All Might didn't know what to think. He could only watch as his successor was interrogated by his coworker, Nedzu silently at his side. He longed to go to the boy, to support him, because surely, he couldn't be a villain. The boy who had rushed to save his classmate with no thought to his own health would never turn his back on heroism.

But then Young Midoriya started speaking and… he didn't refute it. All Might's desperate declarations that Aizawa had been mistaken, that it hadn't been Young Midoriya in the broadcast fell silent as the young man he thought he knew began explaining exactly how he got involved with a dangerous villain organization. Did he ever truly know Young Midoriya? He trained the boy and even got to know some of his friends, but what did that mean in the long run? Nana had known everything about him when she chose to give Toshinori One for All.

What did he know about Young Midoriya?

"Did you know?" Nedzu asked, speaking for the first time since the interview began.

"I—No." All Might couldn't meet his eyes. "I didn't even suspect. He just… seemed like a normal kid with an underwhelming quirk. I had no idea…"

"I doubt there was any real way to find out. We're lucky that this was caught by us, instead of the Hero Commission."

"What? Why?"

Nedzu shook his head. "Can you imagine what the Commission would do if they had the power to change people's hearts?"

All Might grimaced. That… that would be bad. There were rumors about how Hawks managed to rise in the ranks so quickly, and Nighteye had once told him how several Commission members tried to blackmail him into spying on All Might, so the last thing heroes needed was the Commission holding "heart stealing" over their heads.

Still… "Do you think Young Midoriya was telling the truth? About how it isn't a quirk?"

"I hope not. Otherwise, we'd lose jurisdiction over him."

"The SIU…"

"Indeed. However, that presents a conundrum; during the supposed interview with the Phantom Thief leader last November, it was discovered that the changes of heart were the work of a quirk. But now, Midoriya is telling us it wasn't?"

All Might's eyes narrowed. "'Supposed?' Do you think the interview was falsified?"

"It's likely. I'm familiar with how the SIU works. It would be like them to falsify the evidence and demonize brainwashing quirks in the process."

"How could they get away from such things!?"

"How indeed…?" Nedzu mused, with a mysterious smile on his face. "Ever since the confession of Masayoshi Shido, I had suspected he was the cause of the ever-increasing corruption of law enforcement. He confessed and his collaborators were captured, but the corruption remained. It's slower now, with so many members of the police and Commission needing to be replaced, but it's become clear to me that Shido wasn't the only person manipulating the police. Perhaps… it's very possible that Midoriya knows who this person is.

"After all, even after the suspicious events on Christmas Eve last year, the Phantom Thieves of Hearts remained active."

Toshinori frowned. Nedzu was treating this like chess, with Young Midoriya and even the Phantom Thieves as pawns for his game. He didn't like it, but… where was the young man who had wanted to be a hero even with a lackluster quirk, and where did the thief that took his place come from?