This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 32

"How have you been feeling since we last spoke?" A woman with graying hair tied back into a low bun sat in a comfortable folding chair, the same one she always brought with her. A pair of glasses sat in front of her kind, attentive eyes as she gazed expectantly at the uninterested girl.

"The same," Unknown hummed, distractedly tracing patterns across the surface of the desk.

"Have you noticed any changes in your behavior?"

"No."

"Are you experiencing anything unusual? Sights, sounds, moods?"

"No."

"I see. Are you still sleeping irregularly throughout the day?"

"Yes."

"Have you tried adjusting your sleep schedule as I recommended?"

"No."

"It'll be better for your state of mind if you can keep a healthy internal clock, so please try to minimize the amount of time you sleep during the day, alright?"

"Mm."

"Ok, well let's move on. I'd like to hear a bit more about how the Manager treated you and the other children."

"I've told you all that before."

"I'd like to review it once more if you don't mind."

"There's nothing I haven't already said. He usually acted nice enough, but he got upset sometimes. He would scream and break things, you know, become violent if anyone did anything wrong, even if it was small. Sometimes it lasted a few days, then he would go back to acting like nothing happened."

"What would you do during times like that?"

"What could we do? Just tried to stay out of his way, stay quiet, make sure we didn't do anything wrong."

"Alright. When did you first start breaking away from the influence of the Manager's quirk?"

"When I was preparing to infiltrate UA. The girl whose identity I took had a wind quirk, so the Manager said I had to make mine look like one too. It took some time, but it wasn't too difficult- all I had to do was pressurize the air a little differently. I was practicing constantly back then to make sure it was convincing. It was autumn, and the weather was still warm, so I usually practiced by using air from outside to cool my room. I began noticing the difference after a few weeks: I started having doubts about the missions he gave us, I didn't follow his orders as quickly, I started hesitating during the attacks we carried out. After a while of experimenting, I realized I tended to obey him more after a while of not ventilating my room, and it became stronger whenever I was around him for longer periods of time. He never talked about his quirk, so I figured it must be like Amnestica's- a gas secretion- only it works as some kind of mind-control or something."

"I've visited the youngest member, Traceback. She was the only one who was willing to speak to me; the others all refused. Do you think that has anything to do with the effects of the Manager's quirk?"

"Probably. She was with us for the shortest time. He only brought her around four years ago."

"And you have been a member for nearly nine years, correct?"

"Yea."

"I see. Now, let's talk about your time at UA. How did you feel when you were there?"

"It was the first time I got to be away from him for more than a day, so I suppose it was nice."

"What about the people you met there?"