She Who Seemed Heartless

Chapter 11

It was almost exams week before the end of the first semester. The students of Smith Academy had been cutting off their slack time in order for them to review for the tests. One Saturday morning, Armin came to the Jägar household. It wasn't foreign for him to visit the house since he has been there countless times, and Eren's parents were more than welcome to have him in.

Armin just went out from the restroom when Carla, Eren's mother, called for him from the kitchen. She was preparing a snack for the two. Grisha was not at home due to hospital duties. Mikasa was away as well since jogging and exercise is already part of her morning routine.

"Armin dear, I'm so sorry for the trouble. It seems like Eren always calls you for help before exams. That jerk, when will he start paying attention to his academics?" Truly, Eren got his temperament from his mother, aside from the looks. Armin simply laughed at this remark.

"It's okay! He aces his exams because of it anyway."

She sighed. "That's true. But after that, he forgets what he learned from you and school. Oh, what will I do to him."

After the short chatter, Armin went back to Eren's room. His hand was clutching his head as the other was just immobile on the desk with a pen.

"Sorry for calling you early in the morning, but I just can't understand this stupid shit!" Eren cried as he pointed on the open math notebook.

The blond sat next to him, ready for the first round of intensive tutoring. "Then let's go ahead and learn this stupid shit so you could catch up."

"You know what, it really amuses me when you curse. Can you say 'fuck you'?"

"Fuck you."

"Ohhh that stung."

Armin shook his head and grabbed a pen for himself and a book, wondering why it was such a big deal for his best friend whenever he said profanities. "Come on, Eren. Let's get this over with."

Like Mikasa, Annie was out in town to go for a jog. It has been a habit of hers to keep herself fit, although she makes sure that her body doesn't improve in size so her speed and reflex would remain composed. Not long after, she heard a faint bell twice. It was from a bicycle, that she knew. When she didn't turn around to see who it was, thinking that it may not be for her, the man on the bike went beside her, then decreased his speed. It was Jean.

"Hey, Annie! Good morning."

"Oh", she stopped, which made the other halt too. "Good morning. You're up early."

"Ditto. Do you always do morning jogs?"

"Yeah. This keeps me in shape. What about you?"

"Well..." It took Jean a while to respond, making Annie feel suspicious about this. He was always spontaneous in almost every aspect. "I'm... visiting my best friend." There was a hint of melancholy in his voice. Curious, Annie tagged along. She jogged as Jean was still on his bike, but had the same pace as her.

Annie looked at every house they passed while Jean was uttering some rants, whether they were useless or not. She still listened though, and commented from time to time. It was quite far, and it seemed like he was not actually taking the houses into consideration.

She was taken aback when Jean stopped in front of a cemetery and got off his bike.

'He's... dead?'

--

Annie was hesitant to enter the cemetery. If it weren't for Jean, she wouldn't even dare step inside not because she was scared but due to the fact that she was not expecting a dead friend of his. She somehow regretted coming with him now, but for some reason, she still followed behind him. Neither of them spoke for a while until they reached a tomb with the name Marco Bodt engraved on the gravestone. She carefully examined the date of his death.