Villain to Hero: Naruko Motomiya

Chapter 3: Naruko Motomiya: Origin Part 3

Motomiya stared at the table in front of him, his eyes glued to it, unable to even look in the interrogators direction. He could feel his heart beat faster and faster with each breath he took, feeling his hair stand straight up and his hands feeling shaky.

"Have you ever been arrested before?" The interrogator asked politely.

Motomiya shook his head, too nervous to make a single sound.

"Were you the only one involved in committing the crime?"

Motomiya paused for a brief moment and then shook his head. He had never been interrogated before, but he knew from his life before that he should treat all questions like an interrogation: straight to the point with no additional information that may be used against him.

"Who was your accomplice?" The interrogator asked.

"I don't know," Motomiya answered softly, almost whispering.

"How did you meet them?"

Motomiya's fingers dug deeper into his skin as he came up with an answer. "Friend of a friend."

"Why did you try to rob that store?"

He started scratching deeper into his skin, clawing away at the raw flesh around his nails to give him some sense of control. "I... needed money," He said, ashamed of what he had tried to do.

"And why did you go to such lengths to try and acquire money instead of leaving it to your parents?"

He let out a small, almost unnoticeable gasp. Images of his dad flickered in his mind: his dad getting off of work late and immediately drinking, his dad throwing empty bottles of booze at him, his dad wasting every cent they had on beer and casinos, and the small television pushed against the wall. He had escaped this life at the cost of his possessions, including his money. "I don't know," He let out, avoiding telling the actual truth of why he had committed a crime. He felt his nails dig deeper into the skin around his other nails and then felt a stinging wet sensation on his fingers. He looked down and saw that he had completely scratched off the skin around his nails, leaving the tips of his fingers covered in blood.

"Motomiya," The interrogator started, leaning forward slightly, "We're trying to help you as much as we can, but we can't do that if you don't tell us the truth."

How did the interrogator know? Perhaps he had some sort of lie detecting quirk? "I escaped my dad and didn't have any money, so I had no choice," He mumbled.

"And what do you mean by 'escaped'?"

Motomiya tried as much as he could to not think about his home life. He couldn't bear to remember what he had escaped from. He was scared of what might happen if he made himself remember everything, and in the position he was in at the moment, he couldn't risk breaking down or worse.

"Look, we can't do anything if you don't answer my questions. We're trying to prevent you, a teenager who did something they didn't want to, from going to jail. Is that clear?" The interrogator cleared up.

Motomiya nodded. "He..." He started, barely able to speak the words without breaking down and shattering into an unfixable mess. "He was... abusive."

The interrogator glanced at his partner, who finished writing down details, and scooted his chair away from the desk and stood up. "That's all we needed. Thank you." The other person stood up and the two headed for the door.

"Is that all?" Motomiya asked quietly, unable to tell what he was feeling but knowing that he felt somewhat unfulfilled.

"Oh," The interrogator added, "Kaillapse wanted to speak with you, if that's alright."

He had forgotten about that hero, the hero who had turned him in. Now that he thought about it, back where he had broken his ankle, Kaillapse had seemed genuinely concerned for him. It felt weird to him. Every time he had tried reaching out to someone for any kind of help, no one had done anything. In fact, it would make things worse. This time, someone had answered his call without him needing to sound it.

"Yes," He answered.

The interrogator looked out the door and into the hallway and then chuckled. "Good, because he's here now."

Walking past the interrogators was Kaillapse who immediately sat down in one of the chairs across from Motomiya. As soon as the door to the room closed, the hero looked him directly in the eye. "Your quirk is like none I've ever seen. How does it work? What's it called?" He asked, genuinely curious and excited.

"Erm... It's called Text to Speech. I write down something and make it happen by saying it out loud," He explained nervously.

Kaillapse leaned back in the chair. "Text to Speech," He repeated. "You know, you could easily become a hero with a quirk like that. You could save people, people like you."

Motomiya felt his heart skip a beat at the last phrase, being caught off guard by it. "What... do you mean by that?"

"I'm not stupid. I figured you were in a bad situation." He then paused and leaned forward onto the table. "If you were given the chance, would you become a hero?"

A hero, someone who kept peace. A hero, someone who saved others from villains. A hero, someone who risked their life for the innocent. A hero, a good person in society. It was everyone's dream to become a hero when they were little, but he had never once thought it over until now. If he was a hero, he could save kids like him, children who live in unsafe households and prevent them from turning to a life of crime. "Yeah," He answered quietly. "Yeah, I would," He then repeated more confidently.

"So you would gladly give up your life for some stranger?" Kaillapse asked.

"If it would mean that they didn't have to go through something bad, then I wouldn't hesitate," Motomiya assured.

Kaillapse smirked and leaned back in the chair again. "That's a good answer, kid. An answer a hero would give. How badly do you want to become a hero?"

He had never really given it this much of a thought before. It seemed like the perfect occupation, the most ideal for him. If he was a hero, he could do so much for everyone. Instead of always being a bother, someone who would better off be dead, he could help people and be useful. He could have a purpose. "I would do anything to become a hero."

"That's exactly what we wanted to hear," Kaillapse said, smiling.

"We?" He repeated.

Kaillapse pulled his phone from the pocket of his costume. On the phone was the caller ID of someone named Nezu. The phone was on speaker as well. "Principal Nezu was listening in on our conversation. He heard everything you said. So, principal, have you come to a decision?"

"Yes, I have," Nezu said over the phone, his voice fixed in a high sound. "Naruko Motomiya, I am giving you a special opportunity to become a student in the hero course here at UA. It is entirely your choice whether to attend school here or not. Do you accept this offer?"

All at once, it felt like the world had finally heard his pleads. All of it didn't feel real; It didn't feel like this should be happening to him of all people. It was, though. This was his chance, his chance to finally be free to live a life where he could be useful and change the lives of others for the better. "Yeah," He said. "Yes, I do. I want to become a hero and learn at UA."

"Well then," Nezu started over the phone, "UA accepts you with open arms as one of our students. I hope you will get along well with your classmates during the second semester." He then ended the call, and Kaillapse put his phone back in his pocket.

"Wait, isn't it illegal to be calling someone in an interrogation room?" Motomiya asked, now realizing that fact.

"It's not illegal if you don't get caught," Kaillapse joked.

It was official now: Motomiya would be attending school at UA and train to become a hero. In the nearing future, he would be a hero.