◤ Turbulent ◢ k.bakugo

You know her by her laugh
and the shine of her knife.
~Catherynne M. Valente

Ambiance; Shōrai, mun., Disruptive LoFi

◣▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ ⌘ ▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁◢

Violet eyes fly open at the sound of buzzing on the nightstand. Your heart is racing, and a cold sweat is covering your skin in a thin layer. Must've been a nightmare, one you couldn't recollect even if you tried. As your chest rises and falls with each heave, something jumps up onto your bed. Oh—it's the dog. Marina.

Her ears are perked up, head tilted to the side in curiosity as her eyes focus on you, alarm still blaring in the background. After a second, you sit up and she wriggles her whole body in excitement. You use your free hand to pet her while you silence your phone. It only takes a few minutes of trying to find her best itchy spots for your nerves to settle, feeling ready to face the day.

Then you remember about Mizuki.

Fuck.

Marina isn't much of a distraction after you feed her, robotically moving to the wardrobe and fetching your school clothes. There was no way you were heading out in public with sweat on your skin, so you meandered into the bathroom for a quick shower. You don't take long in there before finishing the rest of your morning routine.

After fetching the Corgi from your room and dropping your pajamas in your hamper, you find a lone plate of food waiting for you on the kitchen counter. The sight of it alone makes your stomach twist and you aren't sure if that's out of hunger or lingering anxiety from Mizuki's unknown whereabouts. Nevertheless, you can't perform properly on an empty stomach. You didn't want to make a fool out of yourself again after yesterday's incident in All Might's class.

After cracking the back door for the puppy, Kameyo surfaces from the upstairs level and passes by you on your way to the foyer without a word. It's not like they ever said good morning to you, anyway. Lost in the buzz of disassociation, your head's foggy when you slip into your outside shoes and step out the door. It's not too humid this morning thanks to the rain clouds that had just drifted away, a sudden break in the dew point was more than refreshing.

The walk to U.A. felt robotic and pointless. You dragged your feet, prolonging the time until you arrived. The music in your earbuds drowned out your surroundings, only fueling your rampant train of thought. It was barreling off the tracks, hauling you along into what could possibly be a mental breakdown. Somehow you survived the journey. You would've missed the small horde of people outside of the front gate had it not been for a tall blond passing you by.

You look up as his shoulder nearly brushed with yours, skin tingling in apprehension. Your heart stills for a second when his ruby red eyes glance and meet with purple. The interaction is brief before he's overwhelmed by a mass of reporters swarming him. You pause the music on your phone to catch them asking him about All Might. His face falls and he gives a vague warning, a momentary grace period before all hell would break loose.

You use this chance as a getaway. You don't do good in the limelight, especially not surrounded by a crowd of people. You liked having a personal bubble. Just after hurrying up the steps before the doors, you overhear the brunette reporter asking him about a sludge villain. The door closes behind you before you hear his response.

The front lobby is filling and emptying of other students as they flow through the exterior door and into the maze of hallways towards their home room class. A fly on the wall, you move with the natural student traffic as they bypass rude clusters in the center of the hall. Already on the point of tipping over the edge, you take a rough deep breath to steel your nerves as you continue the still unfamiliar route.