Chapter 9: You Can't Read?
Eren opened the box that the Oyabun gave him. The box that carried the moveable phone that he's seen everyone else use in this world. He knew that in order to adapt to this world, he needed to start learning how exactly the technology works.
However, as hard as he tried, he can't get past the language barrier. He doesn't know the written language and as such is unable to learn about the world without help. Even if he were to find a library, it would be of no use since he can't even read a single book. He doubted he could even find a library since he would be unable to even read the building signs and locate one.
However, he also couldn't ask people for help as it put too much suspicion on him. The group that was with Ai got far too suspicious of him over his vague responses, that he could tell. He had no way of making a convincing backstory since he has no idea what this world is like. He only knows of two countries, this United States and what was once called the Soviet Union.
Even a backstory from there would be odd since he is illiterate and can't understand Russian. So Eren was at a complete dead end with no clear way of learning about the world.
The moveable phone was a simple black square. It looked like a much smaller version of the black mirror in the room, which he knew was some kind of moving picture device. He would occasionally see people tap the mirror on the small phone and it would light up. He wondered if there were hidden dials or buttons on it.
Eren tapped the phone a few times and nothing happened. He didn't see any hidden dials or buttons on the mirror that would either put in the right frequency or even activate it. He felt around the edges and did find three distinct buttons.
There was one button on the right side and two buttons on the left side. He wondered if they were used to manipulate it. Eren pushed each button a few times and even a few of them together in a random fashion, still nothing.
He turned it around and saw no way to activate it. No other buttons or ways to interact with the device.
Maybe it wasn't a moveable phone. The boss said it was a smart phone, what ever that was. Maybe like his house phone, it needs to be connected to the wall.
Eren took out the wire and used the small box end to put into the wall. It fit neatly into the holes in the wall and would allow him to use it. He noticed a small hole on the bottom of the phone, which was the same shape as the other end of the wire. Eren put it in and hoped something would happen.
Suddenly, a red light appeared on the mirror. Eren was a bit surprised but by now was used to strange things in this world. The image on the mirror was a red box that had a small portion of it glowing red. Red normally means bad, so he wondered what was going on.
Eren waited for a bit and stared at the mirror. Eventually he noticed that the portion that was red slowly got bigger and bigger. After maybe half an hour, the red image turned green, and the portion filled up more. It reminded Eren of a canteen being filled with water.
Maybe if Eren waited, it would turn on when it's filled all the way. He had to take that gamble.
Eren waited for a while, maybe a few hours. He looked at his clock and the small hand passed by three numbers by this point. He knew that it was around noon time by this point. Finally, the device reached its max fill.
Once again, nothing happened. Nothing that would indicate any changes in the device.
Eren decided to try the small booklet in the box, hoping that maybe that would be able to help him.
"Damn." He muttered to himself.
He noticed that there were multiple languages on the little book. He could tell because there were entire paragraphs with radically different symbols. He recognized three paragraphs that looked like Japanese, but with slight difference that he wondered if they were also different languages.
"All these languages and still nothing familiar." Eren said in annoyance.
There were pictures at least. A few of the pictures had arrows and words telling the reader what each piece was supposed to be. It was useless since Eren didn't know what those words were saying. There was another picture that showed the black mirror with boxes on it. He wondered if those were the buttons. A hand was over some of the pictures with arrows, implying that he had to slide his finger across them.
Eren picked up the phone and tried to mimic the picture. He placed his finger gently on the mirror and started sliding it. When nothing happened, Eren tried applying more and more pressure. Still nothing.
"Damn it all." Eren said in frustration. "How does this work?"
Eren stood up and removed the phone from the wire. He decided to get some fresh air, so he went outside in order to try and figure this out. He pocketed his pistol before going out however.
For at least another half hour, Eren tried everything he could think in order to make the small device work. He tried pushing the three buttons in different ways, swiping on the small mirror while pushing the buttons, and even hitting it with his knuckles. He couldn't figure anything out.
"Is your phone not working?" Eren heard to his right, over where Ai lived.
Sure enough, Ai was standing outside her door, picking up some of her mail, before she noticed Eren.
"Thought you went to a celebration." Eren commented.
"I did, Miyako-San dropped me off an hour ago." Ai smiled.
"Welcome back." Eren said politely.
"Thank you." Ai smiled again. "So is your phone broken?" She asked.
"It won't activate." Eren said.
"Activate?" Ai said. "That's a weird way of phrasing it." She giggled. "Let me see it."
Eren handed her the device. She pushed the top button on the left and the single right button together before holding it for a few moments. After holding it down, an image of a partially eaten fruit appeared.
"Seems to be working." Ai said.
Eren thought that was stupid. Normally dials and buttons were labeled so you know what they did. Did this world just not have any kind of actual need for labels?
"Ah, it must be new." Ai said.
"How can you tell?" Eren asked.
"Well, you need to set it up." She said, holding the mirror to Eren which displayed more unknown characters. "But it's in Japanese, did you get it here?" Ai asked.
"My boss gave it to me." Eren said.
"Oh, it's your work phone?" Ai asked.
"Yes." Eren said.
"Well, I'll set it up for you and change the setting to English when I get into it." She said.
Eren watched over her shoulder as symbols and pictures appeared in quick succession. A mini typewriter styled board appeared on the mirror and Ai typed away with speed and precision that Eren only saw from people used to typing on typewriters.
"Do you spell your name with a Y or a J?" Ai asked Eren.
"Huh?" Eren asked.
"Your last name, Yeager. Is it spelled with a Y or J?" She clarified.
Eren had no idea what those were. He assumed they were letters in this worlds alphabet so he decided to just make it up.
"The first one." Eren said.
"Got it, Y-E-A-G-E-R, is that correct?" She asked.
"Yes." Eren lied, not knowing how to spell his name in this worlds language.
"And we'll set a passcode later." Ai mumbled. "And we're in." She smiled, showing Eren the phone.
It looked like how it did in the book, where there were small boxes with different symbols all over the mirror.
"Now you just go into settings and switch to English... and there, ready for use." She handed him the mobile phone. She may have switched the language to English, but it did little to help Eren.
"Thanks." Eren said.
"Why don't you add me to your Line account." Ai said excitedly.
"Line?" Eren asked.
"Yea, it's a Japanese messaging app. It's like WhatsApp or Instagram." She said excitedly. "I'm not surprised you don't know, most foreigners don't when they first arrive. But nearly everyone in Japan has one."
Ai opened her own phone and showed him her mirror. She pushed a green box and it flashed for a moment before showing a new picture, this one with what looked like written Japanese words on either the left or right side of the mirror.
"We can text each other. It's easy to switch my keyboard to English." She smiled.
"I don't know." Eren said, not knowing what texting meant, but if it involved writing it would confirm to Ai that he's illiterate.
"It'll be fun, come on." She said. "I'll set that up for you too." She took Eren's phone before he could react.
She messed around with it for a bit before eventually he had the small green square on his mirror. She moved so quickly Eren was barely able to keep up.
"There, now what's your phone number?" She asked.
"I don't know." Eren said.
"Oh, it's new right? No problem, we can get it from the settings." She said.
Eventually, Eren had this Line App thing and she handed it back to him. He took the phone and saw what looked like a blank box on the mirror with a picture at the top that looked like some kind of animal, maybe a rabbit.
"And let's try it out." She tapped her own phone a few times.
Bing!
Eren almost jumped as the moveable phone vibrated, as if it was a metal sword that was just hit and made a noise he never heard before.
"Try typing back." She smiled.
On the mirror was what he assumed were English words, but he couldn't make them out. He had no idea what they were saying and had no clue how to respond. Even if he did understand what she said, he had no idea how to send letters through this moveable phone.
Eren looked down, unsure of what he should do. He knew that if he wanted to, he could just tell her to leave and say she was bothering him. It would hurt her, but he'd avoid being seen as suspicious. All he had to do was tell her to leave, then go back into his room. If he hurt her feelings, maybe she would leave him alone.
However, he didn't want to do that either. He remembered the sad look on her face when he said he didn't like the performance and didn't want to see that again. Especially after she was nice enough to drag him, against his will, to something she thought he'd enjoy.
"What's wrong?" Ai asked, worried when he didn't respond.
Eren took a deep breath before he made his decision.
"I can't read." He finally said.
"Well duh." Ai laughed, causing Eren to get worried.
Did she knew all this time?
"That's why I switched your setting to English." She laughed.
Oh, that's what she meant.
"I can't read English." Eren said.
There was a moment of silence between them.
"You can't read English?" Ai asked after a moment.
"No, I can't." Eren said.
Ai looked at Eren in complete confusion. Was he teasing her? He had to be teasing her. There's no way he wasn't teasing her.
"How can you be so good at English, but not know how to read it?" She asked.
Eren kept quiet, refusing to answer as he usually does.
Ai wasn't oblivious to the red flags Eren showed, she just conveniently chose to ignore them. However, she didn't know what to classify this. A native English speaker who can't read or write in English? That makes no sense whatsoever.
Eren also looked, sad. Like he was almost defeated. Like he was hiding a great secret that is now revealed to the world and is humiliated by it. Ai felt bad for him. She didn't know what circumstances led to him being here in Japan without any kind of education, but she knew that it couldn't have been his fault.
Eren didn't talk much about himself and spoke vaguely, but he never lied to her. At least she never caught him lying. Thinking back, he never even lied about being illiterate.
"So how did you find yourself in Japan?" Ai asked.
"A friend of mine helped me." Eren said. "He helped me get this apartment and phone. He also employs me." For Eren, it wasn't an outright lie.
Every alarm bell in Ai's head told her to leave. There was something off about Eren. The mysteriousness of Eren is interesting, but she felt that it was starting to get into the dangerous territory. Who in the world from a first world nation can't read?
That's when a thought occurred to her. Maybe Eren wasn't from a first world country. She assumed he was maybe from Canada or the USA, but it was possible he wasn't from there. It's just as likely he could be from Eastern Europe or even some African Nations, where public education is not as good as the rest of the world. Or maybe English is only his second language, and he knows a different written language.
"Did you ever have a phone before?" Ai asked.
She wondered that since he seemed to not even know how to turn his phone on. At first she thought this was his first smart phone, which would make sense if he was from a Rural area, but now she wondered if he ever had a phone.
"No." Eren said.
"Well, let's teach you how to use it." She smiled, silencing the alarm bells in her head.
"Huh?" Eren asked.
"Not much we can do on you being illiterate, but we can at least get some of the basics." She smiled.
"I guess." Eren said, surprised she's not acting suspicious.
"One moment." Ai said as she opened her own door. "Aqua-Chan, Ruby-Chan, mama is going to be next door for a bit! You two behave!" She yelled in Japanese.
"What'd you say?" Eren asked.
"Just that they need to behave themselves for a bit." Ai said.
"Is it a good idea to leave kids on their own?" Eren asked.
"They're a lot more mature for their age. They'll be fine for a few minutes." She waived his concerns off. "Let's go into your apartment." She said, passing by Eren and into his room.
"Wait!" Eren said, not appreciating the small woman just barging into his room.
"Wow, this place is empty." Ai said, though her voice had a bit of sadness in it.
"I don't exactly have much." Eren said, still annoyed at Ai.
"You didn't even turn on your TV?" She asked.
"My what?" Eren cursed as he asked that question on response.
"That thing, you don't know what a TV is either?" She asked.
"No." Eren said honestly again.
Ai looked over to his sink, which currently had his hoodie in it, still soaking wet with some laundry detergent that he used to try and clean it. It was still wet but it looked and smelled clean, just needing to air dry now.
"You don't have a washing machine?" Ai asked, pointing at the soaking wet hoodie.
"No." Eren said again, now getting agitated.
"But I can see one right there." Ai said, pointing towards the partially opened closet.
Sure enough, whatever she referred to as a washing machine was there. What was a washing machine? A machine that washed clothes? Eren wondered what the box was but couldn't even figure out how to activate it either.
"So, you know nothing of a modern city?" Ai asked.
"What do you want from me!?" Eren raised his voice, getting annoyed at being judged by the small woman.
Ai turned towards him, a look of shock on her face from his raised voice. Eren suddenly felt bad about raising his voice, but he felt embarrassed at being treated like an illiterate idiot.
Everyone here treated him like a damn idiot. Everyone. Eren was smart, he knew that. He wasn't as smart as Armin, who was? But he doesn't like being treated like this by literally everyone.
"I think that's the first time I heard you have some emotion." Ai smiled at him, not at all affected by his raised voice.
"What?" Eren asked.
"It's just, you always seemed so sad and depressed that it's actually nice to hear you speak with some emotion, even if it's agitation." She giggled.
Eren cocked his head as he stared at the short woman. Did she really find this amusing? Did she find his annoyed attitude and anger appealing or something? She must be crazy.
"But I am being rude." Ai admitted. "I apologize." She said as she bowed to him, similar to how he saw Hizuru people bow in respect.
"Whatever." Eren turned his head at the display.
"I shouldn't make it sound like you're stupid or an idiot, that was my fault." Ai admitted. "I didn't mean to, but I can see you're struggling. So how about we make a deal."
"What deal?" Eren asked.
"Well, we can start by actually making your apartment more livable." Ai said, motioning around to the empty apartment. "For example, how much clothes do you have?" She asked.
Eren motioned to what he was currently wearing.
"That's it?" Ai asked.
"I do wash them at least once a day." Eren said.
"Still, you really don't have much." Ai said. "Well, that's no problem. We'll start there." She said in a cute voice while holding up two fingers again.
There's that cute act again, that cute act that annoyed Eren every time he saw it. He understood that professionally she had to do it, but while she was here alone, did she really have to continue acting that way?
"We'll go to the mall and get you good clothes, that way you can actually wear something different." Ai said happily. "We'll also get you stylish clothes, style and looks are my specialty after all."
"I suppose so." Eren deflected.
"Come on, I'll get my baseball cap, glasses, and my kids. We'll make a fun day out of it." Ai said in excitement. "We can also get delicious food and drinks too."
Before Eren could say anything, Ai grabbed him by the hand and practically dragged him outside towards her house so she could get ready.
Why was Eren not resisting? He was easily ten times stronger than she was. He could just rip his hand out of hers and literally push her out of his room, close the door, and forget she ever existed. But instead, he allowed himself to be dragged like a child by the small woman who barely came up to his shoulders.
What was wrong with him?
"And that should last." Ai smiled at Eren, who was currently carrying six bags full of clothes, one in each hand.
Eren just kept his mouth shut and did exactly what he was told. It almost reminded him of when he first joined the Survey Corp, and he was ordered around by Captain Levi. Was there something about Orientals that forced him to compel to their orders? Was Ai secretly this worlds version of an Ackerman?
She forced him to walk all the way to this eight-floor mall with moving stairs and different levels of stores that had food, clothes, and other basic essentials. Then she shoved clothes into his arms and almost pushed him into a changing room in order to try them on. She wasn't satisfied until she found what his size was and only then did she start picking different clothes for him to wear.
Even when she learned his size, she still wanted him to try them on over and over again.
"We have to make sure that it fits." Ai said when Eren complained.
"You already found my size, why do we have to continue to try them on?" Eren asked.
"Simple, it's not about fitting. It's about being well dressed and having form fitting clothes. Just because a pair of pants fit, doesn't mean that they are form fitting. We need to make sure you have a good style." She explained, though it still went over Eren's head.
Again, Eren at any time can just leave. He can overpower her and simply walk away back to his room and avoid all the pain and annoyance.
Yet for some reason, he couldn't. He could say that he needed to learn about the world, and she was offering him a way without being too suspicious. But the truth is, Eren actually found her interesting. He even appreciated the help, though he still was annoyed.
Eren really couldn't interact with Ai's children either, since niether of them spoke his language. Though the blonde girl seemed energetic and excited, offering her own wordless hand gestures that either approved or disproved his outfits. The girl really took after her mother.
The boy on the other hand stayed quiet. Eren could see the boy was silently watching and analyzing Eren. Eren wasn't too surprised. The boy was young, but he could tell the boy was concerned about the stranger who was with his mother. Even Eren knew young children could be cautious around strangers, so he wasn't surprised. If anything, he preferred how the boy acted since it made more sense than the weird, cute ways that Ai and her daughter acted.
At least her daughter was still a child and it made sense. Ai was an adult woman.
After literal hours, Eren finally had enough clothes to satisfy the fashion crazed woman.
"Do you like Jjampong?" Ai asked Eren.
"Never heard of it." Eren said.
"It's actually Chinese." Ai said, making Eren remember the Chinese spies he helped on his first job with Sergei. "It's spicy seafood noodle soup, it's so delicious." Ai told him.
Eren shrugged, not all that interested in what they ate so he trusted the idol to make the decision.
"What about you kids, do you want Jjampong?" Ai switched to Japanese to the kids.
"Sure Ai." Aqua said.
"Yea, that sounds awesome. We should teach him really good foods." Ruby agreed.
"Exactly Ruby-Chan!" Ai said in excitement. "Ruby-Chan says she wants to show you delicious foods too." Ai said.
"I didn't catch that." Eren said, realizing Ai was talking to him.
"Right, I keep forgetting to switch." Ai laughed to herself. "I said, Ruby-Chan also wants to show you delicious foods." She smiled.
"Sure." Eren shrugged.
"Don't be like that, it'll be delicious. Go sit down and I'll order." Ai said in excitement.
Eren went with the kids to sit down at a booth in the restaurant while Ai went to go order food. He set the bags down on the inside of the booth while the kids got in on the opposite side of him.
The kids started talking to each other in Japanese, completely unable to communicate with Eren due to the language barrier. Eren briefly wondered what they were talking about. Perhaps it was about him and how they felt about him. He wouldn't be surprised.
Eren glanced towards the exit of the restaurant, making it seem like he was stretching his neck. There was a man walking by, wearing a hoodie with the hood up, obscuring his face. Eren noticed that man in the mall a few times, always taking glances at Ai. Eren wondered if he was following her. However, it was also possible he was another mall guest who was simply happened to pass by and glanced at Ai. Even with the disguise, Eren could recognize she was attractive.
However, he also felt like there was a danger there. He kept his gave at the entrance for a few more moments, but the hooded man didn't come back to the entrance. Eren would keep an eye out in case he was a threat. Meme mentioned that Idols were victims of stalking, so he wondered if the man knew Ai was here.
"Here we go!" Ai said in excitement. "I got the small bowls for my special little babies." she said sweetly.
"Mama, I'm not a baby." Ruby groaned.
"Don't grow up on me too Ruby-Chan." Ai almost cried. "I need at least one of you to keep acting like my precious baby." She complained. "And one for you Eren."
Ai handed him a bowl of seafood noodles, which was still very hot.
"You're talking in Japanese to me again." Eren said.
"Oh, whoops." Ai said, bonking herself on the head again with her tongue out. "It's really hard to remember which language I'm speaking." She giggled.
Eren looked at what he had to eat with. A weird spoon made out of a material that felt almost like a light kind of glass, and a pair of wooden sticks.
"Guess you don't know how to use chopsticks." Ai said, picking up her own sticks in a way that looked like she had years of experience using them. To be fair, she did.
"That would be correct." Eren said.
Ai took a moment to show him the proper hand position to eat chopsticks. Eren was completely unable to do it. His hand started to cramp from being put in such an awkward position that he eventually just resorted to grabbing each stick with both hands and trying to pinch the noodles. A few times the noodles would slip out, making a mess around the bowl.
Ai giggled in a very cute and unnatural way.
"Seriously, you have to stop doing that." Eren complained again.
"My idol act?" Ai said.
"Yes." Eren confirmed. "Honestly, I prefer the way you acted on the way to the concert. You just acted like you; it was endearing." Eren said without thinking.
Ai blushed at that. He found her regular personality to be cuter than her idol act? She honestly never met anyone who thought that about her. Everyone always preferred her idol act over the way she normally acts.
"To be honest, it's hard to be myself." Ai said sadly.
"How so?" Eren asked as he sipped some noodles. "Damn, hot!" He said.
"Careful, you need to give it time to cool down." Ai said. "Try this."
Ai took her glass of iced water and poured some of the water and ice into his soup. The ice melted quick but would make the temperature a bit more bearable.
"Thanks." Eren said. "But what did you mean?" Eren asked, getting back on topic.
"Since I was twelve, I've always had to act this way." Ai said. "Interviews, performances, acting jobs. Everything."
"So, you're used to it?" Eren asked.
"I guess so." She said, though still seemed confused. "It's all a lie. Everything I do on the media is a well-crafted lie that's meant to make people love me and make the studio money."
"This isn't the studio though." Eren said, taking another bite out of his noodles.
"I know." Ai said. "But I've lived the lie for so long, I really don't know how to just act like me." She confessed. "I guess I try to act like me, but I don't know where the lies begin and end anymore."
Eren stopped eating for a moment as he looked at her. He honestly never considered that. He never considered that she would have so much pressure from her profession that it would make her start to question herself.
Though for Eren, it was like looking in a mirror.
"I understand what you mean." Eren said as he put his spoon down.
"You do?" Ai asked.
"Yea, I do." He said as he stared down into his bowl.
How long had Eren actually been honest about the way he felt. How long had he kept silent about the weight of his sins that he had yet to commit. How long had he been with his friends, knowing full well who was going to die and who was going to live?
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Ai said, reaching out and grabbing his hand.
Talk about it? Eren wondered if he should. How could she believe? Believe the things he did, the people he hurt, and the innocents he trampled. He knew, ever since he kissed Historia's hand, what would happen. He kept silent the whole time. He let that fear, that stress, and that pain build up for four years, never releasing it.
"For the past four years, I've been acting different than how I used to." Eren admitted, feeling the fear and stress slowly leave his shoulders.
"How so?" Ai asked.
"Something... happened." Eren said as he looked down. "Something that I couldn't tell anyone. Four years ago, I had to act different around the people I cared about."
"How?" Ai said.
"I... said things I didn't mean to people I cared about." He admitted.
"Believe me when I say this Mikasa, ever since I was a kid, I've hated you." Eren's heart broke as Mikasa was finally pushed to the edge, tears leaking from her eyes.
"I hurt people I considered close to me."
"Hey Armin, the two of us have never fought before, have we?" Eren said as Armin moved to punch him. "Do you want to know why that is?" Eren said as he moved to the side and countered with his own punch. "It's because, it would never be a fair fight." Eren said as he beat Armin until he was unable to move.
"I had to lie, to push those I cared about away." Eren said. "I did it to protect them. To make sure they lived long and happy lives."
Ai could see the pain on Eren's face. It was a pain she never saw before. So much regret and pain were behind those eyes. So much sadness and hurt. For four years he had to act in a way that hurt his friends in order to make sure they were happy? She didn't understand.
But, when she looked at Eren, she could tell he was honest. There were no lies in those eyes of his. Just regret and pain. It broke Ai's heart to see him in so much pain, and she didn't know why.
"What were you like before?" Ai asked, unsure of what to say.
"Probably worse." Eren smiled a bit, his first genuine smile that Ai saw from him.
"Worse?" Ai asked.
"I was headstrong and stupid." Eren admitted. "I picked a fight with anyone who wronged me, often times got myself in trouble. To the point where my mother would scold me or Mikasa would have to get me out of trouble."
Ai noticed he looked back fondly on those memories, as if they were good times that were not long since passed.
"So, you were a troublemaker?" Ai giggled, hoping to make some lighthearted humor to cheer Eren up.
"Yea, you could say that." Eren smiled a bit at that. "Mr. Hannes would always have to drag me back home, covered in bruises when I would lose to a group of bullies."
"You would lose?" Ai asked.
"I was an idiot then, always charging into fights I knew I'd lose." Eren said with a smile. "They'd always gang up on me. Mikasa was always the better fighter, and Armin was a pacifist. So, I'd rush on without them all the time and find myself alone."
"And your mother would have to treat your bruises." Ai laughed, imagining a kid Eren getting scolded by a woman who looked similar to him.
"Yea, she would always get upset with me." He laughed.
"I bet she still worries about you." Ai laughed, though she stopped when Eren got sad again.
"She died." Eren said.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Ai said, not intending to bring back bad memories. "
"It's alright." Eren waived off.
"Did it happen recently?" Ai asked, wanting to understand if maybe that's what caused his current sadness but also trying hard not to upset him.
"No." Eren said. "She was killed when I was ten." Eren admitted.
Ai's heart stopped for a moment. Killed, as in not died of natural causes. His mother was killed, and based on how sad Eren was, she guessed that someone did it. Someone took his mother away from him.
"I..." Ai struggled to find the words. "I can't imagine." Ai said. "I'm sure she loved you very much."
Ai didn't know what to say. She never had to consul someone before. She felt like it was such a stupid thing to say but she had no idea what to say. how do you try to say something to make someone feel better about something like this?
"Her last words..." Eren struggled to say. "Was that she loved me, and for me to stay alive." He looked down. "I don't regret that she died, only that I was always such a brat. That I never said that I loved her."
Ai's heart seized as he said those words. Eren never said he loved her? How was that possible? How could he never say that after ten years of having what sounded like a good mother.
But then... Aqua never said he loved her either. Now that she thought about it, her own son never once said he loved her. Could Ai blame him? Ai never once said she loved him, or Ruby. Ai's heart broke as she imagined something happening to her children, and the thought that they would never hear the words "I love you" from their mama.
It was enough to make her sick, but she was too much of a coward to say it. She was so scared that it would be a lie, just like every single time she told her fans she loved them.
What a horrible woman she was.
"My own mother was abusive." Ai said honestly, trying to derail her own thoughts while also empathizing with Eren.
"She was?" Eren asked.
"I never knew my father, but my mother was a horrible woman." Ai said. "It took me a long time to get over my false affections for her, but when I did, I realized that she was abusive and a monster. But Miyako-San and the President always treated me like I was their daughter. I guess in some way, I have a family in them." Ai said.
"My own father was a doctor." Eren said. "He died around the same time, but he was a good man." Eren smiled.
"He sounds like it." Ai said.
"I guess I found a family too." Eren smiled.
"Really, like who?" Ai asked, hoping that the conversation would be better.
"There was Jean, he was like an annoying older brother that I always fought." He laughed. "One time we got into a fight and repeatedly punched each other in the stomach until Captain Levi broke us up." He laughed at the memory.
Ai laughed too, but was confused that Eren was with a Captain. What kind of Captain was that? A police captain? Or maybe a captain of a cruise ship or something. It would explain how Eren got to Japan if he new a ship Captain.
Eren went into explaining all the different people he knew. A girl who they called "potato girl", a innocent and kind girl who ended up finding herself, a crazed scientist that would do the weirdest experiments.
It seemed like a strange and dysfunctional family. But she was glad he at least found some happiness after he lost his parents.
"Where are they now." Ai asked through her giggles.
Eren looked down, sad again. Ai was worried that she brought up a bad memory.
"I... won't be able to see them again." Eren said sadly.
Ai didn't try to ask him to clarify. She didn't know if they died or if they were just out of his reach, but Ai guessed that whatever event weighed on his heart now was caused by whatever happened to his friends.
"Maybe we can help you find a new family." Ai smiled.
"You?" Eren asked, his sadness momentarily gone.
"Me, the other girls, even the President and Miyako-San." Ai said.
"I think they don't like me." Eren guessed correctly.
"Well, we'll make them like you." Ai said.
"How do you intend to do that?" Eren asked.
"Let's make a deal." Ai said.
"Ok?" Eren said.
"I'll do my best to relearn who the real me was, if you promise to do the same." She smiled.
"You do realize the real me was an idiot who picked fights all the time." Eren said with a smile.
"And the real Hoshino Ai was a dumb girl who was sad and lonely all the time." Ai joked. "We'll balance each other out. Won't be all that different now, since you're all depressed and serious and I'm cute and adorable." She flashed a peace sign at him.
"I think you're still dumb." Eren said, turning away from Ai.
"Probably." She giggled. "But we can only try." She said.
"This is stupid." Eren said.
"Yup, but maybe everyone would like you better if you were a little more energetic." Ai said.
"I make no promises." Eren relented.
"Good, we'll try it then." Ai said.
"I didn't agree." Eren tried to say.
"I don't care." Ai dismissed him. "You're going to do what I say regardless."
Seriously, she has to be part Ackerman.
After finishing their food, Eren and Ai got up and went to leave with all the bags he had.
As Eren left the restaurant and went into the main part of the mall, he quickly glanced over his left shoulder. Sure enough, the guy who was looking at Ai was still there, sitting on a bench and pretending not to glance over to Ai. Eren now figured whoever he was, he was tailing Ai. He decided to watch his back as they walked. If need be, he still had his pistol on him, so he'd be able to protect Ai if the man tried anything.
Then again, he didn't want Ai to know he had a gun, so he could just break the mans leg with a well placed kick. He needed to be careful around him and ensure he didn't follow them back to Ai's home.
Luckily, he was able to continue listening as Ai talked, each of her hands occupied by her children's hands as she walked. He mostly just listened as she talked, occasionally responding when she said something. But he kept all his senses directed at the man who followed them. Ready to do what he needed in order to defend the young mother and her children.
Thanks again for all the reviews.
This chapter had a lot of talking. I try to ensure I remember what makes sense for Eren to know and not know in terms of social customs and technology. Hope it comes off as realistic.
Thanks again for the feedback.