Intelligent Titans

Time flew. Before they knew it, they had spent over a month in the Training Corps. Although they had yet to use Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, all the physical training had transformed the recruits. At least they were starting to look the part.

That morning, after a month of lessons, they had nearly finished covering the required history material. Unfortunately, Yago had no interest whatsoever in this supposed history that sounded like a collection of legends.

Yago rested his chin in his hand, his gaze unfocused as he watched Annie carefully sketch on a blank page in her notebook. He had to admit that Annie was truly talented. In just a month, her sketches had become very good-only a tiny bit worse than his.

"You look pretty bored." Annie glanced at Yago. "Not at all. I'm thinking. Yes, thinking," Yago replied with a perfectly straight face.

Annie set down her pencil. "Thinking? About what? Since when were you so serious? Who was tossing me little notes during the exam a few days ago?"

Yago answered awkwardly, "Ahem, well, I just couldn't be bothered to study this boring stuff. Besides, it doesn't count toward our evaluation scores, so what's there to worry about?"

Annie adopted a tone she had learned from Yago. "Heh."

While the teacher turned around to write, Yago took the opportunity to stretch luxuriously.

"Annie, do you think Titans might have intelligence too?"

Annie's hand trembled, and her pencil drew a line across the page. "Why would you say that?" she asked, seemingly calm.

"Just a guess," Yago said lazily. "You know I'm from Shiganshina. I didn't see the Colossal Titan, but I did see that so-called Armored Titan. I always felt like they had a clear objective. Doesn't all of this seem unreal to you? Walls that hadn't been breached in a hundred years fell to a couple of strange Titans in a single day."

"So you think Titans are intelligent?" Annie asked.

"You could say that," Yago replied. "But if we consider the worst-case scenario, Titans do look somewhat like humans. And supposedly, they only attack humans. So is it possible that Titans were actually human once? Or even that humans can turn into Titans?" Suddenly, his gaze grew penetrating as he looked at Annie.

Annie unconsciously clenched her left hand, her eyes shifting away. "Th-that sort of thing couldn't possibly happen, could it?"

Seeing how nervous she looked, Yago laughed. "Seriously? I was just throwing out some nonsense. Why are you so nervous, Annie?"

Annie said nothing.

After a while, Annie spoke with some unease. "Yago, if it's like you said, and the Titans that broke through the walls really were humans who transformed, what should we do?"

"I honestly don't know," Yago replied. "If they're human, why would they destroy the walls? If they really had that kind of power, shouldn't they use it to help humanity? I'd rather hope all of this was a coincidence. A Titan with a human heart would be even scarier than an ordinary Titan, wouldn't it?"

Annie did not answer. She lowered her head, unsure what to say.

"We really got off on a tangent. Anyway, Annie, we get two days off starting tomorrow. Have you decided where you're going to unwind? Want to go on a picnic together?" Yago asked.

The Training Corps allowed two days of leave each month. Annie shook her head. "No, thanks. I... have something to do tomorrow."

"All right." Yago sounded a little disappointed.

After class, Annie left the classroom before Yago. Watching her petite figure from behind, he grew thoughtful. Something deep inside kept telling him that Annie seemed to be someone very important. At the same time, he felt a faint, almost imperceptible stirring in his heart. It seemed he was searching for something-something worth protecting with his life.

Annie was far from calm as she left the classroom. Guilt overwhelmed her.

Reiner and Bertholdt found Annie, and the three of them went to an empty classroom.

After shutting the door, Reiner got straight to the point. "Annie! Haven't you been getting too close to Yago lately? Have you forgotten our mission?"

Annie shot back without a trace of politeness. "That's none of your business! Just worry about yourselves."

"Snap out of it!" Reiner said heatedly. "Everyone on this island is a devil! They're all descendants of devils! Don't forget our mission!"

Bertholdt stood silently to one side.

"Devils?" Annie asked coldly. "Does that include Christa?"

Reiner froze. "Christa? What... what does she have to do with this? I-we're warriors of Marley! They're all devils! They're all... devils."

By the end, even Reiner could not keep going. "But we have to get back home, Annie. Isn't your father waiting for you to return too?"

Annie's expression changed. "I'll infiltrate Wall Sina tomorrow to investigate." With that, she left alone.

Bertholdt hesitated as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only sighed.

That afternoon brought the familiar physical training again: long-distance running. The recruits had all grown considerably fitter lately. Even Armin could make it through ten laps.

Yago ran easily at the front, with plenty of red-eyed recruits hot on his heels. Instructor Keith had announced that anyone who managed to overtake Yago this time would receive ten extra points on their final graduation evaluation.

At those words, quite a few recruits had looked at Yago with eyes gleaming like wolves. Now a whole pack was chasing him relentlessly.

Yago felt helpless too. He had been dragged into this for no reason. Normally, he would not have cared about any of it. He could have slowed down and let someone pass him. It was not as if his goal was to join the Military Police Brigade.

But Instructor Keith had spoken to him privately. If Yago dared to hold back, he would become the Training Corps' chief toilet cleaner for the entire next month!

With that threat hanging over him, what else could Yago do? He had no desire to spend his days keeping toilets company.

Connie squinted at Yago's figure. "That's scary. We've been running for so long, and Yago still doesn't look tired at all."

Jean gritted his teeth. "Damn it, damn it! He's so fast! Argh! I'm going to overtake him! I'm joining the Military Police Brigade!"

Ymir pulled Christa along as she began to struggle, while Mikasa followed behind Eren. If Mikasa sprinted flat out, she would certainly be no slower than Yago. Unfortunately, her world was so narrow that only Eren fit inside it, leaving no room for herself or anyone else.

There were also Armin, Marco, Thomas, Reiner, Bertholdt... in short, a whole crowd of recruits could only stare at Yago's back and eat his dust.

Instructor Keith stood on a raised platform, watching the energetic recruits with both pride and regret. These children would all become excellent soldiers one day. But Eren...

Instructor Keith's gaze settled on Eren. The boy's eyes were resolute. Even from so far away, Keith felt as though he could sense that determination. This boy was just like his father. Perhaps his own intervention had been unnecessary.

Instructor Keith looked again at Yago, who was leading the others. "So, the kid who wants to join the Survey Corps... will he become a second Levi? We'll see."