MANIA - Katsuki Bakugou

medicine ━

chapter 49

1 DAY LATER

Mother said to play nice.

Auntie said to follow orders.

They all said to control yourself.

Control your emotions. Control your quirk. Control the very thing that makes you human. Don't forget, Tikki Shimamura, you are never in control. You are never in charge. You lack the will to—

The white haired hero clutched her hands to the sides of her head, scratching her nails into her scalp. Her memories were beginning to manifest into different voices all shouting the same lines over and over again at her in her head. They were so loud all the time. It didn't help that she believed them.

Current bipolar level: 2

She used to be so much better... so much happier. But that was short lived. Her worst enemy has always been Time. Time has tormented her in ways she could never fully describe. However, Time has only now decided to lay waste to her well being and dismantle her sanity. The ticking clock of Time ripped through her eardrums and left a gash in her brain and heart. Her bipolar state would only grow worse as she aged... it was inevitable.

Mother said to play nice. Auntie said to—

"Shut up..." she whined aloud.

Shimamura stood from the edge of her bed where she was sitting and practically dashed to her dresser. Even in the dark, she knew exactly what she was looking for and where it was.

She jerked open the top drawer of her dresser, digging through its contents, searching for the cylindrical object. Her hand wrapped around the smooth plastic and she froze in her tracks.

Slowly, she tilted it so she could read the label on the side. "Lithium Carbonate," it read. The prescription was from a few months prior, but it was still good. She swallowed. Just seeing the bottle and the slender medication inside conjured unwanted memories tucked deep within her mindscape. She closed her eyes and put the pill bottle down on the top of the dresser, not opening it or even daring to touch the pills.

She reached into the drawer again and picked out an object of similar shape, but completely different from the lithium carbonate she had previously selected. Stepping back from the drawer, stepping back from the lithium carbonate bottle, she walked back to her bed and sat on the edge.

Her blue, almost white, eyes scanned the label-less pill bottle. Within the container were round white pill tablets that were unevenly shaped. This was a mistake and she knew it.

She collapsed into her hands again, rubbing her eyelids with the back of her hands. It was a mistake, but it was a mistake that she needed to make.

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

4 months earlier
1 month before Kagoshima

The cloaked hero trailed up the rigged mountain cliff of Mount Hotaka in Japan. The mountain was covered in snow and was otherwise barren and left alone by the public. Those that visited the mountain range only visited the populated parts. If they knew what was just beyond the mountain's peak, hidden on the opposite face of the dirt mount, they probably wouldn't be so inclined to visit.

Shimamura let out a breath, letting it fester and coil in front of her like a snake as the heat clashed with the frozen temperatures of the mountain. She hugged her arms as she tracked up the steep hill in a fluffy black and grey coat and hood. Her hero suit was hidden just underneath, but provided little to no protection from the cold elements of Hotaka. Now was one of the times in which she wished she actually made real improvements to her winter suit. But it wasn't winter so she wouldn't have it with her anyway.