Chapter 34: School – Part 2
Training wasn't as hard as Mikasa had thought. It is hard, yes but she will manage, Armin doesn't look too good but he is a fighter, he always was. He just never got the will to let it out, now with a goal he can do it, just his body needs a while to keep up with it.
The problem is Eren or better Eren has no problem at all in the physical department, he is on top of the class in every category. He runs faster as everyone, can keep going without sweating when others are already on the ground vomiting out their guts. It is mostly her job to stop him and after the first week of very suspicious looks they have the rule, he can go first but he has to look how good Mikasa does and be just a bit better. So when she runs 10 rounds, he is allowed to do 11 in the same time. It was hart to stop the titan-shifter. She understands, keeping yourself from doing your best when all the instructors tell you to do it, is hart.
On the other side are the tactical training and every other school related subject. Eren isn't very good at any of it. He doesn't have to learn all the tactics. Most of them he had already done in practise in his time with the Survey Corps but basics like writing and reading. Armin has to help him when they have to ride up reports or other writing related homework. Eren confessed that he only learned how to read after he came inside the wall with Levi.
The training with Levi is something else. He is rude and demanding. He is unforgiving and everyone who doesn't perform perfect gets to do it again and again until he is happy. Or whatever he feels when they do it right. Mikasa can´t read his moods and she often asks Eren who is far to relaxed about the man everyone else fears, respects but fears anyway.
The story of them getting rescued and brought back spread like wildfire. They told it like Commander Erwin told them to after Eren slipped in his first 3DMG Training by running over to Levi and giving him a hug. Mikasa hadn't try to stop him, she hadn't thought that Eren would do that. After the day of training during dinner Jean asks how they know Levi because Armin and her had to pull Eren away from him and got to talk to the Captain. So, they told them or better Armin told them the story about them getting buried under the debris of their house, Levi finding them and getting escorted back to Trost with the Survey Corps. They all listened, not only Connie and Sasha who sat on their table, but everyone around them also listened. They all know where the three come from. Shiganshina, a synonym for horror and death these days. They try to get the conversation away from the fact that they saw how Eren closed the gate. They just said that the Survey Corps had closed the gate before they were freed. They hadn't seen it. Better lying than getting the truth out.
The food thing was solved easily. The solution is called Sasha. In the first days they shared the food while sitting alone but they are often the first for dinner and they can give it to Sasha when she comes, some of it stays on Armin´s and Mikasa´s plate.
The one thing they can´t control is Eren and his words. Sometimes there are definitive words in his sentences that don't belong there. Not when a human speaks. Like the word human, he even called Captain Levi ´my little human´ and Mikasa was endless thankful that no one else heard it. Eren earned himself a slap on the back of his head for it.
The truth about the military training is that it is the greatest time Mikasa ever head. She is as free as you can be in a world where cruelty is a daily thing, where you are locked away inside walls and where people can be the worst you will ever meet. Here she has friends, something to aim for, training and a purpose for every day. She loves it, even more so that she can share this experience with Armin and Eren. Her family. She had changed their relationship in her head far sooner than she even realizes. Eren and Armin are her brothers and she will fight with them for humanity, for their freedom and for hers. Three years of training suddenly sound far to short for such a precious time. But all three will join the Survey Corps she only hopes that Eren finds what he is looking for during their time. Much isn't left of it.