Girl from Mitras ★ A. Arlert

Chapter 42 - To pretend

Returning to Trost was the right decision. Y/N was still engrossed in her work, but she wasn't alone. She had a whole group of experienced scouts who weren't only masters in the use of ODM and other devices, but also people with experience in engineering. When she first took the position of executive officer, the first thing she did was to assemble a team for herself. Everything, of course, was agreed with Hange, but she had no problems with this.

Working in Trost also allowed her to see other scouts - Sasha and Mikasa were especially happy about this. Although Y/N worked mostly separately from them, from time to time they nevertheless got out together in the city. Sasha kept inviting Y/N to go with them to the restaurant where Niccolo worked, but Y/N never had time for Sasha when she voice her invitation.

Y/N's constant stay didn't escape Hitch's attention. Ever since their first meeting, Y/N hooked Hitch with something, and she set herself the goal of making friends with Y/N. It was impossible to think of more different people than they are. But still, they enjoyed each other's company. Hitch took Y/N to the city in the evenings, trying to introduce her to someone, along the way looking for a boyfriend for a week or two. Y/N liked Hitch, although she found her quite annoying sometimes. Y/N wondered how she manages to be so... frivolous? But at the same time, Hitch wasn't stupid, she just played with men the way she wanted. But most of all, Y/N surprised that for all her frivolity in relationships, she wanted to find true love. She often told Hitch that she was contradicting herself, to which she replied:

- «Well, if I don't try, how will I find my true love? I can't hope that it'll find me itself! Like, I can hardly imagine that someone will come up to me and say: «Hitch, I have loved you all my life, I think we'll be the perfect couple. I'll do everything so that we can be together! I can't live without you!» she answered Y/N theatrically. «All this is from the category of fairy tales! I don't believe in finding love on the first try, it's stupid!»

- Why?

- Yeah, just because if you don't know what you want from a relationship and from a partner, how can you understand that a person is right for you without trying dating someone else? That is why so many people get divorced, I tell you!

- You better know. I don't understand this at all. And I'm not going to understand...

- Yes, and how can you understand that this is true love! You have to feel the difference...

Hitch was funny. She told Y/N a couple of times about Annie and her «fan» without voicing his name. But Y/N perfectly understood who she was talking about. It hurt her to listen to all this, but for some reason, after these conversations, it became a little easier for her to breathe. But soon, Hitch realized that stories about Annie weren't a particularly interesting topic of conversation, because, for the most part, every day with her was like another. So, she stopped talking about it.

Y/N ran into Commandant Pyxis once during her time in Trost. He, as expected, kept inviting her to some trendy restaurant among the top management to chat. He was interested in what she was working on. Y/N also wanted to interact with him as a more experienced officer. She liked to communicate with people who had a lot of experience behind and could share with her any new knowledge. But she was busy. Until a reason is found...

***

She had been working without a break in Trost for two and a half months. Y/N tried to stick to some kind of schedule, so that she had time to rest. Yes, she finally began to rest, and not switch from one job to another. In her «free» time, she met with Sasha, Mikasa, and Hitch. A couple of times she even drank a glass with Jean and Connie in one of the local bars where she wandered to drink night tea, because in Trost only bars were open late at night. She again began to intensively read various books and analyze, as she usually did. And yet - one evening a week she tried to devote to cooking. She had long dreamed of learning how to cook and finally took a small step towards the fulfillment of this goal.