For the One I Love || Hanji x Female Reader

Chapter Seventeen: Whisper

The days went by so fast, and before we knew it, we only had one day left to train before the expedition to finish off the remaining titans that somehow managed to infiltrate Wall Rose and to check if there were survivors in the area. Just like before, whenever the day of the expedition was fast approaching, the atmosphere in the headquarters shifts from the usual - with the day to day chatter and activities, to tense.

Worry and fear were etched in the faces of the soldiers as well, and who could blame them? We all didn't know if we were even going to make it back alive. The other 104th cadets were busy doing their respective tasks, most likely to help keep their minds off the upcoming expedition - or at least to keep the fear at bay.

Currently, I was training with Captain Levi on how to operate the 3DMG - we were training deep in the forest, where they also kept the 'dummies' of titans which randomly sprang out from the trees to test the trainees on their skills.

It was difficult having to keep up with Captain Levi, who darted from one place to another without getting tangled up in branches or anything similar. On the other hand, I had gotten tangled up once, got spooked by a titan dummy thrice, and fell from a branch a little over three times. But aside from that, I managed to cut deep into the napes of the titan dummies, which was one less area to focus on.

I also lost count of the times Captain Levi had looked at me disapprovingly, and I could only smile nervously in return, before focusing on keeping my balance once more and trying again. We kept at it for about an hour or so, before he told me that we'll be heading back into the headquarters to have our midday meal.

"Captain Levi, should we resume training after eating?" I asked as I trailed behind him, massaging my shoulder lightly with my hand.

He paused in his tracks, making me do the same otherwise I'd bump into him, before turning to face me as he answered, "No. We can't have you getting injured before the expedition."

I grimaced at this, "Injured? What do you mean by in-"

Captain Levi glared at me, silencing me effectively, before adding, "With the number of times you fell from the branches, I'm surprised you haven't even broken anything yet."

And with that, he marched on to wherever he was headed off to, leaving me staring at his back in thinly-veiled frustration.

_

I stretched my arms as I walked around the headquarters, having already finished my midday meal. With nothing else to do for the rest of the day, I tried to look for my friends to see what they were doing. I passed by a room that I thought was empty until I saw Eren and Mikasa cleaning the windows together. Of course, I didn't want to intrude on them (or be a third wheel for that matter), so I kept walking.

"Oi, where are you going?" Jean suddenly said from behind me, startling me a bit as I turned hurriedly to face him.

"Oh! I was just walking around. Captain Levi said that training was over for the day, and I had nothing else to do, so here I am," I told him with a sheepish smile.

Jean looked at me suspiciously, lowering his head a bit to whisper, "Are you sure you're not hiding from Captain Levi?"

I hastily pulled back as I shook my head vigorously, "That's not true! We're really done with training!"

Jean laughed heartily, clutching onto his stomach as he saw the look on my face, and I couldn't help but playfully hit him in the shoulder for teasing me.

"What about you then? You seem to have nothing to do, or are you slacking off?" I asked the taller male, returning the suspicious look he gave me a while ago.