"Evan…-kun?"
Evan frowned in confusion. Who still used honorifics like that? Then he turned and saw who'd called Sasha Blouse.
Sasha was a girl from the mountain backcountry: blunt, loud, and on the surface carefree, but secretly sensitive and shy about her rural roots. She'd chased down Evan and was out of breath, cheeks flushed, then produced a roasted sweet potato from her pocket and burst into delighted laughter.
"That bald man didn't know I had another one! Hahaha…!"
Evan's pupils tightened. Right now he remembered why this scatterbrained girl had been punished to run laps too. If anyone in the Corps could be labeled "carefree," Sasha would top the list.
"Share half with me. Come on, I barely ate this morning."
"What!?" Sasha reflexively clutched the potato to her chest. Evan just plucked half of it from her hands and chomped down. The taste was plain starchy, only good to fill a hungry stomach.
"Listen, Sasha," Evan said as he ran, "we're comrades now. Why that face?"
Sasha wasn't upset, she was surprised. Surprised that this handsome boy would take her grub and eat it without disgust, like a normal friend. She hadn't expected anyone to treat her so casually. Then she realized the other half of her potato was gone.
"Evan!!!"
Evening.
The recruits had finished the day's training. On the first day that meant a basic fitness test: a five-kilometer run. It was enough to exhaust most of them in that heat. After the drill sergeant dismissed them, everyone dashed toward the barracks to collapse.
About a hundred recruits, however, were walking toward the camp exit; those were the day's eliminations, the ones knocked out for poor stamina. The Corps pruned weak bodies early; if you couldn't meet the basics, you'd never survive.
Evan and his bunkmates Eren, Armin, along with Connie and Marco weren't as terrible off. They'd trained hard and felt less worn. The five of them leaned on the dorm balcony watching two other recruits still slogging it out on the field.
Soon Mikasa, having returned from her own dorm, joined them and stood next to Eren watching the pair run.
"Those two are still at it…" Jean muttered as he walked by toward the mess hall.
"Five hours straight, right?" Connie nodded. "But the sad faces when they heard there'd be no dinner tonight those were the saddest."
Jean glanced toward Armin. "You're from that district, right? Is food really that bad there?"
"Jean " Armin began, but Marco elbowed him, silencing the reply. "That place was the first to be breached. Don't say things like that."
Jean scoffed, defensive: "Because those people got food from Wall Rose, my family has been starving every day!"
Right then Eren snapped. He strode up, eyes blazing.
"You how dare you say that when the rest of us came to fight and risk everything just to not live like livestock!"
Jean was taken aback, ready to retort until he noticed a tall, cold-beauty figure following behind Eren.
He blinked. "W wow. She's… really pretty."
Mikasa's presence quietly shifted the air; even Jean, who'd been a smug, self-centered kid, felt the pull.
~~~~~~~~~
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