I do not own Oregairu/ My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected or Attack on Titan/ Shingeki no Kyojin

(Check the Author's Notes for Responses to the Reviews)

Chapter 2

Incomprehensible.

What I was witnessing in front of me was in no way making any sense. Is it possible to have the same vivid dream twice in a row? No… it can't be a dream. A dream can't feel so real. So genuine.

Once again I realized that the wind was doing its utmost best to push me back as my ride sped up. The vivid noises of sobs and wails were increasing in volume and magnitude as time moved forward. As the situation began to set in on my mind. The previous terror and despair I experienced made its grand return in my mind and heart. My eyes couldn't stop the flow of water as my heart grieved with hopelessness

'I know I'm worthless to the core, but what have I done to deserve this?! I wouldn't wish this even on my worst enemies! This is far too cruel! Can anyone hear me!'

I internally prayed for my safety but I knew it was futile. There was no escape from this. No escape from this… hell. Perhaps this is my punishment for not living up to the expectations and aspirations my parents might've set for me? Cursing me for my rotten nature and look? If that's the case, do you think I didn't try, mom? Dad? Don't you think favoring Komachi over-

NO! I can't think like this! How would Komachi feel if she heard my current thoughts? Komachi has always been there for me when I was at my lowest. I… can't do this to her. Is that how I pay back the little sister who has always tried to comfort me? Cheer me up? Woke up early to make me breakfast despite knowing I was capable of that as well? Perhaps I DO deserve this if I get jealous of Komachi's happiness even though she has always looked out for her big brother.

I can feel a familiar pain in my left eye. A force grinding itself against my vision and blocking it. I experienced it beforehand but the excruciating sensation it brought forth was not a bit lighter. I knew what was coming next. I felt matter being released out of my stomach through my mouth as that thought came to my mind.

And in the blink of an eye, I was viewing a headless body riding on a horse just for an instant.

I didn't know where I was at the moment, but the sensation that I felt around my body was very similar to someone drowning in a body of water while being able to breathe as if they were on land. Except it wasn't water I felt myself being enveloped in. It was something, yet nothing. That was the best way my mind could describe this phenomenon.

Although my eyelids were shut tightly, these glimpses of events began playing in front of me. As if I was watching a video, no, skipping through it to get to the main points. Except the video was in reverse. I knew it was rewinding because it started with a glance of an object absorbing flying red liquid as it made its way to a headless body sitting on a horse. And then it was the extra gain of viewing angle to the left. Then the view kept putting distance between the giant ape monster all the way at the front and itself as if it was moving backward. That happened for a couple of minutes before everything went blank.

But what my body or my soul, I couldn't clarify, went through was the pain I felt every time those events occurred in front of my eyes. The pain of my head and eye blowing off, the pain of hopelessness, the pain of bitterness and self-disgust. They ceased to exist within me when the 'video' stopped and disappeared. Then suddenly the blank view flickered. It's like when you turn on a computer and it goes from a pitch-black screen, which indicated it was not on at the moment, to just a different shade of black, which informs you that something went wrong with the display.

THIS POWER IS ONLY FOR THE USE OF YOUR SURVIVAL. NO ONE BUT YOURS. EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF. KEEP MOVING FORWARD, SUBJECT OF YMIR.

I don't know how I understood the message. Nothing was written in front of me. I couldn't hear a voice either. Not even telepathically, despite how crazy it sounds. Actually, I know not how to define crazy anymore. It's like how a message suddenly pops up on a phone, even though I've not had much experience with that in my life. Something popped up in my head and this message was the one I received. These exact words.

And my response to this message? Fine. For most of my life, it's always been me versus everyone else. So this shouldn't be hard, right? I just have to survive on my own. The survival of others does not matter. For a loner and a cynic like me, this task should be simple.

Yet again, the familiar breeze of wind rushing by and the back-forth movement of my upper body made a comeback. This time, I opened my eyes faster than a bolt of lightning. I observed the surroundings that greeted me, which I've slightly grown accustomed to.

Fear still lingered around me. It was inevitable. Fear wasn't that easy to overcome. However, I held something in my possession, something new in this trial that I didn't in my earlier ones.

Determination. Determination to make it through this ordeal. To survive. This was a clear goal in my mind. I tried to shift my focus on that rather than the fear that made itself home in me.

When the first batch of rocks was thrown, the fear that grasped my mind accelerated to its peak. My heart was beating faster than the speed of light. But I tried to focus on the tiny bit of determination that managed to reach me before. With that, I moved ahead and entered the space where soldiers were chopped up. There were blood, organs, skewered limbs, and torn bodies of both humans and horses in the space I occupied. Knowing that my eye was one of the next targets in the upcoming attack, I willed my ride to move to the right.

The dust from the next throw's rocks managed to find its way into my eyes, blocking my vision for a couple of seconds. Those couple of seconds were enough time to catch me off guard.

Screams didn't waste their time to escape my throat when I felt my left eye being pierced by a long and pointed slab of stone. Along with crimson liquid streaming down my currently aching left cheek, I also noticed this gel-like substance doing the same, mixing with the blood right around my chin.

'My eye! It got stabbed this time! Now I know there's no way I could see out of it anymore! No...NOOOOOOO!'

Survive.

I ignored my panics and pain to only have the thought of survival in my mind. I gritted my teeth through the injury and fear and moved forward, dodging the third 'Pitch' from that monkey bastard. I just need to make sure I'm alive, with my whole body or not. The other fools can go charge themselves to their deaths. I'll keep moving to the right and clear out of this madness.

I don't know why, but I suddenly looked to my left. Perhaps I wanted to see this carnage one last time. Then I saw it. Saw the looks of despair the other soldiers had. I see this blonde girl, around Komachi's age, crying her heart out. Then it hit me. What if Komachi was here instead of me? How would I feel if I knew she was going through the same thing as I did and yet no one helped her out? Going against my inner instinct to make it out of here alive, I moved to the left and grabbed the tiny girl with my left arm. I lifted her with strength I never knew I had and put her in front of me, on her stomach facing the ground

Her shriek of surprise was only heard by me and I went back to my previous course. Now I realized that I didn't have it in me to let everyone else die. I thought I was so rotten and selfish and yet this part of humanity that I had never left me. The girl in front of me was just shedding the tears of terror and dismay while I kept moving to the right. I knew that I would probably risk my life again if I look back so I just shut my eyelids and focused on running away with the guest I had grabbed.

It was so quick and sudden, my mind registered my state a moment later. I felt these hard yet fleshy objects wrapping around my body and lifting me up. My entire body save for my head was being squished out. It was as if someone wanted to empty out a toothpaste tube and do their utmost best to squeeze out the toothpaste, Only, in this case, I was the tube and my body and flesh were the toothpaste. However, when I looked up, I could see who was the one trying to get all the toothpaste out.

The cause of my body's compression greeted me with a very disturbing grin. The features were similar to a short neck-length and dark brown-haired female. It was one of those normal-looking giant human monsters that stood next to the ape-looking one. I was visibly getting nearer to the face of the monster. When I see the teeth parting as I got closer, the realization set in within me.

'It's...gonna eat me. I'm gonna be eaten! It's gonna chew me and then swallow me too! NO! Please no! Anything but this!

"Somebody… save me! Help! Help! HEEEEEELPPPPPP!" by the time I realized that I was yelling out the end of my thoughts, my head was already between its teeth. I could feel pressure from both sides of my head. The skin being cut off as the pressure increased and the bleeding started to happen. My head felt like it was being reshaped between two stone slabs pushing against each other. Then suddenly something pops out of my working eye right before I lose my entire vision. That was the last thing I remember before returning to my 'pocket dimension'.

I was back in action. Right after reviewing what happened to me last time and reliving the experiences I felt at those moments. Just like last time. When I was being eaten and I begged for help, yet nobody came, it hit me hard. That was the peak of the helplessness I felt the entire time I've been going through this… dream. I can't even differentiate if what I was witnessing was a dream or an unfortunate reality.

A chuckle escaped my throat. It then turned into a few giggles and BAM! I was laughing my heart out. Oh lord! This… is amazing! Those other fodders! They always die and stay dead! Every time the timeline is in rewind! I'm the only one with the privilege of having memories of my previous timelines! I can even tell how they're gonna die! If I try to notice, at least! I can reduce their pain and anguish by telling them how exactly they're gonna die! Huh! Bow down to me you peasants! Can't you realize I'm the special one?

A few heads turned towards my location, watching me with widened eyes. I couldn't tell if it was out of fear or bafflement. Well, who's stopping you? Keep your gazes on me. Show me how much you respect me out of fear! Or am I getting the wrong idea here? Can they even tell what's going on with me?

I've been through so much over the last couple of moments. I… truly want to die now. Please, can I? I've shed so many tears and yelled out so many screams that I ran out of them. I've also run out of fear. So what else can I do? What other way can I express my frustration and devastation? Amusement was the only option left for me at this point.

Still laughing, I failed to remind myself that my left eye was soon getting crushed. At this point, I didn't give a shit. Go ahead. Rip out my body, shred it to pieces. Burn me from the inside out. Boil me and my severed limbs in sizzling blood. Do whatever. Just let me die. I've had enough. I've had enough with this… and with society. With my stupid 'dead-fish' eyes.

Do you think it was my choice? I DIDN'T GET TO CHOOSE HOW I LOOKED! I DIDN'T CHOOSE THIS TO HAPPEN AFTER I DIE! I HATE THIS! HATE EVERY PART OF MY BEING! WHY AM I IN THIS SITUATION!? DON'T YOU THINK I'VE HAD ENOUGH!? DON'T YOU THINK I'VE SACRIFICED MYSELF ENOUGH!? ENOUGH TO MAKE SURE THAT OTHERS DON'T GET THE SHORT END OF THE STICK?! DON'T...you think it's time that I get the peace and relief I deserve? Please, whoever is the cause for this, listen to my wish! This is the only thing I want! A death that I can never return from!

My horse suddenly tripped as a big chunk of rock smashed against its face. The blood and brain matter splashed against my face. I could taste the iron from the blood and a leathery taste from the brain remains as I kept laughing. As soon as I crashed on the ground, I was getting stomped on by the riders behind me. I could feel every bone in my body being reduced to smithereens. The hooves stepped on every part of my body, even managing to fully blind me when one of those stepped on and took away my good right eye.

I couldn't release the tears since my eyes were gone but the sobs wouldn't stop coming. My laughter was all gone now. Special? Me? I probably have it the worst out of all of them. At least they don't have to relive their death right after passing over. And then go back at the start. Then I started remembering how lonely and helpless I felt on my previous death. Is this the way everyone else felt when I left them to die?

SPLAT!

I couldn't feel the sensation of my lower body any longer. Guess one of those rocks managed to divide me in half. Heh.

I didn't count how many times I died after that. But I do remember that I was eaten by the giant monsters three times. And in every single one of my tries, I always end up losing my left eye for some reason. I tried to rescue as many people as I can, but it always ends in my death. I didn't know what the clue or key was to this.

Oh, yes. I was treating my life as a game now. How sickening. I was already used to the different kinds of pain and have been accustomed to these harmful sensations. Though I am not a masochist since I do not take pleasure in it.

I suddenly remember the message I was given before my third try. Or was it second? It matters not.

'SURVIVE'

This power was entrusted to me so I could focus on my own survival. The survival of my… partners matter not regarding how this power worked. It wasn't my obligation to ensure the survival of as many as I could.

'EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF'

That sentence still lingers around my head. Did that mean I couldn't save anyone that was fated to die? I remember saving this tanned and raven-haired guy by pushing him away from an incoming rock. Then the wind breezed through and the rock managed to make a donut out of me. That was really unexpected at the time. The rock just defied the laws of physics at that moment.

I was either moving over to parallel universes that have the same exact events happening as the ones I've already resided on, or I am rewinding time in the same universe. And the trigger for that is my demise. So all I had to do was watch out for my own survival? And leave everyone to their deaths?

That… doesn't sit well with me. Their deaths will basically be on me if I know how they can survive yet I don't do anything with that information. The blood will be on my hands. I'm not better than that monkey bastard if I'm just letting these people die while having the knowledge of it.

This… I have to make a decision. Do I just keep letting myself die over and over again? Or do I ignore the rest and make a route for my own survival. Why am I feeling guilty over this? It's my life. I can be selfish. That's how I've always been. I've always fought against the world by myself. And Komachi supported me whenever she could. This shouldn't be too hard.

Yet the guilt. The fact that I could prevent these but I'm only saving myself disgusts me. I'm indirectly letting them reach their deaths, which is the same as taking their lives. I couldn't make a decision. I… didn't have a choice. This was do or die for me. It's selfish but I have no choice other than to let them die and save myself. This power only works for my own survival.

With a deep breath, I grit my teeth after the stone takes out my left eye as usual. I only focused on one thing, which was making it out of here alive. With no regard to the other riders. It was very hard for me to ignore all the yells and cries of despair and hopelessness, but I had to push through. I was done with dying. I've had enough. The picture of Komachi and that tiny girl I saved around the beginning danced around my mind. It almost caused me to change my plans. The keyword, 'almost'.

With the patterns and information I remember from my previous lives, I began twisting around the dying soldiers and always found myself in a gap. I remembered to not venture off to the deep right unless I wanted to become a quick snack. The screams of death and horror agonized my mind. Along with the fact that I was letting them die while knowing how I could save some of them. It sickened me to the core but I had to do what I had to do.

My body suddenly hit the ground as a rock ran through my horses, getting him out of the game immediately. I just closed my eyes, expecting to join my ride soon. As time kept passing by and no more attacks came, my curiosity grew. I knew it was stupid of me, but I opened my eyes to observe why I was still alive.

The sight that greeted me was one of satisfaction. Absolute satisfaction. I don't think I've felt this satisfied in a while. Matter of fact, never in my life have I had the sensation of such intense contentment in my life. That aped bastard was getting chopped up by a soldier of small stature, using the grapple hooks with some sort of metal cable attached to them. He reminded me of Batman at that moment. He also carried two blades, which I had to guess was made of steel. He was utilizing that to have aerial mobility and much higher velocity, which was the reason why the hairy monster was getting cut up. The short soldier finished him off with countless slashes at its neck, which just looked like blurs to me.

The next part shocked me to my core. Out of the now cut-out neck came… a human? This bastard had blonde hair and a bushy beard. Those are the only visible characteristics from my angle. And my one eye. This wasn't making sense. This whole time, you mean to tell me that the massacre that I just escaped, which I also made no effort to resist for the sake of others despite having the knowledge to do so, was caused by this man? What kind of human are you? How can you kill so many people?!

I… was no better. I didn't do anything to stop their deaths either. I just ran off saving my own ass while letting the others die. I can't judge this man.

I-If… If he was able to become one of these monsters, does that mean others could too? How was this possible? What was the requirement to get this power? Were there any consequences? Can I get any power like that?

N-No… the blonde bastard just got saved by another one of his kind, which had a very long face. Are you kidding me? Hey soldier! Why did you take so long to kill him? Forget interrogation or whatever! Don't you realize how many lives of your people he just took right now?! My anger was reaching past its limit. If he wouldn't kill that piece of shit, then I would do it myself.

Despite the aching around my limbs and ribs, the stinging feeling on my blinded left eye, I slowly trudged my way forward. I was gonna kill him, no matter what it takes. I felt my rationality leaving as it began getting enveloped by my immense hate and animosity towards that blonde man. He was the reason why I died most of the times and lost my vision in my left eye.

However, I see obstacles in front of me. And that strong soldier, who I realized had black hair and a look of annoyance. His face was covered in blood and grime. My anger hadn't left my mind as I passed him and made way for my target. I could feel his gaze on my person. And I sent my gaze towards the foe that were getting in my way. More and more of the fodder giant monsters were coming towards me. Some were doing these silly movements while having these mocking grins on their faces. Did they think this was funny? It was funny getting in my way?!

With a roar, and out of instinct, I shot those grapple hooks towards the shoulder of the one which was ahead of me. I then feel the other soldier zip past me, going after the next one of these monsters. Once I pressed on the lower button of the hooks, my body zoomed forward with the greatest speed I have ever experienced in my life.

I let my anger and instincts guide me as I unhooked the grapple from the monster's shoulders. I shot myself towards its right eye, the one closest to my location, and jammed the two blades I had in there with as much force as I could muster up. In response, it moved its head without a pattern. Before its movements affected my position, I yet again unhooked the grapple and shot the hook in its right leg. I made sure to pick up two new blades and jam them on its cheek before gliding down to my new target.

I could feel the weapons slicing the beast as I moved downwards with tremendous speed. I could see how my efforts managed to make two long slices of this monster as the cut apart gaps in its body sprayed blood. I then also noticed steam covering the eye I injured previously, which looked perfectly fine now. I figured that the only weak spot this thing had was its nape, from what I observed with the blonde man that could transform into one of these. Prior to traveling to my new location, which was the neck area, I took the blades out of the sliced positions and made my way towards my new aim.

Just as I reached the bottom of its spine, I yet again thrust the blades into its flesh. I let the rope do its work as I moved upwards and created two new giant gashes on its back. As soon as I reached my new destination, I immediately forced my two swords in its nape. The giant humanoid monster shook its head around in pain while I held my ground using the handles of my blades. It finally slipped and fell face-down.

It was now on the ground, with me on its back standing firmly. With a yell, I pulled the two bladed weapons out and mercilessly began slashing at its nape, doing my best to impersonate the soldier I observed earlier. After a few seconds, one of the blades snapped from its handle but it didn't stop my actions. I then held the only sword I had in my possession with both of my hands and continued my onslaught. The yells of anguish and anger didn't stop leaving my throat as I kept up my assault.

I didn't know for how long I kept attacking it. But I realized that I was able to take it out when steam surrounded my body. With my only eye, I realized that I was standing on the ground, with patches of grass being cut out right below my viewing angle. Also, the fact that the blade I was using had been snapped. I paused my actions as I stared down at the field. Tears freely flowed from my eyes in relief. Relief and guilt, when I realized how many deaths I let happen.

"Is anyone else alive out here?" a male voice screamed out from a distance. I turned my head towards its location and I was met with the appearance of a familiar face of a brown-haired teen. He was limping on his way to my location. I recognized him as one of the soldiers that's always near me whenever I restart this… dream. I was shocked to see someone other than myself to be breathing at the moment. I thought all of them were gone. But here was one. One of the two lucky survivors from that carnage.

When he made eye contact with me, his eyes widened in shock and surprise. Then tears also pooled up around his eyes as he increased his moving speed. Once he was near me, he threw his around my neck and held me in an emotional embrace. I was stunned by his act. Only Komachi ever hugged me like this. So to receive a hug from someone other than my sister caught me off guard and left me confused. What do I do in this situation? Do I get him off of me?

"T-Thank goodness! I'm not the only one!" he yelled out while his tears soaked the shoulder of my dirty jacket.

It's then that I realize that he was kind of in the same boat as me. Out of every single one of us, we were the only ones that came out alive, probably. The immense guilt he must've felt over this fact definitely weakened his emotional barriers if he has any. Even though he most likely hasn't had his death repeated or whatever like me, his own survival might've just forced him to believe his own worthlessness and shattered any kind of pride if he had it before this ordeal. For the first time since I've entered this hell, I can find someone who I could somewhat relate to. So my arms moved on their own and returned the embrace that he enveloped me with. We finally separated after a couple of seconds, or else it would've been very awkward and weird between us.

'Can't believe I did that. Oh man, imagine if Ebina saw the both of us,' I internally sighed at my decision. It was kind of funny as to how I could think about those stuff after what I've been through.

I look at the guy who just cried his heart out not so long ago. Besides the obvious injury on his lower body due to me watching him limp his way over, he honestly looked fine. Also, what's up with that flustered expression? He was even looking away like he was in front of his crush or something. Now that I'm out of worries and adrenaline, also adding anger to that, I began to notice the sharp pain in my ribs and left eye area. Also, the exhaustion and aching over my entire body seemed to finally take its toll on me. I suddenly collapsed, alerting the guy near me.

"M-Miss! Do you need me to help you move around?" he offered in a quiet voice, completely baffling me. Miss? I know that I wasn't really able to see how I looked in that 'rewinding chamber' after my deaths, but a female? I knew for sure that I was a male. What else explained the...uhh...package between my legs, goddamnit? With my remaining eye, I shot him the meanest glare I could manage. It definitely worked, as I saw him flinch.

"I'm a man," I spoke with the deepest voice I could use in that moment and an annoyed tone. For an instant, the size of his eyes grew in surprise before returning to his vulnerable pose and appearance like he wore when he greeted me with his person.

"I… apologize for my incorrect assumption," he spoke before hesitantly adding on, "Do you want me to help you walk?" I immediately shook my head in the negative.

"I can move fine on my own. You're in terrible condition yourself," I stood up shakily and stopped myself from crashing into the ground again. Barely. The wince on my face was absolutely describing the condition my body was in. The other guy still took my arm on his shoulder while putting his on mine. I didn't make any effort to stop him from doing so.

Both of us walked in utter silence as we leaned on each other for support. We sometimes made a stop at some bodies that looked intact, which meant a very few of them. The guy beside me checked their pulses but none of them were in the living world anymore. It was futile, I figured. The gloomy presence between us was increasing its magnitude as we kept dragging our feet ahead and meeting nothing but failures in our attempt to discover more survivors.

The results of my experience and observation began circling my mind. I knew I wasn't speaking Japanese with my 'comrade', but I still understood the language. And I knew for a fact that it wasn't English either. What the hell? Am I really an Isekai protagonist now? This was incredible. Actually not. Not even Zaimokuza would wanna be in my shoes right now. And how the hell was I able to beat that monster just by following my instincts? Wasn't I supposed to be some sort of fodder or whatever? Or was this an Isekai Protagonist perk? Welp, I didn't ask for this shit and I would gladly give up everything, especially my memories ever since Hiratsuka Sensei ran me over with her Aston Martin, just to go back to my uninteresting, worthless, and lonely high school life.

This other guy still wasn't giving up. Maybe I should ask for his name? Matter of fact, is my name still Hachiman Hikigaya? Or do I have a different name? I mean, all of the people I've seen in this world had features similar to Westerners from my world. Even my own skin tone, which I've seen from my hands, was slightly tanner than the other survivor I just met. I haven't encountered a single Oriental person yet. And this thought almost escaped my memories, but why the hell did he assume that I was a woman? I still haven't caught a look at my own face so far. Was it possible that I as a male had way too many feminine features? Like Totsuka? Oh no! Someone like me does not deserve to have looks like that Angel! Although I did feel this extra weight hanging on the back of my head. A ponytail, perhaps?

Okay, he is taking too long. Can we just leave and get some medical attention already? Nobody else is alive. He probably knew that too but he maybe wanted some comfort in knowing that there were more who made it like us.

"There's a pulse. The Commander is still alive," his abrupt words brought me out of my pondering. I looked at the Commander and a brush of anger swept over my emotions. This was the guy who led all of us to our doom, including his own. I could see the wound on his torso, where the blood entirely soaked his white shirt. Blood wasn't the only thing he lost from that wound, for sure. An intense desire for revenge was boiling my mind.

I still had my damaged sword left from my attacks earlier, in case I, unfortunately, ran into another issue. I was gonna end this piece of shit for what he made us go through. Without any rational thinking, I walked ahead and past my companion to ram the weapon on his head. As soon as I raised it, a hand reached out and ceased me from continuing my actions. I looked at the other soldier, whose eyes were widened as if he made a sudden realization.

"Don't get me wrong, I wanna kill this bastard too for making us good-for-nothings die like that. But then it'll be too easy for him. Don't you think?" His statement caused my anger to wash away and made me disgusted at myself. How can I attempt to kill a human being, no matter what kind of people they were, so easily? This wasn't a monster, but a human. I suddenly had the urge to empty my guts, but I forced myself to hold it in.

I brought my blade back to the utility belt and put it inside its holder. I still wasn't completely convinced that I was safe.

"I've been thinking a lot. This man… he just proved why he was called a devil among the Military members. And we successfully defeated our enemy because of his insane plan. And if we want to save humanity, only someone like him could do that. If we kill him right now, we're just giving him an easy way out. If he is a human, he would have at least a shroud of guilt for the number of deaths he has on his hands. He needs to suffer for that," his explanation brought a realization to me. The Commander and I were similar in many ways. We both have so much blood in our hands. I let those soldiers die so many times in all of my trials while his tactics killed off the same soldiers. Even more from what this guy's statements implied. The thought of us having any kind of similarity seemed sick but I knew that it was the truth.

"He's gonna die anyway. Let's just go," I said with a monotonous tone. He then looked at me as if I was an alien or something.

"What are you saying? He needs to realize how big of a devil he is! And our military is doomed without someone like him! It's twisted, but Commander Erwin is the only one who can save us! We'll take him to Captain Levi and use the Titan serum on him! " he shouted passionately.

"Titan...serum?" I asked in a confused manner. He again gave me a look of bewilderment.

"Don't you remember? Captain Levi has the serum! It looks like the Colossal Titan was somehow taken down! We take Erwin and have him eat the Colossal Titan's possessor and become a Titan shifter!" I had no idea what he was talking about but some of this was making sense. I just learned the Commander's name, no idea if it was the first or last one, which was Erwin. Titan shifter means humans who could become those monsters or Titans as his information indicated. And there was a serum for that to happen, which was apparently held by some Captain Levi. But what I was confused about was the Colossal Titan part. What did he mean by eating the current possessor? Didn't anyone become a transformer just by taking in the serum? I decided not to pry anymore and observe my own eyes, or eye I should say, from now on.

Without any more words being spoken, he began to tear the green cloak that the Commander had into long and thin pieces. After tearing the whole thing apart, he approached the body of the Commander and crouched down on his knees before starting to put the unconscious man's arms around his shoulders and picking up both of his legs by putting his hand under the Commander's knees. I got the idea of what he was trying to do now.

"Can you please tie our bodies together?" I wordlessly nodded and grabbed the torn cloth pieces. Then one by one, I wrapped it around both of their bodies and bound them together. Once I was done, he slowly stood back up. He wobbled for a second but firmly stood his ground at the end. I then offered my shoulder to him. He gave me a nod of appreciation and surprised me by holding out a piece of paper. It looked very worn down and crumpled to me.

"It fell out of your pocket," he explained to clear away my perplexity. I grabbed the paper from him and it had three words written on it.

'SURVIVE, ARTHUR - MOMMA'

Ah, so my name was Arthur? That takes care of a lot of worries. Now I didn't have to go through the pain of finding out what I went by in this world. I could read this foreign language too. However, it didn't surprise me this time since I figured this is some of the other protagonist perks. And why was this paper crumpled? It seemed like a suicide note to me if I'm being honest. If this was some type of memoir of my 'mom' in case she was dead or something, then it was honestly a relief. I wouldn't really have to interact with people while pretending I'm a part of their family. That was even a bigger relief.

"Sorry, um, Arthur? I never introduced myself. I'm Floch Forster," the man, who now I know as Floch, brought me out of my inner monologue. I shook the hand that he offered me.

"Nice to meet you, Floch. I'm Arthur," I returned the greeting without any enthusiasm. Those were the last words exchanged between us before I let Floch guide me to our next destination.

We traveled by foot for around 15 minutes. Floch leaned on me while carrying Commander Erwin the entire way. The exhaustion and aching were getting to me now. I also began to feel slightly lightheaded. The good thing was that the bleeding from the wound of my left eye stopped as the blood clogged and dried up without me even realizing it. That was good. And it was careless of me to not notice this earlier. Death from blood loss and restarting this whole madness is something I want to stay away from as far as possible.

We finally reached a place of importance, at least that's what it is from the conclusions of my observations. We were standing in front of a massive wall. Its height was over three times the height of that Ape Titan we just faced off, at least in my opinion. I looked a bit to the left and noticed that from the lower portion of the wall, which was still around half the height of the Monkey Titan, strange crystals were forming. I wanted to ask but if I was also supposed to know about this, I might raise suspicion in Floch regarding me. So to avoid that, I kept the curiosity I had to myself.

Floch released his arm from my shoulders and grabbed the handles of his grapple on his utility belt. I watched as he stopped abruptly and looked at the canister attached to the grapple device. A frown grew on his face after he checked out the canister.

"Arthur, do you have any more gas left in your ODM gear? If you do and the amount is little, no worries. I'll carry both you and the Commander at once. My leg will be fine," he requested. I was gonna give him the canister, which looked like it had half of the gas left give or take a little until something caught my eye.

"Hey, it seems like Erwin's gear is in pretty good condition. Why don't you take his one if it has any gas left?" I suggested. He made a look of realization before checking the blonde man's 'ODM gear'. He let out a sigh while weighing the canister. He then sent me an expression of appreciation.

"Good thinking," he complimented me as he started attaching the canister to his own device. I replied with a nod while eyeing the process of his actions. If I was in the military of this world, there was a chance that I might need to do this again, if I'm not allowed to resign of course. My hopes on that expectation were not that high, to be honest.

Floch released the hook-connected wires from his grapple and it landed around the middle of the wall, if I had to guess. He then shot forward in an instant while leaving me behind in the dust. I then tried to remember what I did during that frenzy against the Titan I killed. I could remember only parts of it but I remembered that pressing the top button will make the grapple shoot forward and pressing the lower button will do the opposite. So I took a deep breath and focused on my instincts as I pressed the top button and flew forward. I felt the force of wind trying to push me back but I held on while focusing on my instincts.

The view of the barrier was nearing me as the seconds passed. Right when my feet were about to make contact with the wall, I pressed the lower button while pulling on the grapples with a bit of force. For a second or two, I was without any kind of support in the air. Just as gravity started to pull me down, I shot the hooks forward, all the way to the top of this huge wall. I then reeled myself next to Floch with ease. The adrenaline finally left me. I almost would've crashed to my death if I didn't let my instincts guide me.

From the surface on the top of the wall, I could see what awaited us next. It looked like we were about to enter a town, no, a village would be more appropriate to describe it. However, the place looked like it's been through a lot. Most of the homes were rubbles now. The ones intact looked like they have been abandoned for quite a time. Patches of grass were growing on the road, indicating that no civilization had been here for a while. To the left of my viewing angle, I could see some people on the roof of a house, garbed in the same outfit as me. I recognized the short soldier, the strong one who took down that blonde shifter with ease.

Floch quickly took a dive and sped towards that rooftop, with the Commander's body attached to his back. I followed suit and did the same, relying on my instincts yet again. As I moved, however, I was hit with this sharp pain in my head. It didn't throw me off of my course but I did manage to reach the rooftop, although I stumbled a bit. I stood next to Floch as he began laying the now freed body of Erwin and took a glance around. The short man threw me a recognizing gaze as soon as we made eye contact.

To the far end, near the edge of the roof, I noticed a body of someone, or at least the upper portion of their body since their limbs were chopped off. Then in front of that body stood a neck-length and black-haired female. Her appearance stunned me since she was the first Japanese-looking person I've met so far. I immediately wanted to interrogate her but what if Japan didn't exist here? The thought brought nothing but dread in me. I quickly shook my head off to ignore that negative feeling. Also, she had this dangerous aura despite looking devastated right now.

Then near the strong soldier, I discovered a body, although it was as black as charcoal at the moment. Now the strong smell of burning made sense. I felt like throwing so many times ever since getting here that this intense odor didn't bother me anymore. Then next to the burned body, I looked at the guy, who is probably a couple of years younger than me, with short brown hair and emerald eyes, had a visage of desperation on him like that Japanese woman. His eyes strangely reminded me of a certain Fire Queen from my actual world, the last person I had made interaction with before I was thrown in this torture chamber.

I finally noticed the metal box the strong guy was holding onto. I then remembered what Floch told me earlier. Then my observations and the information I gained started to connect with each other.

'Is that Captain Levi perhaps?'

I notice Captain Levi, at least that's who I assume he is, suddenly getting up from the crouching position near the roasted body and making his way towards us. As he finally gets near, to the body of Erwin at least, he yet again crouches down and checks if the man is breathing or not. I finally know the answer to that as he starts to open up the metal box, revealing a syringe and some sort of solution in a small bottle made of glass.

'Titan serum?'

The brown-haired guy gained a look of disbelief at the Captain's actions. He suddenly jerked up and began stomping towards our direction with anger now being visible on his face as well. He stood between us with his back towards us, facing Levi directly. The short man didn't have any reaction to the development as he kept his blank face while looking back at the teenager.

"Y-You… You said you'll use it on Armin! What do you think you're doing?!" he shouted at the short man.

"Erwin is breathing. He's alive. The situation is different now," was the response from the black-haired man. I see the situation now. I'm guessing the one in charge is Levi and now he had to make a decision as to who was staying alive and also receiving the ability to turn into one of these monsters.

"Eren! Look past your emotions dammit! You're not the only one with them! All of us died in that attack except for us two! I may be a coward, but I have emotions too! So does this guy next to me! So did everyone else that died! You don't know how angry I am at the Commander for what he did, but… I'm willing to ignore that as long as we are victorious! He's the only one who can save humanity!" an emotional outburst from Floch gained the intense stare of the now named Eren. I haven't spoken a word but I understand my comrade's view. If this was the best way to get results, then so be it. I won't be voicing it, but I also think Erwin should be revived. My hatred and sense of revenge for that man's actions played a role in my mind as I wanted him to live on with guilt for leading all of those soldiers to their deaths. I wasn't really any better either, since I also didn't stop them from dying despite knowing how to for most of them.

"You're in my way, brat. We're running out of time," the one I'm referring to as Levi spoke with a tone of finality. When the said 'brat' didn't make any efforts to follow the orders, he received a blow right to his face, courtesy of the Captain. Eren went flying all the way to the opposite side of the limbless body, almost dropping off of the rooftop.

The Japanese-looking female gained a look of crazed and directed it right at the Captain. Even though it wasn't sent to me, the glare even shook me to the core. With a ferocious yell, she leaped at the short man and straddled him with a blade to his neck while her free hand grabbed the serum box. I was stupefied at the sudden progression.

'H-How did he get taken down so easily? He was the one who took out that Ape bastard with ease! He even killed the fodder ones after I started attacking the first on the line. If… If it wasn't for him, I would've become a titan food since he took out the rest of them. So why is such a strong person being held at his death door without any difficulty? W-Wait, I can't forget that he's a human too! Just like me! He must be even more exhausted than I am! I… I need to do something!'

I attempted to move forward with new determination and separate the hold this girl had on the short soldier. However, the keyword was attempted. I was hit with this vertigo out of nowhere, which made me trip. The last thing I remember looking at was the dirty rooftop and hearing my name being yelled before darkness took over my mind.

Author's Notes:

Thank you for reading the next chapter of this new fic. I will now reply to the reviews I've received in the first chapter.

Sarah9730: No, it's not really that. However, I did contemplate giving Hachiman this ability.

Echonic: Thank you very much for your kind words!

WispInABottle: Thank you! It's my pleasure!

FuryRooster: You have my gratitude! Tatakae!

123ABIR123: Thank you very much for the support! It only raises the confidence I have regarding my writing!

worrierfierce: I appreciate the support and confidence boost!

gayleforclyde: Hey! Thank you for the review! The setting of the intro is in the second part of the third season, around episodes 3-5 from what I remember. And regarding your second question, all I'll say is that the Oregairu cast will make an appearance later on in the story :) And the idea of making a separate story does sound interesting! Thank you for the support and suggestions!

Ytrio: Thank you very much for giving this a read!

Fernando917: Welp, you're meant to suffer if you're in the AOT world. And thanks for reading the fic!

ArmantusCumPinnae: Hmm, maybe you're onto something? Thank you very much for giving the story a try!

Toolazytologin: Thank you for the support! And as I replied to a review earlier, the Oregairu cast will show up later on in the story :)

Hachiman fan: Maybe you're onto something as well :) And thank you for the support! Stay safe and healthy!

You guys probably have an idea of what Hachiman looks like in the AOT world but his full appearance will be revealed in the next chapter. Please feel free to point out any grammatical errors and if the characters are OOC. It only helps me as a writer. Other than that, that's all for today.

Stay safe and take care!