"Are you suggesting, Matsuda-san, that the responsibility for the scale of this tragedy rests on the absence of a single individual? Or perhaps, more pointedly, on the student he was reportedly with?"
Matsuda shook his head. "Well professor, let's not go that far. I'm not interested in assigning 'fault.' That's for the investigators. But we have to look at the sentiment on the ground." He held up his tablet. "What I'm interested in is what the public is saying right now. Because what the public says right now tends to become what the public believes tomorrow. And what the public believes tomorrow tends to become policy the week after."
"People are scared and they have every right to be. Previously All Might wasn't in the country at the most critical moment. That was then. His current condition is unknown but people are already worried about the indestructible Hero being unable to protect them anymore."
"And what are they saying," Hayashi said.
"They're angry. Mostly at the situation. At the Commission, and for good reason too."
Matsuda faced the camera. "Before we continue, I want to return to something from the villain's broadcast. For viewers who may have missed it or who were following from audio only, we're going to play a portion of the HPSC broadcast from last night."
The monitor behind the panel shifted as a video played in the background.
[SHINJUKU – NISHI-SHINJUKU INTERSECTION – 07:51 AM]
With the national disaster hours prior, the morning commute had not stopped. This was the thing about Tokyo that never quite made sense from the outside — Salarymen with their heads down, earphones in, briefcases swinging. A delivery cyclist weaving through the stalled traffic at the intersection of Koshu Kaido and the elevated ring road. A woman in nursing scrubs eating a rice ball standing up outside a convenience store because she didn't have time to sit. At the moment, a knot had gathered underneath the massive outdoor screen at the west exit of Shinjuku station.
The small crowd of civilians watched the NHK Panel news broadcast on the billboard that cycled through advertisements under normal circumstances. It had been running continuous coverage for hours now.
*This is the story of how I defeat the ultimate Hero.*
*My friends out there who have been released by my disciple Tomura, if you seek to join our cause, then you are more than welcome. Seek him out and prepare to step into the new void era. To the citizens watching this: stay in your homes. Lock your doors. Pray it comforts you.*
*And to you, Toshinori... Or as you're better known, All Might ..*
*Hurry now. I'll be waiting right here in the ruins of this building. You know where it is. I would hate to have to see the end of Hero Society without your head to go with it ...* The video paused there.
"The tone of this broadcast is what's truly bothering people," Hayashi noted, gesturing to the frozen image of the ruined HPSC headquarters.
"He doesn't address the government, but rather, a single man. Which would be normal until you notice he does so with a level of familiarity that is... frankly, unsettling."
"I see what you mean." Takeda uttered, voice dropping. "He called him 'Toshinori,'"
"That's All Might's true name, I would presume."
"That's the point that isn't sitting well with anyone," Matsuda on screen added. "For years now, All Might's name, quirk and almost everything about him has never been revealed to the general public. It's been that way for years. To hear it revealed now, not from The Symbol Of Peace or the media but out of the mouth of a man who just attacked the county, ... Does that say anything to the rest of you, or is it just me?"
Inoue frowned. "It does suggest a history. Perhaps a layer of conflict that has been kept entirely off the books."
"That would imply All Might knew this villain existed, which is a problem on its own. If this villain is powerful enough to dismantle forty of our top heroes in a single evening, how is it possible that he has remained a ghost to the general public until now?"
"It's more than just a ghost story, Inoue-san," Takeda countered. "If the Commission knew about a threat of this caliber—a 'Symbol of Evil' to counter the Symbol of Peace—and chose to classify it rather than prepare for it, then we aren't just looking at an intelligence failure. We're looking at a conspiracy of silence."
Hayashi adjusted his headset, listening to a producer in his ear before looking back at Takeda. "That's a heavy accusation, Takeda-san. A 'conspiracy' implies intent. This villain aware of who All Might is can possibly have found this information through thorough investigation or a special quirk. He does seem to have a lot of them after all. Perhaps he was even a resentful rival All Might once knew a long time ago or met abroad. Is it not possible the Commission was just as blind-sided as the rest of us?"
"First off, that line has a big problem." Takeda didn't back down. "If the commission that regulates heroes is blindsided or just as ignorant on such an important factor as we, the general public are, then this is no longer a matter of negligence or secrecy but plain incompetence. Incompetence on a scale that borders on the criminal."
He leaned forward. "The HPSC launched a raid after discovering the location of the league of villains headquarters. Let's assume that they truly were blindsided and ignore how big a dereliction of duty that is. After all, accidents happen. Now the consequences of that accident have been laid plain before us. Forty heroes are in the hospital ... Or worse ... because they had no idea what they were getting into. So why don't you go ahead and tell me how to account for that. Go on, I'm waiting."
Hayashi remained silent for a heartbeat too long, the professional neutrality of his face twitching under Takeda's glare. The "conspiracy versus incompetence" argument was the third rail of Japanese political discourse, and they were touching it with both hands on national television.
"Takeda-san makes a point that is being echoed across every digital platform right now," Hayashi said, pivoting to the panel. "If the HPSC was ignorant, they were negligent. If they knew, they were deceptive. Professor Inoue, from a psychological standpoint, which of those two realities is harder for the public to process?"
Inoue didn't hesitate. "The deception, without a doubt. Incompetence is a human failing; we can understand a mistake, even a catastrophic one. But if the public perceives that the 'Peace' they've enjoyed for decades was actually a managed illusion—that a threat of this magnitude was being 'contained' or hidden for any reason whatsoever, then the trust in the Hero system will practically shatter. "
"Takeda-san," she turned. "In your time at the Commission — was there any awareness of this individual? Any file. Any intelligence. Anything that would explain how a villain capable of what we witnessed last night existed without public knowledge."
Takeda was quiet for a long time. "I worked in Commission oversight for twenty years," he said finally. "Licensing, compliance, interagency coordination. I reviewed a significant volume of classified operational material." He stopped. "I never saw this man's name. I never saw his face. I never saw anything that would suggest the existence of a villain at this level operating in Japan." He paused again. "Which is either a failure of our intelligence infrastructure so catastrophic it defies explanation or ..." He stopped.
"Honestly, I feel it's bad either way." Inoue shook her head and sighed.
"From a personal perspective, I would rather hope this was a conspiracy kept secret, because no one gets that strong silently. If so, what's to let us believe that there aren't even more people with similar destructive capacity that'll pop up in the coming weeks?"
__
[YOKOHAMA EVACUATION CENTER – SURVIVOR PERIMETER]
The smell of instant noodles and damp wool hung heavy in the air. Thousands of refugees from Kamino Ward sat on thin blue tarps, huddled around battery-powered radios.
*"I would actually want the opposite. Because if this were a conspiracy and The HPSC and All Might knew this person, then that would mean Forty plus heroes were sentenced to their deaths while key information was being withheld."*
_
[NARUHATA PREFECTURE – DISUSED WAREHOUSE, INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT – 09:16 AM]
The radio was a hand-crank emergency model someone had found in a supply closet. Seven men in orange prison uniforms sat at a warehouse that smelled of rust and old motor oil. Two of them asleep. One sitting on an overturned crate turning a knife over in his hands.
*"That's... quite a leap. The President authorized last night's raid. If she knew such a person was behind the league, why would she do something that would shoot herself in the foot? Plus, even if he exists, there was no connection or indication of such a person being behind the league of villains. This would likely just be an unfortunate encounter due to All Might not being available."*
_
[YAMANASHI PREFECTURE - BACK ALLEY]
*"Tell that to the family of the heroes who lost their lives."*
*"Whatever the truth is, it can't be denied that the shadow that kept the peace has retreated, and now we are all standing in the light, waiting to see what comes for us."*
A blonde haired school girl who had been walking the streets since four when things got interesting, looked at the giant billboard in the distance replaying the news. Her phone was in one hand. News feed running without sound. The pictures were enough. She stopped at a vending machine. Bought a melon soda she didn't want. Leaned against it and scrolled until the image of a boy came on screen.
A creepy smile found its way up her feathers as she looked at the image, then looked at the knife in her other hand, which she had been holding for so long it had stopped registering as something she was holding.
She put it in her pocket. The soda was too sweet. She dropped it in the recycling bin and kept walking. earphones in her ears, playing nothing.
__
*"On the topic of loss, perhaps a few dozen more families would like to make a note on that from Two week prior. *
__
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