"Oh, I've heard of it! The one with the angry German kid, right?" Mike said, grabbing a bottle of cold water from one of the desks. "It's pretty popular, but I've never read it myself."
"Indeed," Erwin nodded. "In a world where man-eating giants roam around humanity's 'cage', a young boy seeks revenge on the 'Titans' in return for what they did to his mother."
"Holy shit,"
"Huh?" Nanaba whipped her head and stared at Hange's agitated face.
"Oh, don't mind me. Please, carry on." Hange gestured with their hand.
"As I said, Eren Jaeger vows to kill every single Titan that comes across his path," Erwin continued, eyes closed.
"Jaeger?" Mike recalled a certain someone with the same last name.
"Tsk, isn't Eren Jaeger Mikasa's damned boyfriend?" Levi clicked his tongue at the name, ("we're just friends." his cousin would say whenever he mentions the brunet's name.)
"Ah, so you know," Erwin hummed, fingers clacking against the side of his chair. "That Mikasa must be your cousin, or… niece?"
"How'd you know?"
"Well, that's the problem." the blond chuckled. "Attack on Titan follows the adventures of Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert—who you may know, are Sophomores in this uni."
"So? What if their parents were fans of the novel?"
"What kind of sick bastard would name their kid after fictional characters?" Levi scoffed, arms crossed.
"I dunno, I would name my kid after Polnareff." Hange murmured.
"Yeah, because you're fucking mad," Levi bit back, side-eyeing the brunet.
"You know, at least he has a normal French name and isn't 'banana' backwards!"
"Hey!" Nanaba interfered, eyebrows curled. "Banana backwards is 'ananab'! And I don't think I know anyone named 'Ananab'!"
"Speaking of names," Erwin tried to calm down the people beside him so that World War III doesn't happen. "'Humanity's Strongest, Captain Levi Ackerman', 'Humanity's Smartest, Section Commander Hange Zoë', 'Humanity's 2nd Strongest, Section Commander Mike Zacharias', do those names ring a bell or two?"
"'Humanity's Strongest', what the hell?"
"Oh. My. God." Hange held their head, a terrified look on their face.
"What is it you've been hiding? You've looked like you're about to die in three seconds ever since Erwin came in," Nanaba looked to her left.
"...Well, uh…"
"...Remember when I told you I've been having those weird dreams?" they gulped, cold sweat slowly running down their face. "About the coup and the suicide charge?"
"...Yeah?"
"Have I told you about how he almost got executed, then freed, then died again because Levi chose a kid over him?" they pointed at the two men as they got up from their chair. "And how his arm got bitten off?"
"My, My, looks like someone's been reading it?"
"IT IS IN THE NOVELS?!"
"You… haven't read it?" Erwin's voice broke, a grimace painted upon his face. "How could you dream of something you've never read?"
"I know, right?" Hange snickered, dropping back down onto their seat. "That's how I knew about you two."
There was an awkward pause as each individual murmured to themselves.
"So, Erwin, do you have the books on you?" Mike broke the silence.
"No, unfortunately." Erwin sighed in response, resting his hands onto his lap. "I will try to bring it tomorrow, I'll head over here."
"By the way, assuming you were practicing for the Battle of the Bands, have you come up with your original song?" the blond added.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."
"And how many days we got left?" Nanaba asked in a doubting tone.
"Thirteen," Mike replied in the same dead voice, followed by exhausted groans emitting throughout the room.
"I mean, Sia wrote a song for Rihanna in fifteen minutes…" Hange said, stretching their sore arms. "If they could do it, why can't we?"
"Yeah, but here's the thing, we're not a world-renowned musician named Sia." Levi hissed. "Nor are we professional songwriters."
"Pretty rough, huh?" Erwin crossed his arms. "Want me to help you with it? Just think of it as a favor,"
"And what's the guarantee that you wouldn't butcher the entire song?" Mike asked, eyebrows raised.
"I've written a song or two before…"
Hange's ears perked up as their eyes widened. They glanced at Levi with their brown pupils, exchanging glares with his gray ones. "What do you say, Levi?"
"Tsk, if you want to be useful to us, you need to provide us with intel, not just your opinions." Levi stated, frowning. "That being said, are you still up for the job?"
Erwin sighed before fixing his hair. "Fair enough, if I must. It's a deal, I promise my position as professor wouldn't be for nothing."
"One more question, can we trust you?"
"That's a question you should ask yourself,"
[BONUS: MUSIC CONSULTANT - RECRUITED]
Tuesday, 20th June
"Sorry it took me so long to finally get to meet you again," Erwin said, dragging out a single chair from the table before settling down. "I forgot I lent the book to my niece, so I had to borrow one from the library."
"Oh, no worries,"
The blond man took off his sling bag and rested it on top of the table. Unzipping its pockets, he hummed a familiar melody. He slipped his hand into the bag and pulled out a generously thick book before setting his bag aside. The book's cover was mostly brown with strokes of fiery red, contrasting to the gray and bold font of the title. In the foreground was a young boy fully equipped with blades in each of his hands, facing the gigantic wall towering over him. There were houses on the sides and ruins surrounding the brunet. Everything besides the boy and the wall was on fire, including the skinless giant looking down on the boy with ominous eyes, hand resting on the rim of the wall. The words 'Attack on Titan' were printed on it, with some Japanese Kanji under it, followed by the subtitle 'Crimson Bow and Arrow'.
"Whoa, is this it?" Hange tightened their seat as Levi took a glance at the book.
"Yeah," Erwin flipped open the book, revealing the copyrights page on the left. "Look at this here, 'Shingeki no Kyojin: Guren no Yumiya, copyright text Hajime Isayama 2009'..."
"2009?! That's a long time ago…" Mike's gray eyes could be seen widening under his brown blond hair. "Wow… Didn't know Zeke's parents are boomers…"
Erwin chuckled before continuing, "'illustrations by WIT Studio. Published by Kodansha…'"
He flipped to another page, this time it's the first page of the first chapter titled 'To You, 2000 Years From Now'. "'On that day, humanity received a grim reminder of living in fear of the titans, and were disgraced to live in these cages we called walls.'"
"Titans?" Levi was instantly drawn in by the book by mentioning them. "Zeke's band?"
"I told you," Erwin spoke, once again flipping through the pages. "The parallels are way too similar."
"Here's one," he cleared his throat before reading the lines. "'Chapter 6: The World the Girl Saw. Mikasa felt a sudden surge running through her veins, adrenaline racing to her brain. Her grip began to tighten as she advanced towards the thug choking Eren, the knife in her hand aligned in front of her stomach. She thrusted the knife into the bandit's heart from behind with Eren supporting her with his very words, killing the man.'"
"Holy shit, Levi. Your cousin's a psychopath." Hange faced the raven sitting beside them, mouth ajar. "Zeke's brother's even more of a psychopath for supporting her,"
"Friendly reminder, the two of them were nine years old." Erwin added before flipping to another page. "Get this,"
"'Chapter 9: The Whereabouts of His Left Arm. The crowd cheered at the sight of the Scout Regiment slowly marching down the town's pathways. 'Is he Captain Levi?' a villager asked another. 'I've heard he's as strong a brigade!''"
"Tch, loudmouths." Levi cringed at Erwin's readings.
"Heh, it's weird how you could predict your next line, Levi." he traced his finger under the text printed in black ink. "''Tch, loudmouths,' a raven-haired man riding one of the horses side-eyed the people surrounding him.'"
"...Did that really just happen?" Nanaba was still dumbfounded by the 'coincidence'.
"Oh, this is just the beginning," the blond scoffed, closing the book. "In the later installments, it's revealed that the island they're living in is called 'Paradis', and that there's another island outside the walls called 'Marley'. Not to mention, this series ended in 2021, before Paradis and Marley were even established."
"So, this Isayama guy… Did he predict the future…?"
"But in this, we're supposed to be fighting titans…" Mike tucked his blond locks behind his ear. "Wait, what year does this book take place in?"
"Well, it starts in the year 845 and ends in the year 857." Erwin said. "By the way, you keep talking about Zeke, is he a friend of yours?"
"Nah, Levi started beef with him, so now it's somehow our problem." Hange pointed to Levi with their thumb.
"I knew it, you weren't so friendly with him either in the books." he chuckled, slipping the book back into his bag.
"Speaking of, any more info on him?" Nanaba asked the professor.
"Who? Isayama?"
"No, Zeke."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I haven't gathered any intel since none of you told who or what to research." Erwin hung his bag on the edge of his chair. "So, I'm assuming you want me to 'dox' him since he's the judge, correct?"
"Yeah, and we don't plan for him to score us low," Hange tapped their fingers against the table. "I honestly think my idea about the bandages is great, but just in case."
"We don't really need you to full-on interrogate him, obviously," Levi added. "Just his habits or music taste should be fine."
"You're quite tamed for saying that we'll write a song for him, Shorty." Mike commented, a smug grin plastered on his face.
"Shut up," Levi kicked Mike's calf from beneath the table.
"Well, easy enough. He's a lab assistant, after all." Erwin sighed. "I'll try my best,"
"Aww, thanks!" Hange jumped from their seat and embraced the taller blond.
"No worries. As I finish my work, you should start mapping out your song, the music that is." he said as Hange let go of their hug. "I'll help you with the lyrics when I'm done."
He swept the sling of his bag from his chair and looped it on his shoulder before getting on his feet. "Now if you may, I'll be heading back."
Friday, 23rd June
"Yes, yes. Should be right here,"
Erwin swung the straps of his backpack onto his shoulder when the cab halted in front of a metal fence with a bit of the paint peeling off. "Thank you, I'll be sure to rate you a five-star." he said as he opened the door to his right and got out of the car.
The driver tipped the visor of his cap before flooring the gas pedal, leaving the blond alone with his thoughts in front of the house. He took out his cellphone from his pocket and checked the address Levi sent him through Line. Tapping his shoes against the cement sidewalk, he looked up and down the house and back to his phone. "This has to be it."
Without making a noise, he maneuvered in-between the slightly opened gate and approached the front porch. The wooden planks of the steps leading to the platform would make a creak every time the soles of his leather shoes pressed against it. When he reached the white door, he clicked the bell button next to it.
"AHH! WHO'S THAT?!" a voice yelled from inside.
"I don't remember ordering anything…" another voice said.
"If you're a salesman, nobody's home!"
"Couldn't you lie a little better?"
"Or are you a burglar?!"
"Wait, no—" Erwin's words were cut off by another hiss.
"What kind of burglar would ring the doorbell?!"
"Have you never watched Home Alone?!"
There was more bickering when he heard an annoyed sigh. "I'll get it."
The door opened to show Nanaba's tall figure slowly raising her vision to focus on his blue eyes. "Oh, Erwin!"
"G'day to you,"
"Please, come in!" she moved to the side and gestured to him.
He obliged and set foot inside of Mike's rented house. The living room was dimly lit, making him believe that the others were in another room. Nanaba led him to a room on the far left, door ajar. When he entered, he was greeted by the others ripping off the bandages wrapped around their heads.
"Erwin!" Hange and Mike cheered in unison.
"I thought you said you're coming over at five?" Levi said.
"Lecture's cancelled," he replied before tossing his backpack onto the maroon couch. He finally took notice of the clothes duct taped onto the walls surrounding them as he sat next to his bag. "What's with the clothes?"
"Oh, those?" Mike pointed at the walls. "It's so that the neighbors don't sue us for being too loud."
"I don't know if I should be impressed or concerned…"
"I think both's the correct answer." Hange added.
"So, have you finished the instrumentals?" he asked.
"Yeah, just need to polish the outro," Mike said. He then pointed at the computer screen behind him with his thumb. "Even finished the lyrics."
"At least according to Levi."
"Really? Let me see," Erwin stood up and approached the PC. He clicked on the opened Word window as his eyes lit up. A confused cringe slowly grew on his face as he scrolled down the document and read the lyrics. "...This needs revision."
"And a lot of it."
