Christa

"Wow, look! That Potato Girl is still running! That's incredible. She's already done more than thirty laps." Dressed in casual clothes, Yago and the others stood in the corridor of the boys' dormitory, watching Sasha slowly circle the training ground. Connie couldn't help marveling at her. Potato Girl really was amazing to have kept running for so long.

Eren was impressed too. "She's been running for five hours straight. That's terrifying."

Hannah pointed at a carriage leaving the camp and asked, "Who are they?" Quite a few people were sitting inside.

"They're probably recruits who were eliminated," Armin said. "A lot of people couldn't even make it through ten laps. If it weren't for Yago, I might not have made it either."

"That's just how it is," Eren said. "The weak can only be eliminated."

Marco Bott, who came from the South District of Wall Rose, leaned against the railing. Watching the exhausted Sasha stumble along, he could barely stand it. "Poor Sasha."

Something seemed to occur to Connie then. He walked over to Yago and asked curiously, "Hey, Yago, I remember you said you were from Shiganshina District, right?"

Yago had been lost in thought and only snapped out of it at the question. "Yeah."

"Then did you see, you know, that... that Colossal Titan?" Connie asked excitedly.

"Well... I was at church with my mom at the time. I really didn't notice the Colossal Titan, but Eren and Armin should have gotten a clear look at him that day," Yago said uncertainly.

"Really? Eren! You actually saw him?"

"Huh? Yeah, that's right. I did see the Colossal Titan that day," Eren said.

"Seriously? How big was he? What did he look like? Did he really kick down Shiganshina District's main gate in one kick?" Connie asked.

"Uh, that Titan was incredibly tall. His whole head stuck up above the wall. He looked like... like a Titan with no skin, nothing but red muscle." Eren described him vividly, drawing gasps from everyone.

This continued all the way through dinner, with plenty of people still crowding around Eren to hear about the Colossal Titan.

"What about the Armored Titan who smashed through Wall Maria?"

Eren held his soup spoon. "The Armored Titan? To me, he wasn't much different from an ordinary Titan. Once we've mastered the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, we can drive out every last one of those Titans!"

"Pfft, are you crazy?" Jean scoffed at Eren. "You're kidding, right? You actually want to join the Survey Corps?"

Eren frowned and set down his spoon. "Yes, I'm going to join the Survey Corps. I remember you wanted to join the Military Police Brigade and live an easy life, right?"

"Yeah. I'm realistic. I just want to join the Military Police Brigade. But I'm still a lot better than certain people who are scared to death and just won't admit it," Jean said.

"Are you talking about me?" Eren stood up angrily, and Jean refused to back down. Just as the two faced off, the bell rang to signal the end of dinner.

Jean backed off first, not wanting to cause unnecessary trouble. His goal was to join the Military Police Brigade, after all, and there was no point getting into a fight with Eren. He held out his hand. "Sorry. I didn't mean to put down your dream. Since we're both recruits, let's be friends."

Eren wasn't as impulsive as he had been two years earlier. After a moment's hesitation, he took Jean's hand. "I'm sorry too."

Then he turned and left. Concerned about Eren, Mikasa hurried after him. Her long hair swayed as she passed Jean, and the sight of her beautiful profile actually made him blush. He called out to her. When she gave him a questioning look, he stammered out a compliment about her beautiful hair. Mikasa thanked him without much emotion, then went outside to catch up with Eren.

Jean was still somewhat entranced by Mikasa's beauty.

But the moment he stepped outside, he heard Eren tell Mikasa that her hair was too long. Mikasa immediately agreed to cut it short, leaving Jean utterly petrified.

Yago wrapped two pieces of bread in a napkin and headed out of the dining hall with them. Once mealtime was over, no one was allowed to keep eating there, and Potato Girl Sasha hadn't eaten anything yet. Considering how long he'd spent watching Sasha eat, Yago had saved two pieces of bread from his dinner to bring her.

Someone stopped him at the door. "Annie? What's up?" Yago looked at the girl in front of him. Without saying anything else, Annie shoved the waterskin from that afternoon and some bread, also wrapped in a napkin, into his arms. "To return the favor," she said stiffly, then left.

Yago looked down at the things in his arms, unsure whether to laugh or cry. This girl looked so cold, but she was actually pretty kind inside.

Night fell, and Sasha swayed on her feet. "Finally... finished..." With a thud, she collapsed to the ground, looking utterly limp and lifeless. Suddenly, her nose twitched.

Her tightly shut eyes flew open, seeming to flash green. She hunched her body and lunged into the darkness like a starving wolf. "Ah!" With a startled cry, a girl with long blond hair was knocked to the ground, still clutching a waterskin.

Sasha sank her teeth into the bread she'd snatched from the girl's hand, tearing into it so fiercely that she gave the girl a fright. The girl asked cautiously, "Would you like some water? My name is Christa. I saved that bread for you, but I couldn't save any of the potato soup."

Standing beneath the torchlight, Christa's pretty face looked nothing short of angelic to Sasha. "Wow! Are you my goddess?"

"Hey, are you doing a good deed here?" A freckled girl stepped out. At the sight of a stranger, Sasha hastily stuffed the entire piece of bread into her mouth and chewed hard.

"No, Ymir. I just saw that she'd been made to run all day, so I..." Christa explained cautiously.

Ymir looked at Christa and sighed. This silly girl was still far too kind.

"Ah, looks like I worried for nothing." Yago emerged from the darkness with the bread. "Christa? You're such a kind girl."

Embarrassed by the praise, Christa said, "Oh, not really." Ymir, however, watched Yago warily. "Christa, don't let all that sweet talk fool you. Plenty of men have honeyed tongues but rotten hearts."

Yago was speechless. "Hey, hey, that's going too far. All I did was compliment her. How does that make me a bad guy?" Though Christa really was very pretty.

"Who knows? You can know someone's face without knowing their heart!" Ymir said.

Yago had no answer. "Then this bread..."

It happened so fast that even Yago couldn't react before the bread landed in Sasha's hands. "Thank you so much! I can still eat more!"

"...All right, see you next time. My name's Yago. Remember it. I'm not a bad guy," Yago said.

With that, he left. Christa looked at Ymir reproachfully. "Ymir, weren't you being a little too harsh just now?"

Ymir pursed her lips and pulled Christa and Sasha, who was clutching several large pieces of bread, along to head back.

Walking back to the dormitory, Yago raised his head to look at the sky. The night, dotted with a few stars, had a beauty all its own. These past few years of life had almost made him forget those so-called memories of transmigration in his mind. They were growing fainter and fainter, yet this world seemed to be accepting him more and more.

"I've joined the Training Corps. Next, my goal is the Survey Corps!" Yago clenched his fist.