This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 18

Uraraka absentmindedly twiddled her thumbs as she stared at the TV. The reporter's voice flowed faintly from the dim screen, keeping the silence at bay, just loud enough that only she could hear.

It was still early; the sky remained a dusty blue outside as the sun had yet to rise enough to illuminate the ground.

The common room was empty save for herself.

Her eyes rested on the moving screen, half focused as the nicely-dressed woman spoke her scripted words from behind a large white desk. After a moment, the screen changed to show an interview outside an office building. The man had a look of worry on his clean-shaven face; wrinkles marred his brow as he spoke into the microphone held up to him by another pretty reporter.

There had been many sightings of the League of Villains ever since the incident in Kamino Ward, coming in constantly from all across the country. This must have been the fifth one she had seen just today.

"Yes, I saw them right over there by the crosswalk. There were two of them, both with red hair, and I saw them pretty clearly too. I thought they looked like two of those Sacrosanct kids I've been seeing on the news, so I called it in. I hid inside my office until the police got here, you know, since they say not to approach if you see any of them, so I didn't see where they went off to or anything."

Sacrosanct.

Uraraka frowned reflexively. Just the word was enough to leave a bitter taste in her mouth. It was impossible to get away from it: plastered everywhere on the news, uttered by strangers passing by, whispered faintly between her friends. She didn't like it at all. The TV shifted back to the newsroom as the first reporter began speaking again. Five images appeared on screen, and Naoko was among them. She didn't like that either. She didn't like that they used her school picture as they talked about the horrible acts they say she committed, she didn't like that they called her "Unknown" and placed her face next to those criminals from the League of Villains, she didn't like that her cheerful, sweet friend wasn't here with her like she was supposed to be, and most of all, she didn't like that no one in the class would talk about any of it. There was a deafening silence around it all, almost like a taboo, as if it were some immoral subject. Her chest tightened as footage from that night in Kamino Ward played on the screen. How many times had she seen that footage?

"Ochako?" a soft voice called from behind her.

She turned to see Yaoyorozu standing by the doorway, still wearing her nightclothes, as her worried gaze shifted between herself and the TV. The girl approached steadily and took a seat next to her on the plush sofa.

"Good morning," Uraraka greeted with a small smile.

"How long have you been up? It's still so early."

"Oh, just a few hours. I just... wanted to..." Her eyes briefly shifted back to the screen.

Yaoyorozu followed her gaze.

"You've been watching a lot of this lately."

She only nodded.

"Are you... ok?"

"I... I don't know."

Yaoyorozu's lips curved into a worried frown as she moved closer, wrapping an arm around her friend whose eyes, she noticed, were rimmed with dark circles. "There's no way we could have known, Ochako. Please don't blame yourself," she coaxed quietly, rubbing comforting circles into her back. "She was-" she hesitated for a moment, "...we... didn't see it."