Chapter 35

"Ah! Student Asui, come, take a seat." Nezu said after I knocked on his door.

"How was your patrol?"

I slumped into the chair. The soft cushion was really comforting and I took my time to settle into it. I had begun my daily patrols in the city of Musutafu as directed by the Association. Every night, I'd return to U.A. and report to Nezu.

"It's getting tough."

Nezu's demeanor immediately changed and he leaned on his desk.

"Explain."

I sighed in frustration and said, "I worked with Edgeshot and learnt of the T&I department. It might be morally ambiguous, but, it does help. I simply can't understand why did Musutafu close that department?"

Nezu leaned back amd sighed before saying, "It's the mayor. He's been in power for the past eight years and it was him who parroted the agenda of closing it down. He said it was against Human rights. While he was right in a sense, the T&I department only handled criminals involved in extremes of criminal activity. Drug lords and their soldiers, high ranking members of human trafficking rings, assassins and terrorist organizations. Not even the suspects, but, criminals who were caught in action."

I frowned and asked, "Araki Toriaezu... Is there a file on him?"

Nezu grinned and said, "Every politician has a file. He was a lawyer who worked for the Fascist party. Until he was not. He broke off and formed his own party. He calls it the Musutafu Humanitarian relief party. So far, it has worked for him. Eight years in power, he has full control over the police. Let me give you access to our online database."

I took my Association issued phone out and looked Akari up. His record was clean. There wasn't a single scandal against him or his party. That raised flags in my head immediately.

"An unblemished record? Isn't that suspicious?"

I recieved a nod in response before Nezu said, "It definitely is, but, there isn't much I can do besides inform the police. Unless quirks are involved, he is out of our hands."

"But, he's faciliting the gangs and crippling our influence in the city!"

"I know, but, I can't take any kind of action against him."

I ground my teeth in anger. Hyena, the Savages soldier whom I had tortured for information, he was too insane and was more involved in the grunt work. He had little knowledge of the political backing the gang had.

'It's possible... Very possible. I need to gather evidence. But, how?'

The blurred lines of my morals had begun to get more blurry.

(APIBNHA)

"Phantasm! What can I do for you today?"

I looked at the police officer in front of me. I had decided to visit the various precincts and look at missing persons cases, drug smuggling and murder cases that had been registered in their database. Even though I was a provisional hero, I still ranked above the normal policemen.

"I need access of the city police database."

The man frowned and asked, "Our database? Whatever for?"

"I just want to know about the kind of criminals I'll be dealing with in this city."

"Oh! You don't need to access the database for that. Come, you should meet the captain. He'll tell you everything you want to know."

I stopped myself from showing any reaction. The man was acting casually, but, there was an edge to his voice. Even the other policemen who had heard were looking towards me, their backs rigid.

I followed the man to the captain's office and we were allowed to enter.

"Captain Ryuuta, Phantasm is here."

"Phantasm? The new provisional hero? What does he want?"

I entered the office and said, "I just need access to the database of the city."

The captain leaned back into his chair and said, "That'll be all, officer Tanaka. You may go."

I took a seat in front of the captain as he asked, "Why do you want access?"

"To familiarize myself with the kind of criminals in the city and the problems areas where the civilians could use some more... Monitoring."

"Problem areas, you say? There are no such areas in Musutafu. And we only have minor thefts and perhaps a murder or two in a month which are ususally crimes of passion. There isn't much to look for in the database."

I looked directly into his eyes, disappointed that he had sold his soul.

"Then, there's no problem if I take a look at the database anyway, right? I might notice something that one of the officers could have missed."

His face grew stormy as he said, "Are you saying that you are better than my officers who have been doing this job for years?"

"No, I'm saying human error is entirely possible."

"That will be all. Thank you, Phantasm. You may leave."

I knew it was futile to try further. So, I decided to break the rules.

I got up from my chair and extended my hand for him to shake. He reached forward and as soon as we shook hands...

'Psychic.'

(APIBNHA)

It was the final week of june and the term exams were only a week away.

"I didn't study at all!!!" Said a panicking Kaminari.

"Between the sports festival and the internship, it totally slipped my mind!! AAAHHHH!!!"

The man was ranked last in the mid terms and Mina, who was laughing at him without a care, was actually second last.

"The thought of exams puts me into the darkness or despair."

"Sucks that there's gonna be a practical exam too." Said the smug midget.

"We thought you were one of us!!"

"Guys like you are only loveable when you're morons! There's just no demand for whatever you actually are!!!"

"Such is life..."

Midoriya, in an attempt to cheer the two up, said, "Ashido, Kaminari! Let's try the best we can! It'd be great if we all go to the training camp! Right?!"

"Yes!!"

"Haven't you been attending classes? How could you possibly fail? Are you a mouth breathing idiot?"

... Only for Todoroki's words to put salt on the wounds.

"Word hurt, y'know?!"

After that, Momo decided to offer help in their academics and everyone else who also needed help flocked to her like chickens. She was so happy that she broke character and yelled, "Yes! Of course I'll help!!"

I wasn't in need for help. Instead of worrying for exams, my mind was fixated on one thing only.

I was going to capture another soldier of the Savages.