𝚈/𝚗'𝚜 𝙿𝙾𝚅
"Good morning, Y/n!" Armin greeted me as he approached my figure with a gentle smile on his face.
"Hello, Armin. Sorry, I took too long, it was kind of difficult deciding what to wear." I apologized, playing with the hems of my shirt.
"No, I completely understand that. I had a difficult time as well. Shall we go?" Armin suggested. I gave him a nod.
The sun that day was a brilliant lantern, casting the everyday hues of the marketplace into vivid glows.
The market blooms upon the streets as if flowers spring from the concrete. It was truly a beautiful sight.
"Oh, a new library just opened up. I believe it just opened when Historia suggested a place for kids to read." Armin mentioned.
"That's very sweet of her. I'm glad we managed to make Historia the rightful queen." I sighed in relief.
"I can't help but agree with you on that one." Armin replied, glancing at the library from time to time.
"Would you like to take a look inside? It seemed to have piqued your interest, hasn't it?" I chuckled, beckoning him to check the place out.
"Was it that obvious?" he laughed and held the door open for me. I smiled and entered as he followed behind.
It looked like an ordinary library. There was a kid's section in the corner and actual literature on the opposite side.
Once you enter, there are rows of bookshelves with neatly arranged books in them. Some looked new and others seemed old.
There was also a librarian at the counter, just silently reading the newspaper that had been handed out earlier this morning.
I walked towards a bookshelf and took out a random book. Its spine attracted me, so I selected it amongst the rest.
I stared at the cover, it was simple and a little old-looking. The edges of the book looked worn out.
This book must be a very old one to have a dusty cover. The corners of the pages looked like they had been folded several times.
"Why don't we go over there to read? It's not occupied." Armin suggested, tapping my shoulder to grab my attention.
"Oh, did you grab a book while I was getting mine?" I questioned, following him to the table he mentioned.
"Yeah, you seemed kinda immersed in that book, so I didn't want to disturb you. I decided to find a book of my own." Armin explained.
"Ah, did I really?" I sweatdropped. Was it that obvious? I wonder why I rushed to that book. I'll have to find out.
"It was. Here." he said, pulling my chair back for me to sit. Oh my, how sweet of him. What a gentleman.
"Thank you." I thanked him, taking a sit. He nodded and sat in the chair across from me. I just silently watched him sit down.
"What is it?" he asked. I shook my head, telling him that it was nothing. He shrugged it off as I buried my head into my book.
We were so absorbed in our books that we didn't realize how long it had been. It's already been an hour.
I couldn't help myself. I don't usually read books since Armin would often read them to me when we were kids.
Honestly, I miss our childhood. We were so young and innocent. We were happy and curious like small puppies who never knew what their owners were saying.
Growing up as someone who had killed multiple people and witnessed people getting massacred is not what my younger self expected from me.
I guess we don't grow up as the people we expect and hope to be. That's the sad reality, isn't it?
I closed the book and let out a sigh. Finishing the book is quite tiring unless it's an actually good book.
"Oh, are you done? I just finished as well." Armin said. He was so immersed in the book that it looked like he was actually understanding the characters there.
"We should get going. We've been in here a bit longer than we should've been." Armin suggested.
"Sure." I replied, standing up from my seat. We placed the books back and bid our farewell to the librarian.
"What was your book about?" I asked, striking up a conversation with him. We're planning to go eat somewhere.
"It's about a man who had been seeing another woman despite already having a lover." he replied.
"That's all? Was it at least interesting?" I asked. How can something like that be interesting for him to finish?
"Well, that's not all actually. His past life is actually the cause of his love for another woman." he explained.
"What do you mean by that? His past life is the cause of cheating?" I raised a brow at him. It's actually not that bad, but it doesn't make sense.
"Basically, he's in love with a woman. His past life had feelings for another woman who's still alive. This caused him to fall in love with two people." he elaborated.
"It doesn't sound too bad. So, what's the conflict of the story? A story can't be formed without a conflict." I questioned.
"His past life is hindering the man's life. He wants to love his lover, but his past life wants to love another. He doesn't know who to love and what he should do." he answered.
"Hm, how about the climax? Does he go psycho and turn completely single or something?" I joked.
"No and yes. It's his true lover that goes insane. She plans to kill the woman his past life was in love with." he retorted.
"Ah, I see. So, what happened in the end? Do they live happily ever after like most fairytales?" I asked.
"No...it ended horribly. It's a sad story, really. The man ends up single and he never leaves his house in fear that his lover will come after him." he said.
"The woman in his past life hated the man. His true lover turned into a serial killer who slaughtered every woman insight to make sure he doesn't fall in love with another person." he added.
"I understand her reaction and decision but that's a bit too much. She's insane." I remarked.
"Oh, since we're here, we could get lunch. I'll pay for it." he offered. Well, I am hungry and we still got time.
We then made our way to a place where we could eat something for lunch. We ended up entering a nearby cafe.
"I'm still not used to seeing you wear something casual." he admitted as someone showed us to a table.
"I don't blame you. I haven't gotten used to it either. Well, we do often see each other in our uniforms." I shrugged.
"And what would you two lovebirds like for today?" she asked, glancing at the menu we were holding.
"Oh, I'd like the Chicken Alfredo." he informed, trying his best to ignore the waitress's comment about us. He was failing miserably, though.
"I'd like the same as him." I said. His face was completely red and he was hiding it behind the menu.
"Got it! Anything else?" she asked. I shook my head, telling her that we wouldn't want anything else aside from what we stated.
"Okay, I'll be back with your orders in a bit. Please be patient with us." she requested. She was about to leave before remembering that she had to get something back.
"Sir, could you kindly hand over the menu? We both know you're blushing under there." the waitress playfully rolled her eyes.
"Eh?!" he exclaimed. In the end, he gave her the menu with his still flushed face. How adorable.
"How about you?" Armin asked, resting his arms and head on the table. He rested his chin on his arm.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked. He looks cute from this angle, not even gonna lie.
"What's your book all about? You know, the book you were actually interested in." he elaborated.
"Ah, it was about a young lady who fought in the war. She's skilled and planned to end the war, once and for all." I summarized.
"What's stopping her from achieving that goal?" he asked. I don't get much of the story, but I'll try my best to answer his questions.
"She loved someone and that someone had an argument with her about being in the army." I explained.
"What's so wrong with being in the army? Well, because of what society has made us, they assume women should stay in the kitchen and clean the house while taking care of the kids." Armin sighed.
"But I don't get that at all. What's so wrong with fighting for your country to protect the people you hold dear?" I agreed with him.
"Exactly. So, how about the ending of the story? Does she end up ending the war like she wanted or did something stop her?" Armin inquired.
"She ended up getting sick because of the pain of having to deal with the person she loved. The left ventricle of her heart started to weaken." I stated.
"Why are the stories we've read so far so depressing? The authors of the book surely weren't in a good mood when they made them." Armin joked.
"I suppose so." I laughed. The waitress came back with our orders and told us to enjoy our 'date'.
Armin got embarrassed, of course, but he played it cool by just simply shrugging it off as if it was nothing.
"Would you consider this to be a date?" I asked. Isn't this what usually happens on dates?
A date is when two people do something and meet on a specific day, place, and time.
"H-Huh? Uhm...if you want to, I guess we can call it a date." he muttered, fiddling with his fingers.
"Then this is officially a date between us. It's my first time to go on something like this." I stated.
"Me too." he mumbled. We then ate our food while having a couple of conversations here and there.
"We still have something to do the next day, right? This week is gonna be very busy." I recalled.
"Exactly. We should rest for today. That's why I suggested going out to relax our minds, even for a little bit." Armin informed.
"I agree. Thanks, Armin. I'm glad you at least care about my health. Mikasa would treat me as if I'm dying and Eren wouldn't even know how to take care of me." I chuckled.
"I can totally see Mikasa bringing you to the doctor while Eren just searches and buys the wrong medicine for you." he joked.
"I can totally see that." I agreed.
After eating, Armin paid for the food and gave the waitress an extra tip for treating us nicely, unlike others out there.
I wanted to pay but I didn't bring my wallet with me. I didn't think we would be eating lunch.
Surprisingly, we spent quite a lot of time inside of that cafe, just talking and making jokes at times.
A shrill whistle caught our attention. I turned to my left to see a man wink at us. Ugh, why? Just...why?
"Let's go." Armin grabbed my hand and walked ahead. I nodded and walked along with him.
I could hear several footsteps behind us. Their footsteps were hurried. Don't tell me they're actually following us!
Armin dragged me into an alleyway when we made a turn, in hopes that we would lose those creeps.
"Did we lose them?" I whispered, not wanting them to catch us if I talk casually. I'm quite surprised Armin got us out of that situation.
"You really thought you could get away from us, huh?" a man's voice made us jump in fear.
"Gosh, it seriously took us quite some time to search for you. We're lucky enough we decided to check here." another sighed in relief.
Three men. There are three men in total. If things don't go our way, then we'll have to resort to violence.
"Listen, we just want to go about our day. Kindly leave us alone." Armin requested. He's taking the peaceful way.
If resorting to violence is not Armin's way of handling things, I guess I'll see how this will turn out.
"Especially you! We just wanted to catch some good fish for the night." the other kicked Armin and they proceeded to beat him up.
"Get away from him!" I yelled. They stopped and turned around to look at me. At least they stopped.
The person, who I assumed was the leader of the pack, approached me with a smirk. I took a glance at Armin and saw him lying on the ground.
A bruise...
"You're lucky today. If even a single drop of blood were to be seen on his face..." I paused, putting my hands on the leader's shoulders.
"You would've gotten killed." I whispered, kneeing him in the stomach. He immediately passed out.
"Come." I threatened, glaring at the other two as I got into a fighting stance.
One of them decided to actually run towards me with his arm out, preparing to throw a punch.
I dodged it and grabbed ahold of his arm before lifting him and lunging him forward. Hearing a bone crack made me satisfied.
"Ouch. That's gotta hurt." I remarked.
"Y/n!" Armin shouted. Turning around, I saw that a man had attempted to stab me with a knife.
"Just leave us alone, will you?" I sighed.
Armin managed to stop the attack by gripping the man's wrist. How careless of me.
"Bringing a knife to a fistfight is unfair." Armin pointed out.
"It doesn't matter!" the man pushed Armin down and tried his second attempt of stabbing me.
"You know, for hurting him twice. I might as well." I grabbed the knife from him and stabbed him at his waist.
I took out the knife and stabbed it into his thigh. I covered his mouth to make sure he wouldn't call the attention of others.
"Enjoy bleeding to death." I bid them farewell as I carried Armin out of the alleyway.
Why can't we just enjoy a simple date?
Well, what matters now is treating Armin.
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"Wait, are you serious? You still want to continue this?" I repeated in disbelief.
"Yeah, we said we were going to enjoy this day." he confirmed.
"Armin, you're hurt. You can't." I scolded.
"We don't usually have day-offs like this. Can we just let this slide and continue?" he requested.
"Fine." I hesitantly said. Also, Armin was already treated, so we continued our date.
As we strolled around the market, we could hear the countless vendors calling out to customers to buy their products.
It was quite lively in here despite how much has happened. That's good, though. It's better than a bad atmosphere.
Children went past us as they chased one another. Parents would often scold them for running around, afraid they might get lost in the crowd.
"Have you heard about the ocean?" Armin inquired.
"I've heard you speak of it with Eren, but I was too busy talking to Mikasa to hear it." I answered.
To be honest, I did hear it but I wanna hear the excitement in his voice when he describes it to someone.
Even if this happiness is temporary...it's fine. As long as I get to see him talk about something he's passionate about, it's fine.
"My grandpa used to have a book with things about the outside world written in it." he mentioned.
A book about the outside world?
That's illegal, no?
How did the Military Police not confiscate that?
"According to that book, the majority of this world is covered in a body of water called 'ocean'. What's more, it says the ocean is made up of salt water!" he exclaimed.
"Salt?" I repeated. It's those eyes again. His eyes are very beautiful when he's so passionate about something.
"The ocean's so large that salt will never run out." he continued. His eyes bright up so much that it hurts.
"And salt isn't even the tip of the iceberg. Fire water, land made of ice, fields of sand." he rambled.
"The outside world must be way bigger than what we've explored so far." I sighed. At least it's better than being cramped up in these walls.
"Hey, Y/n." he called out. I replied with a hum.
"If you don't mind, it'd be nice if we could also explore the outside world someday. Kind of like how my parents wanted to. It'd be nice if we could fulfill that dream for them, just the two of us." he mumbled, staring at the ground in embarrassment.
"Just the two...of us? I mean, I don't mind." I muttered, turning away. Gah, why is he so adorable?
"A-Anyways, we should get going. We don't wanna block the pathway." he stammered as we continued to walk forward.
Armin walked ahead while rambling on about the outside world without noticing that I was no longer following him. He turned around when he realized.
"Is something wrong?" Armin questioned.
"Your eyes. I see your eyes. It's the same color as your eyes." I pointed to one of the brooches on display.
When I saw it, I felt something...so much warmth and comfort. It's so beautiful that I want to keep looking at it, but I know I'll have to say goodbye to it like always.
"What do you think? It's a beautiful brooch, right?" the vendor laughed.
"Yes." I agreed. Armin ended up buying it for me since he wanted to.
"Are you sure you didn't want one the same color as your eyes instead?" Armin asked.
"Yes, this one was the most beautiful." I confirmed.
"Oh, I never really talked about this but I've always thought your eyes were beautiful from the very first time we've met." I complimented.
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"If we ever get to see the ocean, I'm sure it will have the same color as your eyes." I confidently stated.
"Well, the pictures I've seen in the book my grandpa gave me didn't have any colors, so I'm not so sure about that." he chuckled in reply as we climbed up a hill.
"Armin, do you find the ocean pretty?" I inquired. He obviously said yes, though he hasn't seen it yet.
"If you feel that way about the ocean and I feel the same way about your eyes, then they must be of the same color." I persisted.
"We'll just have to see for ourselves then. If we can live longer, that is." he sighed, lending me a hand.
I gently placed my hand on his and he pulled me up to help me reach the top of the hill.
"Don't say that. We can do it. As long as we keep fighting with everyone by our side, we'll see the ocean." I encouraged.
"You're right." he surrendered. He finally let go of my hand and stared upward. I followed his gaze to be met with various stars.
Stars shone as if sugar spilled all over a black surface. The night sky was such a welcoming sight, appearing like magic after each sunset.
"I've changed my dream." he mentioned.
"Eh? Your dream to see the ocean?!" I exclaimed. The heck?!
"I've made it my goal to see the ocean with you." he declared.
"Oh, I see. But...what if I'm no longer there to see it with you?" I questioned.
" 'Don't say that. We can do it. As long as we keep fighting with everyone by our side, we'll see the ocean', is what you said, no?" he quoted.
"I suppose you're right. I'll be by your side, waiting for that time to come." I said, staring into the starry sky.
"I agree. I hope you'll be by my side when that day finally comes." he told me. Armin is really kind.
Streaking across the indigo sky was a comet. The two of us watched it, mesmerized by its grace.
The comet moved like a savored dream over the sky, billions of heavenly stars lifting the blackness into beauty.
The long tail of icy particles shone in the moonlight as if to remind us that there is life out there in the universe.
"This reminds me. These were the things I wanted to do with Lada. I wanted to go shopping and stargazing." I recalled.
"Oh! I'm so sorry for reminding you of that." he apologized. I reassured him, telling him that there was no reason for him to apologize.
"Actually, I should be the one thanking you." I retorted.
"Thanking me?" he repeated. I nodded.
"Thank you for everything. Thank you for allowing me to rest, thank you for being there for me even when I was so mean to others, and thank you for taking me out today." I smiled.
"Anytime." he replied.
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