Annie Leonhart

Yago stood up, rubbing his forehead, his tears not yet dry. The instructors nearby looked surprised as well. It had been ages since they had seen Keith use that headbutt. He must have thought quite highly of this boy!

The other recruits also gained a new respect for Yago. Anyone who could trade blows with an instructor and even earn praise was one tough customer. Definitely not someone to mess with.

In that short span of time, Potato Girl had already eaten more than half her potato. Instructor Keith approached the girl with her hair in a bun and asked, "Who are you?"

"Annie Leonhart, from the southern part of Wall Maria," the girl named Annie replied flatly, her tone as cold as her appearance.

Instructor Keith asked no further questions and moved straight on to the next person. After rubbing his forehead for a while, Yago felt the pain ease a little and looked at Annie. "So her name is Annie. Her voice really is as cold as she looks. Strange, why does she feel oddly familiar?" he muttered to himself.

Although Annie appeared calm on the surface, she was actually deeply unsettled, because she had seen someone here whom she should never have seen.

How is that possible? Maybe he just looks like him. But why do they have the same name? Could there really be such a coincidence? Yago Norman... Annie stared intently at Yago, as though she wanted to see through his body and into his brain.

"What are you doing?!" Instructor Keith's roar made everyone's eardrums sting. He stared in disbelief at the girl before him, who still had potato crumbs at the corners of her mouth and one last bite of potato in her hand.

The girl looked rather confused and blinked her big eyes. Instructor Keith bellowed, "I'm talking to you! Who are you?!"

Hurriedly swallowing the potato in her mouth, the girl placed her right hand, still holding the potato, against her left chest and answered loudly, "I'm Sasha Blouse, from Tropa Village in Trost District!"

"Sasha Blouse? What's that in your right hand?"

"Sir, it's a steamed potato. I saw some ready in the kitchen, so I took one."

"So you stole it?"

"No! I didn't. I just thought letting a steamed potato go cold would be a waste," Sasha said, glancing at the instructor.

"I'm asking why you're eating a potato right now!" Keith's voice was terrifying.

Sasha froze for a moment. Whatever she was thinking, she held out the last bite of potato in her right hand to the instructor. "Would you like some?"

Keith accepted the potato in a daze and scrutinized the girl. He thought this recruit might genuinely have something wrong with her brain. Sasha gave him a smile brimming with "wisdom."

"Fifty laps around the camp! Get running! No food until you're done!" Poor Sasha.

But before Yago and the others could feel sorry for her, Instructor Keith addressed everyone else. "All the rest of you, ten laps for the boys and eight for the girls! Anyone who fails to finish will be eliminated immediately! There are 286 recruits here right now, and I hope every one of you graduates!"

Groans immediately rippled through the ranks. Yago was taken aback as well. Each lap has to be at least a thousand meters. Ten laps-that's ten kilometers? That's practically a mini-marathon.

They complained, but their bodies obeyed, and hundreds of recruits set off in a great surging crowd.

The first three laps were fine, but after the third, people began falling behind one after another. Armin was one of them, his stamina clearly starting to fail him.

Yago led the entire pack, still brimming with energy. The young men named Reiner and Bertholdt and the girl named Annie also had plenty of stamina. For some reason, Annie stayed doggedly on his heels.

Mikasa also had excellent stamina, but she kept her pace down to stay with Eren.

Before long, Yago had lapped quite a few people. Seeing Armin running and gasping for breath, he caught up to him and pulled him along.

Soon, Reiner and Bertholdt overtook Yago, and Annie passed him as well. As she went by, Annie even glanced back at him. Her icy gaze left Yago feeling baffled. Had he offended this girl at some point?

In the end, Yago ran an entire extra lap to keep Armin company. Armin collapsed on the ground, panting heavily and unable to get up for a long while, whereas Yago recovered after only a short rest.

"Thanks, Yago. If you hadn't stayed with me, I really don't think I could have finished," Armin said between gasps.

Yago handed Armin a waterskin. "No need for that between friends. But Armin, you really should work on your fitness. Otherwise, if a Titan runs away someday, you might not even be able to catch it. Ha!"

Sitting on the ground, Yago picked up his waterskin to take a drink. Suddenly, a pair of slender legs appeared before him. He looked up and saw Annie.

Annie stood looking down at Yago, who immediately felt as though the temperature around him had dropped two degrees.

"Uh, hello? Your name's Annie, right?" Yago offered an awkward greeting, but she didn't respond at all. How embarrassing.

Yago stood up. At 170 centimeters tall, he was considerably taller than the petite Annie. Suddenly, he pushed his waterskin into her hands.

"Are you thirsty? Uh, well, I haven't drunk from this waterskin. You can have it!" With that, Yago hurriedly grabbed Armin, who had just gotten to his feet, and led him away. He couldn't help it. Annie's presence was too intimidating, and Yago was rather scared of her.

Annie looked at the waterskin in her hands, somewhat at a loss herself. Only after a long while did she stiffly murmur a quiet thank-you. Yago heard her, turned back with a smile, and said, "You're welcome."

Annie turned to leave, her pale blond hair flashing past. Something stirred in Yago's heart. She felt so familiar.

Annie walked down the path alone.

"Annie! What are you doing? Why do you keep approaching that guy?" The tall young man named Reiner and Bertholdt suddenly blocked her way. "Remember, you're a warrior of Marley! Don't get too close to these devils! If our identities are exposed, we won't be able to complete the mission!" Reiner said sternly. Bertholdt nodded and agreed. "Annie, Reiner's right."

Annie gave them an indifferent glance. "What I do is none of your business. As for the mission, I'll complete it. Stop meddling." With that, she headed straight for the Girls' Dormitory.

"Reiner, we..." Bertholdt looked at Reiner anxiously. Reiner gritted his teeth. "Tch, forget her. As long as she doesn't expose our identities, let her do what she wants! Our target is the Coordinate Power. For now, let's stay undercover and look for an opportunity when the time comes."

"Yeah," Bertholdt agreed aloud, though inwardly he still had doubts. After spending all these years among them, the people on the island didn't seem to be devils as the Marley Government claimed. They seemed more like ordinary people of flesh and blood. Was what he had done really right?

Bertholdt looked at his hands as something came to mind, but all he could do was close his eyes in anguish. He could only hope that what they were doing was right.