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Chapter 8

"Here. These are for you..."

After a couple of hours of sparring, I decide now is a good a time as any to give her the donuts she mentioned last time.

She's still practicing her kicks on the bag but I catch her give the donuts a quick sideways glance.

She stops and slowly makes her way over... almost cautiously.

Why is she being coy? Playing it cool?

"You know, there's no reason to hold back. You did want them, right?"

She grasps the bag, peeks inside and half smiles as she pulls one out.

"Th... thank you," she mumbles, unable to look at me for some reason.

As I watch her munching on the donut, I can't help but notice how tiny the bites that she takes are...

It's kind of adorable, sort of reminds me of a squirrel but I have no desire to share that train of thought with her... for fear of my safety.

Unexpectedly, she turns to me and offers me the open bag without a word.

"Oh... erm, thanks."

We sit there for awhile in total silence, finishing off the donuts.

Well... there's no point in waiting for Annie to strike up a conversation so I better take the initiative.

"Hey, so do they have donuts back where you come from?"

Suddenly asking a question out of the blue after we'd been silent for so long must've surprised Annie because she jolted a little... almost as if she'd forgotten I was there.

"... I don't know. They might but I'd never encountered them before I came here," she responds, after regaining her composure.

"When did you first have one?"

I don't know where I'm going with this line of questioning but I feel like I have to keep the two of us talking or we'll come to a stop again.

"It was during a case I had sort of taken on for the military police," she answers nonchalantly.

"Wait... sort of?"

"I didn't really intend to do it but it was a favor for my roommate," she says, with a troubled look on her face.

"Huh? That's very unlike you, to do favors for other people. Besides, you're always slacking off..."

While I was rambling on, Annies expression had turned sour...

"... well, I needed a favor from her so I had no choice," she responds, choosing to ignore the fact that I had just inadvertently insulted her.

"What was the favor?"

"I needed her to cover for me and tell our superiors that I was out sick for the day," she answers, somewhat reluctantly.

"Why did you want the day off? A date, perhaps?"

I had intended for that to be a joke but I was now awaiting an answer with bated breath.

"Ugh. You sound like Hitch," she replies, clearly annoyed.

I assumed Hitch was the name of her roommate and patiently waited for her to continue although she seemed reluctant to.

"... I needed the day off to go outside the walls," she answers, looking away.

"Why?"

I don't know why I asked. I already knew the answer but I still needed to hear it.