Chapter: 3 Purple bands and car alarms

I do not own anything in this fanfiction all rights reserved to their original owners.

To use for our exclusive benefit what is not ours is theft-Jose Marti

(Shinso POV)

It wasn't a long car ride, and if there's something to be said about Midoriya is that he was a quiet guest, didn't even ask me to change the radio saying 'it's only right that the driver be allowed to choose what is played in the car.' Swell guy. But every time I glanced at him I saw his eyes moving everywhere, at times I could hear him mutter under his breath. I would be lying if I said it didn't put me on edge slightly, not of me being in danger, no but it felt like he was analyzing everything from how I held the steering wheel to the outfits people wore.

I don't think either of us expected the crowd of…mourners in front of Mineta's apartment complex when we arrived at the restaurant. Well at least I didn't. As soon as we stepped out of the car the greenette simply nodded in satisfaction almost like when getting the right answer to a test and turned to me. "I counted forty Mister Shinso, I am once more amazed at the ability of the commission to turn the death of one of its own into a source of publicity and income. Truly the power of commerce is the greatest quirk there is."

I raised an eyebrow. "Forty?" I then looked at the crowd and if he was talking about mourners then he was well off by a few dozen.

He then shook his head. "No, no, not misinformed mourners, although I suppose they could be called that. No I meant the bands on their arms man when we drove here." I then looked and began noticing that most of the mourners had a purple armband on them, I instantly felt disgusted, at which he chuckled. "What? I think it'd match your hair, and I'm surprised you weren't told to wear it. Thought the Commission would make it a solidarity thing."

I shook my head. "No. If anything, anyone that knew the purple dwarf would just burn the damn things as soon as they were handed it."

He nodded taking in the information before turning towards the restaurant, a Japanese diner type of place with karage and other fried and easy to make foods. It's here where I concluded that Mineta probably did more good dead than alive as I saw that the whole place was packed with mourners. Midoriya walked towards the counter asking to speak with a manager at which point a large muscular woman with bull horns left the kitchen and spoke to him. I lost interest, my mind running through the situation again and again. Mineta was dead, no love lost for sure, hell after seeing his box of secrets (I gagged thinking about it) it couldn't have happened to a better person.

I looked at a newspaper on a table and I nearly let out a horrified yell. Headline? Death of hero Grape Juice. An obituary, singing his praises. How kind he was, how heroic he was, how intelligent he was, how many people he saved, how many villains he stopped. The sheer fucking gall that they had astounded me, it was like a shockwave going through me. I remember him in school how he'd whine and bitch about the danger, how he'd try to openly grope Creati and basically anything that produced estrogen. I remember the pictures Midoriya found and here right in front of me were mourners for one of the lowest forms of life I'd ever had the displeasure of knowing. And what disgusted me the most was the fact that i had agreed to help keep up appearances, if I did my job no one would know he was nothing but a date rapist using his status to lure women in, and I had to help keep his secret stay hidden.

Midoriya called me over, interrupting my train of thought. He looked at me with a blindingly bright smile before a look of concern formed. "Mister Hitoshi, are you alright? You seem upset."

I sighed, waving away his concern. He nodded and began to explain that Miss Aiko had agreed to let us use her security tapes. I didn't really pay attention, using his interruption to finally calm down, letting me rationalize my thoughts. Yes Mineta was a raping piece of shit but he was a pro hero, and the Commission for all it's fault is right that the public needs hero's now more than ever. The Yakuza and Leauge's war keeps getting worse and villains keep popping up like weeds. If hero's lose the public trust, what then? Better to bury it. Even if I feel dirty for doing so. I followed Midoriya and Miss Aiko into a back room office, she gave us the login info and then he began his work.

He started from three days prior to the murder, at three times the normal speed. Marking when Mineta entered the apartment and left, his outfit, his direction. I was impressed that he could handle so many details but still had no idea how it would help the investigation. "Shinso switch with me and tell me what you see." I rolled my eyes doing as told before he rewinded the tape to the moments he had marked. "I believe the killer was following mister Mineta, I've confirmed it to be a woman roughly our age, and from pixel analysis 5'4." He played the tape at half speed. "I first noticed her standing on the corner with her phone out, as if texting but once Mineta is going to input his entrance code there's a camera flash." I watched as everything he said happened from Mineta arriving to the woman taking a picture. "Sadly her face is blocked by her hoodie but I've confirmed that she is most likely of Japanese ancestry, most likely from Hokkaido notice her slight tan on her hand indicating a possible background in farming." He then gasped slapping himself in the head, as if struck by inspiration. I was still trying to figure out how the hell he made all those connections. "Pig farming of course! That's why Mineta had only single slash in his neck, it's how they kill pigs, before sending them for processing."

"How the hell do you know all this? All I'm seeing is a camera flash and some skin. But now you're saying we're looking for a female pig farmer from Hokkaido, you're not making any sense!"

He simply looked at me as if confused. "I thought it was quite obvious the logic that let me make these deductions."

"From what you're just mentioning skin tone and locations none of which matters!"

He looked outright offended at that. "In my experience it is the smallest of details that matter. Besides we've yet to finish the tape. Go to the next mark." I glared at him doing as told. It was night time on the video as Mineta left his apartment in the open purple button up and black pants, he then turned right towards the mystery nightclub. Midoriya then pointed towards the alleyway. "Observe." I squinted, and sucked in a breath. The woman of similar height to the one he pointed out before stepped out from the shadows, dressed to impress or better yet kill. Yet she followed Mineta. I looked at Midoriya as he fast forwarded the video and lo and behold Mineta was returning with the same woman hand obviously groping her ass as he led her inside. "It is a talent that I have for observation and analysis, one that I've honed for many years. Yes I have been wrong but I've never made a deduction without bases in fact. It is the nature of my business that I am able to come to deductions that might prove odd or impossible to you this is not a game of luck but skill and reasoning. I politely request that you remember this."

I was stunned, unable to speak. Here he was unraveling an entire plot of a murder that no one I knew would have been able to, and yet Midoriya did it with just one security tape. "Is…is that your quirk? To figure these things out?" He looked at me before standing and turned to towards Miss Aiko thanking her for her time. Before beginning to leave. I stood up to follow catching up to him. "Hey look there's nothing to be ashamed of I know that intelligence quirks might not be as flashy or whatever but they're useful I mean look at Nedzu and others like him." It was unbelievable to me that he could be so ashamed of his quirk to just act like this at such a simple question. "I mean I'm no stranger to getting shit on because of the quirk I have, hell I'd switch with you in a heartbeat."

He then turned to me eyes hurt. "Then one of us would still be quirkless wouldn't we?" I blinked, obviously mishearing. Quirkless? Him? Before I opened my mouth he stopped pointing to the car. When I turned I filled with dread, as I realized that not only was the driver side window shattered but the radio and gps were stolen as well. But soon the memory of the box of evidence filled my mind and I rushed to make sure nothing was taken. I flipped through the box and thanked God that it was all there. After a moment I heard Midoriya chuckle before going into a fit of laughter. "Well I think that's the first time I've ever been robbed while on a case."

I just looked at him before breaking out into a smile and my own fit of laughter. It was a first for me too.