Note: For reasons, I have extended the training years of the Trainee Corps from 3 to 4. So... there's that. This chapter is also 100% skippable, as it is basically just fluff :P

Year One

Year one of training was, by all accounts, incredibly tame, and by all means, even the likes of Mina and Nac were able to survive it with very little issue.

Keith Shadis, in spite of his harshness, was smart enough to know that forcing development was very much a no-go when it came to teaching his Cadets, and as such, he instead did his best to get his troops to adapt to their new environment and grow accustomed to their training regiments. That wasn't to say that he went easy on them, of course, as the man was still incredibly merciless when it came to training those under his command.

Hell, the guy was so merciless that almost a quarter of the soldiers under his command had dropped out before year one was even over… which, apparently, wasn't even the highest amount of dropouts he's gotten!

That aside, Maneuver Gear Training was simple for Year One; there was no point in learning the more complicated stuff when they were still so green, Keith reckoned, and as a whole, the first year of training was focused more on getting them accustomed to their new lifestyle, muscle development, basic lectures, horse riding, and the fundamental basics of Maneuver Gear movement. Mikazuki himself was able to pin down most of this, which left his schedule open to do other things… namely muscle development.

Sure, he didn't exactly need to do it, considering how ripped he already was for his age, but even so… he still wanted to do it anyways!

"What are we doing?"

"W-We're hunting the damn ghost that keeps lurking around the dining hall, of course!"

Connie's response to Mikazuki's inquiry was a stupid one, and by all means, the pilot wasn't even able to respond to his stupid reasoning with words, with him instead opting to just look at him as though he were an idiot whilst he himself held up a wooden chair. The baldy himself held up a wooden ladle that he had gotten from… God knows where, really.

In truth, Mikazuki had genuinely zero clue about what the fuck was going on, as he had only just returned to the male barracks half an hour prior, carrying an unconscious Nac Tias on his back. The poor guy had worked himself to the bone today and had to be carried off the field by his friend, and as soon as he laid the guy down, Connie ran in, said that they were going ghost hunting, handed him a chair as a weapon and dragged him off to the empty dining hall.

Mikazuki… decided to humour Connie for now, with him sighing as he lowered his chair weapon and slowly creaked the door to the dining hall open, and upon doing so, both he and the baldy peered into its interior. Empty, which was to be expected, but after a few seconds of silence, the duo heard what sounded like pots and pans being rattled from within the back of the dining hall, prompting them to tense up a little.

"Someone else is here," muttered Mikazuki as he entered the dining hall, chair held at the ready, whilst Connie followed suit soon thereafter, holding his ladle like it was Excalibur itself all the while.

"I-It's the D-D-Dining Hall G-G-G-G-Ghost!" squeaked Connie, horrified at what they could potentially find at the back, to which Mikazuki turned and gave him an unimpressed look. "W-What?! It's legit, y-you gotta trust you?"

"No, I don't think I will," snarked Mikazuki as the two reached the entrance to the back of the dining hall, and with slow and precise movements, the pilot pushed the door open, and suddenly…

BLAM!

A cartoonish flash of lightning, followed by a clap of thunder, despite there being no rain present at the moment, illuminated the backroom, allowing both Mikazuki and Connie to spot a feral looking beast gnawing away at the raw potatoes that were stored within a few sacks. Upon seeing this, Connie screamed so loudly that a few of the windows shattered at his cry, and shortly thereafter, he fainted…

And as for Mikazuki…

"Sasha… what are you doing?" asked Mikazuki as he picked Connie up and slung his body over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, to which the Dining Hall Ghost, Sasha Braus, giggled whilst shrugging.

"Er… midnight snack?" responded the bumpkin with a sly grin, and thereafter, she handed a potato over to her fellow 104th, who eyed it in amusement. "Want one?"

And when Mikazuki returned to the male barracks with an unconscious Connie Springer and a potato in his mouth… no one thought it wise to ask how either situation came to be.

"..."

"..."

"...

"..."

"This is not a competition, Annie."

"Is it, now?"

Grunting softly as he heard his fellow blue eyed Cadet say those words, Mikazuki resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he performed another set of pull-ups, with him doing so with minimal effort all the while. With him was Annie, who had joined him in working out in the Southern Training Ground's gym, early into the morning.

Such was the routine that the two of them had fallen into some time ago, really; the gym was a simple one, with the most basic of training equipment that seemed ready to break at any given second, but that aside, it had its uses, and usually, quite a lot of soldiers would be present within it, trying to make steal equipment from one another as they barged in. Mikazuki and Annie had once done some training in the afternoon, and it was safe to say that they wouldn't be doing that again any time soon.

Everyone back then seemed more content with ogling at Annie, who, in spite of her small stature, was built like a brick shithouse and seemed more than capable of boxing anyone here into the afterlife, and in the thereafter, several guys, and a few girls, had attempted to ask her out. They got no response from her, and likewise, whilst he wasn't subjected to any form of ogling, not to the extent of what Leonhardt had to go through at least, Mikazuki was still forced to sit through several comments in regards to the Alaya-Vijnana spines on his back, something that annoyed him quite a bit.

Sure, he didn't care about what people thought about them, but even so, he did eventually grow sick of how everyone would whisper about it behind his back. That shit got annoying real fast.

And so, a new schedule was made, one where both Mikazuki and Annie would meet up in the gym before the sun could even think to rise. They'd do their exercises during this time, and although they did not plan to meet up beforehand, their schedules kinda just kept lining up, and as such, they kinda just ran with it and started to work out together… and inevitably, a tiny bit of competition began to foster between the two, with Annie almost grinning this time as…

"You're lagging behind, Mika," taunted Annie in an uncharacteristically smug tone of voice, eliciting an annoyed frown from Mikazuki as he responded, with him increasing the speed of his pull-ups all the while.

"My body is heavier…" defended Mikazuki lamely as he glared at Annie in annoyance, with him acknowledging how, in spite of his greater strength, the added weight he had to lift made him technically worse at pull-ups than his blonde friend, and considering how little she had above him, Leonhardt had gladly taken this victory over Augus and held onto it like a lifeline.

"Suuuuure," hummed Annie as she glanced his way, to which Mikazuki snorted.

"Is that sarcasm I hear?" mused Mikazuki, with him catching onto the thinly veiled tone of sarcasm underlying the blonde's words, only for Leonhardt to scoff.

"Don't get used to it," was his only response from Annie, and to that, the two dropped down from the pull-up bars and stretched their arms to cool down a little. Annie found herself flinching a tiny bit when Mikazuki popped his shoulder a handful of times, though outside of that, she remained silent until they were done stretching. "Two hundred and five."

"... two hundred and three," responded Mikazuki with some level of hesitance, and upon hearing this, Annie broke out into an honest-to-God grin as she flicked some of her hair back, a sign of victory more so than anything.

"This is my victory, it would seem," mused Annie, with her flashing the cheekiest grin Mikazuki had seen since… forever, really, as she flicked her hair back. Unlike most other times, Leonhardt's hair, whenever she was training, was tied into a bun in order to keep it in check. She had admitted to preferring her ponytail, but in all honesty, efficiency trumped preferences at times, and as such, she went with the bun during training.

"Yeah…" hummed Mikazuki, with him exhaling sharply as he said this. Let it be known that he was not a sore loser, but all the same… having a 1-3 win/loss ratio stung quite a bit, and evidently enough, Annie could hear it in his voice.

"Does your butt hurt, because it sure sounds like it," teased Annie somewhat uncharacteristically, to which Mikazuki rolled his eyes and threw a towel at the blonde's face. For whatever reason, Leonhardt seemed to loosen up, if only by a little, whenever they were training. The girl rarely ever got competitive when she was with anyone else, but whenever she was with Mika in private, she would often tease and goad him whilst they trained.

The pilot was unsure of why this was the case, but he didn't care to ask about it. If anything, it was quite refreshing to see Annie act so differently, really, but even so, he thought very little of it as he watched the blonde throw a towel at him as well, one that he caught before it could smack against his face.

"Just admit that your butt's hurt and get on with your life already, Mika," advised Annie, with her smugness still present as she spoke, and to this, Mikazuki could only scoff. So she wanted to play like that, huh…?

"Sure. I'll do that, but I'll also tell Mina and Nac about the truth behind how you pulled your arm muscle back then. It's quite the story to tell, after all."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... please don't."

And to that, Mikazuki could only snort as he picked up a water bottle and emptied half of it in one go, only to throw it towards Annie, who sighed and emptied it completely moments later before tossing it over her shoulder.

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Same time tomorrow."

And with that, both Annie and Mikazuki left to their respective barracks, with them appearing ignorant to how both Mina and Nac were somewhere off in the distance, eyeing them closely all the while.

"H-Holy shit…" muttered Mina as the images of a sweaty and, more importantly, muscular Mikazuki and Annie found themselves seared into her memory, and likewise, Nac found the sight of Mikazuki's abs to be very much enticing as he crossed his heart and gulped awkwardly to himself with a shudder.

"Holy shit indeed…"

No one said a word as they watched the scene before them unfold.

Honestly speaking, it was hard to really make heads or tails over… any of this, really, but even so… one thing was for certain; none of them were imagining the sight before them, and for one reason or another… it only made things much weirder for all of them combined.

"I… don't remember Annie ever letting… any of us do that to her," muttered Bertholdt warily as he leaned in towards Reiner's ear, whispering those words to his friend as they, alongside a few others, watched all this unfold, and to this, Braun could only nod in agreement as he observed in silence.

"Aaaaaand… done!"

The silence was mostly broken when Mina held her hands up, smiling all the while, and thereafter, she shifted away from Annie, who reached behind herself and lightly felt at her hair. Her ponytail had been undone, and her long blonde hair was now tied up into a long and neat looking braid, something that made her look shockingly different than how she usually did, Reiner realized, but surprisingly enough, rather than feel upset over it, Leonhardt instead… smiled, however slightly, and nodded in approval.

"Thanks, Mina," thanked Annie as she brought the braid up and rested it atop her shoulder, almost as though she wished to show it off all the while, and in response to this, Mina grinned widely and offered her a thumbs up, and thereafter, she turned towards a seemingly random part of the courtyard and waved over at…

"Mikazuki… why would-"

And then, Bertholdt's comment was quickly cut off when, over by the aforementioned random part of the courtyard, Mikazuki, who had been chilling with Nac as they leaned against a wall, moved over to sit between Annie and Mina, and without saying a word, he allowed the latter to work on his hair. The large smile that was plastered atop the pigtailed girl's face spoke volumes of just how happy she was with this current situation, and by all means, the pilot didn't seem to mind that he was getting a multitude of stairs, as he just remained silent as Carolina braided his hair up with a smile.

"Punch me… please," came the voice of one Jean Kirstein, who was… unable to believe what he was seeing as he watched Mina stick a flower into Mikazuki's hair, something that he didn't seem to mind as he straightened it out with a huff.

And in response to his request, Reiner struck him so hard that he needed to take the week off thanks to his newly dislocated jaw.

Year Two

Year Two of training was when things went up in difficulty, which was to be expected. Keith Shadis was, in his own words, done playing nice with them, seeing as how the Cadets of the 104th had survived their first year, and as such, he began to up the ante quite a bit with his drills.

Maneuver Gear Training grew more rigorous, with the Cadets now being taught a few of the more advanced movements now that they got a hang of the fundamental basis of swinging through the air, and in truth, many of them tended to find themselves tangled up in their own wires whilst training in this specific aspect alone. Still though, the soldiers kept at it with all that they had, with those that had survived Year One being more determined than ever to survive the remaining three years of their training.

The Cadets were all taught how to swing an Anti-Titan blade as well. In Year One, the Cadets were deemed too inexperienced to do such a thing, and as such, they were simply given the handles for their Maneuver Gear and sheaths without any blades; even the nicest of Platoon Commanders would not trust a group of freshly minted Cadets with a pair of Titan killing blades until they had proven themselves worthy of using it, which was understandable, but now in Year Two, Keith had deemed them competent enough to make use of these dangerous weapons in training.

There were rules when using them, of course, key of which being to never point the blades at another soldier, something that was an unwritten rule amongst the Military Brigades as a whole. Keith had also stated that they should always make sure that the sharper edge of the weapon should never be facing upwards for a multitude of reasons, and likewise, when not in use, all Anti-Titan Blades must be kept in their sheaths without fail.

The last thing any of them needed was an accidental amputation or, God forbid, someone losing their head over a minor squabble.

Maneuver Gear training aside, Keith had also drilled them harder when it came to physical Hand-To-Hand combat and lectures. Mikazuki would always fall asleep in that second part, but even so, he would always be awoken by Nac, who insisted that he stay awake, lest he wished to wear the metaphorical dunce hat once more.

"Hey, Mikazuki."

"Hm."

Let it be known that Jean, although not frequently in contact with Mikazuki, was already very much aware of what the boy's social cues were, and when he had heard his grunt, the guy huffed and leaned in close towards him. The duo, amongst many others, were currently back in the boy barracks after a long, rigorous day of training, and seeing as how Nac was gone for the time being, Kirstein thought he may as well ask the shorter boy a thing or two in private.

Well, relative privacy, at least. The guy knew that Reiner was listening in the background like the oversized ox he was, but that aside…

"Out of general curiosity, do you have anyone you've got eyes out for in the 104th? Specifically girls, I mean," asked Jean curiously, and as he asked this, Connie jumped in and gave his two cents, with him smiling and stating that he found Sasha to be quite a catch though she didn't seem as though she swung his way, which was fine. The baldy's interruption into Jean's conversation had ended up spiralling out of control, however, as the other Cadets present began to talk about the matter as a whole.

Reiner was, unsurprisingly, somewhat fond of Christa, though Ymir was very much keen on keeping his fondness as far away from the little blonde as humanly possible. Meanwhile, Jean had to admit to seeing quite a lot in Mikasa Ackerman, as did many of the other soldiers present, which wasn't much of a surprise, really, as Ackerman was the top pick for any Cadet to choose as their significant other.

She was literally the perfect soldier… though Mikazuki silently wondered if she could be considered a good wife, really. Having trained with her on a few occasions, the pilot had wondered if their situations were the same on more occasions than one, but even so, he spoke nothing of it out of respect for Mikasa, as both a soldier… and a survivor.

That aside, though… several others voiced their admitted crushes, be it silently or vocally with pride. Franz Kefka proudly declared that one day, he'd find himself married to Hanna Diament, and off to the sides, Samuel Linke-Jackson silently admitted to having a crush on Sandra, though that was neither here nor there.

Somewhat inevitably, Nac returned to the fray, with him joining in on the whole conversation with a lot less enthusiasm than Mikazuki was used to seeing him speak with, and when asked about any of his crushes, the tall guy shrugged and responded sheepishly.

"I… uh… don't really do crushes, honestly. And even if I did, I don't think I swing that way to begin with," admitted Nac with a shrug, causing several of his fellow Cadets to appear surprised, however briefly, as they processed what they were just told, though they were quick to get over it as they mumbled about it and moved on with their lives.

Mylius' gaze did linger a tiny bit on Nac when he admitted to this, but that aside, nothing more happened as all eyes turned towards Mikazuki… who was laying down atop his bed by now.

"Well, that aside… er, Mik-"

"No comment."

Mikazuki's words were spoken with a level of finality that was hard to argue against, and by all means, the Cadets all sensed a sort of… melancholy behind his tone, with Nac himself waving off the guys as he gave Mika some space. Once they were off, Tias turned towards Augus and put a hand atop his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze before he spoke.

"Hey, Mika… if you've got something on your mind… do you-"

"Goodnight, Nac," was Mikazuki's firm and somewhat heated response to Nac's inquiry, more or less answering the guy's question as he flinched. Admittedly, the older Cadet wished to know more about the pilot's situation, but even so, he knew better than to poke the sleeping bear, and as such, he nodded and patted his friend's shoulder twice more before leaving him alone.

"Alright then, Mika… goodnight."

And off to the sides, Reiner and Bertholdt eyed one another warily, with there being some remorse present in the gaze of the former whilst the latter appeared mostly… conflicted.

"I… think Mikazuki had someone special, at one point…" admitted Reiner, with his voice laced with guilt as he said this, to which Bertholdt nodded.

"... you're not backing down now, are you? We've come this far."

"Of course not…! I'm just… commenting on the situation, alright?"

"Alright."

"Oof!"

Coughing faintly as she felt her back hitting the ground, Mina grunted softly as she rolled to her side, and thereafter, her vision spun a tiny bit as she glanced up at the guy that had forced her onto her back in the first place, only to see that he was standing over her with an unreadable look on his face.

"Better than last time, but you still need to put in more work before you can be a proper threat against anyone competent," stated Mikazuki. His words were genuine, albeit spoken in his usual deadpan, as he lowered a hand down to pull Mina back up to her feet. The pigtailed girl accepted his hand with minimal issue, and with a simply backwards yank, Augus pulled Carolina back up with such force that she almost fell forwards in the process.

"Jee, thanks, I guess," snorted Mina, with her looking down at her slightly shorter friend with a look of faux annoyance. The two of them were currently out on the training fields, with the other Cadets of the 104th alongside them, for a Hand-To-Hand training session, and somewhat unsurprisingly, Mina was paired up with Mikazuki once more.

It… wasn't much of a surprise, really, as Mikazuki was considered to be one of the deadliest partners anyone could go up against in Hand-To-Hand combat training. It was hard to believe it at first, of course, as Mika was very much a diminutive opponent when in combat, and at first, him taking down several of his sparring partners with relative ease didn't exactly draw all that much attention.

And then came Reiner…

Reiner was bouncing on the balls of his feet, with him grinning quite a bit as he stood in front of Mikazuki. He seemed confident in his victory against his sparring partner, which was understandable considering the difference in muscle mass and height, but even so… one shouldn't underestimate someone based on either.

This was kind of a challenge on Reiner's part, as the guy had seen Mikazuki's zero loss rate when in training and had wished to change that. Bertholdt, who had been put onto his back several times by Mika, argued against this, but of course, Braun was a little too thickheaded to back down, and now… here they were, standing against one another on the field. All around them, a good majority of the soldiers paused with their sparring to see how this would go, key of which being Augus' friends, who appeared mostly worried for his sake. Annie, on the other hand, seemed mostly neutral as she watched on in silent anticipation.

And Keith… well, he'd be lying if he wasn't curious as to how this would all go down as well, as he kinda just watched from afar alongside his Cadets.

Rushing in, Reiner attempted to knock Mikazuki out with a single strike to the head, something that Mika caught onto with very little issue, and as he threw his punch, the pilot dodged held an arm up, effectively redirecting the strike, before jolting towards Braun. He slid his arm up against the blonde's as he closed in on his sparring partner, and in an instant, he headbutted him in the nose, causing him to yell out in pain as he staggered backwards.

"GAH!" cried out Reiner as he grabbed at his nose, and whilst he recovered from that hit, the guy leaned down and shook his head as he saw stars spinning around his vision. Somewhat unfortunately for him, however, the blonde was unable to recover from this fast enough as Mikazuki, who had recovered in but a fraction of that time, shook his head and rushed up towards Braun, and, due to him having leaned down quite a bit in pain, the pilot was able to strike him with incredible ease.

Rushing up to him, Mikazuki grunted and sent his knee flying towards Reiner's face, and on impact, a rather sickening crunch could be heard as the blonde's body snapped up, and seconds later, the guy fell onto his back, knocked out cold as a thin line of drool fell from his lips.

Off in the background, everyone who had been watching them had to do a double take as they realized what had just happened, with even Mina, Nac and Annie finding themselves to be dumbfounded by what they just saw, and by the waysides, Keith could only blink in shock before as he watched Mikazuki grab hold of Reiner's foot and pulled him towards his Commander.

"I think he needs a medic," stated Mikazuki plainly, and for that, Keith simply nodded and gave him the approval to drag Reiner off to one.

… and it was safe to say that after that whole mess, no one, barring Mina, Nac and Annie, dared to challenge Mikazuki at Hand-To-Hand.

"You're getting better, though. Try to space your legs out a bit more, it'll help with your balance," advised Mikazuki as he fell into a basic combat stance; he had learnt this specific one back in Tekkadan, and he wasn't about to forget it anytime soon as his body automatically fell into it within seconds. Mina did her best to copy him, and for her first crack at it, Mika had to give her some credit and say that it was a good attempt. "Good. Your fighting stance is usually the most important part; if your stance is weak, you can get knocked over easily by whoever you're fighting, and if you fall onto your back, you're usually as good as dead."

"I… I see," muttered Mina thoughtfully as she tried to stand firm. Mikazuki hummed lightly as he watched her do as such, and thereafter, he huffed and continued to instruct her on what he knew about hand-to-hand combat.

"Always keep an eye out for your enemy's movements. They might feint an attack on occasion," advised Mikazuki.

"Feinting an attack…?" echoed Mina, confused as to what her friend meant, and, more so for his own amusement, Mikazuki swiftly moved towards Mina and swung a fist at her face. Widening her eyes at this, the pigtailed girl squeaked and brought her arm up in a panic to block the attack, though right as she did so, the pilot halted his punch and pulled it back mid-swing, only to launch his fist towards Carolina's stomach this time.

The pigtailed girl widened her eyes at this as she braced for the impact, though it never did come as, mere seconds before the punch connected, Mikazuki halted his strike, much to her relief… though of course, her eyes were still widened to their absolute limits, and a bead of sweat had trailed down from her forehead as she watched him pull back his arm.

"That was a feint," stated Mikazuki, with him somehow sounding smug as he said this, and for all it was worth, Mina found herself snorting at her friend's… kinetic teaching methodology, and as she calmed herself down, the pigtailed girl brought her hands up and fell into the stance that Mika had showed her moments prior, seeming ready for another round once more.

"I… I see… alright then… c'mon…! Let's continue with practice already!" smiled Mina as she got ready to continue her training with her friend once more, and in response to this, Mikazuki couldn't resist a huff of amusement. Was he impressed? Absolutely… very few Cadets within the 104th showed the drive that Mina did, and with the smallest of smiles, the pilot too fell into his combat stance as he got ready to spar against his friend once more.

"Alright then…"

And for all it was worth, Mina had lasted just five seconds more before she was put onto her back. Nothing too spectacular, but it was still worth noting.

Though, of course, with practice came perfection, or at least a rough amalgamation of such an abstract concept, and with each sparring session Mina had with Mikazuki, the better the girl got with her hand-to-hand combat skills. She wasn't exactly great at fisticuffs, but her attacks were getting stronger, faster, and her evasiveness was improving drastically with each passing day, something that even Nac took notice of when they had sparred against one another at one point.

Oh, Nac… bless his soul; the poor guy was too much of a softy to even try and land a hit on anyone he considered to be a friend… which was everyone in the 104th by now, really, and as such, he prioritized evasion over all else. Truth be told, he was quite good at it, as, during a sparring session against Reiner, the guy was able to evade his punches for an entire hour straight, which was no small feat! Against Mina and Annie, though, he had not as much luck, as the girls were able to outmaneuver him without much issue, and they had put him onto his back several times over.

One… would rather not talk about how Annie had put him onto his back that one time for some… unsavoury reasons.

Speaking of, Annie, out of the three people that Mikazuki would consider to be his friends, was no doubt the closest match to the pilot when it came to hand-to-hand combat skills. In fact, Leonhardt was, as of now, the only person that could consistently put Augus onto his back, though the same applied vice versa, and by all means, Mika had put the blonde onto her back more times than she did him. Still though, Annie's natural agility paired with her natural strength matched Mikazuki's step for step, and even if the pilot's physical strength eclipsed hers tenfold, the blonde was still able to duck and weave out of the way and counterattack with quite a bit of ferocity.

Regardless, near the end of Year Two, Mina and Mikazuki had found themselves sparring one last time, and when they did, the former appeared to be taking this quite seriously as she fell into a combat stance rather quickly. Said stance was similar to Mikazuki's, though there were a few personal touches behind it; Mina's legs were closer to one another, and her fists were raised up just a tad higher as well, a sign that she had taken the basis of Mika's combat stance and put her own spin onto it, something that Augus quite liked, if he was being totally honest.

'Good… she's not just copying what's effective anymore… she's actually fighting with her own stance…' thought Mikazuki as he fell into his own combat stance, and thereafter, he goaded Mina into attacking by lowering his head slightly, a small sign that signified that he was ready to fight. 'But can she use it properly is the question…'

And right as he thought that, Mina lunged forwards and swung her arms out towards Mikazuki. Her attacks were wide and somewhat frantic in nature, something that confused the pilot briefly as he dodged them with relative ease; just what was Carolina playing at here… whatever she was getting at, Augus dodged away from that last punch before eyeing his friend expectantly, and likewise, the pigtailed girl jumped backwards a little, with her eyes observing her pilot friend closely as well.

No less than five seconds thereafter, Mina lunged forwards once more, with her aiming a handful of strikes at Mikazuki yet again. These next batch of strikes were faster and swung in narrower arcs, giving Mika much less room for error as his mind had to move faster to keep up with and evade these swings. Two gut punches were avoided before the pilot brought his forearm up to block a hit aimed at his cheek, and thereafter, he swung his hand forwards and palmed Carolina in the chest, forcing her to stagger backwards to give himself some breathing room.

'Not bad…' thought Mikazuki, with him realizing what Mina was trying to do now as she staggered back and brushed at her palmed chest, though before he could effectively counteract this, however, the pigtailed girl, with a powerful grunt, lunged forwards yet again and swung her fists at the pilot once more.

This time, Mina's attacks were swung at their fastest, and the arcs of her swings were tighter than what the pilot had grown somewhat accustomed to. By the third-to-last swing, an uppercut came a little too close to the boy's nose for comfort, and as he leaned back to dodge it, Mikazuki found his footing momentarily off kilter, and his pigtailed friend promptly took advantage of this as she swung her other fist out towards him, and rather hastily, Mika brought his arm up to block the hit… only for Carolina to instead grab onto his wrist, yank it down and throw him further off balance before she swung her other fist at the pilot's cheek, successfully punching him for the first time since… forever, really!

Through a mixture of his broken stance and him having not expected something like this to happen in the first place, Mikazuki found himself spinning backwards briefly, and as he awkwardly steadied his footing, the boy widened his eyes when he saw Mina sprinting towards him, and before he could even fully process that fact, the pigtailed girl's shoulder slammed straight into his chest, forcing him onto his back and slamming him onto the floor, and without missing a beat, Carolina immediately followed that up by pinning Mika down by pressing her knee down against his chest and pushing his head down against the dirt with her free hand, with her other arm pulled back, ready to rocket forwards, should her friend try to break free from her grasp.

And thereafter… there was nothing but silence, with most of the 104th Trainees present, including Nac, Annie and even Keith himself, all growing quiet as they watched Mina Carolina subdue Mikazuki Augus, and moments later, the pilot found himself chuckling faintly as he glanced up at his friend with an impressed look in his eyes.

"Not bad… I give," smiled Mikazuki as he raised a hand up just a tiny bit, and to that, Mina sighed in relief as she got off her friend's body. Holding a hand down to him, Carolina pulled Augus back up to his feet with minimal difficulty, and once he was up, the pilot stared slightly up at his pal and maintained his smile, something that made the pigtailed girl feel… weird, to say the least, as he continued. "You've gotten better, Mina. Much better."

"I… uh… t-thanks, Mika," smiled Mina as she bowed her head in thanks to her friend. Mikazuki huffed a little at this as he rolled his shoulders, though moments later, Carolina's smile dropped when she realized something. "Though next time… I want you to fight me without holding back. I can tell that you weren't giving it your all back there."

"I wanted to see what you would do," admitted Mikazuki with a shrug; Mina spoke no lies when she claimed that he wasn't giving it his all. Had he done so, that fight would've been over the moment his friend had swung her first punch, but alas, the guy wanted to see just how far Carolina had come when it came to her combat abilities, and as such, he did not. In truth, he was kind of glad that he did so, as it allowed him to gauge just how much progress she had made in these past two years, but even so, Mina ended up pouting at his words as she stepped back and assumed an offensive stance once more.

"No excuses, Mika! Now c'mon, I wanna fight you in earnest, so no holding back this time!" yelled Mina, with her sounding 100% ready for what was to come all the while. In truth, Mikazuki couldn't help but feel concerned over this, but even so… she did ask for it, and as such, the pilot nodded lightly and fell into a combat stance as well.

"... I just want you to remember that you asked for it, not me," stated Mikazuki flatly, and to that, Mina grinned as she charged forwards at her pal.

And several hours later, when she woke up in the medical bay, Mina would come to regret every last life decision that she made that led her to this point. Mikazuki was waiting for her to wake up as he sat awkwardly by the sidelines with Annie and Nac alongside her, and once she was up, the pilot apologised as apologetically as he could've.

He was still stiff and somewhat unconvincing with his words, but even so… Mina knew that he was being genuine, and as such, the girl, in spite of her initial reluctance over her new bruise, forgave her friend with gusto.

"It's going to rain tomorrow."

"How do you know?"

And in response to Mikazuki's inquiry, Nac pointed towards a still sleeping Bertholdt, whose upper torso was atop the bed whilst his lower half, plus his legs, dangled off the edge. His arms somehow remained pointed towards the ceiling, even as he remained asleep, and upon seeing this, Mika huffed before nodding.

"Forget I asked."

Year Three

The third year was the year where things ramped up immensely when it came to training, as Keith Shadis recognised that the graduation year for his maggots was drawing ever closer.

This was the year where the soldiers were taught how to work in groups; they had only touched this subject sparingly in the past, but now, it was shifted to the forefront as Shadis wished to drill one specific mindset into their skulls; no man was an island, they were but a pillar, and alone, a pillar would inevitably crumble, but together, they stood a better chance against the Titan onslaught.

That aside, Hand-To-Hand Combat Training was mostly phased out by this point, with Keith now focusing more on field training. The Cadets would camp out in the fields more frequently than usual, and their horse riding technique was put to the test more frequently, and, although rare within the southern confines of Rose, whenever there was rain, the Cadets would still go at it, as they needed to learn how to operate under unfavourable weather conditions as well.

That aside, things were much more strenuous for Year Three, but for all it was worth, the Cadets still powered through it nonetheless…

"Is there something on your mind?"

"... nothing ever escapes your notice, huh?"

"Ah. Now spill it, what's on your mind?"

Smiling lightly as he sat with his back against a wall, Nac sighed as he patted the Maneuver Gear sheaths still attached to either side of his hips before shrugging a little in response to his friend's inquiry. The two were currently gearing up for their next training exercise, which required them to team up into pairs for Maneuver Gear Training. Mina had latched herself onto Annie like glue, something that the blonde would pretend to dislike in spite of how fond she had grown of the pigtailed girl's antics, and, as per usual, Mika found himself paired up with Nac.

That in itself wasn't anything surprising, really; the small group of four would always stick together as a unit, and nothing that Shadis could do could separate them. The Cadets were thick as thieves and, after two, almost three, whole years of training as a team, had grown remarkably close to one another in spite of the friction that was once present between them all, and by all means, after spending so much time with one another, the four of them were able to pick up on subtle shifts in one another's mood, some more easily than others, of course.

"Am I really that easy to read?" mused Nac, with him grinning as he watched Mikazuki screw the top of a gas canister, and as he did so, he eyed Tias almost rhetorically, prompting him to chuckle meekly before shaking his head. "Nevermind…"

"Seriously. What's on your mind?" asked Mikazuki flatly, though there was some obvious concern in his tone before he slid his gas canister into his gear, and as he said this, Nac sighed a little and raised his arm up to Mika, who took it and hoisted him back up to his feet. The force of the yank was more than enough to do the job, and as soon as he was up, Nac chuckled a little.

"Forceful as always, huh?" mused Nac, with him rolling his shoulder as he walked towards their training field alongside his friend. Mikazuki's response to this was a shrug; he was aware that Tias was already used to his level of strength, be it thanks to Hand-To-Hand Combat training or some other reason, but even so, it always felt weird to experience his physical prowess firsthand, be it on the receiving end of his fist, or just something as mundane as being pulled up to his feet.

"I don't like half-assing things," stated Mikazuki firmly, and as he said this, the pilot motioned for them to head on, though they still spoke as they walked.

"Right… but either way, it's just… I do find myself wondering if I'm, I'unno… holding you guys back in any way," muttered Nac, with him fidgeting awkwardly as he said this. The pilot raised a brow at the guy's words, with him finding them to be ridiculous as he nudged Tias in the ribs, causing him to flinch all the while. "Youch! What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot," groaned Mikazuki, with him pointing a finger up at Nac as he said this. The taller guy noticeably flinched at that insult, though he remained silent as Mikazuki continued. "You're not holding us back, alright? You're doing fine as you are."

"You sure about that…? Mina's been improving a lot more than I have in most departments, and both you and Annie… well, do I even need to say it at this point?" hummed Nac, with him scratching the back of his neck as he spoke, and to that, Mikazuki huffed.

Alright, he did have a point there, he reckoned. When compared to himself, Annie or even Mina, Nac was falling behind a little. Although the tallest out of the four of them, and also the oldest, Nac was still very much the weakest of the lot, with Mina's constant training having allowed her to bypass Tias when it came to physical prowess quite some time ago. In terms of strength, dexterity and agility, the guy was definitely falling behind, but with that being said, however…

"Sometimes, brute force isn't what we need in a fight," stated Mikazuki flatly, and as he said this, Nac blinked and tilted his head a little as he eyed his friend curiously, prompting him to continue, with Mika tapping the side of his head all the while. "A good mind is usually just as important as a strong body."

"Yeah, but as a soldier-"

"A soldier can't cover everything on their own, you know? That's why we're training to fight together. Your smarts can easily cover for everyone else's lack thereof whenever necessary," cut off Mikazuki, with him indirectly praising Nac's intelligence as he spoke. It was hard not to notice the guy's intellect, really, as he was always paying attention during their lectures, and whenever possible, he'd look over the notes he took with gusto.

If Mika didn't know any better, he would've bought his friend a pair of glasses and called him a nerd, but he wasn't that mean.

"Well, I guess, but…"

"Oh, shut up already," huffed Mikazuki, with him lightly punching Nac in the stomach as he demanded for his silence. It was more or less a lovetap, but considering what a lovetap was to Mika… that strike had caused several of Tias' ribs to creak slightly as he hopped to the side in pain, though he recovered from the hit relatively quickly as he hopped back towards him. "Stop second guessing yourself and just focus on improving. Being sorry about your lot in life won't fix anything, so stop being sorry… and start being better."

"I… damn. I never expected you, of all people to tell anyone that," admitted Nac with a surprised blink of his eyes, to which the pilot snorted as the duo finally reached the fields, where Keith Shadis acknowledged them with a nod of his head. "I guess that even after three years as a Cadet, you'll still find things that can surprise you, huh?"

"Yeah…"

And to that, the conversation ended as Keith called all his Cadets to stand at attention.

"... she likes him, doesn't she?"

"Hmph."

Shrugging lightly as he was asked this question, Nac glanced back down at his notebook and read something off it whilst leaning against a wall. Meanwhile, sitting by the center of the courtyard, both Mikazuki and Mina remained oblivious to the conversation, with the former sitting in front of the former, who was messing with his hair all the while.

Beside Nac was the soldier that went by Sandra, a fellow 104th and a generally polite fellow. Sandra was, by all means, a perceptive young woman, and it took her very little time to realize that Mina had an eye out for Mikazuki, and upon hearing her make this claim, Tias found himself grinning as he flipped the page of his notebook.

"Well, it certainly took awhile before anyone mentioned it. I was wondering if people were growing blind or something," admitted Nac, with him smiling a tiny bit as he scanned through his notebook in amusement. To his side, Sandra appeared genuinely taken aback by this; Nac was aware of Mina's apparent crush on Mikazuki…? "What, are you surprised that I know about this? I've been friends with Mika for almost half a decade, and I've worked with him on the field for most of that time, and by God, I've lived with Mina for much longer than that! I'd be a proper fool to not notice it by now!"

"I… I see. But if you know about how Mina feels towards Mikazuki, then… why not mention it?" asked Sandra, to which Nac snickered, with him snapping his notebook shut as he responded.

"Well firstly, I'm… not sure if Mika recuperates her feelings. Love is a… touchy subject for him," admitted Nac, with him recalling the stuff that happened late last year as he said this. Sandra was unsure of what he meant by this, though she spoke nothing of it as he continued. "And honestly… I'm not sure if Mina gets how she feels either. She likes him, that's obvious to me, but she's not actively focused on being in a relationship with him. As things are now, she just wants to be his friend and train with him, that's all, really…

"If you want my honest to God opinion about what we should do about this, I saw we should do nothing and let it progress naturally. You can't exactly force love into fruition, after all; you need to let it come naturally on its own."

"Well… I guess you've got a point there, but still… you can't deny…" smiled Sandra, with her glancing back to see Mikazuki now doing Mina's hair, with him ignoring all the weird looks he was getting from those around him thanks to the small flower stuck up in his hair, which had a multitude of small braids on it as he messed with his friend's thick black hair with a neutral look on his face. "... how cute they are together, yeah?"

"Of, definitely. I could watch those two mess about for hours," grinned Nac, and as he said this, Mikazuki huffed to himself as he tried to braid Mina's hair up.

The keyword here being try; he found himself a bit too distracted by just how… soft her hair was…

Year Four

The fourth and final year of training was, to put it simply, a nightmare.

Keith, refusing to throw any unprepared soldiers out into the field, made sure that the 104th were worked to the bone and trained into exhaustion. To individuals like Mikasa, Mikazuki, Annie and even Reiner and Bertholdt, such a thing was not much of an issue, but to others, they had some problems with keeping up when pushed to their absolute limits.

The Cadets, now all young adults, woke at the crack of dawn and were worked to the bone till the break of dusk, with them being spared no quarter by Keith, who made sure that they were prepared for the real deal, and for all it was worth… the soon-to-be soldiers were all pushed to their limits and beyond.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine. Cold, soaked and a little beaten up, but still alive."

"At least your dry sarcasm is still intact."

"And here I thought you enjoyed gallows humour."

"I do, but not when we're going to die."

Huffing lightly as she heard her friend say something as severe as that with so little emotion in his voice, Annie found herself almost grinning as she allowed herself to be pulled out of the snow by Mikazuki. Once she was out, the pilot slung one of her arms up and over his back, with him dragging her along with him as he attempted to find them some shelter.

This whole debacle was a horrendous one, to say the least; Keith Shadis, in his infinite wisdom, had taken advantage of a snowstorm plaguing the area amidst the winter season to conduct a special training exercise, one that was meant to test the soon to graduate Cadets on navigating such treacherous terrain in the foreseeable future. It was redundant, honestly, but even so, no one questioned it as they were sent out into the field.

As per usual, to prevent crowding, the soldiers were all divided into groups, with Annie and Mikazuki being grouped up with Christa, Ymir, Eren, Reiner, Sandra, Samuel and Bertholdt. Eren had been pretty insistent on him leading the team, something that no one really objected to, though his navigational sense was very much on the weaker end of things, as they had ended up walking in circles, necessitating Ymir to march up to him and snatch the map out of his hands before he could delay them any further.

Whilst they were arguing over where to go, however, a rather severe snowstorm struck their position, forcing the Cadets to crouch down lest they wished to be buried beneath the ice. Mikazuki and Annie stayed relatively close to one another as they watched Ymir yell out where they should be walking towards, and at her command, they marched on.

Or at least, they would've, were it not for the fact that the ice beneath them had shifted drastically beneath their combined weight. Widening their eyes at this, Sandra yelled for them to book it as the icey ground beneath them began to shift, and that they did, and whilst most of the team were able to make it out of there in one piece, Mikazuki and Annie lagged behind, with the latter's winter uniform weighing her down more than she'd like and forcing her to lose her balance amidst the minor avalanche.

Of course, with him being who he was, Mikazuki had immediately doubled back to provide his friend with some assistance. Launching himself at her, Mika seized Annie's gloved hand and attempted to pull her back up, though the shifting ground made it impossible for such a thing to be done, and before long, both of them were dragged down by the minor avalanche, with it burying the two beneath a few inches of snow moments later.

Thankfully, though, the duo survived with minimal injuries, with the snow cushioning most of the damage they would've received had they landed on solid ground. The worst of their injuries was a sprained ankle on Leonhardt's part, but even so, that was the worst of it, and upon digging their way out of the snow, the two blue-eyed soldiers began making their way towards where they hoped the base was.

"South," muttered Annie, with her allowing Mikazuki to drag her on as she spoke. "I recall Ymir saying that it was South of here. How far south… I do not know."

"Hm," grunted Mikazuki, and to that, they went silent, with them not wishing to waste their breath on words as they marched onwards through the snow. Such a feat was easier said than done, however, as the duo were wading through knee-high snow, and although she did do her best to help push them along, Mika was the one that was doing most of the walking, something that was incredibly taxing on him, to say the least.

After about an hour of trudging through the snow, Mikazuki collapsed. Although he was very much touted as superhuman by his peers, be it current or prior, Mika was, ultimately, still human, and after moving for so long, with his joints hurting through a mixture of the freezing temperatures and exhaustion, the pilot fell, and as he fell, so did Annie, and moments after they got a faceful of snow, the blonde flinched as she shifted over to Mika's side, with her scowling heavily as she glared down at him in silence.

"Mika… Mikazuki…! Mikazuki Augus… get up…! Get up! GET UP!" ordered Annie hoarsely, with her dragging him out of the snow and holding his head above the ice. This wasn't good… through her gloved fingers, Leonhardt was able to feel Mikazuki's heartbeat slow to a crawl; he wasn't going to make it at this rate… and with a scowl, the blonde removed her glove, a horrible mistake in hindsight, and slapped at her friend's cheek with her bare hand, something that made his eyes split open weakly. "Get. Up."

"..." no response from Mikazuki, who simply shut his eyes tightly as he grit his teeth and forced himself up into a sitting position, and once he did, he glanced over at Annie. His eyes were unfocused, but there was no small amount of conviction hidden behind his gaze, and before long, he brought his hand up to his winter uniform and scowled. "... undress me."

"... what?"

Annie's inquiry was very much warranted, as Mikazuki's request was very much nonsensical, but even so, he was quick to elaborate.

"I'm not going to get out of here, so just take my winter wear and cover yourself with it. It should keep you warmer… just long enough for you to reach the meeting point," advised Mikazuki, with him neither sounding nor looking concerned for his own wellbeing as he said this. That in itself concerned Annie quite a bit, not that she let it show as she smacked him over the cheek with her ungloved hand once more. It probably hurt her more than it did him, but really… she did not care.

"... why the fuck would I do that? Mina and Nac would kill me if I did, and I for one refuse to let you freeze to death in this fucking wasteland," argued Annie, to which Mikazuki almost smiled at her words… how touching. Leonhardt wanted so hard to smack that thought out of him, but that aside, she simply settled on forcing him to sit up before slinging his arm over her back. "Get up… I'll get us to the meeting point…"

And with that, Annie took over, with her now being the one to carry Mikazuki onwards, though amidst the powerful snowstorm, the blonde Cadet was unable to navigate onwards properly as she staggered about, and the added weight of Mikazuki's body did her no favours, and after a few long, arduous minutes of walking, the two collapsed once more, with Leonhardt punching the snow beneath her in frustration before she turned towards Augus.

… this was bad. The young man's skin was starting to turn blue from the cold, and frost was creeping its way from his winter attire and onto his skin. She needed to do something about this, stat, before he became a frozen corpse, but what…? What could she do to…

…

Glancing down at her still ungloved hand, Annie clenched and unclenched it lightly as she considered her next course of action wisely. If she were to do what she planned to do, then there was a chance for her cover to be blown, but all the same… if she did not do this, one of her only friends in this God forsaken world would perish…

Her choice was obvious.

The argument in regards to going out to look for Mikazuki and Annie was a fierce one, with Eren, Christa, Reiner, Bertholdt and Sandra all advocating to go out looking for them, but even so, the snowstorm was too much of a hazard for their fellow Cadets to agree with them completely, and for quite some time, they simply remained within the meeting point with concern boiling away in their hearts.

Rather abruptly, however, the ground beneath them shook as what sounded like an unseen flash of lightning impacted a spot not too far from where they stood, prompting everyone to gasp as they felt it, and moments later, the tremors increased in intensity as the seconds ticked by. Why this was the case was anyone's guess, but moments later, they ceased almost completely, allowing the Cadets to ponder on what that was…

… and right as things had calmed down to a certain degree, the door to the meeting point was kicked open, and within moments, the bodies of both Mikazuki Augus and Annie Leonhardt stumbled into the building. Seeing them caused a rush of emotion to flow through the other Cadets as they stared down at their soaked and freezing bodies for quite some time, but not long thereafter, they were snapped out of their brief stupor as Christa rushed forwards to check on their pulse, only to be relieved when she realized that they were both alive!

"R-Reiner, Eren, Samuel, help me get these two off the ground! Bertholdt, Sandra, Eren, get some blankets and warm water buckets, please! We need to raise their body temperatures!" instructed Christa, with her pulling Mikazuki off the ground in an instant. The other Cadets did as they were told, with Reiner and Samuel assisting with Annie whilst Eren helped the blonde carry the pilot off to a bed.

Warm blankets were delivered momentarily, though the water would require some time to be heated up, but regardless, the blankets were enough to raise the temperatures of both Mikazuki and Annie out of the danger zone, and surprisingly enough, the latter's temperature wasn't nearly as cold as one would expect, and within moments, she was awake, constituting the attention of most of the other Cadets present, with all of them moving in to ask if she was alright out of concern.

Annie, being the kind of person she was, just brushed the concern of her friends off before she ordered for them to check on Mikazuki; the guy was clearly suffering more than her if he wasn't able to wake up so quickly, and with some reluctance, the other Cadets did as they were told, with them checking on the pilot with some concern in their movements all the while. Reiner and Bertholdt, however, remained behind momentarily to interrogate their friend.

"You used it, didn't you," stated Reiner, with him saying it less like a question and more as a statement as he glared down at Annie, and to this, the blonde nodded. There was no regret to be seen in that gesture, but even so, it did make Braun scowl heavily as he shook his head at Leonhardt. "You should've known better…!"

"I did, and I chose to use it to save a friend. If Christa were out there, and if you were to choose between revealing yourself and letting her die, would you have done the same?" spat Annie with her words causing Reiner to recoil as if struck as he crossed his arms in annoyance, and thereafter, he went silent as he found himself unable to answer, prompting Bertholdt to do so for him as he sighed.

"I understand your sentiment, Annie, but let this be the first and only time such a thing happens. Much rests upon our shoulders; you know this, and if our secret were to get out."

"I know, Bertholdt. You don't have to remind me again."

"Then see to it that this does not happen again, understood?"

"Understood."

And from there, the conversation was halted. Mikazuki would awaken after a handful of hours, ill but otherwise unharmed, and he would be bedridden for the first time since… forever, really, with a mild cold that took a few days to be cured. The pilot didn't recall much of what happened during the training; all he really recalled was a lot of snow, passing out, an odd sensation of warmth and then… awakening on his bed, but according to Annie…

"I just got a second wind and dragged your stupid ass to the meeting point, I guess…"

… that was what had happened, and although a little far-fetched, especially considering her sprained ankle, Mikazuki didn't wish to question his friend as he had offered his hand out for a warrior's handshake, and although surprised at first, Annie accepted it without much hesitation.

"Thank you, Annie, for saving my life."

"... you're welcome, Mikazuki Augus."

Mikazuki Augus

Age: 15 (845) 20 (850)

H: 163cm

W: 93.2kg

Strength: S+

Dexterity: S

Concentration: A

Stamina: S+

Health: S

Leadership: C

Born within the confines of Shiganshina before its collapse, Mikazuki Augus is a steadfast Cadet with power and ferocity befitting of a predator. Ferocious when needed and with a bite much stronger than his bark, he works poorly with others and excels when fighting on his own. Although he stands out amongst his peers as being exceptionally reclusive, Mikazuki Augus still holds a clear respect for those that have earnt it, and the very few that he consider to be his friends have found themselves with an ally that they cannot live without when on the field.

Proposed Rank: Top 10.