"That boy is dangerous."
After being judged "not guilty," Shigaraki finished giving his statement and left the police station with Himiko Toga, leaving behind one thoroughly displeased middle-aged officer and one Kamui Woods still lost in thought because of what he had said.
Once Shigaraki was gone, the interrogation room felt strangely empty.
The work was over.
The atmosphere, however, remained heavy.
Officer Inoue sat in silence for a few seconds, then pulled another cigarette from the pack in his pocket. He lit it with practiced ease and took a slow drag.
Smoke curled up in front of his face.
As he watched it rise, he finally spoke.
"I'm going to submit a request for surveillance."
Kamui Woods' brows drew together instantly.
"There's no need for that."
His dissatisfaction showed plainly on his face.
"Inspector Inoue, I don't want to interfere with police procedure, but in my opinion… Shimura Tenko is a good kid."
He paused, then added in a lower voice:
"And good kids shouldn't be treated that way."
Inoue exhaled a thin stream of smoke.
"I'm not denying that he's a good kid."
His voice was calm, but there was a harshness underneath it.
"The problem is that there's something wrong with the way he thinks."
He tapped the ash from his cigarette into the tray.
"Everyone on that street ran."
"Only he stayed."
"Only he chose to remain in place and use violence to enforce his idea of 'justice.'"
Kamui Woods' expression darkened.
He genuinely couldn't understand what this man was thinking.
Someone willing to step in and help when others were in danger—wasn't that a good thing?
Didn't that mean the boy still believed in justice? Still cared about the world around him?
How had that become "a problem with his thinking"?
Did everyone really have to stand by, ignore the tragedy happening right in front of them, and do nothing before their mindset could be considered "correct"?
In Kamui Woods' eyes, the real problem was the exact opposite.
Someone with the ability to help, who watched a tragedy unfold and remained indifferent—
that was the true sickness.
He subtly covered his nose and mouth and shifted a little farther away from the drifting smoke before speaking again.
"And that's supposed to be a bad thing?"
"A bad thing?"
Inoue actually choked on his cigarette.
"Cough—cough—!"
Whether he had been startled by the smoke or by Kamui Woods' answer, even he probably didn't know.
When he recovered, his voice turned colder.
"In my eyes, he's nothing more than a dangerous individual who places his personal values above the rules of society."
"And the worst part is…"
He looked toward the empty chair where Shigaraki had been sitting moments ago.
"He has the intelligence and the strength to act on those values."
His face hardened.
"If someone like that isn't controlled early, then what kind of disaster he might cause later is beyond either of us to imagine."
Kamui Woods let out a tired sigh.
"You just said it yourself. You can't imagine what will happen."
His tone was restrained, but there was clear disagreement in it.
"So how can you be so certain he won't grow into a good person?"
The more he listened, the less he could agree with the officer's view.
It was too extreme.
Because someone might become dangerous, you mark them as dangerous in advance? Put them under surveillance? Treat them like a threat before they've done anything wrong?
That wasn't justice.
That was how you pushed someone toward becoming the very thing you feared.
At this point, Kamui Woods was beginning to feel that the one whose thinking was truly warped wasn't Shigaraki at all.
It was Inoue.
"Besides," he continued, "that child only said he hoped that if his family or friends were ever in danger someday, there would also be someone brave enough to step forward and become his 'hero,' even at the risk of being condemned by society."
He looked straight at the officer.
"What exactly is wrong with that?"
Inoue stared at the dying ember of his cigarette for a long moment.
Then he answered flatly:
"No. You're mistaken."
"The greatest mistake he made…"
"…is that he should never have had a thought like that in the first place."
Kamui Woods' eyes narrowed.
Inoue's face looked older in the haze of smoke.
More worn.
More severe.
"That kind of thinking means he still has passion for this world."
"It means he wants to change it."
His voice was calm, but each word landed with a strange weight.
"Most criminals are just failures at the bottom of society. They do nothing but hate the world. They lash out, complain, destroy—but they never stop to think about what is wrong with the system itself."
"Much less try to change it."
He crushed the cigarette out completely.
"But that boy is different."
"He hasn't become a criminal."
"Which makes him even more dangerous."
Kamui Woods fell silent.
Because he could already guess what the officer was about to say next.
And Inoue did not disappoint.
"You've heard of him, haven't you?"
His voice dropped lower.
"The man from the dawn of the superhuman era. The one who, during that age of chaos, rapidly brought people together, established the first order, and then rose above the nation itself."
"The man they called…"
"The Ruler."
The room went still.
Kamui Woods said nothing.
He had heard the name.
Of course he had.
Anyone in their line of work had.
That figure from the chaotic early years of Quirk society was less a man and more a shadow hanging over history.
Inoue continued:
"That man and this boy are alike."
"They both looked at the world and believed they could change it."
"They both had passion."
"They both believed their own answers were right."
He lifted his head.
"And you know how that story ended."
"In order to impose his order, that man used force without restraint."
"He spilled blood."
"He killed."
"He committed violence on a massive scale, all in the name of building the world he believed should exist."
A faint chill entered his tone.
"And very unfortunately…"
"When I look at that boy…"
"I can see that man's shadow."
The words hung there like frost.
"The same passion."
"The same desire to reshape the world."
Inoue's expression didn't change.
But the conviction in his voice only deepened.
"I absolutely cannot allow a second Ruler to appear."
"Because for the society we live in now…"
"…someone like that would be the greatest disaster of all."
…
Meanwhile—
at N City Oridera Middle School—
just as Shigaraki was being led out of the interrogation room, a green-haired boy with a freckled face sat tense and unmoving, staring at the screen of his phone.
His soft, slightly curly hair stuck up like a timid hedgehog's spines, and his eyes were locked so firmly on the live interview that he barely seemed to blink.
On the screen, a shaken eyewitness was talking excitedly into a microphone.
"When the shark-headed villain appeared, no heroes came for a long time," the witness said. "I got scared and hid nearby. And then… right after I found cover, I saw something unbelievable…"
The speaker was a blond boy with narrow eyes, a long fox-like tail, and clothing that looked vaguely like a Taoist robe. He was almost vibrating with excitement as he spoke.
"Yes, that's right, Mr. Reporter! That blue-haired boy didn't use his Quirk at all. The whole time, he relied on something like martial arts!"
The boy leaned toward the camera, voice rising.
"Have you heard of Bajiquan? It was like that! He moved after the villain attacked, struck later but landed first, and brought that giant criminal down with a single punch!"
He practically shouted the conclusion:
"This was a victory for martial arts!!!"
…
The green-haired boy finally lowered the phone.
Then he let out a long breath of relief.
"Thank goodness…"
"Shimura-kun is okay."
So he really hadn't been mistaken.
The boy who had stayed behind on that street…
the one he'd glimpsed during the chaos…
really had been the friend he'd met not long ago—Shimura Tenko.
Unfortunately, at the time, he had been on the train.
Even if he had wanted to help, he couldn't have gotten there.
And that helplessness still bothered him.
If something had happened to Shimura-kun because he couldn't do anything—
he felt like he might have carried the guilt for the rest of his life.
Fortunately…
the worst hadn't happened.
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