Third Encounter: Hitomebore (一目ぼれ)

"Love at the First Sight"


Weird.

It's really weird.

Mikasa was running around the run track which had 400 metres in length to spend her PE time. Sweat felt on her forehead while she had her eyes on her class mate who sat on the chair at the side of the field – below a big maple tree that shadowed her from the sun. Mikasa wondered, when every one of the girls went outside to change their clothes into their PE uniform – a really short dark blue pants and white t-shirt – the girl named Levi was just sat down and read a book with the title 'A Journey through the Dark.' She didn't know what kind of book Levi had been read since this morning, but Mikasa believed that was a really boring book.

First period on Thursday, Mikasa was always had PE with Mike-sensei. A teacher who had an immense body like he was the descent of Tokyo Tower had known as a weird teacher... yeah, weird. He liked to sniff new people he met, and today, he got a slap right on his left cheek because without any warning, he went to Levi and sniffed her (and automatically, a lot of shit words was coming from Levi's mouth). Mike-sensei had a really good body, he looked like a body builder who had been a gym teacher (maybe?) and some of the girls were dying to see the muscle behind his plain white t-shirt. As usual, girls and their sexual frustration.

PE was always been Mikasa's favourite. Muscle work was absolutely her thing and she liked to get sweaty (that was totally true). Mikasa was known as a clever student, did well at both part – academic and non-academic. Once, she got a gold medal after beating her opponent on the karate championship when she was at junior. Since that day, every girl in her school was admiring her and every boy from nowhere went to her school just to give her a flower or a bucket.

"Why Levi-chan doesn't join us today?" Asked Sasha who ran with Mikasa.

"I don't know. I wanted to ask her before the PE started but Mike-sensei came a second faster. So I got no chance."

Sasha narrowed her eyes. "She seems healthy and in my eyes she seems really good at sport."

"How do you know?" Mikasa looked confused by Sasha's statement.

"How can't I? Though she wears a long sleeves sweater, just take a look at her palm. You can spot the different between people who usually take a good exercise and who aren't. Looks like she has focused her training on her arms and legs. Maybe she likes to run and punch, huh?"

"Maybe."

"I really don't understand her at all. She never try to talk to someone or ask something. What's the matter with her?" Sasha and Mikasa stopped her run and went to the side of the field when their water placed. The PE almost over and most of the students had stop their activities and went to Mike-sensei, some of them were taking a break and had a chat, and the others still enjoyed their last PE for this week.

"I met her last night." Said Mikasa after gulped her cold water.

Sasha tilted her head. "Really? Where?"

"At the café after you got home. A little did you know, she was there listening what we were talking about her." Mikasa narrowed her eyes to Sasha with a dark aura surrounded her.

"R-Really? Holy shit! Maybe that was the reason why she always took a look at us when we were running!" Yelled Sasha panicky.

"What did you just say?"

"She was watching us all the time when we were running, oh gosh! Mikasa what are we going to do? She will think we are kind of freaks! W-We have to say sorry to her after this, holy mother of megazon, my reputation just fell down drastically!"

Mikasa took a look at Levi who still sat silently under the tree. She was so focused on her book. She did not make any moves that showed her she had been looking at them all of the time.

"Hoy, girls. Can we talk a bit?" Said a blonde girl with a book on her hand. "I need to talk to you about something."

"What happens, Annie?" Mikasa sat down on the park bench where she was with Sasha. Annie sat by her side while Sasha on the other side.

"Your business with Hanji-san is already done?" As the class president, Annie spent her time too much with teachers. Skipped so many classes and discussed about that thing, this thing, and about how chickens walked through the street without took a look at their left and right side. It was really boring but really important she might say.

"Yeah, it is." Annie opened the book she was holding on. Flipped a few pages until it stopped on a certain page. "This morning, I went to Hanji-san and asked a few questions about Levi."

"What about her?" Asked Sasha a bit curious.

"Go take a look." Annie gave the book to Mikasa and Sasha. There was a photo of Levi in her uniform on the left corner of the page. Mikasa read her short biography which was written on the book. She narrowed her eyes with the data she just saw.

"She is an orphaned?"

"If you look at the book, it is. The data on the book is too simple, I think. The data are only include about her name – though she says she doesn't have any last names – birth, parents, address, and a short story about her."

"So, she lives alone?" Mikasa started to open her mouth, this was a big chance to know more about Levi.

"Hanji-san told me so. When she sighed up here, she went by herself. No one was on her side. Once, she said she didn't remember her parents. Her parents died when she was very young – at the time when she was unable to remember. After the death of her parents, her uncle took him before he died when she was twelve. Since that day, she lives by herself and moves from a place to another place."

"Wait, if she had been taken care by her uncle, shouldn't she know her last name?" Asked Mikasa.

Annie smiled a bit of how Mikasa asked her about a detail thing. "Nah, she said her uncle who took her was from her mother side so he had the different last name. And from this, comes another question. Why she doesn't take her mother last name if she already know about her relative shares same name? And the answer is, we don't know. Though, people who don't have a last name are so rare these days. That was so weird for not having any last names."

"And, how does she pay all of her needs? I mean, is it illegal to do part time job when you're not even eighteen?"

Annie sighed a little loudly. "I don't know about that. I didn't ask Hanji-san. But I think I know the reason why she chose this school."

"Because we don't have to pay anything in this school?" Mikasa said to the point.

"Exactly. This school is free, as you know. Though, our school is a private girls' school, everyone has a very big chance to apply here as long as they got big brains. Heck, even this school gets a lot of subsidies from people and institutions outside."

"Back to the topic." Sasha said. "Is it ok to have a student who has an obscurity origin? Don't mean to be mean, but isn't it going to make a contradiction around the school if every student knows about this? It's ok if the teachers know about this – they absolutely already know. But what if a student know about this, spread it to another one and another one again so the whole school know about it?"

"That's the reason why I talk to you, guys. Because I believe you will shut your mouths up and let nobody knows about this."

Mikasa and Sasha stopped talking and looked how serious their friend was. She just told them everything and believed in them to keep this serious business. That made Mikasa and Sasha gulped a little.

"But... what if she get caught and everyone knows?"

Annie looked at Mikasa and Sasha seriously. She took and deep breathe and released it, then opened her eyes. "Easy, everyone will mock her, she gets stress, can't hold it anymore, and probably she will leave the school. Same with the bullying cases these days. The world is cruel, you know. If you can't survive, you'll get eat. But if you can beat them, you'll survive."

Mikasa didn't reply anything to what Annie said. Only by a day, Levi had already made Mikasa very curious about herself. She was weird, no, not weird, she was rather mysterious. In Mikasa's eyes, she was not only saw a short girl with a weird hairstyle and beautiful eyes, but a broken girl who liked to break whenever the wind just blew. She never saw Levi smiled since yesterday, yet she never saw her interacted with anyone or started a single conversation except Mikasa – because she was her chair mate, she thought. She just sat there, alone, with a little old book on her hand and a coffee can beside her. No one was around her, and no one dared to start a conversation with her.

Every time Mikasa wanted to reach her to know about her more, she always went away. There was something like a border between Mikasa and her, not only her, but everyone. She really wanted to know about Levi. She wanted to know about the new girl who gave her a chill when they first met. She did not know why, but she knew she had to.


Back to Mikasa's routine every day. Her legs guided her to somewhere very familiar with a smell of tea. Four o'clock was her perfect time to be alone at the little café that she loved so much. But, now, she went alone, not with Sasha (because she knew if she asked her to come again, she would spent her money too much for Sasha).

This morning, after PE was over, Mikasa and the other were back to the class with Levi as the last student who came back to the class. She sat beside Mikasa for the second day and Mikasa sometimes took a look at her when she was not watching her. She didn't talk to her today, heck she didn't say anything at all except her favourite phrase 'tch' came from her tiny mouth at once.

Math has never been Mikasa's problem. She always could solve all the math problems and get a high score. But today, she was very fascinated by Levi who could solve a math problem given by the teacher faster than herself. Some of the girls just gobsmacked and cheers for Levi because finally there was someone who could beat Mikasa. But Mikasa didn't feel annoyed, she just felt really enthusiastic by Levi. She was kind of adore her right now.

Mikasa opened the door and the bell rang loudly. She walked inside after received a wide smile from the owner of the café. She imagined about having a cup of hot Assam and a piece of custard tart while she watched the rain outside.

But those thought were disappeared when she saw someone sat on her favourite spot.

She ordered her things first with a little disappointment. She always sat there, at her favourite place, and no one ever sat there except her whenever she went to the café.

"Are you already done? If you done, can I sit here?" Asked Mikasa to the person who sat at her favourite spot.

"Can't you see? I'm not done yet."

Wait.

This voice.

"Levi?"

"Mikasa?"

The one who sat down peacefully at her favourite spot was the one and only Levi she ever knew. It was very shocking to meet her here at this time, though yesterday Mikasa knew Levi was here but she didn't saw her.

"Oh, sorry, I don't know it's you. I'll find another –"

But before she took one more step away, Levi's was crumpling like castle of cards, collapsing in from the top down. He stopped her with three words: "Hey, Mikasa. Wait."

Mikasa turned her head back to Levi who has her eyes on Mikasa's. "Yeah?"

"Who says this table only has a single chair?"


The two of them just sat in front of each other, making no sound and sank into a very awkward silent. Mikasa was stuck into a dilemma. First, Mikasa wanted to talk something to Levi because she wanted to know about her, about her chair mate, about the new girl who had given her a chill. And the second, she didn't want to talk to her because she looked so peaceful sitting silently and enjoying the rain in the night behind the window.

"If you want to talk to me, just talk." Levi broke the silent with a thud voice made by her cup met the tray. Her eyes looked at Mikasa's for the second time and waited her to open her mouth and talk about something.

"So, how was your day?" Mikasa gulped a little because it was really awkward.

"Good. How about you?"

"It's good."

Silent.

Another silent came and Mikasa didn't know what to do anymore. The truth was she was not good at keeping a conversation with someone. It usually turned into an awkward silent until one of them went away left the other one. She could not think anymore because she thought it was one of the most awkward moments she ever had in her life.

"For god's sake it's so awkward. Can you just ask me something and keep the conversation? I guess you have so many things to ask me." Levi smacked her face with a loud groaned produced by her unique vocal record as a girl.

"Um, uh –"

"Can you stop being so noisy with you uh um ah words? I can't stand your stuttering voice and if you want to speak up, just speak normally because I'm NOT going to eat your filthy hand."

Mikasa took a deep breath and relaxed her body. "Why didn't you join PE this morning?"

"Ah, like I thought. The first thing you'll ask me when we have a chance to talk is that question. The answer is simple, because I got an injury so I'm not permitted to do any exercises until my injury completely healed."

"An injury?"

Levi spoke as she cut Mikasa for asking the detail things. "That's none of your business. Not a really serious injury."

Mikasa stopped for a moment, thinking about what kind of things she had to ask her again. Honestly, she wanted to ask her about her personality life but she thought that was so soon to be asked. She really wanted to ask her that but she had to control herself so she did not say anything personal.

"Do you like to go here too, Mikasa?" Mikasa got a bit startled when Levi suddenly asked her. She never thought Levi would be the one who started the conversation.

"Yeah, I really love being here alone. Enjoying the tea and the cakes and get fascinated by the view outside from where you sit right now. From there, you can see people are walking with their heads down and up, you can analyse them by looking at their expression. Most of them have a rough day, but the others surely have a good day so I can see their smiles when they walk over there back to their houses."

Levi just looked at Mikasa who tilted her head and saw through the window, enjoying the view of the night when people back from work after a long tiring day. Levi could see Mikasa's smile when she talked about other people. She could see how Mikasa's expression turned from a stress and tired into full of excitement and admiration. She could see all of these from Mikasa's black eyes which got stroked by the cars' light outside.

"People are funny, do you think?"

Mikasa turned her head back to Levi when the question just came out from Levi's mouth. Mikasa smiled a bit and took her cup of tea. "Yes, they really are."

Another silent was came back to them. But for now, Mikasa didn't feel any awkward feelings around them. She just felt relax and calm. The smoke from her tea made her warmer than before when she brought her cup into her mouth and sipped a small amount of tea into her mouth. She looked at Levi who had her chin on her hand, looking outside and focusing on something without making any sounds. Mikasa just smiled again when she saw that moment.

"Levi, can I ask you another question?"

"Hm."

"Will you allow me to be your friend?"

With a sharp turn, Levi turned her head to Mikasa who looked very serious. She had her eyebrows lying flat above her eyes and her eyes looked into Levi's eyes, deeply.

"What are you talking about?"

"Will you allow me to be your friend?"

Mikasa replied Levi's question with an exact same words that kept ringing in Levi's head. She wanted the black-haired girl with a stupid red scarf around her neck just disappear from her eyes and let her be alone in this time. She wanted to take those serious eyes and throw it in the river so Mikasa would not she her with that glance again. She just wanted her to disappear, right now.

"Levi, will you –"

Mikasa's words was cut by a small laugh by Levi. She covered her mouth with her right hand and tried to stop laughing. Mikasa got really confused by the girl in front of her. Did she say something wrong? What so funny?

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, that's just hilarious." Levi laughed again, could not kept herself anymore. "That was the first time someone said something like that to me."

"So...?"

"Who wants to have no friends, Mikasa-chan?"

Levi was smiling between her laugh. That was the first time for Mikasa to see Levi smiled. And because that small smile, Mikasa concluded that Levi had the most beautiful smile she ever known.

"I'll treat you today." Said Mikasa when Levi just stood up ready to go gome.

"Ah, is that because I grant your request?" Levi smirked. "Today, huh. You think there will be another time?"

"Nope, that was for yesterday. You saved me from got drenched." Mikasa shook her shoulder with a small smile on her face. "Hm, who knows?"

"I don't see any umbrellas on your hand." Levi took a look at Mikasa hands and her bag. She did not see any umbrellas anywhere near Mikasa.

"I forgot to bring it."

"Damn it brat, I already reminded you when I walked you home yesterday. Do you really like to get wet and dirty?" Levi opened her umbrella, ready to step to the uncovered side of the café. "Do you want me to walk you home again now?"

Mikasa shook her head, gave a 'no' signal to Levi. "No, thanks. My brother is going to fetch me now. He's probably on the way right now."

"Mikasa!"

"Nah, that's him." Mikasa turned her head and saw Eren was running toward her. He used an umbrella and got another one on his hand.

"Damn Mikasa, why did you always forgot to –"

"Your brother has come. I guess I'll take my leave. Good night, Mikasa. See you tomorrow." Levi took a last glance to Mikasa and walked away.

"Yeah, good night, Levi." Mikasa smiled and waved her hand to Levi who already far enough. She felt very happy because she finally could jump over the border between them. "Eren, let's go home. It's getting – Eren?"

Eren stopped talking for a moment when he stood beside Mikasa. He got his mouth wide open and a sweat felt from his forehead to his nose (that's definitely not a droplet from the rain). He felt a really weird sensation that he never felt before burning all over his body. He suddenly unable to speak anything. It felt really sick.

"Mikasa."

He finally spoke.

"I think I'm falling in love."


Hello! Back again to this (hopefully) lovely story!

I wanna say sorry this chapter is kinda late to published because last week I got really busy. Being the senior totally makes me want to ripped my hair lmfao. But don't worry! I'm still trying to update this story every week!

In this chapter, Eren was finally made another surprising appearance. Buuuuuut, we have to say thank you to him because he will help us to make Mikasa and Levi closer as a friend (or maybe more...? ;) in the future.

Until we meet again, lots of love xx