She Who Seemed Heartless

Chapter 9

"What happens to the einherjar when they are not preparing for Ragnarok?" Their teacher sauntered along the aisles of the classroom as he asked. "Kirschtein."

"Sir", Jean rose from his seat and answered confidently and without any book on hand. "The valkyries bear them mead when not needed in the battle of the gods."

"Very good", he commended in a straightforward manner. Every student was looking at the wall clock, wishing that class would end soon so they could start their meals. After a few minutes, their teacher finally wrapped the class up and would continue the same story in their next meeting as homework. They all sighed in relief and went off to their usual destinations during lunch time. Some stayed in their classroom and made a circle of desks and chairs as they ate with their group of friends. Two of those who remained were Annie and Mina, but not to eat. Mina was lending some of her notes to Annie to copy at home. Jean approached them carrying his lunchbox.

"You two finished? We're gonna meet up with Eren and the others."

"Yeah, just packing up!" Mina got up with her wallet and so did Annie as soon as she finished tucking in the notes in her bag.

"So how are things?" Jean asked, referring to Annie. "Are you getting along with some of your seatmates?"

"It's not bad. So far, Mina's the best to talk to."

"Awww, that's so sweet of you!"

"Eh..." Annie tried to change the subject by pointing her attention to Jean. "You're not too shabby yourself. You make a good class president."

Jean scratched the back of his head due to sheer appreciation. The three went to the cafeteria to meet the others. As expected, Eren, Mikasa and Armin were already having their lunch on an ample table next the exit. They always eat there due to fact that they love to talk and lose track of time, so that they could run to their respective classrooms. Armin was talking about an interesting article he found on the internet about translucent marine animals. Eren was mentally wondering why he was finding it engaging even though he gives little damn about biology. Mikasa, on the other hand, seemed highly fascinated and kept on asking Armin about it.

"Holy shit, Armin. You're still talking about a bunch of scientific stuff even during lunch time", Jean said as he sat across from the blond. He received a cold glare from Mikasa and quickly blurted out something to take back what he said. "N-Not that I'm not complaining..."

"Hahahaha! That shut your horse face!" Eren retorted.

"Wow, coming from someone who could barely comprehend whatever what Armin was sharing!"

"What did you say?!"

Armin intervened. "You two, stop it. Jean, where's Annie?"

"She's in the line with Mina. Oh look, there they are", He waved his hand to them and followed the sign. Mina and Annie sat next to each other, across Eren and Mikasa.

Mikasa first greeted Mina, then Annie. "It has been a while since I saw you, and... you."

"It's nice that you and Mina are friends now", said Eren.

As they ate, the crew talked about random things, jumping from one topic to another. One of them was about Jean always having packed lunch at school.

"My mom's the best cook in the world! She's annoying at times, but she's great", he said with poise.

"You find her annoying because you always complain when she tells you to do housework and she scolds you, Jeanie", Mikasa said bluntly which made everyone laugh, except for Jean himself and Annie. She just smiled a bit.