CHAPTER 2: THE WALL AND THE BOY
The door opened.
Sukuna stepped out of the small bedroom and into a modest kitchen. A woman stood by the fire, stirring a pot. Her brown hair was tied back. Her eyes were kind.
Eren's mother.
Carla Yeager.
She turned and smiled at him. "There you are. Did you sleep well?"
Sukuna did not answer immediately. He was studying her. This woman meant nothing to him. But the body he now inhabited... Eren's body... remembered her.
A strange feeling. Not his own. But present.
"Yes," he finally said. His voice was calm. Too calm for a ten-year-old boy.
Carla tilted her head slightly. "Are you feeling alright, Eren? You look... different."
"I'm fine," Sukuna replied, walking past her toward the window.
He looked outside.
The wall.
From here, he could see it clearly. Wall Maria. The outermost wall. It rose into the sky like a god's creation. Impossible. Ridiculous. And fascinating.
"Mikasa and your father are already outside," Carla said from behind him. "Go eat with them."
Sukuna turned. His green eyes—Eren's green eyes—met hers for a moment.
Then he walked to the door, opened it, and stepped outside.
The air was fresh. Cold.
The streets of Shiganshina District were busy. Merchants shouted. Children ran. Soldiers walked with tired eyes.
And above it all... the wall.
Sukuna looked up at it. Eighty meters tall, he remembered from Eren's memories. Made of hardened Titan flesh, though the people here didn't know that.
"Pathetic," he whispered. "Hiding behind walls like cattle waiting for slaughter."
"Eren!"
A voice called his name.
A boy with blond hair and blue eyes ran toward him. Armin Arlert. His small face was excited.
"You're late! Mikasa is waiting by the river."
Sukuna looked down at the boy. Armin. The smart one. The one who would later discover the truth of this world.
"Let's go," Sukuna said simply.
Armin blinked. "You're... quiet today. Usually you're shouting about killing Titans."
Sukuna almost laughed.
"Maybe I've grown up," he said with a cold smile.
Armin didn't know how to respond. He just nodded and led the way.
By the river, a girl sat alone.
Mikasa Ackerman.
Black hair. Dark eyes. A scarf wrapped around her neck.
She looked up as they approached. Her eyes met Sukuna's.
And for a moment... she froze.
Something was wrong. This was Eren. Same face. Same eyes. Same body.
But something inside him had changed.
"Eren?" she said quietly.
Sukuna sat down next to her. He didn't touch her. Didn't act like the old Eren.
"Mikasa," he said. Just her name.
She stared at him. "Are you... okay?"
"I've never been better," he replied, looking up at the sky.
The sky was blue. Peaceful.
But Sukuna knew what was coming.
In a few hours... the Colossal Titan would appear.
And the game would truly begin.
"Tell me, Mikasa," he said without looking at her. "What would you do if these walls fell today?"
Mikasa's eyes widened. "What?"
"Just a question."
She didn't answer. She just gripped her scarf tighter.
Armin sat on Sukuna's other side, confused. "Why would you ask something like that, Eren?"
Sukuna smiled.
"Because," he said, "walls don't last forever."
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END OF CHAPTER 2