Sunday, July 27, Roof

She is dying.

Sasha Blouse knows that these are her last moments on earth. She can feel it. Her body is in so much pain. She is lying on a bed of stone, and there is a time bomb in her head going TOCK TOCK TOCK like it's counting away the seconds she has left. But that isn't why she feels like she will die.

No, it's because Sasha can see The Light. The Light is pouring over her being and her eyes, beckoning her to follow it. It is so bright that it hurts to keep her eyes closed, yet at the same time she's too afraid to open them.

After seconds of lying there in pain with her eyes shut, Sasha opens them. But they are unable to adjust to The Light, and she goes temporarily blind for a moment. In a daze she picks herself up off the stone floor and stumbles around like a zombie.

Where am I? she wonders. Is this the afterlife?

However, when she opens her eyes again, she decides that she isn't dead. It's probably because, after squinting at her surroundings, she realizes that she recognizes them.

She is on the roof of one of the many buildings of Titan Academy. More specifically, she is on the roof of her own dormitory.

Another reason why she thinks she isn't dead is that there's someone else up there with her. If she is dead, that means that this other person is dead, too. This, as she knows by now, simply isn't possible.

She approaches the other person quietly, stumbling in the sunlight, unable to see anything through her half-closed eyes. Mikasa Ackerman is sleeping peacefully – or as peacefully as someone whose legs are spread out indecently and who is drooling all over the floor could look. Sasha kneels down next to her and pokes her in the shoulder.

"Wake up," she whispers hoarsely. Mikasa ignores her and tries to snuggle to the stone roof instead.

"Mikasa! Wake up!" Sasha insists, shaking her with more force now. She really needs Mikasa to wake up, because she has to know just what the hell is going on.

"Shhh," Mikasa mumbles in her sleep. "Shaddup, Eren, or your mom will hear us."

Whatever Mikasa is dreaming about, Sasha can't seem to process it. Shaking her fiercely now, she yells, "MIKASA! WAKE UP!"

"Eren, what the – " Mikasa wakes up with a start and, like Sasha had done, she squints at the light. A large drop of drool has collected at the corner of her mouth. Recognizing Sasha, she says, "You're not Eren."

Sasha can't think of any reason why Mikasa would think she is Eren, but she doesn't care. "Why are we on the roof?" she asks weakly. "What happened last night?"

"I don't know," complains Mikasa, rubbing her temples. "Why are we dressed like this?"

For the first time, Sasha looks at the both of them and observes their clothing. She is wearing a sparkly gold dress with a tulle skirt and no slippers. Mikasa is wearing a clingy black sweater and a red plaid skirt, paired with black tights and red slippers.

"These are party clothes," murmurs Sasha, trying to remember. "That's right...party...my birthday party...it was last night..."

Mikasa frowns. "Birthday party?"

"Yeah," Sasha nods her head furiously as the memories come back. "You remember, right? A week ago, I had decided to have a party on my birthday?"

Monday, July 21, Fountain

"MIKASA!" sings Sasha, racing out of the dining hall. The lunch break hasn't ended yet, and there are plenty of students walking around. She crashes into quite a few of them in her quest to find her friend, and she has to apologize continuously as she races around the corridors.

Meanwhile, Mikasa puts down her lunch tray as she hears someone calling her name in a distance. She is sitting under the cherry blossom tree in the middle of the school courtyard, right next to the fountain. A fight has broken out in front of her, and Jean and Eren are threatening to kill each other while Marco and Armin are trying to pull them apart. She blinks at Sasha, who is standing before her, panting hard.

"Hello, Sasha," she says softly. "How was lunch with your cousin?"

"Oh, it was great!" Sasha plops down beside Mikasa and grabs Jean's tray, helping herself to his half-eaten omelet rice. "We spoke about my birthday, and she asked me what I was going to do about it, so I told her I hadn't decided yet, and she said that –"

"Slow down," says Mikasa, wiping rice off her uniform with a napkin. "You're getting rice all over me."

"Right. Sorry." Sasha pauses and puts down Jean's chopsticks. In front of them, Eren has already struck the first blow, which misses Jean and lands on Marco's face instead.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" asks Sasha, pointing at the boys. "I mean, Eren could get hurt out there."

Mikasa's eyes turn toward the fight and then return back at her bread. "I don't feel like it," she replies. "Sometimes I actually enjoy watching Eren getting the crap beaten out of him."

"Ah. Okay." Sasha continues her assault on Jean's rice. "Anyway, so Hange suggested that I have a party on my birthday, since it's a Saturday and all. But then I was like, 'Hange, we're boarding school students. We could get into serious trouble if we had a party!' and she was like, 'Pshhhh, you first-years are always so scared of everything. Trust me, when you get to your third year like me –'"

She is interrupted by Mikasa, who stuffs the remains of her bread into Sasha's mouth to get her to stop talking. "Is there a point to this story?" she asks.

Sasha chews on the bread and swallows it noisily. "I was getting to the point, but you interrupted me," she complains. "So like I was saying, Hange convinced me to throw a party and invite everyone over. And," she adds triumphantly, "As a birthday gift, she's going to be buying all the alcohol!"

Mikasa gazes at Sasha impassively. A loud splash, accompanied by Armin's screams, can be heard in the background as Jean throws Armin into the fountain. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she asks. "Like you said, we could get into serious trouble. None of us have any sort of experience with drinking or parties. And I guess you'll be having this party in the student lounge, since we can't fit more than ten people in our room. So you'll have to do something about Rico. And how are you going to handle everyone being drunk?"

Sasha sighs loudly, shaking her head. "Mikasa, you need to chill. You worry too much. Nothing's gonna go wrong, I swear! We're all going to have a great time! Even you! You know that Saturday's the last day of school and we'll be having summer break after that, right? So it'll be our last chance to get together and have fun before we go home. And Hange promised me she'll take care of everything. I just need to spread the word and get food and stuff. Which shouldn't be too hard, you know how easy it is to pick the kitchen locks."

Her friend remains silent for a moment. The two girls turn toward the boys, all four of whom are now in the fountain and are being reprimanded by their teacher Mr. Shadis. "Do you trust Hange?" says Mikasa finally.

Sasha grins at her. "Well, duh! Hange's cool, if not a little crazy. She'll handle everything! After all, she's my cousin!"

Mikasa turns away. "That's exactly why I'm worried." she mumbles.

"Besides," continues Sasha. "It would be the perfect opportunity. You know. For me to make my move."

The other girl raises her eyebrow. "You don't mean – "

Sasha rubs her hands together, her eyes gleaming. "Yup. That's exactly what I mean. So you're in, right?"

A small smile appears on Mikasa's face. "Of course I'm in. Did you seriously think I would miss your birthday?"

"Great!" Sasha gives Mikasa a quick hug and stands up. "I gotta go talk to Connie now. You let the boys know, okay?"

"Right," says Mikasa, watching Sasha race off towards the fountain.