Mike Zacharias (Junior High Manga)

Mike Zacharias (ミケ・ザカリアス) is a 3rd year student at Attack Junior High School.

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 eat any of the food prepared in the club but still manages to be a valued member due to his heightened sense of smell.

The same year, 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 does not mention his germophobia and merely states that he cannot eat any food prepared by the other remaining club members.

One day, Mike arrives at the Survey Club and notices that a bunch of first year students managed to locate where they were meeting and demand they be allowed to join. Mike gives his approval along with Hange and Levi, welcoming the first years into the club. Eventually, there is a competition between the upperclassmen and the first years and Mike is designated as one of the generals. During the competition, he is caught with the other upperclassmen in a large Titan net but manages to break through. Suddenly, Reiner charges Mike and the latter merely dodges out of the way. However, he notices Reiner threw himself on top of the hole he caused and keeping the other upperclassmen trapped in the net. Admiring Reiner's ingenuity, Mike however claims it will not be enough and throws Reiner off. Mike applauds the efforts made by the first year students, but leads the upperclassmen to begin overpowering the first year students; this causes many of the first years to begin abandoning the competition. Eventually, Mike is successful in his efforts and is one of the driving factors in the upperclassmen claiming victory.

During the summer, Mike goes with Hange on a bug collecting expedition and finds roughly twenty bugs with his nose alone. The following year, he goes with Hange again on another 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. Finding several dishes of food, Mike tries to keep his composure as the others indulge in the food; Mike eventually 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 to say, but on seeing Mike eat nothing, the other members insist on knowing as well. Mike then reveals that he could not eat any food not prepared by himself or his relatives, no matter how delicious or appetizing. He eventually gathers up the courage to eat the same rice ball Nanaba had prepared for him back before leaving the cooking club 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.

Relationships

 * Hange and Levi - As one of the three heads of the Survey Club, it is presumed that Mike gets along with both Hange and Levi, the other co-leaders of the club.
 * Nanaba - One of his fellow members of the cooking club, Mike noticed early on that Nanaba was very skilled in cooking. However, their relationship takes a blow when Mike refuses to taste some of her food due to his germophobia. Fortunately, they are able to eventually reconcile and become friends once more after he overcomes his phobia.
 * Gelgar - Another member of the cooking club, Mike's relationship with Gelgar is not fully explored but is presumed to be similar to Nanaba's due to his resistance to germs.