Welcome, travelers. You have reached chapter 4... rather shorter than the last.
Rumors and Plans
Levi listened as Erwin explained to the team that Swift had been hospitalized and wouldn't be able to play at all that season. He let the news sink in a bit before continuing.
"You may have heard that he was absent due to an 'accident,' but in fact Swift was taken out by a group of Titan High students. One of them crushed his left foot."
The team murmured within itself, things like "How could they get away with something like that?" and "Is he OK?"
"Levi was there when it happened," Erwin said, putting up his hand for silence. "Captain?"
Levi, who had been resting his weight on one side, straightened up and addressed the team. "Petra came across the scene and called several of us to come assist her." He related how the Titan players had acted, and how one of them had broken Swift's foot. The team cringed at the details.
"So, you see how important it is that we win this one," Erwin resumed. "We need to do it for Swift. And we need to take this incident as a grim reminder that the Titans aren't afraid to fight dirty. We need to be at our absolute best. That's why we're having another special practice tomorrow night. Any questions before we get started?"
A slight, blond boy at the back raised his hand tentatively.
"Arlert?"
The boy made the team spirit salute. "Sir, I know I've been asking to play, but... in light of what's at stake, I think I should sit this game out and let the more experienced players handle it." He bowed his head respectfully.
"I'll talk to you about that in a moment," Erwin said. "Anything else?"
A boy with angular features and a creative hair dye job raised his hand.
"Kirstein?"
"Have you heard from Coach Pixis?"
"Not yet. Tonight, I'll make sure he's been informed of the situation. As for the coach's condition, I've had no update since our last practice. Anything else?"
No one else raised their hands.
"All right, split into two teams and get ready for a practice match. Arlert, stay with us."
The other players jogged away to the soccer field and the blond boy approached Erwin and Levi timidly. Up close, Levi noticed that he had bruising on his face. He had quite skillfully covered it with makeup, but Levi knew the marks too well to be fooled.
"I know you want us to have our best chance, Armin," Erwin said, "but at the very least, we need you present."
"I... I'll be present, sir. But what good can I do? Honestly, I don't even know how I made it through tryouts."
"You can do a lot of good," said Levi.
"He's right," Erwin agreed. "I didn't recruit you for your talent in soccer. I recruited you because you're smart. You're what - fourteen? but you're already a shoe-in for president of the chess club next year. You're good at logic and problem-solving. I think once you learn to apply your skills to soccer, you could be my new play-maker. So don't sell yourself short, OK?"
"OK. Thank you."
"Even if you weren't any good to us strategically or physically," Levi added, "if something were to happen that put us in danger of not having the required number of players on the field, just standing there doing nothing would keep us from having to forfeit the match. Everyone counts."
Armin looked more confident. "You're right. I'll do my part, Captain. There's one other thing..."
"Go ahead," said Erwin.
"As you know, I didn't go to Legion Junior High. I attended a different school, and I had some good friends there. We all wanted to go to Legion High, but Eren's family couldn't afford the commute every day, so he and Mikasa went to Titan High. I wanted to stay with them, but... anyway, that's not important. What is important is that my grandfather knows how much it means to me to have them around... they protected me from bullies and stuff. So, he said if we did without some luxuries for a while, Eren and Mikasa could live with us during the school year. They're moving in this weekend and they'll start school here Monday."
"Eren played on Titan's soccer team, right? I heard he would be starting here next week."
"That's right. Mikasa's never played on a team, but she practices with Eren and he says she's actually better than he is."
"So, what's the concern?"
"Eren got suspended from Titan High and kicked off their team. He said the Legion school board isn't wanting to let him play here."
This was news to Levi, but Erwin didn't seem surprised.
"Does he have any evidence to defend his actions?"
"Nothing solid, I'm afraid."
"Well, the board is going to meet with him about that on Monday. I think you should be there as a character witness. You know - tell them how long you've known Eren and why you think he's a good kid and why they should let him play for us. Think you can do that?"
Armin nodded. "Just tell me when I need to be there. Team sports mean a lot to Eren, especially Soccer. He'll be super disappointed if he doesn't get on the team here."
"Well, one step at a time. Now, you'd better get out there and warm up with the others."
"Yes, sir." Armin hurried to join his teammates.
Levi picked up a soccer ball and walked beside Erwin to the edge of the field. "What exactly did this Eren do to get himself kicked off the Titan team? The Titans' coach doesn't give a damn that his players cheat, so how could he manage to get in trouble?"
"The story is, he attacked his own teammates."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess that would do it."
"We'll see what happens Friday."
"I'd like to be at that board meeting."
"I'll see if I can get you in." Erwin cupped his hands around his mouth and called, "All right, team captains, get your teams to opposite sides of the field!"
Levi passed the ball to Erwin and he carried it to the middle of the field to begin the mock game. What position would Eren play? Was he the strong attacking midfielder Erwin had told him about? He hoped so, but in any case, meeting him was sure to be interesting.
Levi read Hange's story during whatever downtime he found between soccer and MMA club. When he was finally ready to go home, he texted Erwin.
Still at school?
About to leave, came Erwin's reply.
Finished Hange's story.
And?
It's crap.
Really?
No. Not really. Meet at my car.
In the parking lot, Levi handed the notebook to Erwin, leaning against the hood of his car. As Erwin began skimming Hange's story, he said, "Her boldness is what I liked about her writing in the first place, but you see how it backfired."
"I see what you mean... she really went to town on us, didn't she?" Erwin smiled, pointing out a choice sentence. "'Equality in the masses means equality between classes.' That's catchy."
"Yeah. It's good stuff, mechanically. She's got exactly what we want..."
"Plus a death wish for us."
"Exactly."
"Did you show it to Petra?"
"No... I'm afraid she'd want to print the damn thing."
"Eh, no one expects us to print something she wrote as a trial run."
"Sure, but if we hire her based on this story, she'll want to know why we're not printing it."
"Are you sure we can't?"
Levi blinked at him in disbelief. "Of course, we can't. If we print that story, we'll look like hypocrites. I mean, unless you want to start car-pooling with underprivileged freshmen and giving out tiramisu at lunch."
"Heh, well... I think you're exaggerating, but I see your point. But can we afford not to hire her?"
"It's not like the paper is a real business... yes, we want people to read it, but our careers don't depend on circulation."
"Still..." Erwin rubbed his chin. "This is kind of a trial run for real life. You do still want to go into business with me eventually, right?"
"Yes."
"So, what would we do if this were a real business?"
"Best-case scenario... we hire her, but don't print the story."
"OK. I think we can do that if we tell her we thought it was good, but we need to see more before we're completely sold. We'll keep Ilse and Mike on staff as backup reporters in case she can't deliver what we need."
Levi nodded. "I guess that will have to do. But you realize she'll think we're full of shit."
"She probably thinks we are already, so... not much to lose."
"True."
Hange found Ilse in Literature club. The girl was always writing in a journal. Hange had wanted to talk to her before, but always felt she would be intruding.
"Hey," she said, leaning toward the smaller girl.
"Oh, hi." Ilse looked up as if surprised to see another human being.
"You're Ilse, right? You write for the school paper?"
"Yeah, I do. Oh! You're Hange."
"Yeah. Mind if I sit by you?"
"Sure, absolutely," Ilse said, moving her book bag out of the way. "How's it going for you with the paper so far?"
"I'm not exactly in yet... Levi and Erwin are reading over my trial report."
"Cool. I love those guys so much." Ilse ducked her head and said quietly, "I'm trying to write some poems for them for Valentine's Day... you wanna critique for me?"
"Oh..." Hange was surprised. She hadn't expected Ilse to be part of the Erwin/Levi fan club. But then, most girls at Legion High were, so... "I guess so. Poetry isn't really my thing, but I'll take a look."
"Sweet." Ilse flipped some pages in her journal. "Just promise you won't tell anyone about it."
"I won't; I promise." Hange took the journal and read Ilse's rough drafts. The first was:
"Erwin
I love to see your smiling eyes
That light up the newsroom each day.
They make me think of morning skies
And take my blues away."
"It's... cute," Hange said at last. "Are you sure you want to say this to Erwin?"
"Well, yeah..." Ilse twiddled her fingers, looking down again. "I mean, it's all true. Do you think it will annoy him?"
"I doubt it," Hange answered flatly. Self-centered jerk will probably take it in stride... She went on to the second poem.
"Levi
You set our headlines and also set trends,
You're very tough and smart.
I don't have any gift for you
So I hope you like this heart."
"I'm going to put it on heart-shaped paper," Ilse explained. Then she added, "I couldn't find a way to make A and C rhyme, so it's not as good as Erwin's."
Hange didn't think either poem was particularly good, but she knew better than to say so. "Um... how about 'I have no gift I can extend,'" she suggested, cringing at how out-of-place the language seemed.
"Oh, nice. That might work."
She seemed so happy, scribbling notes around her poetry, that Hange almost didn't have the heart to say anything else. "Listen... you don't really have a crush on either of them, right?"
Ilse looked up in surprise. "Huh? I thought everyone had a crush on both of them... well, all the girls, at least. But probably some of the guys, too."
"I... don't know about that..."
"It's not like I think I have a chance with either of them," Ilse went on. "I just want them to know I'm one of the faithful... that I admire and respect and appreciate them..." She looked at her poetry again. "I hope it comes across."
Hange blinked. It was as if Ilse were a follower of the Er-vi cult or something... She seemed stressed out over it, but oddly... happy at the same time. "Do other girls send them crap... er, I mean do they send them Valentines and stuff like this...?"
"Oh, gods, yes! That's why I decided to do poetry this year. I don't want to be like everyone else, with the store-bought foil cards and the chocolates and such. I want them to at least remember it a little while."
The club captain asked them to quiet their conversation then, so Hange left the subject alone. Poor Ilse... how many other girls are swooning over them right now?
She was almost home when she got a text from Levi.
We'll take you on staff conditionally. Planning to keep Ilse & Mike as backup until sure you can handle it full-time. Need at least 2 stories/articles a week.
She was a little surprised. After she'd roasted them so severely in her trial story, she had expected them to retaliate in some way, not welcome her to the team. She felt a little unprepared. They would need another story from her before the end of the week. Two, actually, since there was no way in hell they would print the one she had already given them.
She could write about the upcoming soccer game - she had never taken an interest in sports before, but she knew that Legion's rivalry with Titan High was age-old and bitter. That might actually be interesting to research. As for the other story...
She thought about Sasha and how much she missed her. Erwin's sister was at the same school now... and she'd heard a rumor that a couple of Titan High students were starting at Legion next week. Her second story could be about transfer students: who transfers into Legion High, who transfers out, and why.
She quickened her pace, eager to get to a computer and start typing up her ideas.
Once she got there (fortunately not without her keys this time), she fired up her mother's computer and checked her email. To her surprise, she had a message from Sasha.
Hey, Hange!
Guess what - I get to come see you at Valentine's Day! My new friend Annie is going back and her family is like, super rich or something. She offered to take me along and I was like, Totally! So I'll see you in less than two weeks. I'm so excited! Save me some chocolates and a cute boy, okay?
Looooooove, Sasha!
Hange smiled and shook her head. No one could brighten her day like Sasha. She quickly typed an answer saying she was glad to be seeing her friend soon. Then she opened her word processor and got to work.
I'm tempted to take a hiatus from this since it's not getting any feedback. But I do enjoy writing it, so we shall see.
