At last! Exam is over! Hallelujah! XD

Turns out my mathematics exam is bound to fail so I'm gonna forget about it (since there's still a remedial test *teehee*) and update this fic! Keep the reviews coming and cheer me up, my lovely readers! DX

Thank you meshi-chan, Dinendir, Commander Kotori, Sparkling Apples, Oklahom474, Leavian, Christa1910, R Jaeger, Brkrth99, Shiina Yuki, VarilSk1, Monica, Ayexia, artilyon-rand, animeloverforeverjapan, Seraphicpapilion, Putting on Airs, HighQueen, inodesuyo, xEXOdicted, creativeactive, gracelovesgaga, silentux131, Nancy Haibara, AppleberryCookie, alex, Death Appraiser, HungerGamesEnthusiast, Shizza24, Elavan-x, Guest, chai, and Kuro-KuriKuri! I'm crying in joy! Keep the reviews coming! :'D

By the way, since I'm updating this fic in the middle of the night, via a friend, and while having a fever, I don't really have time to proof-read this chapter. If there are MANY typos and grammar errors, please forgive me! m(_ _)m

Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin


Annie went to her bedroom and opened her drawer. Inside the drawer, there were numerous identical white envelopes. She had started to wonder who the sender of the letters was. The letters always had the same contents and the words inside were printed so she could never guess who wrote them.

As she rolled about on her bed, her phone vibrated.

Opening the message she received, her eye twitched in annoyance at the contents.

Remember tomorrow we'll be having physical examination period. We'll see how much you grow this year *snickers*

-Reiner

She threw her phone and went to the kitchen to drink some milk.


Chapter 12. Mysterious Letter


It was a typical day at class 1-04, as Reiner came in to give the class a notice.

"Guys, I believe you already know that mid-term exam starts the day after tomorrow. Study well and don't be disappointed because after the exam, we'll have our long-awaited culture festival!"

Everybody cheered.

However, the mid-term test was just around the corner, and Eren had decided to start increasing his studying hour. He tried to solve some calculus problems but had trouble doing it. He messed his hair in frustration. But he had sworn he would never ask for Mikasa's help. His goddamned pride just wouldn't let him.

His dream was to change the world's rule and to protect the weak. His father once told him that if he's good at his study, he could do practically anything in the future. Slowly, he would stand on top of the world.

And his dream for now was to join the Student Council, which held the highest authority in the school.

"Yo, Eren, what's up dude?" Reiner greeted him, interrupting his inner thoughts.

"Oh. It's you, Reiner. I'm trying to solve these problems…"

"Where? Show me," he said as he leaned in to read the problem. After a couple of seconds, he took Eren's pencil and wrote him the answer. "Here, you put this value here. And with this formula, you can solve it in no time. And also, you made a counting mistake here."

Eren blinked in amazement.

With Mikasa being called a genius and all, he had almost forgotten that Reiner ranked second in the entrance exam. He was second only to Mikasa. And Eren started thinking back again, the fact that he ranked fifth meant he had to beat the other three to reach Mikasa. Those three were: Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie.

But before he could beat those three, he had to learn their way of studying first.

"Reiner!"

"Huh?"

"How do you study? I mean, you ranked second, right? But you didn't seem to study that much."

Reiner blinked then scratched his cheek nervously, "This is a funny reason. Promise me you won't laugh."

"Alright."

"I just thought I have to be better than Bert and Annie. I study like crazy at home, you know? I do at least a hundred problems!"

"…Huh?"

"Well, what I'm saying is… those two had always been good at studying. But you see, I'm supposed to be the big brother for them so I did my best to beat them in high school."

"So it means you weren't that smart in you earlier years?"

"Sort of. But it doesn't mean I'm stupid, okay!? I'm just no better than them."

Eren nodded understandingly. So Reiner's key to get a high rank was his determination as a big brother role for Bertholdt and Annie, plus, doing at least a hundred problems.

That's kinda crazy…


"Eh? My studying method…?" Bertholdt asked.

Eren nodded.

Bertholdt knitted his brow, thinking hard. Next, he smiled apologetically, "I think I only listen to the teacher's lecture and then try to do it on my own at home. Listening to teachers is the best way to study, I guess…" he said.

Eren let out a disappointed sigh. He paid attention to the teacher's lecture too, of course. But he couldn't be as good as Bertholdt.

So I guess it's the matter of brains, after all…

Eren assumed that Bertholdt was certainly smarter than Reiner, who probably needed to pull an all-nighter whenever exam was coming.


Eren looked around for Annie and found her sleeping at her desk, burying her face in her arms. She was sitting next to the window, causing the sunlight shone at her, spoiling her with its comfy warmth. Now that he recalled, Annie used to sleep a lot in class, too. But most of the time, the teacher didn't notice her doing it.

"Oi, Annie." Eren shook her softly.

He could hear a soft groan before Annie rose from her position and glared at him, "What do you want?" she asked coldly.

Eren gulped at her scary face. He noted to himself to never wake her up when she's napping next time.

"Err… I just want to ask you about your studying method. You know, exam is in two days, right?"

Annie rubbed her eyes and yawned, "I seriously don't care."

Blinking, Eren spoke up again, "What? I mean, you ranked fourth, didn't you? How did you manage to score that high without studying? Did you pay attention to the teacher's lectures?"

"You're in the same class as me. You should know that I sleep most of the time. I do pay attention once in a while, though. And I usually study the night before exam. I mean, it's not like these school subjects are needed when I work. By the way, what are the exam materials?"

Is she for real!? Eren gasped. Even Mikasa pays attention to the teacher's lectures all the time!

That day, Eren learned that the ranking system in their class wasn't as accurate as it appeared to be.


Reiner slammed the whiteboard multiple times before the whole class paid attention to him.

He cleared his throat, "Alright, guys. I know that our field trip is in a month, but I'll be telling you ahead. Through Christa's dad's connection, we can spend three days and two nights in this snowy mountain while residing in a comfy lodge," he said dreamily and then he wiped the imaginary tear from the corner of his eye, "As expected of the Goddess of our class…"

Most people cheered, but Eren didn't.

"What does Christa's dad do, anyway? He sure got a lot of connections."

"Maybe a mafia boss or something? Who cares?" Connie laughed heartily.

"You can be pretty smart sometimes, Connie," Ymir smirked.

"—Ymir!" Christa tried to stop her from saying unnecessary thing.

"What does that mean?" Connie asked.

"Christa's dad is a mafia boss. So if you ever dare to do anything funny to her, you're going to perish from the face of Earth by the morrow. The name Connie Springer will only remain as history." Ymir said while smirking.

"Ymir!" Christa yelled again, this time, landing a headbutt at Ymir.

"Oopsie, Christa's mad, I need to stop talking." Ymir said as she rubbed her throbbing head.

However, the people who overheard the conversation had started gathering, most of them being relatively shocked that the Goddess of their class belonged to a mafia family, while some of them amazed, especially Reiner.

Christa tried to explain to them that there was nothing special about being a daughter of a mafia boss and convinced them to treat her like usual.


On the fifth period, first years were having their physical examination.

The first to go was the girls. As usual, the guys took this opportunity to talk about the girls while they're away. The first one to speak was Connie.

"Hey, guys, how do you think about Christa's dad's occupation?"

"I think it's cool?" Eren answered.

"Well, I think I just have to be careful when I'm around her from now on. I don't wanna get involved with mafia, alright?" Jean said honestly, as usual.

"But I don't think Christa's the type to tell her Dad everything. I mean, she is independent despite her looks." Reiner defended.

"And Ymir will get rid of anyone who dared to touch Christa so I don't think she needs to tell her Dad." Marco commented.

Everyone nodded at that.

Suddenly, Connie grinned, "Oh well, let's change the subject then!" he clapped his hands. "I've wanted to do this when the girls aren't around!"

"Don't tell me…"

"Yeah! On to the question: Which girl do you want as your girlfriend?"

"Saw that coming…" Eren slapped his forehead.

"Oh, it's okay, Eren. You don't need to participate."

Eren raised a brow, "Huh? Why?"

Waving his hands, Connie smiled mockingly, "I mean, we all know your answer already. It's Mikasa, right?"

"Wait, who gave you the right to decide for me!?"

"I mean, it's just so obvious. Right, guys?"

All the guys nodded, even Jean.

"What!? No—I mean—Mikasa's my sister! Are you all retarded!?"

"Then, you're saying you have another girl you want as a girlfriend?" Jean asked challengingly.

"No, but—"

"See? You have hots for Mikasa, after all!" Reiner laughed.

"I don't—"

"If you really don't, tell us which girl you like." Connie challenged.

Eren stayed silent and jogged his memories, trying to find any girl he's close with. Anyone is okay, as long as he could clear up the misunderstandings. He most definitely didn't see Mikasa that way. He had to think of someone else he'd want as a girlfriend.

When he finally came up with a name, he opened his mouth, "…Annie."

Everyone blinked.


The girls walked back to class in silence. They looked more like defeated soldiers who just came back from a war. Each of their hands gripping a piece of paper—the result of their physical examination—as they let out a long sigh.

Both Mikasa and Sasha walked side-by-side, not letting their eyes off the information written on the result paper showing how much weight they had gain the past year. Mikasa swore inside that she would definitely go into a diet or she would no longer be able to work as a model, while Sasha bitterly made a promise to herself to cut down her potato consumption.

"Come on, Christa, at least you grew a bit." Ymir tried to cheer the blonde up.

"But… But… I gained weight!" Christa buried her face in her palms and sobbed dramatically.

"You gain weight when you get taller," Ymir sighed.

However, even Christa's agony was pale in comparison to Annie's. The other blonde looked as though she was ready to kill herself the next time she saw a knife. She felt like tearing the examination result to pieces so that she didn't have to see it anymore.

Because there, printed after the word height, was the devil number of 153cm.

I stopped growing? She mentally said to herself, overly panicked despite her ever stoic expression.


Meanwhile, the guys were still silent after what Eren had said. However, it didn't last long before Reiner broke into laughter.

"Eren, are you serious? You seriously fell for that midget?" he slammed the table as he laughed. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Eren, is that true?" Bertholdt, who had been quiet since the beginning, asked.

"W, well…" Eren scratched his cheek. I can't back out, now, can I?

"Why don't say you like Ymir instead? You think we're gonna be fooled by that kind of lie?" Jean laughed.

"Who said that's a lie!?" Eren shouted, seriously pissed.

"Now, now, don't start a fight here, guys…" Armin tried to separate them. "What if the girls heard us?"

The second Armin said that, the door opened and the girls came in. Without saying anything, the girls returned to their seats slowly. The guys looked in puzzlement at them, but the girls refused to speak. As the teacher called the guys to the gym, they left the class, still in wonder about the girls' weird behavior after returning from the gym.

Don't tell me they heard us!? was what going on in the guys' heads.


Annie slurped her carton milk that was supposed to serve as her lunch.

"Why do you keep drinking milk for lunch? You never eat properly, Annie."

It was Bertholdt, who had adjusted his desk beside hers. Usually, they would eat with Reiner, but today the class rep had work at the Student Council and had told them to eat without him.

Annie looked at Bertholdt's well-packed lunch.

"I'm too lazy to wake up early and cook lunch. And I'm not fond of the cafeteria's foods."

For some reasons, Bertholdt got fired up, "I'll cook some for you, then!"

Annie blinked at his sudden enthusiasm, "Well, I don't mind… But aren't you troubled? I mean, cooking extra lunch…"

He shook his head forcefully.

"Alright, then…" Annie continued slurping her milk.

"Did you decide to drink milk so that you can get taller, Annie?"

At that, Annie spurted her drink.

Bertholdt instinctively got up from his seat and gently hit Annie's back as she coughed, "Annie, are you alright?" he asked with concern.

"You…" she glared at him as she wiped the liquid with the back of her hand. "When did you start becoming so insensitive? Are you trying to say that I'm short?"

Bertholdt blinked innocently before he smiled, "No, I think Annie is very cute."

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"Yes?"

Annie retrieved a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped her mouth dry. She let out a sigh and told Bertholdt to resume his lunch. Not long after, he spoke up again,

"Annie, don't you think Reiner's a little more cheerful lately?"

"I don't know. Really?"

"Yeah. Ever since you guys made up, he's becoming a lot brighter and happier."

Annie stared at Bertholdt for a while, "You have always been good at watching people, don't you?" Annie saw a sauce stain at the corner of his mouth and rose from her seat to wipe it with her handkerchief, completely unaware of how red Bertholdt's face had become. "You were watching me, too…" she said as she pulled back and returned to her seat.

At that, Bertholdt became frantic, "I… it was because… Annie was a girl. And you always distanced yourself from the class… so I got a bit worried. Unlike Reiner, I'm neither talkative nor courageous. I can't do much for you. All I could do was watching…" he stuttered while trying to hide his blush.

"Hnn…" Annie merely nodded. "So… did you know about those letters, too? You've been watching me, right?" she asked with a straight face.

Actually, he knew. But he didn't want to sound like a stalker. But then again, he didn't want to lie to Annie.

"Y-yeah…" he stuttered again.

Annie nodded again before she took her bag and pulled out the white envelope from it. Bertholdt was wondering what she was doing as she opened the envelope and showed him the letter inside. It was still folded and he couldn't see what was written, but Annie shoved it to him, asking him to read the content.

When he unfolded it, however, his eyes quickly widened and he snapped his head up to Annie.

"I opened it not long ago and I had the same reaction as you. Yesterday, I thought the content of the letter would be the same as usual so I didn't bother to open it. But… you know what it means, right?" Annie said, implying to the contents of the letter.

Bertholdt nodded—too bewildered to talk as he read the contents of the letter.

Written on the white paper was:

I'm sorry I killed your Father


Eren had accompanied Reiner to the Student Council room. However, after the errand was done, the President had told Eren to stay.

"What business might you have with me, kaichou?" Eren asked, ignoring the unpleasant look Rivaille gave him and Hanji's sparkling eyes which were directed at him. Luckily, Irvin seemed to be occupied with some documents and didn't pay much attention to Eren.

"You see, Eren, I heard from a certain source that you like to do something Ackerman isn't capable of doing?"

Eren didn't hesitate to answer that one, "Yes."

"So… I am here to offer you a place in the Student Council. We short a general affairs manager."

Eren gaped, his eyes widening. Despite rejoicing at the request, he still found it a little suspicious. It was not like he underestimated himself, but there were still Mikasa who was a far more suitable candidate than himself.

"But…why me? I mean, there are others who are better than me."

"I have no idea why. This is my decision and I want to see the outcome of this decision. Will you make me proud or will you let me down? I am easily bemused by this question. So, how do you say, Eren Jaeger?" Rivaille gave one of his rare sly smiles.

"Do it, Eren, do it! And then you can always try my experimental drugs and—"

"Clam up, Hanji."

Hanji pressed her lips and sat obediently. "Okay…"

Almost too desperately, Eren bowed, "Thank you for having me!"

Rivaille closed his eyes and nodded, "You better prove yourself worthy of being called someone better than Ackerman."

Eren showed a wide grin, "Yes!"


"…I'm sorry for killing your Father…?"

Both Annie and Bertholdt jumped when they heard Reiner reading the contents of the letter.

"R-Reiner!?" Bertholdt gasped.

Reiner held out his hands, "Whoa, whoa… What are you guys being all tensed for?" Reiner raised a brow. "Is this thing supposed to be a secret from me or something?" he asked.

"No," Annie said as she calmly retrieved the letter from Bertholdt's hand. "I just don't think you would be that much of a help."

"What?" Reiner's eye twitched, clearly annoyed.

"Hey, hey, calm down, you two…" Bertholdt tried to separate them.

"Sorry to disappoint you but I ranked second in the entrance exam! I'm two ranks higher than you! Stop looking down on me with that never-growing height of yours!"

"Huh?" Annie twisted her mouth and glared at the taller man for insulting her height. She rose from her seat and alerted Bertholdt. "What does my height have to do with anything? Just because you're taller than me doesn't mean anything. Bertholdt is taller than you!"

"Eh? Why is my name getting into the conversation?" Bertholdt asked nervously.

"Bert is a world taller than you!"

"Like I said, why is my name—"

"Bertholdt is nicer than you."

"Nicer than you, too!"

"Hey, don't drag my name into the—"

"You start a fight with me just because of this ridiculous prank letter, Annie?" Reiner said when he had quickly taken the paper from Annie's hand, which, she responded by trying to take it back. However, since Reiner was much taller than her, he raised his hand into the air, preventing Annie from reaching the paper.

Annie tiptoed and occasionally jumped in attempt to reach the letter, but as she did so, Reiner kept raising his hand higher. "Don't just start assuming that it's a prank letter," Annie hissed while glaring at the taller man.

"Come on, you two, don't fight here!" Bertholdt turned frantic.

"She started it!" Reiner pointed at Annie with his free hand.

"Huh? If you're not so stupid, none of this would happen."

"See? There you go again, calling me stupid!"

"Shut it, stupid."

"You shut the stupid!"

As they started verbally abusing each other, Reiner didn't notice when someone had taken the paper from his hand. That person was Mikasa, who seemed to have been drawn into the commotion. She read the contents of the letter without much expression.

"What's this?" she asked them.

Realization hit them and the trio gasped at Mikasa. Seeing this as an opportunity since Mikasa wasn't that much taller than her, Annie snatched the paper from the black-haired girl's hand.

"Why are you even here, Mikasa?" Annie asked coldly.

Mikasa lowered her head sadly, "Eren's not back from the Student Council yet…"

Everyone took pity on the half-Oriental girl.

"…I'm so lonely I am in search of some entertainment…" she continued.

"Does this look like an entertainment to you!?" Reiner retorted almost immediately.

"Calm your ass, Reiner." Annie said.

"That's right, Reiner. Right now we should look for the sender first." Bertholdt coaxed.

"What sender, the letter's?" Mikasa asked, tilting her head curiously.

"Bert, you idiot! Why did you mention that in front of Mikasa!?" Reiner shouted.

Annie sighed, "Again, calm your ass, Reiner. I have this under control." She turned to look at Mikasa with her bored eyes, "They're holding a deducting competition, Mikasa. The only ones allowed to participate are the top 5. How is it? You feel like participating? Give us your reasoning as soon as possible."

"Who are they?"

"Stop asking pointless questions."

Mikasa narrowed her eyes at the blonde, irritated. "Oh well, Eren likes competitions. I guess I'll join."

"Sweet. Now go and tell Eren when he's back."

Half-sulking, Mikasa went back to where Armin was. Rolling her eyes, Annie went back to sit and continued her lunch.


"…Eh? You're offered a place in the Student Council?" Mikasa asked, tearing her eyes off her chemistry book and then sat up from her position on the bed.

Eren was sitting on the couch in the living room, which was connected to their bedroom, only separated by a thin curtain, which wasn't closed at the moment, enabling them to see each other. Mikasa got up from the bed and went to sit at the living room, beside Eren.

"Yeah! Isn't that cool?" Eren grinned excitedly.

Her expression shifting from worry to panic, Mikasa leaned forward and shouted in Eren's face, shocking him. "I'm joining too! I can't possibly leave you under that shortie's care, Eren."

"Huh, are you for real?! I'm neither your son nor your baby brother, alright!? How many times have I told you that!?" Eren snapped.

"But, Eren—"

"Shut up! I do what I want!" Eren covered his face with his chemistry book, indirectly saying that he would listen to no more of her nonsense.

Mikasa sighed in defeat and went back to bed. For some reason, she was fond of studying while rolling around on bed. It let her relax and everything she read would just flow into her head like water. And what's more, she could always sleep immediately whenever she felt drowsy.

When she climbed on to the bed, however, she was reminded of what Annie had said that noon.

"Eren?"

"What now?" Eren groaned.

"Today, Annie mentioned something about a deducting competition."

"…A competition?" Eren lowered his book. The word competition had completely caught his interest.

Mikasa gave a slight nod, "Only the top five are allowed to participate, she said."

Hearing the word top five caught Eren's interest yet again. Somehow, knowing that he was one of the top five made him proud. That's right. I can use this as an opportunity to best them! Maybe not Mikasa, but at least I have to defeat one of those three!

The more he thought, the more excited he became. If he won this, he could even prove himself worthy in front of Rivaille-kaichou.

"What do I deduct?" Eren asked.

"Annie didn't give much detail. But from what I heard, they're looking for the sender of a letter."

"What letter?"

"The content of the letter is: I'm sorry for killing your father. Or something of the sort…"

Eren's eyes widened knowingly. As one of the few people who were aware of Annie's past, those words already had a clear meaning on them. But perhaps, for the oblivious Mikasa, these words meant nothing. This could be a perfect chance for Eren to beat Mikasa. He felt bad for taking advantage from his own knowledge to beat her. But well, he didn't think Annie would want him to tell Mikasa about her past so why not?

That night, Eren spent his time deducting instead of studying.

He barely noticed that Mikasa was talking on phone with someone.


The next day, after school, Eren was sitting while grinning proudly in front of the trio: Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie, while Mikasa sat beside him, face stoid as always. He placed pride in his deduction and was confident that he was right on the spot. The trio, however, didn't really take it as seriously as the green-eyed boy did. Sure, they tried to guess who the sender was, but that was it. The three of them had given up halfway and had decided to begin their study instead.

Except Eren hadn't.

"Well, do begin your deduction, Eren." Reiner allowed.

Eren cleared his throat before starting, "First, as you all know, I'm well-aware of Annie's past. Firstly, I apologize…" he bowed.

"Cut the formal language and get to your reasoning already," Annie rolled her eyes in exasperation.


"Turns out, the sender must be that Phoebe girl! I can't think of other possibilities!"

Annie faked applause, "Alright, great deduction. Actually, none of us know the answer so let's finish this quickly. Mikasa, your turn." The blonde pointed at the Asian girl with her chin.

Mikasa nodded and took a step forward.

"Firstly, I shall apologize because—"

Annie groaned, "Do I really have to repeat this? Cut the formal language and—"

"—I already know the sender's true identity…" Mikasa continued.

Eyes widening, Annie practically gaped, "…What?"

Walking toward the door, Mikasa slid it open, revealing two persons standing behind it. The shorter one took a step inside the classroom, all fidgety and nervous. Soon, the taller one followed.

It was now clear who the sender was.

The four of them gulped.

TO BE CONTINUED


Alright, this chapter is very long, I know. I just hope you guys didn't get bored halfway... -_-

Okay! Today's quiz will be—I'm pretty sure you guys already know—"Who is the sender of the mysterious letter?"

Anyone who answers correctly shall be rewarded with a... cyber little!Annie plushie~ *heart*

Anyway, see you next time~