Chapter 7
After introducing themselves, two chairs were brought in and the officers took a seat next to Camie on the side across from her mother. Camie’s mother took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.
The man, officer Fujima, flipped open a notebook and held a pen as he waited for any important information that Camie might offer.
“Could you please tell us what happened the day of the hero license exam?” the woman, who had introduced herself as Tokuda, asked gently.
“I woke up late that morning,” Camie reencountered as she stared at the wall ahead of her. “I overslept and the girl I was sharing the room with ended up pulling me out of bed. I got dressed and packed in a hurry while still half asleep. After that I put my bag in the pile of luggage that was waiting to be packed into the bus. We had breakfast and before I could board the bus, one of my teachers noticed that I had forgotten my hat upstairs. Luckily I still had the key card as I was the last one out the room. I went up the elevator and entered my room and...” Camie paused.
How should I word the next part? I don’t want to incriminate her so I’d rather not mention her, but then how do I explain passing out?
Her mother sensing her unease and mistaking it for nervousness gave her hand another reassuring squeeze.
“What happened next? Do you remember?” Mr Fujima asked her, growing impatient with the prolonged silence in the room.
Camie looked at him before hanging her head, looking at her lap. Slowly she shook her head.
That’s right; I don’t have to say anything else. It’s not suspicious if I just end it there. Considering I was knocked out for eight days, they shouldn’t push it any further than this.
“Are you sure that’s all you remember?” Ms Tokuda asked.
Camie nodded in response before clearing her throat to give a verbal answer, “Yes.”
“So then to clarify; this isn’t you?” the woman lifted her hands together in a prayer position before slowly separating them. A picture started to appear in the space between her hands. Camie recognised the room as the hotel lobby. All four of them watched as Camie dashed into the lobby towards the elevator. Nothing happened for quite some time after that but eventually the elevators opened again and Camie stepped out the metal box, repositioning her hat. After she had skipped out the lobby front doors, the woman closed her hands which stopped the video feed.
“Just to confirm, the person who stepped off the elevator wasn’t you?”
“Yes, it wasn’t,” Camie said, “At least I don’t remember that happening.”
“Have you ever heard of the Brain Killer?”
Camie was taken aback by the question simply because she couldn’t see how it related to her case. “No...why?”
The woman didn’t answer; instead she looked at Camie’s mother which in turn caused Camie to turn her head towards her.
Her mother had paled and her eyes had widened significantly. She nodded, “He was a major villain many years ago. He had a dangerous quirk and heroes across the globe fought together to capture him.”
It was Mr Fujima’s turn to speak as he nodded, “He did have a very dangerous quirk. It was split into two parts. His right hand produced a drug that when it came into close contact with a person’s head and travelled to their brain; it caused them to collapse into a coma. The length that people stayed unconscious after been hit with his quirk always varied.”
“You think that’s what happened to me?”
“That’s one of the possibilities,” Ms Tokuda spoke again. “The hospital did perform a blood test upon our request and we did find traces of the drug in your system, too small for it to have come from a quirk directly.”
Camie’s mother gasped so dramatically that Camie wanted to roll her eyes. “Are you saying that my daughter was drugged?”
“Let’s hope that that was all.” Mr Fujima commented, earning a glare from the woman across from him.
“As horrible as that may sound, my colleague is right,” Ms Tokuda interjected to try and ease the tension. “The drug is the least disturbing of the two quirks.”
“What’s the other?” Camie asked fearfully.
“Manipulation. He was able to manipulate the body of those in a coma. He simple touched them with his left hand and would make them do his bidding for him.”
“Which is why we have to ask if you woke up at all in between entering the room and waking up in the hospital?”
“How does that help?” Camie’s mother asked.
“People who are controlled normally woke up for a bit while been controlled but weren’t in control of their bodies and so couldn’t notify anyone,” Fujima supplied the answer.
Do I say yes and risk them suspecting me or asking a bunch of questions that may lead them to Toga? I did wake up for a bit but I know for a fact that I wasn’t controlled because Toga went as me. Although if I say yes and say I was in the hotel room and didn’t see anyone that should stop them from pushing it right?
“No, I’m sorry but I didn’t.” Camie ended up lying.
The woman nodded and Mr Fujima wrote a note in his book.
“Are you sure about that?” He asked after he had finished.
“Yes I am.”
“You definitely don’t remember waking up, even if it was for a few seconds?”
“What is this?” Camie’s mother suddenly burst out. “You asked her a question and she answered it. Why are you still probing her on the subject?”
“Mom, I’m fi...” Camie started but her mother cut her off.
“No sweetie, you aren’t fine. You were unconscious in a hotel room, all alone, for four days. Four whole days before someone found you! Then you remained in a comatose state for four more days once you were hospitalised. Maybe we wouldn’t be having the justice system breathing down our necks, questioning you like some kind of criminal if they’d found you faster!”
“We are sorry if we come off as if we are accusing your daughter,” Ms Tokuda responded, “We’re just trying to get to the bottom of things. Sometimes repeating a question tends to aid in remembering some finer details. As for the hotel room issue, the school had checked out and Camie had been seen leaving the building and she did not return via the lobby. Moreover the room was occupied by someone else on the system when we checked again and a ‘do not disturb’ sign was placed on the door so no one had entered it until the day she was found. After we discovered her we tried to trace the name but it was an alias with no following leads. Furthermore, I do believe that our chief and the hotel manager have both explained and apologised repetitively for that incident.”
“I’m sorry; I vented my frustrations onto you two and lashed out.” Camie watched helplessly as her mother started to cry. “I just...I was so worried. You have no idea how worried I was.”
“I lost my wife to a group of villains; she was missing for a month before we found her body,” Mr Fujima spoke softly before he looked at Camie and her mother with determination in his eyes. “We will find the people responsible for this and prevent it from happening again.”
Camie looked down at her lap again and started to fiddle with her fingers as her mother replied.
I’m sorry mom, but I can’t let that happen. I don’t know if this makes me a bad person or not? Withholding information from the police is a crime and so I suppose in some term of the word I am a villain. I just...I just can’t find it in myself to say anything that could convict her in any way. I have this gut feeling that she’s been through enough so far. She had to have had a reason for what she did. Well, she did it for her family and I’m sure they had a legitimate reason. If not then I must take responsibility and give it my all to stop them. If that means death so be it. If that means that Toga would hate me...
“Camie are you alright?” Her mother asked, “You look a bit pale.”
“Oh, I’m fine, just a little tired,” Camie grinned sheepishly.
“In that case, we’ll leave after these next two questions,” Ms Tokuda assured them. “Have you heard of the League of Villains?”
“They’ve been on the news a lot lately, haven’t they?”
Mr Fujima nodded at Camie’s question, “We don’t know as much as we’d like to know about their organisation but we do know some of their members. The ones we do know of are Dabi, a dark haired man with severe scarring, a blue haired man that has a severe dry skin condition who was mentored by All for One and a blonde girl.”
“All for One!” Camie’s mother screeched, “Such dangerous people are roaming the streets?”
Camie’s eyes quickly widened at the words ‘Dabi’ and ‘blonde girl’ but soon returned to normal.
Dabi? Then the blonde girl could have only been Toga.
“I...is the next question you’re going to ask, whether I’ve met or seen any of them before?”
The detectives both nodded.
Camie pretended to think for a moment before she shook her head, “No sorry, not that I remember.”
“That’s alright,” Ms Tokuda assured Camie, “We’ll be going now so that you can rest.”
“Thank you for your time,” Mr Fujima stood up first, “Here is our card, call us if you remember anything at all.”
Both of them left and the chairs were removed from the room. Eventually Camie’s mother had to leave for a meeting.
Finally alone, Camie looked at the card with distaste before placing it under the mattress she lay on.
Call you? Like hell I will.