"Eren! Just the guy I wanted to see!"

As soon as Eren closed the door, a short guy came up to him and placed an arm around his shoulder. His haircut was of a soldier's, and he wore a haggard look. "W-what are you doing here, Connie? Scratch that, have you seen Mikasa?" He said, shaking the latter's arm off. Connie scratched his head.

"Yeah. Here's the thing." Connie started dragging Eren in a certain direction where they can hear a lot of shouting. The cabin they just left from was isolated from the others. They had to hike a bit before reaching the other cabins.

When they reached the center, they saw crowds of people. They were cheering over there, shouting Mikasa's name. "Your girlfriend is having a duel with Sasha and Jean, and I think you need to stop her before we all get in trouble." From afar, Eren can hear Jean's miserable scream and Sasha's ear-piercing shriek. Before Eren could ask, Connie sighed. "Food fight."

"…Food fight?" Eren furrowed his eyebrows as he yelled "S-she's not my girlfriend…!" leaving Connie stunned. Flushed, he abandoned Connie and tried to squeeze in through the crowd by himself.

The cheering died down when Eren entered the scene. It didn't take long for them to stop throwing food at each other (or to be more accurate, Mikasa throwing food at Jean). Seeing how Mikasa was staring down at the two, it seemed she won the fight. She was gonna throw another bowl of mushroom soup at Jean until Eren walked straight to her and grabbed her arm. "What the hell are you doing?"

The glare on Mikasa's face disappeared when she saw Eren. She wasn't smiling though. "I overheard Jean calling you an arrogant little bastard who likes to brag and be an ass. I couldn't just walk away from that." She then pointed at Sasha. "She was angry at me for throwing food at Jean."

Said potato-girl stood up, eyes red from crying. "Who wouldn't be after you wasted such scrumptious delicacies like that? Did you know I spent horrifying nights not eating any dinner at all? You should've atleast threw a chair instead or something! That would've been more effective!" She was cradling the dirtied breads in her arms.

Chair or not, there wouldn't have been any difference, Eren thought. Seeing the bruise on Jean's face, the impact looked really painful. Mikasa must've been really pissed. Deep down, Eren also wanted to beat Jean up, but he kinda felt sorry for him. Just a bit. "Whatever. Let's go, Mikasa." He was walking back to their cabin and Mikasa followed.

"…Damn you, Eren. This is all your fault." Jean was still badmouthing Eren when Sasha approached him. She still had the bread in her arms. Sasha knelt down so she could see him at eye-level. "What?"

She gave him a powerful uppercut that made Jean cough up some blood. "That's for pissing Mikasa off! None of this food would've been wasted if you've kept your insults to yourself!"

She was going to walk away when she heard someone say "There, sir! They were fighting a while ago."

Heaven knows what punishments are in store for the two.

Now that Eren found Mikasa, they made their way back to their isolated cabin.

Before opening the door, Eren looked both sides, checking if there was anyone around. He was surprised when he saw Connie at their doorstep, since no one else ever comes there aside from them. It was isolated for a reason. Seeing as there's none, he discreetly opened the door and both of them went inside. Leia was sitting up straight on her bed, eating the grub they snuck out earlier from the cafeteria.

…So she's awake now, huh. Good for her.

It's been like forever since he last saw her do anything but sleep. Eren confirmed that she definitely looks better when she's smiling. Somehow though, He felt something piercing his heart when she's smiling right now. Maybe it's because her smile wasn't for him.

After both he and Mikasa entered, Eren closed the door a bit louder. It wasn't like he wanted to, his hand just moved on his own. Despite the shock look on his face, Armin quickly stood up and went near the newcomers.

"I heard screaming. What happened?" His voice was hushed. Eren glanced at Leia. She was stretching out her neck, trying to listen to their conversation. When their eyes met, they both looked away.

"It's nothing." Eren said as he sat at one of the bunk beds farthest from them. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mikasa sit next to Lei, checking her temperature.

Mikasa felt Lei tense up when she placed her hand on her forehead. "You're a bit warm. That's good." Mikasa wondered if Leia blushed when she saw her smile. "You okay?"

Leia shook her head. "Oh, I mean yeah! I just…" Twiddling her fingers, she shyly said. "…You look really pretty. I-I mean, I knew you were pretty, but you look a lot prettier now than what I remember…" You look a lot older now, too. Leia fought the urge to say that out loud.

Considering how no one ever actually tells her that, Mikasa was surprised. "Really? Well, thank you. You're pretty too, you know. You look a lot healthier now, aswell."

As the two girls ended up conversing, Armin sat beside Eren and whispered discreetly at him. "We're in trouble… She hasn't asked a single question." Eren wondered why that was a bad thing and gave Armin a look. "This whole situation is as suspicious as it looks. We need to tell her now before—"

"No, Armin. We've already decided on it."

Armin noticed that Mikasa kept on striking up conversations one after another. She's probably buying them time to decide what they should do about Leia. "Eren, both of us know how sensitive Lei feels about …secrets and lies and… stuff like that."

Eren lied down on the bed and closed his eyes, using his arms as his pillow. "We're not lying, and we're not keeping secrets. She hasn't asked us so it's her fault." A faint voice was calling his name, and Eren shivered, knowing very well what's gonna happen next.

"May I talk to you? In private?"

The two of them were alone in the cabin. Leia wanted to talk outside, but Armin and Mikasa insisted on leaving. They couldn't risk anyone seeing her. If that were to happen, not only would they be kicked out of the army for sneaking somebody inside the training camp, but they might take Leia away again. And maybe this time, they might not see her again. Eren bit his tongue when he thought about it. There's no way he'd let that happen.

There was a distant look on Eren's face, Leia noticed, and she knew that it's best to ignore it and keep quiet for a while. She still has to figure out how to say the words that were on her mind. After all, Eren can be a bit slow sometimes and even misunderstand easily. Looking around, Leia noticed the minor details in the room.

The room was rectangular in shape, and had 3 double-decks. 6 beds in total. Leia wondered why there were so many beds when there were only 4 of them. The windows were all shut and draped with curtains, as if they were trying to hide whatever's inside. How'd they get the money to buy this place, anyway?

She can feel the tension building as every minute passes. …I'm still not mentally prepared though…! She was still sitting on her bed, and Eren was standing just at her right. They still weren't looking at each other. What was making them so awkward with each other in the first place? She wondered if that question would ever be answered.

Well, I did say I wanted to talk… This is it… It's now or never, she thought.

"I'm sorry."

Both of them were shocked when they heard each other say that. It was only that time when their eyes locked. "Wait. Why are you sorry?" Eren asked.

Leia scrunched her face in thought. "I don't know." She saw him sigh. "I thought you were angry at me…So I'm sorry." Eren bit his tongue.

'Why would I get angry at you?' Eren's soft question was overshadowed when Leia spoke. "Why are you sorry?"

Eren was sure he was ready for this question. He had rewind this scenario a lot of times in his head, practicing what to say.

"…W-well,"

It's just pure bad luck that he forgot what he has to say.

"Uh, about that…"

Scratch that. He was nervous. He cursed this day, and wished it'd never come. "…It doesn't matter, right?"

Eren looked away as he sat beside her and pulled his legs up on the bed. He looked at his right, trying his best to block the sight of her staring at him. "If you say so…" Leia looked down, her hair covering her face. "Does that mean we're cool?" She tried to smile.

He still wasn't looking at her, but nodded. "I guess…? I wasn't angry at you though…" His voice was barely audible. Eren felt his stomach flip as Leia leaned to his shoulders. How long has it been since he last got to touch her?

"There's something else I wanna talk to you about." Leia whispered as she closed her eyes. Eren gulped as her looked at her at the corner of his eye.

"Tell me… For how long was I out cold?"