Saving Your Smile (My Hero Academia AU Fanfic)

Chapter 8

Everyone in the police station was silent as they all took in the new information. It was tense, uncomfortable. Tsukauchi knew he needed sleep as he passed a hand over his face exasperatedly, staring at the wide-eyed faces in the meeting room. Toshinori was sitting to his side just as disturbed as the rest, though less surprised.

It was Ken Takagi, or Rock Lock, as everyone in the precinct calls him, who was the first one to break the unbearable silence. "So, you're telling us that this creep, Chisaki, has been forcing that little kid into illegal fights, used him as a maid for his stupid parties, and tortured the poor kid just for fun whenever he wouldn't behave as he wanted him to."

"Yeah, that's the gist of it." Tsukauchi couldn't help how the bile seemed to rise in his throat. These types of cases were the worst, and having the victim be so young makes him feel sick. "Sasaki and his team put a lot of effort into getting us just this amount of information. They are a hard group to track down, and ever since we pulled the kid out, they have all but disappeared."

"Do you think the boy would be able to tell us where they could be hiding?"

"Come on Fat Gum, he's a kid. You can't expect us to ask him, can you?"

"It's okay, Toshi. Toyomitsu's question makes sense." Tsukauchi was tired, but he had to get this over with. "We thought about asking him, but he is currently in a very fragile state of mind from what the group home has told us, and we also have evidence from Sasaki that he was blindfolded whenever they took him anywhere. I'm afraid he won't be of any help. Not including the fact that they are still after him."

The tense aura in the air only seemed to double as everyone started to argue and discuss what evidence they did have. They all wanted to capture the Hassaikai and the frustration of not being able to do that has been weighing heavily on them all.

They were all at a stalemate of what to do with dead ends and lost leads when the door slammed open, revealing a tall, hunched over man. "Haha, I couldn't help but overhear that you guys are at a little bit of an impasse. How unfortunate."

"What the hell is this guy doing here? Weren't you supposed to be on a job?" Rock Lock yelled out as he took in the man in front of them. He had a manic grin on his face and he seemed to be laughing to himself as he stepped forward to take a chair at the table.

"Of course I was on a job. But, luckily for you, I just finished said job and now I am free. This particular case seems to be interesting." The man paused as his grin widened on his face, making him look like a madman. His voice was gruff and sent shivers down the spines of the others in the room. "I think I'll help you out with this one. Should be a fun time."

No one could say anything as they watched him leave just as quickly as he came. None of them could deny that he was the best option they had, and they knew that he would be able to find answers, but they all knew that he was a little bit crazy and working with him was going to give them all a headache. Tsukauchi, for his part, just shook his head as he plopped into his own chair. Everything was getting complicated and he could already tell that he was going to need a lot of coffee.

* * * * * *

Aizawa was smiling slightly as he watched everyone in the common room. They were all laughing together as they watched a movie and ate snacks. It has been just over six months since Izuku was brought to them and he seemed to finally be feeling comfortable with everyone and even opening up a little more about likes and dislikes. He was a smart kid and loved to learn, doing well in school ever since they started back up.

He knew all about how Izuku would sneak into either Bakugo's or Todoroki's rooms at night, but it seemed like both he and Bakugo were sleeping better and generally more happy than before so he was letting it slide. Izuku also seemed to be having less panic attacks, so he wasn't going to change anything unless safety became an issue.