She Who Seemed Heartless

Chapter 22

Hearing him confess on what he saw made her dithery to the bones. She wished she had never asked him about it, but as a friend, she has to know. Mikasa wanted to go meet Armin personally at that very moment to talk to him. Eren, however, seemed very dubious in doing it. "I just want to know what's going on between them", Mikasa said. The other scoffed at her. "C'mon, you don't kiss anyone in the lips if you don't have a special relationship. Jeez, it seems like all those romance novels got into his head."

Mikasa refused to sit by idly and let the tension grow. She tried to convince him one more time to talk to Armin. "Okay, fine. If you don't want to talk to him personally, then at least talk to him over the phone." Her insistence made Eren even more annoyed. "You know, if you want to meet him so badly, then do it!"

"Eren, stop being childish. Armin is our best friend."

"Some best friend he is for keeping this from us!"

"Give him a chance to explain and apologize. I'm sure he did not intent to keep this a secret from us."

"Mikasa, this happened a week ago. God knows since when they had been doing that kind of thing!"

"Let's be considerate. It's not easy to tell something like that to your friends!"

Eren was about to argue back when his phone began ringing. It was Armin. Mikasa gave him a determined look, as if she was urging him to answer the phone. Seeing he had no other choice, Eren answered the call though his usual enthusiasm in his voice was absent. Armin was the first one to greet him and he was already stuttering.

"H-Hello, Eren. Um... I, uh..."

"Spit it out, Armin."

There was a short silence on the other line. "I want to talk to you and Mikasa a-about... you know, what you saw..."

Eren gripped the phone tightly. Part of him wanted to terminate the conversation with Armin right then and there, yet his sincere words persuaded him to give the other a chance to explain himself. However, another idea came into his mind. "The Shiganshina Bay."

"What?"

"Mikasa and I will be on our way there. Make sure you'll show up."

Armin was silent for a short moment. "...Should I bring Annie?"

"It's up to you." Eren promptly ended the call afterwards. "Mikasa, let's go."

Annie passed by when Armin suddenly bolted out of his room while putting on his sweater in the process. He bumped onto her and apologized, then pondered briefly on what to do. He was shaken out of his thoughts when Annie asked him where he was headed. "I'll go see Eren and Mikasa." Before Annie could even voice out her desire to come with him, Armin held her hand tightly as a sign of reassurance. "Just wait for me, okay?" Quickly, he made his way downstairs and out of the house then proceeded to the garage to get his bicycle, dismissing Albert's inquiry as to where his destination was.

Annie watched him run off from the hallway of the second floor. She was skeptical and wanted to pursue him, yet she stayed home and trusted Armin. She'll ask for details once he gets back home.

--

He arrived almost the same time as Eren and Mikasa, who were also mounted on their own bicycles. The two boys exchanged glances for a while before getting off their bicycles and parking them. All three sat by the shore of the metro bay, waiting for someone to speak up. Armin unexpectedly became anxious to open up and found his friends' presence intimidating. He had seen Eren angry many times, but never in his life had he witnessed him upset at him like this.