Girl from Mitras ★ A. Arlert

Chapter 7 - A hike

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Y/N opened her eyes. It was still dark in the barracks, but dawn was creeping through the cracks. All the girls were still sleeping. Y/N turned on her side, and now she was looking at Mikasa, who was sleeping peacefully on the bed next to her. Her arm was wrapped around her favorite scarf, the «obsession» that Y/N sometimes didn't understand. Although, now Y/N regretted that she didn't have a scarf. The weather changed - it was winter, or something like that: in the southern regions it became just cold and windy.

«It's been six months already. Time really flies here», Y/N thought. She decided to get up early and take a walk before breakfast. Pulling on her cadet uniform and jacket, she left the barracks. In the meantime, she went to take a shower, which was a good decision, since in the morning, if you get up too late, you could run into a queue.

It was early dawn outside. There was fog over the training ground and behind the fence of the cadet corps, where the horses were grazing. Frost tickled Y/N's cheeks as she walked around the territory of the cadet corps. Usually something was always happening on the territory, there were people everywhere, everyone was busy with something. Now, there was no one around. It was quiet and the world seemed to stop. Y/N slowly inhaled the cold damp air, enjoying the solitude. She decided to go beyond the fence to the horses.

Stroking these stately animals, she recalled the first time her father took her to the hippodrome. She was then 7 years old. At that time, she began to withdraw strongly from her peers, and her father decided that communication with animals would help the girl cope with social awkwardness. Since then, he took her to the hippodrome every Sunday: at first, they just watched people ride horses, and then Y/N began to ride horses herself. For her, it was just a pastime. In those days, she couldn't even think that she would join the cadet corps, that she would dream of becoming a scout. Visits the hippodrome ceased when Y/N's father's health began to deteriorate rapidly. She missed horses, but that feeling soon disappeared.

During the six months that she spent in the cadet corps, little has changed in relation to the first days. The groups into which the cadets were divided on the first day were significantly reduced. Many cadets couldn't stand the pressure, couldn't cope with the tasks, or simply realized that they had made a mistake. Some tried to escape after another failure, for which they were publicly punished and subsequently sent home. And, everyone who intended to leave the cadet corps was publicly presented by the Commandant as cowards, not even fit to become breakfast for a titan. The more time passed, the fewer cadets remained. No one had left the cadet corps in the last couple of months, and Y/N thought that they would finish their studies here in this composition.

As for Y/N, she still excelled in theory classes, still dragged books from the library, still dined alone. The only difference was that she wasn't alone in strength training. Armin always sat next to her, they read and discussed books together that Y/N brought to class. They were almost like friends. But Y/N couldn't call him a friend. He was kind to her, she liked talking to him, but she didn't know anything about him. They never talked about each other, she was shy to ask him any questions because of fear of embarrassing him, which was very easy. She found this trait very endearing. It was enough for her that she had this fellowship. The rest of the time, they practically never contacted with each other, since he was with his friends.

Sometimes Y/N seemed to care too much about other people's attitudes towards her. She preferred not to communicate with anyone, so as not to seem like a nerd with weird interests to others. She had experience of communicating with her peers in the palace, among whom she didn't find friends as a result. And now she was simply afraid to repeat this mistake: «It's better to let them think that I'm unsociable than weird nerd», she thought.