LIGHTNOVELONLINE Lying With Truth
“I’m still hungrrry.”
Across from me, Detective Tsukauchi sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “You realize that Mirko taking you out to eat instead of straight to a police station is a gross breach of protocol, correct?”
I shrug, crossing my arms. “Nyat my problem. I was purromised food, and she delivered. Mew guys are the ones who interrupted.”
He sighs again, opening the file in front of him. “Let's just get this over with.” He clears his throat. “What is the name of the organization that you were taken by?”
“The Cult of Nya.” I respond promptly.
He raises an eyebrow. “Was it not the League of Villains that attacked the USJ?”
I nod. “That is currect, nya.”
“Did the Cult of Nya and the League of Villains work together to orchestrate this attack?” His tone is becoming more serious with each question. Luckily he hasn’t started any of the more difficult questions yet. But I can’t let my guard down.
“Nya-ope.”
My response this time has him blinking in confusion. “The Cult of Nya and the League of Villains didn’t orchestrate the attack?”
“Correct.”
His eyes narrow. “Who orchestrated the attack?”
“The League of Villains. The Cult of Nya were tagalongs.”
And he’s back to being confused. “What do you mean by ‘tagalongs’?”
I shrug. “Exactly that, nya? They heard about the attack, then met up and joined in with the thugs, nya.”
“From Eraserhead’s report, the one who seemed to be in charge of the Cult was familiar with the leader of the League. If they didn’t orchestrate the attack together, how would that be explained?”
“Iroha introduced herself to him as the leader of the Cult of Nya. She claimed that it would be rude nyat to.”
Which is true on both accounts: Both that it would be rude to show up to their operation without introducing her own, as well as that she claimed that was the reason she did it. She did say it to me, after all. Whether or not her words are true doesn’t affect if mine are~.
Which ties into his next question nicely, even if he’s frowning as he asks. “How did you come by this information?”
Shrugging is getting old, so this time I roll my eyes while gesturing to my ears. “I asked, nya course. The Cult of Nya revolves around cats. If I ask them questions, I’ll get answers, nya.”
He nods, and I can’t help but note that he doesn’t seem overly surprised by this. Did the Cult not kill Mineta? If they didn’t I’d be surprised. They’re really aggressive against people who ‘have blasphemed against the Goddess’, as they say.
“Do you know why they kidnapped you? There were no other instances of this occurring, even with students who have more powerful quirks.”
My ear twitches at that bold claim. It’s safe to say that in both power and versatility my quirk is nearly unrivaled. Especially since I need my cats to hold back during training so they don’t kill anyone. That’s not even counting my own combat potential! Some of my annoyance leaks into my voice, but there’s nothing I can do after the fact except hope they dismiss it.
“They weren’t trying to recruit me-ow anything. They just didn’t want me getting hurt, nya.”
The corners of his lips twitch and his eyes narrow just a fraction. I’d have missed the signs if I wasn’t on guard. I messed up. But how? And how bad is it?
Ignorant of my new worries, he continues with his questions. “That's enough on the Cult, for now. Let’s talk about what happened at the USJ after you were teleported.”
And the questions continue. I tell him about getting teleported with Mineta and Kaminari, Kaminari overloading himself, and Mineta being blasted out of sight after ‘the person who looked like a rock’ told me to do things. It’s here that he interrupts.
“The leader of the Cult claimed that person’s quirk let them control those with animal-based heteromorphic quirks. Can you confirm this?”
Here it is. If there’s any part of this that is going to be a problem, it’s going to be Himiko’s quirk. I know her quirk, and what it can do. So I need to be careful not to say anything to contradict whatever they think her quirk can do, but also ensure that they don’t know that I acted freely. Luckily…
“I’ve heard the same, though all of my actions felt like I decided on them nyself.”
…people are more likely to believe a lie that’s ninety percent truth.
An eyebrow goes up. “Really? So you couldn’t feel any kind of control at all?”
I shake my head. “Nya-ope. Everything I did I thought I was choosing to do nyself. If I wasn’t told, I would think I’d randomly decided to hunt All Might on my own.”
“Interesting.” He rubs his chin in thought, his eyes glancing towards the one-way mirror. Behind it, I’d guess Principal Nezu, Mr. Aizawa, and depending on how well Recovery Girl has healed him, Ass Might.
`~`
(3rd)
“She’s not telling us everything.”
“Clearly.”
“Really?”
The two people capable of thinking beyond brute force look at the Symbol of Peace with disappointment. Before the silence can stretch too long, Nezu resumes speaking.
“She’s only responding to his questions. While she has offered up a minimal amount of information that hasn’t been asked about, the fact remains that it is minimal.”
While Catia answers the detective’s questions about what she’d seen and heard while kidnapped, Eraserhead explains further.
“In this kind of situation, most pro heroes would be telling the detective everything to try and gain even a bit more recognition when the group is taken down. Hero students are just as bad, or even worse since they think they’ll start off higher in the rankings once they go pro. The exception to this is when heroes are trying to infiltrate an organization.”
“But it appears that Miss Akihiro is already a part of the organization in question. Or one of them, at least.” Nezu’s words cause All Might to jolt, his hand going to his side as he stares at the student in shock. Seeing that he’s preparing to enter the room himself, Nezu stops him.
“It is likely that she was indeed being controlled though, given the record we have of the boy’s quirk and that he’s been ‘missing’ for two weeks. So it is doubtful that she attacked you intentionally. There’s a high probability that she’s not an ‘official’ member, given how she was not informed of the attack beforehand.”
Seeing that he’s become dazed at the news, Nezu suggests that he rest in the police station’s break room, which he accepts. After waiting a bit to ensure he can’t hear them, Eraserhead restarts the conversation. “So what weren’t you telling him?”
“As sharp as ever, Aizawa.” He pulls a folded piece of paper out of his suit which he hands to him. Taking it, Eraserhead quickly reads its contents, his brows furrowing the farther along he gets.
The paper is the same one that the pro hero Mirko had found in the building Catia was in. Essentially, it apologizes for the ‘kidnapping’ and explains the condition they’d found her in. Similar to how eating catnip puts her into a cat-like state, breathing in smoked catnip does something similar. Though rather than giving her energy it seems to take it away, making her relaxed to the point she’ll take a nap in the middle of a fight if she inhales it.
Additionally it advised them that she becomes rather gluttonous in that state, so offering her food would allow them to convince her to cooperate with them. Within reason. In giant letters at the very bottom of the paper it specifically warns against making unreasonable demands or provoking her while she’s in that state, or else BAD THINGS will happen.
“So she’s either been part of the Cult long enough that they’re familiar with her, and joined the attack to keep her safe…”
“Or high enough that she can work as a spy for them should they be antagonistic towards UA. Though given all their actions so far it would be unlikely.”
“Unlikely, but not impossible.” Eraserhead frowns.
“Indeed.”
They fall into silence as they listen to Detective Tsukauchi ask his final questions with bated breath.
“Did you join the League of Villains or the Cult of Nya?”
“No.”
“Do you harbor any desire to harm UA or pro heroes?”
“No.”
Though they relax just a little at not getting a signal for a lie from him, the two resolve to keep an eye on their feline student all the same.