A. Intelligence Detective

An Unknown Responsibility

This idea struck me while listening to TWRP & McKenna Rae's song "A Human's Touch"! Tsukauchi has always been a character I quite like and admire, and he immediately fit himself into this story idea when I started writing.

Please enjoy!

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"It's a pleasure to meet you!--"

It's rainier in Musutafu than usual, today. Clouds dark and gray swarm the skies, shrouding the city in a constant murky darkness. Water drips from overhangs atop the entryways of various residential and consumer establishments; murky puddles and rivers running down the street.

"--My name is Tsukauchi. How can I help you today?"

The city mourns its individuality and its independence alongside it.

Technology has been a part of normal, every-day life for over one hundred years by now, but it takes over the lives of people all the same.

"Tsukauchi, turn the lights off."

A blinking, swirling ring of tan light. A blink of green–the lights go down.

"Good night, Eraserhead!"

"Hm."

– – –

When Aizawa woke up with a migraine that morning, he just knew something was going to go wrong.

He shrugs himself out of bed like he's heading to a funeral, dragging his feet and yawning all the way. The bathroom light flicks on with a simple command. A razor buzzes, and Eraserhead is almost-suddenly clean-shaven. Mostly. He'd never truly shaved his face clean since his third year at U.A. when appearances still mattered and his cheeks were just starting to sink in.

"Tsukauchi, take a note," the man says as he enters the kitchen.

A disembodied voice replies, "Ready when you are."

"Grocery list: milk, coffee beans, cat litter, ear plugs."

A small orb floats above his kitchen island, transparent all the way through like a glossy window pane. After Aizawa speaks, a tan ring of light circles the orb for a few moments. Then it flashes green.

"I've got it," a voice says, drifting outward from the orb itself.

Aizawa pulls a barstool out from underneath his counter before leaning his elbows against the marble.

"Repeat my list back to me."

The orb twists tan again, listening and calculating its response.

"Copy," it says after a while. "Grocery list: milk, coffee beans, cat litter, ear plugs."

"Thanks, Tsukauchi. Remind me of my list on my way home from school."

Tsukauchi spins tan and then green.

"Copy."

And then Aizawa grabs his support gear and heads out the door of his apartment at the U.A. Alliance. Tsukauchi floats down to the counter and sits there, silently.

It stays there for multiple hours. An ice maker creaks and stumbles, cubes tumbling down into the ice tray inside the freezer. A ding emits from Aizawa's home computer, signaling an email making its way into his inbox.

Tsukauchi lights up a curious yellow around the edges before floating out of the kitchen, across the living room, and onto a desk with Aizawa's computer. It rolls for a while until it hits the side of the keyboard. The monitor lights up from the jarring motion, and Tsukauchi floats above the keyboard so it is in view of the screen.