MANIA - Katsuki Bakugou

━ fight me

chapter 62

Bakugou staggered backwards, alarmed at her sudden shift in eye color. He'd never seen them so white before, so empty. He didn't even know it was possible.

"Shima..." he mouthed in disbelief.

But he knew what was to come. He knew what he'd be forced to do just by coming here.

Kimiko turned her head to her ally. A maniacal smile curled up from her parted lips. She flared her eyes at Shimamura. "Let loose, T."

Without a second's hesitation, Shimamura burst forward from the shaking ground as if she were on a starting block. Her legs carried her forward faster than she had run in her life, darting across the collapsed building like a bullet. Her arms flung behind her in the wind as she ran against the force of the earthquake. Bakugou shot up from where he stood, blasting into the sky with his quirk.

But he sorely misjudged Shimamura's current speed. She kicked off the ground and grabbed his ankle, ripping him from the air and yanking him back to her level. He somehow flipped his leg out of her grip and managed to land a few feet away from her. She knelt on the ground in a low crouch like a cat.

Her eyes were unblinking as she stared at him. She was gone. Her nose twitched and she darted forward again.

He lunged to the side as she swung a kick in his direction, towards his side. She didn't make a sound as she effortlessly doubled back and swung with her opposite leg at his head. He bent forward and grabbed at her hips, trying to pull her to the ground and off of her feet. But it was hopeless. She spun out of his grip and nailed him in the shoulder with her elbow.

His chest hit the cracked cement and he gasped for air. Shimamura kicked upwards and came down upon his skull with everything she had in her—but narrowly missed. He sucked in a breath and rolled to the side, only just avoiding his skull being cracked into pieces. Her heel came down on the cement with a loud CRACK as the ground split in two at the impact. She growled at him and moved to try to crush him again but he was back on his feet already.

Bakugou swung his fist at her, but she raised her arm and blocked his hit. It should've hurt her but it didn't. Her mind was lost. She felt no pain. It was second in her mind to her task... just as it always was when she was in a lower state of mind.

But what about at her very lowest? What then?

Bakugou lunged at her and hugged her core, running her backwards into a cement pillar that still stood. She groaned as her back hit the solid wall, clawing at his backside. He hissed and leaned to the right, away from her hands. He clobbered another punch to her side but it was ineffective. This time, he let loose a small explosion by her ribcage.

The explosion tattered the side of her hero costume and revealed the large scar that she had gained from the events of Kagoshima. The scar that she had when she was thrown off the mountain and almost impaled by debris. The scar that Kimiko made.

Bakugou brought his head up to lock eyes with her as she scratched and clawed at his neck and back to get him off. Her back came off of the cement for a millisecond as she pushed forward, but he shoved her back. He pressed a hand to her collarbone and the side of her neck to keep her from trying to squirm beneath his hold or headbutt him. One of her legs was flailing in an attempt to kick him but she couldn't reach his foundations. He scowled at her behind his black mask.

"Get ahold of yourself, Tikki! Can't you see this is wrong?! Look at what she did to you! How could you forget that?!" Bakugou pressed his hand to the scar along the side of her stomach.

She let out a breath and almost laughed at him. "You don't know what you're talking about."

She's still in there, Bakugou realized. I can reach her.