When he had woken up, the first thought that came to Mika's mind was him wondering if he was having a strange dream.

Unlike the past few days, where he had always woken up within the cockpit of the Barbatos with an aching neck, Mika had woken up on something which felt moderately soft, feeling almost like a bed, and there was what felt like a blanket atop him. It wasn't as good as the ones found on board the Isaribi, but it was definitely a step up from the cockpit of Barbatos in that it did not give him a minor neck cramp when he woke up.

For a moment, Mika simply laid on the bed which was provided to him, eyes closed as he did. Once he was satisfied, the pilot gave a mild groan and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, yawning as he shook his head to relieve himself of the sleepiness spell. As he did, Augus began to remember how he had gotten here.

'Huh… Mina invited me over… and Mrs Carolina insisted I sleep here…' reminisced the boy as he looked down at one of the legs of the bed. It visibly squeaked under his weight, but it still held. Mika also noted that the leg had an 'N' inscribed into it, leading him to believe that he had slept on 'Nac's' bed. He didn't know who he was, and if he were honest, he didn't exactly care if Nac didn't like him sleeping on his bed.

After Mika had rid himself of the sleepiness spell, he stood up and made for the exit to the room. The door was closed, though it opened with the greatest of ease, giving out a rather loud squeak as Mika, rather gently (by his standards), pushed it open, prompting the pilot to wince.

After opening the door, Mika was quick to step out and make his way towards the stairs that led to the bottom floor, though he did pause when he heard some voices from downstairs, one familiar whilst the others were foreign to him.

"Come on, Annie!" protested the familiar voice of Mina from downstairs. Seeing as how Mina had called out 'Annie', Mika suspected that the other two residents of this household had returned from 'Reiner' and 'Bertholdt's place while he was asleep. Frankly speaking, he didn't really care much about it… even if the conversation from below did interest him a little. "Give him a chance! You became friends with me and Nac, after all! Why not Mikazuki?"

"Because I don't want to," was Mina's reply from who Augus presumed to be Annie. And Mika had to admit, she did sound at least a little lifeless, confirming what Mina said when she claimed that Annie was like him in more ways than one.

"Come on, Ann'," came another voice, though Mika thought it sounded somewhat muffled, most likely because whoever was speaking had their mouth full. The speaker went silent for a while, most likely to get rid of whatever was in their mouth before speaking up, and he sounded distinctly male, leading Augus to believe that he was Nac. "I know you don't like to make friends, but you've gotta give everyone a chance! I mean, you gave Mina and I a chance, didn't you?"

No one replied to that claim made by who Mika presumed to be Nac, making the Pilot assume that the conversation was over, prompting him to make his way to the bottom floor. He didn't intend on announcing his arrival, but the first step which he took down the stairs gave a rather loud creak, a sound that made Mika cringe a little.

"Hey, I think he's up!" came Mina's voice, and as Mika made it down to the last few steps, he heard a chair get pushed out of the way and the sound of footsteps approaching him. By the time he had gotten to ground level, Mika had his gaze fixed onto a boy, a tall one at that. Augus found himself staring at the guy rather intently, so much so that he ended up completely ignoring both Mina and Annie, though in his defence, both of them were shielded from his field of view by the tall guy in front of him.

Standing somewhere between Orga and Akihiro in terms of height, the boy in front of him was most certainly the kid that Mina had called Nac Tias. He fit all the descriptions which Mina had given him, with his exceptionally fine black hair which was swept back in a rather stylish way, the intimidating height of nearly six feet, and an outfit which consisted of an ash brown shirt and medium grey jeans/long pants which reached his ankles. He was so tall that Mika had to crane his neck up rather intensely just to look him in the eye. Mika could only assume that Nac was older than him, perhaps somewhere the age of fifteen to eighteen.

"Sup!" greeted the taller boy with a smirk, his voice a lot friendlier than initially expected, giving Augus a simple wave, a gesture which Mika didn't return. Instead, the (much) shorter boy simply stared at Tias blankly, and after some time, the taller bloke's expression turned a little worrying, and said expression seemed to remind Mika of someone…

"Erm… you ok there… Mikazuki-San?"

Quickly shaking his head, Mika looked back up and saw that Nac looked and sounded rather worried. His expression conveyed his emotions pretty well, something which Mika envied just a little. However, he pushed that thought out of his head as he nodded in response.

"...I'm fine," replied Mika in a dismissive tone and manner, making the taller boy smile in what he assumed to be relief.

"Good to hear," he said, before he extended a hand, presumably for a handshake. "I think Mina's told you about me, but it's still polite to formally introduce myself. Name's Nac Tias!"

Looking at his own hand for a moment, Mika clenched it rather tightly before giving out a mild shrug and accepting the handshake, giving it a good, tight squeeze as he shook it. A strong handshake was a viable step towards making a good first impression, he reckoned. "Mikazuki Augus."

"Y-Yeah… hey there, Augus," groaned Nac, sounding a little in pain as they shook hands, clearly finding the handshake a little too tight. Upon noticing that, Mika released Nac's hand, and as soon as he did, Nac promptly retracted it and began nursing it somewhat dramatically. Mika, on the other hand, headed over to the couch and sat down ignoring the worried look on Mina's face as Nac spoke up. "D-Dang… you've got a tight grip…"

Mika gave no response as he planted his rear down onto the couch, prompting Mina to speak in his place as her tall friend rubbed his wrist. "Well… I guess he was trying to make a first impression on you? I mean… he made one on me… and Annie sure did make one on you…"

Nac gave an embarrassed chuckle at that, most likely remembering the 'incident' which happened just a week ago with Annie when he had made an attempt at befriending her, before responding. Mika, on the other hand, remained silent. "I guess so…"

While the two chuckled at that rather unsavory memory, Mika took a quick glance at the kitchen area and saw that a rather short girl was sitting down on the table, looking completely disinterested in the whole ordeal. Aside from her lackluster height, her other notable features were her light blonde hair and light blue eyes, eyes which seemed to be almost as dead as his. Her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, and, judging by her face, Augus suspected she was just as old as Mina, around the twelve to thirteen mark, or perhaps a little older. The short girl wore a rather thick, white/light grey parka and light brown pants.

If he were honest, Annie did at least set Mika on edge just a little. Like him, she had an aura of mystery surrounding her, and he knew from experience that ignoring such an aura would be rather hard folly. As such, he reckoned that he probably oughta keep an eye on her…

And right as he thought of that, Mika felt something drop down onto the couch to his side, prompting him to turn towards it and notice that Nac had taken a seat beside him. Mika quickly raised a brow at him, though Nac, on the other hand, simply flashed a friendly smile as he gave another wave. Mika wasn't sure how he should react to that, so he just stared at the guy, something which seemed to make Nac a little uncomfortable, to say the least. Meanwhile, Mina stood behind Annie, tidying up her messy hair to the best of her abilities whilst offering silent thoughts of encouragement to her best boy pal.

"So… uh…" said Nac, sounding somewhat awkward as he twiddled his fingers against each other. His conversation prompt didn't exactly work, as Augus simply stared at him with little interest, unnerving him a little as he attempted to continue the conversation. "...nice weather we're having… huh?"

Mika's response was to glance out the window, where the sun was blazing down heat which was most likely close to forty degrees or more down on at least the eastern side of Trost. If he were honest, it wasn't what he'd consider 'nice', but he decided that he may as well humor Nac, replying to him with a nod and a grunt. The taller boy seemed to take it as a sign to move onto a random topic, much to Augus' dismay, though as per usual, he remained silent. He already knew from experience that replying would most likely lead to a longer conversation.

"Well… erm… Mina told me and Annie that you were from Shiganshina…" continued Nac, fumbling onto another topic as he tapped his index fingers together, prompting Mika to raise his brows in amusement as he fumbled over his own words, a clear sign of his nervousness as he tried to jump to a topic that would hopefully interest the pilot to little avail. "It's probably a lot hotter in there, ya know?"

"... ah," muttered Mika, opting to just hand out short, simple answers to Tias to not pad out their conversations. And from there on, Mika simply listened as Nac moved from one random topic onto another. It was rather obvious to Augus that he was trying to befriend him, something that was more or less road blocked by just how intimidated the poor lad was by the pilot. Of course, that wasn't unjustified in the slightest, as, in spite of his short stature, Mika still did cut quite an intimidating figure.

Of course, Nac's fumbling of his words was, in a way, rather… comical. At least Annie seemed to think so, as she had to hold back several snickers as she saw Nac trip over his words several times over. As tall and somewhat threatening in appearance as he was, especially when he was being completely serious, however rarely that happened, the guy was still a real softy at heart. Part of his charm, she supposed.

And that essentially summed up what happened for the next couple of hours, most likely two hours if Mika's estimation was correct. Nac kept providing Mika trivial questions and topics while he shot back with the same, general, bored sounding response, usually an unenthused "ah" or a grunt and/or a nod. Over by the table, Annie and Mina did glance their way from time to time, with the former watching them to keep his boredom away while the latter simply hoped for them to befriend one another.

During said two hours, however, Mika managed to draw a connection to Nac and an old friend of his. At first, Mika couldn't quite put his finger on who Tias reminded him of. But by now, the connection became rather clear. Nac had reminded him of Shino…

Nac was nearly a carbon copy of Shino, personality wise, anyways. Like Shino, Nac was an extremely friendly young man. Hell, Mika would go as far as claiming that he was even friendlier than Norba! At least Shino knew when to shut up when he knew that whoever he was speaking to was getting irritated enough to consider ripping his head off! Nac seemed to have nothing of that sort… and though it was tempting, the connections that Mika had drawn between Tias and his old, Magenta loving friend stopped him from outright knocking him out right there and then.

If anything, that connection simply allowed Mika to tolerate him better. Something which was made rather apparent as he patiently listened on as Tias continued on speaking with just a little more confidence.

"So… think they'll be friends?" whispered Mina to Annie, who rolled her eyes.

"Doubt it," spat Annie, prompting Mina to pout as she braided her blonde pal's hair up.

"Why?"

"Because I know his type. He won't be anyone's friend anytime soon."

"But I became his friend…"

"Acquaintance."

"Well… I became your friend, and so did Nac, so it shouldn't be impossible!"

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

And Mina was wise to stop the conversation there as she continued on braiding her friend's hair.

Eight days later

By the eighth day of him being here, Mika had more or less gotten used to living in the Carolina household.

When he was first invited to stay, Mika admittedly expected that he would only be there for a day or two at best before getting the boot. But to his surprise, Mrs Carolina, not counting her initial cold reception to him being here, was rather kind towards him. He didn't know why her attitude towards him took such an unexpected turn, but he didn't exactly mind or care considering how living in the Carolina residence was infinitely better living in than the barn which he used to call his new home, so he wasn't exactly going to complain.

His days in the Carolina household were usually the same. According to Mina, it was apparently rather easy to skip over the fieldwork which the Garrison had appointed to the refugees of Shiganshina/Maria. The girl told him that they didn't bother taking the attendances of the refugees, either as an oversight or just plain laziness, though Mika was inclined to believe either or even both at this point. Even so, Mika did still make a conscious effort to go to the fields every now and then, mainly because he did enjoy farming, even if it was forced upon him, but also partially because he found it to be the most entertaining thing to do around here aside from taking Barbatos out on a rampage… which, while tempting, was probably not smart.

Most of the time, Mika would eat the food provided to the refugees who worked at the fields. But whenever he was taking a break from that, he noted that all three of the kids in the Carolina residence would take turns cooking whatever they were eating. A stew-like concoction seemed to be a popular cooking choice among the three, though if they didn't feel like getting their hands dirty, they would just settle with stale pieces of bread they had in their closet. Mika may never know the true answer as to why, though he suspected that it was because stew and bread were the cheapest things out there. He did note that there was no meat in any of their food, though he never complained. To him, it never mattered if his food tasted nice. All that really mattered was that it filled his stomach, though he did admit that he much preferred big chunks of food, something which the others didn't seem to like making.

Of course, he did try his hand at cooking from time to time… something which didn't exactly end too well, with the boy nearly burning the makeshift stove at one point. From there on, Mika was only chosen to prepare meals when there were no other options left, something he didn't mind or care enough to complain about.

Despite Nac telling him that he could have his bed, Mika had insisted on sleeping on the couch for the eight days since he and Nac were acquainted with each other. He would have accepted the offer, but he didn't feel like he had any right to take it. After all, he was technically a guest, unlike Nac or Annie, who, from what he knew, were permanent residents. At one point, the Pilot did remember hearing Nac and Mrs Carolina speaking of making another bunk bed or getting an entirely new one for him, though he never put much thought into it.

Aside from the food and his sleeping habits, Mika's relationship with the four residents of the house did improve to a certain degree, though not by much, considering how secluded Mikazuki tended to be in regards to his emotions.

His relationship with Mrs Carolina stayed more or less the same. Mika almost never saw the older Carolina as, according to Mina, her mother worked in a hospital or clinic at the west side of Trost. She said that her mother worked 24/7 as some sort of doctor, though Mika knew that was an exaggeration as he had seen the older Carolina return home not long after the sun had set multiple times, most likely at nine or ten at night. Thanks to this relatively late schedule of hers, and the fact that he never sought her out for any conversations, meant that their relationship never really improved or lessened in any way outside of the occasional headpat, something that Mika, admittedly, enjoyed far more than he was willing to admit.

As for Mina, Mika did admittedly find himself growing more used to her. Most of the time, Mina would accompany him to the fields, something which confused Augus as he didn't think that anyone in their right mind would do so. Whenever asked, Mina simply said that she wanted to make sure he wasn't lonely, something which Mika did appreciate at least a little, even if he still would've preferred to be alone. Of course, even with all that said… Mina's overall cheery disposition in spite of their generally bleak life did, on occasion, get a smile out of the pilot, something that he was appreciative of, not that he'd ever admit that.

Annie was undoubtedly the coldest towards Mika, something that was a surprise to… no one, really. Unlike Mina or Nac, the blonde had never sought him out for any form of conversation, though in all fairness Mika generally didn't do so either, so it was rather even between them. In the very few instances where their paths would cross, Annie would almost certainly give him her usual, cold glare, one that Mika would return in full, though most of the time he wouldn't even see her, as she was usually not in the house. According to Mina, she preferred to go visit her two friends, 'Reiner' and 'Bertholdt', very often, which explained her random disappearances.

Nac, however, could be considered the total opposite of Annie in every way possible, with the most obvious factor being that he was nearly twice as tall. Aside from height, Nac was also much, much more friendly than his blonde (presumed) friend, in that he made a conscious effort to seek Mika out at every opportunity for a conversation, perhaps even more so than Mina, with his primary goal being, if Mika had to make a quick guess, to befriend him at all cost. Mika did start to think that Nac was trying too hard, but he was both amused and impressed at the amount of trivia which Nac had at his disposal. The taller boy seemed to know practically everyone in Trost by face, at least according to Mina, something which was both impressive and just a bit worrying, and he knew just about every corner of the District, namely what areas to avoid and areas which were more tranquil than most.

For the longest time, Mika simply went about his business, not caring about getting close to any of the residents of the Carolina Residence, at least not intentionally anyways. He did, occasionally, wonder if anything had happened to Barbatos, but he doubted that anyone had stumbled upon it as, according to Nac, no one dared venture into the eastern forests of Trost out of fear for the occult. Of course, with Mika being Mika, he didn't exactly give a toss about the supernatural as he occasionally ventured out to the barn where he kept Barbatos just to check on it or to store a piece of stale bread inside it's cockpit, generally during midnight as that was when everyone was assured to be asleep. Thus far, Mika has stuck three pieces of bread (wrapped in cloth) inside the cockpit, an emergency ration for whenever he would need to pilot Barbatos once more. Mika doubted that he would need to, but past experience had taught him to always be prepared for anything.

If he wasn't off at the fields, Mika would spend his free time in the house sitting on the living room's couch. To him, it was the most comfortable place to sit on, and, more or less, the most peaceful place in the house, thus allowing him to just settle in on his thoughts regarding Tekkadan. Nac, Mina and Annie tended to hang out in their shared room, and Mika didn't intend on joining them in their conversations, even if Nac and Mina constantly tried bugging him into doing so.

Mikazuki would have spent some of his time thinking back on his past misdeeds, perhaps even doing some self reflection with all the free time he had, but to him, there was no point in indulging in past grievances. The past may as well remain in the past, especially how his past was quite literally several hundred lightyears behind him. Better to just look to the future now, Augus reckoned.

Currently, Mika had his rear planted on the couch of the Carolina household. The boy had decided to take a pass on working at the fields for the day, though shockingly enough, Annie was willing to take his place there, with Mina following her to make sure she wasn't alone, leaving Mika alone with Nac, something which would have been an irritating thought for Mika… if Nac wasn't strangely absent.

Oddly enough, unlike most days where Nac would be firmly situated next to Mika on the couch, awkwardly babbling about trivial nonsense which Mika had no interest in, Nac had remained in the top floor bedroom for quite some time. By now, Mika had gotten used to Nac speaking nonsense into his ears, so much so that not hearing him do so was a little… strange, to put it simply.

After some time, however, Nac eventually made his way down from the top floor. At first, Mika didn't acknowledge him beyond a simple glance in his general direction, though the Pilot was quick to notice that Nac seemed to be preparing to leave the house. He didn't know why at the moment, and, out of curiosity, and before he could stop himself, the pilot spoke up. "Where are you going?"

As soon as he heard his voice, Nac froze and turned to stare at Mika, his expression showing his surprise. But that expression eventually faded and turned into an awkward smile as he scratched the back of his neck. He quickly cleared his throat before responding. "Well… erm… I'm going to go have a stroll round' Trost… it's something I tend to do."

Huffing, Mika gave a nod and averted his gaze away from Nac, a sign of acknowledgment and telling Nac to carry on with what he was doing. The taller boy, on the other hand, had a thoughtful look on his face as he rubbed his chin. And, most likely without thinking, he asked, "Would you like to come with?"

When he had asked that, Nac froze up as he realized what had just left his lips. Mika, on the other hand, raised an eyebrow in amusement. However, he did consider the offer. Tias did know Trost rather well, as evident by the amount of random trivia about the district which Nac had brought up during most of his random talks with him. That information could come in handy for him, especially if he was shown around the district personally.

So, not without some reluctance, Mika gave a nod and stood up. "Sure."

"Alri-" said Nac, only to freeze when he let what Mika had said sink in. "Wait, what?"

Mika simply raised a brow as he approached the taller boy, his hands sunk deep into his pockets as he repeated himself. "I said sure."

And Nac only widened his eyes as Mika moved to stand in front of him, the taller boy's shadow completely engulfing the shorter. But the boy didn't complain as Mika stared up at him, waiting for the taller boy to lead the way out. Nac seemed to notice that, as he quickly opened the door.

"W-Well… let's go!" he said, smiling rather nervously as he held the door open. Mika exited while Nac followed, not noting the rather impressive, victorious smile plastered on the taller boy's face the moment they stepped out of the house.

An hour later

If he were honest, Mika had definitely underestimated Nac's knowledge of the ins and outs of Trost.

Whenever they spoke of Trost, or more specifically Mika listened while Nac spoke, Tias would usually cover only the basics, not wanting to speak too much, Augus guessed. Whilst they were actually walking around the district, however, Mika noticed how much the taller guy was speaking. It seemed as though the guy had a story for every region they visited, and Mika paid more attention than usual to the words that left the guy's mouth in case that information would be needed in the future.

"It's just a perk of living here for all your life, half of which as a homeless kid who likes moving about, y'know?" reasoned Nac rather modestly when Mika brought up the fact that he was extremely knowledgeable about the ins and out of the district. Mika hummed a little in response to that, having considered the conversation to be over by then, though Nac seemed to have decided to take this as an opportunity to perhaps attempt to impress Augus, as he put on a sly smile as he continued speaking. "Like for example, that store over there has some pretty good doughnuts on sale, and there's a store over there which sells a pretty wide variety of fruits at a decent price. Some guy tried robbing that fruit store back in the day, though he didn't go far before he was ganged up on by the fruit store's family. It was… quite the sight."

Mika simply huffed and nodded, not exactly interested in those two snippets of detail though still impressed by Tias' memory. And, for a long while, he stayed silent and simply continued to listen to Nac rather attentively while he spoke of random segments of the eastern wing of Trost, something his expression didn't exactly suggest, as they moved along.

At the hour thirty minute mark, Nac made a rather dramatic show of stretching his arms behind his head as he stared up at the sky, speaking rather absentmindedly. "So… erm… you wanna head back now?"

Opening his mouth, Mika was about to say yes, but he then remembered something. "...what about the West side?" he asked, and he thought he saw some form of panic begin to develop in Nac's eyes when he processed that question of his.

"Oh, that side… well," began Nac, sounding somewhat nervous as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "That side's not exactly where I'd go when it comes to sightseeing… bad stuff usually happens there, a lot more often than in the eastern side anyways, considering how it's the district where more people gather and all that…"

"I'm curious about it," was Nac's reply from Mika, who turned west, much to the taller boy's dismay as Augus held a hand up in the air, a signal to Tias to leave if he wanted to. "If you don't want to, you can just go back."

As soon as those words left his mouth, Mika had expected the taller guy to just return home. Augus wasn't exactly worried that he'd get lost, as he knew that going east would lead him back here, and even if he couldn't find the Carolina household, Mika could just head to the barn which held Barbatos, the location of which has been ingrained into his memory by now. However, what he did not expect was for Tias to give a defeated sigh as he spoke up. "God dammit, man… I'm not letting you go alone."

Turning his head back to face Nac, Mika saw that he wore a defeated expression, though it did look somewhat exaggerated, as he approached him, hands on his hips.

"I'm not letting you go alone, Mikazuki Augus," repeated Nac in a somewhat irritated yet somewhat brotherly tone, scowling just a little as Mika raised his head up to stare at him, an eyebrow raised in mild surprise. "It wouldn't be nice if you got lost and couldn't find your way home… so I'll come with you."

And at that, Mika couldn't help but give an amused snort as he nodded.

"Let's go then."

"We are but children to kind yet humble Gods who watch over us! Come one, come all! Let us bask in the endless glory of the gifts which were provided to us by our saviors, the ones who have rained salvation down upon us all!"

Despite being just under a hundred metres away from him, Mika could hear that man rather clearly. Standing atop a rather sizable wooden crate, dressed in what appeared to be a priest's robe and holding what Mika assumed to be a bible of sorts, the man had most likely been standing there for the better part of thirty minutes, babbling his nonsense speak about these 'Gods' of his and drawing a rather sizable crowd around him in the process.

Currently, both Mika and Nac were standing somewhere in the middle of Trost. Whilst they were there, Nac made it clear that the western and central regions of Trost were much more boisterous and tended to house more criminals than the eastern side due to its more desirable temperature.

And as luck would have it, right as Nac began speaking of some sort of 'Wall Cult', the preaching of the man atop the crate was heard by both Tias and Augus, with the two of them approaching its source before noticing the guy who was bellowing words that Mika didn't understand in the slightest. Meanwhile, however, Nac simply winced and cringed a little, catching Mika's attention. "Dear lord… not one of them again…"

Turning to face Nac, the shorter boy raised an eyebrow, inviting Nac to explain what he meant by that. Nac took a short while to notice, and as soon as he did, rubbed the back of his neck and turned to face his shorter companion.

"This is one of the reasons why I'd prefer to avoid the west side of Trost," explained Nac, pinching the bridge of his nose as he blocked out the words of the preaching man. "Among most of the unsavoury things that I've mentioned, this side of the district is where the Church of the Walls prefer to operate."

"Church of the Walls?" questioned Mika, his tone showing hints of his surprise and disappointment. Nac seemed to pick up on that as he continued, rubbing his chin rather thoughtfully as he did.

"Yeah. You never heard of em?" asked Nac, a brow raised in surprise, and it only increased when Mika shook his head. "Huh, well you're one of the lucky few. I guess they don't operate much in Shiganshina. Call em what you want, the Church of the Walls, Order of the Walls, Wallists, the Wall Cult. Whichever way you spin it, at the end of the day, it's all the same to me."

Mika raised an eyebrow when he noticed that Nac's tone slowly began to shift from neutral to what he assumed to be a mild form of anger. This was certainly new…

"You see, some people around here consider these Walls… these huge, fifty metre slabs of brick," continued Nac, and Mika was surprised to hear some venom in his voice. He didn't know the boy much, but in his experience with him, Mika had always heard Nac with a positive, upbeat tone, or at worst, a panicky, anxious or awkward one. So hearing him like this was rather jarring, to say the least, enough to make the Pilot raise his brows in surprise and amusement. "They consider them their Gods, so to speak. Or at least gifts which were granted to them by God himself. And they aren't exactly fond of people challenging that belief…"

Upon hearing that, Mika noted how the boy's facial features hardened as he gave a mild grimace, though the boy didn't ask him about it. Instead, Mika huffed in bewilderment. He knew that this world was different from his, but he didn't expect it to be this much different… this much more… primitive. To believe in God was something that Mika held no opinion on… but to believe in something as basic as a fifty metre wall, despite its impressive size, to be a gift from God… it was baffling to say the least.

"... that's pathetic," was all Mika could mutter out after some time, and Nac simply looked down at him with a stare that seemed to be agreeing with his little companion.

"I second that," he said, surprising Mika yet again as he didn't expect Nac to agree on something negative regarding anyone. Still, he didn't bring it up as Tias led them away from the lone Wall Cultist. Nac didn't stop talking about them, however. "Those Wall Priests and Priestesses, they tend to babble on about stuff regarding the Walls, most of the time telling the Garrison to remove those 'impurities'," Nac made air quotes when he said that. "From the tops of their 'Gods'."

Nac was being rather indirect with his wording, but Mika could make a rather educated guess on what he meant by impurities on the tops of the Walls.

"Those guys also tend to leave offerings for those blasted Walls," grumbled Nac, and his tone took a rather drastic shift from unsavoury to downright hateful when he said that, something which made Mika raise an eyebrow. Hell, he was further surprised when Tias began raising his voice, with him dropping his usual polite tone of voice as he vented a little more to his acquaintance. "Those bastards… they have enough guts to leave stuff like meat in front of those blasted Walls… meat! They won't even let us take it, letting that food, food that's scarce enough as it is, go to waste, just to please some imaginary God of theirs!"

For a moment, Mika was left staring at Nac in a mild form of shock, clearly not expecting the sudden change in his tone. He has never seen the boy sound this mad before, though granted, he only knew him for a short while. Nac himself also seemed to be surprised at how much heat was in his tone, as the boy cleared his throat, his face red in embarrassment.

"S-Sorry about that…" he apologised, scratching the back of his neck as he forced out a smile and a chuckle. "Got kinda carried away with my ramblings… forgive me…"

Mika simply huffed and nodded as the two continued to walk towards the western side of Trost. During the remainder of the walk, however, Nac was unexpectedly quiet. Mika could only assume that he was thinking about his sudden outburst of ramblings regarding the Wallists. Mika didn't wish to push the topic any further, as evident by how he remained silent as they continued on walking, though the occasional glance towards the taller guy being the only indication of his apparent worry for him

The rest of their walk around Trost was mostly silent, and it had more or less ended when the two of them reached a rather sizable ravine filled almost to it's brim. It was at about thirty metres wide and was most likely filled with more rainwater, piss and other unsavoury fluids than actual fresh water. The only actual way to cross the ravine, aside from swimming which was not recommended, was to walk through a wooden bridge which had no handrails, one which Mika used to cross on an almost daily basis.

"Welp, no real reason to cross over," muttered Nac, breaking the silence and making Mika look at him. "I'm sure you already know what's on that side anyways. Fields and whatnot."

Mika simply shrugged at that, somewhat agreeing with Nac. After all, he would only come this way if he wanted to get to work on planting stuff, so there was no reason for him to bother learning any more of the layout of the area in front of them. That, and admittedly, he was getting a little tired from all that non stop walking. "Sure."

With that said, both Nac and Mika turned on their heels and began trekking back to the Carolina household. For a rather long moment, neither of them spoke, at least until Nac cleared his throat, catching Mika's attention.

"Hey, erm, Mika," he started, drumming his fingers over the side of his arm in a somewhat nervous fashion. "I know it's not exactly polite to ask this… but I was wondering… what was life like in Shiganshina?"

Upon hearing that, Mika had unintentionally thought of Tekkadan once more, and rather abruptly, he was hit with a rather strong wave of emotion which caused him to slow his walking a little. Not by much, but enough that Nac took notice, prompting him to slow his pace as he nervously twiddled his fingers together.

"I… I didn't mean to bring up any unpleasant memories," he apologised, stopping in his tracks so as to let Mika catch up. "I… was just curious. Y-Yeah… nevermind what I asked… you don't have to-"

"I know," was Mika's response as he began walking up to Tias, cutting him off as he walked up to the taller boy's size. When he was beside him, he glanced up at Nac with a slight edge, making the taller boy look away in shame. "You were curious."

"Yeah… but it's not exactly my right to ask you something you're clearly not comfortable with," stated Nac, crossing his arms as he turned away from his acquaintance, frowning as he rubbed his upper arm. "Like I said, you don't have to answer if you don't feel like it."

Amused, Mika gave a huff. He didn't exactly know how to answer Nac, but perhaps for the first time since the two of them began talking, the Pilot found himself curious as to where this conversation would lead. So, in an attempt to keep it going, he asked, "Why do you want to know, anyways?"

"Oh… erm… well," muttered Nac, clearly surprised that Mika had asked such a question. "I've just heard a few things involving Maria and Shiganshina in the past, ya know… enough to make me a little curious…"

"What kind of stuff did you hear about the place?" questioned Mika, sounding just a tad curious as Tias shrugged.

"Well…" muttered Nac, looking a little unsure on if he should continue. But he eventually settled on doing so as he nodded subtly. "Not very pleasant… I'm afraid. I heard that before they were breached, Shiganshina was considered the most unpleasant district in all the Walls…"

"And why is that?" prompted Mika, goading his acquaintance to go on as Tias scratched the back of his neck.

"I… haven't heard too much talk about it. Most of the time we tend to talk about the going ons within our district instead of those around us," admitted Nac rather sheepishly. "But what little I've heard is worrying… like how the amount of kidnappers in Shiganshina was a lot higher than the amount that are assumed to be in Trost, or how crime rates tend to be higher there than in both Maria and Trost combined…"

If he were honest, Mika suspected that Nac was worried for him. The taller boy's tone backed up that thought, though he wasn't a hundred percent sure. Still, he ignored it and thought of something else, something that made him nostalgic in a sort of way.

'The way he talks about it… reminds me a little of Chryse,' thought the boy, huffing. And that was when he got an idea.

"Life in… Shiganshina wasn't easy," said Mika, glancing up at his acquaintance, whom in turn looked at Mika, a little surprised that he responded. "I spent most of my childhood alone on the streets. When I grew older, I met a kid, a friend who stuck with me through thick and thin. And the rest is history."

Upon hearing that, Nac gave a rather solemn nod. Mika hadn't said much from then on, but what little he had said was enough to tell Nac the basics of his younger years, enough to make him remain quiet for the rest of the journey back home. It wasn't the entire truth, obviously, but Nac didn't seem to realize that fact, so Mika didn't bother adding in more details to hide that little detail.

"This… friend of yours," muttered Nac, drumming his fingers against his upper arm a little more now as he was entering a rather risky conversation topic, at least to him. "Was he… close?"

"He was practically a brother," answered Mika, and for perhaps the first time since coming here, Mika didn't need to lie.

"I see…" muttered Nac. After that was said, he found it best to not press the matter any further, instead staying silent for the rest of the journey back to the house.

Mika was rather thankful for the silence however, as he was feeling that strange, gut feeling in his stomach. It made him purse his lips together as he frowned and turned ever so slightly to look at Nac with a raised brow. As he did, the shorter boy couldn't help but give a huff.

'Am I… am I just getting soft?'

Some time later

"Oh! There you two are!"

Blinking as those words were uttered by Mina, Mika raised a brow as the twintailed girl waved towards them with a brush, briefly turning away from Annie, who had allowed her to brush her hair as she sat on the couch. Nac replied with a smirk as he offered a two fingered salute.

"Yeah, we went for a walk," replied Nac as he gently jerked a thumb towards Mika, who remained neutral as he kept his hands in his pockets. Noticing this, Nac was quick to nudge Augus a little, hoping that he'd give a better response to the two, though he just responded with an irritated glance that made Nac chuckle a little nervously.

"Together, huh?" muttered Mina, tapping her chin with her brush as she spoke. Nac offered a quick nod as she smiled rather happily. "Heh, cool! Did you have a nice time?"

"Probably as nice as one could hope," replied Nac somewhat jokingly as Mika walked past him and took a seat on the couch, a full arms length away from Mina and Annie, with the former offering him a mild wave whilst the latter just glanced at him. Mika replied with a glance as well, locking his gaze with Annie and somehow matching it. The staring contest was enough to make Nac shudder a little while Mina gulped. "I… I'm just gonna go do my thing now…"

No response from either Mina, Annie or Mika, who kept up their staring contest even when Nac had left. If anything, said 'contest' seemed to intensify when he was gone, with Annie narrowing her eyes immensely in an attempt to figure out what made Mika tick whilst Augus responded in a similar fashion, matching her glare with his.

"Uhm… are you two alright?" inquired Mina as she attempted to ease the tension between Mika and Annie, with her words seemingly doing what she had hoped for, as evident by how the blonde broke eye contact with Mika, only to stand up rather quickly and turn to face Mina, who squeaked a little at the sudden movement.

"I'm headed upstairs," stated Annie as she moved to do just that, leaving behind a somewhat unhappy Mina and a Mikazuki that could've cared less. Not too long after she had left, however, Mina was quick to stand up and rush after her blonde pal.

"Uuu… I'm sorry for that! Annie's just tired, trust me!" apologised Mina reassuringly as she offered a weak smile. Her response was a mild nod from Mika as he watched her wave goodbye to him before sprinting up the stairs, leaving Mika to sit alone as he sighed, allowing the fatigue that came with being outside for nearly the entire day take over, shutting his eyes in the process.

"Oi, Mika!"

Blinking as his name was called, the Pilot shook his head as he turned to the side and saw his pal, Orga, prompting him to smile a little as he sat up and rubbed his eye with his left hand, shaking off the sleepiness spell in the process. Once it was dispelled, Mika glanced over to his friend, who appeared somewhat worried.

"You good?" inquired Orga, placing a hand on his shorter friend's shoulder. Mika responded with a nod as he pursed his lips together and leaned forward.

"Yeah. Just had a weird dream," answered Mika as he tugged on his Tekkadan jacket. Glancing at his surroundings, he simply smiled as he saw that he had apparently fallen asleep in the Mobile suit hangar of the Isaribi. If he bothered to, Mika would've noticed how Shino seemed to be having a go at flirting with Lafter, though she didn't exactly fall for any of his advances as she moved on.

"Hm, not really common for you to dream, so spill it, Mika. what exactly did you dream of?" insisted Orga, prompting Mika to frown deeply as he did his best to recall what had gone on in his mind as he was asleep.

"I… was alone," replied Mika, frowning as he lowered his gaze, recalling what he had apparently dreamt about as his shoulders shuddered just a little. Orga noticed this and placed a hand on his friend's back rather worriedly, surprised that whatever he had dreamt about was able to get as much of a rise out of him as it did. Mika, on the other hand, simply continued. "We weren't together. Akihiro, Shino, Ride, Takaki, Yamagi… Atra… and you. We were separated, and I was all alone."

"...and what did you do while you were alone?" muttered Orga, his tone much gentler than it usually was as he attempted to comfort his friend.

"I… did what I had to to survive," answered Mika as he glanced at his friend. "I… found shelter, found food… and found some people to be with."

That last bit seemed to pique Orga's interest, as he smirked and asked a simple question. "People, huh? What were they like?"

"Not like Tekkadan," was his immediate answer as Orga winced. "No one could replace you guys. Even if my dream were real, that fact still stands…"

"Then I guess you really are a bit of a brash knucklehead, Mika," quipt Orga, prompting his lifelong pal to turn and glance at him in confusion, a sign for him to continue. "When we have no choice, we'll always have to work with other people, whether we like it or not."

"I did, though," reasoned Mika, only for Orga to scrunch his face up.

"Well, did you like working with them in dreamland?" shot Orga, and Mika opened his mouth to reply, only to stop to consider that…

"... I… didn't mind," admitted Mika somewhat bitterly, sounding a little ashamed of himself as he turned away from Orga. To his surprise, however, Itsuka simply chuckled in response, prompting Augus to turn towards his pal in apparent shock. "Orga…?"

"Heh… hey, Mika, I just want you to know… should it ever come to that, if you were to ever find yourself in a situation where we were separated… don't hesitate to look to others for help," advised Orga with a gentle squeeze of his friend's shoulder, confusing him greatly.

"But what happened to trusting only people in Tekkadan?" pointed out Mika, only for Orga to chuckle gently.

"Well, you don't have to trust them completely. Sure, not everyone's a saint, but not everyone's a sinner either. If anything, everyone's a mix of both," answered Orga. "You'll have to judge them properly and figure out if they want to take advantage of you… or if they really do care for you…"

"I never was the most attentive in Tekkadan," admitted Mika as Orga laughed, lightening the mood as Augus smiled just a little.

"You've got that right, Mika, but even so, you're a real piece of work," quipt Orga as he stood up and ruffled up his pal's hair. "Now c'mon! We've got things to work on!"

And at that, Mikazuki stood up and slotted both his hands into his pockets, following Orga as he led them towards where Barbatos was docked at.

As they walked, however, Mika began to wonder what that strange squeaking noise was. The Isaribi didn't have wooden floorboards… right…?

And right as he thought of that, Mika grimaced and cracked his eyes open, frowning as he rubbed his eye with the back of his hand.

As soon as he lowered it, Augus couldn't help but grimace when he realized that it had all been just a dream… and instead of being in the Isaribi, he was now in the living room of the Carolina residence. The room was dark, telling him that it was perhaps sometime in the middle of the night. The realization of him being back here was enough to irritate Mika enough to lean forward and bury his face in his hands. He refrained from shouting into his hands, simply opting to just sigh into it to ease his frustration.

Not too long after, however, Mika perked his ears up when he heard a mild squeak not too far from where he sat. Lowering his arms, Mika turned towards its source and raised an eyebrow when he noticed someone attempting to sneak up the staircase, only to pause mid step when the stair they had stepped on squeaked much louder than he had hoped. Despite the darkness, Mika had little to no problem in identifying the person as Nac.

Slowly and perhaps very uncertainly, Nac turned his head around to stare at Mika, only to gulp when he saw that Augus was looking him directly in the eye. Nervously, Tias raised an eyebrow and waved at Mika, who grunted as he broke eye contact with the taller guy. He had fully expected Nac to just leave, though to his surprise, the guy remained there rather awkwardly.

"Hey… I… uh… I'm sorry for-'' began Nac, his tone suggesting that he was apologetic at waking Mika up. Augus himself snorted at that and nodded dismissively, though to his growing irritation, Tias was still there, and he was quick to raise a brow when he saw that the taller guy was approaching him.

After some time, Nac managed to claim a seat next to Mika, who glanced at him in confusion and irritation. Meanwhile, Nac simply tapped his fingers together as he allowed Mika to ease into his presence. As he did, the guy remained silent, taking occasional glances towards Mika in the process.

And before he could say anything, Mika beat him to it.

"Why are you here? It's late," inquired Mika, prompting Nac to tense up at the sudden inquiry before he chuckled awkwardly.

"Well, I did kinda drop down to check on you," admitted Nac as he gestured a little unnecessarily, smiling weakly as he spoke. "I guess I kinda made a little too much noise while doing so, though. I didn't mean to wake you up, I swear!"

"Hm," muttered Mika in amusement as he shook his head, his eyes shut as he sighed. And at that, silence reigned briefly as Nac simply sat there, with Mika wondering several things all at once as he kept his eyes shut.

And after some time, he reopened them and fixed his gaze on Nac, who didn't seem to notice that he had his attention until Mika spoke up.

"Why?" inquired Mika, prompting Nac to jerk upright as he appeared confused. Augus saw Tias' confused look despite the darkness, though he didn't let it distract him as he continued speaking, not even letting Nac ask him what he meant. "Why are you doing all this?"

"Erm… come again?" muttered Nac, sounding a little confused as Mika shook his head a little.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" inquired Mika flatly, intent in figuring out why Nac was doing what he had done for the past few days. It was perhaps spurred on by that dream of his, or just the lateness of the day getting to him, though whatever the reason was, the boy felt intent in finding an answer to that question.

His response was a few seconds of silence from Nac, who eventually shrugged a little as he tapped his fingers together.

"It just… doesn't seem right, you know…?" muttered Nac a little awkwardly, his tone making Mika soften his gaze just a little as Tias scratched the back of his neck and went on. "I know it sounds childish of me, but… I just don't like it when I see someone that's probably in a sour mood. It's dumb of me to assume, but I always thought you were coping with the loss of your old home… so I thought I could just… ease your pain in some way. I'm sure I didn't really help much, though… and as such… I'm sorry."

That was… something, Mika reckoned, and he paused briefly to process all that information, and he was quick to smile mentally as he nodded in understanding.

"You're right, I didn't need your help with easing my pain," agreed Mika, with Nac visibly wincing at that as he rubbed the back of his neck, noticeably hurt by Augus' words, though the Pilot continued on before he could do anything else. "Even so, I… appreciate what you're trying to do."

"R-Really?" inquired Nac, apparently surprised as he perked back up. In response, Mika nodded as he crossed his arms.

"Yeah. You can be annoying, but you're not too bad," assured Mika, not exactly lying as he had dealt with worse in his lifetime. At that, Nac allowed a massive smile to overtake his face as he offered a mild fistbump, with Mika snorting in amusement when he saw that.

"Well… erm… that's a relief!" replied Nac as he gave Mika a gentle punch to the shoulder, only to wince when his fist made contact with the muscles on his upper arm. "Ouch… jeez, you're as firm as the Walls…"

"...thanks?" muttered Mika in confusion, his genuinely juvenile tone making Nac laugh a little. And, rather unexpectedly, Mika found himself smiling just a little when he heard that laugh, with Nac speaking up not long after.

"You're really something else, Mika," quipt Nac as he leaned back on the couch. Mika replied with a shrug as he did so as well, and for a brief moment, the two remained silent and sat there. As one would expect, however, Nac was the one to break the silence. "Hey… so… are you interested in the outside?"

And from where they stood, Mina and Annie couldn't help but smile and stare blankly as they peeked down at Nac and Mika chatting in the living room from the top of the stairs.

"He's really quite soft…!" whisper-shouted Mina as she smiled towards Annie, appearing rather content with this new discovery. Leonhardt, in response, rolled her eyes.

"You're too quick to trust him," grumbled Annie as she stopped peeking down at Mika and Nac and leaned up against the closest wall with her arms crossed. Closing her eyes, Leonhardt sighed and grumbled to herself, still unable to bring herself to see whatever Mina and Nac saw in Mika. Hell, if she were honest, she didn't even know what they saw in her to want to be her friend…

"But we were rather quick to trust you, weren't we?" quipt Mina as she got up to her feet and gently grabbed Annie's hands. Leonhardt rolled her eyes at that, having considered that to be a terrible move on their part, though she kept that to herself as she nodded.

"Whatever…" was all Annie could grumble out as she and Mina heard one last exchange between Nac and Mika.

"You know, has anyone ever told you that you're quite a good listener?" inquired Nac, and at that, Mika could help but roll his eyes as he offered a mild nod.

"Yeah. I get that from time to time."

Boom, I'm back.

Two updates in a row. That's unexpected, even for me. Didn't expect to update this so

soon :P

Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed this one. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, the next handful of chapters will not have Barbatos. We needa have some character development (at least I hope I'm developing them properly).

And if you're wondering, I did kinda recycle the first chapter of Iron Blooded Heroes a little for this. Just putting that out there.

Now I have 2 updates I'd like to throw out, so bear with me

UPDATE #1: NOW, despite me being a side character lover, I somehow managed to forget about Hanji's assistant, Moblit. I realized that a little too late, and when I did, I went back to edit Chapters 3-5, most notably C3.

UPDATE #2: not too long ago, I got the AOT 2 game. Technically my sister got it, but you get the point. A lot of new ideas popped up for me while I was playing that game, so expect some ideas from there to be implemented here.

And that's basically all. Onto the 2 reviews I've got.

Glasses Writer: I guess I really am that predictable and hopefully this chapter of characters messing with each other is alright for ya :P

CrazyCriticer46: ah shucks. Thanks man :)

Aight see ya in… whatever story I update after this? Yeah, that works.

"So… you ever heard of the Survey Corps?"

At that, Mika shrugged. He knew the name, though not the specifics, though Nac didn't seem to notice as he smirked.

"Dumb question, I know, but still, some people aren't really familiar with them," admitted Nac as he chuckled awkwardly. "They're kinda heroes to me, y'know?"

""Ah," muttered Mika as Tias tapped his fingers together rather suggestively. Noticing that, Mika internally rolled his eyes and glanced at the tall fellow, deciding to perhaps humor him a little and keep this conversation going. "So… what do they do exactly?"

And Mika would live to regret that decision as Nac quite literally chatted to him nonstop about the Survey Corps, so much so that Mika fell asleep on multiple occasions, something that Tias didn't seem to notice.

"Man, they're really becoming pals, now aren't they?" inquired Mina from the side, smiling as she watched Nac speak to a sleeping Mika. Beside her, Annie just rolled her eyes.

Either Nac was too polite to tell Mika to wake up and continue the conversation… or he was just too absorbed into his speaking to actually notice.

Either way, it was still amusing to watch the whole thing go down.

Edited on 29/8/2021