hero's shadow // mha

84) every clay sign

The Principal's office is clean yet bare.

The couches that once littered the walk-in space are now gone, and so are the coffee tables and endless bookshelves. There are scratches on the delicate rugs and indents in the wooden floor near the corner of where Nezu's large desk once stood.

Inside this room, there is little life left.

Because of the lack of furniture, there is a slight echo to every noise Naomasa makes upon entering.

"Are you here to say you told me so?" Principal Nezu inquires wryly, positioned in front of his floor-to-ceiling window with his back to him. "If so, I beg that you refrain for the time being."

Naomasa only blinks, the door sliding shut behind him—it doesn't close all the way; it must have been beaten pretty badly. "Why didn't you believe Sir Nighteye when he told you how this would go?"

The mammal takes a cigar out of a polished box and lights it up. Naomasa doesn't mention it even though he passed a No Smoking sign on the way in.

"Sasaki's prediction was solely based on his opinion; Foresight wasn't used," Nezu reminds.

"That doesn't make what he said any less credible."

"Do remember that Sasaki is blinded by his distaste for Yagi's current work and choice of a successor. Asking for his input will always introduce uncontrolled variables."

Naomasa grips the notebooks in his hand even tighter. "With all due respect, I feel you could stand to hold him in higher regard. He's been a pro for nearly two decades."

Nezu turns to look at him, taking a long drag of his cigar. "And I for even longer than he's been alive."

"Because you are not human," Naomasa states bluntly. He doesn't like being rude, and he has no intention to upset the mammal—only to get him to see reason. "You age much slower compared to other species. And you and I both know that your experiences as a hero are a little different than everyone else's, so they're not exactly comparable."

"Well, of course." Nezu pauses for a moment before sitting down in the middle of the empty room. The smoke of his cigar follows. "But what you must understand, Detective, is that you cannot compare Midoriya Izuku to every other case you've pursued."

Remaining silent, Naomasa watches as Nezu stares down at the tile, no doubt where something must have existed just a few hours prior.

"I am not familiar with all human functions and behaviors," Nezu admits, voice soft and almost wondrous, "but most aren't. I think it is a shame none of you understood the situation we had only previously found ourselves in." Soft, pink paw pads are shown to the world when Nezu waves a limb around his head slowly. "Oh, how difficult it would have been for a child like Midoriya to begin such a hard conversation by himself... Someone had to give him a little push, Tsukauchi, or else he would never commit to it. We would be stuck at the start line, never to finish."

The explanation is clear: Nezu started this all on purpose.

Sure, he might not have expected the boy's physical outburst, but it's over with now, and Nezu is applying the newly found information into his database.

Naomasa's eyebrows scrunch up. "You betrayed him. To the kid, you aren't any better than the villains who hurt him."

Nezu's ears flatten against his head, and his white fur begins to rise near the base of his neck, yet he doesn't refute the bold claim. "I had hoped he would understand. Regardless, I in no way place any blame onto him. I accomplished what I set out to do in the first place, and that was to guide him into sharing prominent details about his childhood—well, perhaps I should say lack thereof." Dark eyes bore into Naomasa. "Though I dare say you shouldn't be so quick to claim betrayal. Not with what you've been planning for upwards of a month now, yes?"