Your Love is like a Riddle (Eremin)

Comatose

July 2021

            Eren was so, so tired. But he couldn't stop. It had been a week. He had been searching for his mother's killer for a week. Armin couldn't do anything but watch as Eren got at most 3 hours of sleep per night, and he had never seen Eren use his brain more. Of course, being a high-school student with no investigative devices besides his and Armin's brains, Eren wasn't getting very far. Armin didn't know how much longer he could stand to see Eren slowly killing himself from stress and lack of sleep. 

"Armin."

            Eren nudged Armin awake, it was still dark outside. His eyes were bloodshot and his hair was a mess.

"Eren? What time is it?"

"Three. Listen, I have a plan."

"Go ahead," Armin sat up and stretched his arms above him.

"I'm going out into the town, I'll find him myself even if it takes eternity."

"Eren..." Armin could no longer be shocked at Eren's crazy plans, "So are you saying that you're going to look everywhere in town for this guy? You do realize you can't enter every house and private property."

"I can enter every public property. Whatever helps."

"I'm guessing you want me to come with?"

"Of course."

"Let me get dressed."

            Eren sat down on the spot where Armin had gotten up and waited for him, his chin clutched between his fingers. Armin walked back in the room with his shirt half buttoned up and fiddled with the last few buttons.

"So where are we going first?"

"Hmm... what's open at three am?"

Armin thought for a moment, "Waffle House is always open 24 hours, and crazy stuff always goes down there. We should try there."

Eren cracked a small, exhausted smile at him, "You're right."

"But, Eren..."

"Mhm?"

"We aren't staying out long, and when we get back you're getting some good sleep for once. Promise me that or else I'm not going."

Eren massaged his forehead, "Fine. But we're going back out again when I wake up."

            Armin took a light jacket off of his dresser and draped it over Eren's shoulder. Eren slipped his arms into it and stood up.

"Let's go."

------

            Eren had gotten Historia, who was very artistically talented, to draw out a sketch of the man Mikasa had described. He was now giving a copy of this sketch and his phone number to the employee at Waffle House.

"Please, show this to all of your coworkers and managers. If you see this man give me a call. He murdered my mother."

"Shouldn't the cops be handling this?"

"She's been dead for almost a month now. They haven't done anything. I'm just doing what I can. This sketch is what my sister, who survived the attack, saw. Just please show your coworkers."

"Alright, alright, I will. We'll give you and the police a call if he ever comes in."

"Thank you."

            Eren turned and exited the building, Armin in tow. His head was turned to his feet and a hand was rubbing the back of his neck. Armin put a supportive hand on his shoulder and gave a quick squeeze.