Yamada stares blankly ahead in disbelief. Midnight eyes him curiously. "What happened?"
He doesn't even know what he can say in this situation. This isn't information he can just share with just anyone, not Midnight, not Shouta.
"I just wanted to check in and make sure Izuku's doing well in school, not... not academically or anything, but friend wise. Is he getting along with his classmates?" She asks him in a small voice. "He didn't have any friends at his last school and... I..." A sniffle sounds on the other end of the line. "I just want to know what happened. I want to know what made him think trying to kill himself was the only way out!"
Her sobs resound inside his chest, rattling his ribs.
Mic had lost students before. The general education department was a last ditch pit stop for hero hopefuls not good enough to get in through exams. It wasn't uncommon to have someone... Every few years...
"It's nothing," he murmurs. They both know it's not nothing.
Mic was not the only one pondering the life cycle of those younger than him.
In all technicalities Shouta shouldn't be here. But, he'd invited himself in after the rumors of Piper's death had started taking hold in the media, plastering almost every local news headline. Even publications that'd never so much as touched the topic of heroes were reporting on the vigilante's supposed death.
Aizawa shifts in his seat, peeking out from his mass of bandages.
One of the detectives to the left of him speaks up. "You have to at least come to terms with the idea, Tsukauchi. There's a possibility that the kid's dead."
"Sure it's a possibility, but it's not one that I'm willing to consider," Naomasa scowls, "There's no use in assuming the worst. Until we've got a body he's to be presumed alive."
"He's right. If we tell the press that he's dead and it turns out he's not, they'll have our heads," someone else says, stepping in. "Not to mention Eraserhead was injured much worse than Piper was and he turned out fine."
Aizawa's eyes narrow at the woman. "Define fine," he asks her, voice muffled by his bandages.
She looks almost surprised to see him there. "My apologies," she murmurs sheepishly.
Toshinori's deflated form, All Might's 'assistant' shifts uncomfortably in his seat, before steering the conversation to an easier topic. "Do we know how he was able to get away in the first place?"
"Isn't it possible that the League warped him out?"
Tsukauchi pinches at the bridge of his nose with a tired sigh. "He wasn't teamed with the League. We've been over this. They had no reason to help him."
Tamakawa's whiskers twitch nervously, hesitantly eyeing the detective. "I don't believe they're talking about helping him, sir."
Shouta catches the man's stiffening posture.
"If he really did sabotage the League's plans then it's likely that they'd want revenge," Tamakawa continues softly.
"The League wasn't in any state to be making petty revenge stops," Toshinori states. He coughs nervously into his fist when everyone's eyes flicker towards him. "From what I hear at least."
"The leader was childish though," Aizawa cuts in, words muffled. "I wouldn't put it past him to try and pull something like that."
"Isn't it more likely that he got help from someone?" Naomasa glances around the table. "Hound Dog's account has Piper's scent mixing with a new one near UA's main building before both were lost in the crowd of evacuating students."
"That doesn't mean the League couldn't have intervened somewhere off campus while Piper was escaping," another detective buts in.
"There's no evidence to prove that." "There's no evidence to disprove it either."
Aizawa can already tell this meeting is going nowhere. No one here knows anymore about the vigilante's whereabouts than the media does. But, until he can start patrolling again he's stuck with
the information other people gather.
"Damn problem child," he huffs quietly. You better not have died on me.
Naomasa can feel a sharp headache forming behind his eyes. He hadn't been at the scene when Piper was carried out of the USJ not even a week ago. But he'd heard, he'd heard so much about what sort of state the kid had been in, might still be in. It's all over the news, and social media. It's the only thing his coworkers seem to ask him about anymore.
"So what do you think actually happened with that vigilante?"
"Enough," the detective sighs defeatedly. "As it stands, the fact is that Piper made it off campus, with whom we don't know. And it's not something we can confirm without eyewitness testimony."
"Was there really no one that saw him leave?" Toshinori asks. "Looking like he did he had to have at least drawn a few eyes."
"It could be the work of a quirk," someone suggests. "Maybe invisibility or some sort of transformation? If not Piper's then possibly his accomplice's. And if that's the case it'll be even harder to track him down."
Tsukauchi pinches at the bridge of his nose. "It's never been easy to track him down. Besides, if it was Piper's I'm certain he would've used something like that beforehand. Either way," Naomasa seethes, "Piper's to be assumed alive until proven otherwise, am I clear?"
There's a chorus of quiet agreements throughout the room and Naomasa nods curtly, checking the time. "That'll be the end of the meeting if no one has anything else to add. Make sure to get some sleep. Our hunt for Piper isn't over. The public's stepping up pressure on our search so we'll be in hot water if we don't find anything soon." He pauses on his way out the door. "And Eraserhead? Stop showing up at the precinct. At the very least don't come back til you get those bandages off."
Several goodbyes go up as he leaves, Sansa following him out. He offers the detective a quick pat on the back. "We'll find Piper," he reassures him. "He's clever, but he's only a kid. We'll catch up eventually."
Naomasa deflates a little before he watches the feline set off to pack up his belongings for the night.
He'll be okay, Tsukauchi tells himself.
But there's always that pesky little 'what if'.
Naomasa unlocks the door to Misaki's dark apartment. It's not very late, barely past eleven. He'd made sure to leave earlier than usual so Reo wouldn't have to spend so much time alone.
But, the lights that usually illuminate the bottom of his nephew's door are eerily absent.
Concern settles in his chest as he slips his shoes off and shrugs out of his jacket. Tsukauchi pauses outside of the boy's room. "Reo?" He presses his ear to the door quietly, listening for any sign of movement before he knocks gently and pushes the door open. "Reo?" Naomasa calls again, quieter this time.
A streak of light from behind reveals Reo's still form on his bed, curled beneath the covers and facing the wall.
"Did you already eat?"
There's no response from the boy, not even so much as a shifting of position. Tsukauchi sighs, gently closing the door again. Misaki had left Reo in his care, but even so he wasn't sure how to go about handling it. What do you tell a kid who's best friend tried to kill himself?
"Just try to be there for him," Naomasa tests, trying to plan out what to say. But what if Reo can't handle being there for him?
Tsukauchi has talked people down before, it's an occasional part of his job, one that he hasn't always been good at. But this was different. He's never had to deal with the aftermath of someone's attempt. The detective lets out a tired sigh, rummaging through the fridge for something to eat until he finds some food that Misaki had left for the two of them. He heats up a small portion in the microwave, leaning back against the counter, eyes piercing through Reo's bedroom door. The microwave's hum is quiet, but in the silence of the apartment it sounds so unbearably loud.
What can I tell him? What does he need to hear? What does he want to hear? What would I want to hear?
"Piper's alive, he's recovering. The only thing you can do for him now is to be there."
Naomasa shakes the voice out of his head. It's not what he'll need to help Reo, but... maybe he doesn't need to say anything at all. Maybe he just needs to be there for the boy.
Maybe all he needs to do is listen.
23 · Trending in Japan #rippiper
12,368 Tweets
PM FuckerTM @PreeeesentMic1 · 3h
FUCK OFF FUCK OFF THIS BETTER BE A JOKE I WILL CRY #rippiper
Teacup @GiornosSimp · 3h
#rippiper i honestly hate this bird app so much, stop acting like Piper's dead!! nothings been confirmed yet
LXVX @l3x_v3x · 2h Maybe if they'd stanned LXVX #RipPiper
Foot Store CEO @f00tcryptiid · 3h
SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT DID I MISS WHY IS THIS TRENDING??!?!!??!?!
#RIPPIPER ???????
Simp City Resident @zawabado_garfnla · 2h
#rippiper
Tommy @tommyinnit · 2h
rip to the biggest man out there #rippiper IMpostER @AmongUsss · 1h
stop trending #rippiper it's not even confirmed quit freaking people out it's annoying Nana's Thighs @BCAsquared · 2h
okay but where's the proof SanSan @yourFB1agent · 1h
#rippiper ? stop saying he's dead?? ducky stan @duchesssss · 1h
Fuck this one actually hurts tho #rippiper THICCY PURPLE @Carnagee765
NOOOOOOOOOOOO #RIPPIPER
#RipPiper
Izuku finds that there's lots of time to think in hospitals, especially in psych wards. It's in this new, barren room that they've placed him in where the boy contemplates death. Not the death of Midoriya Izuku, but of the vigilante Pied Piper. He contemplates letting it all go, letting everyone think he's dead. He contemplates giving them no proof of life, of throwing his tattered clothes in some alley, of washing his contact down the drain.
Midoriya has saved so many people. And it's in moments like these that the faces of those people come to mind.
Some look grateful, others scared.
These are the faces he's spent so long agonizing over, the faces of strangers in need. But more than them, his mother's grief stricken face haunts him. Ji-Woo's concern, Reo's cool anger, it all keeps him awake at night.
That's why he thinks about it, that's why he ponders the death of his vigilante persona. Because protecting his loved ones happiness is the one thing he hasn't been able to do during an entire year of vigilantism. He's never been able to balance the two and the thought of their happiness lures him towards passivity.
It's a coin with two sides. It's only ever been one or the other and he can't stand to weigh his loved ones' happiness against the safety of others any longer.
He's been selfish, in his own way, by disregarding the hurt he was subjecting those around him to. Midoriya was supposed to help people, to save them, but in the end he's only been hurting the ones he cares for the most.
The death of the vigilante.
It's tempting.
He can go back to focusing on school and sleep and he can repair his relationship with Reo and his mother and patch things up the best he can. After the story he told, Inko's unlikely to leave his side anytime soon. She'll need him, desperately. She'll need reassurance that it won't happen again.
He's still not scared of death, even after coming so close to it. But the thought of his loved ones in tears at his passing is unbearable to even think of. There's still so many things he has to tell them, so many 'thank you's and 'sorry's and confessions that he's yet to speak. He feels a desperate urge to speak all of them, to let the storm waters raging within him flood out from every porous cell he owns.
Instead he writes them all down in his notebook, nestled between the countless pages of hero notes, stuffed into every free space he can find. Izuku writes every apology he can think of, every confession, every sin. He writes his regrets as if he's dying, writes all the things he wishes he could do. His words are messy, hardly legible in his haste to get them out.
Midoriya tries hard to keep himself from crying, but in the end he can't stop himself from doing so. He keeps it quiet though, pinches his lips in and continues to write as if this is his final will. He cries so quietly in that empty room with its empty extra bed and its rounded bathroom doors and its barren cubby bins filled with only an extra change of clothes. He cries for a long time, cries till he gives himself a headache, cries till his eyes hurt and his nose runs uncontrollably. He cries until he physically can't anymore.
He studies the book in the dying light with its tear stained pages and its too honest words and he closes it quietly.
He'll regret it all in the morning.
Even now he thinks of burning it as soon as he can, of flushing the pages he'd marred with such dangerous confessions.
For now, he hides it beneath his pillow, safe from the eyes of those who wish to indulge in his well kept secrets.
He hides it. And he sleeps.
Recovery girl visits again on the fourth day, leaving him drained but feeling better than he has in weeks. It's easier to get around with the effect of her quirk, he doesn't have to be as careful with how he moves and doesn't need as much help as he did before. And pain meds take care of the majority of any remaining aches and pains. Inko no longer stays with him all day, but she always visits after work to walk with him around the hospital. There's a grassy courtyard in the middle of the ward, small, but large enough to accommodate a few large trees and a little koi pond that has an artificial waterfall flowing into it.
They camp at the bench in front of it, taking a break to watch the fish mingle with one another.
"Your father always wanted to have a koi pond," Inko tells him quietly. She doesn't look away from the pond.
Beside her Izuku tenses.
"He had such big dreams, much bigger than what we were able to accomplish on our own. His expectations were too high and he was always disappointed because of that," she whispers. A gentle smile tugs weakly at her lips as she tracks one of the koi with her eyes. "You've got his dreamer qualities."
Something acrid stirs in his chest and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat, unsure of what to say in the growing silence. She doesn't want me to turn out like he did, he tells himself silently, She doesn't want me to grow bitter at the world. But, being compared to the man who'd abandoned them will sting no matter the intentions.
Inko takes a deep breath, smile slowly fading. "You don't have to explain all of it to me, I'm not entitled to any answers. I want you to remember that. No one who demands answers from you is entitled to them. But..." she trails off, "I just wonder if there's anything I could've done to help you sooner. Was there anything I could've done?" she murmurs, hands folded neatly in her lap, voice small, "Is there anything I can do? I want you to be able to tell me anything, 'Zuku. I want you to be happy, but I need to know what I can do to help you get there." Her voice cracks, and the boy can see from the corner of his eye that she bites harshly into her bottom lip, staring straight ahead in defiance of any tears.
Midoriya can't say he wasn't expecting this conversation, but that in no way means he was at all prepared for it. His fingers curl into the fabric of his sweatpants, nervously staring at his lap. "I don't know," he murmurs softly. "I thought I was fine. I was happy," he stresses, "I really was." He lets his eyes fall closed. "I was happier than I'd been in a long time," he tells her in a small voice.
"Then–" she trails off hoarsely.
The unfinished question hangs dangerously between them. "Then why?"
Sometimes that happiness would just disappear.
"There were times where... where it would all just vanish. All the hard work I'd done to be happy would disappear without a trace. Those moments were usually never very long, sometimes only a few seconds, but–"
–that's all it takes, goes unsaid.
"I don't think there was anything anyone could've done in those moments," he continues softly
instead.
"I should've known after that letter," she murmurs thickly, "That you wouldn't have been as okay as you seemed. You were always very strong in that way, keeping your hurt bottled up where it couldn't affect anyone else."
"It wasn't—" he cuts himself off, thinking. She wasn't wrong. Hadn't that been where all of this started? Hadn't that been where vigilantism became a substitute for dreams deferred?
"But, honey," she whispers, voice cracking, "Those things build up. They build up and they explode. Even if it hurts other people, even if it hurts me. I'd rather hear it than see you lying in that hospital bed again." The tears that she'd been holding back finally flood forth, teetering precariously at the corners of her eyes.
The waterfall trickles in the background. A koi flashes its pearly tail above the water.
"You have to find your own reasons to live," she cries, voice breaking. Her head bows over her lap, tears falling relentlessly. "You have to choose everyday to keep going, even if it's hard, even if it's more painful to continue," she sobs as something in his chest clenches painfully. "You have to choose to live. Because no one else can do it for you! You have to choose to be stronger than the weakest part of yourself, Izuku!"
Pied Piper's Death Explained
#piedpiper #vigilante #news 5,638,249 views · 3 days ago Comments 7,384
fox_boy42 · 1 day ago
I... I don't know what to say
Nakamura Aiko · 23 hours ago
NOT PIPER MAN HE WAS THE ONLY PERSON THAT MADE THIS SHIT WORTH IT
MirukoSimp · 23 hours ago
I THOUGHT ALL THE HEADLINES WERE JUST BOOMERS BEING DUMB BUT YOU'RE TELLINGMEIT'SREAL WHAT
theERET · 20 hours ago
Piper was a symbol of our generation, they will be missed greenapocalypse · 16 hours ago
why tf does everyone keep saying he's dead
The conversation with his mother haunts him, stalks him in the halls and sits beside him in bed. It studies him as he eats, stares as he watches the city breathe through the hospital's window. It cries out to him in his sleep, choking him with cold, clammy hands wrapped around his throat.
He's never really wanted to die, no... he's never purposefully sought it. And in that sense he'd never actually chosen to live either.
Part of Midoriya is desperate to go back to school, to revive at least a little sense of normalcy. He wants to sleep in his own bed, wants to eat Inko's katsudon. He wants to crawl through Reo's window and watch him work silently for hours on end without ever feeling the obligation to speak because their friendship wasn't the kind that depended on it.
He wants to forget about vigilantism.
He wants to be a kid, a friend, a son. He wants to be all of the things that he'd failed to be for the last year.
He wants to choose to live.
There's a quiet knock that resounds through the room and the teen glances up to see a familiar head of hair peeking through the door's small plexiglass window. Midoriya had been expecting to be sent what school work he'd missed, but what he hadn't expected was for it to be sent in such an... old fashioned manner.
An attempt at school sanctioned friendship?
"Come in," chokes out in surprise.
Shinsou Hitoshi slips his head through the door, dark circles just as bad as they'd been the last time Midoriya had seen the boy. "Hey."
Shinsou glances around the room briefly as he walks in, recognition sparking in his eyes. Psych wards always have a distinct feel to them, cold and barren. Their rooms aren't as furnished as your average hospital patient's, it feels child proofed. The bathroom door is rounded on the top, cubby holes tucked into the wall, power cables locked behind bolted wall panels.
"How long are you stuck in here for?" Shinsou asks, stepping further into the room, tucking himself into the chair by his bed. It's an innocent enough question, but with situational context it offers a sort of near solidarity that eases the tension between them because he understands.
"Another two days," Izuku answers.
"Good," Shinsou grunts, "Lunch's been pretty boring without you."
Midoriya lets out a surprised laugh, accepting the homework the other teen digs out of his bag. It's
not as much as he'd been anticipating.
"Guess you'll be out in time for the sports festival then. Do you think you'll be up for participating?"
Midoriya pauses, staring at the assignment sheets for a long moment, genuinely contemplating the question. There's countless pros and cons to participating in UA's televised sports festival. The discovery of his vigilante past being the largest of them. "I'm not sure. I should be healed up by then, but–" he trails off, weighing his choices.
"No need to come to a decision right away," Shinsou chuckles, leaning back in his seat. "But hey, if you decide you don't want to then that's less competition for me." The teen offers him a lazy grin.
Midoriya can't help but laugh in response, side aching gently. "Best not to encourage me then."
The other shrugs. "Why not? I never said I wouldn't enjoy the challenge."
Izuku's smile comes easily.
"By the way, I left my phone number in there somewhere if you've got any questions about the homework. I don't know how much help I'd be, but you never know."
"Thank you," Midoriya says softly, "Sorry for dragging you all the way out here."
Shinsou waves him off. "It's on the way home. That's why Yamada Sensei asked me to come. I assume he was thinking I'd say no so he could come himself. Guess I ruined his plans," the teen chuckles.
"I can see that. I'm sure he's disappointed," Izuku teases.
"I'll text you if he gives me any dirty looks during class tomorrow, how's that sound?" "Sounds like you better make sure not to get caught texting in class."
"That feels like a challenge, Midoriya Izuku."
Shinsouhno ⟩ Today 2:14 pm
[image: blurry photo of classroom 1-C, half of the image is obscured by another student, the other half shows a blurred Present Mic at the front of the room.]
ngl almost got caught with this one
i thought itd be funny mission accomplished then