In the seventh week of her treatment, Lara was discharged. The Survey Corps soldiers lined up in the corridor of the infirmary and Lara passed through them on Mike's piggyback, while receiving a round of applause for her excellent recovery.
To celebrate it, Lara asked Hange and Levi if they could take her to a festival that would take place in Trost District the next weekend. She had heard one of the nurses talk about it and got very excited, because the tutors of the orphanage had never taken her to a festival before, for the lack of money to pay for the food and games from the tents to all the children.
Hange and Levi agreed and on Saturday morning, they left in a carriage heading to Trost. It would take them about forty minutes to get to the festival and Lara was elated. She had only ridden a carriage once in her life, and now was loving the experience, going from one window to the other every five minutes, enjoying the landscape.
Levi and Hange sat one in front of the other, he in his typical black suit and white cravat around his neck, and Hange in a casual outfit: beige pants and white shirt. Lara wore a simple blue dress, which Levi had to buy recently, as some of the clothes they had bought when Lara came to live at the Survey Corps HQ were already starting to be too small for her.
At certain moments, Levi would block Lara's passage from one side of the carriage to the other, just for the simple pleasure of irritating her.
When they arrived at the festival, Lara never imagined that there could be so much fun happening in only one place, and just like she did when she saw Levi fight the Titans for the first time on the way to Shiganshina, when she spotted all the tents and toys, she clenched her fists, squeezing them and desperately waving her arms, in a sign of pure excitement.
If there is one word that would best describe the festival, it would be "colorful". Flags of different colors crossed the streets, above the tents, which were an exception themselves. In each one that Lara visited, she would find something new.
There was a section for food tents, another for games, and another for tents selling knick-knacks. In an open field, there was an area for outdoor games, such as sack races, tug of war, and dancing. In addition to also having a large stage in the center of the festival, where throughout the whole day, theater and music performances took place.
Hange, Levi, and Lara spent the morning exploring the game tents, such as ringtoss, pinning the tail on the donkey, and fishing. At a certain shooting game tent, Lara had hit the target, but the owner denied it, refusing to give the prize, which was a stuffed horse, like the one Lara rode in the Survey Corps.
Slowly, Levi took the shotgun toy from Lara's hands, put in some fake ammunition, and with an impassive look, hit not only Lara's target again, but all the other targets as well, leaving the owner with an expression of total bewilderment. Two minutes later, Lara was running through the row of tents, lifting her new stuffed horse above her head.
At lunchtime, they tried a variety of different foods and in Lara's opinion, her favorite dessert was chocolate-dipped strawberries.
After lunch, Lara wanted to participate in the games located in the open area of the festival. Excited, she joined one of the children's teams for a tug of war competition. Hange and Levi noticed that Lara had displayed a certain competitive behavior sometimes, but nothing too extreme. However, Lara became so immersed in the competitive spirit of the game, that you could see the veins in her eyes, so eager she was to win it.
With even a certain violence, Lara pulled the rope with all her strength and still glared at the children who, in her opinion, were too wimpy. Levi watched the scene with perplexity and, to his greatest surprise, by his side, Hange was shouting encouraging phrases to Lara, in the same intensity of euphoria as the girl.
At one point, if Levi didn't grab her, Hange herself would have joined the competition alongside Lara, for she also thought those other kids were very wimp. With a scream of fury, Lara gave a final tug that made nearly all the children on the other side of the rope fall flat on their faces.
By late afternoon, Lara was lying her head on a table, exhausted. They were seated at a small table for four. Hange and Levi sat side by side, while Lara sat next to her stuffed horse on the other, which occupied the remaining empty seat. Then, a young man approached Levi and Hange, offering a brochure. Lara watched the lad continue to hand out the brochures to people on other tables.
"What's this?" she asked, going around the table and wedging herself between her parents.
"It's an ad of a house for sale," replied Hange.
Lara took a good look at the brochure. On it, there was a drawing of a very beautiful country house, all made of wood and surrounded by pine trees. A pretty sunset appeared from behind the mountains and trees, giving a cozy look to the place.
"Wow!" exclaimed Lara, looking at the drawing more closely, "It's gorgeous! Hey, dad! Why don't you buy this house for us?"
Levi looked at the drawing on the brochure. Truly, it was a beautiful place.
"You have to be careful with these ads," he said, "they usually exaggerate a little in the aspects of the things they want to sell."
"I'm not so sure about it, Levi..." replied Hange, holding her chin while observing the drawing, "I've seen some houses in the countryside, and they are just like that." Hange brought the brochure closer so she could analyze the floor plan, drawn in one of the corners of the paper, "Wow, it's very large! It has... Four bedrooms!"
"We can even have that puppy you've been promising me, right, dad?" asked Lara, looking sarcastically at Levi.
"I really wanna see who's gonna clean the 'things' of this puppy you two talk about so much," said Hange, "In my opinion, a cat would be better."
"Well," Lara took her stuffed horse, "while you both decide it, I'll go get more strawberries, does anyone want some?"
They declined it and Lara asked Levi for money. He said that this would be her last dessert of the day and that when they got back to the HQ, she would have to brush her teeth. Grimacing, Lara headed towards her strawberries.
Hange and Levi remained silent for a while, analyzing the brochure. Hange noticed that Levi was glancing at her from time to time, and then she stared at him, as if asking what he wanted to say.
"What are you so thoughtful about?" Levi finally asked, pointing to the brochure with his head.
"Oh, right..." replied Hange, with a smile, "I'm just thinking about how we could do a lot of cool things in this house."
"Like what?"
Hange lifted the brochure in front of her eyes, analyzing it while holding her chin.
"As it has so many rooms, I thought that one of them could be my laboratory," she pointed to a specific part of the brochure. "Look at this kitchen, it's huge! We can make a big pantry for your teas, don't you think?" Hange leaned her elbow on the table, contemplative. "I imagine us on a Saturday like today, in a place like this..." she paused for a few seconds, and continued with a smile, "We could wake up at any time we wanted, and we would spend the whole day having fun in the yard... And at night, you would cook a nice meal, 'cause you know I'm a disaster on this matter... Then we could play some board games, and when Lara gets sleepy, we would put her in her bedroom, and then, because of your insomnia, you and I would spend the whole night making love and–"
Hange practically jumped on her chair, covering her mouth with both hands. Levi stared at her with the purest expression of perplexity.
"I-I-I..." stuttered Hange, drying her hands on her pants, "I-I mean..."
For her great relief, Lara came back with a bowl of chocolate-dipped strawberries. The girl sat down and looked at her parents, who were very red.
"Hmm, lemme guess..." said Lara, eating a strawberry, "Did one of you say something embarrassing?" she rested her wooden fork on her chin, "Look, I may have been your daughter for a short time, but I wasn't born yesterday. I bet it was mommy, am I right?"
Stuttering, Hange told her to eat the strawberries quietly and glanced at Levi, which only made them both blush even more. Lara finished eating her dessert chuckling softly.
Lara slept in the first five minutes of the way back to the HQ, in the carriage. Hange and Levi spent the entire ride feeling very tense, as the carriages' interiors were usually small and whenever they passed on an unevenness of the road, their legs would touch, making them blush.
It was late at night when they arrived at the girls' bedroom to put Lara to sleep. Just this once, Levi allowed her not to brush her teeth, but that tomorrow, she would have to brush them twice.
With Lara on her bed, Hange followed Levi to the door. Before heading out into the corridor, he suddenly turned around.
"Would you like to have tea with me?"
"Y-Yes..." replied Hange, faster than she should have.
They went down to the HQ kitchen in complete silence. While Levi served the tea, they would ask themselves a few questions about work, but both always replied with very short and objective answers.
Sitting at the table, Hange couldn't take her eyes off her teacup, staring at it as if it was the most interesting Titan in the world. Levi was watching her.
"So..." he started, taking a sip, "Did you like that house?"
Hange choked, but put herself together in a matter of a few seconds.
"Y-Yes!" she replied anxiously, "It seems to be... Airy."
"Airy?"
"Yes. The windows make it look very well ventilated," Hange waved her hands, as if simulating the wind.
Levi chuckled and in one gulp, drank all the tea that was left in his cup, standing up to wash it on the sink. Hange listened to the sounds of Levi washing the dishes behind her chair and clasped her hands so tightly, her knuckles turned white. With eyes wide opened, she kept staring at her cup of tea.
Suddenly, she felt a chill down her spine so intense, she thought someone had thrown cold water on her back. As if she was frozen, Hange noticed that Levi was leaning beside her, his mouth almost touching her ear.
"I'm gonna buy that house," whispered Levi.
Hange shivered all over as she felt his breath come into her ear. She turned suddenly to see him, but Levi was already walking casually towards the kitchen door, getting out of sight.
In a jump, she stood up from the chair, almost dropping it on the floor, and stopped in the doorway, looking for Levi. He was about to turn the corner when Hange exclaimed:
"Are you serious?!"
Levi just looked at her with a cheeky smile on his lips and disappeared through the corridors.