Honorary Scout

Chapter Seventeen

I present to you Chiku the Hamster!

Evelyn's POV

"A...hamster?"

"Yes, a hamster. You've always wanted a hamster, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

I gulped slightly and glanced at the door of the room which was slightly ajar.

"Dad says I'm not allowed to have pets."

Eren's smile contorted into a sneer on hearing what I said after which he grabbed my shoulder with the hand that wasn't holding the hamster's cage.

"Captain Levi isn't actually your dad. I'm your only living blood relative right now."

"But Auntie Hange-"

"And so nobody has a right to go against any decision that I make for you."

"Is that so?"

We both jumped slightly when we heard a familiar deep voice hiss lowly from the door of the room and slowly turned our heads towards that spot, only to see my worst nightmare come true.

"What you said right now, Eren."

Dad muttered in a dangerously soft tone as he slowly began to stride towards us with the pace of a prowling predator.

"Would you like to repeat that to my face now?"

"N-no, sir, I-"

Eren's face blanched when Dad came to loom right above us, especially because Eren himself was still kneeling on the floor, when Dad suddenly grabbed him by the ear and hauled him up to his full height. I gasped and quickly grabbed Eren's hand, terrified of what ghastly fate he would get cursed with if Dad succeeded in dragging him out of here.

"Dad, pwease-"

"You stay out of this, Evelyn."

Dad ordered in a voice so calm that I would have been less petrified if his voice had simply sounded angry, before he dragged my poor brother out of the sitting room with his fingers still wrapped around his ear. I gulped and dropped back on the floor, before slowly turning my focus towards the small cage. A tiny creature which was a concoction of brown and white fur, decorated further with a pair of beady black eyes, stared back at me.

"Hello."

I muttered softly as I steadily crawled closer towards the cage.

"My name's Evelyn. What's yours?"

I asked, but the cute little hamster only produced a small kind of snort from its mouth and I tilted my head at him.

"Don't you have a name?"

The hamster snorted again and I hummed thoughtfully, realizing that he truly didn't have a name. When I looked at him again, I almost saw a sort of sadness in his eyes.

"Aww."

My heart fell.

"It must really hurt to not have a name, right. It's okay! I'll give you a good name!"

But I had to think up a really good name, a name that my friend would be proud to use as his name. It had to be an adorable name too; an adorable name that would fit his adorable face.

"Oh, Chiku!"

I exclaimed cheerfully when the said name suddenly popped into my head and I looked at the hamster once more, grinning brightly this time.

"Do you like that name?"

I asked hopefully and clasped my hands in front of my chest while expectantly staring at the hamster. He didn't provide any kind of a response for a minute, throughout which time my heart continued to beat rapidly in anxiousness, until he finally snorted and slightly puffed out his little cheeks.