Shhh Attack On Titan/Shiii Shingeki no Kyojin

Chapter 5?

A girl with jaw length fluffy red hair stands in front of me, her skin is so pale it reflects the sunlight like snow. She stands tall, about 5'7, and stiff as a board, defining her narrow stature. My best friend, Keres Bernaurer did sign up after all. I wonder if her mom knows?

Keres Bernaurer's POV

I stand at ready, my arms laminated to my sides, I only allowed my eyes to move, giving sideways glances at the fellow cadets standing still as best they can in the field as heavy wind bites their ankles like a rabid dog. Well... some of them were fooling around. To my right, a pair begin to shift anxiously, whispering jokes under their breaths in a game to make the other laugh first.

It surprises me to see how many of the people are already friends with each other. The camp only started accepting cadets a few days ago and it seems that some aren't taking it seriously. I just hope they take it more seriously later on.

It's a few more agonizing minutes in the blazing heat of the sun, which my mind figures to be customary in the army. I'm starting to wonder why we're wearing jackets, my sweater doesn't help either but maybe it will cool down sooner or later...

I take a moment to give myself the freedom to pull the wool sleeves up to my bicep. The sheer pale glow of the sun reflecting off of the ghostly skin of my arms almost makes me shy away. I should really stop wearing long sleeves.

But the heated rays are bearable thanks to the boy towering in front of me. His feathered brown hair dances around in the sun as he talks to another beside him, whose voice is heavy and gruff. One I vaguely recognize... but I can recall neither who he is or where I would know him from.

Damn, I don't know any of these people. And I don't see Jesla, I guess she opted out, I whine internally.

"SALUTE CADETS!"

A man with the voice of a trainwreck hollars, shutting up any jokesters. I'm one of the first to decipher his presence.

My hands fly into action in a fashion that would almost seem unorderly if it weren't for the entire crowd doing the same, my right striking my chest in a fist and my left resting on the small of my back. Like clockwork every cadet follows suit, radiating proud patriotic energy.

"Hehehe..."

There's a daring snicker that breaks the daunting silence, nobody could help looking back to see who it was, not even me. Connie, this boy's name I knew. A short chihuahua of a boy graced with a buzz cut so close his hair appeared gray. And his face, his... posture made him look so exact, exactly wrong.

My eyes roll into the back of my head. Despite his stillness, it was clear he couldn't maintain it if you look at his trembling shoulders. With that, his hands are reversed, with his left hand on his chest and his right arm behind his back. Not over his surely nervous heart.

The head instructor, Keith Shadis storms past the towering boy in front of me, who flinches at the man's action; passes me while I try my best to act like I've been looking forward the whole time. He stops in front of Connie, and once I'm sure of that I glance back again. He'll be chewed out for sure, good, put him in his place.

"NAME, CADET." He screams, unwavering with years of experience. Small particles of spit fly from the man's mouth onto the poor kid's face, but Connie's resolve sticks and he holds the position anyway. He must not know that he's saluting wrong, odd for someone in the Corps.