The next morning, Yago opened his eyes groggily. "Huh? Where is everyone? They all left? Why didn't anyone wake me?" He stared at the empty dormitory, bewildered. "Some friends you are!" He hurriedly buckled his belt. "Why does this feel a little tighter? Have I put on weight lately?" But there was no time to think about it. He quickly put on his uniform and sprinted to the dining hall as though running a hundred-meter dash.
"What?! Breakfast is over? You've got to be kidding!" Yago wailed at the sight of the spotless dining hall. The cook told him breakfast had ended half an hour ago. He was too late.
Dejected, Yago had no choice but to leave and head for the classroom. "Permission to enter!" "Come in! Recruit, you're five minutes late!" It was the same elderly instructor from yesterday. "Yes, sir. I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."
Sure enough, the only empty seat was still in the back row, beside the same familiar girl with pale blond hair.
After all, most people couldn't handle Annie's intimidating presence.
Once he settled into his seat, the instructor resumed yesterday's dull history lesson, and Yago immediately went back to catching up on sleep.
After a while, Yago felt someone poke his arm. He lifted his head groggily and found Annie staring straight at him. "Uh... Annie? What is it?"
At the sight of his befuddled expression, Annie's calm gaze instantly changed. A sudden chill jolted Yago awake. Only when he saw the pencil and blank notebook she pushed toward him did he remember that he had promised to teach her to draw yesterday.
"Sorry, sorry, Annie. I'm still half asleep. Really, my bad." Yago scratched his head apologetically. The history lesson was boring anyway, so he might as well teach Annie to draw. As for why Yago knew how to draw? Don't ask. If you did, the answer was the mysterious memories in his head.
And so Yago taught Annie step by step, from outlines to controlling light and shadow...
He had to admit that Annie was a genius. With just a little instruction, she had already grasped the basics... Well, she was a little impatient. Other people started learning to sketch with apples, balls, and things like that. Annie, however, went straight to using her deskmate as her model.
Yago's mouth twitched as he looked at the distinctly Picasso-esque drawing before him. "Who is that supposed to be?" "You. Why? Doesn't it look like you?"
Like me, my ass! Yago raged inwardly, but he kept showering her with praise, telling her how good her drawing was and how quickly she was improving.
As Annie listened to Yago's compliments, a faint blush actually appeared on her usually cold, delicate face. Of course, busy buttering her up, Yago failed to notice.
But someone paying attention did notice. Jean muttered, "Seriously? So Yago likes that sort of icy girl. What a loser. What's there to like about that block of ice?"
Watching them, Mikasa felt a little wistful and a touch envious. Then she looked at Eren, who was still fired up. He was determined to prove himself!
"Ah..." Mikasa sighed.
Bertholdt watched Annie with a complicated expression. As her former companion, he naturally had some feelings for her, but he had always buried them deep inside. They had a mission and shouldn't let feelings hold them back. His thoughts grew tangled. Suddenly, he thought again of all those refugees, of the more than three hundred thousand civilians who had died in the Wall Maria Reclamation Battle. Bertholdt lowered his head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry..." He kept murmuring his remorse in a voice only he could hear.
Class finally ended, and Yago charged out of the classroom ahead of everyone, racing madly to the dining hall. He arrived second. Why second? Because a certain Potato Girl was faster than him.
Yago wolfed down bread and potato soup. With the fall of Wall Maria, people had begun facing food shortages.
Even the Training Corps, which trained new recruits, couldn't guarantee meat at every meal. Most of the time, they served potato soup with bread, and even that was rationed.
Yago quickly finished his portion but still wanted more. His gaze swept around the room. Eren, eager to train, had barely touched his lunch, and there was still a whole piece of bread on his plate.
My chance! Bread! Yago shot out his hand. At that same instant, another pair of hands clamped down on the bread alongside his. He looked up in surprise.
"Sasha? What are you doing, Sasha?" While Yago was still stunned, Sasha snatched the bread away and swallowed it in a few huge bites.
"Huh? Yago, what's wrong? ⊙_⊙" Sasha asked blankly. Yago pressed a hand to his forehead. "The moment this girl sees food, she acts like she's starved to death."
"Here." A piece of bread appeared in front of him. Yago looked at Annie gratefully. "Thank you so much, Annie."
"Tch. Just eat." Annie turned away with a cold expression, but as she did, the corners of her mouth curved into an involuntary smile.
That afternoon.
"Eren! Come on! You can do it!" Armin cheered him on loudly. Quite a few recruits had gathered to watch, along with Instructor Keith, who regarded Eren sternly. Eren looked at everyone with determination for a moment. "I'm ready!" Thomas, standing beside him, began turning the crank.
Instructor Keith watched Eren with an unreadable gaze. I hope you won't blame me.
As Eren's feet left the ground, everyone began watching intently. Eren declared loudly, "I won't fail!"
After swaying slightly, Eren steadied himself. Before long, a minute had passed.
"Eren! You did it!" Armin exclaimed excitedly. Mikasa also watched Eren with joy in her eyes.
The watching recruits talked among themselves in surprise, and quite a few cheered for Eren. Jean clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"I did it? Yes! I can become a soldier!" Eren shouted excitedly. It seemed he really had just been too nervous yesterday. Today's simulation had none of yesterday's snagging sensation, and balancing had been easy.
Instructor Keith stared at Eren in disbelief. "How is that possible? Recruit Eren, come here."
"Yes, sir." Hearing the instructor call him, Eren quickly got down from the simulation apparatus, walked over, and stood at attention.
Keith's expression was grave as he tugged at the straps on Eren's body. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed. He distinctly remembered that the mechanism on Eren's waist strap... Was this fate? Those words echoed in Keith's mind: At the very least, this child is already special simply because he was born into this world.
Eren asked excitedly, "Instructor, does this mean I can become a soldier?"
Keith said, "...Of course you can!"
Just then, a startled cry from nearby drew Instructor Keith's attention.
Yago was swaying violently on the simulation apparatus beside them. Yesterday, he had been the first to complete the balance training, and his performance had been outstanding. What was going on now?
Thomas, who was turning the crank for Yago, also looked astonished.
Yago felt as though ten thousand mythical beasts were stampeding through his mind. What's going on? My muscles are working perfectly normally, and my senses shouldn't be wrong. Why am I losing my balance?
Damn it! Hold steady! Yago cursed inwardly and tensed his muscles, lowering his center of gravity in an astonishing way. His swaying body actually began to steady itself.
Everyone else noticed something was wrong with Yago too. Jean said, "Huh? Wasn't that guy doing just fine yesterday?" Armin asked, "What's wrong?" Sasha declared, "He must have eaten too much!" Sasha deeply resented Yago for eating one more piece of bread than she had at lunch, thanks to Annie.
Annie frowned, a barely perceptible flicker of concern passing through her eyes.
Reiner, on the other hand, took pleasure in his misfortune. It would be good if this soldier could be eliminated this way. He had a persistent feeling that Yago would become a major threat to them in the future.
Before you continue