A Second Chance

Chapter 2: First Day on the Job

Chapter 2: First Day on the Job

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Eren looked at himself in the mirror as he finished washing his face. He was looking rough, even with the shower and the warm meal last night. His shirt was off as he wet his hair and put it in a bun to keep it out of his eyes.

It was almost noon, and Eren needed to finish getting ready for Sergei to arrive to the Hotel. Eren felt tired still, especially with all the thoughts that plagued his mind, but he knew he needed to focus on the job at hand.

Fight... just fight...

Eren thought to himself, but the words refused to come from his mouth. He felt tired and couldn't bring himself to speak.

"Keep moving forward." Eren said to himself instead. "Just keep moving... forward." He said again, struggling a bit more.

He heard the door open behind him and looked to see a young Hizuru, or rather Japanese woman, walk into the room. When she saw Eren she made a hi pitch squeal at the surprise, bowing over and over, repeating something that Eren assumed was an apology.

Eren didn't mind her since he was told that he needed to leave by noon, so they already had a cleaning crew. He put on one of his shirts and put the other in the bag he had from the store. Then he put on his hoodie, making sure to put the hood up to better hide his face. He brushed past the girl who had a blush on her face.

Eren walked down to the lobby and out the door, where he saw Sergei waiting for him next to a black vehicle. He had a white stick in his mouth which Eren recognized as a Marleyan cigarette.

"There you are kid." Sergei waved at him. "Get in, we've got a long drive ahead of us." Sergei said.

Eren got into the left door of the vehicle and marveled at the technology around him. He saw the inside of a few Marleyan vehicles, but they were crude levers and wheels compared to the precision of the Japanese vehicle.

"Drive will be on western coast of Japan, where we'll get weapons." Sergei said as he got into the driver's seat and started the vehicle.

"Where is it going?" Eren asked.

"New guys don't ask questions." Sergei said, eyeing Eren. "You prove yourself, I'll let you know details. Until then we need to know you're not rat."

Eren shrugged at that, not really caring much about it since he only needed some money until he found a better way to survive. He was desperate, but he's not going to be invested in a lifestyle like this.

"You want fast food?" Sergei asked. Eren shrugged.

Sergei pulled up to a yellow and orange building that had some kind of communicator or radio on the outside. After speaking in Japanese, he pulled up to a window down the small trail. Eren noticed his accent was very poor since even he could tell the difference in quality between a native Japanese speaker and Sergei.

"Dig in." He said, taking out what looked like a really greasy sandwich with beef. "These are best." He said.

"What is it?" Eren asked.

"It's cheeseburger." Sergei replied as he bit into it. "In my country, I got to try it when they opened first one in Moscow. It was best I ever had, much better than our food."

"Moscow?" Eren asked.

"Capital of Soviet Union, though it's called Russia now." Sergei explained. "You really are dumb." He chuckled, which annoyed Eren.

Eren took a bite out of it. He had no doubt that if Sasha was here, she would cry in delight at the flavor and seasoning. It tasted like what Nicolo would serve them. His whole life he always had bland beef, and after the fall of wall Maria, meat became extremely rare. He couldn't tell the spices that were used. Eren's only way to season meat going up was to use salt, which was extremely expensive and even his father's pay as a doctor wasn't enough to consistently buy it.