This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 6

Bakugo grinned furiously. He glared with deadly intent at the randomized match-ups on the bright screen in front of him.

His one-on-one battle would be the last of the first round, and who was he up against?

Ito Naoko.

He cracked his neck as he silently fumed, his mind racing a mile a minute with all the ways he would make her pay for her little stunt during the Cavalry Battle. He would utterly crush her spirits, make her beg for mercy, destroy her will to live, shred her life goals to pieces-

Kirishima and Ashido took a nervous step back as flames began manifesting around him.

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The first round matches were all decidedly interesting in their own ways, from quick, overpowering victories to long, drawn out battles to the fight-turned-advertisement that was Iida vs. Hatsume. The seventh match, Asui vs Sero, was just picking up as eager spectators cheered for their favorite competitor. However, amidst all the excitement, Midoriya noticed Naoko was nowhere to be seen. He couldn't recall seeing her since the one-on-one matches began; she hadn't participated in the optional games either. For a moment, he thought Bakugo might have done something terrible to her during their downtime, shivering as he recalled how ballistic he had been at the end of the last event. He almost shook at the mere thought of having that glare directed at him. Before he could conjure up any more worst-case-scenarios, however, a loud announcement from Present Mic pulled him out of his spiraling imagination. He frantically shook the terrible thoughts from his head. Bakugo was an angry kind of person, sure, but was he violent?

Well, yes. But Midoriya was certain he wouldn't do anything like that!

That's right, he wouldn't!

...would he?

"Huh? Did you say something?" Uraraka asked curiously, tilting her head as she glanced over to him.

"N-no! Nothing at all!"

He sighed. He really needed to work on his mumbling habit.

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"Congratulations, I saw your performance," the voice on the phone spoke evenly. There was a bit of static in the background.

"Yea?"

"I said I would be watching your progress, didn't I? You did well."

"Thanks."

There was some unintelligible chatter on the other end before the voice returned a few moments later. "Amnestica wants to speak to you."

She heard a slight shuffle.

"Hey, we saw you on TV just now," a girl's voice greeted casually.

"What do you think?"

"I don't know, looks kinda boring. It would be better if we were there, huh? You wouldn't have to hold back, and we could really have some fun."

"Planning to apply to UA, are we?"

"As if!" the girl snorted. "Oh hey, you're up next for this one-on-one thing, right?"

"Yea," she scoffed, leaning her head back as she stood lazily against the plain white wall. "If you think I was holding back before, just watch what I'm about to do next."