It had been a few weeks since we first signed up. We were all in the mess hall, eating, talking, swapping stories and playing practical jokes on a few of the more bashful students.
I saw him. He was always sitting alone, barely ever touching his meal. I had wanted to go over to him several times before but Erwin had talked me out of it saying he was bad news. I didn't think so.
I studied him as he trained, despite the fact that, supposedly, he was a thug, his movements with the 3D Maneuver gear were quite gracious and his swordsmanship was flawless. His ability to use such speed and precision was nothing short of near impossible.
Of course, for all that he had going for himself, he was shitty at talking to people.
Erwin had gone to bed not too long ago complaining of a sick stomach. I had offered to examine him but he fearfully refused… I can't imagine why… Anyway, I decided to approach the short boy in Erwin's absence.
I took a deep breath and walked over to him. I stood next to his table and rocked on my heals; he didn't notice me. After a moment or two, I coughed, drawing his attention.
He looked up at me with those lifeless eyes
"What do you want?" He asked, dead-pan
"Eh, n-nothing" I could feel his eyes boring into me. I wondered how such a cold stare could burn so much "Just came over to say hello"
He looked back at his food "Where's your boyfriend?"
"Huh?"
"That blond guy who keeps giving me evil looks"
"Erwin?" I was a little shocked at his accusation.
"Is that his name?" He took a bight out of his roll of bread
"He's not my boyfriend" My cheeks turning red
"Could'a fooled me"
I cooled down and sat opposite him, deciding to change the subject "So where are you from?"
"Does it really matter?"
"It does to me"
He stopped eating and looked me in the eye "Why do you want to know about me?"
"I'm interested" I shrugged.
"Interested" He chuckled lightly
"Aye! I've been watching you, studying your movements with your gear and I can't for the life of me figure out where you learned to move like you do"
"Studying me, eh? What are you, some perverted scientist?"
"No!" My cheeks turning red again "Well, not the perverted part anyway"
"If you must know"- he looked at me, searching for my name
"Hanji"
"If you must know, Hanji, I'm not from anywhere"
"Huh? Then where did you learn to"-
"Just picked it up, I guess" He shrugged and dipped his bread into his soup.
….
"More balance training, Maggots! I want you in the training field in thirty minutes!" Shadis woke us at the crack of dawn
I moaned and clambered out of bed, putting my glasses on and seeing the world in all its glory
Raining. And thunder. And lightning
I sighed and wished for the training field to be struck by lightning so we couldn't train.
"C'mon, Hanji!" Maria Burquest. A friend I had made. She slept in the bunk next to me. She was about my height with curly red hair and green eyes "Get your ass in gear, shit-head!" She was my motivator. She told me she was named after the wall in hopes that she'd grow up to stand tall, to be strong, and that she would help defend humanity; I can honestly say she lived up to her name.
"Alright! Alright!" I stood up and lazily got dressed and put on my gear.
…
We were in the line for breakfast; plain porridge, as usual. At home, I loved porridge. We would grow the oats ourselves. My mother used to tell me "if you love the soil as much as you love the food it makes, it will always be tasty" I often thought she was talking a load of shit. How could emotions towards soil make a difference? I often thought, but after my few weeks here, I understand what she meant.
The porridge here was disgusting. I wouldn't even feed it to a dog. Black Burned spots mixed up in it. I sighed as one of the older students working the kitchens slopped a pile of it in my pan. I turned and took a seat next to Maria, Erwin wasn't too far behind me and sat opposite us, bringing two boys he had also made friends with; Rin and DJ Patterson, a pair of twins, identical twins; short black hair and blue eyes. The only difference between them was that DJ had freckles.
"Porridge. Ugh" One of the twins said.
Erwin had a look of despair on his face as he picked a load up on his spoon and watched it slide back into his pan.
"I don't know what you're complaining about" Maria said as she shovelled it past her lips "It's not that bad"
She always surprised me when it came to eating the stuff. It was like she had no taste buds.
"How can you eat this stuff!?" The other twin asked, amazed.
"I just can!" She replied.
I looked down at my own pan when something caught my eye; a little white speck. "Huh?" I looked at it and just to the right of it, there were a few more white specks. White specks leading all the way to the edge of Maria's pan.
I picked up a few of the white specks on the tip of my finger and examined them more closely.
Erwin noticed "What is it, Hanji?"
"Hmm" I licked the tip of my finger, lapping at the taste a few times.
"Huh?" One of the twins raised an eyebrow at me in confusion
"Don't worry, she's researching" Erwin sighed as he tapped the boys shoulder.
My eyes grew wide. It was a taste I had only ever tried once. My father had gone on an expedition at the opposite end of the wall. He had been to one of the bigger towns on his way back and picked us up a present-
"Sugar!" I exclaimed "There's suga"-
Maria slapped her hand over my mouth "Keep it down, Shit-head!" Her eyes were dark and filled with a weak form of bloodlust.
I began to shake in fear. To this day, she is the only person who truly struck fear into my heart. She slowly removed her hand from my mouth.
Erwin leaned forward and whispered "You have sugar?" Looking the girl dead in the eye, unmoved.
"Aye" She whispered in return before looking both ways. She reached into her pocket and slowly pulled out a tattered coin purse.
The twins opposite us began to drool.
"I'll share it if you promise not to tell anyone" She looked us all in the eye. We all nodded.
She quickly opened the purse, taking out pinches of the white substance and showering it over each of our pans. The purse disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
"Now keep your fucking mouths shut about it" She finally said.
We all stirred up our porridge, mixing in the sugar.
I think it was DJ who was the first of us to try it. Each of us looked at his, gauging his reaction. He held it in his mouth for a while and eventually swallowed. He said nothing, he only smiled. That was good enough for the rest of us and we dived in
