To Me from 2000 Years Ago


Chapter 9

It was another Sunday. Sasha was still having a slight fever and could not go out with her friends to buy birthday gifts, decorations, and food. Her fever had dropped since Saturday afternoon and had been oscillating between 38.2°C to 38.9°C. Levi had told her not to come to work and had Hannah to cover for her Saturday afternoon and night shifts. As for her clothes and backpack, Connie had volunteered to help her to take them from the store on that Saturday night. It was Connie's first time meeting Levi too. Not surprisingly, when Connie had paid Sasha a visit with her belongings, he started complaining about how cold Levi was to him and how Sasha could tolerate him. As usual, Sasha would start to defend her store manager by saying that he was actually a nice and caring behind that cold facade. Connie trusted her words and stopped ranting. He was afraid that Sasha was bullied, but it seemed like she was on good terms with that 'cold' superior. So, he had decided to push the matter aside and start changing to another topic to talk about.

On the other hand, Krista spent most of the time trying to nurse Sasha. She prepared porridge for the sick girl and even ensured that she took her medicine at certain times of the day. Sometimes, when Sasha was asleep, Krista would help her to wipe off her perspiration on her arms and neck while changing the cold pads for her. Ymir would help Krista out a little, claiming herself to be terrible at nursing people. She remarked that the way Sasha had been vigorously training herself for the upcoming competition was obviously the cause of her sickness. Her large bruise on her inner elbow did not go unnoticed by her housemates when they nursed Sasha. Ymir had asked Sasha about it once she had woken up from her slumber, but Sasha quickly dismissed it by saying she had accidentally hurt herself with something. She did not elaborate further even though Ymir had tried prompting her. The conversation ended with Krista telling Ymir to stop asking Sasha and let her rest.

Being alone in the dormitory the whole day was something Sasha wasn't used to. Krista and Ymir would usually be staying in to do their assignments or study. Sometimes, the three of them would hang out together for lunch and shop for their necessities after that. Staying with one another for almost a year had bonded the three girls, making them feel like a family. Unfortunately, they were close to a certain extent. Sasha had always wondered why the two of them had never returned home, especially during the holidays. Not saying that Sasha had ever returned home since she had entered college. Sasha had her own personal reason which she did not really share with them. Only Connie knew about it. Since she was busy training and working part-time, she could only call home at night once in a blue moon and hear her father's tired voice. Hence, knowing that Ymir and Krista had their own reasons which they probably wouldn't want to share, she did not dare to ask about their private lives.

While she was lying on the couch sideways, she turned on the television and watched whatever programme that was first featured. It was a cartoon programme for children, featuring a puppet teaching some basic words of the day. Sasha did not bother to change the programme and just watched the show in boredom. As she watched on, her eyelids became heavy and she eventually dozed off in front of the television. She felt so sleepy, not only because the programme was boring, but also because she was under the influence of the drowsy medication. Just then, her handphone starting buzzing in her hand. She woke up groggily with her eyes still closed and picked up the call without finding out who the caller was.

"Hello," she spoke tiredly, dragging the word longer than necessary.

"Sasha?" a familiar voice sounded through the phone.

Sasha furrowed her eyebrows and turned to lie on her back. She half-opened her eyes and brought the handphone in front of her face. The letters on the screen were slowly processed in her mind before she finally realised who the caller was. Her eyes widened and she immediately sprung up to a sitting position, looking very surprised.

Papa Bear 3

"Papa!" she exclaimed as she brought the handphone to her ear again.

"How's my lil' girl feelin'?"

"Papa, I'm fine! Feeling really good today!" Sasha replied, trying her best to sound energetic as possible. "How about you?"

"I'm good. Connie called me, saying that you've fallen sick on Friday night. I was very worried. I wanted to call you but I thought I should call later. My girl needs lots of rest, ya?"

"Oh, Connie has told you. I'm actually feeling better now because my friends took care of me very well," Sasha assured with a small laugh. "I shall introduce them to you one day. Krista and Ymir. They are fantastic people!"

"I'm glad that you've made good friends, Sasha. But, my girl, I'm wonderin'… Just wondering."

"What is it?"

"When will you come back home? Connie has returned a few days ago. I met him in the supermarket with Mrs Springers. He talks a lot about you. But… I want to see you, Sasha."

I know. Sasha's shoulders dropped as she kept her silence.

"Besides, why didn't you ask me for your monthly allowances? I tried sending you some money but your bank account wasn't valid. I wonder what happened."

"Papa, you know the last time I went to-"

"Don't try to avoid this question again, Sasha. Don't start talking about food. I know your tricks."

Sasha groaned.

"I know you've been workin' part time but I believe your salary isn't enough to pay for everything. Furthermore, knowing you, you would've spend everything on your meals instead. How are you going to pay for your accommodation and other living expenses? I'm just curious, Sasha. I want to provide for you as much as I can."

"Isn't paying for my tuition fees enough?" Sasha murmured. "I told you before. I don't want your money."

"What's wrong with spendin' my money on my child? Sasha, you know that I-"

"Papa, I will come home next month. I am very busy right now. When I am done with everything, I am going to take time off from work to see you, okay?" Sasha said in a firm voice. "Let's visit Mama when I return home."

Sasha paused and waited for her father's reply. She could hear him sighing heavily, not saying anything. Then, she went on.

"Don't tire yourself out. And please don't worry about me. I have been earning and saving enough. I have survived one year away from home, Papa. You should be proud of your lil' country bumpkin!"

He sighed again. "Alright, Sasha. Give me a call when you're comin'. Don't work too hard."

Sasha laughed and joked, "As if that will stop me from working hard!"

She finally could hear a chuckle on the other side of the line. "Get well soon. Bye, Sasha."

"Goodbye. I love you, Papa."

Then, the line was cut off. Sasha put down her handphone on the couch next to her and lie on her back again. She closed her eyes and thought about those times when she was still a little girl carrying a large toolbox and following her father to the dock to repair ships and their mechanics. When her father needed something or had left his tool elsewhere, she would run very fast to get it for him so that he would complete his work fast and not get into trouble with his mean employers. She wasn't called 'one of the faster runners' in her school for nothing. Those were fun times. She could not ask her father for more because she understood that he was also struggling to support his family with such meagre income. If she had done better in her high school graduation examination, she could have applied for a scholarship and not rely on her father to pay for her college tuition fees. She wanted to be independent. She wanted to give her father a better life. As she was reminiscing her past with a smile, she had totally ignored, or rather, forgotten about the kiddy music playing on the television and slowly drifted off to her dreamland again.

-:-:-:-

The following day, Sasha felt rejuvenated. Her temperature had decreased further and she had no more fever. It had been quite stable throughout the morning and noon time. She had slept in for almost the whole weekend. Sasha could honestly say that this was the best feeling ever because it was a very rare chance to be able to sleep for many hours with no worries of being late for work or class, and homework. Neither did she have to worry about her alarm clock dragging her out of her sweet dreams because she had already turned it off. Even after Krista and Ymir had returned from shopping with the boys, they continued to ensure that Sasha was well-rested and sometimes, they would wake Sasha up and inform her to take her temperature to see if her fever had dropped. No doubt Sasha was well-taken care of by her friends!

After staying in her room for almost two days straight, Sasha felt the need to leave the house and breath in some fresh air. She had enough of porridge. Don't get her wrong, she loved porridge but her mouth was itching for other food. She wanted to drop by that particular cafe which had recently included some new flavoured shortcakes to their menu. She had always wanted to visit it since the week before. This time, she definitely had to visit that cafe! However, she would have to go alone. Ymir and Krista had some school activities to attend to while Connie had his football training. Initially, Sasha wanted to drop by the indoor stadium to practice archery. Unfortunately, the stadium was booked by the basketball club and the tennis club. Even the field was fully booked the whole day by the football club. Everyone was working very hard for the upcoming competition. To Sasha, taking a day break seemed like a good idea so that she could engage in other things which she realised that she had been missing out on during the past week. Maybe Ymir was right. Even though training was important, she should not have pushed herself too hard. She could not believe that she had been standing more than eight hours for four days straight. It was no wonder that her feet felt so sore. After a good two-day rest in bed, Sasha's feet felt so much better!

When the clock hand hit 12 noon, Sasha left the dormitory, wearing a light pink floral blouse and a black knee-length skirt. She headed to the cafe and ordered a hot latte and seven slices of different flavoured shortcakes to taste. After finishing her latte, she ordered a glass of cold cocoa drink with a thin layer of cocoa powder at the top, and continued savouring her shortcakes as she drank. As always, this cafe did not disappoint Sasha with their delicious shortcakes and beverages. When Sasha was done with eating, she left the cafe, feeling extremely contented and satisfied. Seeing that she still had lots of time to spare in the warm afternoon, she wanted to head down a shopping centre to do some window-shopping and perhaps buy some snacks at some snack shops. At the meantime, she could shop for Eren's birthday gift. His party would be held this coming weekend, and she was pretty excited about it even though it was going to be held in her dormitory. She had no idea how Krista had managed to convince the Dorm Master because obviously, it was against the rule to invite boys over to the girl's dorm section and vice versa. However, it was also possible that Krista had hidden certain information about the party from the Dorm Master. That would mean that all three of them would get into a serious trouble if she found out the truth.

Sasha shuddered. No, they had to be careful. Maybe they should tell the boys to keep their volume down during the party so that it would not raise any suspicion. She would tell them that later when she returned back to the dormitory after her shopping.

She took a bus down to the nearest shopping centre where she, Krista and Ymir frequently shopped at to buy their goods and basic necessities. Krista would often buy her clothes from some stores in that shopping centre while Sasha would buy her snacks there. Upon arriving at the entrance of the shopping centre, Sasha made a beeline towards her favourite bakery that sold her favourite freshly-baked cookies and yam bread. From afar, she could already smell the strong aroma of egg and butter, making her mouth water again.

As soon as she entered the bakery, she was greeted by a short plump woman at the counter. The middle-aged woman hurried towards Sasha and held her hands in an affectionate manner.

"My, my! I haven't seen Sasha for almost three weeks! I'm starting to wonder if you are very busy," the woman said gleefully.

Sasha smiled. "Oh yes, I am very busy lately. But I miss your cookies and bread!"

The woman led Sasha to the assortments of cookies and bread on the display shelf and asked her, "What would you like to have today?"

Without having to look through the assortments, Sasha told the woman that she wanted three cookies from each assortment and three yam bread so that she could share them with her housemates. The woman gladly prepared them for her and after Sasha had paid for the cookies and bread, Sasha left the bakery and started shopping for a birthday gift. She entered a sports shop, thinking that she should get some sporty stuff for Eren. He would probably look good wearing a wristband or a cap. After seeing a large array of wristbands and caps in the store, she did not know what to choose and decided to leave the shop to see if there were other cooler things from other shops. Next to that shop was a shop that sold gaming-related materials. It was also one of the shops Sasha would occasionally visit. To date, she had only bought two video-games from this shop. Because a gaming cartridge could be very costly, Sasha would not spend so much on her games. She did not mind replaying the games over and over again since she was the type of person who would not get bored with a game easily.

Sasha entered the gaming shop and walked around to see if there were new games on the shelf. She remembered that one of the games she had bought had a second season and was recently released in multiple stores. She really wanted to buy that! But first, she had to find out the cost. If it was beyond her budget (for leisure activities), she had to wait till next time when she had more money to spare and buy it. Just then, she caught sight of a newly released game on a shelf. It was called 'Attack on Titan'. The game cover depicted an ugly two horned giant with a large jaw attacked by a male soldier holding two swords from above.

The title sounded familiar to her. She had heard it before a few weeks ago. She closed her eyes and thought hard. Did someone mention this game to her? Was it Connie? But Connie was not the type who would be very updated in newly-released games even though he used to play video-games with her when they were little. She took the game package from the shelf and turned to the back cover to read the blurb.

Oh no!
Man-eating titans are invading your homeland! Can you stop the titans from invading the Island of Finalisia?
Join the other soldiers in their battles against the titans.
Earn experience points in exchange for new and more powerful weapons.
So, what are you waiting for? Kill all the evil titans now!

I will kill all of the titans! All of them!

A voice rang in her head. Sasha furrowed her eyebrows as she flipped the cover back to front. Having no recollection of where she had heard this statement before, Sasha was so confused as to how it could sound very familiar to her. But it felt so foreign at the same time.

"Eren…" a soft sigh unconsciously escaped her lips.

Eren?

Sasha quickly placed the game package back on the shelf and looked around her. Other patrons were still browsing through the shelves, totally ignoring her flustered behaviour. A blush crept up her cheeks upon the realisation that she had just sighed his name without thinking. She bought her two slightly cold hands to her cheeks and gently patted them, trying to stop her cheeks from heating up too much. Just then, she recalled a conversation that she had overheard between Eren and Armin two weeks ago. Eren had mentioned that he wanted to buy a video game about killing titans but he wanted to wait for the price to decrease first before buying it. Did he refer to this 'Attack on Titan' game? Since it was newly released, it was very costly. He seemed so excited when he had talked about the game to Armin. He kept chatting away about how fun and cool the game would be before their lecture had officially started. Sasha took the game package out of the shelf again and looked at it with a thoughtful frown. Should she buy it as a gift? She would definitely over exceed her budget for this month. But she wanted to see Eren's happy face upon receiving this gift.

Suddenly, she felt something pat her bottom and brushed up against her skirt, alarming her greatly. She quickly turned around and saw no one behind her… No, in fact, there was someone tiny behind her. She glanced downwards and gave the tiny person a hard stare. The young child who looked between two to three years old stared up at her with a blank look.

"Mama?" The child pouted and let go of her skirt. "Not mama."

Realising that it was an innocent child who had just mistaken her for his mother, Sasha chuckled in relief and bent over to meet the child at his eye level.

"Yeah, I'm not your mama," Sasha said as she patted the child's head. "Where is your mother, kid?"

The child looked around and started running away from Sasha. He ran towards another lady wearing a black skirt and a pink shirt, and started tugging the hem of her skirt. The lady looked down and a smile emerged on her face. She picked the child up and the child started calling her 'mama' a few times ecstatically as he wrapped his arms around her neck. The child's smile and giggles made Sasha feel warm inside her. Seeing people smile made her very happy. And out of all people, she wanted to see him smile the most on his birthday. Finally, she had made her decision.

"Okay, I will buy this," Sasha told herself as she made her way to the counter with the game package. "I need to cut down on cakes and cookies next month. No more shortcakes and latte."

She could definitely survive some reduction of her food intake. She would just have to spend on cheaper meals, that was all. Besides, she would be visiting her hometown next month. The food there would be a lot cheaper too. After buying the game package, she left the store and continued her shopping at another sports shop that sold slightly different things from the shop that she had visited earlier. She did not intend to buy any more things since she had spent a lot on that video game and the cookies. Still, she wanted to take a look at some equipment relating to her sport before heading home.

At the archery section, she just browsed through the items that were displayed against the wall. The items were expensive, not surprisingly though. That was why Sasha had loaned a bow and a few arrows from her school instead of getting her own bow and arrows. It was recommended by her seniors to buy a good set of personal bow since she was one of the better archers in the club. It was a good investment, they had advised her. But being careful with her budget most of the time, Sasha did not heed their advice. Anyway, the school set of bow and arrows was already good enough for her in her opinion. The only things she had bought for herself were the protective gears that were worn on her arm, hands and chest.

Speaking of her armguard, the rubber cord that was attached to it had snapped during her training on Friday. She thought that she would be fine without it so she continued with her training. She was not used to shooting without her armguard and even a 'good' player, which others had called her, could still get hurt by the bowstring without an arm protector. The large purple bruise on her upper forearm was the proof. It hurt a lot. The first hit had obviously stung. But the second, third, and fourth hits had temporarily paralysed her whole arm as a sharp pain travelled through the nerves from the injured area to the tips of her fingers each time she was hit, causing to miss her desired target three times in a row. After that, she had gone to borrow an armguard from her team captain for the rest of the day and returned him at the end of the training. She wanted to get a replacement soon, at least a few days before the competition. Anyway, she would be getting her salary by the end of March. Then, she could use it to buy a new armguard from this sports shop.

While heading towards the display shelf where all the protective gears were kept, she saw a familiar person picking up a pair of brown shooting gloves from the shelf and flipping the gloves over a few times as if she was inspecting it. Feeling curious and a little excited to see her friend in the same shop as her by coincidence, Sasha approached her while quickly inserting the plastic bag which contained the game package into the other plastic bag that contained the bread and cookies.

"Mikasa!" she called out and tapped the girl from behind, startling the latter.

Mikasa turned around and looked at Sasha, still holding onto that pair of shooting gloves. Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Sasha?" Mikasa put the gloves back on the shelf. "What are you doing here?"

"Shopping!" Sasha replied, lifting up her plastic bag to show Mikasa. "What about you?"

Mikasa glanced to her left for a moment before looking at the brunette again, and then she answered with a small smile, "Just walking around."

"Oh, I see."

"I heard that you have fallen ill…" Mikasa paused for a moment as she noticed the bakery logo on the plastic bag in Sasha's hand. "I'm relieved to see that you are well now."

"Krista and Ymir are like my mummies. They took very good care of me for the past few days. So, that's why I bought lots of cookies for them," Sasha said with a giggle.

"I see," Mikasa responded and pulled up her red scarf to her chin level while her eyes travelled to Sasha's left hand which was carrying that plastic bag. "That bruise…"

Almost immediately after hearing the word 'bruise', Sasha instinctively pressed her inner elbow against the side of her body to hide it from Mikasa's view. That was the most stupid reaction, Sasha realised after a second. There was no use hiding it since Mikasa had already seen it. And why in the world she had to react like she was being sneaky about it? She might give the wrong idea to Mikasa. Sasha relaxed her arm and showed the bruise to Mikasa. She gently rubbed her bruise in circles with an awkward laugh.

"This bruise is actually not as serious as it looks. I bumped into something. Didn't know it will be so big. But not pain at all." Sasha poked it and mentally winced in pain and regret, but her exterior still managed to maintain a sheepish grin. "See? No biggie!"

Mikasa rose an eyebrow at her, definitely not convinced by Sasha's act. Her eyes darted to the left again before looking back at Sasha.

"Apply some ointment. It does look like it hurt a lot," Mikasa commented as she reached out to Sasha's left shoulder and gave her a light pat. "I have to go now. See you again next time."

"Ah, okay… See you," Sasha said and waved to her friend who was already making her way towards the direction where she had been glancing at since earlier.

The girl was walking so fast, more like brisk-walking, towards the entrance of the shop where someone with a plastic bag in his hand was waiting for her. She hastily grabbed his wrist and started dragging the person away, much to the person's annoyance as he began protesting and asking why she was pulling him. Sasha tilted her head to have a better look at the boy next to Mikasa. Her eye widened upon realising who he was from his back view.

Eren?

Did he buy something from this shop? He didn't notice her, right? Many questions began running through her head. Sasha then narrowed her eyes at the diminishing figures of the Jaeger siblings, feeling a little puzzled by Mikasa's behaviour. Were they in a rush to leave? It seemed like it. If not, why would she be pulling Eren to match up with her quick pace of walking? Sasha shrugged and continued with her browsing, not wanting to think about it anymore since it had nothing to do with her, or so she thought. After taking note of the armguards' prices, Sasha left the shop and headed back to her dormitory to take a rest before going to work at night.

-:-:-:-

Upon arriving at her workplace, a sense of dread weighed Sasha's usual enthusiasm down. She felt so awkward and embarrassed to face Levi. He had seen her throw up and faint – definitely not a sight she had wanted anyone to see. Furthermore, he was a very clean person. Imagine that disgusted face he would make when he had to clean up the toilet after she had vomited. She could remember him catching her fall and holding her close to him. However, she could not remember what had come next. Hange had told her that he had piggybacked her from the store to her car, and he even called Hange to check on her condition that night. On Saturday, he had called Sasha in the late morning, asking her how she was feeling and informed her that Hannah would be replacing her for the afternoon and night shifts.

Although he sounded like his normal self, Sasha knew that he must have been very worried about her. After thinking about it for quite some time, she realised that it was a little strange that he was willing to come down to Hange's workplace to check on her after his work. Normally, a superior would not even bother to do it, especially it was already past midnight by the time his work had ended. Not like he was her close friend either. Usually, it would be just a call to ask if she was all right and perhaps talk about sending in her medical certificate to take a day or two off from work to recover her health. Or maybe Sasha was thinking a little too much into it. Levi could have done the same thing and show his concern, in his unique subtle way, to the other workers.

Sasha stepped into the store and greeted Hannah and Franz who were arranging the the items on the shelves. The two asked her how she was feeling, to which Sasha replied that she was. She headed to the back of the store and pushed open the door of the storeroom. There was a bright light at the right corner of the dimly-lit room where a small desk was. Levi frequently used that desk as a place to keep the store's records of stocks, workers' timestamp, and other administrative stuffs. Seeing the light, Sasha knew that Levi was at the desk, probably doing his administrative work. So, she made her way to the corner to greet her superior and record her reporting time on her timestamp card as usual. True enough, he was sitting on a chair behind that desk, flipping through the papers in a large file.

Sasha ran her fingers through her fringe and adjusted it straight to her right side. The awkwardness amplified with her sudden consciousness of her presence in the same room as him. She walked closer to the desk and cleared her throat.

"Good evening, Levi."

She tried to sound as natural as possible, but her tone came out sounding so serious and formal like a military greeting instead. She felt herself growing flustered by that. She saw the older man stop flipping through the documents and glanced up at her with an unreadable expression.

"Braus," he greeted her back while she noticed his eyes softened as he spoke. "You're back."

Sasha plastered a smile on her face. "Yup, back and feeling better. Anyway, sorry for being a burden that night. I… I made a mess in the toilet and you have to clean it up. Really sorry about that."

"Ah, about that…" Levi looked away with a small frown. "I had a hard time cleaning." Levi looked back at her and lightly pulled up the right side of his collar. "My shirt got dirty. Got a stain here after you wiped those stuffs on your face against my shirt."

Sasha felt disgusted with herself upon hearing that. Did she really wipe her chyme on him when she fainted? That was extremely gross! Levi must be really mad.

Immediately, Sasha lowered her head and apologised to him, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I will be more careful next time. I don't mind washing the toilet for the next month to make up for it. I will do anything as long as you are happy."

She held her head low apologetically and waited for him to say something. But after a good few seconds later, she heard a snort of laughter coming from the man in front of her. Surprised, she slowly glanced up at him. She saw his shoulders tremble slightly and his head was lowered. The crinkled skin around his eyes was evident as his upper cheek muscles swelled with pressure. His lips were tightly pursed while the corners of his lips were slightly curled upwards, no doubt showing how hard he was trying his very best to hold back a laugh. Sasha was so astonished to see him looking like this that she went speechless. It was like seeing another person in front of her. Another soft snort escaped his lips and he immediately lowered his head further with his hand covering his mouth, hiding his amused face from her view. It took Sasha awhile to collect herself and another sense of dread came down upon her.

Did Levi just laugh at her? What was so funny? Could Levi actually laugh? Oh yes, he could. He should smile and laugh more often like this. Looking down at her feet again, Sasha blushed deep red at his sudden change of demeanor. It was her first time seeing his face tense up and crinkle in silent laughter. Moreover, it felt weird seeing a different side of him.

"Sorry, Braus," she heard him say in a rather shaky voice. "It was a lie. I was joking."

Sasha's head sprung upwards and she stared wide-eyed at Levi. Levi joked? Did he just confess that he was joking with her? Her ears must be playing tricks on her. The man inhaled deeply and slowly let his breath out, calming himself down. Then, he cleared his throat, held his hands behind his back, and stared back at her expressionlessly.

"By the way, what matters is that you are okay. Don't feel sorry." He got up, walked around the desk and stood in front of her as his eyes fixated on her upper forearm that was covered by the long sleeve of her cardigan. "How's your injury?"

"What injury?"

"The one on your inner elbow. The one you got from playing the bow and arrow, I think."

"Ah, that…" Sasha paused for a moment, suddenly feeling very confused.

She had never told him that she played archery and what club she had joined in school. All she had ever told him that she had school activities whenever she wanted to apply leaves and never really explained what she had done in those activities in details. So, how did he know that she played the 'bow and arrow'? Even those who were close to her and knew that she practiced archery did not even realise that the bruise was caused by the 'bow and arrow'.

Putting her left arm behind her back, Sasha looked at him with a small suspicious frown and cautiously asked, "How did you know that I was hurt… with the bow?"

At that question, she could see a line appeared between his brows, looking as if he had realised something was amiss in his last statement to her.


Hello! Thank you for reading up to this chapter. Chapter 10 will be updated near the end of this year. After Christmas, probably. I managed to write four more chapters in advance during my school break. So, yay! They can last me another four more months of updates :)

Preview of Chapter 10:

"Could it be that you are upset that Armin has chosen you over that girl on your birthday?"

"Huh? No way!" Eren shouted, giving Zeke a weird look too. "Why would I be upset over this? His grandpa is ill, remember? Maybe he needed some help and called Sasha over."

"Then, why are you upset?"

"I'm not upset, okay?" Eren said in a taut voice before turning his gaze back to the television screen, preparing himself for the quest to start. "Let's not talk about this..."

Whoops! Zeke appears!

See you in the next chapter!