Shorter Than Me

21 Ecyn

"Ecyn, Ecyn!" I turn around at the sound of Hanji's excited voice. Maybe I could give her the excuse that I'm tired and get away before she bores me. "Ecyn, guess what?"

"What?" I try to put some emotion into my voice.

"Guess!"

"Eren did something." I shrug.

"No! You finally get your own room. Erwin sent me to help you move in! You get an office too!"

"Wow." I fake a little just so she doesn't feel bad, but then I feel bad. "Where is it?"

"Over here." She guides me to a door in the hallway. I open it. All there is inside is a desk and chair. There's another door that leads to a bedroom. There's just a bed in here with no sheets. I also see a closet. "Do you like it?"

"I guess."

"It's pretty empty, but that's why I'm here. Let's move you in!" She looks at me eagerly and I can't help smiling a little. She's so willing to be helpful.

"Alright."

We walk to the room I'm sharing with Mikasa. It's only down the hall and through another one. Hanji helps me gather all my clothes, and we carry them back to my new room. We drop them on the bed and return for more things. I put all my personal things in a bag while Hanji takes the bedsheets. In barely ten minutes, I'm completely moved into my new room.

"Erwin has the key. We can go get it now if you want." Hanji looks so eager to do so that I agree. We walk down the hall. "I'm really excited right now because of you and because I just thought of an experiment to try on titans. I haven't worked out all the details, but I can't wait."

"Well, I can go to the commander's office without you if you want to get back to it," I offer.

"No. I need a break. And I'm not going to abandon my friend." She puts her arm around my shoulder, making me feel smaller than I am. Or maybe it reminds me I'm smaller than I feel. We arrive at the commander's office and Hanji barges in without knocking. "Erwin, we're here to get Ecyn's key," she announces.

He looks up at her and smiles. "Alright." Then he reaches into a drawer and takes out a key. He hands it to me and I put it in my pocket.

"Thanks!" Hanji whirls around and starts to pull me out.

"Wait." Commander Erwin calls. "I need Ecyn to stay for a few minutes. You may go, Hanji."

Hanji's shoulders slump. I get the feeling she wanted to tell me about her experiment idea, which makes me grateful to the Commander. "Fine. I'll see you later, Ecyn." She gives me a little wave and then exits, closing the door behind her.

I turn back to the commander. "How have you been?"

"Good, sir." Is this why he wanted me to stay? To ask me how I am?

"How is your training?"

"It's barely been a day, sir. That's not much to go on." Do I have to tell him I have a trainee with a respect problem?

"How do you feel about being a captain?"

"It's not much different, sir." Does he just want to chat? I'm not really in the mood to talk like that.

"How long has it been since you saw your family?"

I think for a moment. I saw them one month before I graduated. "Five months, sir. But we've been exchanging letters."

"Have you wanted to see them at all?"

"Of course. They're my family, sir."

"Would you like to now?"

"No, sir." He looks at me questioningly, so I explain. "I've spent one day with the new recruit I'm supposed to train. I shouldn't just leave."

"Alright." He picks up a piece of paper and hands it to me. "Here."

I look at it.

Official Leave of Absence Form
Scouting Legion

I glance below the title where there are two options.

[] mandatory
[] request

"Mandatory" is marked.

"You're making me go, sir?" I ask him. Why would he do this? It's almost the most inconvenient time ever.

"Yes. You just need to sign at the bottom. You don't have to if you don't want to, but you'll be kicked out of Scouting Legion Headquarters for... how long does it say?

"A week," I read. "But I've only spent one day with my trainee. If I just leave for a week, what will that look like, sir?"

"I'll get someone else to train her. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Someone who will make her respect him." Or else she won't learn anything.

"How about Levi?"

I look at him, surprised.

"I'm aware of the methods he used to train you." That's putting it nicely. "But you can tell him what you want him to do. If you don't want him to yell at her, punch her, whatever."

"You mean I can tell him what to do?"

"In a sense, yes."

I have been thinking about visiting my mother and brother. I shrug and set the paper on the desk. "Why do I sign it?"

"To make it seem less like an order and more like a suggestion." He holds a pen out to me.

"Formalities?" I take the pen.

"Yes."

I sign the paper.

"You keep it. And I believe it says You leave tomorrow morning."

"It does." It also says I come back next Sunday, a week from tomorrow.

"Have a nice visit. Get some rest." He smiles.

I salute him. "Yes, sir." I say it with a little sarcasm, but not too much. Then I walk out. I need to go find Ackerman again.