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【𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄】
*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*
FOR WHAT FELT LIKE THE EIGHTH time that morning, Himari was kicked in the side by Sasha as the girl turned over in her sleep. Himari ran a hand down her face, holding back the groan that threatened to escape her lips when Sasha mumbled something unintelligible, snored loudly and kicked Himari once again.
Himari turned over, eyes landing on Mikasa, who was fast asleep on the other side of her. She sighed wistfully, wishing she was as at peace as the dark-haired girl was. Despite the fact that it was nice to be sharing a space again with girls, considering Sasha had stayed up for an hour the previous night braiding Himari's hair, Himari found herself reluctant to fall asleep. She didn't want to thrash about in her sleep or wake up screaming - especially when the tent walls would do very little to stifle the noises.
So, rather than remaining on her back in the stuffy sleeping bag she'd stretched out on the floor, Himari quietly pulled herself out of it, tugged on her boots and exited the tent without bothering to tie up her laces. She pulled Eren's long, dark jacket over her shoulders and shoved her hands in the pockets.
Himari nodded at a few of the newer members of the Survey Corps - soldiers who had moved to their regiment from either the Military Police or the Garrison. Many of them were sitting around, talking idly in groups of four or less, though all of them had rifles slung haphazardly over their shoulders. They were the ones who had been put on guard duty for the night, watching over the volunteers in case some of them decided to try and act on the hatred they harboured for the residents of Paradis Island.
Himari nodded at a few of them as she passed by when they raised a hand at her in greeting. While she appreciated the fact that many of them were so willing to join the Survey Corps in the first place, she knew that the majority had only done so out of sheer curiosity. They weren't getting to see as much action working in the interior or on top of the walls. Their learnings of Marley and the outside world, as well as the fact that the Survey Corps would be the ones standing on the front lines when it came to dealing with those changes, had piqued their interest enough to coerce them into joining. That and the fact that they wouldn't have to kill any more titans, considering the ten original members of the Survey Corps had done so before any of them decided to join.
Himari didn't resent any of them for joining out of curiosity, though. She appreciated the fact that so many of them were willing to join and slowly build back the numbers that they had lost in the months following Bertholdt's attack on Trost. And while she didn't resent them, it didn't necessarily make her comfortable, either. Not after the kinds of things she heard many of them saying about what they would do to the Marleyans if they dared to even raise a hand towards any of the Eldians native to Paradis.
A surprising number of new soldiers, however, also consisted of fresh graduates from the 105th division who had decided to take up the Wings of Freedom. Himari hadn't chosen any new recruits for her own squad just yet, wanting to hand-pick them herself when the time was right. Hange, however, was in no hurry for Himari to create her own squad, knowing that the girl had enough on her plate as it was.
