A/N: lmk if yall prefer the first person or third person pov. I'll probably scatter a little bit of both in between chapters. This one is first person pov. Also I just changed my username here to match the one I have on some other sites.
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Julian Ryukazi POV
This was ridiculous
This was stupid
This was insane
This was bullshit.
This entire situation made no sense. I sat in an interrogation room with heavy cuffs that most children my age would incapable of lifting, complaining about the weight and stiffness. Honestly about doing such, but I decided not to. I had already been humble by getting locked up without a fight. My future as a Pro Hero was in dire straights, yes, but getting into a fight with the law would only hinder me further. For the millionth time I wondered why I even bothered.
My lack of complaints against the oversized cuff only served to confirm their suspicions that I was, in fact, dangerous enough to warrant them. I was led to the Mastafsu police headquarters, and promptly strapped down in reinforced interrogation room and left to stir for two hours.
No lawyer, no Miranda rights (not that I expected them, but still). Just silence and a fair bit of regret for trusting the cops who just proved that I couldn't trust them. I couldn't help but feel like every step I look in my whole life was the wrong one, pressing the wrong dialogue option in a videogame.
Every interaction felt like I pressed on a button that was titled "I'll go down peacefully" and instead said "I'll go down peacefully after I kill everyone and bomb an orphanage." Like there was an invisible tone indicator I was missing.
Logically I did everything right, I helped people, obeyed police commands, and kept quiet. Yet everything was falling apart again. Both lives had this quality, like no matter what I did, no matter how much I tried to stay out of trouble it had a way of catching up to me. I was on the path to being an EMT despite how badly I messed up before, and now I was sitting in a police station.
Maybe the silence was part of this world's 'enhanced interrogation techniques' meant to break me mentally and have me spout out a confession. I frowned at the thought. Being kept waiting was one thing, tormenting a child was another. I swear if I see a single plier I'm going full Omni-Man on this place.
I tested the cuffs when they were first put on. After significantly more pressure than I thought they could handle the cuffs began to bend to distort by the smallest amount. I was content that it would take well below my maximum strength to break them.
I was seriously considering ripping them off and demanding answers, when I head footsteps stop in front of the door. Whoever it was waited at the door for a little over five minutes, they where talking to somebody I couldn't hear on the other of the phone.
A moment later, the man, escorted by two police officers, opened the door with a small click. I instantly clocked the man as a fed. A real fed. Carefully pressed and steamed two piece suit, briefcase, professional empathic smile that felt too disarming. Too practiced, too perfect. Beneath the shadow of empathy and professionalism he had the expression of a shark in tank of guppies.
The man offered a friendly smile as he entered the room. "Good evening Mr. Ryukazi, I am Special Investigator Kaito Sakamoto, I trust they have been treating you well?" He asked, standing next to the chair and pausing for a return greeting.
Taking my silence as an answer of it's own he sat down and placed his brief case on the table. He opened it up and removed two thick files. Both where unnamed but their consents where obvious given the situation.
"Do you mind if I sit down here to have a conversation?" He asked, once more being met with only silence.
"I have been assigned to your case Mr. Ryukazi, do you understand what that means?" I was sorely tempted to just let the silence hang in the air, but ulitmately I decided that I had to give him something of an answer.
"I want a lawyer." I said. Best practice for being arrested is sit down, shut up, and get a lawyer. Despite not having been read my rights, I knew that the police would use anything I said against me.
"Ah, I understand your confusion Mr. Ryukazi. You are referring to the sixth amendment of the United States Constitution. While Japan does give defendants the right to legal counsel this does not apply to the preliminary conversation had with suspects of a criminal investigation."
He paused, looking for understanding on my face, then continued.
"While you retain the right to remain silent, I recommend we begin our conversation sooner rather than later. If we wait for a lawyer before beginning we may be waiting for some time." He said with a small laugh.
That little tidbit was more than just a little bit troubling. I could barely remember the laws in the US beyond the very obvious ones and the constitution. I don't think I ever learned about Japanese law. Thinking about it, I honestly couldn't remember anything like Miranda rights or the the sixth amendment. If we had those protections they weren't saturated in pop-culture here.
Whether I was being denied a right, or a I was just making the wrong assumptions, I didn't know. What I did know was that in this situation right here, right now I wasn't going to get access to a lawyer.
"How about we start off with some easier questions Mr. Ryukazi, what is your favorite food? Surely you can tell me that?" He asked, his tone had softened, the tight professionalism had toned down. He looked genuinely worried for me.
"I prefer to be called Julian" I said. "I don't like reminders of my father." He cringed at that, looking sorry.
"Well then Julian, how about it then. If it helps my favorite food is Sashimi, nothing is better than fresh fish on warm rice, the classic flavors mix in way that would make any man hungry."
Silence lingered, I felt like a rat being offered cheese in this conversation, but I gave in. I was too tired, too stressed, too angry to try and put up a fight over something so harmless.
"I like chicken." I said, keeping my answer short and direct, leaving no room for probing.
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A/N: I hope everyone who's still reading liked this chapter. It's the fist half of what was going to be a single chapter that I decided to split, the other one will be released a little later today. Also, I changed my username to match the one I have on Spacebattles, I will begin cross posting this story there.