Mike Zacharias (Junior High Manga)

Mike Zacharias (ミケ・ザカリアス) is a Attack Junior High School student.

Appearance
Mike is a fairly tall third year student with small eyes and has his hair parted down the middle. A notable distinction is that Mike sports both a slight beard and mustache. He usually is seen wearing either a dark tracksuit or a dark shirt and pants.

Personality
Mike is a quiet and calm young man. He has a very sensitive nose, which allows him to pick up distinct smells and is very good at tracking. It has been noted that he is afraid of germs, to the point that he cannot eat food not prepared by his parents or a relative. However, he is able to partially overcome this fear in some cases, like when tasting Nanaba's cooking.

Despite being a student just like his friends and fellow Survey Club members, Mike is almost exclusively seen and treated like an adult, being referred to as 'Mr. Mike'.

Story
At about roughly the same time Mike joined the Survey Club at school, he also became a member of the school's cooking club. Due to his germophobia, he does not partake in any of the food prepared in the club but still manages to be a valued member due to his heightened sense of smell.

Eventually, a 2nd year student named Nanaba joins the club. Mike takes a liking to her and notes that she is extremely skilled as a chef. Eventually, the club dwindles to three members: Mike, Nanaba and new member Gelgar. One day, Nanaba brings Mike a rice ball and asks him to taste it; Mike pauses and then immediately leaves. When asked why, he doesn't mention his germophobia and merely states that he can't eat any food prepared by the other remaining club members.

During the summer, Mike goes with Hange and the other Survey Club members on a bug collecting expedition and found roughly twenty bugs with his nose alone. The following year, he goes with Hange again on a bug collecting expedition along with Petra, Oluo, Eld and Gunther. As they collect numerous bugs, Mike suddenly smells food coming out of a deeper part of the woods. Mike begins to lose his focus and begins heading towards the smell, assuring to Hange that he can handle it. As the others indulge on the numerous food dishes, Mike recognizes it as coming from his former friends in the cooking club. Both Nanaba and Gelgar reveal themselves and demand to know once and for all why Mike refuses to eat any food prepared by them. Mike refuses, but ultimately the others in the Survey Club want to know as well, due to noticing Mike not eating anything also. Mike then reveals that he couldn't eat any food not prepared by himself or his relatives, no matter how delicious or appetizing. He eventually gathers up the courage to eat a rice ball Nanaba prepared for him and is shocked by how good it tastes. Falling over, he expresses how delicious the taste is and expresses a desire to learn how to cook like her. Mike ends up returning to the cooking club and goes with Nanaba and Gelgar to clean up the leftover pots and pans.