Another few weeks passed, and true to his word, Todoroki hadn't stopped visiting Unknown. It was the weekend once again, and he had just returned from the hospital.
"Todoroki!" Uraraka called out as he closed the entrance door behind him. She eagerly waved him over to where she sat in the common area, "How is she?"
"The same as usual, I think," he responded evenly, pausing near the other side of the plush couch. "You always ask about her, how come don't you go there yourself?"
"Oh, I don't know..." she scratched her head sheepishly, averting her gaze, "I don't think she would want to see me. Last time we met... well, I just don't think she likes me very much," she admitted, laughing awkwardly.
Todoroki only hummed faintly in response, bidding the girl goodbye before making his way further into the building.
He called the elevator, waiting only a moment before a chime sounded and the metal doors puffed open. He stepped inside, pressing the button for the fifth floor. The usual whirr of the elevator grinded to life, causing a brief rumble as it began rising.
First floor... second floor... third floor-
The elevator came to a stop, chiming softly. Todoroki glanced up as the doors opened, meeting a pair of dark, surprised eyes.
"Oh, Todoroki," Yaoyorozu smiled warmly as she stepped into the small elevator, taking a spot on the opposite side.
He nodded. "Fifth floor?"
"Yea."
A moment passed before the doors shut once more. The elevator jittered as it rose slowly.
An oddly stiff silence filled the small space. If he noticed her brief, sidelong glances, he didn't say anything.
The nearby mechanical hum reverberated softly against the metal walls.
The chime rang out once again as they finally reached the top floor, the doors sliding open in welcome. Todoroki stepped out first, followed by Yaoyorozu, though her step seemed to falter a bit. Her eyes followed him as he moved towards the right wing.
"Todoroki."
He paused, turning around. His expression remained ever-passive, though she knew him well enough to see the gleam of curiosity behind his gaze.
Yaoyorozu paused, fidgeting uncertainly before finally coming to the right words.
"...you went to visit her again."
It came out as less of a question than she intended, and much quieter as well.
"Yes," he nodded.
"...how is she?"
"She's alright, as well as she can be."
"Ah... right," she nodded absentmindedly, lips pressing together as she stared off at something unseen in the corner. "Oh, anyways! Sorry to bother you! I'll see you in class tomorrow!" she grinned, hurriedly waving and excusing herself before retreating into the opposite hall.
Todoroki stared after her. He tilted his head slightly, a puzzled expression overtaking his features. Yaoyorozu wasn't usually so jittery, was she? Strange, maybe something happened. He would ask her tomorrow.
_______________________________________________
"Chief, I was wondering if you had a chance to look at the proposal I submitted earlier this week."
"Ah, doctor. Yes, I have; I'm afraid we had to deny it. Our investigation is still ongoing, we can't risk any lapse in security in the meantime."
"This is in the patient's best interest, sir, the isolation is affecting her mental state. She's already developing signs of manic behavior and it will only keep worsening unless we loosen the regulations around her contact with others."
"I understand your worries, doctor, but we have to limit her interactions until the board comes to a decision as to what to do with her."
"Do you know how long that might take?"
"I'm afraid I can't say anything more for legal reasons."
"We can't keep her in those conditions much longer, sir. Combined with her previous trauma, it could be seriously detrimental to her well-being in the long run. She hasn't shown any signs of aggression since I began seeing her, and based on my assessment, I don't believe she poses any threat to others or herself. We could move her out of the isolation ward, let her interact with other patients during the daytime, that way she wouldn't be leaving the hospital and you would still be able to keep an eye on her."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. Even if she herself isn't a threat, some people have very strong opinions about this case. We can't be sure the other patients won't try to harm her. This is for her safety as well."
"But, sir, the psychological damage extended isolation can cause is-"
"-well documented among patients and inmates, I know, you included it in your report. Look, doctor, I know you're trying to look out for the girl, but we cannot make any further decisions until the investigation finishes. Until then, all you need to do is to keep at what you're doing. You said having contact with others will help reduce the negative effects of isolation, so keep up your regular visits."
"You know that isn't enough, we-"
"We can only work with what we have. Thank you for coming, but I have a meeting in just a few minutes. I'll have my assistant see you out."
"...no need, I'll walk myself."
"Of course, have a good day."
"I hope you will reconsider my proposal."
"It was good seeing you again, doctor."
_______________________________________________
"I don't know, do you think we should?" Ashido mused, eyes contemplative as she swung her legs behind her. She lay on her stomach, sprawled out on the floor, head resting atop her arms. She glanced up to Kirishima and Kaminari sitting on either side of her.
"Midoriya's been trying to get some people together so we can all go, but I think it's a little hard with everything going on," Kirishima sighed, leaning back as his fingers laced behind his head.
"I think we should! I bet she's actually really nice!" Kaminari declared dramatically.
"Well, I mean... she's done some... you know..."
"But she's with the heroes now, we're on the same side, right?"
"You're so positive, Denki, how do you do it?" Mina giggled.
"It comes with my quirk!"
"I'm not sure that's how it works, man."
"What are you talking about? Of course it is!"
"Do you ever think one day you'll short out and just never recover?"
"That wouldn't be manly at all! Right, Kami?"
"That's right! My brain always recovers!"
A faint buzz sounded from somewhere in the room as Kirishima curiously fished his phone from his back pocket.
"Yes!"
"What is it, dude?"
"Bakugo just said he'd help me study for Mic's test next week!" Kirishima cheered excitedly, "Do you know how long it took to convince him to tutor me again? My grades are saved!"
"Nice! Though I'm kinda surprised, he's been a bit quiet lately, huh?"
"Right? He gets these moods where he's super deep in thought, he even looks calm and everything! It's kinda scary, honestly, but then he goes right back to yelling and screaming like nothing happened!"
"Man, Bakugo's really been through it, huh?"
"Yea, it must be hard," Mina hummed, "Like imagine if your girlfriend turned out to be evil, then later it turned out she wasn't actually evil, just pretending? But actually she might have been a little evil before, but she's trying to change, and she did this huge good thing, but you're not sure if it makes up for all the stuff she already did, and you feel super betrayed but also a little bad because of everything but you still don't know how you feel or what you should do and- ugh, nevermind, my brain hurts."
"Woah, I think you just tapped straight into Bakugo's brain there, Mina."
"Agreed, that's wild."
"Though it probably would have been a lot worse if they had actually been dating, right? Do you think he still likes her?"
"Hard to say, dude."
"Well, do you think she likes him?"
"Even harder to say, dude."
"Man, this is crazy, huh? It's been months but people are still in a frenzy over all this."
"Tell me about it. All sorts of people have been bombarding me with questions since the news broke, even upperclassmen! They even made me late to class last week!"
"I'm glad the press isn't allowed on campus, otherwise it'd really be chaos."
"So... how's Bakugo, Kiri? You've spent the most time with him lately."
"Well, he seems... I don't know, mostly ok? I mean, besides his weird trances, he's gotten a lot better. He's still kind of reclusive and all, and he'll go off on me if I so much as mention the whole thing with... you know, her... but I think he's better than he has been in a long time! I still wish he'd talk about his problems though."
"He must still be upset considering everything that happened. Do you think there's anything we can do to help?"
"Nothing we're not already doing, unless we can lock them in a room together and force them to talk it out."
"I mean..."
"No, Denki. Absolutely not."
"But I mean-!"
"Do you actually want to die, man?"
"Come on! You know Bakugo sucks when it comes to feelings and all! How else is he supposed to get over her?!"
"I value my life, bro."
"Mina, you agree with me, right?"
"Sorry, Denki, it's not my time to go. But I'll watch if you want to give it a try!"
"Aw, man! I'm just trying to help!"
"I mean, maybe we should just give him some time?"
"Yea, I'm sure Bakubro wouldn't want us meddling anyways. He'll be ok!"
"Hold on. Kiri, did you say we have a test next week?"
"Denki..."
"Oh my god."
"Did you seriously forget again?"
"Uh... w-well... no?"
_______________________________________________
A middle aged woman, clad in a white lab coat, leaned back in her padded office chair. She sighed before sliding open the top drawer of her desk, revealing a neatly arranged collection of sticky notes, memo pads, paperclips, and various other mundane office supplies. She picked up a black leather notebook from the inner corner of the drawer before closing it once again. She flipped the journal open, unfolding her glasses from where they hung around her neck and placing them at the bridge of her nose. Flipping backwards from the most recent page, she skimmed through the sheets of neat writing, shifting to lean against her palm once she found the one she was looking for.
Traceback- Sacrosanct case.
Her eyes slowly traveled down the page, reading over the session notes she had taken: brief phrases such as 'physical-verbal abuse,' 'Stolkholm,' or 'grooming, insecurity.' These were from the first and only time she was able to speak to the girl named Traceback.
She had spent well over twenty years as a psychiatrist. In her time, she had seen many types of people: those from troubled backgrounds, those with broken families, those who carried debilitating trauma. This case was, unfortunately, not nearly the worst she had seen, but it was a very specific type of terrible.
It was awful, truly awful.
She had never spoken with the man they called the Manager, but she was all too familiar with his kind. He was the type of person who relished in having power over those weaker than him, the type of person who loved being in control, the type of person who had to get his way or else. His tactics were outstanding; adults were difficult to control, so he used children instead. He only chose the ones he knew wouldn't be missed, then destroyed the evidence just in case. He took them while they were young, moldable, so they had to rely on him, so they would grow up only knowing what he wanted them to know. The amount of work must have been extraordinary, but the so-called rewards were even better. Unknown was the earliest of the four children, but there had been others before her. Those others had told Unknown, when she was young, that there had also been others before them. How far this went, the doctor could only imagine. Where those other children were now, she could only hope was a better place.
Her heart ached whenever she thought too much about it.
Despite how immoral, repulsive, and utterly terrible he was, she wondered how much of it was truly his fault. A strange question to ask, certainly, but his quirk put him in a unique conundrum. The mind-affecting chemical he released was powerful, but it was also involuntary. From the medical reports, she learned it emitted from his skin at all times and he had very little control over it. He couldn't have stopped it even if he wanted to, which meant everyone around him was constantly being affected, including himself. This begged the question, how much had his quirk influenced his own mind? Had he inadvertently convinced himself of an ideology he otherwise would never have believed in? Had someone else affected him when he was young? Could he have started off as just another person, but circumstances caused him to fall victim to his own quirk? According to everything she had learned from Unknown and Traceback, the Manager certainly seemed to believe everything he told them, from the evil of modern heroes to the righteous fight for a better world; did he believe those things because he had accidentally convinced himself of them over time? Did he fall for his own myth? It was certainly no excuse for his actions, but that didn't mean he wasn't also a victim, right?
Regardless of the origin, his mind was certainly complex, not to mention deluded to an extraordinary extent. His most frequent demeanor was "kind", though she used the term very loosely, and cheerful, but his frequent fits of rage were indicators of an underlying disorder. She would have to speak to him to be certain, but she wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. He believed the children he kidnapped to be his family, and himself, their father. He punished them as he saw fit, and his opinion was the only one that mattered. His personal instability and radical beliefs, combined with his influence over multiple highly impressionable children, was doomed for tragedy from the start.
This might not have been the worst case she had ever seen, but it may well have been the most dismal.
The doctor sighed and closed her notebook, setting it down as she took off her glasses. She rubbed her forehead tiredly, resting her head in her hands. After a long moment, she sighed again and shook her head. She straightened up before rolling her chair closer to the desk, turning on her computer and pulling up a blank document.
If they wouldn't listen to her proposal the first time around, she would just have to write a better one.