MANIA - Katsuki Bakugou

━ shaken

chapter 2

𝟖 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐀𝐆𝐎

The first year student stared down at her full lunch tray, adorned with chopsticks and a small side of furikake to sprinkle on her rice. But she wasn't in the mood for much food at the moment. In fact, she wasn't even sure why she bought lunch in the first place. She didn't know she wouldn't be hungry, but maybe she should've guessed.

Her clouded blue eyes peeked to the side. There were a number of silvery gadgets and metallic gears littered all across the cafeteria table. There was so much there she could hardly see the person sitting behind the mass of objects.

"Teeks! Pass me the screwdriver!"

Shimamura—who Hatsume lovingly called 'Teeks' as a nickname for her actual name, Tikki—carefully reached around the metal tower and picked up the slender rubber handle of the tool. She stood up and passed it to the inventor sitting within. The pink haired student looked up at her friend with golden goggles, smiling maniacally.

"Thanks Teeks! You're the best!"

Shimamura smiled softly at her only friend in the Support Course: Mei Hatsume. Hatsume was loud, always inventing, and often forgetful of everything and everyone around her except for her 'babies,' but she was nice to Shimamura and that's all that mattered. Maybe Hatsume was just interested in Shimamura because she was so open to testing her new inventions... or maybe she thought she could make the girl some upgrades to help Shimamura in her current situation. Whatever the case, they got along just fine.

Hatsume was overly excited about a number of things, while Shimamura was most often quiet and kept to herself. Shimamura would never be so bold as to raise her voice in a crowd unless she was being threatened with a knife to her throat. In fact, Shimamura wasn't one to stand out... ever. After all, she was the Class 1-H student that practically no one knew or paid attention to—but that was fine with Shimamura. She didn't want to stay here long anyway.

Her eyes shifted away from her lunch tray to the busy scene in front of her. The artificial light grazed her irises, seemingly brightening their hue to a lighter shade of blue. Every student attending U.A. was sitting in the cafeteria, smiling; eating; laughing; socializing. Everyone was very loud. Her eyes drifted from table to table until they met their mark.

Class 1-A. The new pride and joy of U.A. High. They had only been in session for a few weeks now, but the school already had high hopes for the prospective first years.

The dark, bird-like, student wandered over to a table nearby the other 1-A students with a looming shadow trailing his heels. Another, blond haired boy sat with an electrifying smile on his face. The boy he sat next to, one with spiky blond hair, seemed particularly ticked off that he would take the seat next to him. The spiky haired one pushed the newcomer over with a hand pressed against his classmate's cheek, grumbling. Everything about Class 1-A was mesmerizing to Shimamura. Their quirks. Their relationships. The way they carried themselves. 

Everything Shimamura wanted to be was in their silhouettes. Everything she wanted was held in their grasp. And yet everywhere they were, she was there too... but she was not one of them.

Don't even bother attempting the entrance exam, dear. It's no use.

Shimamura rolled her eyes at the recent memory. The snowy haired student was meant to take the entrance exam to receive admission into the Hero Course here at U.A., but she didn't go. Once her Aunt discovered the task presented to the potential heroes in training, she refused to let Shimamura join the fray.

Shimamura was in no danger. In actuality, she could take care of herself very well in a fight. The problem with the entrance exam was that her abilities might prove useless against the robots. How could she pass if she was at a disadvantage compared to the others?

"Hey, hey, hey! Quit itching! Are they too tight?! I can loosen 'em!"

Shimamura jumped at the sound of Hatsume's voice next to her. Somehow, Hatsume had cleared out most of the metal that had formed a wall between her and Shimamura. Now there was a little window with which Hatsume could see Shimamura through and monitor her actions.

Unconsciously, Shimamura had started itching at the corner of her new black contraptions covering her temples that Hatsume had recently made for her. The black, plastic molds were bean shaped and covered her temples entirely. They then hooked around her ears like hearing aids, and connected in the back to a black choker. The black felt only just peeked out from behind Shimamura's white bangs, but were completely visible when she itched at them and moved her hair out of the way.

Shimamura retracted her hand, quickly. She suddenly seemed shaken as if she'd seen a ghost, or perhaps Hatsume just awoke her from some trance.

"No, sorry... They're fine." Her voice was moderately loud, but shifted to a quiet tone. "Sorry, it's a nervous tic."

Mei waggled a finger at her. "Don't mess up my babies, now! I don't want to have to fix any scratch marks—oh! Maybe I should make them scratch resistant! Upgrades~!" she frantically grabbed a pen and a napkin and started jotting down notes.

Shimamura giggled softly at her insanity-driven friend. But her attention just kept shifting back to the Class 1-A students, subconsciously tunneling her vision so she could see nothing else but them.

Everything she wanted to be was sitting right there. Everything she could've been rested in the hands of that damned entrance exam.

A part of Shimamura wished her Aunt had never found out the task at hand. Maybe then she'd be sitting with them. Maybe then she'd have her chance to be a hero.

Tikki Shimamura! Class 1-H of the Support Course! This blue eyed student was one of the most looked-for students on the field of the Entrance Exam for those who knew of her lineage and her quirk! Shimamura's aunt is also one of the resident teachers here at U.A.—which is how Shimamura found out about the Entrance Exam so soon! Since she dropped out of the competing ranks, she joined the Support Course to remain here at U.A. High!

Ohohoho—you were expecting me to tell you her quirk, weren't you? Well, you'll just have to stick around for my explanation! Yeahhhh!

Shimamura closed her eyes, taking a slow deep breath. Everything she wanted was sitting hardly twenty yards away. Nothing was going to stop her. She'd make it there... right?

"Teeekkkksss~! Wrench please~!"

The 1-H student opened her eyes, already reaching for the wrench. As much as she loved helping Hatsume, Shimamura knew this wasn't where she was meant to be.