Silence Destroyed (MHA)

Chapter 13- The Second Round

The silent world that Naoko was so used to was filled instead with her heartbeat which pounded a punishing pulse against Naoko's temple. A 5-kilometer jog really wasn't that bad, but when that was combined with using her quirk far too much for her liking (especially during the minefield portion, where she melted every mine that was in her way),  she was exhausted and ready for a nap.

Coming in 20th place wasn't bad at all, it placed her solidly in the middle where there were no expectations placed on her. Ideally, she would flop this next portion of the festival and be free to go home, in fact, that was so much a part of her plan that she was fully prepared to simply not pay attention to the instructions so that she would suck. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be in the cards for her, as a hand was placed on her shoulder, pulling her out of her internal world.

"-Like to listen to the instructions for the next part with us, Fujimura-san?" She missed the majority of it what Ochaco said, but she nodded with a small smile, walking with Ochaco until they approached her group. 

It was amazing, Naoko didn't really think of it until that moment, but she basically knew nothing about her classmates besides Iida, Baka... Bakugou, and Todoroki. She talked to Koda once, but after the battle practice, he seemed too scared to talk to her again, which was something that Naoko was frighteningly okay with. She was used to being the one in class that got ignored, so the idea that others were reaching out to her was odd in and of itself... It was heartwarming in a way.

She was determined not to look odd in front of her classmates, that she was torn between paying attention to Midnight, and paying attention to her classmates, just in case they spoke to her. 

Midoriya spotted her coming first and waved happily, "Fujimura-san, I saw how you made it across the cable challenge, how did you know to do that?" His childlike smile and excitement about something so little almost had Naoko shying away; she wasn't used to people this exuberant, it was rather unnerving.

"Oh," Naoko looked around bashfully only to see both Iida and Ochaco looking at her eagerly, saying things that seemed to be similar to what Midoriya had said. A blush began to burn at Naoko's ears as she ducked her head, "Well, I didn't really know to be honest. I just saw the mist at the bottom and decided to take a risk since there was no other way I was getting across by the cables."

When Naoko finally gathered the courage to look again, all three were looking at her with dropped jaws, which only served to make Naoko blush more. Ochaco was the first to break the silence, "You jumped without knowing what would happen? That must have been terrifying!" 

Once again Naoko awed at how pure this group was, which had her wanting to walk away slowly so she didn't ruin them with her issues, "It wasn't too bad, heights don't bug me that much, so I was pretty much okay with jumping; besides, it's not like UA would be willing to put children in danger without some sort of safety net on national TV."

Midoriya grabbed out a notebook from his back pocket and flipped it open burrowing his nose in right before he said something. Naoko shrugged slightly, hoping that he hadn't just asked her a question but she was saved by Iida, who looked about ready to explode.

"Isn't jumping when you don't know what will happen highly illogical? You could have been stuck in that mist for the remainder of the event for all you knew, what would possess you to take such a large risk?" His hands began to gesture stiffly as he spoke, a common reaction from what Naoko knew about him.

Thankfully, this was an easy question, one that Naoko had no problem saying, "I honestly wouldn't have minded, being stuck would have meant that I could have gone home for today, which would have been nice."

This surprised everyone for a moment until Naoko's speech came to mind, they looked at each other and nodded, even if they didn't know her very well that seemed like something she would do.