Chapter 2: Is it merely coincidence?

Oh, he knew that face.

Levi read the ballot, then looked up at the four students seated at the tables before him. The written name and visual cue helped him recall why the only avoidant student in the room was behaving as such. Jaeger, as a vibrant and naïve freshman, had waltzed into his law firm with a trash resume and no apparent preparation around this time last year. The interview was short, Levi's temper was shorter. A string of shitty developments in the cases he'd been working on had undermined Levi's ability to make it into a learning experience.

"From Sina – Marlowe Freudenberg?" Levi saw a young man look up at the sound of his name. "And Hitch Dreyse." He sighed. With each passing generation, given names seemed to continuously degenerate.

"Okay. Affirmative team, from Maria... Eren Jaeger?" Confirmed. " That leaves Mikasa Ackerman," He finished. "Sina, which of you is the 1NC?" Marlowe's hand shot up into the air. Overeager… Great… "Maria, 1AC?" Eren simply flipped his hand up from its position resting on the table. Moody… Great…

Levi set down his pen with a satisfying snapping sound. Preamble was not his style. "Closed cross-ex. I have no preferences in reading speed. Has the affirmative disclosed?"

"Yes. We'll be reading a consular requirement affirmative."

"Sure," Levi sighed. "Let's get started, unless anyone has any questions." He didn't pause to wait before he looked to Eren for the first speech.

Eren cleared his throat. He looked at Mikasa to check if she was ready. Mikasa's eyes glimmered as they sustained eye contact. 'You've grown. Show it,' She mouthed. Eren seemed mollified and began his speech.

Levi barely steeled himself against the impulse to roll his eyes. A tale as old as time - a debate pair dating. A quick observation of the two from Sina showed a very different dynamic. While he was unsure if they even liked each other, he appreciated the formal feel about them. Sina was a small, elite liberal arts college somewhere up north, and they maintained a mediocre debate team with ease. In cumulative terms, they usually finished in arms reach of first and second place.

It wasn't as much a lack of talent as it was complacency. It was the type of school that guaranteed success upon matriculation, so few of the students maintained a fire to strive for better. Listening to Marlowe's speech, Levi deduced he was one of the brave few at Sina to actually give a shit about maximizing his education post-acceptance. In contrast, Maria was a larger public research school. The range of students was broad, with all sorts of roads and life experiences that brought students together on the campus. Fewer silver spoons and trust funds. Hard work bred good character, in his experience.

The timer went off, ending the most recent speech. "Ready for cross ex?"

"Yes, I'm ready."

"Great. Three minutes," Levi narrated as he set his timer.

He vastly preferred the general temperament at Maria in comparison with the samples he'd seen from Sina, but this pissant with the foul attitude soured his predisposition to favor them. Jaeger seemed to have let his brain switch off after his first speech, and his partner had to continuously interrupt him with whispered guidance during cross ex and his rebuttal. Said pissant promptly put his head down on the table after finishing the first affirmative rebuttal, leaving Ackerman to plan the last and single most important speech in the round on her own.

Levi looked down at his paper. Pitifully sparse. In his youth he'd been retentive about his ability to take notes during debate rounds, and his former college coach had been too joyful upon receiving Levi's binder of immaculate flows from over three years of debate. He supposed they were still used to show students what to do with the eight column template. From what Levi could make out from his position, Hitch could do with some additional coaching in that area. The amber eyed girl finished her rebuttal, leaving two whole fucking minutes left out of a five minute speech, and Marlowe appeared to have an aneurysm as she idly resumed doodling on the last few columns of her flow paper.

The round was torturous. A grim reminder of why he stopped volunteering for the judge pool years ago. The affirmative read a terrible economic advantage, the negative used it as a door to blow the whole affirmative open, with some strategic leverage of phrasing and exploitation of Jaeger's lack of forethought regarding funding and enforcement. Marlowe had a fairly well executed kritik about nationalism and American exceptionalism that Hitch barely extended through her speeches, but it was there, and it was just enough to win. Once it became clear that the affirmative had only a feeble defense against half of what their opponents threw into the ring, Levi had thoroughly tuned out.

"I feel like shit, so let's get this over with,"Levi cleared his throat lightly. "I cast my ballot in favor of the negative." Eren, who had decided to rejoin the adults in the room by picking his head up from the table, looked miserable. Hitch was relatively unfazed compared to Marlowe, who openly gawked at their improbable win. Mikasa's face barely flickered at the judgment, like she had already mentally prepped for the verdict Levi now served. "Negative, you saw a weakness and used it to your advantage. Your flowing needs work - both teams, actually. Debate is not just content knowledge, it is organization and discipline. Judges can tell when you don't flow correctly because your speeches are shit. It is not my job to parse out your arguments. You do that, because you're convincing me to vote for you.

"Ackerman, don't continuously interrupt your partner, even if you think it's useful. It undermines him, and makes your team look weak. Write it down instead, or don't say it at all. I docked some of your speaker points for it. If your partner is being an idiot, at a certain point you just have to sit there and bear it." Levi tapped his fingernail on the table as he tried to snap Jaeger out of his stupor. "You - Jaeger. Lots of mistakes, easy to fix, but too many to correct here. You're from Maria University, you should still have Hannes as your faculty advisor? Take your flows to him, he'll sort you out. That's it."

"Thank you judge."

Jacket and folder in tow, Levi headed out of the room to locate a place he could get some tea or coffee. If this was a sample of the teams from Maria he would be assistant coaching for the next academic term, he'd savor one of his last non-alcoholic beverages for a while.

"Foul countenance you have there, Levi," a warm voice filtered across the sound of students chatting in the hallway. Levi glimpsed up from his thoughts and spotted his boss striding toward him. "Lost the last round, did we?"

"Erwin." Levi shook his head. His visitor fell into step with Levi without any question of destination. "I'm going to murder you, and possibly one or more of these students. Have Hange do the recruiting for this cycle, she loves talking to anything that will stay in place long enough for her to really get going. They need an aggressive amount of coaching to start developing the skills you're looking for, anyway. Better yet, just send out some fucking interview invitations to a bunch and pick from those that show. You know, like a normal scholarship."

Erwin smiled. "I think it's best to leave Hange out of recruitment, if we'd like to… Keep a balance amongst the staff. " Levi snorted. Erwin, ever the diplomat. "If it were as simple as inviting students in for interviews, trust and believe I would accept that." They walked in silence for a few moments, finding the judge's lounge by following the strengthening scent of coffee and cream. "Besides, Mikasa Ackerman was sent a direct offer letter with gratuitous compensation a month ago."

Levi raised an eyebrow. To his knowledge, Ackerman was not on the roster of scholarship recipients. The only name that was listed on the cohort website was 'A. Leonhart.' Mikasa must have turned it down. "How do you know she received it?"

"Aurou called her to confirm. She received it, but declined."

"Reason being?"

Levi was unsettled by the humor in Erwin's eyes as he answered. "She mentioned something about our reputation... Word of mouth from peers concerning a certain someone's lack of tact." Erwin paused as Levi's expression darkened. "That of course may not be the only reason. As you coach, it's worth figuring out. She is enrolled in the law program at Maria, so something isn't congruent. Most kids interested in a legal career would kill for the chance to work for us, let alone have us pay for years of schooling." Erwin broke off to finish adding cream and sugar to his coffee.

Nothing he said improved Levi's disposition toward this whole endeavor. Erwin, a product of policy debate, firmly believed in its ability to create principled and competent students, who would in turn make principled and competent lawyers. An interventionist with an annoyingly high internal locus of control, Erwin maintained that people often required direction to fulfill their talents (Levi held that his brand was less guidance and more coercion). When someone had a skill set to contribute to his cause, Erwin couldn't be dissuaded until he had them on his team. Admirable and annoying in turn, but Levi thrived on relationships with respect and trust as the foundation. Usually Levi humored his in whatever he identified as the next objective that would bring them all toward their mutual goal. Erwin knew that Levi trusted him and did his best not to exploit his loyal nature.

Levi had been on a path that had him flirting with criminal charges when Erwin judged a college debate round of his. To Levi's exasperation, Erwin proceeded to harass him for months about pursuing a career in law at his firm. For a while Levi was unsure if Erwin wanted to hire him or seduce him. The process looked a lot like wooing a new lover, with gratuitous gifts, lunches, and irritatingly late phone calls. Ultimately, a set of regrettable events forced Levi to shift his priorities, and the blonde opportunist used it to convince him that law was a means to the ends he desired. Levi bought it - out of belief or desperation, Levi was sure Erwin didn't care - and here he was, still working for the man over a decade later.

Levi was great at his job, Erwin was validated, and thus, the strange mechanism for picking scholarship students had been set. The dark haired man sipped his coffee idly as he pondered his current circumstances.

He had no doubt she would cave eventually. Their firm bankrolled it all - from textbooks to housing, junior year through juris doctor. There had never been an application for the program, though there was much speculation among students about how to increase your odds of receiving an invitation. While it did surprise him that she had explicitly refused an offer, he doubted she would be able to resist the closest thing to a guarantee of a financially, socially, and personally rewarding career. She hadn't wowed him during the debate, but she came strongly recommended from Hannes as a ready-to-start candidate full of even greater potential. Hannes's last recommendation had been Moblit Berner, an intelligent and polished young man who now made the perfect assistant to Hange. Levi was grateful to Hannes for forcing him to pursue debate as a freshman. The least he could do was trust him and his record for talent spotting. Worst case, he could tap out from Maria U and scout somewhere else, but he had a soft spot for his alma mater.

"You learn so much from people watching at tournaments like this," Erwin's voice pried into Levi's thoughts. He was looking past Levi through a wide window that provided a glimpse into a hall overflowing with students. Levi turned in his seat to see a group of debaters that included Jaeger and Ackerman. The girl was obviously distressed. She kept worrying the edge of her scarf between her fingers as she stood in silence, gazing at her partner. Jaeger didn't seem to pay mind to the way she reacted to his mood. Levi had to assume as much, as he couldn't see Eren's face from where he sat. At no point during Erwin and Levi's surveillance did Jaeger turn to face her, or acknowledge what he inferred to be occasional murmurs from Mikasa.

Ackerman seems to be in love with the brat wanted to work for us but couldn't. Is it merely coincidence? Unlikely. "I'm surprised the brat refused," Levi admitted.

"It's an offer most can't turn down. It makes me wonder what circumstances cause it to be unappealing. I suppose that's for you to find out and then address, though I'm sure you already have a line of questioning in mind." Erwin stood, Levi followed suit.

They tossed their cups and headed out the door. It might be easy enough to get her to make increasingly independent decisions, especially with his brattish attitude. Levi turned to peer through the glass a final time. He conceded to the feeling of surprise again when the change in perspective revealed that Jaeger and Ackerman were holding hands.


A/N: A little foreshadowing for how difficult it might be for Levi to see things from Mikasa's emotional point of view when it comes to Eren. If the amount of debate terminology and whatnot has been a pain for you, we by and large depart from tournaments at this point. From this, at the very least when characters reference certain aspects of debate it won't be completely new. Next chapter, perhaps some Eren POV. I already know I am going to be most challenged by writing for him… Sigh. We'll see if I can give it a go. Tips, comments, critiques welcomed. Thank you for reading! - H