Chapter Three: A Time to Prove, A Time for Friends

847, Training Camp of 104th Trainees Squad, 1:40 PM.

This was it. Kishito was prepared. It took him a wait of two full years to enlist, but he is finally here. He was ready to become a soldier of Humanity but, still it was going to have to prove more than just his determination and will to get into the Scouting Legion. He scanned his eyes across the group in a rectangular form, showing organization. He saw that there were a lot of people, though he wondered if they came to join the Scouting Legion or not. It was a mystery to him. He saw the head instructor who introduced himself as Keith Shadis, who was walking and inspecting each row of the group. As he gave each rite of passage to each trainee, he went to another. One trainee that caught Kishito's eye was the blond-haired boy who he saw in Shiganshina on that day. The day the Wall Maria was breached. He did not want to try to move his head towards both the head instructor and the blond-haired boy, so he turned his eyes to them.

"Hey, kid!" Keith yelled. As soon as he did, the boy quickly brought his right hand to his chest, forming it as a fist to show that he was owing his heart to the king.

"Yes, sir!" He replied back.

"Who the hell are you?!" Keith asked.

"I am Armin Arlert from Shiganshina!" He responded.

Kishito was quite surprised, he would never think of a name like that mostly because it just didn't seem to come up to his mind, if not anyone's mind at all. But nonetheless, he listened.

"Is that so? You have a retarded name." The head instructor insulted. But, it was a good way to make people into soldiers. "Was it your parents that named you?" He asked, with his voice still having a loud volume to it.

"It was my grandfather!" He answered.

"Arlert, what is your purpose for joining us?" He asked.

"To aid mankind's victory!" He yelled out.

"Now that's wonderful." He said, having a sarcastic tone to it. "I'll have you become food for the titans. Third squad! About face!" He said as he grabbed Armin's head and turned his whole body behind him. He then resumed back to going to give rites of passages to other trainees, going to Thomas Wagner, Mina Carolina and several other ones. Kishito didn't listen to it, so he turned his gaze to two men, who were wearing olive-colored jackets with trainee emblems on them. He saw that the head instructor, Keith had walked past him. Of course, Kishito already had his rite of passage so he didn't need another lecture from what he thought as nothing but a guy yelling at people. Though that didn't mean he hated the instructor. He then turned to a person who Kishito knew his name since he greeted himself to Kishito. Connie Springer.

"Next, you there! Who the hell are you!?" He asked in a yelling tone. Connie quickly brought his right fist to his chest. Unfortunately, not directly where his heart was.

"I am Connie Springer from Ragako, south of Wall Rose!" He said. All the sudden, his head was grabbed and he got carried up from the ground. His fist still on his chest, and his other arm behind him.

"Listen up, Connie Springer.. I believe you were told about this before. That salute means you're offering your heart to the king! Is your heart on the right side?!" He asked loudly in grim voice. Kishito wanted to snicker at that moment, but he held it. It was funny, but he knew he would surely get a punishment for even snickering. And he surely didn't need another lecture again from the head instructor. But, he heard a crunching noise, as if someone was eating. Which they were. He looked over near Connie and saw a brown-haired girl eating a potato. Kishito widened his eyes and opened his mouth slightly in disbelief. Many others did so too, also shocked.

"Really? Is this girl really... eating during the rites?!" Kishito thought to himself, still in disbelief. He looked to the head instructor, who dropped Connie Springer right away, noticing the potato-eating girl.

"You. What the fuck are you doing?" He asked in a calm, but scary voice. The girl still ate the potato, still unaware that he was talking to her. She scanned her eyes around the crowd, wondering who was the head inspector was talking to.

"You! I'm talking to you! Who the fuck are you?!" He screamed. The girl looked like she was terrified, but then she swallowed the piece of potato in her mouth and brought the potato to her chest.

"I am Sasha Braus from Daupa, south of Wall Rose!" Sasha said fearlessly, as if she forgot that the head instructor just screamed at her in what appeared as pure rage.

"Sasha Braus... What are you holding in your right hand?" He asked. Kishito raised an eyebrow, he wondered how the instructor not know what it was. It was obvious that it was a potato.

"It's obvious, it's a freaking potato." Kishito thought in his mind. Though he would've liked to actually say that, despite that he would most likely get thrown out. He didn't know why, but thinking that it would get him kicked out had made him smile a little, not too much where someone noticed.

"It's a steamed potato, sir! I found one that was lying in the kitchen!" She explained. The instructor still looked down on her, with a serious look.

"Did you steal that? Why? Why are you eating a potato right now?" He asked, in a serious tone.

"It's best when eaten warm, so I thought that eating it right now was the best course of action, sir." Sasha replied back. Kishito obviously wanted to laugh right there since he thought the girl was humorous, but he still wanted to listen.

"That reasoning is beyond me, why are you eating a potato?" He asked. The girl looked at him as if she didn't know who he was.

"Are you asking why people eat potatoes in general, sir?" She questioned. Kishito showed a blank expression for a moment, before slumping down his head and covering his face with his hand in complete embarrassment for Sasha. The instructor didn't move or talk, which was an awkward moment for everyone. She then broke the potato in half, giving it to Keith.

"Take the half of it if you'd like, sir." Sasha said, giving half of the potato to him. He took it, but looked at it in a strange way.

"Half..?" He said out of disbelief, as he took half of the potato. Sasha then smiled innocently, looking like if she was trying to get out of the situation. Kishito had only one thought on his mind when he saw what had happened.

"Oh crap."


847, Trainee Cabin #16, 6:52 PM.

Kishito sighed as he was laying on his bed, completely tired and felt like he wasn't going to have enough strength to get up for dinner. He eventually got up and looked outside. He saw that the 'potato girl' was still running. For at least five full hours. For his honesty, not even he would run that long. So he had to give credit to Sasha, she had a lot of energy in her.

"God, she's been running forever. Doesn't it look like she's gonna die?" Kishito said, looking out the open window. Jean and two others were with him in the cabin at the time, so he was quite glad, seeing that he had some company. He didn't like the idea of being by himself.

"With what she did back there, she deserves it. I mean, she offered half of her potato to the instructor." Jean objected, chuckling a bit as he remembered the moment. Kishito looked back at him.

"Well, I'm still surprised she's still running. I mean like she's been running for a while. I wouldn't even survive that." Kishito admitted, as he sat down.

"Hey, I forgot your name. What is it?" Jean asked.

"My name is Kishito Ishita. From Stohess, east of Wall Sina. I feel like I'm the only one from Wall Sina." Kishito said. He looked towards two of the girls on their beds, doing something. He really didn't know who they were.

"Hey, you know who they are?" Kishito asked. Both of them looked at him with a cold stare, making him gulp and feel uneasy. Jean pointed at the blonde one.

"I think her name's Annie and the other one.." Jean began. But, the black-eyed girl stood up and introduced herself.

"My name is Mikasa Ackerman." She said. Kishito nervously nodded but then also knew that she was that pale girl back in Shiganshina. She looked beautiful, but Kishito didn't really care or seem to take notice of it, despite his nervous tone.

"Oh.. nice to meet you. Mikasa.." He said unevenly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Thank you." She complimented, before leaving the cabin. Kishito felt odd, he thought he did something wrong and felt a bit worried. In a way. He sighed as he saw the black-haired girl leave.

"She's something. Isn't she?" Jean asked. Kishito gave him an uninterested look.

"I guess so. She seems fine, even though she pretty much just left out when I said something." He said, blandly. Jean then took notice of his unusual eye color. He didn't take notice of it since he was talking to him a lot.

"What's wrong with your eyes, man? Their colors are all messed up." He said. Kishito touched his eyes for a moment and remembered that the left eye had a blue color to it. The other had hazel and green-like color to it. Kishito simply shrugged his shoulders, he didn't have a precise answer for it.

"I don't know. The doctor says it's case of heterochromia, something that causes eye color change. Other than that, it must be some kinda genetic disease. But I'm not really sure about it.." Kishito explained. He stood up, wanting to get some fresh air. "..I'm gonna go out, I'll be on the porch if you need me." He opened the door. And closed it. He sighed in relief of getting away from the room. He honestly didn't like Jean, he felt something weird about him, and for Kishito, he asked too much questions about personal things. Which Kishito doesn't like to share. He looked at the uphill road leading out of the tent and saw that there was some carriage with some trainees in it.

"I wonder why there's some trainees going out of the camp..." He said to himself.

"Dropouts." It was a feminine voice. He turned to his left, and saw Mikasa who was standing at the end of the short porch. Kishito's eyes widened for a moment, seeing how some trainees didn't make it.

"Wow, it seems like people are dropping out already.. I hope that I can still be in this, Old man is counting on me.." He said, referring Reneth as his 'old man'.

"Is your 'old man' your father?" She asked. Kishito somewhat saw that between him and Reneth. Reneth had raised Kishito his whole life, so Reneth was like a figure to look up to for Kishito.

"Something like that. He's just my guardian. I didn't know my real dad when I was born. Or maybe he died." Kishito said, feeling a bit sad about never knowing who his father was.

"I am sorry to hear that." She apologized. Though she didn't really put on a sad expression. Kishito looked at her, then looked down on his dark-blue shirt and rolled-up sleeves. Even though it sounded like she didn't mean it, he still wanted to thank her for saying it anyways. So he smiled at her as he putted his arms on the wooden fence across the small porch.

"Thanks, I appreciate it." He said, before leaving the porch. "I'm gonna go get something to eat at the dining hall. I'll see you later, Mikasa." He walked down the short stairs and walked. Despite having a social conversation with a girl he just met, Mikasa saying something about his father fazed him, making him frown. Which made him come back to his question he asked himself five years ago.

"I wonder who I was born to.. but more importantly, who were my parents..?"