The Emperor's Dragon

Chasing the Sun

"Mrs Midoriya is here to see you again," Junsa told him.

Tsukauchi frowned at the information. "Thanks," he said but instead of going straight to his desk he paused in the corridor and thought. He'd already told her about Hisashi. Well, everything he could so what else could she want to know?

He felt a sudden flash of cold... What if she had found something that was...

Naomasa shook his head. No, that wasn't possible. Even if Sir Nighteye and All Might weren't on the best of terms at the moment, if Mirai couldn't find something, then there was no way Inko would. Except...

She had lived with Hisashi, All For One for several years. Did she know something they didn't? Did she have access to another source of information? He grimaced. There was only one way to find out that information.

Tsukauchi took a deep breath, bracing himself before he walked into the area where his desk was. It was in the open plan part. Despite the fact he was the main liaison with Hero Agencies, he didn't rate an office.

Inko was sitting quietly at his desk and was largely being ignored by the other officers. She wasn't a fixture but they were used to random people waiting for Detectives and so long as no one caused trouble then the general policy was to leave them be. After all, to be sitting there, they had to have already gone through security.

"Mrs Midoriya," Naomasa greeted Inko as he walked up. He was rather satisfied that he did not sound defensive.

"Detective," she replied, rising to nod respectfully at him.

He indicated that she should sit as he took his own seat. "How can I help you today?" Tsukauchi asked.

Inko smiled at him. "I thank you for the information you gave me about Hisashi. It has put much of his actions into perspective."

He nodded but said nothing to that.

"However, I feel that I should have asked something sooner. You were in Tsu during the operation when All Might took down Toxic Chainsaw."

"I was looking for Izuku," Naomasa confirmed.

"How did you know Izuku would be there?" Inko asked.

"How did I know-" Tsukauchi trailed off. Shit. It was a good question. It was a logical question.

The public knew the operation was to take out Toxic Chainsaw. There were no other parts. What did he tell her? Could he tell her that it was Izuku's records that let them find Hisashi?

From the way Inko smiled Naomasa knew he'd been quiet for too long. It told her that there was something she hadn't been told. He sighed. Nighteye should be dealing with this. "He was tracked down using Izuku's school records."

Inko frowned. "Weren't you tracking Toxic Chainsaw?"

Crap. What did Inko know? He'd told her Hisashi was a villain but he hadn't mentioned Toxic Chainsaw. Did she think Hisashi was the villain's boss? How would she have worked that out?

"Oh," Inko nodded to herself. .

Tsukauchi listened intently wondering what she had realised.

"You were tracking Hisashi to get to his boss, Toxic Chainsaw."

Wait, what? He ran the sentence back through his mind. Yep, she really had said that and... Well, it was better than the truth. "It was a long shot," Naomasa admitted.

Inko frowned. "Then why didn't you get Izuku that day?" she demanded.

He shook his head sadly. He wasn't about to take the blame for this. Nighteye could answer for his decision. "I wanted to collect Izuku from school," he said. "But I was ordered to delay and go to his house."