The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. Mikasa, who had brought some bread, looked puzzled when she heard Chen Si's words. She glanced at him, then at Christa beside him, and something suddenly stirred inside her.
Mikasa frowned, then quickly smoothed her brow. She squeezed the bread in her hand before passing it to Chen Si, tucking the long hair hanging in front of her eyes behind her ear.
That little hair tuck could be devastating to a guy-provided the girl was pretty, of course.
"Oh, it's you, Mikasa." After taking the bread, Chen Si pulled out an apple and placed it in her hand.
"Fruit after a meal is good for you," Chen Si told her.
Then he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I've got more if that isn't enough." He looked into her eyes and gave her a wink.
Mikasa blushed and took a bite of the apple, momentarily forgetting what had just happened.
What she didn't know was that Chen Si's mind was in turmoil.
The plot had changed! Chen Si's brows knitted tightly. What was going on? He had indeed come to change the story, but so far, he had mostly followed its course because there was nothing he needed to change yet.
Except for Carla. But Carla's part in the story should have had nothing to do with Ymir. Chen Si thought back carefully. Before they said goodbye to Carla, she had spent a long time scolding Eren while he stood with his head bowed.
Then Carla had gathered all four of them. After a long silence, she had given them endless warnings and reminders before finally agreeing. Before they left, she had also asked Chen Si and Mikasa to keep Eren's bad temper in check.
Looking at it that way, there was no connection at all.
Could this be a parallel world of Attack on Titan, one that didn't follow the original story exactly? The thought left Chen Si feeling that things had become tricky.
If it was a parallel world, the basic rules should still be the same, just as humans in novels with different world settings still wouldn't eat shit.
That meant the most likely threat he needed to watch out for was the Jaw Titan: Marcel! The Titan Warrior from Marley who should have been eaten by Ymir.
On their way back to the dining hall, Mikasa noticed that Chen Si remained distracted, while she wrestled with her own feelings. Chen Si was my brother, so why did seeing him alone with another girl make me uncomfortable? Unable to hold it in any longer, she decided to speak.
"Brother, why were you so surprised when I came over just now?" Mikasa asked, looking into Chen Si's eyes.
Chen Si started at her utterly serious expression. "I just didn't expect you to come before eating, Mikasa. Aunt Carla always told us we couldn't leave the table until we'd finished our food." He could only grasp at an excuse, though fortunately, it made sense.
After hearing that, Mikasa said slowly, "Because I didn't want you to go hungry. I want to take good care of you. For your sake, some rules can come second."
Looking at her utterly serious face, Chen Si began to understand. He patted her head and said, "Thank you, Mikasa."
"Don't thank me, Brother," Mikasa said unhappily.
Chen Si let out a helpless chuckle and returned to the dining hall with her.
"Hey, you're Chen Si, right?"
Reiner approached with Bertolt beside him.
"I'm Reiner Braun, and this is Bertolt Hoover," Reiner introduced them with a friendly expression.
"Oh, hello." Chen Si nodded in greeting.
Chen Si walked over to a table and sat down, and Mikasa took a seat beside him.
"Sit down, Reiner. You too, Bertolt," Chen Si said unhurriedly.
Reiner and Bertolt sat down together.
"Chen Si, you ran more than two hundred laps just now, didn't you? You don't look tired at all. That's incredible." Reiner was both curious and wary of Chen Si, and wanted to learn more about these potential enemies.
"How could I not be tired? Sometimes a man's pride matters more than anything. I certainly couldn't embarrass my Mikasa in front of other people." Chen Si raised his eyebrows, as though that really was the truth.
Reiner glanced at the faintly blushing Mikasa and immediately felt that made sense. Then he looked at Bertolt, who kept stealing glances at Annie, and believed Chen Si's words.
Right. An ordinary person couldn't possibly have a Titan's stamina and ability to recover. I must be overthinking it, Reiner thought.
"Chen, you're from Shiganshina District too, right? Did you see that legendary Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan?" Reiner asked tentatively.
Chen Si considered for a moment, then filled his eyes with anguish, innocence, resentment, and pain before speaking in a low, grief-stricken voice:
"I only caught a glimpse of those two Titans. But the mountains of corpses, the seas of blood, the severed limbs they left behind are carved deep into my heart. Everywhere in the streets, people were being eaten by Titans. Pregnant women were ripped open, and women and children were torn into fragments of shattered bone."
Chen Si had already recovered from it. He was mentally resilient, and his words and tone now were entirely for Reiner and Bertolt's benefit. He wanted to see whether he could worsen Reiner's split personality.
Mikasa, unaware of his intentions, quietly took his hand beneath the table.
You're so thoughtful, my Mikasa. Chen Si gave her a reassuring look.
Chen Si got up and left, leaving behind a terrified Bertolt and a conflicted Reiner, both filled with anxiety and unease.
Before long, a bell suddenly rang. Chen Si happened to see Eren and Jean facing off, their impending fight interrupted by the sound.
It looked like the plot was still more or less the same. This world probably just had one extra intelligent Titan coming to Paradis Island. If that was all, there was nothing to fear.
Chen Si immediately felt much more relaxed.
Mikasa, who had been about to intervene, relaxed when she saw Eren and Jean shake hands and make peace, then walked past Jean to leave.
Jean glanced at her and was instantly stunned by her beauty. He couldn't help calling out to her.
"Ah, um... well... you have such unusual features, I couldn't help... your black hair is really beautiful," Jean said awkwardly, blushing as he looked away.
"Thank you," Mikasa replied in a flat voice, her face expressionless.
Jean couldn't calm his flushed face for a long time and hurried out the door.
"What did Jean say to you just now?" Chen Si asked Mikasa.
"Oh, he said my hair was pretty," Mikasa replied.
"Of course it is. My Mikasa's hair is beautiful." Chen Si lifted a lock of her hair, stroked it, then leaned closer to smell it.
"It smells lovely too," he said with a perfectly straight face.
Mikasa's face instantly turned bright red, but joy filled her heart, and the lingering unhappiness from earlier vanished.
Behind them, Jean was left standing in utter disarray beneath a cloud of gloom, looking as though he had turned dark on the spot.
Connie came out through the doorway humming a song, only for Jean to suddenly wipe his hand on him from behind.
"Hey! What did you just wipe on me?" Connie demanded angrily, feeling around his clothes.
Jean's face was so dark that he and his surroundings seemed to form a picture shaded entirely in black. He spoke one word at a time:
"My. Shattered. Love."
Elsewhere.
"Wouldn't hair that long get caught in the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment, Mikasa?" Eren reasoned from beside them.
"You don't know jack. Girls hate cutting off their long hair, and I think it looks great," Chen Si retorted.
"If Brother likes it, I'll keep it," Mikasa said.
"What jack? You can't afford to be careless in combat," Eren continued.
Chen Si took Mikasa's hand and stroked it, saying with a smile:
"Don't worry. What matters most is how skilled you are with the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment. Mikasa has excellent balance, so little things like that won't affect her. At worst, she can just tie her hair up," Chen Si said.
"Of course, if you grew your hair long, Eren, then I'd be worried," he added.
Mikasa snickered beside him.
"Huh? What? Chen Si, Mikasa, I've decided! I'm growing my hair out starting now. Then I'll show you how well I can use the equipment," Eren declared stubbornly, taking up the challenge.
Chen Si froze. Long-haired Eren... yeah, he really was strong. So strong he didn't need Vertical Maneuvering Equipment... so strong he didn't even have a head anymore...
Chen Si had a vague feeling that he, too, would eventually no longer need to rely entirely on the Vertical Maneuvering Equipment.