The Cadet's Origin

Chapter Thirty Nine - The Return

Kenna sat in the library with her sketchbook open. Scattered around her were all the books that the headquarter had available on the advancements that were being made in military equipment. Kenna bit the inside of her lip as she she tapped the eraser end of her pencil to her temple. She didn't know where she would be placed in the Scout Regiment, but Kenna had some hope that she would work with that Scout she had met so long ago. Kenna wondered if Hange remembered her at all.

"What you working on?" Armin's voice came from right over her shoulder. Kenna was so immersed in her work that she didn't even notice that he had entered the library.

"Innovation," Kenna said as she looked over her shoulder at him. "I'm trying to make the containers for our blades a bit more compact."

"Worried about speed through the air?" Armin said as he examined the drawings.

"That's my main concern," Kenna said as she sat back in her chair. "It won't be a huge advantage, but it's something."

"I think you're on the right path," Armin said as he stepped away from Kenna and to the book shelves. He was looking through the books.

"What are you looking for, Armin?" Kenna said.

"Military strategy and formations," Armin said as he looked through the shelves.

"Farthest wall to the right, middle shelf," Kenna said as she went back to her drawing.

"Thanks, Kenna," Armin said.

Kenna went back to her drawing. She was happy for Armin's input. She trusted his mind above all else. It gave her a lot of confidence that she was heading in the right direction of her ideas.

The thing that had caught Kenna's attention now was the containers that held their blades. Kenna drew out the current design for the containers. Then, Kenna started to think about how she could improve them. The blades themselves were very thin, but the containers were so bulky. If Kenna was able to slim them down, it would allow them to be faster in the air. It might not seem like the biggest advantage in the world, but no advantage could be overlooked. It could mean the difference between life and death.

Kenna got up from her spot at her table and started to look through the titles. Her fingers ran along the spines of the book. She stopped when she found the book about the history of the ODM gear. She didn't think to grab it at the beginning of her session, but Kenna thought it would be useful to look to the past to see what they had tried before. Kenna opened the book and started to flip through the pages as she walked back to her seat. Kenna sat down and started to write down some notes of what the military had tried before.

Kenna didn't know how long she had been sitting at the table, but the only thing that told her that time had passed was the fact that her bones were stiff and she had trouble lifting her head away from her notebook. Kenna stood up and began to return the books to their places on the shelves. After she had completed that task, she grabbed her notebook and headed to her room. After Kenna dropped off her notebook in her room, Kenna went outside to the main courtyard area. Kenna was happy for the chance to get direct sunlight on her skin. Kenna looked around the courtyard for her friends. Kenna didn't see many of her friends; she knew that some of them had to be on the wall. Kenna's shift was coming up later today. She was pretty sure that she would be on duty with Jean and Bertolt. As she walked through the courtyard, the only faces that she saw were Ymir and Krista, and they both looked engrossed in their own conversation. It would have been rude of Kenna to interrupt. It took another minute of looking before she saw one of her friends. She smiled as she caught sight of a familiar freckled face. Kenna walked up to him.

"Hello, my wonderful freckled friend," Kenna said with a smile as she came up behind him.

It was clear that Kenna startled him by the way he jumped. He turned around and looked at her.