Kleiner Weißer Freund
リトル・ホワイト・フレンド
Little White Friend
About a week has passed since the incident, and things have settled back into their normal routine. Thomas and the other cadets were curious about who killed some of the thieves, and knew both Armin and Marco had lied to the Military Police.
While their group made a pact not to say anything, Armin and Marco decided to only tell those in Thomas's group about what really happened. It came as no surprise when seeing the various different reactions on their faces after they finished telling them everything. Some of their fellow cadets looked unsettled, but there were exceptions—mainly Marco's group and Mikasa of course.
Speaking of said girl, she stood up abruptly, ignoring all eyes on her, "I'm going to check on Eren." She announced, darkly. No one said a word when she walked away, but Armin could tell she was trying to show restraint and not lash out at the others in case they say something not too nice about Eren.
Krista decided to say a few words after Mikasa left, "I know what you all must be thinking, but please believe me when I say that Eren did what he felt like he had to do for our sakes. They had guns pointed at us and wouldn't hesitate to kill us had he not done what he did." The normally sweet girl spoke with such authority in her voice that it took most of the cadets by surprise, save for Ymir—who crossed her arms with a smirk.
"I'm with Krista," Ymir spoke up, "Stupid bastards should've quit while they were ahead. Besides, they were planning on selling Krista off to some piece of shit, good riddance."
Some wanted to reprimand her for putting it in such a way, but didn't as most of them agreed that they shouldn't feel sorry for the thieves.
Marco looked down, "When I was talking to Eren, he said something that really resonated with me."
"Really, what'd he say?" Connie questioned.
The other boy answered, "When taking the life of another—do not feel anything—for killing is not something one should take pride in." Those were the words Eren said to me."
Everyone had different reactions to the words, but Armin looked thoughtful, wondering who said that to Eren. The two of them were best friends and yet there are still some things he doesn't know about Eren. He wonders if Mikasa knows anything more for that matter, or maybe she does since her expression turned deadly when she sensed how the others were feeling about Eren killing the thieves. Eren and Mikasa have a unique bond that no one can comprehend, nor compare.
"Strong words, makes you wonder just what sort of childhood Eren must've had before meeting Armin and Mikasa." Reiner spoke, tone thoughtful.
Armin would like to know himself, but it was Eren's story to tell. When he feels up to it, he'll tell them.
Later, Armin went to go find his two childhood friends and soon spotted them at a nearby bench. Mikasa was sitting, while having Eren's head in her lap. She was stroking his head gently, expression much more calmer now. Smiling, he walks away to give them some privacy.
The two deserved that much at least.
-進撃の巨人-
Things returned to normal and thankfully no one treated Eren differently. Armin was worried about that, but turns out he had nothing to worry about. If anything, the cadets came to respect Eren and had no problem showing it. Krista would give him random hugs as a way of showing her appreciation, and Eren always reciprocated. Many of the cadets questioned their relationship but as Krista already told the girls, she sees him as brother and nothing more.
Then there was Ymir—the most blunt and honest person out of all the cadets begrudgingly thanking Eren for rescuing Krista from those "pig shits" as she referred to them as. A huff of amusement was what she got in return, while not that big of deal to Armin and Mikasa for they were used to Eren letting some of his emotions slip out, but the rest of the cadets were surprised.
Everything was settling back into the normal routine—
—until a new incident soon arose.
"This new incident started among the 104th Cadet Corps. A new enemy arrived, terrorizing the cadets, and having them at its mercy." Inquisitive yellow eyes peer into the gathered cadets as the mysterious small figure is perched on the stand of a bed.
-進撃の巨人-
"You ate it didn't you, Potato Girl!" Jean accused Sasha of eating some leftover food he was planning on saving for later.
"It wasn't me!" Sasha denied with a pout.
It was lunchtime and everyone was gathered in the dining area to eat, and Jean had saved some leftover food to eat for today. Only for said food to go missing, and Sasha being the prime suspect.
"Yeah, you can't just accuse her when you have no evidence!" Connie said, defending Sasha.
Jean crossed his arms, "Do we really even need it? Everyone knows she eats everything in sight."
That's...true.
"It wasn't her."
As one, everyone turns their heads in Eren's direction.
"Oh, yeah, and how do you know?" Jean questioned, brow raised.
Eren looked him dead in the eye, "Sasha is a sloppy eater, if she really was the one that ate your leftovers, there'd be crumbs all over her face."
Sasha frantically nodded her head in agreement, yet not denying that she really doesn't have any proper eating etiquette.
"Also, she wouldn't leave a huge mess behind after stealing some food to eat," Eren looks over at the leftover mess that was left behind, "The person who stole Jean's leftover food not only made a huge mess, but didn't bother to clean up the evidence. Sasha wouldn't leave a mess behind like an untrained animal."
They were convinced. Sasha may have a bad habit of stealing food when no one was looking, but the one thing she wouldn't do is leave evidence behind that would link it to her. Eren was right, Sasha isn't the culprit.
Sasha was touched that Eren defended her and vowed to share some food with him when it was time for supper.
Jean rubbed the back of his head with a sigh, "Damn, you've got a point there, Yeager. Not even Potato Girl would be stupid enough to leave obvious evidence behind that pointed to her directly."
"See!" Sasha said.
"Yeah, see!" Connie imitated.
"Shut up, you mimicking idiots!" Jean said in annoyance.
"Make us!" Sasha and Connie stuck their tongues out at him in defiance.
Jean looked ready to whack them both upside the head, but was stopped by Reiner, who got in between them, "That's enough, calm down both of you," he turns to Jean, "You too, Jean. There's no need to get all worked up."
Huffing, Jean relented, "Fine, if it wasn't Potato Girl who ate the leftover food, then who was it?"
"I don't think anyone here would eat it Jean. It was probably a wild animal. There are woods around the area, so maybe an animal smelled some of the food here and decided to rummage around to eat it." Marco explained.
Armin had a thoughtful expression, "The possibility of a wild animal stumbling in here and eating Jean's leftover food does make sense. Look at the mess it left behind, there's no way a human could make this much of a mess all to eat some leftover food."
Eren bends down to inspect the mess and notices something.
"What's wrong?" Mikasa asked.
Something stood out to him as he was observing the mess, "There aren't any tracks."
"Eh?"
He decided to elaborate, "I don't doubt both Marco and Armin's theory about a wild animal being the culprit. What stands out to me is the simple fact that no prints were left behind—so whatever animal did this…"
"It doesn't walk on all fours." Mikasa was starting to get it.
Which can only mean…
"Whatever animal did this it's long gone now," Connie said, "It probably went somewhere else to look for food, so I don't think we'll ever be seeing it again."
But he was wrong.
More incidents involving food kept happening. The next person to have their food eaten was Marco. According to him, he was eating outside on the bench and left for about two minutes, and when he came back the food was gone. And it just kept happening from there, more and more cadets kept having their food stolen by this mysterious animal that was doing a good job of messing with them.
"Enough already!" Jean yelled, clearly frustrated, "How the hell does this damn thing keep getting us?!"
Sasha was crying, "My bread...my precious bread...all gone!" Connie was rubbing her back, trying to comfort her.
Marco was looking concerned now, "This can't go on, we need to do something before all our food is eaten."
"I say we just hunt the thing down and then eat it." Jean suggested with an annoyed frown.
Armin had an idea, "That's actually not a bad idea. It's just like Marco said, if we continue to let this go on we won't have any food left."
"So what do propose we do about this, Armin?" Reiner questioned.
Since the incident with the bandits and having heard from Armin himself the plan he had come up with, so everyone just decided to let him come up with the strategies from now on.
"Here's my plan, each of us will split into groups of five," Armin began to say, "Each group will search around the training camp area from the dining hall, to the dorms, and even the forest around us. If any of you spot our mysterious intruder then do everything you can to try and capture it."
Jean grinned, "Sounds good to me! I'll make this animal thief pay for eating my leftover food!"
"Me, too! My bread must be avenged!" Sasha joined in, fist pumped up in the air.
"Yeah!"
Reiner smirked, "I'm in, besides this sounds like it'll be fun. What about you, Bertholdt?"
"Yeah, why not?" The tall boy nodded.
Armin and Marco both nodded, "Okay, we'll write down who will be in who's group." Marco said.
5 minutes later
"Oi, Armin! What the hell is up with these group pairings?!" Jean complained.
Armin and Marco both made up the teams completely at random so that there would be no issue. They also set the groups up in a way that would allow different personalities to mix together—hence they were set up like so:
Group 1: Jean Kirstein, Connie Springer, Sasha Blouse, Marco Bott, and Armin Arlert.
Group 2: Krista Lenz, Ymir, Mina Carolina, Hannah Diamant, and Thomas Wagner.
Group 3: Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Yeager, Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover, and Annie Leonhart.
And the rest follows. Again, these group pairings were random, but Jean didn't believe that for a second.
Armin actually sighed, whether it was out of exasperation or something else was unknown. But it was obvious that he wasn't interested in dealing with Jean's ego right now.
"These groups were made at random, we said they would." Armin answered, sounding tired.
"Like hell they were!" Jean exclaimed.
Marco sighed this time at his friends behavior, "Jean, there's nothing wrong with these groups. Please just accept it."
"He's just upset because he wasn't placed in the same group as Mikasa." Connie teased with a knowing smirk.
"Is that so?" Sasha questioned, clueless.
"Shut the hell up!" Jean yelled, embarrassed.
Suddenly, Armin placed a hand on Jean's shoulder with a smile that didn't quite match his face, "Like I said, there's nothing wrong with the group pairings. They were selected at random, in other words—no one should have an issue with how this was done, right Jean?"
"Huh, but—"
"Right, Jean?" Armin emphasized his point by smiling wider, eyes appearing as though they were glowing in the dark.
Unsettled, Jean decides not to push his luck any further, "R-Right…"
"Good." Armin said, satisfied.
Mikasa and Eren both stare at Armin, but say nothing. For as sweet and innocent Armin may appear—push him far enough and he'll show another side you'd never thought he was capable of showing.
Jean made a mental note to not get Armin angry, ever.
Marco decided to get things started now that all of the group pairings were finalized, "Okay, with that out of the way separate and begin looking around."
"Group one will search around the eating area, group two will search the woods, group three will take a look around the dorms, while the other groups will proceed to look around the training area." Armin announced, "Does everyone understand?"
"Yes!"
"Then...move out!"
-進撃の巨人-
Jean was frowning, "This is the worst." Of all people to be put in a group with it had to be with these guys. Armin and Marco were okay, of course, but Connie and Sasha? Idiot duo.
"No use in complaining about it, Jean. Besides, being in this group isn't so bad." Marco said with a smile.
Their group was currently looking around the dining area very carefully to see if they could get a glimpse of their little intruder. Should they happen to find their culprit they'll try their best to capture it.
So far things were quiet as their mystery thief still hadn't shown themselves yet, but they couldn't hide from them forever.
"Whatever. Don't see how this group is any good with the idiot duo over there." Jean complained.
"Jean, don't say mean things about your comrades." Marco chided.
Sasha was looking around the place with rapt attention, making sure not to miss anything that could be vital to them. Her erratic actions could only be described as a predator in search of prey, but this turned out to help her in the end.
"Found something!"
"Really?!" Connie exclaimed in excitement.
Nodding, Sasha bent down to pick up what she found. The rest of the group gather around her to get a good look.
"What did you find?" Armin questioned.
She lifts the object up so they can get a better look, leaning closer to inspect it—what was in between her fingers was a white feather.
"A feather?" Marco said.
"I don't get it, what does a feather have to do with anything?" Connie questioned, eyebrow raised.
"Because the feather belongs to our thief." Jean quickly figured out.
"That's right! This is our very first clue." Sasha proclaimed, excited.
Armin stares at the feather with interest and wonderment, "A white feather with black lines on it…there's no doubt it belongs to some kind of species of bird, but what kind, I wonder—"
"Get down!" Jean yelled, suddenly, grabbing both Armin and Marco before dragging them to the ground.
Connie also brought Sasha down as a dark shadow zipped around the room before heading out the door. None of them said a word for a few minutes as they were taken by surprise and couldn't react properly.
"The hell was that?" Jean frowned, getting up.
Armin pushed himself up on his elbows, "Looks like my suspicions were confirmed."
"Huh?" Jean questioned.
"We said the thief was a possible animal, right? The only problem was that we weren't sure what kind, but thanks to the feather Sasha found we now know." Armin was sure of it now. Their food thief was indeed an animal, and said animal was capable of flight. So it was a bird of some kind.
'But what kind of bird is capable of flying that fast?' He was trying to think of any species of bird, and so far he's come up with nothing.
Connie got up, "So this whole time a bird was stealing our food. But what the hell kind of bird moves around like that?"
"None that I've seen." Marco said.
"Who cares about what kind of bird it is," Jean said with an angry look, "Let's capture the damn thief!"
Before the other three could say anything, the temperature in the room suddenly grew hot. Armin slowly turned to the source and gaped when he saw Sasha's whole body was literally on fire. A burning desire had overtaken her—and nothing would extinguish it.
"That bird…" Sasha slowly stood, her back facing the others before turning—eyes red and blazing with determination, "THAT BIRD WILL BE OUR DINNER!"
"Sasha?!" Armin gasped.
"Not good, she's gone off the deep end!" Jean said, feeling a little terrified of Sasha at the moment.
"Nah, she's just hungry." Connie dismissed, not at all bothered by the girl's sudden burning intensity of hunting the mysterious bird down.
"Shouldn't we calm her down?" Marco said, obviously worried about the girl's sudden change.
"MEAT!" Sasha was already out the door in pursuit of her prey, intending to capture and eat it.
"Not good! She's so overcome by the thought of eating it that she's lost all sense of reason! Wait, Sasha!" Armin called out, running after her. Connie, Jean, and Marco right behind them as they all agreed to keep the girl from eating the mysterious bird.
-進撃の巨人-
"This is so damn stupid, why the hell are we the ones that have to look around this forest." Ymir complained, obviously annoyed with this whole thing.
"C'mon, Ymir. At least try to pretend you want to be here." Krista chided her lightly.
"Tch, whatever."
Mina was looking around in the dark, "I know we're supposed to be looking for an animal, but we still don't really know what kind it could be."
"That's true, maybe—" Thomas started to say but was cut off by a sudden howl.
Hannah jumped, "Wh—What was that?!" She squeaked, placing both hands on her chest to calm her erratically beating heart.
"Do...Do you think it could be…" Mina's voice trembled at the thought of it being the suspected animal.
Krista and Ymir tensed, standing completely still as they waited.
Their wait wasn't for very long as something zipped past them quickly, making Krista, Mina, and Hannah shriek as they covered their heads out of instinct. The blur was quickly gone and out of sight, allowing them to relax.
"What was that?!" Mina exclaimed.
"I don't know!" Hannah practically screamed out those words.
Thomas had a guess, "Do you think that maybe...it was our animal thief?"
"The hell kind of animal moves like that?!" Ymir exclaimed.
"I couldn't even get a good look at it," Krista said, still a little shaken, "But it was small and fast. Some type of bird, maybe?"
Mina was about to comment when all of a sudden she heard something that sounded like a fierce war cry from a distance.
"MEAT!"
Ymir recognized that deranged voice, "Oh, you have got to be kidding." She groaned in annoyance.
"Is that—" Hannah started to say.
"—Sasha?!" Thomas finished.
The sound of rustling from the bushes got their attention before another blur shot out from out of nowhere. And that blur was none other than Sasha.
"S-Sasha?!" Mina squeaked.
Sasha didn't hear her as the girl's eyes were wild like a predator in hot pursuit, ignoring everything around her and paying them no mind. She zooms past them, still running wild.
"S-So fast…" Krista said, bead of sweat falling down the side of her face.
"Son of a bitch. Potato girl can really run her ass fast, huh?" Ymir said, trying not to sound too impressed.
"Sasha, wait!"
"Was that Armin?" Krista wondered if she really heard his voice just now.
She did indeed hear him as Armin literally came running out from the bushes, if you could call what he was doing running. Behind him were Connie, Marco, and Jean—all of them were trying to catch up to Sasha.
Armin stopped to take a breather, "S...So...fast…" he was taking huge gulps of air to try and get some air in his lungs.
"Geez...just how far is she planning on running?" Connie stopped to take a breather himself.
"Crazy girl." Jean frowned.
"Guys, what happened?" Mina questioned.
Marco answered, "We were trying to find some clues to see if the animal stealing our food might have left something behind. Sasha found a feather and we came to the conclusion that a bird has been eating our food."
"So that was a bird flying out of the bushes earlier?" Krista wondered.
"You saw it?!" Jean questioned.
She nodded, "Not too long before you guys came, but we couldn't see it very well because it's so dark."
"Looks like we were right." Connie said.
Armin was finally able to catch his breath and stood straight, "I'm still not sure what kind of bird is able to move that fast, but if we catch it we may know."
"Don't gotta worry about that since Potato girl's already chasing the thing down like a maniac." Ymir said, pointing in the direction where Sasha took off after the unidentified bird.
"We have to go after her!" Krista said, urgently.
"Yeah, you saw that crazy look in her eyes, right? If we don't stop her, she'll eat it alive!" Connie adds.
"Then let's go stop her!" Mina said.
All of them, including a reluctant Ymir, chased after the meat crazed Sasha—hoping she hadn't caught the poor creature and eaten it already.
-進撃の巨人-
While groups one and two were working together to try and stop Sasha, group three meanwhile had other priorities. They decided to take a look around both dorms instead of just one of them. Right now they were in the boy's dorm and two of the girl's were less than impressed by the state of it.
"Disgusting." Annie states, bluntly.
Bertholdt looked down in either embarrassment or shame, while Reiner rolled his eyes.
"Cut us some slack, will yah? Not like you girls are any cleaner." Reiner retorts.
Annie raised a brow at him, "Oh?" Her tone had an edge to it as she was challenging Reiner to say something else.
Bertholdt immediately got in between them, "C'mon guys, there's no need to start a conflict over who keeps their dorms the cleanest." He looked over his shoulder in hopes that either Eren or Mikasa would help him out, but cried silently when the two ignored the three.
Reiner sighed, rubbing the back of his head, "Bertholdt's right. No point in starting a petty argument over something like this," he looks over at Eren and Mikasa, "You guys find anything?"
Mikasa shakes her head, "No, nothing. Other than you guys being slobs—with the exception of Eren and Armin. There's nothing of interest here."
Both boys winced at her blunt and emotionless report. Is she only like this with them, or does she show emotion around Eren and Armin?
"Okay...what about you, Eren?" Reiner asked the brown haired boy.
Eren didn't answer him right away as he got down from his bed, something clutched in his hand. Facing them, opened his hand back up to show them something.
Reiner raised a questioning brow, "Is that...a feather?"
"Ah, it was in my bed." Eren replied.
Mikasa got a closer look at the feather, "That's strange, wonder why it was in your bed?"
"Don't know, but look at it closely." He tells her.
Seeing no reason not to, Mikasa takes a closer look at the feather and finally understands what Eren was getting at, "The color is white with black spots on it, and…" her eyes widened, "This feather...it belongs to an owl!"
"Yeah."
Reiner's eyes widened a little, "Wait, are you serious?" An owl was nothing new around here, but hearing and seeing them were two different things entirely. Seeing one has become very rare now, and it seems the only time when one can be seen is back at Wall Sina. But they've even become more rare there now, too.
Mikasa gives him one of her signature firm expressions, "I know what an owl feather looks like. I used to live in the farmlands and saw all kinds of different birds. The feather of a normal bird looks different from that of an owl."
"Same with me," Eren spoke up, "I've lived out in the woods before, so I know for sure that this is an owl's feather."
"You guys were able to tell it was an owl's feather by just looking at it? That's amazing." Bertholdt said in amazement.
Annie just kept looking aloof.
"Looks like our little culprit is an owl, we should—"
BANG!
Reiner was cut off by the door slamming open and the person that came running in was none other than Sasha herself, but she was ferociously chasing something down. And that something was the very same owl they were just discussing.
"Duck!" Reiner yelled.
At his warning, they ducked as a white blur came flying in the room, zipping around before finally landing on the stand of Eren's bed. The owl was pure white save for some black or brown spots on its wings. Its yellow eyes were peering down at them in curiosity.
Reiner stood up and uncovered his head before looking up at the owl, "An owl, just like Eren and Mikasa said."
Annie looked over her shoulder and saw both Jean and Connie holding Sasha back, "What are you doing?" She asked, brow raised.
"Trying to stop her from eating the owl!" Jean said with a grunt, having a tight grip on Sasha's arm.
"Help us hold her!" Connie said to Annie, holding Sasha's other arm.
Annie's response was to turn her attention back over to the white owl, uncaring of their current predicament.
"Now what do we do?" Mina wondered.
"Why don't we just release it back out into the forest," Krista suggested, "I'm sure it wants to go back home."
Ymir crossed her arms, "No way in hell am I touching that thing."
"I don't think it'll hurt anyone, all it did was run away." Marco tells her.
"That may be, but it might try to attack us if we touch it unnecessarily." Armin states.
"Then what are we going to do? We can't just let it stay here." Bertholdt said.
Armin was thinking about what to do, and everyone waited to hear what he was about to say. The owl meanwhile was simply staring down at them with an inquisitive stare, tilting its head to the side occasionally. Its eyes wandered over all the cadets before landing on Eren, who kept his eyes on it.
Emerald eyes peered into yellow ones, and after a moment—the owl moved from its current position.
"Ah, this trying escape!" Sasha cried, trying even harder now to escape from Jean and Connie.
"Dammit, will you calm down already?!" Jean yelled, struggling to hold her back.
"Guys, seriously help us!" Connie practically shouted.
The white owl went to land on its new perching spot, which just so happened to be Eren's outstretched arm.
Silence.
"What the hell…?" Jean stared, dumbfounded.
"The owl landed on Eren's arm?" Connie was confused as to why the creature did such a thing.
Marco smiled in confusion, "I'm not sure what's happening right now, but I guess Eren captured it?"
Eren still kept his gaze on the owl currently perched on his arm as he was trying to think where he's seen this owl before. Getting a closer look, he saw a scar on its left eye and knew who the owl was.
Mikasa saw the recognition in his eyes, "Eren, do you know this owl?"
Everyone looked at them when he nodded his head, "This is an old friend of mine."
Another round of silence before there was an eruption.
-進撃の巨人-
The cadets decided to gather around the eating area where Eren told them a little about his time living in a cabin out in the forest with his family. He told them how a baby owl had broken its wing and was unable to fly. So he decided to take in the helpless creature and nurse it back to health with the help of his dad. When it was all better he let it go, so it could fly free.
"What a sweet story," Krista said with a smile, "You helped it heal and now it wants to repay that kindness."
"Yeah, it's sickly sweet to the point it might make my teeth rot." Ymir snorted.
"Oh, hush." Krista chided lightly.
"Are you gonna keep it?" Marco asked.
"Is Shadis even gonna let you?" Connie questioned.
Jean frowned at the white owl, now perched on Eren's shoulder, "I say who cares? Instead of keeping it why don't we let Sasha just ea—" as if understanding what Jean was saying, the owl pecked at him mercilessly, much to the amusement of the rest of the cadets.
Ymir was howling with laughter, "Change of plans, we've gotta convince that badly to let it stay!"
"Knock it off! Oi, Yeager, make it stop!" Jean was covering his whole head as the owl kept mercilessly pecking at him.
Wordlessly, Eren lifted his arm up and the owl came right to him. It nuzzled against his face and Eren returned the gesture by rubbing underneath its chin.
"Oh sure, it snuggles up to Eren while pecking at the rest of us." Jean grumbled, glaring at the owl.
"Screech!"
Flinching, Jean moved away quickly.
"Nah, that would only be you." Ymir smirked.
Krista petted it next, no surprise it didn't try to peck at her, "So what are you going to name it?"
"Kruger." Eren said instantly.
"Why name it that?" Armin inquired, curiously.
Eren had a fond look in his eyes, "No reason."
That only made Mikasa and Armin even more curious.
-進撃の巨人-
Shadis did thankfully let Eren keep the Snowy owl, Kruger. Armin deduced that it was a Snowy owl because of its appearance and feathers, which he had seen in a book once when he was a kid. Kruger had gotten along well with some of the other cadets, with Jean being the only exception, of course.
Hopefully the hostility between the two will fade over time, but who knows?
With this, the "Cadet Food Crisis" had been resolved, and no more problems occurred.
"Who the hell ate the last of my leftovers, dammit?!" Jean screeched.
"It wasn't me!" Sasha held both hands up, crumbs on her face.
Well...all's well that ends well.
Schlacht am Häuptling (Battle Of The Chief's)