"Titans aren't such a big deal, when you come down to it. Once we get used to the three-dimensional maneuver gear they'll be nothing to write home about!"
Although most of her fellow trainees were crowding the boy who witnessed the fall of Wall Maria and saw the Colossal Titan, Ymir was among the few who didn't have much interest in his stories. There was only one person in the mess hall who she was interested in learning more about, and she was sitting away from the crowd, quietly eating her meal, although not without occasionally stealing a glance at the boy as he regaled everyone with his tales.
With a sigh she decided not to wait any longer to approach the girl when suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around quickly to see who it belonged to. It was a boy. Another trainee, although she didn't know anything about him.
"What do you want?" She wanted to deal with him as quickly as possible, lest she miss her chance with Christa.
"Well, I couldn't help but notice you eying blondie over there. As it happens, I think her friend is pretty cute."
"...What's your point?"
"I was thinking the two of us work together, y'know? It'll be easier to get them to open up to us if we work as a team. Trust me, we do this together and by tonight you'll have that little cutie in bed with you."
Ymir turned bright red.
"Wh-what?! You idiot!"
She punched him square in the gut. She was actually rather pleased with the sound he made, and the fact that his glasses flew off with the hit. In a flash a small blur rushed to his side— it was the girl Ymir was so interested in.
"What are you doing?!"
"I-I... Uh..."
The girl ignored her, instead turning to the boy and making sure he was okay, before turning back around with an angry glare in her eyes.
"Why did you hit him like that?!"
"Um, well..."
She honestly couldn't explain why she had punched him to her. All she could do was fumble over her words trying to think up a convincing lie, with each oncoming second more excruciating than the last. Suddenly the boy decided to answer for her.
"Oh, don't worry it's not a big deal or anything! We're actually friends, and I just bet that she couldn't make me hurl up my dinner with a punch." He looked Ymir in the eye and winked, "You lost, by the way. You owe me now."
Ymir rolled her eyes at him, but she really had no other choice but to play along now.
"Um... Okay. So you'll be fine then?"
"Well, a seat would be nice."
"All right, well come and sit with us then."
With her arm around his waist she walked him over to her table. He gestured to Ymir to follow them. The girl sat him in the corner seat of the table before walking to the other side where she had been sitting before. Ymir sat next to the boy.
"So what are your names? I'm Christa, and this is my friend, Roxie."
"Well, my name is Malcolm."
"I'm Ymir."
"So, how do you two know each other?" Malcolm asked.
"It's kind of a weird story." Roxie said, "Are you okay with me telling them, Christa?"
"Um, yeah... I guess it's okay."
"If you're sure... Well, I actually found Christa living on the streets." Roxie said.
Both Ymir and Malcolm turned to look at Christa, who averted her gaze, embarrassed. It was hard to imagine her as a vagrant.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I felt bad for her, since we were like the same age. I cleaned her up and bought her some clothes, then convinced my parents that she was a friend of mine who was having family issues. They let her stay with us. It was actually her idea to join the military. She actually tried to convince me not to join, although I wasn't going to let her join on her own."
"So you guys are pretty close then, huh?"
"I guess, yeah."
Ymir noticed Malcolm glance at Christa once more. She noticed a strange look in his eye, one of suspicion.
"What about you guys?"
"Hm?"
"How did you guys meet?"
The expression on Malcolm's face showed that he hadn't thought of this coming up.
"Oh, well, uh... Our families were already close, so we basically grew up together. That's why we decided to join the military together." He seemed to have a talent for coming up with stories.
"Oh, that's nice."
Their questioning each other evolved into a full blown conversation. The boy seemed to be having luck on his conquest, but Ymir hadn't actually interacted with Christa at all. She realized she had no idea what she could even talk about.
"So, uh... What was the reason you decided to join the military?"
"Well..."
She seemed to be struggling to come up with an answer.
"I wanted to be able to protect people. Like, what if the titans broke through Wall Rose?" She smiled, as if she was proud of what she had come up with. "What was your reason?"
"Uh, w-well..." Ymir knew that 'to find you' was not a good answer, but she actually didn't have any other reason.
"Same as you, I guess."
That was a lie. Ymir actually didn't care all that much about helping people, but it seemed to satisfy Christa, fortunately. She tried thinking of something else to talk about, in hopes of getting the other girl to warm up to her more, but she was no good at socializing, and before long dinner was over. Ymir noticed Christa hiding away her uneaten bread, which annoyed her. She decided not to say anything, but decided to follow her and find out what Christa was up to.
All Ymir had learned from following Christa after dinner was that the two were assigned to the same cabin— good news for Ymir, but she was still curious as to why Christa would take that bread. She didn't seem the type to have taken it just to eat it later. There was shouting outside, and lights started to go out. It was time to go to bed. Ymir sighed and sprawled out onto her bunk. The mystery of the bread would have to go unsolved, it seemed.
"Um, I'm... I have to go to the bathroom." She heard Christa say.
Ymir didn't respond, and neither did Roxie, who was also in their cabin, and Christa left silently. A moment after the door shut Ymir realized that maybe she could find out what Christa was up to. She hopped off her bed and said to Roxie,
"I'm actually gonna go too."
She just shrugged, and Ymir left the cabin. She immediately saw Christa— she was only a bit away from the cabin, and she was approaching a person who seemed to have collapsed. The person lunged at Christa, and Ymir was ready to rush to her aid— before she realized it was just the Potato Girl from before. Apparently Christa had saved the bread for her; Ymir almost laughed at the foolishness of it.
"BREEAAAD?!"
Ymir sighed. Potato Girl was bound to wake someone up with her yelling. Ymir didn't care either way if Potato Girl got in trouble, but Christa was going to be dragged right along with her if she didn't shut up, and Ymir wasn't going to allow that.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
At the sign that they might be about to get in trouble Potato Girl immediately began eating the bread as fast as she could. Ymir sighed again— trying to guilt this girl was hopeless. Christa, on the other hand, was staring at Ymir, frozen in fear. Maybe she could find out Christa's motivation for helping Potato Girl.
"W-well, she's just been running all day and-"
"No, not her. What are you doing?"
"M-me?"
"Yeah. I saw you hide away that piece of bread at dinner, and it bothered me. You're like a little kid trying to take care of a pet without letting their parents know."
"I-I was just-"
"Is it because you feel this is the right thing to do...?"
Christa didn't answer, only looking up at Ymir with a frightened look on her face as if she expected her to turn her in. Potato Girl had passed out onto her lap. There was no way Christa would be able to move her on her own.
"Did you do it for her? For the feeling of accomplishment from being a good person?"
"I-I did it because... Because I want to be seen as a person who everyone can count on. Right?"
"Why are you asking me? Anyway, she's supposed to bunk with us right? Let's get her to her bed. You couldn't carry her on your own, right? I'll help you."
Ymir bent down next to Potato Girl, and lifted the sleeping girl's arm around her shoulder.
"Wh-what about you though? Why are you doing the 'right thing'?"
"Hm? I'm only doing this so she owes me. I don't care about the 'right thing'."
"Really?"
"Of course, why help her if there's nothing I can get out of it?"
Christa didn't answer her. They lifted the unconscious girl up and slowly made their way back to their cabin. Instead of lifting Potato Girl to her top bunk, Christa insisted against Ymir's suggestion to leave her on the floor and offered to trade beds with the already asleep girl for the night. After leaving the girl on Christa's bed, Ymir went back to her own, and after a while drifted off to sleep.
The first thing Ymir did the next day was make sure Potato Girl— whose name was actually Sasha— knew that she had helped get her to bed, and that she owed Ymir as well as Christa. They agreed that she would take care of their water drawing that night, despite Christa's protests that it wasn't necessary. At breakfast they were joined by Malcolm again. He seemed to be having better luck befriending Roxie than Ymir was with Christa. At one point the other girls left the two of them alone. Malcolm turned to Ymir, and with a sly look on his face, said,
"So you two have the same sleeping assignment, huh? How'd last night go then? Bet you didn't actually get any sleep, right?"
"I'm going to punch you again."
"No luck then, huh? Yeah, you're still too frigid to have done it."
Ymir stood up, glaring at Malcolm.
"Heyheyhey hold on! I'm just joking around! You know, that's you're problem, I'd say. You need to lighten up more."
Her expression softened, and she sat back down.
"You think so?"
"Yeah, man. I mean like, a cutie like her definitely seems like she'd want someone who can make her laugh. Like, she seems kinda solemn too— and two people who are both super serious will never work out. If you can get her to crack a smile every now and then though, you'll have her like putty in your hands. You'll be able to get her to do whatever you want." His expression became sinister again, and he repeated, "whatever. You. Want."
Ymir looked ready to get up and hit him again, but she stayed seated.
"...Thanks."
"Yeah, you just gotta like, joke around when she doesn't expect it or something. That kinda thing works great a- hey, welcome back!"
Christa and Roxie had returned, and Malcolm immediately dropped the topic while trying to hide it with the cheesiest smile he could muster.
"I hope you're not trying to hide something with a face like that." Roxie saw right through him.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
She just stared at him for a moment, before brushing him off. Ymir thought it was strange how she didn't press him more— if it was her, she definitely would have. She studied the boy out of the corner of her eye; he had already gotten back into his conversation with Roxie, and didn't notice. He didn't seem to be particularly charismatic. He didn't appear to be untrustworthy, but there was just something about him that felt off. A thought burst into Ymir's head: 'what if he knew of Christa's secret as well?' It seemed unlikely, since he didn't appear to have no interest in her, but what if his plan was to be subtle about it? By getting close to her friend he could keep himself near Christa without making it overly obvious. Ymir sighed. Maybe she was just over-thinking it. Regardless, if he did try anything suspicious with Christa, she would stop him.
Their first day of actual training was spent testing their aptitude with the 3DMG. It was a long and boring day, but it wasn't too physically exhausting, besides the time actually spent in the harness. Ymir wound up in a group separate from both Christa and Malcolm, and was released for lunch at a different time, so she didn't see either of them again until dinner where they met up at the same table again.
"Hey." Malcolm said as he sat next to Ymir, who was still alone.
Ymir nodded, barely acknowledging his presence.
"Has anyone ever told you you need to be more sociable? Because you really do."
She shot him a quick glare before returning her attention to the food in front of her.
"Oh come on, this is why you aren't having any luck with Christa, you know."
Ymir was ready to get up and go eat somewhere else, if not for the fact that that would take her away from Christa as well. Also, she admittedly was interested if he could give her some help with Christa.
"Okay. What advice do you have for me this time?"
"Well first off saying 'hi' when someone says it to you is a great start. At the very least, if you are going to nod as a hello to someone at least look at them when you do. Oh yeah! Most important thing, smile more. It makes you seem friendlier. You definitely need help in that regard, I think."
Ymir actually felt slightly offended at that.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, no offense but you don't exactly exude friendliness. That's kind of a problem when your goal is to make friends."
"So... You want me to smile more...?"
"Yeah. I'm sure you have a lovely smile. Show it off."
Ymir sighed dismissively, before shifted herself slightly, making sure Malcolm couldn't see her practicing smiling. She felt ridiculous. There was a loud clatter as someone put their tray down on the table.
"Hey guys! What's up?"
"Hey Roxie."
Malcolm dug his elbow into Ymir's side when she didn't respond to the other.
"Ow! Uh, I mean 'hi'."
Malcolm brought his hand to his face and sighed. Roxie looked the two sitting across from her over with a puzzled look on her face, then asked,
"What is it with you two, anyway? Are you going out or something?"
The two answered almost simultaneously,
"No!"
"We're not!"
After a moment though, something dawned on Malcolm, and his expression became mischievous-looking.
"You might be able to help us though, actually..."
Ymir didn't like the look in his eye.
"Oh yeah? Help with what?"
"Well, what's Christa's 'type'? What kind of things does she look for in a g- uh, 'romantic partner'?"
"Do you have a crush on Christa...?"
Ymir almost laughed at the glare Roxie was giving Malcolm after his question seemed to backfire. Serves him right, she thought.
"No! Uh, not me..."
"Then wh- Ohhhhh!" Roxie turned to Ymir with a comically surprised look on her face. "You!?"
"It's not a crush!" Ymir said as her face turned red.
"Oh my god, that's adorable! You two would look so cute together!"
"Yeah, but would Christa even be into her? Like, is she even into girls at all?"
"Uh... I have no idea either way actually. She's never been in a relationship as long as I've known her, actually. I'll try and find out for you, don't worry!"
These two had completely misinterpreted Ymir's intentions, which, she grudgingly admitted to herself, they didn't even have the loosest clue about.
"Is that why she's always so quiet?"
"I dunno, maybe."
"Oh, that's so cute!"
Despite her being the subject of their discussion, they seemed to have completely cut her out of the it, choosing to excitedly talk about her as if she wasn't present. Fortunately, it wasn't much longer before Christa joined them, and they had to leave that subject behind.
"So... How did you do today, Ymir?" Christa asked as she sat down.
Ymir was surprised that she seemed to care.
"I, uh... I did all right... Uh, how about you?"
Ymir could see Malcolm and Roxie excitedly trade glances out of the corner of her eye. As annoyed as she was that it seemed that this was going to be a little game for them she was glad that it looked like she did what was apparently the correct thing.
"I kind of had trouble at first, but I did okay! I still passed pretty easily." Christa appeared to be oblivious to the other two at the table with them.
"Hey Christa," Roxie said, "what would you do if... Um, let's go with Sasha— what would you do if Sasha came over to you right now and told you she had a crush on you?"
Christa's face turned bright red. Ymir glared at the other girl, although she ignored it.
"Wh-what?! I-I only gave her bread and she likes me now because of it?! Th-that's not... I have to go talk her."
She hopped to her feet, but before she could go over to where Sasha was sitting Roxie grabbed her arm.
"Relax, Christa. She doesn't actually have a crush on you." Roxie laughed.
"Then why... Why would you ask that...?" Christa asked as she sat down.
"I was just kinda curious as to what you would say."
"Oh. Well, in that case... I would tell her that I don't think trying to start a relationship while we're trainees is a good idea."
Ymir wanted to laugh at how Christa had managed to evade the actual question Roxie wanted an answer to.
"Oh, uh, all right. What if... Um... Jean said he liked you?"
"I would say the same thing. You'd probably get in a lot of trouble if you tried to be in a relationship with someone while we're still in training."
"Okay then..."
Defeated, Roxie stretched to hide the confused look on her face from Christa. Ymir felt rather smug about the outcome of that questioning. She was not romantically interested in the other girl; she was merely interested in her past, which was similar to Ymir's own, from what Ymir knew about it.
After dinner Ymir found herself alone with Christa, waiting for Sasha to come help with their chore for the night. Well, they were "alone"— Malcolm and Roxie weren't exactly stealthy, and Ymir noticed the two trying to spy of them easily. As much as she wanted to hurt them and make them go away, she wanted Christa to know of their suspicions even less, and so she had no choice but to leave them be.
"Where's Sasha? She's late."
"Maybe she forgot? It's not that big of a deal anyway; we can't actually make her help us."
"We did something for her, now she has to do something for us. It's only fair."
"B-but... Okay..."
"I bet she's still eating. I'm going to go get her."
Ymir started walking over to the mess hall to look for Sasha. She noticed that Christa had decided to follow her, but she didn't say anything to the other girl. Ymir's guess was right: Sasha was still eating.
"Hey, Sasha! What are you doing? You're supposed to be helping us, remember?"
"Ah!"
Sasha rushed over to them.
"I-I'm sorry... Forgive me, my saviors!"
She was dim, which was an appealing trait for her to have in Ymir's eyes. Ymir wrapped her arm around the girl, then began leading her over to the well.
"Guess you must not value that life of yours that we rescued all that much, huh? Maybe we should have left you out there to starve."
"N-no, of course not, my god!"
"Y-Ymir, y-you can't... Stop it..."
Ymir kind of wanted to see if Christa would actually try to make her let Sasha go free, but she relented before even trying to put up a fight. Back at the well Ymir explained to Sasha what she needed to do, then took a seat off to the side. Christa wasn't happy with that, and came over to her.
"You can't just sit here while we do all the work!"
"That's what Sasha's here for though, so we don't have to do it ourselves."
"So you're completely fine with making her do all of it on her own?"
"Well, yeah."
"That's just... So selfish!"
Christa stormed off to grab another bucket and help Sasha. Ymir sighed. While she would much rather sit and let Sasha do all the work, if she wanted to get Christa to like her it looked as if she was going to have to do some work after all. She got to her feet and got herself a bucket.
Even with the three of them working together it was still backbreaking work, and by the time they were done Ymir wanted nothing more to lie down. She let herself drop to the ground and rest for a bit, and Christa and Sasha did the same. Ymir suddenly remembered that Malcolm and Roxie had been watching them the whole time, and decided not to come over and help. She spun to the corner where they had been hiding with the dirtiest look she could muster, only to see that they were gone. They must've seen the little fight Ymir and Christa got in and gave up on seeing anything that would interest them. She resolved that since they didn't know she actually had to work that she wouldn't hurt them for that— although she did still owe them for spying on her and Christa in the first place, and they were not getting out of that one.
After the three went and took a well deserved bath they returned to their cabin. Roxie had beaten them back, and was already asleep when they arrived. The three of them went to their beds, and although both Christa and Sasha managed to fall asleep right away, Ymir found herself lying awake for a bit longer. She heard Roxie wake up and silently make her way out of the cabin at one point and considered following her to the bathroom to confront her about her spying, but decided that she would rather talk to her and Malcolm at the same time, and let her go for now. She fell asleep before the other girl returned.
The next day Ymir woke up before the rest of the girls. She got dressed quietly and left the cabin. The morning air was crisp; Ymir took a deep breath to suck in as much as she could. If there was one thing she had to admit she liked about this training camp is that the air was very pleasant. Breakfast wasn't being served yet, so Ymir decided to take a short walk to kill time.
"So Ymir, how was your night?"
Malcolm seemed even smarmier than usual today. Ymir shot him a glare as cold as ice, but he was unaffected.
"If you two were going to spy on us you could have as least come and given us a hand."
"Oh you saw us, huh? Damn, I told Roxie that that was a terrible hiding spot... What's it matter anyway; we were only there for a little while."
"I hope that was because the instructor found you."
"Haha, nah. You probably would've heard him yelling if that was the case. No, we left on our own. We, uh, how should I put this... Well, Roxie gave me a 'tour' of your cabin."
"What are y-"
Ymir immediately recalled when she hear Roxie sneaking out of the room last night and a chill ran down her spine.
"Th-that was you leaving in the middle of the night?! Does that mean you..."
"Oh you were still awake, then? Yeah, that was me. Also, yeah, yeah we did."
A mental image of Malcolm and Roxie together formed in Ymir's head, completely against her conscious will. Her face began to turn red, out of a mix of embarrassment of the thoughts in her head and anger at Malcolm for putting them there.
"Jealous?" He said, in what was probably the most obnoxious voice he could muster.
Ymir sprung to her feet, and was ready to punch him as hard as she could, when out of the corner of her eye she saw Christa and Roxie approaching. She sat back down, but swore to herself that as soon as she got the chance she would hit him. At least she made him very aware at how she felt about him right now, which hopefully would make him tone down the smug air he was giving off. The two eventually came and took their seats.
"Hey guys." He said, seemingly mellowed out a bit.
"Hey." Ymir said, trying to hide the fact that she was still seething internally.
"Oh, Ymir, I forgot to say last night, but thanks for actually helping us after all. I actually didn't think you would, but you surprised me."
Ymir lifted her head, and at the sight of sight of Christa's smile found herself blushing again.
"Oh, uh... It was nothing." Ymir tried to come up with an excuse for why she helped, "it was just um, well it wasn't really a big deal, so I figured not working wasn't worth letting you stay angry at me."
Ymir didn't realize how her excuse sounded until she heard it come out of her mouth.
"Oh, that's so sweet of you!"
Her smile widened, and Ymir had to avert her gaze. She heard Roxie go "aww" but decided to just ignore it. Despite keeping her head down the entire rest of the meal Ymir could feel the aura of happiness Christa was giving off— all because of what Ymir had said, seemingly.
The first half of the day's training was spent finishing off testing the aptitude with the 3DMG, where apparently the boy with the unhealthy fixation on killing all the titans had some kind of impressive breakthrough, not that Ymir cared. After everyone had finished breaking for lunch the trainees all headed to the lecture hall, where they spent the second half of the day learning how to do basic maintenance checks on the 3DMG. By the end of the day Ymir felt ready to strangle herself with the realization that they wouldn't get to the 'fun' bits of their training.
Since they had been in the same groups as the previous day Ymir didn't get to see any of her mess hall group until dinner again. It was a mostly uneventful meal— until Malcolm's friend came to pay him a visit right at the end of it.
"This is my friend Michél, we're bunk mates."
"Hey guys."
"And these are Roxie, Christa, and Ymir." Malcolm said, motioning to each girl as he said their name.
"No wonder Malcolm doesn't eat with us, you three are much prettier than any of us!"
He was the only one to laugh at his joke. Ymir wanted to groan out loud at him but held it in.
"Yeah, so anyway, which is the one you had a romantic night alone with, Malcolm?"
Both Malcolm and Roxie froze as he said that.
"Wh-what?" Christa's face had gone pale.
"Oh was it you? Huh, you know I wouldn't think you would be his type."
Christa ignored him, instead turning to Roxie.
"You didn't!"
"Wait, Christa, don't get mad! I'm really, really sorry."
"Do you realize how much trouble you two could get in?!"
"Christa, I-"
Christa hopped to her feet and stormed off, not waiting to listen to what Roxie was going to say. Malcolm sighed and buried his face in his hand, while Roxie looked on the verge of tears. Michél slunk off during the awkward silence.
"Ymir, do you think maybe you could go talk to her?" Roxie said.
"What, why me?"
"I don't know who else would be able to calm her down. She won't want to talk to either of us, so it has to be either you or Sasha. I figure she's more comfortable with you than Sasha."
"Wh-what would I even say to her?" Ymir was taken aback at the fact that Roxie apparently trusted her to be able to calm Christa.
"Anything! It doesn't matter, just get her to calm down, that's all I'm asking." Roxie was almost pleading.
"Well, all right. I guess I can try..."
"Thanks so much, Ymir."
Ymir stood and left the mess hall, only to realize she had no idea where Christa could have gone. She decided to check their cabin first, and, fortunately for Ymir, Christa was there, lying in her bed.
"Christa? I'm me, Ymir."
She didn't respond at first, but eventually she rolled over and sat up. Ymir sat next to her on the edge of her bed. She realized she genuinely had no idea what she could say to calm Christa down. The two wound up sitting in silence as Ymir tried to think up something, when Christa broke the silence herself.
"I can't believe them... Don't they realize how much trouble they could get in? What if they both got expelled?"
"Them? Malcolm too?"
"Well yeah... I mean he's my friend too now, so I don't want him to leave. Besides, you'd be sad if he had to leave too, wouldn't you? You two are close friends. I wouldn't want you to be sad."
Ymir had forgotten about that little lie. She actually wouldn't care either way if Malcolm left in fact. Now was probably not the best time to let Christa in on that though, so Ymir would have to play along for now.
"Well, I guess."
"I guess I shouldn't act so childish about it. If they're happy together I don't want them to break up because of me."
Ymir almost laughed. Christa's kindness actually was more than just a façade to get people to like her. It was a strange trait for someone training to be a soldier to have, in Ymir's eyes.
"It's just that I had just said that night why it's bad... It's like they did it on purpose, almost... Oh, that's just so dumb of me to think..."
Ymir couldn't think of any thing to say, so instead she delicately wrapped her arm around the other girl. Christa responded by leaning closer to her. They sat together like that in silence for a bit. It made Ymir feel slightly uncomfortable, but it seemed to be making Christa feel better, so she was willing to endure it as long as she needed to.
"I should go apologize to them..."
Roxie and Malcolm chose that moment to enter the cabin. It was painfully obvious to Ymir that they had been listening the entire time, but Christa either didn't notice or mind. She pulled away from Ymir and stood, then walked over and embraced Roxie.
"I'm really sorry... I overreacted."
Roxie stroked the back of Christa's head.
"No, it's all right. We're the ones who should apologize. You had just told us about why it would be bad for us to try and be in a relationship while we're in training, and we completely ignored it— on the same night, even."
"Yeah, sorry we couldn't keep it in our pants."
Malcolm's bluntness didn't seem to bother Christa, although both Ymir and Roxie cringed at it.
Ymir remembered that she owed him. She stood.
"Oh yeah, Malcolm, I just remembered there was something I wanted to tell you."
"Oh yeah? What?"
"It would be better for me to say in private." Ymir knew that she couldn't get away with hitting him in the room, so she needed to get him outside.
"Uh... All right, sure."
The two walked out of the cabin, and, once Ymir decided they were far away enough that Christa wouldn't hear, punched Malcolm in the gut as hard as she could. The force of the hit was enough to make him topple over, and make his glasses go flying again. He could do nothing but groan for at least a few minutes, during which time Ymir just stared at him, satisfied at her handiwork.
"Ow... What the hell was that for?!"
"That was for a lot of things, actually. Mostly the fact that you slept with Christa's friend in our cabin though."
"Okay... I guess I did earn it then."
He retrieved his glasses then slowly got back up to his feet.
"Damn, how can you hit so hard? It feels more like I got punched by a titan than a person..."
Instead of answering him, Ymir turned and began to head back to her cabin, and Malcolm followed. Roxie and Christa had moved to Christa's bed, and were sitting the same way Ymir and Christa had been earlier. At the sound of the opening door, Roxie jerked her head to see who it was.
"Oh you two're back."
"Yeah, we had a good talk. I think I'm heading off to bed now though. Again, really sorry, Christa."
He turned and left without waiting for goodbyes from anyone. Roxie, who had managed to get only half of a "good night" out, hung her head slightly. Christa noticed it and without moving to look up at the other girl, said,
"If you want to say good night to him then go do it."
Roxie smiled sweetly at her friend.
"Okay then, I'll be right back."
She let go of Christa and rushed after Malcolm. Ymir moved to sit on her own bunk, across from Christa.
"Feeling better?" She tried smiling at Christa, but it was an obviously forced and awkward smile.
Christa giggled.
"Yeah, I am..."
"Well, that's good."
"I have a question for you now, though."
"Y-you do? What is it?" Ymir said, nervously, thinking maybe Roxie had told Christa that she had a crush on her.
"I don't mean to sound mean or anything, but I didn't really think you were really all that friendly. I thought you only kept sitting with us because of Malcolm, but then you came here to cheer me up... I mean, what I want to ask if you consider me a friend?"
"Uh... Y-yeah, I do, I guess..."
Ymir was surprised by the question, especially considering her own answer. Christa smiled bigger than Ymir had ever seen her smile before.
"I'm glad."
The door opened again, and Roxie had returned.
"I'm going to bed now, guys. Night."
She climbed up to her bed. Ymir threw herself back onto her own.
"I think I'm ready for bed now too, actually."
Ymir actually ended up just lying down with her eyes closed for a while. Instead of getting back up, she decided to pretend she was asleep, and take the time to think a bit. She was surprised to find that she had managed to make friends. She would have never guessed she'd be able to get Christa to warm up to her so quickly, and not only her, but her friend Roxie, and Malcolm too. She was surprised to find that she really didn't mind either of them as well. Roxie was mostly inoffensive to Ymir, but Malcolm's personality actually didn't bother her as much as she would expect it to, either. She felt a small twinge of sadness as her mind turned to the fact that their friendships likely wouldn't last, and that there was a decent enough chance that any one of them— or all of them, even— could wind up dead after they became full-fledged members of the military. The only branch that could almost guarantee them safety was the Military Police, and only the ten trainees with the highest scores were allowed that as an option. Ymir was confident that she could get herself there, but what about her new friends? The chance that all four would make the top were slim, though admittedly Ymir still only really cared about Christa's safety. She began to plot: she knew her abilities could get her top scores easily, but if Christa's own scores were high enough, and Ymir 'happened' to let hers slip, then Christa would have the option to join the Military Police and keep herself out of danger. Of course, this plan relied on Christa being skilled enough herself to put her almost at the top on her own already. What if Ymir trained Christa? That could work well, and would almost make it certain that Christa would be able to get good scores.
Ymir's thoughts were beginning to get fuzzy, and she started to become genuinely tired. As she drifted off to sleep a smile crept its way onto her face, this one more natural than her earlier attempt.