to the location your nephew sent you ?"

"I wouldn't know exactly".

"Give me a rough estimation"

"I wouldn't know exactly"

The officer glanced over his documents.

"Did you find him there when you went to the location ?"

"No"

"Was there anything unusual about the place ? Maybe blood or screams ?"

Chisaki's eyebrow cocked arrogantly.

"There were screams all over the city that night"

"Was any screams there, yes or no ?"

"How could I remember ?"

"I'm asking you to answer only with yes or no"

"It's difficult : I don't remember well"

Another glance at the window.

Chisaki's gaze sharpened : he was starting to get a hunch as to why he was in this room.

"How did you know where to find your nephew?

"I called his headmaster"

"You do have the phone number of Yuei's principal ?"

"It's given to all parents in case of an emergency"

A certain number was given to all parents: Chisaki, on the other hand, had his private number - not that the officer needed to know.

"What did you tell him ?"

"I explained the situation and asked if he could help me find him"

"Are you close to Nezu ?"

They weren't friends, merely business partners.

"No"

"How did you know to call him ?"

"Who else could I call ?"

"Keep your answers clear Mr. Chisaki", the soldier reminded him firmly

"I'm thirsty," Kai said. "Can I have some water ?"

"As soon as you've answered all of our questions, I'll bring it to you personally"

"I thought you were going to let me go once we were done ?"

"You'd waste your time looking for our kitchen : I'll bring it back to you"

Chisaki said nothing else : his eyes drifted back to the one-way window.

He had been grilled by police officers in his youth, but no one had ever asked him such closed questions : usually, the aim was to get detainees to talk as much as possible in order for them to give themselves away.

Today, it seemed like they just wanted to lock Kai up and force him to respond to hyper-specific scenarios.

He had to remain evasive.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Once you arrived where you nephew was, did you find him alone ?"

"There were also Nomus. I took care of them"

"Do you know who Ochaco Uraraka is ?"

Kai took longer to answer.

"She's one of Neito's classmates, yes"

"Have you ever met her ?"

"I don't think so"

"Do you know what she looks like ?"

"I think I've seen her on TV, yes, at Yuei's Championship"

"Did you kill her ?"

Surprise and confusion crossed Chisaki's face.

"What did you just say ?"

The officer's dark eyes bore into Chisaki.

He uttered every word carefully.

"Did you kill Ochaco Uraraka ?"

And all of a sudden, Kai realized that the agonizing wait they'd made him endure, the hours of isolation, the cold, damp cell, and now this whole fucking discussion had no other purpose than to lead him to this very question.

"Why would I have killed her ?"

"Answer the question Mr. Chisaki"

"I had no reason to kill her"

True : either she stayed alive or not, nothing would've changed in his life.

He killed her merely because he coul.

"Did you kill her or did you not ?"

Whatever his answer was, Chisaki was in deep shiy.

"I killed the three Nomus and then took my nephew with me. Maybe they killed her first, I don't know"

The soldier started to get annoyed.

"The question I asked you is very clear, Mr. Chisaki. Did you or did you not kill Ochaco Uraraka ?"

And only because he had a very good idea who was listening, Chisaki didn't dare to lie.

Instead, he chose to go on the offensive:

"I've been here for 36 hours," he snarled, anger visible in his eyes. "Not one of you has even bothered to bring me a glass of water. You took my nephew away after explicitly telling me you'd heal him : I cooperated, I helped you get rid of those damn creatures, and now you ask me if I've killed a child ?"

The soldier, eyebrows furrowed, opened his mouth but Chisaki interrupted :

"My daughter is waiting for me. She must be worried sick. Let me go home"

Anger surged through him as he spoke.

He had thought it strange that they'd wanted to take a statement from him and him alone after he had helped the three Heroes in Atago-Jinja ; and now he was in the lion's den, unable to do anything.

The soldier, lips pursed, seemed to think for a few seconds, then put the file back on the table.

"I'll be frank with you : we suspect your nephew of being a traitor allied to All for One.

His classmate disappeared at an extremely convenient time, perhaps to make us think she'd escaped in the chaos"

"And you think I helped him ?"

The soldier didn't answer, but his silence was clear.

"I've told you the whole truth," Chisaki insisted. "Now it's up to you to listen to me or not"

His eyes shone wckedly.

"Either you let me go home, or..."

The soldier looked down nervously at his handcuffs : hairline cracks were spreading across the metal.

Overhaul let his threat hang in the air for a few seconds.

"Martial law is in effect," the officer reminded him. "If you show the slightest inclination to violence against law enforcers, we will have no choice but to retaliate with equal lethality"

They'd execute him like a dog.

Chisaki took a long breath to calm his nerves.

"Did you kill Ochaco Uraraka ?"

Chisaki didn't answer.

With so many soldiers around, he was plainly screwed.

All they had to do was send him the shadows dude and everything would be over for him.

And if he did manage to escape, what would happen to his family ? His clan ?

Thus Chisaki didn't answer.

The officer looked unfazed.

He repeated his question three times.

Chisaki didn't even look at him.

The soldier stood up, chair scraping against the floor.

He slammed the door behind him.

He stepped into the second room.

"Detective Naomasa, what do you think ?"

Naomasa held his chin in one hand, eyes fixed on Chisaki.

On the other side of the window Chisaki raised his handcuffed wrists, eyebrows raised.

"He's telling the truth"

"The way he avoided the question about Uraraka is suspicious"

"True," Naomasa admitted. "But it would have been even more suspicious if he'd known I was there : you'd think his refusal to answer could be the result of frustration or anger"

Naomasa wasn't the kind of person you'd hire to deal with petty criminals.

Few on the force knew who he was, and even fewer knew his Quirk.

"Still, he avoided the last question concerning the girl way too much..."

The officer wanted a clear answer, so Naomasa cleared his throat:

"I don't know. We need more time to be sure, but it'll be difficult if he refuses to talk"

At first, they'd only kept Kai Chisaki under observation because of his connection to Neito Monoma, yet his Quirk and the weird mistrust he'd shown had made them wary of him.

"We'll keep him for another 24 hours", the officer said. "Thank you for the trouble you went through, Detective. We'll be in touch if there's any need for your services"

*

A/N : If you like the story, want to support it and read ahead of schedule, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

And see you tomorrow in the next update everyone !