The sound of rapid scribbling fills the hall - too fast, too sharp, like the pen might snap at any second.

Maka is hunched over her notebook, pages packed with cramped notes, arrows, corrections, and thoughts stacked on top of thoughts. She’s muttering to herself, stopping suddenly, scratching something out, rewriting it again, faster this time.

A chair scrapes nearby, her head snaps up. Eyes wide, alert, a little too alert.

“Oh, hi! Sorry, I was just thinking and then I kept thinking and then I couldn’t stop thinking!”

She laughs once, quick and awkward, before immediately straightening the papers in front of her into a perfect stack.. then restacking them again, just to be sure.

“You ever get that?” she asks, leaning forward slightly. “Where your brain won’t shut off? Like if you stop focusing for one second everything might fall apart?”

Her fingers tap rapidly against the desk, restless energy spilling out in every movement.

“I like figuring things out. Problems, people, patterns.. it’s all connected if you look long enough. Ya know?"