"Eh?" Sasha screamed in dismay at Eren. "M-Mikasa was sent out for an activity out of school, and she will be eating there?"

"That's what she told me this morning before we left," Eren nonchalantly replied.

"No! I am so hungry! I want to eat steak and ravioli and burger and pizza and—"

"Shut up, will ya?" Reiner finally remarked in anger as he shoved a banana inside Sasha's mouth. "If that makes you feel better."

Sasha grabbed Reiner by the arm and flipped him on the floor. The whole class was in uproar at the "wrestling match" that was going on, and the people clapped because Sasha was able to take on someone extremely larger than her. Then, grabbing the banana out of her mouth, Sasha shouted at Reiner.

"I am not hungry for a banana! But thanks anyway!" she scolded him before running out of the classroom with the banana in hand.

Eren shrugged after watching the Potato Girl run out of the room and went to his seat to listen to some songs on his playlist. The day was a bit stuffy so he rested his chin on the window sill and closed his eyes. He did not recognize Armin coming in and standing in front of him.

"Eren," Armin called out, tapping his friend on the shoulder. He knew that once Eren hits play on his playlist, he won't be able to hear anyone else due to the pumped-up volume of his earphones.

Eren turned around to see his best friend, and he pushed his earphones away from his ears.

"Ohayou," Eren greeted him.

Armin looked around wistfully to Mikasa's seat and asked Eren if he and Mikasa had patched up. Eren nodded with a smile and informed his friend that Mikasa already agreed to let him be in the band.

"Sugoi!" Armin remarked. "I can't stand the two of you not being in good terms. After all, that girl really loves you a lot."

Eren got up from his position and stared at his friend. Since yesterday, Armin had been implying some things. His eyebrows furrowed as his cheeks burned.

"What do you mean by that?" Eren asked, his voice rising a bit.

"Where were you the whole time, Eren?" Armin asked in amusement. "I mean, like, hashtag, everybody knows!"

"What do you mean by 'hashgtag, everybody knows,' huh?" Eren asked in confusion.

To which, Armin hit his face with his palm, "How can you be so dense, Eren? I cannot with you!"

And Armin shook his head and turned his back to go to his chair.

"Oy..OY! Armin! Matte!" Eren called out. "What do you mean by what you said earlier?"

Armin beckoned his friend to come closer. And when Eren did, Armin tried to look around to see if Jean was in the premises. When the horse-faced guy wasn't in sight, Armin smirked and remarked, "I already said that Mikasa loves you."

Eren blushed again, to Armins amusement. But Eren brushed it away, saying that of course, Mikasa loves him because they're foster siblings.

"You think so?" Armin smiled like a contented cat and grabbed his bag. "Ja, Eren, I am gonna study now, kthanksbye."

"Oy, Armin! What exactly do you mean?" Eren asked in exasperation. What exactly did Armin mean when he said that Mikasa loved Eren?

But Armin buried his face into his book so Eren could not disturb him. Smart boy.

~~.

Lunch time.

Levi was currently under the tree, reading another letter from his secret admirer. The letter did not piss him off nor scare him because, like the first one, this one was written with flare. It was graciously written like Levi could feel that the girl writing this one has finesse.

He did not notice Hange chasing first-year students to bother them with anything that she had in mind. He did not notice Mike, Nanaba, and Erwin playing kick the can in the field. He also did not notice Gunther and Olou studying under a tree across the other part of the field. And he did not notice Petra approaching him.

"Ano... Levi-kun?" Petra called his attention.

Levi looked up and told Petra to sit with him. He was expectant of the bento that she will be making, and he was not disappointed because Petra had bento with her.

"Ano, Levi-kun, Levi-kun likes tonkatsu, ne?"

"Yeah, tonkatsu is oishii," Levi replied with his usual poker-face.

Petra began talking to Levi about her grandma. As Levi received the bento from her, he listened intently. The way Petra talked was similar to the way the writer constructed her words: fine and gracious. He wished it was Mikasa writing the letter to him, but if it was Petra writing it, he wouldn't mind. He hadn't talk with her like this, in a close encounter.

Maybe he could just get to know her and ask her regarding the letter later.

~~.

Mikasa came in the classroom after the lunch break, just a few minutes before the start of the afternoon class. Sasha, who stood expectantly by the door, rushed to her and twirled her around, expecting her classmate to be bringing some food along.

"Wha...why do you not have any food?" Sasha asked in panic.

"I was just tasked to taste some food there," Mikasa replied. "There was no all-you-can-eat."

"What? So envious!" Sasha cried.

"I was just being sent by the school to choose among the food concessionaires that have plans of providing food in the school canteen," Mikasa explained. "If you were there, I am sure you'll choose all of them and eat all their food."

"B-b-but, I am hungry!" Sasha cried as she hugged Mikasa. "Please give me some food!"

"Oy, oy, do not greet Mikasa like that!" Connie shouted at Sasha as he pulled her away.

"NO!" Sasha screamed.

Mikasa was able to come inside the classroom in peace because Connie had pulled Sasha away. When she reached her place, she caught Eren glancing at her, but Eren, she noticed, immediately turned his head away and looked out the window. Mikasa could see that he had a blush on his face. In effect, she pulled her scarf close to cover her cheeks again. Sure, Eren was glancing at her. It was no doubt, and it was clear as day. And when her gaze landed at Armin, she saw Armin smirking at her like he was hiding something.

"Doushitan, Armin?" Mikasa asked crisply.

Armin only shook his head and informed her to take her seat because Shadis-sensei might come in any minute.

~~.

That afternoon, as the three friends were walking home, Eren bugged Armin again.

"Oy, Armin, you really owe me an explanation..."

"About what?" Mikasa cut in.

"About... Something this lunch time," Eren said to Mikasa before turning to Armin.

As if knowing what Eren was trying to ask him, Armin suddenly faked a stomachache.

"Ohhh my stomach hurts so bad, I'm gonna run home!" Armin lied before going away. "Mata ashita! (See you tomorrow)"

Eren and Mikasa were left to themselves.

"What was that about?" Eren asked himself out loud.

"About what?" Mikasa asked.

"Nah, forget about it. Armin was being weird today," Eren said.

Mikasa did not press on and walked silently alongside Eren. Not from afar, Jean was hanging out outside the convenience store with Sasha, Connie, Ymir, and Krista. When Jean saw Mikasa with Eren, his jealous flared up again.

"Hey, you f***ing bastard, why you!" Jean blurted out of the blue as he grabbed Eren by the collar of his uniform.

"What the f*** is wrong with you, Man?" Eren screamed as he kicked Jean's knees.

"Ooof!" Jean screamed as he fell on the ground.

"Booyah! This is gonna be a good fight. Wohoo!" Ymir screamed with delight.

"Ymir!" was all Krista could angrily say.

"Why are you with Mikasa again, huh? Huh?" Jean asked Eren as he used his force to stand up the ground.

"She's my f***ing foster sister, that's what!" Eren explained in anger. "Not gonna expound my explanation for stupid imbeciles like you!"

And the two went on fighting again. Ymir, Sasha, and Connie cheered and even placed some bets, but Krista tried to stop the two.

"Onegai, please stop this," Krista begged them.

"What's wrong with you, Man?" Eren asked again.

"Because I like her!" Jean finally confessed.

Eren, who was about to punch Jean, stopped his fist in midair, and was shocked at the revelation. Even Mikasa was shocked to learn that Jean liked her.

"I knew it!" Ymir exclaimed happily.

"You do?" Connie asked her.

"You won't know coz you're stoopid," Ymir cajoled him.

And Jean's fist landed on Eren's cheeks.

"And I won't allow you to dare hurt her, not even her heart!" Jean screamed.

Eren fell to the ground, and Mikasa tried to help him, but he refused any help. He stood up by himself.

"See? You aren't even concerned for your f***ing foster sister!" Jean berated him.

"Not your problem, Dude!" Eren retorted as he punched Jean, but Jean dodged it.

"Yohoo! I won the bet! I won the bet!" Ymir cheered in a sing-song voice as she showed her palm to Connie and Sasha, who placed their bets on Eren.

"I'm not telling you to place a bet on me, you b****!" Jean screamed at Ymir.

"My, my, you are ungrateful! You should be thankful I even took your side," Ymir smirked.

But before Jean could answer, a fist landed on him. It was Eren's, and Jean fell to the ground.

"Yehey! We won the bet! We won the bet!" Sasha sang as Connie asked for Ymir's part of the deal.

But then, the deal wasn't even over. Jean stood up and fought with Eren again. But before the fight could even escalate, Mikasa stepped in and punched Jean on the gut. And before Eren could even berate her for butting in, Mikasa punched him and toppled him down on the ground.

"Eh?" Ymir stood, speechless.

"But, the bet!" Sasha cried.

"No more bets, you see!" Krista finally scolded the other three before stooping down to help Jean. "Daijoubu?"

"What did you do that for, Mikasa?" Eren asked angrily as he wiped his bloody lips.

"The two of you are getting rowdy, and we are in a public place," Mikasa solemnly replied with a grave face. "The two of you are disgraceful."

"Mikasa, my love!" Jean shouted in agony as Krista helped him get up.

But Mikasa only glared him before grabbing Eren by the collar and dragging him home. Connie, who was supposed to cry at his lost bet, laughed at poor Eren being dragged by Mikasa. It was not everyday that said guy would be humiliated by being overpowered by a girl.

~~.

"Itai!" Eren screamed in pain.

The medicine sure hurts, and Mikasa was undoubtly not very polite nor very gentle when it came to nursing Eren's wounds.

"Do I have to pick up all your pieces everytime you go on brawling with Jean?" Mikasa scolded him.

"You don't have to help me. It's hurting my manly ego, you know! Ouch!" Eren retorted.

"Is it manly to just go answer to a fight? Jean was just being petty and starting a fight, and you accepted the challenge? You are stooping too low to his level, and I am not amused," Mikasa said. "I don't remember raising you like that."

"Will you shut the f*** up, Mikasa?" Eren screamed at her. "I am not your little bro nor your son, get it?"

Mikasa punched him again.

"How many times do I have to tell you to temper that mouth of yours?" she asked him. "The last time I knew, you aren't even friends with Levi-sempai."

"Oh yeah? So the two of you are friends, huh?!" Eren asked angrily.

"So what if we are close? I evev told him to temper his cursing, and he said it is cool. I don't want you to do the same thing even if you and him are not close," Mikasa coldly told him.

"Yeah, whatever," Eren said. "You could just go hang out with him."

Mikasa saw he turned his head away when she tried to put some medicine on his lip.

"Are... are you jealous, Eren?" she asked him.

"Jealous! Me, jealous of Levi-sempai? Why should I be?" Eren told her defensively.

"You... you wouldn't be angry at me like that and push me away if you aren't jealous of him," Mikasa told him as she tried to hold his hand.

"Don't you hold me, Mikasa," Eren seethed in anger.

But Mikasa was not dazed. She grabbed his hand and pushed the cotton with medicine harder on his skin, making Eren yelp with pain.

"Hold still, Eren," Mikasa told him. "And you didn't answer my question."

"Why should I even bother? To give you satisfaction?" Eren retorted.

But Mikasa hid her cheeks with her scarf again and smiled inside.

"You... like me, Eren?" she began to ask him softly.

Eren turned to her, blushing at her question and her gentle voice. He began to stutter as well.

"Uh... what kind of question was that?" Eren asked, avoiding to answer.

"You'll not even get defensive or jealous of Levi-sempai and Jean if you don't like me," Mikasa told him.

That did it. That got to him. He could not even deny that Mikasa's blush behind her scarf was making him weak inside. He gently cupped her cheeks and slowly leaned forward.

"You're right, I'm really jealous," he whispered, his hot breath on her face making Mikasa blush even more.

"E-Eren..."

And the next thing she knew, his soft lips landed on hers.

~~.

They were a bunch of hormonal teenagers, but they knew they had to control themselves. They knew that it was also Uncle Hannes' proposition that both of them should put study their first priority before any raging hormones. But that did not stop Mikasa from hugging Eren like a pillow or a stuffed toy and being so cozy with him on the couch. (And it's not like Eren's gonna f*** Mikasa starting from that day on, and f*** her every night.)

"Eren, please stop squirming," Mikasa whispered before kissing Eren on the forehead.

"Hey, who's the guy here?" Eren asked her, cringing at the thought that Mikasa wrapped her arms around him and cuddled with him like what most guys would do with their girlfriends. It was a reversal of roles.

"You are, but I loved you first," Mikasa purred to his ears before tightly wrapping her arms around him.

"Hey, hey, can't breathe!" he complained.

"Gomen, ne..."

"Say, Mikasa, when did you start liking me?" he asked.

And Mikasa told him it started on the day he wrapped the scarf around her. She did not know what the feeling that was, but she knew it was different from friendship. And even though they lived as foster sister and brother, she knew her feelings for him weren't sisterly at all. She just kept it to herself, knowing that everybody else might have something bad to say.

"And do you still look at me like a foster brother to you?" he asked her.

Mikasa whispered to his ears, "I can tell everyone that you are my foster brother, but in my heart, you are more than that."

"A lover, perhaps?" he teased her.

Mikasa blushed. The term "lover" sounded deeper than "boyfriend."

"Are we too young to be lovers?" she asked him.

"We are, yeah, but we are not too young to love," he said. "I cannot keep up with this pretense any longer, Mikasa. And I want you. I know you want me too."

"Eren..."

"Will you be my kanojo?" he asked her.

Mikasa, instead of answering, leaned down to kiss Eren on the lips. Eren did not need to decipher her answering, judging by the way she kissed him and the way she caressed his skin.

"She does love me, after all," he thought.

After the kiss, Mikasa nodded and kissed him, nose to nose, "Hai, I want to be your girlfriend, and you'll be my kareshi."

"Shall we tell Armin?" Eren asked her.

"Mochiron (of course)," Mikasa told him. "Let's not leave him in the dark."

"Let's also tell the whole class tomorrow that you are mine," Eren said with conviction, "And I am yours."

"Hai..."