Notes:

Thank you for following and favoriting(?) this fanfiction! So, here ya go, the new chapter!

DISCLAIMER
Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama

CHAPTER 2: GOOD MORNING

Mikasa stirred in her sleep, as a sting of light burned her closed eyes. Slowly, she opened up her eyes and saw a blurry figure of a lady staring at her.

Since when did Nifa wear a purple dress? Also, wasn't Nifa a red head, not a brunette?

Wait, Nifa didn't wear glasses.

Mikasa immediately sat up, her eyes widened at the sight in front of her. She was greeted by a cheerful 'Good Morning, Miss Ackerman!' from the not-so-blurry-anymore figure.

It was the governess.

She looked over to search for Nifa, who was standing near the governess with a cup of tea in her hand. Nifa looked as confused as her.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, but today is your first day of learning." She gestured her hand to Nifa, "That's why I prepared you a special morning tea, I hope you like it."

Nifa gave Mikasa the tea which she took with caution. Mikasa could feel the warmness slowly travel from the cup toward her hands. She looked over at the two ladies, and she could see Hange giving her an encouraging look while Nifa giving her an awkward smile.

The tea smells nice— so it wasn't poisonous, at least.

After glancing backward and forward from the cup to the governess, Mikasa finally took a sip.

As the warm liquid entered her mouth, she could taste the sweet honey and mild flavor of the tea. She could feel every fibre of her muscles starting to loosen up.

"How was it?" The governess asked.

"Good," she murmured in between her sips. The tea was indeed good, it tasted and smelled florally with a hint of mint aftertaste that woke her up.

"I'm glad!" The governess said with a bright smile, "My mother used to make it for me every morning. It's calming but at the same time it kicks you just enough to get through the day."

Mikasa nodded.

"I was worried that they didn't have this particular tea, but I was dead wrong. There's an entire pantry fully stocked with various teas! This household had enough tea for a lifetime, even more!" The governess made an exaggerated gesture with her hands, showing that she was truly amazed by the tea pantry.

Mikasa hummed. His cousin has a tea company, so it didn't surprise her.

"Well then, because this is your first day, you get to choose what we will learn this morning!"

Mikasa looked at her governess with furrowed brows.

"I'm serious." The governess said again, as if trying to convince her that she was indeed serious. Although with that bright smile of hers, she just looked funny.

She was never once asked about 'what she wanted to do' ever since she lived in this manor.

Mikasa wanted to answer, I don't know. Because, she genuinely didn't know.

But, she could tell that this lady was trying her best to impress her. So, she should return the favor, at least.

"I think piano would be nice," she whispered the first thing that came into her mind.

"THEN, PIANO IT IS!" She exclaimed loudly, almost giving Mikasa a heart attack.

There's enough wake up call for one morning, she thought.

"Alright then, I'll leave you to Nifa! I'll wait for you at breakfast, and after that we'll do piano! See you later!"

She really stormed her way through her actions and words, because in a blink of eyes, she disappeared from her room.

Mikasa blinked.

What just happened?

Mikasa glanced at Nifa.

Nifa gave her a weak laugh, "Would you like a second, Miss?"

Mikasa looked at her empty cup before nodding at Nifa, "Yes, please."

The governess lady couldn't stop talking at breakfast. She talked about the squirrel she saw from her bedroom window, about how she almost got lost in the manor, and about the time during her childhood where she fell from climbing a tree.

It was very noisy.

It felt a little jarring to Mikasa, because usually she would eat in silence, with only Nifa standing by her side.

Well, the only exception was when her cousin visited.

Even so, the said cousin wasn't a talkative person either.

The last time she got to sit with a chatty person was with her Dad.

She glanced at her governess. She sure was very loud.

But it felt nice.

Although she wondered how she was not thirsty from all of that talking she did.

The piano lesson was not bad, Mikasa thought.

She let her choose what song she wanted to play.

"I could choose?" She asked.

"Of course! Why couldn't you?" She answered with a smile, a little bit confused by her remark.

Mikasa bit her lips as she flipped over the pages of the music book before stopping at a page.

"Oh, Turkish March? Popular, but quite a difficult piece if I may say," The governess commented, but Mikasa knew that she didn't say that to belittle her.

"Is this your favorite piece?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Alright, the piano is all yours, honey." She said as she stood near the piano.

Mikasa took a seat and took a deep breath. She glanced at the music pieces in front of her. It's actually been so long since the last time she played that piece.

With ease, her fingers played around the piano keys. The music that the piano made was so familiar to her, almost nostalgic and it made her happy.

The melody was fast paced and energetic, it was a classic upbeat melody that would always lighten up the room.

She wondered why she didn't play this piece more.

Halfway through, from the corner of her eyes, she saw a pair of hands besides her. The hands moving on top of the piano keys, playing the same music as hers.

She stopped and blinked.

The hands were gone.

This is why.

Then she heard a voice.

"Are you okay?"

She moved her head toward the source of the voice, staring right at her governess. She could feel a concerned gaze coming from the governess' eyes.

Usually, she would keep all her thoughts to herself.

But, this person right here.

"I used to play this piece with my Mom. We used to play duets." Mikasa said before realizing what she just did. The words just fell out from her mouth and she didn't know why it happened.

"I see." She smiled, "That's why you love this piece, right?" The governess asked.

Usually, people would talk to her like she was a poor thing before asking her a bunch of questions. So, the moment the governess replied, Mikasa searched for any sign of pity or curiousity, but she couldn't find any.

Mikasa nodded her head.

"Do you want me to play duets with you?"

Without a beat, Mikasa shoots her a confused look. Her eyes widened.

"Just an offer," The governess said, patting Mikasa's shoulder, "You can decline or you can accept it, your choice."

. . .

"Sure." Came her soft reply.

Mikasa scooted over to the side, giving the governess a space to sit.

"Alright, let's start from the beginning, shall we?" The governess said as she changed the page of the music sheet.

Mikasa nodded.

"Alright!" The governess nodded before counting, "3 and 4..."

As the first melody hit her ears, she was immediately transferred into another place.

Time slowed down, and she couldn't hear anything but the melody. She felt like her hands were dancing on their own.

She knew every note because she had played it so many times.

She's no longer an eleven years old girl wearing nice clothes in a mansion. Instead, she's a seven years old girl living in a small house deep in a forest.

Fancy pattern of the green and golden wallpaper that surrounds the drawing room melted into a plain cream wallpaper

The clean white keys of the grand piano also changed into the yellowish keys of an old upright piano.

Everything was the same like it was four years ago.

The only difference that she could find was the hands that were playing with her. It was not a pair of pale hands with thin fingers, but instead it was a warm golden hand with long pointy fingers.

At that moment, she felt better than she ever was.

A laugh escaped her mouth, no, she was laughing the whole time. She couldn't stop her mouth from smiling.

It was just so fun.

So fun!

Mikasa's heart was thumping with excitement, and before she knew it, she already hit the last melody.

"Wow! That was amazing! You played so well" The governess clapped her hands, Mikasa could see a big grin plastered on her face.

"Another round?" The governess asked.

Mikasa looked at the figure that sat next to her. A day had not passed from their first encounter, and yet, she felt like she already knew this lady for a long time.

There's something gravitating with her that made Mikasa lower her guard down.

Maybe, just maybe, she could trust her.

"Yes!" Mikasa answered with a small smile.

The piano lesson was not bad at all.

Suddenly, it was Friday.

Times surely fly fast these days.

Mikasa had only spent four days with her governess, but during those short time, she already taught her a lot of things, be it sewing, painting, dancing, language, and even science.

She could feel passion coming from her governess in every word she spoke and every action she took.

Mikasa was amazed by her governess. There's nothing she couldn't do, she knew everything. She had answers to every question.

Mikasa couldn't help to compare her to the previous governess who would only taught Mikasa about what she, a lady should do and shouldn't do. It honestly bored Mikasa to death.

That's why she was so grateful to be able to meet her new governess.

She still remembered the trip they took to a nearby farm. She dragged her around to touch some cows, to feed some chickens, and to brush some horses, while also telling her about said animals, like their diet, age, biology, and history.

She could also remember when she taught her about flowers and trees in the garden. Beside telling her about the language of flowers, she also told her about how the flower came to life from seed to blooming while they were making flower crowns.

There were also times where they did sewing while fully speaking in French. It was quite hard for Mikasa to concentrate on two things at the same time, but the governess never mocked her for her weird accent or her wrong grammar. The governess even praised her pretty embroidery, and it made Mikasa so happy.

Also, who could forget the time when she told her about yeast and fermentation while they did some baking in the kitchen. It was the first time Mikasa visited the kitchen, and not so surprisingly to anyone, the result was a big mess, and it made Mrs. Koch the cook so furious.

Oh, or maybe the time they play hide-and-seek in the manor and the governess almost knocked down an antique vase. She could never forget the horror that painted on Mr. Moblit's face.

In summary, her days were filled with so many activities.

And, it was never once boring.

Like now, they were doing some cloud gazing in the garden. Lying on their back with the vast green grasses as their mattress. The governess spoke about the cloud shape and how the clouds came to be.

Mikasa never thought that she'd be interested to hear about clouds.

Yet, here she is.

"Hey, Miss Zoe," Mikasa called her and it stopped the governess from her monologue about clouds. Mikasa looked at the figure that was lying beside her.

"Yes? What is it?" She said, looking back at her with a smile.

"Can I call you Hange?" Mikasa asked.

The governess widened her eyes before smiling widely, "Of course you can!"

"I don't mind if you call me Mikasa, either." Mikasa added with a soft voice.

Mikasa could see Hange's bright eyes from behind the glasses, "Sure, Mikasa."

There were a lot of things that Mikasa wanted to say to Hange, but— that would be a story for another day.

Today was already enough.

"Say, tomorrow is Saturday, so no study for you. Do you have something in mind?" Hange asked.

Mikasa hummed as if it would help her thinking, "I don't think so."

There's a smirk growing on Hange's face, "Yesterday, I was doing some exploration around the playing room, and I found a chest filled with so many interesting old toys. I think we could play around with it— if you want of course."

Mikasa smiled, it's been so long since she played around with friend, "Yes, that would be nice," but then her smile fell, "Although, I don't think my cousin would be pleased."

Hange raised her eyebrows, "Why not?"

"He doesn't like people removing or touching something from around the manor without his consent." Mikasa explained like it was a fact. Which was indeed a fact that everyone in the manor knew.

"Huh?" Hange sat up, "Sounds like an uptight-no-fun guy." Hange commented with a frown that she didn't even try to hide.

"Yeah, he is." Mikasa said before sitting up, "I don't think you would get along with him. I mean, he's nice, but he doesn't fit the conventional standard of niceness. I think he's allergic to decent human interaction because he would rather be rude to everybody."

Hange mouth went agaped, "Even to you?"

"Even to me." Mikasa answered. Truthfully, she doesn't mind him being the way he is. She knew he cared for her, but even through these past two years, she still couldn't fully understand his cousin.

"But, he isn't here. How would he know if we play around the manor?"

Mikasa sighed, "He always knew. He probably knew all the things we do these past few days. Besides, tomorrow is Saturday. He would always come to visit during the weekend."

Hange slapped her forehead, "Oh, right, Moblit told me that."

"But, I still think we should play," Hange continued with a great determination.

"I don't think that— "

"Don't you want to play?" She asked.

Mikasa hesitantly nodded.

"Well, some rules were made to be broken, Mikasa. Besides, if he truly cared for you, I'm sure he would understand and let it pass," Hange gave her a soft smile, "But, if he doesn't, I'll make sure he does."

Mikasa could see a mischievous grin grow on Hange's face.

To be honest, the idea of annoying the hell out of his cousin sounded so fun in her head.

Like, what's the worst thing that could happen? If his cousin got mad, she could cover for Hange.

- Chapter 2 End -

Notes:

Me, a person with zero piano skill: Ah yes, let's write them playing piano.
P.S If you want to hear what they were playing in this chapter, you can watch some cover of 'Turkish March Four Hands' on Youtube. It's a really famous (you'd at least heard this music once in your life) fun piece! Anyway, THANK YOU FOR READING!

Comments are very much appreciated :3
Stay tune for the next chapter :D