The Girl Who Never Had a Choice
Luckily for Aizawa, Nemuri had the decency to clean up the bus before everyone came on. The initial shock must have showed on his face, as when no one was looking, Midnight stuck her tongue out at him with a wink, but Aizawa didn't really care. He was too busy being relieved from an awkward questionnaire from the kids.
Speaking of the kids, the bus ride was eerily quiet the whole time. He had expected a truck-load of questions and comments, but no, they were all just sitting silently. Aizawa couldn't help but to assume that they had been conditioned to stay quiet despite their own curiosity, and as much as Aizawa would love to address that now, Nemuri's semi-clean party bus truly wasn't the time nor place.
A soft groan sparked his attention, as the unconscious girl in his lap was lightly coming to. Good thing, as chances are she will especially need to be questioned. Aizawa brought up a thumb to the inflamed wound on her cheek, gently rubbing the soft skin around the cuts. From the looks of it, the punctures weren't very deep, so no stitches would be necessary. None the less, all of the kids would still need a hospital visit at some point, as who knows the extent of all of the injuries they've accumulated over the years, not to mention how the quirk manipulation could have affected them. But because there were no wounds that needed immediate medical attention, the police visit took priority.
Out of the corner of his eye, Aizawa spotted the little girl with rolled-up earlobes staring at him with unwavering intensity. He had to admit, it was kind of creepy, but he still forced a small smile at her anyway. The girl's expression turned to something more confused than creepy now, but Aizawa knew it didn't come from a bad place. From what he's seen, Momo and the earlobe girl are pretty close, so it's only reasonable that she's curious about her friend's well being.
As they came to a stop in front of the station, Aizawa couldn't help but to overhear shushed whispers from one kid to another as they efficiently unloaded the bus, counting each child as they stepped off. With Yamada leading the way, and Aizawa taking the rear, the mismatched group entered the building. You could only imagine the receptionist's shock when 20 dirty kids, plus 3 pro-heroes, entered the building all at once. Chances are that she had been warned that an orphanage case was going on, but doubtfully expected so many people at one time. His husband shot her a sheepish smile as he marched his way into the back where Detective Tsukauchi was waiting for them.
"Midnight, could you watch the kids? We should probably talk to him alone first." Aizawa was admittedly a tad worried about leaving the children here only under Nemuri's supervision alone, but at as soon as the words left his mouth he could see the eyes light up from all of the kids because of the chance to talk to Midnight. Deciding that they were in good hands, he handed Momo over to the R-Rated Hero and entered the door where the detective was patiently waiting.
The room was small, with gray bricks adorned with a bulletin board and a white board surrounding them. In the center of the room was a rectangular wooden table, with two chairs on one side and a single one on the other. Next to it was a steel filing cabinet, with a fake succulent sitting cheerily out of place on top. A too-bright light swung above the table where Detective Tsukauchi was waiting with a smile.
"Hello you two! It's been quite a day hasn't it? Would you like something to drink?"
Taking the seats in front of him, Aizawa and Yamada sat down,"No thank you, Detective, let's just begin."
Beside him, his husband let out a small whine, disagreeing with Aizawa's choice to decline the offer, but he ignored it. They had bigger fish to fry right now.
"Alright. I've heard a basic rundown of what happened at the orphanage earlier, but I would appreciate hearing it from your perspective. Could you tell me what happened?"
Nodding, Aizawa took in a deep breath,"I was on patrol. It was a new route, so you could imagine my shock when I heard screaming coming from an orphanage. Upon going in, the workers, Emiri and Sasaki, said they had no idea what I was talking about. Still being suspicious, I-"
"We went in the next day for breakfast!"
Of course his husband had to get his spotlight, rolling his eyes, Aizawa continued,"Yes, I brought Hizashi with me for backup, just in case. We went in for breakfast, and that was when we saw the full extent of the abuse. All of the kids had some sort of quirk manipulation restraining them. Among them was a girl named Momo, who was isolated from everyone else."
This whole time Detective Tsukauchi was scribbling down on his notepad, but managed to keep his eyes on the two pros in front of him, undoubtedly using his quirk. Aizawa had to admit, he was impressed, the detective was certainly good at his job.
Pushing on, Aizawa cleared his throat,"We came back for dinner that night, and we caught a glimpse of the poor living conditions that the children were living under. We managed to convince one of them, Shinsou, to let us take off the muzzle he was wearing, but before he could speak, we heard someone getting hit."
"It was the same girl from the day before! She was practically unconscious, it was crazy! We dealt with the two lady workers, when the kids panicked and tried to lock themselves into a room!"
The detective's eyebrows shot up at that, but nodded to himself, making sense of it. Cutting off his husband's over-enthusiastic rambling, Aizawa beat him to the punch,"From there, Nemuri came with her bus and brought the kids over here. That's all we know right now."
Tsukauchi hummed to himself while rereading what he wrote down on the notepad, and Aizawa could practically see the gears turning in his head,"Thank you, gentleman. This is certainly more information than what was reported to me from the other officers. If you don't mind, do you think we could get Momo in here? Only if she is awake now, of course."
"I'll go check." Aizawa got up from the chair as the detective thanked him, and left him and his husband in the room.
Going out into the hallway, Aizawa wasn't expecting to be faced with utter chaos. Closest to him was Izuku and the proud looking boy, who were arguing over something that had to deal with All Might, but Aizawa couldn't pick up on exactly what. To the right of them was Midnight, who was sitting criss-crossed on the floor, surrounded by the short-haired brunette with thick gloves on and the boy with spiky red hair with long sleeves that covered his arms, who were copying her position. Catching Aizawa's attention was Sansa, the cat officer, who was entertaining Shinsou with his tail while answering the frog-like girl's questions. Aizawa was quite relieved that Shinsou had stopped crying, but he was still refusing to talk at all. Aizawa guessed he would have to address that later on, as he had other things to focus on currently. Everyone else was strung across the room, some talking, others sleeping, and few skipping around, presumably playing tag.
Finally, Aizawa pinpointed the raven-haired girl he was looking for. She was conscious this time, with thick white bandages plastered over her cheek where the hit was. Next to her was the earlobe girl again, and they were quietly talking to each other. He approached the two girls cautiously while stepping around the other kids, not wanting to upset either one of them. Luckily for Aizawa, it seemed like the earlobe girl had already filled Momo in on what had happened, as she didn't seem all that afraid when he crouched down in front of them.
"Hi, Momo. I'm glad you're awake."
"Thank you."
Her voice was small, and quite hoarse, but it probably had to do with how exhausted she looked. Part of Aizawa twinged at the fact that she would have to be questioned right now, but it was something that needed to be done. Forcing a smile, he tried to look nice, but it most likely appeared more tense than anything,"If you don't mind me asking, who bandaged your cheek?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Aizawa knew he made a mistake. Momo's tired eyes turned wide, as she started clawing at the edge of the gauze,"I-I'm sorry! I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to! I won't- I shouldn't have- I'm sorry!"
Aizawa grabbed her wrist, probably a little too forcefully, but it stopped her from trying to rip the white plaster away,"No! No, it's completely fine. In fact, I'm glad you did. I'm sorry that I made you feel like you did something wrong. I'm not mad."
For a moment, the two just stared at each other, until Aizawa realized he was still gripping her wrist, and gently let go.
"You-you're not mad?"
Aizawa could practically hear his heart shatter into a million little pieces,"No, of course not. I'm not mad in the slightest."
The young girl swallowed as she rubbed her cheek, slowly mushing the bandages to stick back down on her face. Aizawa still wasn't sure where she had gotten them, but after that last scene he just caused, he decided against asking,"If you would like to, do you mind coming to answer some questions for me? You don't have to if you don't want to, but it would help if you did."
Momo turned her head to look at her friend, and the two seemingly had a silent conversation, when she turned back to Aizawa and gave him a nod. She stood up softly, and followed him into the room.
Upon entering, Yamada and the Detective immediately stopped whatever conversation they were having, and welcomed Momo with two warm smiles. Aizawa wasn't sure if she even saw them though, as she kept her head down the entire time. She took the chair next to his husband with only a little struggle, and stared at the table. This was going to be fun. As Aizawa leaned against the wall, the Detective began.
"Hello, Momo, it's nice to meet you. My name is Detective Tsukauchi, but you can just call me Detective if you'd like. Would you like anything to drink?"
She didn't deliver any verbal response, and instead only shook her head. But if the detective had wanted more of an answer, he didn't show it on his face, as his smile didn't even waver in the slightest,"I'm going to ask you a few questions now, is that alright with you?"
Once again, she only nodded her head, but Aizawa would be lying if he said that he didn't appreciate all of the questions that Tsukauchi was asking, as he doubted that Momo was ever given the option to decline something in her life.
"Alright then, let's start. Why were you at the orphanage?"
For a moment, the entire room was silent except for the loud ticking of a clock in the corner, and Aizawa wasn't entirely sure that the girl was going to even answer,"I.. I live there?"
Aizawa almost had to hold in a laugh. It was such an innocent answer, but oh so depressing knowing the circumstances she had lived under. This only gathered more respect for the Detective, as Aizawa knew that he could never handle this job. Even though the girl had given such an unhelpful answer, the man still managed to keep it positive,"Very good to know, Momo! If you don't mind me asking, what kinds of things did you do at the orphanage? Was it nice there?"
Everyone in the room knew that it wasn't a nice place in the slightest, but at least it produced a response from the girl,"I made things."
That definitely caught Aizawa's attention, but Detective Tsukauchi beat him to the punch,"You made things? Does that have to do with your quirk?"
Once again, the ticking clock became the only sound in the room as everyone waited for Momo's response, which ended up only being slightly above a whisper,"Yes."
"Well then, Momo, what is your quirk exactly?"
The young girl inhaled sharply,"I can turn my fat cells into objects, as long as I know their molecular structure."
Her quirk was... what? His mind immediately went to how powerful her ability was. What happens if she overuses it? How does she memorize all of the molecular structures? What are its limits? How big of an object can she make? Is it limited to organic material? Can she make living things?
Everyone else in the room had a similar reaction, and no one was even trying to hide it. Yamada was blatantly staring at the girl, and the Detective had dropped his unwavering smile. He could see the gears turning in his head once again. None the less, Aizawa noticed how uncomfortable Momo looked with all of those eyes on her. Trying to get the other adults' attention, Aizawa broke the silence by clearing his throat.
That got the Detective to realize how Momo was reacting, and instantly brought his signature smile back to his face, though this time it looked quite strained,"That is a very powerful quirk, Momo."
If anything, this made the girl curl into herself even more as a light pink blush spread across her face, but Detective Tsukauchi continued anyway,"What kind of things did you make at the orphanage? And why?"
In all honesty, Aizawa truly didn't expect her to respond. He was fully prepared to end the meeting right there so Momo could go calm down, not wanting to overwhelm the girl. But surprisingly, it didn't take long for her to answer,"I.. I made a lot of things. I'm not sure what a lot of them were, though. But sometimes it hurt, especially at the end of the day. Miss Emiri and Miss Sasaki would bring me out back, and there would always be a line of people waiting there," She absentmindedly started rubbing her cheek again,"Some of them were nice, but most of the time they scared me. They always asked for things, and I made them no matter how tired I was or how much it hurt, or else they would get mad. And if they got mad, Miss Emiri and Miss Sasaki did too.
For what seemed like the millionth time today, the small room was stunned into silence. Blood rushed to Aizawa's ears, and he tried to remind himself that he had to stay calm in front of Momo, not wanting her to take his frustration the wrong way, so put on a poker face.
Aizawa soon realized that it wasn't going to matter anyway, as his husband, no matter how much he loved him, truly didn't have a filter for his emotions,"They did what!? What the hell! Those bastards! They probably got money from it too, those little-"
"Hizashi."
Aizawa hissed at him, which luckily caused him to cut off from what he was about to say, but the damage was already done. Yamada looked back at Aizawa, then finally realized what he did. He brought his attention to the girl on his right.
She had started sobbing, hard. Her small hands were raised defensively in front of her face as her shoulders shook violently, with her big eyes squeezed shut tightly, as if she was bracing herself to be hit.
Upon seeing this, Yamada instantly was out of his seat, and crouched down in front of the girl,"Hey! Hey, shh, it's okay, Momo. I'm not mad at you, just breathe, alright?" She was still gasping for air, and if anything, the closer Yamada got to her, the more she shrunk back,"Can you hear me, Momo? No one here is mad at you, no one here is going to hurt you. I'm so, so sorry. I'm not angry with you, alright? Just keep breathing."
The whole time Tsukauchi and Aizawa just watched, not daring to say anything while Momo tried to catch her breath,"I'm-I'm sorry."
The way her voice cracked when her small voice responded almost made Aizawa drop to his knees. Good grief, how the hell were they ever going to help these kids?
"No! No, don't be sorry. I'm the one who should be apologizing, I didn't mean to scare you, Momo. I'm sorry." For a moment it was quiet once again, as the raven-haired girl stared at his husband in awe. Aizawa doubted that she ever had anyone apologize to her. It's probably always been the other way around, if he was guessing off of her previous behavior.
Yamada, bless his heart, managed to give her a smile, and if he wasn't Aizawa's husband, he probably wouldn't have seen the sadness behind it, as the guilt from upsetting Momo will probably eat up at him for years.
Extending his hand, Yamada held out his palm to her, still upholding his soft smile. She stared at it for a moment, as she rubbed the skin around her eyes raw, rapidly trying to halt the tears, until she gently placed her small, scarred hand into his large calloused one. If Aizawa hadn't of already loved his husband enough, he somehow managed to fall even more in love in this police station.
The young girl stared at their interlaced palms as Yamada squeezed her hand, then looked up at the pro-hero. And for what seemed like the first time, the corner's of the girl's mouth trembled as she returned the smile back at his husband.
She then turned her attention back over to the Detective, who was watching all of this with dewy eyes,"You.. you can ask more questions again. I didn't mean to interrupt."
Aizawa was about to stop her, saying that this should be enough for now, but stopped when he caught the eyes of the Detective. Silently, he started to understand what he was doing. As much as Aizawa thought that continuing might not be the best choice for Momo's mental health, this falls into the same category of giving her a choice. It was Momo's choice to continue, and that's something that they should respect, so Aizawa begrudgingly stayed silent.
"You didn't interrupt anything, Momo. It's completely fine. We're in no rush here. That being said, do you mind if I ask you how you ended up at the orphanage? Remember, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."
She went silent once again, the clock still ticking away, and whatever confidence she gained was short-lived, as she curled back into herself, hunching her small shoulders,"My parents, Mrs. and Mr. Yaoyorozu, really liked my quirk. They would ask me to make them things, like jewels and money, but I never knew what they did with them," She swallowed, and avoided eye contact with everyone in the room as her voice grew smaller,"Until one day the police showed up my house while I was making them, but my parents said that I was doing it all on my own to make money for myself! I- I promise you I wasn't! T-They took me away from Mrs. and Mr. Yaoyorozu, and sent me to the orphanage."
Aizawa honestly didn't even know what to say at that point. If what she was saying was true, and judging by Tsukauchi's reaction, it was, then it seems as if the girl's entire life she had been abused and taken advantage of, simply because of her powerful quirk. Not to mention, what 6 year old calls their parents by their last names? It was like she didn't even know them.
None the less, the young girl had started shaking again, and Aizawa almost face palmed because of how long it took him to realize that she thought that she was going to be in trouble with the law because of this. Luckily, Yamada, even though he was as dense as a rock, picked up on it too,"Hey, you're not in trouble, alright? Everyone knows that it wasn't you're fault, and no one blames you. Nothing bad is going to happen, okay? Can you breathe for me?"
She tried to catch her breath as she listened to what the pro-hero was saying, and only when she did, is when the Detective continued,"Thank you, Momo. Like Present Mic here said, you aren't in trouble, and aren't going to be in trouble, okay? You've done very well, and by answering these questions you've helped a lot of people," He gave her a bright smile,"Now, you look hungry, and I overheard that Eraserhead had promised you food, so how about you and the others go do that now?"
"Is that really it?" Quite honestly, Aizawa was surprised. There was no way that was all of the information needed, and undoubtedly Tsukauchi wanted as much evidence as he could get his hands on,"We can pull some of the other kids in here if you need us to."
The Detective shook his head,"No thank you, it's already late, and I wasn't kidding when I said that the kids were probably getting hungry. I can gather some more information later, this will be plenty for now."
Looking at the ticking clock, he could hardly believe that it was already 10:30 at night. Walking out of the room, he couldn't help but to sigh at the fact that they couldn't quite leave yet. He would still have to deal with the quirk restraints by tonight, and on top of that, where on Earth were these kids even going to stay?
Despite this, his anxieties melted away when he looked at the pair in front of him. Momo and Yamada were still tightly clutching hands. She stared up at his husband intently as he told her a story about a villain he beat once. Even though they had a long road ahead of them, Aizawa knew that all 20 kids would end up just fine.
He would make sure of it.