Here it is, Eren thought. Red Oak Academy, ROA for short. All his life Eren had dreamed of attending this school, and here he was at the front doors. ROA was not your average high school. It was a military school of sorts, but even among the standards of military schools, ROA was still not average. This was where everyone who was someone went, this school was legend, and where legends were born.
Eren took a deep breath, exhaling as the light wind blew autumn leaves across the campus.
"Eren...?"
Eren jumped at the sound of his name being called.
"Are you alright? You were spacing out there for a moment." Said Armin, Eren's childhood best friend, with a worried look on his face.
"I'm fine...I was just caught up in the moment." Eren replied, staring in awe at the clock tower that stood atop the school building.
"It's marvelous, isn't it?" Said Mikasa, Eren's other childhood friend. "You've always wanted to come here, even to catch a glimpse of the place. Now look at you, a freshman in the Honors classes." She said, smiling at him.
"Barely. I had to work my tail off to get into the Honors program, unlike you two geniuses." Eren replied, with slight irritation.
"But that's what makes you all the more amazing. I only wish I had the amount of motivation that you have." Replied Armin, placing a hand to Eren's right shoulder as an act of encouragement.
Ding-dong-ding-dong!
"That wasn't the-" started Armin.
"The bell signaling we're late to first period?" Finished Mikasa.
The three of them glanced at each other, and began running at top speed into the corridors. They split up, each heading to their respective class. Eren's first class was pretty close to the entrance, and he slid to a stop in front of the closed sliding door.
Historical Battles, hmm? Eren thought. Here we go! He slid the door open quietly, and stepped in.
"Hello there, young man. You're just in time, we were about to begin self introductions. Why don't you take a seat and start us off?" Smiled the friendly and elderly teacher at the front of the room.
"Yes sir." Eren replied, sitting in an open seat. "My name is Eren Jaeger. I came to this school simply because I aspire to be just like Commander Erwin Smith." The elderly teacher stared at Eren over the rim of his spectacles before smiling.
"Very interesting...good. Next! You there, go ahead." The teacher replied, pointing to the boy sitting directly to Eren's left.
"Yes sir. My name is Jean. I came to this school because I want to become a badass and make all the girls fall for me." The boy stated with a smirk.
"I see..." Said the teacher, with an expression of disproval on his face. "Next!" Introductions took up most of the period. Mr. Seedworth, as he later had introduced himself as, spent quite a bit of time talking about his youth and how it had led to him becoming a teacher at ROA.
"So who is Erwin Smith?" Whispered the boy named Jean, leaning towards Eren. Eren glanced over at him, and then rolled his eyes.
"You mean to say that you don't know?"
"You think I would bother asking if I did?" Eren rolled his eyes again.
"Erwin Smith is the leading commander who lead us into victory in the war against the sirens." Eren huffed under his breath, in complete disbelief that someone could be so uneducated. What a moron...
"Oooohhh. I knew that."
"Right. Which is why you asked." Eren smirked. Jean frowned and turned his attention to a girl sitting nearby.
It's not that Eren considered everyone who lacked historical education to be morons or idiots. But the war against the sirens, known as World War III, was the most recent war in history and had occurred during their life time. It had begun 3 years before Eren was born. It occurred shortly after man had discovered the existence of the sirens. They were sea beings, mermaids, mermen. Slightly less intelligent than that of man, but they made up for it in brawn.
Sirens had discovered the suitability of land, and wanted to move on to land where humans had been living. But there was no possible way for all of humankind and all of sirenkind to be sustained by the land. And thus the Sirens attacked. For the first time in all of history, every country in the world formed into one alliance in order to drive back the sirens. 10 years of battling, and humanity was at it's last straw. That was when Commander Erwin Smith took over, and lead the world's forces against the sirens. With his guidance, the war had a turning point in favor of the humans. In just over two years, the legendary commander had brought victory to humanity, and the war ended, sending the sirens back to their home far at the bottom of the seas. Commander Erwin had a heart attack a little over a year later, and died when Eren was only 10 years old. That was 6 years ago. ROA was where Commander Erwin had attended high school, just a few years before he had become commander.
"Hello...? You in there?" Called the obnoxious voice of Jean. Eren looked up to see that everyone was leaving the classroom.
"The bell rang?" Eren asked.
"Yeah. Where are you headed?" Eren pulled out the sheet of paper on which his schedule was printed.
"Biology." He replied.
"Ooh! Me too. Let's go together."
Great... Eren thought. I have to spend more time with this idiot. Eren grabbed his backpack and together they headed to their next class. Second period was also spent on self introductions, and same with third. Eren figured that the rest of the day was probably going to be spent on introductions.
Let's see...what do I have next? Battle Tactics & Strategies? Interesting. Eren was excited. He would actually get to learn about how to fight on the battlefield. He began speeding up to reach the class sooner, when he recalled his previous classes. Probably more introductions... He slowed his pace down to a normal speed. But I wonder what the class will be like? I hope the teacher is interesting. He checked his schedule again. I think that this is the class that I have with Mikasa and Armin.
He stepped in front of the door and began to walk in when he felt something approaching his head. He leaned towards the side to dodge it, but his right arm snapped up in reflex, and he caught the object between his index and middle fingers.
Hmm?
What Eren was holding was a toy arrow, the kind with the suction cup at the end to allow it to stick to objects.
"Whoo!" Eren turned to look at the source of the cheers and saw everyone who was in the room clapping. Puzzled, he then looked over at the source of the toy arrow.
There stood a short, and slightly older looking man with a toy bow in his hand and a collection of similar arrows scattered on the desk beside him. This man had a deep scowl on his handsome face. The teacher? Eren wondered, as he stepped into the class.
"Pass." The man said, motioning for Eren to bring the arrow over to his desk.
"Pass? Pass what?" Eren questioned.
"Passed the reflexive capabilities test." Replied Mikasa, who was sitting in a desk near the front. "I passed too."
"I failed..." Said Armin glumly, who was sitting in the seat to the left of Mikasa. Mikasa motioned for Eren to sit in the empty seat to her right.
"Eren!" He turned to see where the voice was coming from and saw Jean walking in through the door.
Pring!
The teacher shot another toy arrow at Jean, and it hit Jean squarely in the forehead.
"Wha..?! Ow!" Jean began rubbing his forehead and leaned down to pick up the arrow. Again...? Eren thought.
"Fail."
"Failed? Failed what?" Jean said huffily walking towards the front of the classroom. Armin proceeded to explain to him the procedure.
"What? Nobody could pass that!" He responded.
"I did." Eren said.
"Tch..." Was Jean's reply.
"So did I." Said Mikasa. Jean looked over towards her and immediately showed signs of fascination. He sat in the empty seat behind her, and began an attempt to try and chat her up.
The class began shortly after a few more students had walked in and failed the test.
"You will address me as Mr. Ackerman." Stated the short but menacing teacher.
Hmm? He has the same last name as Mikasa. Eren thought fleetingly.
"I expect complete and absolute obedience, respect, and responsible behavior." Mr. Ackerman said.
Everyone in the class moaned at the thought of having a strict teacher. Mr. Ackerman sharpened his glare, and immediately everyone sat straight in their seats and folded their hands on their desks.
"Why should I respect a shorty like you?" Retorted Jean.
Eren turned in his seat and said "Stature has nothing to do with it. Napoleon Bonepart was short too, and he had many great acomplishments." Eren swiveled back to face the front, hoping for some kind of praise or recognition, but the same scowl still resided on Mr. Ackerman's face. Mr. Ackerman addressed Jean's question.
"Why? Why does a person ever deserve respect? For one, I'm older than you."
"Not that much ol-" began Jean.
"Another reason being my accomplishments." Mr. Ackerman interrupted. "I served as Vice Commander to Commander Erwin Smith in World War III. I put my life on the front lines and fought for the survival of humanity. Does that not deserve some form of respect?" He glared forcefully at Jean.
"It does sir." Jean replied weakly.
Suddenly Eren jumped out of his seat and aimed his finger at Mr. Ackerman.
"You...! The World's Strongest Soldier?!" He exclaimed with excitement. "Devil-faced Levi!"
"Do not call me by first name." Mr. Ackerman replied cooly, with an icy glare. "And don't point fingers at people. It's rude." Eren shot back into his seat and mustered a "Yes sir." He was still excited. The world's strongest soldier in living flesh! He had never even dreamed of it.
Mr. Ackerman began explaining the importance behind the test he had given.
"It was an important test to measure your reflexes." He began. "In the couple years that I have been teaching here, only two people have ever passed this test." He glanced at Eren and Mikasa. "Congratulations."
He then directed his attention to Mikasa. "You did very well. Your reflexive skills are good." He turned to Eren. "And you. You're reflexes are even better than hers." Eren beamed at this compliment. "You not only dodged the arrow, but manages to catch it as well. However. In battle, you don't know what could be coming your way. That could have been a bomb that explodes upon impact. You have the skill, but you need to spend more time thinking about your actions before you make them, even in situations where time is not a luxury." Eren's face slumped a bit.
"Mr. Ackerman? When are we going to do self introductions?" Asked a student in the back.
"We're not. I already know all of your names. If you want to know each other's names, ask on your own time." He replied sharply.
"Yes sir." The student squeaked.
"Definitely devil-faced alright..." Eren muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Mr. Ackerman glared at Eren.
"Nothing sir! I didn't say anything." Eren replied quickly.
A slight but evil smile crept upon Mr. Ackerman's face.
"Eren. See me after school." Eren glanced up nervously.
"Yes sir."
Eren stared at the smirk playing across Mr. Ackerman's lips.
God, he's handsome, Eren thought. Eren's heartbeat quickened as he couldn't take his eyes off of the young teacher. Mr. Ackerman had short, slick black hair that almost made Eren want to run his hands through it. His stature was short, but he was well built, and you could see his sturdy muscles underneath his tight, button up white shirt.
What I wouldn't give to dowse him in water, and see his pink nipples showing through the wet fabric...Eren thought. Wait. WHAT. He's a man! What am I thinking? I'm not gay...so why...?