Era

14

There was no other explanation. The girl had disappeared.

Shouta bit back curses, letting them settle at the back of his throat in a low growl. He shouldn't have tried to chase her into that bar. What he should have done was wait on the rooftops, scout out the surrounding area for anyone who looked suspicious. It was illogical, what he did; fueled by the panic of seeing her fall from the top of a building, he'd been desperate to catch her and unwilling to give up the chase prematurely.

Idiot. Brat. Problem child. Fuck, but even with that lapse in judgement she shouldn't have been able to pull this kind of vanishing act. The streets were empty, so a child wandering alone should stick out. And yet she was nowhere to be found.

Even the success of that night's raid, something he'd been looking forward to for months, left him feeling restless and unsatisfied. Sure, they'd caught the villains. But Sparrow was still out there.

"You seem distracted." Tsukauchi sipped at a coffee as he stared into the interrogation room. Past the one-way mirror, one of their suspects was wiping sweat from his brow as he fidgeted uncomfortably in his chair. Grimly, Shouta recalled how eager this man was to start a brawl with a fourteen-year-old and wondered if they should turn up the temperature.

"Hello? Eraserhead?"

"What do you want?"

"Ah, there you are." Tsukauchi hummed, taking another large gulp of coffee. "Still thinking about Sparrow?"

"It's not my case."

"You do know my quirk is Human Lie Detector, right?"

"It's not my case. That's the truth."

Tsukauchi sighed, setting his mug down on the desk. "Sure. Fine. I get it. But are you going to stand there moping all night, or are we actually going to question this guy? At this rate he's going to leave a puddle of sweat on the floor."

"I think he can squirm for a little longer."

"What is it with you? Just because Sparrow got away—"

"Not my case."

"Right. Anyway, I don't see how her disappearing has anything to do with this guy."

"He was going to fistfight a child."

Tsukauchi sighed, picked up his coffee again, and chugged it in one go, slamming it down when he was finished. Shouta only raised a brow at him.

"A little dramatic," the hero commented dryly. Tsukauchi scowled.

"You're insufferable, do you know that?"

"Yes," said Shouta, turning back to the suspect.

"Look." Tsukauchi pinched at the bridge of his nose, eyes squinting to betray his exhaustion. "I don't know what you think we're gonna get from this guy. Just because he got a little aggressive with your—"

"Not my case."

"Okay. So he got aggressive with Sparrow. From what I understand, that's kind of a side effect of her personality."

"He's the only lead, right now," said Shouta, suppressing a yawn. Ever since his uncertainty about Suzuki he'd been unsure of how to proceed with catching the vigilante. The fact that this man had had any interaction with her was enough to pique his interest. Also... "Do you think we can turn the heat up in there?"

"Yes, we could do that. Just like we did the last three times you asked. I feel like it'd be a little counter-productive at this point; he's not going to answer any questions if he's passed out on the floor."