Pied Piper by Blackholeca

by alkhuzamaa

If they wouldn’t give him a chance then the solution seemed simple, he’d give himself one. He’d force the world to see him, force them to recognize his hard work. He wasn’t missing a quirk, it was simply that everyone else had been given an advantage. He wasn’t broken, or useless, or incapable, and he’d prove it by outrunning all of them.

61. Ch 61

What do you mean you're closing the case?"

"I mean we're closing it," Detective Nakajima sighs over the phone. "It's been a month. The case has gone cold. It's been cold since that kid first disappeared. It won't be official till it's been a year, but I won't be assigning anyone else his case unless we get another lead."

Naomasa clenches his jaw, saying nothing.

"We cross-referenced his DNA with every database we have access to. There was nothing, Tsukauchi. You have to let it go . You know as well as I that cases like these happen all the time. We've got files upon files of cold cases: thefts, abductions, murders. I wish we could spend more time on cases like these, but it's just not feasible. There's bigger things to deal with than getting justice for someone who isn't even here to ask for it. It's best to cut it off now while everyone's

eyes are still on Stain."

Naomasa tenses.

There's a brief pause, a flustered cough. "I apologize," Nakajima murmurs before quickly moving on. "This was only a courtesy call, Tsukauchi; from one detective to another. I thought you should know."

"Thank you," the words leave his lips unbidden, nothing more than an automated response. He doesn't feel thankful. Piper's killer was still out there and no one but him seemed to care. They were ready to let them get away with it. Naomasa bites gently at his cheek, bowing his head. There's nothing he can do once they close the case, unofficially or not.

He sits there for a moment as they hang up, phone clenched in his fist. The little girl Piper had found. Eri . Arguably one of the only people to have seen Piper out of uniform. It'd been a while since he'd talked with Nighteye about the case. Where was she ? How was she?

Piper's final wish had been to save her. Had she been there all this time?

Naomasa is aware there'd been one more raid since the first, just as small and yielding similar results: a few criminals, but no little girl.

He worries at his lower lip, staring down mournfully at his phone. Piper was dead, they were archiving his case, but there were more people that needed saving; that's what the vigilante had told him in his final letter. What had he been doing all this time? In the month following Piper's death all he'd done was get run through by Stain, had done nothing as yet another child died within arms reach.

He hunches in on himself, closing his eyes and letting out a trembling breath. There were more people to save, Piper was the one that told him not to get wrapped up in his case.

Naomasa opens his eyes again, grip tightening around his phone with a new shaky determination.

He calls the one person he knows will be able to help him achieve Piper's final wish. The phone rings once, twice.

"Hello! This is the Nighteye Agency, you're speaking with Bubble Girl, how can I help you?"

Naomasa takes a breath. "This is Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa with the Musutafu Police Department. I need to talk with Nighteye."

r/piedpiper · Posted by u/glgkgbL five hours ago Piper's Case is being Closed

1.6k upvotes

The police have started to pre-close Piper's case and here's the proof. Pied Piper has been a pain in the sides of both heroes and police for a while now, but especially so in the side of police. After the discovery of Piper's body at Dagobah there have been little to no updates on his case, neither in relation to his killer(s) nor his civilian identity. It's not unheard of for there to be no leads on a case like this, especially with the growing number of quirks out there. But, if you'll notice the police were only concerned about upkeeping appearances on working on Piper's case up until Stain's appearance in Musutafu where he targeted the previous lead detective for Piper's case (which

leaves us with a whole other bag of worms to unpack)

For a bit of a precursor, I'm friendly with a lot of people in the Musutafu police department (this is the department leading Piper's case), because of this I'm usually privy to more information than the average person when it comes to cases like these.

So, some of the things I'm going to talk about aren't really public information. To start I'm going to talk about the original lead detective for Piper's case. About a month ago, following Piper's death, he was pulled from the case. Now I've talked with several people about why this happened, some claimed it was a move from the higher-ups, others said he willingly handed the position off to someone else, but what we do know for certain is that he took a leave of absence following this. We also know that as soon as a new lead detective was assigned, Piper's case completely stagnated. At least one person I spoke to mentioned that the new detective wasn't a fan of Piper and wasn't as invested in his case as the last one. Normally this wouldn't be a huge deal, but the fact that we haven't publically heard anything else involving the case after his involvement sends up a bit of a red flag.

At this point in time it's been around a month since Piper's death was confirmed, but we haven't heard anything since the initial statement concerning his death. Officially, an open investigation can't be archived until after a year has passed, but unofficially there are a lot of cases that police/heroes will 'close', meaning they'll still have people officially assigned to the case, but they won't have anyone actively investigating it. Usually this is due to a lack of new leads, but the fact that the police have a body, that they have complete DNA of Piper and /still/ can't find any information on who this guy was??? (Like forgetting his killers for a moment. How do you have a whole body and no way to identify it???? It's just suspicious.)

Piper's killer(s) are still on the loose, but the police have already given up on trying to find them. I know some people still think his death was an accident and that he'd succumbed to the injuries he'd gotten during the USJ attack, but bodies don't just wash up on shore by themselves like that

My only guess in all of this is that they've unofficially closed Piper's case, there's just too many overlapping coincidences for that not to be the case and it PISSES ME OFF because yeah this dude was breaking the law but he was SAVING PEOPLE ya know?? idc how much you hated the guy he deserves justice, his killers deserve punishment but if they close the case like this they'll get away with it, they'll do it to someone else, I hope Piper's haunting their asses

tldr: Pipers murder case is being unofficially closed, there's been no progress on the investigation around his civilization identity even with a body and there's been no progress identifying his killer(s) either, the original detective was removed from the case and the new one doesn't like Piper which leads me to believe that they've prematurely archived Piper's case (sorry I'm bad at summarizing stuff)

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endobeo 2.5k points · three hours ago

after reading this there's no way the police aren't using Stain's case to pull attention away from the fact that no one ever found out what happened to Piper

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obwiisily 369 points · two hours ago

if those theories about the hero commission being involved are true it'd make even more sense as

to why they're closing the case so early

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clo_clo 1.1k points · four hours ago

Can you make a post talking about the thing with the old detective and Stain?? I haven't seen anyone else talk about it

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S4Wmau 6.9k points · two hours ago

op ik you mentioned the original detective, but?? i don't see how they're relevant in all this??? .

glgkgbL 1.1k points · now

I've talked with the original detective a few times in passing, he's always been a really nice guy, I didn't mention it in the main post because I wanted to be respectful to anything he might be going through but I've had a few people tell me the reason he took a leave of absence was because he was mourning for Piper, even though he was supposed to be catching him I think they'd become friends of sorts, at the very least ik Piper had given him info on a case and that they were in pretty good terms with one another

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skissorpNda9 34 points · two hours ago

bro literally no one asked

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ficklFERRET 963 points · one hour ago

Is it legal for you to be telling us all this? I MEAN IM NOT GONNA COMPLAIN DHNSGSJSGS I just don't want you catching any charges for this, stay safe homie

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oopenoo 2k points · now

piper's death about to become the internets next cold case obsession

Midoriya stands anxiously outside the faculty room. Students slip by behind him, idle chatter serving as white noise to the rumbling thud of his heart. His stomach twists uncomfortably.

His grip tightens around the strap of his bag.

He goes over the words in his head, repeating his opening line like a mantra. He takes a breath. Izuku knocks, sliding the door open without waiting for a response before he's able to psyche himself out. He spots Aizawa sitting on the far side of the room, grading a few last-minute papers before class starts.

There's a few other teachers in the room, a couple of which spare him glances, but ultimately leave him be when he sets his sights on Aizawa. He treads quietly across the room, pausing beside the man's spot.

Aizawa looks up from his desk.

Izuku's entire speech goes out the window. His stomach flips but his determination does not waver. He hardens his resolve. "I'll do it."

Just the day before, Aizawa had sat across from him staring at the ghost of someone else in Izuku's place. Now, the hero watches him quietly, the barest hints of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. The ghost that had sat in Izuku's place seems to be gone for now. "Once class lets out, head over to gym beta with Shinsou. He'll know where to go."

Shinsou raises his brow at Izuku as he slips into class. He flops down in his seat, already feeling impossibly drained. "I didn't think you'd make it."

Izuku closes his eyes with a breathy laugh. "Had to talk to Aizawa before class started."

Izuku misses the knowing smile that slips onto Shinsou's face. "What for? You never told me what he wanted yesterday."

"He..." Izuku trails off, steadying himself. "He wants to train me," Izuku offers quietly. "We're supposed to meet him at gym beta after school," he continues awkwardly, cracking open an eye to gauge the other boy's response only to find a lazy smile on Shinsou's lips. "What?"

"We're gonna do it," Shinsou says simply, leaning back in his seat, "The two of us. We'll be heroes."

Izuku feels something bright flutter in his chest. It's not fiery or fierce like a burning sun, but soft, glowing with the light of a thousand distant stars. All of his uncertainty is forgotten in the moment, able to finally rejoice in the knowledge that the moment Izuku had been waiting for since the age of four was finally coming to fruition. That all of his effort up until now was not in vain and that his dreams that he'd so painfully given up on are now back within his reach. Piper's death was not the end he had been so scared it would be, but a new beginning. Like a phoenix in fire, like Mercury in retrograde, it's come back.

A smile pulls at Izuku's lips, bright and shining. "Yeah."

This was only the beginning of his journey, a prologue just as important as its upcoming chapters.

Midoriya Izuku will become a hero. He will continue to save people.

"Should we start our own hero agency?" Shinsou asks suddenly with a smirk. He leans forward, resting his chin against his palm.

"You think Reo will agree to sign an exclusivity agreement to make gear for us?"

Shinsou hums, pretending to be lost in thought. "If he says no we can always blackmail him."

"I think he'd end up sabotaging our gear if we did that: hidden wheels in our boot heels, glitter in our smoke bombs," Izuku lists with a quiet snort as Present Mic walks in, greeting the class with a smile and signaling the start of class.

At lunch, Reo joins them and they indoctrinate him into their far away plans of their own hero agency. "See, you graduate before us so you can do whatever you want, make a name for yourself! But , once Shinsou and I become independent heroes, right? You join us!"

"I would like to add that this was my plan to begin with," Shinsou butts in with a playful smirk, "Just in case you were worried about our future being spearheaded by the guy who doesn't wash his rice."

Reo chokes at the news, eyes widening as he quickly turns to look at Izuku.

Izuku gawks at Shinsou, face cycling through the five stages of grief at the sudden betrayal. "You snitch! That was an accident and you know it!"

"You don't wash your rice?!" Reo shouts around the food in his mouth.

"I do! I swear I do! It was just the once!" Izuku pleads, fervently looking between the two of them. "I was just tired, I wasn't thinking about it!" Izuku feels his laugh die in his throat, eyes flickering to the end of their table as someone passes. It's a 1-A student, Hagakure, one of Iida's classmates. He hadn't seen her since the sports festival.

A deep ache settles in his chest, painful and tight. He falls silent with a distressed furrow of his brow.

He can't see the look on Hagakure's face but he can hazard a guess on what it might be based on those behind her. Mourning still, but doing what they can to hide it behind idle chatter, burying it until they forget it hurts. The same thing Izuku was doing.

"What should we..." Izuku trails off slowly, trying to recover himself as the group disappears further into the lunchroom, "name it."

"Our hero agency?" Shinsou asks. He follows Izuku's line of sight, sharing a look with Reo. "Shindorchi hero agency."

The suggestion does what it's intended to do, grabbing Izuku's attention with the efficiency of a firing gun. His face twists with a playful grimace. "That's just a ship name and you know it."

Reo lets out a startled snort at his reaction.

A lazy grin splits Shinsou's face. "What about Hitrezuku, then?" "Why am I at the end now!" Izuku shouts with a laugh. "Because you're being mean to him, Izuku," Reo scolds.

Shinsou's lips pull into an amused smile. "You've insulted both of my long thought out names to my face. I spent so much time trying to come up with a name that you'd like only for this to happen."

"This is bullying!" Izuku splutters, looking animatedly between the two of them.

"You're right," Reo says, shaking his head with a disappointed sigh. "I can't believe you would bully one of your classmates like this, Izuku."

Izuku groans, giving up and banging his head against the table with a rattle of his lunch tray.

"I think he's trying to play the victim."

Izuku raises his head just a hair, giving Shinsou a half-hearted scowl that the other boy can't help but laugh at. They would be heroes, the two of them, and with Reo's gear on their shoulders, they'll be unstoppable.

Reo huffs a gentle laugh, propping himself up with a hand beneath his chin as he leans forward. "I love how you guys are trying to come up with agency names before you even have hero ones by the way."

Izuku flushes. "I wasn't the one who started brainstorming ship names!"

The rest of the day comes and goes quickly, leaving Izuku little time for the anxiety in his chest to overwhelm him. He'd fought in front of Aizawa before without clueing the man into his origins, but really it was a different thing entirely to be trained by him up close and personal. Piper was dead and Izuku really didn't want to give him anything else that pointed to otherwise. Shinsou leads them to a locker room where they switch into their p.e. uniforms before making the trek out to gym beta.

Aizawa's waiting for them when they get there. He offers them a curt nod as they enter, immediately launching into what they'll be doing. "Shinsou, you'll work alone for now. Keep practicing with the capture weapon, I left it over on the bench for you. You'll run through the same things as last time. Midoriya," he states, moving to address him, "we'll be doing a skills assessment today. I've already reviewed your performance during the sports festival, but I'd like to see what you can do up close."

Izuku knows as well as Aizawa does that he'd already seen what Izuku can do. He'd seen the wild ferocity of a mourning fifteen-year-old, had seen the dangerous glint of a bo staff in the hands of someone who knew what it could do. In the wake of Iida's death, Aizawa was the last one remaining by Izuku's side. He fights back the memories of that night, clamping down on them to keep himself together. This will be his first fight since their encounter with Stain, maybe it's even Aizawa's first as well.

Izuku nods, apprehension pooling in his gut.

Izuku ties his hair back, keen on keeping the longest strands from falling in his face. He shakes out his limbs, carefully eyeing the hero across from him. Aizawa too works absently at pulling his hair back, he gives a few instructions to Shinsou as his friend prepares for his own training on the other side of the gym. Aizawa gaze flickers back to the Izuku.

"We'll spar until I say stop, don't hold back."

Izuku hasn't so much as fought Aizawa before as he has fled from him. He'd used every trick in the book to get away from the man the first few times they met as vigilante and hero. Now there was no running. Heroes didn't run from fights, couldn't .

Anxiety flutters in his chest as they take their places.

Aizawa rushes towards him without warning. He throws a punch that Izuku slips past. He drops low out of the way, sweeping his leg out to try and unbalance the hero, refusing to be forced on the defensive so soon. Izuku's anxiety dissolves in one fell swoop, attention refocusing on the fight. This was easy. This was something he'd done hundreds of times before. This was familiar,

comforting in a strange way.

Izuku likes to think he holds his own against the man, but by the end of their sparring match he's just glad Piper never had to do more than run from him. Izuku's sure now, panting and out of breath, if he had he'd have never even gotten the chance to kill Piper.

Izuku stands, hands on his hips, as he tries to control his breathing. Aizawa tosses him a bottle of water that Izuku easily catches, greedily accepting it.

"During the sports festival," Aizawa starts, arms crossed over his chest, every bit as composed as he had been at the start of their fight, "you fought with a bo staff Yaoyorozu created. Where did you learn to use it?"

Izuku pauses, buying time with another sip of water. That hadn't been the last time he'd seen Izuku with a bo staff in hand. "My martial arts instructor taught a secondary class on it. She asked me to join it when I was around twelve. I've been going since then."

Aizawa nods absently. "You fight well, better than a majority of my students in hand to hand," the hero takes a moment, thinking over his next words, "I'll be honest," he states plainly, "When I first met you all I saw was your quirklessness."

The words sting, like salt in a wound that's never quite healed, but he doesn't recoil from them. He stands firm, takes another sip of water, cautiously eyeing the hero.

"But, people can only be seen as lacking when they're compared to others. I let my biases overwrite the talent I saw in you... I want to apologize for that. Quirks have never been a requirement for heroism and you have the skills to prove that to anyone who thinks otherwise, myself included."

He meets Izuku's eyes. "There will always be a difference in abilities between heroes and villains. Sometimes that advantage leans towards our side, other times it doesn't. No two heroes are the same, they have different strengths, different weaknesses. I won't lie and say that I can make you a hero the likes of All Might. But , I can make you a hero if you're willing to let me help you."

Izuku takes a breath, preparing himself. "When people see me fight they see someone strong , someone suited for heroism, for saving people..." he starts, "But, I know, I know , that once they learn that I'm quirkless, all of that changes." There's a twinge in his chest, something uncomfortable and angry that he holds in, burying deep for the moment. They're far away enough that Shinsou can't hear them, even so, Izuku keeps his voice low, even. "I'm well aware of the discrimination, even the unintentional or well-meaning kind. I've seen the pity, seen the disgust. I've seen how they coddle, how they destroy ," Izuku tells him softly, face twisted with a grimace, "There's not many people who apologize, who learn from things like that." It's not acceptance, or forgiveness, only acknowledgment.

Midoriya Izuku has all the makings of a hero. Even in the face of death he had not shied from his fight against Stain. He had not wavered in his resolve to protect those behind him. But, he was reckless, rushing into danger without a thought of his own safety.

The USJ was blurry to him, but Aizawa remembers Piper rushing towards him with the same reckless abandon that Midoriya had taken Stain's blade with. Hizashi had seen it as well, their similarities. Aizawa doesn't want to admit that part of the reason he decided to train Midoriya was because of how much he reminded him of Piper, but it was a truth he couldn't avoid. There are times where he forgets the two aren't one and the same; where he thinks of Midoriya, but really it's Piper on his mind.

"My answer from the morning hasn't changed," Midoriya tells him with a small smile, "Saving people is the only thing I can do."

For a moment it's Piper standing before him. "I just want to save people." Aizawa dispels the memory, grounding himself back in the moment. The boy's eyes meet his. They are viridescent, steady, determined. They are the closest thing Aizawa thinks he'll ever see to Piper's eyes again. He nods at the boy. "Then let's get started."

ray @ midterms

@mcpanics

okay but hear me out, what if Piper faked his death 2:14 AM · 5/25/32 · Twitter Web App

9 Retweets 62 Quote Tweets 21 Likes

Cam @shush3r · 1h

Replying to @mcpanics

nah this kinda low key disrespectful tho

@crowvader · 2h Replying to @mcpanics

MAAM??? THEY LITERALLY FOUND HIS BODY WHAT MORE EVIDENCE DO YOU NEED????

breezy @sobreezy · 1h Replying to @mcpanics

girl those piper stans eating you ALIVE in those qrts

Airo @_mossnorange · 1h Replying to @mcpanics

I know this was probably a joke but it really

missed the mark, Pied Piper gave a lot to the people in Musutafu who often went overlooked for someone to say all of it was essentially fake

[%] @g1tch3d_feline · 1h Replying to @mcpanics okay but

UPDATE SOON @two22twenty · 1h

Replying to @mcpanics

NOT THE RATIO ON THE QRTS DGDGFSGG