Hi, we meet again, guys! I didn't take long to update, did I? :3

Thank you ca99oline, Sunny Sonic, Seraphicpapilion, Anti-Shadow Aigis, Kuro-KuriKuri, Kim20, silentux131, Alexnoel1422427, guest, Kuroi Onee-san, meshi-chan, Ana cii Bunny, Ayexia, animeloverforeverjapan, Iam Titania-falls, Guest, YanHime, alex, sparkling apples, hamchan, Death Appraiser, Batse, and Nathaniel for your lovely reviews! *heart*

By the way, I decided to increase Hanji's appearance starting this chapter (Yes, I'm a Hanji fan and apparently, a RivaillexHanji fan too. Aaah, I have too many favorite pairings in this anime~)

Have you watched episode 14? I love Hanji's "Kimi ga Eren da ne~?"! It sounds so refreshing! I just love her carefree style! So soothing~ And the second opening video is definitely much more epic than the first! The ending song is good, too!

Anyway, enjoy~

Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin


There was a time when Mikasa would follow Eren quietly like an obedient little sister. Every word he said was her guiding light. She followed him. Because she knew, that he would show her a world brighter that she had ever known.

That day, Eren was a mess. He fought three bigger kids. And it was for her sake.

They went home with Mikasa on his back even though he was covered in bruises. She told him she could walk by herself but he insisted on carrying her home since she sprained her ankle. On their way home, Mikasa was reminded by the words the bullies said to her earlier.

"Say, Eren…" she whispered from behind him. Her breath tickled his neck.

"Hn?"

"They said I was weird. They said that… I'm not supposed to be here. Am I… a burden to you and your family, Eren?" she buried her face in the nape of his neck when she said that.

"Ha! Nonsense! You're smart and can do anything! What kind of burden could you possibly put on us?" Eren denied.

Mikasa brought her face up, eyes wide. "But, I—"

"Anyway, Mikasa!" he cut her. "Stop talking like an outsider. You're my sister now, okay? They can say whatever they want but that fact would never change."

"…Eren…" her voice slightly trembled and so was her body. She realized that ever since that day she joined the family, never once did Eren mention a thing that implied Mikasa was a stranger. He treated her as a part of the family.

She buried her face again, and Eren could feel the wetness at the nape of his neck.

"Crap! Are you crying again, Mikasa? You're such a crybaby! Come on, if you keep crying mom will yell at me!" Eren panicked.

She smiled.

Every time he called her name, she could feel this tinge of warmth in her heart.

He was her brother, her savior, her everything.


Chapter 8. Dinner


Reiner slammed the whiteboard once, and the class fell into silence.

"Alright, everybody, through Christa's dad's connection, we got the costumes for the festival already. Every single one of you, take one according to what you drew the other day and try it on! You're dismissed!"

After that, Christa came in carrying a huge carton box and Ymir following from behind, carrying two more.

"This is not real! I'm getting out of here!" Eren wailed and attempted to escape but Mikasa quickly grabbed his hand and put him back on his seat.

"Wait there, okay? I'll get your and Armin's maid dress!" Mikasa gave a thumb up before running into the flood of people surrounding the carton boxes.

"Mikasa, noooo!" Armin screamed hysterically but Mikasa was already gone.

The blond quickly covered his face with both hands and weep at the corner of the room, imagining the humiliation he had to endure once he wore that cursed attire called maid dress. Gulping in anxiety after seeing his friend's mental breakdown, Eren began to tremble.

He clasped his hands and began to mumble some prayers.

At another corner of the room, Reiner squatted. Grim aura surrounded him as he mumbled inaudible things. Standing behind him was Annie and Bertholdt, who exchanged pitiful gazes before talking to him,

"Come on, Reiner, we've got yours here." Bertholdt persuaded him.

"Stand up right now, how long are you going to divert your eyes from reality? This is a fair result. You can do nothing about it." Annie lectured, hand on hip.

"But… But…" Reiner started sobbing like a spoiled child.

'This guy's a pain…' Annie thought as a vein on her forehead started throbbing. Just when Annie had decided to leave him alone believing that time will heal him, the built man got up and pulled her hoodie resulting in her almost falling backward.

She snapped her head up at him, "What's your problem?"

Then she saw him holding something in his hands. Annie's eye twitched when she finally got what he meant. What he was holding was a pair of white cat ears.

"What do you want with that?" Annie feigned ignorance but her cold tone betrayed it.

"Wear these and I'll get better!"

The vein on her forehead started throbbing again after only a couple of seconds of rest. 'This jerk… He hasn't given up on humiliating me, I see…'

Reiner noticed how much scarier Annie's glare today was compared to usual. He gulped and laughed nervously, "Ahahaha… What are you being angry for, Annie? Of course it was a joke! I actually prepared this for Christa! She's gonna look cute with—augh!"

Quite surprised by Ymir's sudden attack on Reiner, Annie blinked a couple of times. She could hear something broke.

"Make Christa wear those insolent ears and this is going to be the last time you see your nose, Reiner…" Ymir sounded scary with her low tone.

On the other hand, Christa quickly rushed to Reiner's side, ready with her first-aid kit. As expected of the class nurse. But that action earned Ymir's jealousy and Reiner had to put up with Ymir's deathly glare that had this you-are-going-to-lose-much-more-than-just-your-nos e meaning on it while being treated by Christa.

At the other side of the class, some of the students had changed into their respective costume.

"I'm so jealous, Connie! Your costume looks like a potato!" Sasha commented while drooling. In front of her was Connie Springer, fully dressed in a potato costume.

"Hah! Your maid dress is nowhere near my costume!" Connie said proudly. For some reason he started liking his costume, probably because he got someone to praise him.

"Can I eat you!?"

"What!? That sounds so wrong in more ways than one!"

Meanwhile, both Jean and Marco also had changed into their costumes. Jean as an egg while Marco as a tomato. Not getting the connection between their costumes and their café, Jean, as usual, spoke his mind bluntly.

"What's this have to do with anything!? We look more like we're selling food ingredients than food!" Jean shouted.

"Well, don't be so mad, Jean. It's Mikasa's idea, you know?" Marco smiled nervously.

"EH!?" Jean quickly turned to look at the half Asian girl. She had her eyes looking like a puppy that just got yelled by its owner. "W-wait, Mikasa! I seriously didn't think that way! It was just a form of speech, you see!" he started blurting excuses.

But Mikasa's expression lit up, "You like it, Jean?" she asked.

"O, ouh! Of course! I feel like I'm gonna eat more eggs after this!" Jean's smile twitched but Mikasa didn't seem to notice.

"At first I thought Sasha was going to get to wear costumes so I suggested adding potato, but I guess she's not…" Mikasa said flatly. But unknown to her, Jean was being shot by a cupid's arrow the second she said that.

'You think about your friends a lot, Mikasa. You're very kind! I'm touched!' Jean's tears began streaming like waterfalls.

After a while, everyone had changed into their costumes. Ymir in coffee cup costume prevented Christa from showing herself in front of the others and it earned disappointment from them. Reiner managed to endure the humiliation after consulting Eren, who had the same fate. While Bertholdt in ice cream costume only smiled as if he was already used to it. And Armin was surprisingly popular in maid outfit, mostly because he looked a lot like a girl.

The last two were Mikasa and Annie.

Both of them tied their hair into short ponytail. Their butler outfits gave out elegant aura on them, especially because the two of them had cool façade.

The class was quiet for a while before—

"Great, Annie! I didn't get to see Christa in maid outfit but this is really something!" Reiner retrieved his phone from his pocket and started taking pictures with his nose bleeding from Ymir's hit just now… and some other reasons.

Annie's eye twitched again but she saw Bertholdt smiling nervously at her and she knew he tried to tell her to hold back. She sighed and nodded.

"Marco! Do me a favor and take pictures of Mikasa in my stead! Here, my phone!" Jean shoved his phone at Marco.

"Eh? Why me?" Marco asked, puzzled.

"If she saw me taking photos she's gonna think of me as some kind of pervert, so…"

"So it's okay if she thinks I'm a pervert?" Marco deadpanned.

"Argh! Marco, please! I'm begging you, dude!"

Marco sighed, "Okay, okay…"

In a short while, the class was filled with flashes from phone camera. It looked as though a fashion show was happening in class 1-04.

Eren noticed how natural Mikasa moved. The movements were small but natural, as though she was already used to this somewhere. But then again, she saw Annie doing the same and assumed that the two of them were just good at dealing with being shot.


"Mikasa, the bath's free!" Eren shouted once he was out of the bathroom.

"Coming!" she replied as she came from the living room.

Once she entered the bathroom, Eren went to the living room to watch TV. Noticing Mikasa's phone on the table, he assumed that she was messaging someone up until just now. Not thinking twice, Eren grabbed the phone and flipped it open. He opened the inbox and his brows knitted.

Had been living with her for years, he had never once saw her texting with anyone. Usually, if she had business, she would call them directly.

Eren quickly pressed the enter button and opened the message.

Object: Dinner

I'm going to fetch you tomorrow on 6.30 P.M.
Be ready by then because I'm not waiting for you, Mikasa.

-Rivaille

Eren felt like crushing the phone into pieces. What was that? Mikasa was invited to a dinner? But that was not the most suspicious part yet. If he recalled, Rivaille-kaichou called Mikasa by her family name instead of her given name. When did he start calling Mikasa by her given name!?

He was relieved when Mikasa finally changed her shift back and Rivaille-kaichou stopped coming to the house to fetch her but it seemed the situation got even worse.

'Don't tell me they start going out without even asking for my permission!?'

(P.S. Due to an abundant amount of suspicion, Eren had started thinking exaggeratingly.)

"I'm not letting this go smoothly!" he gritted his teeth.


Annie was reading a book while leaning against Bertholdt on the sofa. Sitting beside Bertholdt was Reiner. Apparently Reiner and Bertholdt visited her apartment saying they wanted to watch movie together and for some reason they brought romance movie, which didn't fit Annie's taste so she ignored the whole movie and preferred reading a book instead.

"Oh man, he's so stupid! He just passed the woman he loves!" Reiner commented.

"They were separated by the people passing by, Reiner…" Bertholdt added.

While the two were too absorbed with the movie, Annie's phone vibrated. She put her book aside and looked at her phone. There was one text message. She opened it and apparently, it was from Eren.


Annie, can you accompany me to a dinner tomorrow? I'm not skipping our training tomorrow, okay?

There's this suspicious guy who invites Mikasa to a dinner and I found out that there has to be at least a guy and a girl to enter that dinner place. I asked Armin to crossdress but he refused! DX

You're the only one I can ask a favor from! m(_ _)m


Annie raised a brow at the message before typing a reply asking where the dinner was going to be. Eren mentioned a high-class restaurant named Winter Rendesvouz but Annie countered him by saying that he needed an early reservation to get a place there. Panicking, Eren asked what he was supposed to do. The dinner was tomorrow and he couldn't possibly get a place by reserving today.

Sighing, Annie shook her head, pitying Eren. Then she replied that her acquaintance actually invited her to a dinner there tomorrow but she suddenly couldn't make it so Annie decided to cancel it but if Eren really wanted to go they could use her acquaintance's name to get a place.

Eren thanked her excitedly.

Annie replied one last time before putting her phone on back to the table. She noticed the movie had ended and her two friends had slept soundly. She got up from the sofa and went to find a blanket to cover them.

She noticed the two of them were carrying backpack when they visited so she assumed they were going to stay for the night anyway. Not bothering to wake them up, she went to sleep.


On the morning of the next day, Eren woke up later than Mikasa. She had already prepared breakfast and was hanging the laundry. Eren got up and went to wash his teeth before going to the dining room.

"Eren, I have work today but I'll be back on 3, okay? I'm afraid you'll have to eat lunch outside." Mikasa said at the dining table. Today was Saturday and the school didn't have afternoon lessons.

"Okay. I have plans with Annie anyway."

Mikasa froze. "With Annie?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"You didn't tell me anything about it."

'Well you didn't tell me a thing about your dinner plan too!' was what Eren wanted to say but he didn't want Mikasa to find out that he knew everything. "Maybe I forgot."

"Is it a date?" she asked, eyes narrowing.

'Yours is a date, right!?' Eren gritted his teeth. "Maybe…" he answered.

At that, Mikasa dropped her fork and gaped like a goldfish. Eren stopped eating as well when he saw Mikasa trembling for some reasons. He raised a brow at her. She had her head hung low and she was much quieter than earlier.

"…Mikasa?"

Mikasa was silent, but the she opened her mouth to speak, "I'm going to be blunt here…" then she stood up and slammed the dining table, making Eren jumped slightly. "I still haven't mentally prepared myself for this, Eren. Please don't grow up too fast and leave me behind…" she muttered sadly.

That defeated look on her face never failed to make him feel guilty.

But he wasn't going to back up on this one! Screw Mikasa. She didn't even tell him a thing about her and Rivaille-kaichou going out so why should he concern himself with her?

"Why can't I? I think I'm old enough to make my own choices now."

"But—"

"This talk ends here."

"Eren—"

"Thanks for the food. I'm going to school early, okay?" Eren said before picking up his bag and left the house, leaving Mikasa all confused.


Mikasa went to the school after Eren but when she arrived, she couldn't find the lad anywhere in sight. His things were there but he wasn't. Soon the bell rang but Eren was still nowhere in sight.

Sighing, Mikasa buried her face in her arms.

Beside her, Armin got a little worried and decided to ask her what's wrong.

"Eren's not here…" she answered, her voice muffled.

"Eh? If it's about Eren, he went with Hanji-senpai this morning. Senpai took a liking to him and dragged him to her laboratorium."

Mikasa quickly brought her head up.

"…Hanji-senpai?"

Before Mikasa could say anything more, someone slammed the door open and shouted in urgency, "Is Annie here? Follow me to the lab this instance! This is urgent!" she jumped hysterically.

Everyone turned their attention to Annie who was a little confused by the situation. And because she didn't move from her seat, Hanji approached her in a quick pace and pulled her.

"Come on, this urgent, I'm not lying!" she whined.

"Eh? Ah…" Annie recovered from her confusion and followed the panicking senior.

On the other hand, Mikasa noticed that Eren was supposed to be at the lab as well. Could it be something happened to him? But why wasn't she the one being called there?

Of course, Mikasa offered to follow them too but Hanji banned her from doing so, saying that she should focus on studying instead of worrying about Eren all the time.

Unsatisfied, however Mikasa could only obey. Deep down, she began cursing the blonde.


Hanji led Annie the way, but Annie had become suspicious.

"Excuse me…" she spoke up.

Hanji, who was walking a bit ahead of Annie, looked over her shoulder, her signature grin plastered on her face. Now Annie was sure that this wasn't as urgent as she implied before.

"Am I being tricked into something?" Annie asked in monotone.

The senpai chuckled and turned her head to face ahead again, "Not really. This is quite the emergency, actually. I can't ask help from the Student Council member especially Rivaille. I wanted to seek help from Mikasa but Eren banned me from doing so. He told me to get you instead!" she finished excitedly.

Behind her, Annie's brows furrowed.

"What happened to Eren, actually?"

Hanji didn't answer directly, instead, she slide the laboratorium door open. Annie's eyes widened dramatically at what she saw inside the room. It was quite the unbelievable thing but for some reason she believed what she saw.

Sitting there on the table was—

—an infant version of Eren Jaeger.

TO BE CONTINUED


This time's quiz will be a little hard to solve. But if you can put the hints together I'm sure you can give the right answer ;3

Alright, on to the question!

"Who is Annie's acquaintance?"

Good luck on solving the quiz~ See you again~