"What…?" the man shifted his attention from his book to the brunet approaching his table. His suspicion grew further when they called out his name once again.

"...Levi?"

He grimaced as he closed his book. "Do I know you?"

"Yes—no? Wait, yes! But, no. I don't… know if you know, but I know you." Hange contemplated. "You're Levi, right?"

"I don't recall giving you my name." he said, gray eyes locked onto Hange's.

"Well, you did… in your past life."

"Then, I don't recall giving you my name in my 'past life'." Levi got on his feet and pushed Hange all the way back to the halls. "Therefore, you should mind your own business and fuck off." he hissed before slamming the door closed.

"Wait, Levi!" it took them a couple seconds to process his words, but when they did, they vigorously knocked on the locked door whining. "Let me in! I can prove it!"

"Prove what?" Levi's cold voice asked behind the door.

"That I do know you! You're really good at singing, right?!"

"What you said proves nothing. You just heard me sing a couple minutes ago." Levi scoffed.

"Well what about Furlan and Isabel?! I bet you're still friends with them!" Hange yelled. They kept on banging the wooden door when they heard Levi clicking his tongue. "I knew it! I'm right, am I? Haha! One more point for Hange!"

"Tsk, that's not much of a big deal. Everyone knows that." he said, mortified. "If you're going to prove to me that you do know me, then tell me something only me, Furlan, and Isabel would know."

"Uhh, ah! That's it!" a cheeky grin grew on their face. "She calls you 'bro', right?! Isabel sees you as an older brother!"

Levi groaned as he suddenly slammed the door back open, causing Hange who was leaning against it to almost face-plant into his chest. "You have five minutes."

"Yahoo! Took longer than expected, but whatever!" Hange flew into the classroom and followed Levi to his desk while dragging along another student's chair. "You still haven't changed, huh Shorty?"

"Don't call me that." Levi asserted. "Now, it's about time you explain, what do you want with me?"

The brunet sighed as they sat next to his table. "Well, I knew that you had an excellent singing voice, but I've never actually heard you sing. Just this morning, I finally got to—"

"Get to the point already."

"Alright, don't be so rude," they said, fingers tapping on his desk. "I was wondering if you could help me out and join my band..?"

There was a five-second pause before Levi made his decision. "Not a chance."

"What?! Why?!"

"Are you kidding? I just met you and now you're using me for your own gain." he hissed. "If you want someone to join your group, you better offer them something in return."

"Oh I have an exchange, alright." Hange chuckled before looking straight into Levi's gray eyes. "How about 750 by the end of the month?"

"750?" he reassured as the brunet next to him nodded in approval.

"I see that my proposal has piqued your interest," a sly smile plastered on their face. "So, what do you say?"

"How many people are in your band?" Levi covered his lips with his hand.

"Three including our manager. That means four if you join,"

"Hah! 750 for four people. You're asking me to sing for your band for less than 200 bucks? No way in hell." he half-mocked.

"It seems like you've misunderstood. It's 750 for you. The cash prize's three grand." Hange said in a low voice. "And you could keep making money if we win and get that recording deal."

"And how much does the entry ticket cost?"

"80 Dollars per band. So if you join, you better give me 20 bucks." they pointed out, chin rested on their fist. "Doesn't sound like much, does it? Considering 750 Dollars could pay your rent?"

The room went completely silent until the door blasted open. "Hahaha! I win, Furlan!"

Hange peeked behind their shoulder to find Isabel standing by the doorway with an accomplished grin painted on her face. Furlan followed her not long after while panting and fixing his disheveled hair, sweat dripping down his face. "Haah, hah, haah… Why did I agree to race against her?"

"Doesn't matter, now where's my 10 bucks?"

Furlan didn't say a word, instead he whipped out a ten Dollar bill from his pocket and slapped it onto Isabel's opened hand. The redhead chuckled and patted her friend's back before looking over to Levi's desk where she found something off. "Levi-bro?"

"That's enough for now. You better go away from here before anyone else sees us, the way rumors get spread in this place is unbelievable." Levi huffed before getting on his feet and grabbing Hange by their shoulder.

"So is it a yes or no?"

"Give me time." he said as he pushed them across the room, in-between Isabel and Furlan, and finally back to the hallways.

"Alright, I'll meet you at break, right here." they sighed when they once again were in the hallway. "Can I at least get your number?"

"Ugh, not now. I'll tell you at break time."

"Oh, okay. What's your full name, again?"

"The name's Levi Ackerman." he replied before closing the door on them.


"Ackerman, could you please tell me what LC, or a tuned circuit does?"

"It allows the user of a radio to filter out all but a single station." Levi effortlessly answered while still looking outside of the window to his right.

"And who first invented it?"

"The first patent for a radio system that allowed tuning was filed by Lodge in 1897, but the first practical systems were invented in 1900 by Guglielmo Marconi." he said, his attention still not on the blackboard.

"Now Jaeger, what kind of signals are used to control actuators?"

"Pneumatic and electrical signals can be used to control actuators." the bespectacled blond sitting next to him firmly explained, to which Levi clicked his tongue.

"As expected from Grisha's son." the professor added. "And finally, Magnolia, what are servo motors capable of?"

"Huh, me? Uhh…" Isabel jolted awake from her nap when he called out her name.

"Yes?"

"Professor Shadis, it's already ten minutes past break time." Furlan said with his hand raised up high, much to Isabel's relief.

"Oh, of course," the brunet professor looked at his watch. "Well then, that would only mean one thing, wouldn't it? Don't forget about the essay, and class' dismissed."

All of a sudden, the room was filled with groans and sighs. Right when Levi was going to exit the room, a hand rested on his shoulder. "What?"

"Someone's been waiting outside of the classroom, and I think they're wanting to meet you, since they were with you this morning when we arrived." Furlan acknowledged as he pointed at the door with his thumb. "Somebody your mom would like to meet?" he teased.

"Oh, shut up." Levi brushed off his hand from his shoulder and continued on marching towards the door. "Oi, Four Eyes."

"Oh, Levi! Have you made up your mind yet?" Hange's glee-filled smile entered Levi's view. "Why'd it take you so long to come out?"

"How long have you been standing outside of the classroom?"

"About fifteen minutes, the clock in class is five minutes early." they replied. "So, is it a deal?"

"I guess it is."

"Nice, finally! Aww, thanks, Shorty!" they exclaimed before trapping him inside another one of their deadly hugs.

"Akh—Shitty Glasses, get off of me! You're—dammit!"

"Oh, right. My bad," Hange let go of the short man before dusting off their hands onto their culotte as Levi wheezed. "So, what's your number, again?"

"Just add me on Line." he clicked his tongue before pulling out his phone out of his pocket and showing a QR code to Hange.

They obliged and fished their phone from their pocket. They opened Line and clicked the QR feature. "Didn't know you had it, I thought you were more of an SMS person."

"Tch, do you think I want to spell out my phone number and let everyone here have it?"

"Huh, makes sense," they hovered their phone over the code until the screen flicked into Levi's profile, with his contact info decked out under his profile picture. "Aaand, save."

The second Hange saved Levi's phone number, their phone rang as the default android ringtone boomed through the hallways. They quickly swiped up and held the phone next to their ear. "Yeah, Nanaba?"

"Me and Mike are at the cafeteria, come down, now. We need to discuss the band." Nanaba's voice came through the phone.

"Oh, right now?"

"Right now. I didn't walk all the way here for you to wander around on your own." she said before hanging up.

"Well, perfect timing." they snickered. They got a grip of Levi's forearm and dragged him across the hallway. "You're coming with me, Shorty."

"Is it one of your friends?"

"Yep, and after we meet up, we get to finally rehearse." Hange explained, running down the stairs after they let go of Levi's arm.

"Do you even know what song we'll perform?" he furrowed his thin eyebrows.

"I don't know, but we still have two weeks."

The two of them managed to scram through four sets of stairs before setting foot on the brick pathway in the middle of the crops of shaved grass. Luckily, the sun wasn't too radiant since the murky clouds covered most of the complex, meaning light rain will probably gush down the area. They passed the Dean's office and the parking lot before spotting Nanaba and Mike standing on the edge of the open-air canteen. Mike was absent-mindedly chomping on a grilled sausage meanwhile the shorter blonde was too busy on her phone to notice the two's presence.

"Yo," Mike greeted, lifting up the palm of his hand as a friendly gesture.

Nanaba took her eyes off of her phone as Hange and Levi approached them. "What took you so long?"

"Picking up this guy right here," Hange bluntly replied, nudging the side of the man beside them with their elbow.

"Who's 'this guy'?" Mike lifted up his eyebrows.

"Shorty, introduce yourself!" they rested their hand onto Levi's shoulder.

"Tch, Levi Ackerman," he said, brushing off Hange's hand before walking up to a stall in the far corner of the canteen.

"Didn't know you make friends with assholes,"

"Levi is gonna be our lead vocalist for the band," Hange smiled. "'Means we can start rehearsing tomorrow, right?"

"He's your friend?" Mike asked as the three of them searched for an empty table.

"Nah, just met him this morning."

"You're expecting someone you just met to be our lead singer?" Nanaba crossed her arms. " How did you even meet him?"

"...That's a long story that you'll never understand," they muttered. "But trust me! We need him, and he needs the money. You'll see,"

"So he is here for the money," Mike scoffed when they found a free spot.

"Well, who would join a stranger's band for nothing?" the three sat down as Hange spotted Levi with a saran-wrapped sandwich in his right hand and a bottle of water in his left, standing in the middle of the room while scanning the room trying to find them. In response, the brunet raised up their hand and waved at him. When he caught their hand, he silently walked up to their table and took the seat beside Hange.

"So, Hange, do you have the announcement paper on you?" Nanaba started the conversation since Hange nor Mike was willing to—and there was Levi who was more interested in eating his meal in peace.

"Yup! Right here!" Hange whipped out a folded poster out of their side-pocket and unfolded it to reveal the contents. The word 'poster' would be an overstatement since all it really was is a piece of white HVS paper with the most boring text that looked like it was a poor attempt to write a CV on Word. It didn't even have a title and was just a bulleted list of requirements of the competition along with some additional info. The reason why the journaling team didn't make a proper announcement was because around every four years, the students would have rumors about the campus party throwing another Battle of the Bands since the committee were never good at keeping secrets. And in this place, gossip is as good as reality.

"First thing first, 'a band must include at least three individuals',"

"Check," Nanaba added.

"'Performers will be expected to bring their own equipment, and will be limited to a 15 minute setup time'," Hange read out the paper as Levi cracked open his bottle of water.

"Check, as far as I know," Mike said, resting his chin onto his fist.

"'Contestants must be available to play between the hours of 10AM-1PM on Saturday, June 31st 20XX in order to be eligible'," the brunet disclosed. "Doable."

"'Entries must be submitted before Tuesday, June 27th 20XX',"

"Weird timing, but okay."

"'Each band must perform one original song and one cover,'" Hange's eyebrows began to furrow as their smile faded away. "Oh, we're screwed."

"Finally, 'the performances will each be judged by the lead singer, guitarist, and pianist of the guest band, the Titans'... yep, we're done for,"

"Aren't the Titans that band from Marley Academy? What are they doing here in Paradis?" Mike scoffed.

"Yeah, but I've heard their lead vocalist transferred to Maria… is that why?" Nanaba pondered, arms crossed. "What's his name, again?"

"I think it was Jaeger, Zeke Jaeger?" Hange's words caused Levi to choke on his drink, wetting his clothes.

"Woah, woah, slow down, Shorty! What's wrong?" Hange patted down Levi's back as he coughed a multitude of times.

"He's the judge?!"

"I think. Do you know him?" they asked.

"Yeah, he's the biggest dickhead in our year. Don't tell me you don't know him, Four Eyes," Levi hissed. "He's Shadis' favorite, Pyxis' favorite, hell, he's even Woermann's favorite! Everyone loves him! But he's just a smug bastard favored by his father's name!"

"Quick question, does he hate you?"

"Obviously!" he tried to dry off his shirt with a Salem pink napkin.

"Nana, we need to change up the plan."