MANIA - Katsuki Bakugou

━ koi

chapter 52

PRESENT DAY
JULY 4TH, 1:23 PM

The weather had finally cleared up from its weird rainy week in the month of July. The heroes were definitely thankful for that. With the earthquakes that had been happening recently, the rain only made their job harder when it came to rescuing civilians and trying to keep up falling buildings. The sun had returned as a blessing to the hardworking pro heroes.

Shimamura exited her cab and waved the driver goodbye as he drove off down the busy street. The street was loud with blaring car horns and people shouting to get to wherever they needed to be. Everyone was getting off of their lunch breaks and heading back to work at this time of day. She shouldn't be shocked that it's this crowded. But the loud streets were aggravating to hear. For all the time she spends protecting and serving the public, they could be a little nicer to one another. That was her only peeve about the general public in Japan.

She contemplated working in other countries sometimes where the streets weren't so overpopulated. But then again, she wouldn't want to call any place else 'home.'

She spun on her heel and walked into the koi pond sanctuary which was a square facility with walls encasing at least a dozen koi ponds with no roof. The sunlight shined down on the glimmering fish ponds, dazzling the scenery with reflections of the hanging flowers and trees overtop of the water. The lily pads and cattails floated gracefully in the water with the multicolored koi swimming under the liquid's surface. There were one or two people within the quiet sanctuary, plus the occasional caretaker that passed through, but not much noise otherwise. No one to disturb the peace.

The sanctuary was a much different environment than the outside world she had just arrived from. It was a place of bliss and serenity. Shimamura often came here when she needed to take her mind of off things or just relax. Being a pro hero was tough on her sometimes... she needed a safe space like this.

Her eyes searched around the mostly empty sanctuary for a moment before she saw him. He was sitting on a bench against the wall close to the entrance where she had just come in from. His brows were furrowed as he stared down at his phone in his lap, texting furiously. He wore a faded green and black t-shirt and ripped jeans, and had a grey jacket tossed across the seat at his side. Additionally, he had a black privacy mask overtop of his nose and mouth. He looked somewhat like he was trying to conceal his identity in such a getup.

Shimamura donned a smile and walked over to him, pressing her hands behind her back. She cleared her throat to grab his attention.

His aggravated expression remained as he glanced up from his phone. But as soon as he laid eyes on her, his face softened. His finger hooked around the edge of his face mask and he took it off, stuffing the fabric into his pocket. He straightened his lips into a flat line and stood up.

"Shima! Hey..." Bakugou said, almost startled by her presence. A part of him felt bad for glaring at her the second he saw her. But he was glaring at the text he was writing rather than at her, to be fair.

She grinned at him, tilting her head to the side. "Come on," she gestured to him to follow her.

He raised an eyebrow at her as she walked away from him. He grabbed his jacket quickly and trailed behind her. He shoved his phone in his pocket, making a mental note to yell at his agency heroes later. For right now... right now he was off-duty.

"What are we doing here?" he asked from behind her.

But she didn't respond to him. Instead, she led him to the center of the sanctuary and she sat down on the ground just in front of one of the larger ponds. She patted the empty spot next to her and he promptly sat down beside her.