Chapter Text
“Morning, Tsuki!” Sansa called out, a devious grin planted on his face.
Naomasa groaned, sipping at his coffee to help him through his first interaction of the day. “Hello.”
Sansa looked him over, whistling appreciatively. “Who are you all dressed for?”
“A hot date.” Naomasa said dryly, looking at Sansa like he was the dumbest person he had ever seen when the man seemed to buy it. He rolled his eyes, taking another sip of coffee, feeling his annoyance slowly ebb away. “We have a big meeting this morning.”
“Oh? Anything exciting?”
Naomasa shook his head, setting his stuff down. “Probably not. At least, I hope not.”
“Yeah, I feel ya. Well, good luck!”
Naomasa frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When does your meeting start?”
“Nine.”
Sansa shot him a look. “You’ve got three minutes.”
“Shhhhh-oot.” Naomasa cursed, grabbing his file, praying that was all he needed before walking over towards the rooms, using his badge and ID to get through the security checks and slipped inside the conference noisy conference room, finding his seat at the end of the oval table and sighed, taking another sip of his coffee and let the dull noise of his co-workers and other officers filter through.
“Honestly, this case has been beating my ass-- ”
“--No, and I’m tired of acting like anyone needs to care about this.”
“You’re not serious? Who is it?”
“She got picked up again? Dammit, I owe Sansa 1000 yen then.”
“Tsukauchi.”
He stood up, alert and ready to find his boss coming through the doors, silencing the other people in the room as they too stood. He nodded stiffly to the man, tensing up as he walked around the conference desk and sat directly across from him.
There was an air to the way Chief Daigo walked, something purposeful in his footsteps that Naomasa was only faking most days at work. He wondered what made his unnaturally tall superior walk in such a way, but he refused to think on it for too long as he looked into the man’s pale blue eyes, wondering ( not for the first time ) if he had a mind-reading quirk.
He had been Chief for nearly 15 years, with Naomasa working under him for around 10 of those years. He felt like they were close work associates, though he was obviously Naomasa’s superior and that boundary was never crossed, no matter what was happening.
In Naomasa’s eyes, he was a fair boss. Things might not go the way Naomasa wants them to all the time, but Chief Daigo is kind enough to work to find a compromise for all of them with every single decision he makes for them. Of course, he was still the boss, but there was a quality to him that made him approachable, of which Naomasa was eternally grateful for.
The projection behind Chief’s seat turned on and on the board lit up the presentation of all of the facts about this ongoing case that they’ve been working on for nearly six months without any outside help until now.
Naomasa’s palms were sweaty and he felt sticky enough that he wished he could loosen the tie from around his neck and breath, but instead he forced himself to stand still and try not to make these men think of him as less while he freaked out.
“You may sit.” Chief Daigo finally announced as he sat down, his assistant scrambling to place multiple documents in front of him and many different files to his left.
The sounds of chairs being pulled back out filled the room as everyone sat back down, relaxing back into their seats as they scooted forward and opened their own files that they had been instructed to bring.
Naomasa let himself look around, wondering what this team was doing together and how effectively they would collaborate. He saw a few…bright personalities sitting around the room and prayed they wouldn’t be overly-excited for this project. And, seeing as Naomasa needed three cups of coffee to fully open his eyes in the mornings, he didn’t see any friendships forming with the ones who were self-proclaimed morning people.
Regardless, Naomasa knew that he was a relatively well-known detective who worked in the Major Crimes department, but most of the people currently surrounding him were members of the Public Security Intelligence Agency and a few others were even from the Central Intelligence and Research Office, meaning he was so out of his league sitting in the room he was tempted to scream and run away.
Maybe the Chief would let him quit on the spot.
Probably not. He didn’t think he’d ever be that lucky.
“To begin this meeting, I’d like to take a moment to thank both the CIRO and the PSIA for aiding us with this mission.” Chief announced, nodding his respect towards them. Naomasa did the same, ignoring the way everyone seemed to have their egos inflated after that. “I also thank your teams for dedicating themselves to this project and respecting how confidential this case is.”
“We’re happy to be here, Chief.” Inoue Naoya, newly promoted team leader for the head of the PSIA Profiling Team spoke up, looking casual as he addressed the man.
Naomasa watched as the Chief's smile tensed before he moved on. How interesting. He wondered if there was a story there or if something about the new leader rubbed him the wrong way.
“We have reasonable belief that the Paranormal Liberation Front is still active and recruiting through high schools in the region.” Chief dropped the bomb, shocking most of his audience. Naomasa suppressed his smile, knowing full well how dramatic the Chief could be when he wanted to be. “This will be a high-priority sting operation, though, we have a few details to iron out beforehand.”
“Like?” Inoue called out, flipping through his file.
Chief stared into Naomasa’s eyes. “We still need to alert our informant.”
“Wait a second. You mean to tell me the person going in the school doesn’t even know yet?”
Naomasa shook his head, even as the Chief nodded.
“He’s too young.” Naomasa blurted out, his cheeks slowly turning red as the attention in the room snapped over to him.
“What did you just say?” Masatoshi Yanai, team leader of the CIRO Crisis Management Team asked, looking a bit baffled at the fact that he spoke up.
Naomasa cleared his throat. “We’ve been considering sending in a hero-in-training of high school age, though I believe he’s too young.”
“He’s plenty capable of the job--” Chief argued.
“I never said he wasn’t capable…”
“Tsukauchi.”
“Sir.” He huffed, gritting his teeth. “I still think we should reconsider.”
It was silent and the room suddenly felt stuffy, like no one knew exactly who to look at and what exactly was going on between them. The tension in the room felt stifling, though Naomasa would rather pass out than let up the pressurized look he was sending his boss.
“Is this person capable of conducting an undercover mission?” Inoue asked, breaking their staring contest.
Chief Daigo nodded, confident with his assessment. “Yes. He was a fundamental part for ending the war the way that it did.”
Inoue looked over, staring at Masatoshi and having a silent conversation with the man for a few seconds before, finally, shrugging. “His age doesn’t matter to me as long as you think it won’t pose a problem.”
“It won’t.”
“Then I don’t see the issue.” Masatoshi confirmed, glancing over at Naomasa.
He grit his teeth, damn near glaring at his boss, his eyes desperate as he tried to make the man reconsider for a moment.
Chief looked away from him as he spoke, his words like the final nail in his coffin.
“Make the call.”
Naomasa let himself sit in his chair for a few silent seconds, the tension nearly electrifying the room, before he stood. With a tilt of his head, Naomasa made his way out the conference room and ignored the way the door slammed closed behind him, scrolling through his phone and letting his thumb hover over the contact before he pressed it.
With a sigh, he held up the phone to his ear, praying they wouldn’t pick up.
“Nezu speaking.”
Naomasa swallowed. “Nezu, it’s Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa.”
“Ahh. I was wondering when you’d call.” Nezu chirped, sending Naomasa spiraling. What the hell did that even mean? “What can I help you with?”
Naomasa took a deep breath, preparing himself. “We’d like to use one of your students in a sting operation to act as an undercover high schooler.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line when Nezu only hummed, obviously considering his options while he made Naomasa sweat.
“Who?”
Naomasa grit his teeth. “Midoriya Izuku, sir.”
There was another pause. This time lasting longer than before. Naomasa found himself holding his breath as he awaited the man’s answer.
“Do you have the mission details?”
Naomasa breathed out. “Yes sir. We require an undercover high schooler to infiltrate and keep tabs on the new Paranormal Liberation Movement that’s been reported to be based out of this specific high school.”
“What sort of high schooler will he be?”
“Hmm?”
“What will Midoriya’s persona be?” Nezu clarified.
Naomasa cleared his throat. “Ah.” He took a deep breath. “The persona is someone…quirkless.”
Nezu paused again and Naomasa didn’t dare to move as he listened intently to the silence on the other side of the line.
“I’d advise you to alert Yagi beforehand, but otherwise I see no issues.” Nezu explained as he slowly gave his consent. Naomasa breathed out. “Do remember to have everyone sign their names on the contract, though. They are all going to be held liable should anything unfortunate happen to him.”
Naomasa nodded. “Yes sir. I understand.”
“And the case?”
“I’ve already sent you the entire file and forwarded our emails.” Naomasa answered.
“Good. Then we’ll talk later today when you come by the school to officially speak with Midoriya.” Nezu planned and Naomasa did his best not to groan in the receiver. That meant he needed to tell Yagi what was going on way too soon. “And tell Chief Daigo that I have final say over Midoriya’s participation, okay?”
Naomasa smiled, his grin growing when he realized what it meant to have Nezu be head over the operation.
No one else would have complete control over their process, which meant Nezu could prevent the potential power problem he could foresee coming to them in the new future. It would be nice to let Nezu take the reins, though he knew how hard the Chief worked for this operation and if it ever came to light, the news would credit the entire project under Nezu’s name.
Naomasa considered it for a few moments, still trying to wipe the grin off his lips as he cleared his throat.
“I will.” Naomasa promised, slowly pulling his phone away from his ear as Nezu hung up and turned around, shooting a thumbs-up to his boss through the windows that he was looking at Naomasa through.
He flipped through his contacts, walking to his office as he called his friend this time, fully not ready to talk to the overprotective man.
He didn’t see this going well. Not in any universe.
Naomasa chugged the rest of his coffee, preparing himself to tell his friend the news. Oh he was so in trouble for this.