Chagara yawned into the crook of her arm. "How long will Peter let me clean out the stable?," she thought as she put the sliced carrots into the soup pot. Eva was in bed with a fever. When she had heard about it from the other stable workers, Chagara had offered to help the chef with lunch. She yawned again and reached for the onions as the door opened and the commander entered the kitchen.
"Hey," she greeted Erwin, but did not look at him. Yesterday's situation had been too awkward.
Erwin just nodded and went to the cupboard with the mugs. "How do you still manage to find time for your actual soldier duties?," he began. "You have to clean out the stable, you cook for us and you still have time to go to church."
Chagara squinted her eyes. "I was wrong. Now it's getting really awkward."
She had been to church the day before. Just as Peter had requested. For three hours she had crept around and inside the church. But she witnessed neither any rituals nor any interesting conversations. When there was no priest in the church, she waited another half hour. When nothing else happened, she decided to return to the headquarters. She had hardly left the church when she saw Erwin coming out of a stationery shop. He had bought new pens. But he was not the only familiar face in the alley. Marie Dok was standing in front of a flower shop. Chagara was fascinated by her appearance. She had hardly changed in the years, although she already had several children. Marie Dok was engrossed in a conversation, but out of the corner of her eye she had noticed Erwin. Her bright eyes were fixed on the commander of the Scout Regiment, who was looking worriedly at the dark clouds above him. When Marie raised her hand to wave and opened her mouth, probably to call for Erwin, Erwin looked down at Chagara with wide-open eyes. She had grabbed his free hand and was hastily pulling him along behind her.
"Come on, Erwin. It's about to start pouring," she called to him as they disappeared around the next corner.
"Ayumi." Erwin leant against the kitchen counter. "I saw Marie yesterday too."
The girl didn't dare to turn around and continued cutting onions. "Thanks for trying to protect me again. But next time, feel free to leave me alone. I closed this chapter a long time ago," he explained to her.
Chagara turned to face him. At that time, Erwin had chosen the Scout Regiment over his first love. The night his decision was made, he had got drunk. Chagara had kept him company, gave him her shoulder to cry on and wiped away his vomit. Apparently, people on the surface didn't always have all the luck in the world on their side either.
She nodded sheepishly. "How stupid did I behave yesterday?"
Erwin smirked. "Well, I'm sure our running caused astonishment among one or two of the citizens." Recalling the scene, he laughed and ruffled through Ayumi's hair.
***
"Tch!" Disgust was written on Levi's face. He gripped the wooden handle of his mop tighter. No matter where he looked, dark shoe prints were everywhere on the light floor. Now and then, even small tufts of grass or little branches, dragged in from the training ground. Did no one notice this except him? How could they all be comfortable in this pigsty?
After a brief analysis of the headquarters in the morning, Levi had come to the conclusion that every room was in urgent need of a thorough cleaning. Unfortunately, there were not enough soldiers available to make quick progress. The only thing worse was that almost all the soldiers did not possess his understanding of cleanliness. He had ordered rework in almost every room. And so not a single soldier had yet started to deal with the canteen. Levi looked at the cleaning products, brushes and cloths in his bucket. Would they be enough? He placed all his cleaning utensils neatly in a row on one of the benches and walked with his bucket to the kitchen door.
As he was about to open it, he heard voices coming from the kitchen. Had there been soldiers hiding from his cleaning? Levi raised an eyebrow when he heard Erwin's voice. But when he realised that Erwin's interlocutor was Chagara, he lowered both eyebrows. Silently, he opened the door a crack and had to watch Erwin laughing as he ruffled through Chagara's hair.
Levi's mood was miserable. He had also ordered the big cleaning to distract himself. He had to start training his special unit shortly. Some members of the new team were already part of the Scout Regiment. The rest would join in the summer after completing their training. The first day of training was the official start for him to send comrades to their death. He still couldn't deal with that thought. And now he also had to witness this scene between Erwin and Chagara. What was going on? With her? With him? With Erwin? Levi did not understand. Everything had been so nice two days ago. He had apologised, they had talked normally and later she had even cut his hair again. They had laughed. A lot. About how they both had difficulties getting on the big army horses at the beginning, how Chagara couldn't get one of her anchors out of the butt of a Titan during her first encounter with these creatures and dangled between the Titan's legs until she was rescued, or how Levi had destroyed all the wooden Titans in no time during his first exercise with wooden constructs. The exercise couldn't be carried out for almost a month, as the repairs took time.
And he had to admonish her several times to be quieter. He didn't want any rumours to start and put Chagara in a false light: Girls' voices from Levi Heichou's room after midnight.
Chagara stood in front of the stove, in front of one of the big pots. Was she cooking soup?
"Don't you think you overdid it with the onions?", Erwin wanted to know as he poured hot water into a mug.
"With the number of soldiers, it's rather too little," Chagara murmured as she threw the remaining onion pieces into the pot.
"Mmh." Erwin took a sip of the hot water and leaned against the kitchen counter as he continued to watch Chagara's goings-on. "Just like the old days," he smiled, which didn't improve Levi's mood.
"That's right," Chagara replied without lifting her head. "I work and you make smart comments."
Levi's eyes grew wide. Why was she speaking so familiarly to the commander? And when had these old days been?
"Ayumiiiii," it wailed from the other direction. Steve had stepped through the back door into the kitchen. "My brain can't think anymore. I need some chocolate. Do you have any?"
Hastily, Chagara turned to her friend and tried to make him understand with her eyes that he should shut up. "No!" she replied firmly.
"Oh come on, Ayumi." Steve didn't understand her reactions. What's more, he couldn't see Erwin from the back door. "You were playing poker just yesterday. You took everything from them." Steve stepped closer. "I saw it a-," Steve broke off when he saw Erwin in his corner. The commander was now standing behind Chagara with a serious face and folded arms.
"But maybe I just dreamt it," Steve tried to save the situation. "I dream a lot, Commander. The other day, for example, I dreamt that the trees were made of tender beef. Crazy, isn't it?" He laughed artificially. But neither Erwin nor Chagara responded to him.
"Poker?", Levi heard Erwin say pissed off.
Chagara continued to stir the soup.
"And I wasn't invited?"
Chagara put the lid halfway on the pot.
"And you won?"
Chagara washed the wooden spoon.
"Illegal gambling? Marked cards? You took everything from my soldiers?"
Levi raised his eyebrows.
"What do you have to say for your defence? Ayumi?"
Levi's knuckles turned white. Why was Erwin addressing the girl by her first name?
"Ayumi, illegal gambling is forbidden among my people," Erwin explained. "And knowing you, you put your loot under your wardrobe. That's where I'd look if I were you, Steve."
"What?," both answered. But while Steve was delighted at Erwin's words, there was bewilderment written all over Ayumi's face.
"You can't give him my things."
"Yes I can, as the Commander. Besides, you don't need oodles of chocolate. Therefore, take it all, Steve. And distribute it," Erwin ordered.
However, as Steve nodded and tried to run off with his eyes shining, Ayumi held him by the arm.
"But I've already set up barter deals. How am I going to pay now?" Her desperate words were directed at Erwin.
"I don't care. No illegal stuff among my soldiers. Understood?"
Chagara looked sadly at the ground and nodded. She let go of Steve, who immediately made a run for it.
A clang from the other direction made Erwin turn his eyes away from Ayumi. He saw Levi standing in the doorway, a bucket on the floor in front of him. He now kicked it in front of Chagara's feet. When the empty bucket came to a stop at her feet, she looked into Levi's emotionless face.
"What?" she wanted to know from him in surprise.
"Make yourself useful."
"What?" she furrowed her eyebrows. "What's wrong with you?"
He nodded towards the cooking pot. "Apparently your kitchen duty is over. Time for a new challenge."
"But -"
"No buts," Levi interrupted the girl, turning his back on her. "I don't care how it went with your old squad before. Here you have to listen to your superiors. So clean the floor. Here and in the canteen."
"Oi!"
Quick as a flash, Levi turned back around. "Don't say 'Oi' to me. Otherwise you're about to have another challenge. Collect your bones and bring them to the infirmary," he threatened her.
Chagara kicked the bucket angrily so that it flew rattling against Levi's boot. Levi raised his eyebrows.
"Chagara!", Levi heard Erwin say. "It's not a bad idea for you to clean here. Think of it as punishment for robbing my soldiers."
Levi grinned as he saw how tightly she pressed her lips together. "Little tip, don't walk across the wet floor and get it all dirty again. If you don't work to my satisfaction, you clean again after lunch."
"But if I start now, it won't be dry at all before lunch. And then when everyone comes with their dirty shoes -"
"Then you seem to be cleaning twice today", Levi interrupted her again and saw how she clenched her hands into fists. "Little bundle of energy, aren't you? Well, if you're done with cleaning twice this afternoon, you're training with me." He walked through the door. "And don't forget the tables and benches," Chagara heard him saying through the door.
Erwin picked his mug and followed Levi, leaving Chagara with tears in her eyes. "What happened to you between the day before yesterday and now, Levi?"