chapter 42

quick note about the new header image in case you didn't know this before:
the character on the left is Miyazaki / the Wraith
the character on the right is Irisa Arima / Clockwork
:)

THE NEXT MORNING

Through closed eyes, she could still see the light creeping into the room in the early morning hours. She furrowed her eyebrows and groaned, hugging the bed sheets in an attempt to fall back asleep.

She sniffed the soft fabric... it smelled sweet. Like a mix of cologne and caramel. Clean, but a strange scent nonetheless. Definitely not the same fragrance of her comforter in her own dorm room. Her eyes opened with a jolt, forgetting where she was for a moment. She sat up and looked around frantically at her surroundings.

For a second, she thought she was back in the warehouse with the Wraith and the League of Villains. Back as their prisoner.

However, it took her a few moments to remember that she was in Bakugou's room. She let out a breath. Her heartbeat slowed and her eyes fluttered as she felt her entire body relax. She wasn't in danger... Not here at least. She looked around the oddly neat room, staring up at the single All Might poster hidden behind the closet door. She scoffed. She figured he couldn't help it.

To her dismay, however, he was nowhere in the room. Her hands flattened against the bed, feeling the soft sheets against her palms, weaving through her fingers. Her hand stopped next to the empty space in the bed next to her, feeling the warmth radiating off of the spot.

She stared down at the dent in the bed and the messy comforter next to where she lay. She couldn't remember moving into his bed... nor could she remember falling asleep here. He must've stayed with her the whole night through.

A blush crept onto her cheeks. He must've been holding her through the night trying to help her. Soothe her.

The blush quickly dissipated as she remembered why she was here.

Arima...

Shimamura sighed and slid back on the bed, leaning against the bed frame with her legs tucked up against her chest, holding her knees. She tilted her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. Mentally, she self-accessed her current state...

Current bipolar level: 3

"Whitey."

Shimamura opened her eyes, hearing the voice call out to her. Standing in the center of the room was Bakugou with a towel across his shoulder and a toothbrush in his mouth. He raised an unamused eyebrow at her, water dripping from his naturally spiky hair. He must've just gotten out of the shower... but she didn't hear him walk in.

She didn't even hear the door open.

"Hey..." she mumbled to him.

"You doin' ok?" He was cautious with his words. Not wanting to overstep and have her start crying again. He wasn't great with that sort of situation... But as far as he could tell, she was fine for now.

She nodded slowly. Her eyes glanced to the side, as if she were annoyed.

"You wanna explain it?" He asked.

"No... but I will." She sat up from the bed frame and leaned forward, sitting with her legs criss crossed.

Her white hair which was usually neatly tied up in a bun with the majority of her hair protruding from the bottom of the bun in two delicate strands was definitely not as neat after sleeping. Her white hair was completely down and fluttering around her shoulders and covering much more of her face than she usually had. Her clouded blue eyes were almost entirely covered by her unnatural white hair.

She sighed and started on her story. She began at what Midoriya had told her, to her confrontation with her aunt, which then turned into her own explanation of her aunt's influence.

"Arima has always been focused on grooming me to be the best—the best hero and the best student. She's always talked about how my quirk was more helpful to hero work when I was in my lower bipolar states... I never doubted her. I didn't think that she would do anything to keep me in the lower states though. I've been on lithium carbonate for as long as I can remember and I..." She trailed off, staring off into the abyss.

Her vision turned into a dark tunnel as she stared forward and at nothing else. A vision of her aunt revealed itself in front of her, like a looming cloud sheltering her perspective. A shadow of unrelenting darkness.

Bakugou's voice was the only thing keeping her grounded.

"Take your time..." his voice was hushed into a deep whisper, but he got through to her nonetheless.

She sniffled and blinked, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. She looked down at her damp finger, staring at the tear like it was foreign to her.

"Once Midoriya told me what lithium carbonate does... what it actually does, I knew instantly. I just never thought... I don't know. I hoped it wasn't true. I wanted it so badly to be a lie. She's all I've ever had."

Bakugou narrowed his eyes at her. He put his toothbrush down on his desk and sat at the foot of the bed in front of her. He leaned back on his hand and leaned forward so her eyes were on him.

"Her? Really?"

Shimamura frowned, remaining dead serious. "She's my aunt, and she's been my guardian since my mom died when I was 5."

"And your dad?"

"Never met him. Neither has Arima. My mom kept that secret to the grave."

Bakugou let out a 'hmph,' laying back on his bed with wet hair. He stared up at the ceiling with Shimamura looking down at him.

"Wow that sucks," he sighed. "Arima's a bitch."

Shimamura laughed. Bakugou glanced at her, smirking. Shimamura didn't smile often, but when she did it honestly made Bakugou's heart grow in size. He couldn't have her down in spirits all the time... he wanted her to be happy. She deserved it more than any of the other damn extras in their class. He wanted to make her smile.

He wanted to be the reason she smiled...

Gross. Shut up. He internally scolded himself and his feelings.

"I had my suspicions after what Deku said to me, but I didn't think your aunt was seriously poisoning you," he shrugged.

Shimamura pursed her lips and shook her head. "When I talked to her last night, I could suddenly tell that she was lying to me. Like all the pieces just came together. But when she was talking, she acted so normal."

She paused momentarily, but she finished her thought once the words finally came to her. "I never realized she's always lying to me."

Bakugou stared at her blank expression as she glowered at the bed sheets around her ankles. His nose sneered a bit and he shook his head, sighing again. "Screw her, then."

Her eyes snapped up to him, shocked. "Bakugou, she's still my aunt."

"Yeah and she also just basically admitted to poisoning you, lying to you, and being an overall shitty guardian. I think that settles it. Screw her."

Shimamura blinked, her crystal blue eyes were wide. "She's the only family I have left."

Bakugou frowned at her and sat up on the bed. He sat so he was facing her and leaned forward, pressing his hand to the bed next to her and pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. He lingered there for a moment, whispering against her skin.

"She's not worth it, Tikki."

He leaned away from her to see her eyes closed, a relaxed expression crossing her face. He smiled a bit, scoffing lightly. He held her hand and squeezed lightly. She opened her eyes and stared up at him, tears brimming at the corners of her eyes.

He continued, "Like I said, screw Arima. Screw Deku. I'm all you need, Shima."

He grinned, baring his shiny teeth, almost threateningly. She laughed, rolling her eyes. "You're so full of it."

Bakugou frowned, glaring at her. "Yeah and you're in my bed. Who's at fault here?"

Shimamura's cheeks flushed. She threw the bed comforter up and overtop of his head, getting up in a hurry. She flattened down her leggings and t-shirt she had been wearing and stood rigid. He threw his hands in the air, taking a minute to get the comforter off of his head. He let out a hot breath once he finally got it off of his face. His spiky hair had flattened and it was almost like he was literally blowing smoke out of his ears.

He shot her a glare with a raised eyebrow. "Mhmm, that's what I thought, Whitey."

Hearing the nickname he gave her, she subconsciously took her white hair into her hand and started combing through it nervously. He laughed lowly and stood from his bed, walking over to his desk and picking up his toothbrush and towel again. He grabbed his uniform jacket and headed toward the door.

"I'll see you in class."

She looked away, staring at the end of her hair. "Yeah..."

There was silence for a few moments. She didn't hear the door open. She thought for a second that her bipolar symptoms were severely messing up her mind if she couldn't even hear the door open. But that wasn't the case—

His hand suddenly appeared at her chin, tipping her head up with his fingers. He pressed a soft but slow kiss to her lips and she melted in his touch like putty. She dropped her hair and let it fall across her shoulder. She could feel his lips turn up into a smirk.

Bakugou separated from her and smirked. "See you."

"Y-yeah, see you." The same blush crept up onto Shimamura's cheeks as he turned and sped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

From beyond Shimamura's line of sight, Bakugou paused behind the now closed door. His eyes were wide and he took a deep breath, shaking his head. It felt unreal.

Shimamura stood frozen in the center of the room, staring at where Bakugou had left her. Her mouth fell open as a sudden realization finally struck her...

I just spent the night with Bakugou—?!

· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Later that day in class, Present Mic had assigned an English assignment which the entire class was silently working on in their individual seats. Every so often, Shimamura could see Ashido groan and scratch her head as she struggled with the assignment. Ah yes, Ashido never actually got the English help she was looking for the past week when she came to Shimamura's room. She was too busy planning Shimamura and Bakugou's capture and pantry imprisonment for her to bother letting Shimamura help her with English.

And after Ashido successfully got Shimamura locked in the pantry with Bakugou, Shimamura rightfully refused to help her friend with her work. Karma.

"Shimamura."

Shimamura's head peeked up from her paper to Aizawa who was standing in the doorway. Present Mic was walking away from his friend, glancing at Shimamura momentarily before standing behind the podium at the front of the room. Aizawa beckoned for Shimamura to walk outside.

"Come see me in the hallway, please," he instructed.

Shimamura nodded and stood up, leaving her belongings at her desk. The rest of the class turned and watched her walk out the door—no one knew what this was about. Neither did Shimamura. That was, until, she actually walked out the door.

As soon as she stepped a foot into the hallway, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth dipped into a frown as she saw the figure in the hallway.

Standing with her arms crossed over her chest, facing away from Shimamura, was none other than Irisa Arima herself. There were bags under her eyes and her hair seemed slightly messier than usual, with unnecessary strands flying from her bun. Arima was usually an anal attentive freak about things being in place and organized. Just a single strand of hair being out of place in her hairdo seemed out of character for her.

Shimamura turned on her heel to walk back into the classroom, but Aizawa stopped her. He stood in her way as he closed the door behind them. His eyes flicked from her to her aunt, gesturing for her to walk further into the hallway.

Shimamura let out a hot sigh, glaring at her teacher. She turned back to Arima, crossing her arms across her chest in defiance as Arima finally turned to her niece.

"Tikki—"

"If you've come here to explain yourself, I don't want to hear it."

Aizawa almost scoffed as he walked past his student to stand next to Arima. Both the teachers towered over her but she didn't care. Their demanding presence and authority didn't stand a chance to the level of anger and disgust she currently felt for her aunt.

Arima didn't stop. "Tikki, you must understand. The pills were for your own good. You know they helped you. You know that I'd never do anything to harm you. I've only ever wanted the best for you—and I expect you to understand that."

Shimamura's mouth pressed into a flat line as she glared at her. She didn't even twitch. She didn't even try to argue with her. She just stood there... glaring daggers into Arima's stone cold heart.

Arima fumbled with her words, "Tikki, please. You're meant to do great things. Don't let this deter your progress—everything that you've gained from your experiences! These pills have always helped you. I've always helped you. Just—just give them a second chance."

She took from her pocket a plastic bag which had the beige lithium carbonate pills that Shimamura had poured onto her carpet the night before. Shimamura's eyes lingered on them momentarily. She took them from her slowly, staring at the pills in her hand—staring at the poison.

Shimamura grimaced and threw the baggy onto the ground. Before Arima could stop her, she stomped onto the bag, crushing the pills to pieces. Now there was nothing left for Arima to salvage.

"Tikki—!"

"I'm done believing you, Arima, after all you've done to me my whole life is lie to me." Shimamura looked up at Arima, her chin raising in authority and confidence as she uttered her final words:

"You're dead to me."

Not letting Arima have the last word, she whirled around and rushed down the hallway, heading to the bathroom to compose herself again before walking back into class. She couldn't let her friends know what had happened.

Rather than running after her niece, Arima collapsed to her knees to try to pick up the crushed pills from the hallway floor. Aizawa raised a tired eyebrow at Shimamura walking away before looking down at Arima on her hands and knees, scavenging for something as unimportant as medication. But Arima acted like it was her entire life on the line.

"Congratulations, Irisa," Aizawa said, unironically. "This should be a testament to how good of a parental figure you are. You've lost two daughters, now."

Arima's head snapped up to meet his gaze. Her golden eyes were full of rage and betrayal. "Don't start with me, Shota."

Aizawa shrugged lazily, looking back up at the trail that Shimamura had headed on. He felt as if he could've predicted this. Maybe he could've prevented it, too.

But for Tikki's sake, he was glad he didn't.

"Aizawa," Arima snapped at him.

"What?"

She stood and faced him, her arms crossed angrily. "I need you to make her see what I was doing was only to help her..." she hesitated, "please."

Aizawa glanced at her from the corner of his tired eyes. "I'm afraid that's not my job, Arima."

"Make it your job."

Aizawa didn't respond to her. He simply sighed and that was enough for her. She huffed and walked in the opposite direction of her niece, not following behind her. Aizawa shook his head and headed back into his classroom.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Shimamura separating herself from her aunt was probably the best decision Shimamura had made in a long time.

For her sake... He kept reminding himself, for her sake.