Soon after the assembly, Eren and Jean received a earful from Erwin in his office to be more responsible, sensible and so forth. In addition, Erwin gave a small lesson on Sex Ed to Eren although Eren didn't understand why he did so. Throughout all of this, Jean kept a straight face to prevent himself from bursting into tears.
As Eren went back to his class, he got a call from Berthlot. Although he was a few years his senior, the two were really close. It was through his inspiration that Eren decided to go down the path he's in.
"Hey kiddo! I remembered that you're supposed to get your projects today. So, how'd it go?"
"Fine…I guess."
"What do you mean?"
" I didn't get Scarmed."
"It's fine kiddo. Not everything's back here."
"Well it's just that…I wanted to work with you."
"I'm flattered. So where did you get?"
"…Yeld."
"WHAT?!"
Eren then took the phone slightly away.
"What's wrong Berthlot-san?"
"Are you kidding? Personally speaking I really wanted to go to the excavation myself but I had my hands full in Scarmed here."
"Even still…"
"Look, see the place for yourself and even then if you really wanted to come back here, I could try and arrange for it…"
"Really? That would be great!"
Just then he heard Berthlot speak softly to someone on the other side for a few seconds.
"Oh really? Is that so? He's on the line so…let me have some fun with him" He heard in a teasing tone from Berthlot
He then spoke on the phone "I just heard now. It seems you made quite the scene in the auditorium."
"Huh? How did you get the information so fast?"
"I have my sources. So how does Mikasa feel about this?"
"I don't know. I haven't spoken after that. But I'm guessing she'll be mad. This is Mikasa after all."
"True. It's something very important to her after all."
"So, how did it feel…"
Eren blinked. He had no idea why Berthlot would ask how home slippers felt
"Must be missing home a lot."
"Um…soft…I guess?"
"Oh…I see you're more…focused. She does have a good pair though. Did you even use protection?"
Eren kind of got annoyed at that remark
"Great. Now he's mocking me for being clumsy and stupid."
He then asked Berthlot "Why do you need protection? I'm not so stupid."
Berthlot was shocked and angry at how bold Eren was at this
"EREN! You'd be the stupid one if you DIDN'T use protection! Try being responsible a bit!"
"I know I'm messy at times, but why are you insistent on house slippers needing protection?"
Berthlot became blank in a second
"House slippers?"
"Yeah, I mean, it was pretty clumsy of me to wear Mikasa's house slippers to college, which were super soft by the way. I'm sure she'd be mad about it, but don't you think using protection for house slippers is a bit too much?"
Berthlot didn't know what to say
"So all this time, you thought I was talking about house slippers?"
"Yeah, what else would you be talking about?"
Berthlot was speechless.
"You really had no idea what message you conveyed in the auditorium, did you?"
"Huh?"
"Congrats, everyone thinks that you and Mikasa banged each other last night."
Eren stayed silent for a few seconds before he realized what happened
"WHATT?!"
"Yeah."
"How did they get THAT idea?!"
"Well…you two were late that day…AND you overslept…and you were wearing Mikasa's slippers…"
"Just from that?!"
"Well that's more than enough for gossip. And may I ask, what were Mikasa's slippers doing in your flat?"
"Well, since we grew together, Mom always insists Mikasa have a spare key and house slippers when she comes over. God knows why."
"The relationship between you two is very complicated."
"Tell me about it. We adopted her after her parents died in a car crash but I never saw her as my sister and neither did my parents insist on it, but she always acts motherly to me, which is very annoying and we're DEFINITELY NOT a couple. If you ask to define our relationship I'd say we're childhood friends…I guess?"
"Whatever it is, now what are you gonna do about the rumours?"
"No worries, Mikasa said very clearly that we're just playing video games. She and her tone were so scary when she said that"
"Heh."
"I doubt that'll be any helpful in getting the rumours down. But I'll freak him out even more if I said that. Besides, it's just a rumor. It'll die out soon enough. Not to worry about that."
"Anyway, I'll do what I can over here. But try your best to enjoy your work in Yeld, Eren."
"Will do. Thanks Berthlot."
"Alright. See you later."
