MANIA - Katsuki Bakugou

━ victim

chapter 48

long chapter ahead I sorry

"What do you mean there was more to it?" Shimamura pressed, trying to get him to explain himself.

Bakugou clenched his jaw, fighting every impulse he had to admit his truth to Shimamura. She should've known about this long ago but he never told her. He never told anyone about why they broke up. He couldn't bring himself to do it. He thought it would make people see him... see her... as weak. He thought that this was a weakness people would use against him and target him because of it.

But maybe it was just an underlying fear of giving the media more to claw him with. Even still, it wasn't fair to Shimamura that she didn't know.

"Bakugou." Her voice turned stern, mad at him for withholding information.

His crimson eyes met hers again, giving her an almost disappointing stare. The information he kept locked away in the back of his mind behind lock and key screamed for its release. It wanted to fester and live. An angry spirit of truth.

"It was a long time ago, Shima," he expressed, trying to veer away from the topic.

She shook her head. Her clouded eyes were narrowed at him, angrily. "No. Tell me. Whatever you're hiding, I want to know."

Bakugou closed his eyes and tilted his head back. His ice cream melted down the side of his hand, but he didn't care. If anything, he just made the dripping worse by gripping onto the cone tighter. The lock hiding the truth he wanted to keep from her finally cracked. It shattered in two and expelled a blinding light of memories.

"I was afraid you'd say that..."

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Bakugou's Memories

8 years ago... the tail end of their first year at U.A. High.

The year had come and gone in an instant. Bakugou'd been kidnapped. Shimamura had been kidnapped. The League of Villains attacked... multiple times. Overhaul and his band of birdbrained dumbasses had their little rise and fall. Etcetera etcetera.

Did he expect to end the year with a girlfriend? No. Not even a little bit. But shit happens.

He threw his arm over Shimamura's shoulder as they walked through the hall of their high school. She had one of her strands of hair in her hands, combing through the ends of the hair follicles with her fingers, looking for dead ends. She wasn't too involved or interested in her surroundings, but she had him to veer her through the crowd so she didn't have to worry about a thing. For the last few months, Shimamura's been happier since she's been off her meds. Sure, she'll have her bad days and bad hours when she shifted states, but they were numbered now rather than all the time.

Word had gotten out that Whitey and him were dating after Kaminari, Deku, and goggle girl's shitshow in the dorms. The rumor spread like a wildfire until all the first year classes knew. Then the second years. Then the third years when Mirio decided to finally ask the right questions instead of being a dumb giant.

He wanted them to be on the downlow for a while... but it couldn't be helped. If anyone even remotely questioned them about it in person, they were met with a blast furnace to the face! That is... as long as Shimamura wasn't paying attention. She usually stopped him. Hmph.

It didn't matter. She stuck by his side regardless.

If anyone even dared look their way in the hallway, he shot them a glare and that was that. They sometimes gave him a disgusted look in response, but to hell with those extras. By the time they walked past them, he couldn't even remember their faces. They're losers. Every single one of them and—