𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐓.ᴀɴɴɪᴇ ʟᴇᴏɴʜᴀʀᴅᴛ, ᴍɪᴋᴀꜱᴀ ᴀᴄᴋᴇʀᴍᴀɴ

『𝟐𝟖』𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄

𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘, 𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐄 𝟏𝟓𝐓𝐇, 𝟖𝟓𝟎 𝐀𝐓 𝟏𝟓:𝟎𝟒

⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺⸺

  With the fresh forest air brushing fast in your face, you couldn't help but be strongly reminded of your earlier days as a cadet -flying through the air with your gear and the rise and fall of your stomach as you did the best you could to be graceful, 'It hasn't been that long since then though,' you told yourself, pressing certain triggers to loosen the wiring holding you up as you fell, 'It's been at the very most two and a half months.'

  Ever since the upcoming expedition had been announced, you had noticed that the day-to-day training had gotten a little bit more arduous; it wasn't as if the exercises before were easy per se, but the stakes had risen by a notable degree.

  Today, your regiment had decided that it would be best for the majority of their members to practice with their 3DMG yet again, perfecting their drifts above and below leaves while hacking away at the false napes of titans. Even the ride to the foreign forest you were in was used as a way to put in more time to ride your assigned horses -you had named yours Chestnut, a name that you used because it matched the mocha coat that painted your mare's back- and in all honesty, you were partially surprised that you didn't have to go through more training in dismounting your horse to use your gear, although you had gone through that not too long ago anyways.

  Faintly, you were aware of Mikasa who was trailing not that far behind you, quietly following you as you rose above some smaller trees for the umpteenth time in your life -the ravenette hadn't spoken a word since everyone had been dismissed from instruction and were told to go do the activity, but she hadn't strayed far from you either. Instead, she chose to watch as you did your best to find the fake beasts in the woods; to you, it almost seemed as if she wanted to speak with you but was hesitant at the moment -something that you couldn't blame her since your cold shoulder towards her hadn't regressed at all in the slightest, 'Funny how the table has turned, isn't it? The only thing is, I'm not doing it to hide what we once had.'

  For a second, you had to hold back a self-inflicted eye-roll at your own thoughts and actions, 'Although, I guess one could argue that my own reasoning isn't that much better than hers.'

  A shine of clean, cut wood entered your sights on your right, the light flashes of a strawed colouring pulling you from your mind and telling you that there was most likely another target that you had just missed to your side. With the manipulation on your handles, you shortened one wire and lengthened another in order to send yourself careening towards the glimpsed titan -hearing the Asian woman copy your action a greatly delayed moment or two after.

  You had purposefully ventured out further in the hopes that you would be able to avoid most of the others that were going through the same reinforcement training as you, and so far, luck had been on your side -if you excluded Mikasa, who had separated from Armin at one point or another when you had moved too fast for him to keep up, you hadn't seen anyone for the past few minutes. Those around you had only gotten worse in due time though, and the one case of being elbowed after your gear had been checked had multiplied into cases of some attempting to push you over, and get you in trouble during your regular courses among other annoying and similar things; you had asked a few of them what their problem was, but never had you received a proper answer.

  It felt so lonely to be discriminated against by others for no good reason.

  And while you didn't particularly care for them as you didn't know anyone, you didn't instigate them back -merely pretending as if you hadn't taken notice of everything going on aside from the few queries for their motives that slipped out here and there, 'It's only when no one is around me that they seem to go after me too, although that's probably just because they're scared of getting caught or something.'