And so the next morning finds him packed up with all his belongings in his pack on his back. He hangs a little ways back as he sees the soldiers setting off for their new lives as free people. Everyone is saying goodbye. Everyone hopeful but emotional nonetheless.

Hange had already given him an enthusiastic, "Go live the best life ever!" There was no one else to have last words with.

Ackerman gives final goodbyes to her boys and watches them go on horseback. She's still until they are out of site then she tightens the bag on her own back and sets off on foot.

It's now or never.

Levi quickly follows her, catching up in no time. She stops and looks back at him, a silent question communicated between them. A beat of silence. Then Levi anticlimactically lifts his shoulders in a poor imitation of a nonchalant shrug.

It's his way of asking to go with her. And for someone as clever as her she understands it perfectly. Her response is a head tilt to the road ahead. And for someone as clever as him he understood it perfectly.

She was giving him permission to come with.

After a long while of walking in comfortable silence, they come across a small village.

It's got a cute enough main street with a few shops. Some buildings are empty, others have signs like "Closed Permanently." and look as though they were abandoned in a rush. The townspeople are a little older and it doesn't take long for Levi to guess that with the war over the younger crowd has left to see the world.

They stumble upon a tea shop with the sign "Grand Closing. Everything must go." Ackerman leads them inside.

Its more bustling than the small town street let on. Levi wouldn't be surprised if this was the local hangout. Ackerman walks right up to the counter and starts up polite conversation with the woman behind it.

He hears them talk about how the elderly woman and her husband have owned this tea shop for forever, lived in this town forever. But now they are packing up and seeing the rest of world. What doesn't get picked up by the townspeople will be abandoned.

"Quite convenient." Ackerman replies charismatically, "As I happen to be in the market for a job."

The woman behind the counter beams. She calls her husband from the back and introduces him.

"I'm Mikasa." She replies, and Levi realizes he should probably start thinking of her as Mikasa as well, if he's going to make a life with her after all. "And his is Levi." She motions to him.

Because Levi can be polite when he deems it appropriate, he sticks his hand out to shake with the man and gives a short, "Pleasure."

"Don't let his silence fool you, he's quite the tea-snob." Mikasa banters. Levi has never seen this aspect of Mikasa's personality before. He's quite grateful considering he's still floundering at the concept of living his life.

He's a silent observer as Mikasa charms the old couple. They give her the teashop and their home. It's overly generous but at the same time they're right when they tell her, "We're leaving it all behind. You don't know how grateful we are that someone wants to continue our life's work!"

And so an arrangement is made. The "Grand Closing. Everything must go." sign is taken down. The patrons of the shop cheer. Mikasa and Levi are taken to the elderly couple's humble home. The couple will show them all the ins-and-outs of their teashop and the business tomorrow. And after tomorrow they leave for good and it's up to Mikasa and Levi to sink or swim.

The woman makes a wonderful dinner and apologizes that Mikasa and Levi have to stay in the small guest bedroom. But its more generous than what Mikasa or Levi ever could've hoped for and Mikasa tells them as much.

Mikasa and Levi retire for the night. They change into their night clothes facing back-to-back as there is no bathroom attached to the guest bedroom. Mikasa gets in bed.

"You can leave the light on, I don't mind." She tells him.

"What?" He responds. He can't imagine after all she's been through that she's scared of the dark.

"I know you don't sleep much. If you want to read or do something with the light on that's alright with me. And you don't need to worry about waking me either when you finally join me to go to sleep."

Levi is surprised. Surprised she knew about his sleeping habits. Even more surprised her politeness to him regarding the issue. And the most surprised how she casually addressed them sleeping together and didn't even bat an eyelash, as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

Maybe to her it was.

"I'm pretty tired now actually. When I wake in a few hours I'll try to disturb you as little as possible." He tells her as he gets in the other side of the bed and faces away from her, willing his body to relax.

"Roger that." She says sleepily.

And he smirks as he drifts off to sleep.