Mikasa and Jean have gone their separate ways now that they have arrived at school. Their homeroom classes are located at the opposite ends of the school campus and, as adamant as Jean was about walking her, Mikasa talked him out of it. She was desperate for some time alone anyway.
Still, it doesn't take Mikasa long to get to her homeroom class. She's been attending this school long enough to get her destination quickly despite her sombre pace thanks to the shortcuts she knows. Now outside the door, she takes a deep breath. An attempt to pick herself up since she doesn't want to drag everyone else's mood down with her like a sinking ship. She swings the door open and is suddenly drained of all the energy she had just built up. Like in a video game when you charge a super-powerful power attack that takes FOREVER to charge...and you miss. Luckily, the boss (which in this case are her classmates) are all busy with their textbooks. What few heads did turn didn't stay for long, including those of Mikasa's friends. Mikasa quietly takers her seat and rests her head on her folded arms.
"Jeez, I wish I could be that calm," Sasha says.
"I know! I'm sweating just thinking about failing." Connie adds fanning himself with his textbook. Mikasa looks up at them through half-closed eyes. A confused look on her sleepy face.
"Ignore them," Armin says. "They're just panicking because they left all their revision for last night and got through nothing."
"Revision for what?" Mikasa Asks.
"What!" The three of them question in unison.
"Our math exam," Sasha says before biting into some bread she got from somewhere.
"You know. The one from Mr Ackerman," Connie gulps while looking for his bread that's just gone missing.
"You didn't forget, did you?" Armin questions.
"I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I, uh, got sidetracked last night and didn't sleep much." Mikasa's head drops back down into her arms.
Connie nudges Sasha with his elbow. "Did getting sidetracked involve our boy Yeager?" Connie asks with a playfully raised brow.
"Maybe," Mikasa mumbles into her arms. Sasha and Connie share a giddy, crisp high five.
"It would definitely explain how our Mikasa forgot about the exam and is so tired." Sasha giggles. "Looks like ship Eremika has finally sailed."
"Didn't think they would tango that quickly though. If the Chief finds out, Eren would be so screwed. No pun intended." Connie says.
Mikasa slowly processes Connie and Sasha's conversation. Slowly being the keyword. Her brain is having to ration what little energy there is like wartime supplies. Tick, tock, tick, tock and Mikasa is still processing. Eventually, like a loud microwave in the middle of the night, there is a really loud Ding!
"Not like that, idiots!" Mikasa yells, shooting up to her full height. Her face heating up thanks to all the blood rushing to it.
"Shhh!" the rest of the class erupt before forcing their faces back into their textbooks. Mikasa sits back down, ignoring the quiet giggles coming from the dynamic duo.
"Although it would explain why Eren isn't here yet," Armin says.
"Not you too, Armin," Mikasa sighs.
"Oh no. I'm on about something much less, uh, personal I guess you could say. He knows he needs to do well on these tests if he wants to stay in the team even if he isn't playing as much as he wants to. Obviously missing them won't help that."
Mikasa rests her chin in one hand and plays with her hair with the other. "Yeah," she says quietly.
"Unless there is something else that has his priority."
"You have no idea, Arlet," Mikasa says. She remembers the note she swiped and some of the research she did instead of revising.
Armin closes his textbook and slides it to Mikasa. "How about, after the test if he doesn't show, we head to his place. His mom will be at work so hopefully, he is in."
"What about the rest of the school day?"
"What about it? We're finished for today after our exam so we are free to go home. You're really out of the loop, huh. Best give that a quick read. You don't want the chief on your case and you definitely do not want Mr Ackerman chasing you up." Armin says gesturing to the textbook. Mikasa starts skimming through. Topic by topic. Not all of it makes sense but she understands the fundamentals well enough. Let's just hope it is enough.
The students make their way to their allocated seats in the sports hall. An old, grey carpet covering the hardcourt. Principle Erwin goes through his traditional pre-exam speech to encourage and advice the students gathered in front of him. Levi stands quietly next to him. He doesn't want to be there. His sunken tired expression makes that super clear. To be fair, the students feel the same way. Both only there because they have to be. Mikasa and Armin's seats are not too far away from each other's since their surnames both start with 'A'. Their gazes both focused on the empty desk on the opposite side of the room to them.
"Your time starts now," Principle Erwin's voice echoes across the hall. The sound of turning paper and pens clicking bounces around before silence falls on the room again. Mikasa and Armin try to push their theories of where Eren is to one side. They need to concentrate on the paper. Especially Mikasa. She isn't exactly firing on all cylinders thanks to her lack of sleep and if she fails her dad and uncle will both me on her. Still, she has a bad feeling about something. And it isn't the constant tick-tock of the analogue clock staring her down.
"Oh, man! That was soooo hard!" Connie cries. "Mr Ackerman is going to kill me." He shudders at the very thought of cleaning detentions for the rest of eternity.
Sasha approaches him from behind and grabs him giving him the jumps. "Quick, what did you get for questions seventeen!?" She yells.
"Which one was that!?" Connie yells back.
"The one with the triangles and the circle where you have to do the thing to work out the other thing." Sasha draws shapes in the air demonstrating what she is talking about. It's just a series of frantic finger wags. Yet, Connie understands exactly what she is talking about.
"Ooh, that one." He loosens Sasha's grip and smugly smiles. "This genius got 45.6."
"WHAT!?" Sasha yells.
"WHAT!?" Connie yells back. (De Ja Vu am I right?)
Sasha drops to her knees. "I got 47. Y-you must have got it wrong!" She accusingly points at Connie.
"No way! You must've got it wrong! I triple check my answer. Twice!" Connie replies. They both angrily stare at each other before simultaneously turning their backs on each other. Their arms crossed, eyes closed and noses turned up.
"Actually, you both got it wrong," Mikasa says joining her friends after finally being dismissed from the sports hall. "The answer was 50. And keep it down. You can hear you guys in there and Shadis is losing it."
"Ha! I was closer Avatar Aang wannabe."
"W-whatever Potato Girl! You still got it wrong!"
"Hmph," they both grunt. Once again in perfect sync.
"Finally," Armin says making his way through the sports hall doors stretching. He approaches Mikasa and rests and arm on her shoulder. "You ready to go?"
"Yeah, I was just waiting for you," Mikasa replies.
"Great Armin is here. He must have got it right!" Connie says. He drops his stance and approaches the blond boy.
"Got what right?"
"Question seventeen!"
"The one with the triangles and the circles!" Sasha joins in. Her and Connie competing for the space I from of Armin.
"Yeah." Connie nudges Sasha and she nudges him back. "And you have to do that thing to work out the other thing." They both work together to draw the air diagram that Sasha used to explain the problem earlier.
"Oh, uh, that one," Armin says gingerly. He looks towards Mikasa from the corner of his eye hoping she can give him a better idea of what's going on. She doesn't give him anything. Maybe enjoying this a bit too much.
"Yeah, so what did you get for it?" They both look at Armin with great anticipation in their wide eyes. Like a child when their parents say they have got them something.
"Uh, so." Armin manoeuvres himself and Mikasa to the other side of the dynamic duo so they are the ones closest to the exit door leading to the outside world. "The answer I got was..." Armin takes a deep breath and grabs Mikasa's hand. "South Africa!" He runs towards the exit dragging Mikasa along behind him.
Mikasa and Armin are walking to Eren's house in the scorching heat. The cold breeze making it tolerable on this clear day but they both agree to remove and unessential clothing such as blazers and jumpers leaving the two with their white shirts reflecting the heat instead of their black jumpers absorbing it. Mikasa is leading the way and decides to take the route that Eren usually takes with her even though it is one of the longer routes home. She's gained a sort of familiarity and comfort with this path paired with some good memories.
"Can't believe you lied to Jean about us staying behind for extra revision," Armin says before taking a sip of water. He offers the bottle to Mikasa and she gladfully takes it. Immediately taking a few big gulps.
"Yeah, well." She wipes away any excess water lingering on her lips. "I can't believe you decided to just shout 'South Africa' at Connie and Sasha before doing a runner."
"I panicked. I had no idea what they were talking about with all those weird hand gestures." Armin replies mimicking their gestures from earlier but poorly.
"You know they will try and get you back for that, right?"
"Eh, it's fine," Armin says shrugging his shoulders. "I'll make it up to them by carrying them when we go online today. You should join us."
"Can't. The Chief has me tied up for these midterms. I won't be on till these dumb exams are over."
"That's understandable. He just wants you to do well." Armin pauses before a thought hits him. "We have a week off after the midterms. We should do something as a group to celebrate."
"You got anything in mind?"
"Well, we had to cancel last years plans because my grandpa got ill. Don't see why we can't do that this year instead. Besides, this time we can bring Eren with."
"If he will even come," Mikasa says. She looks towards the floor before letting out a puff of air.
"He will. I'll convince him."
"I guess if anyone can convince him." Mikasa looks up from the floor and the commotion on the road in the distance leading into the park brings itself to the forefront. There are a large number of service vehicles and people patrolling the area. Locking it off to any passing vehicles. Police, Ambulance, Firetruck. They are all there.
"What happened here? It looks bad." Armin says. The two of them stop walking and begin to scan the scene. Mikasa ignores most of the on-road stuff. Her eyes being drawn to the park where she recognises a familiar hunk of metal that shouldn't be there.
"That's Eren's Car!" Mikasa yells before sprinting off to the park. Dropping her bag and leaving Armin behind.
"Wait, Mikasa!" Armin grabs her bag and chases after her.
"Nope. That still feels perfectly normal." Eren says to the on-field medical expert. He is running some quick tests on Eren again. They have been for a while and it is starting to annoy the young German. He is sat in the entryway to the back of the ambulance, his legs dangling out, with his mother sat next to him. The tear tracks on her cheeks dry and an arm around her son's shoulders.
"You definitely got lucky then, young man. An accident like that could have killed you."
"Yeah." Eren looks towards his hands as he clenches it into a tight fist. "Real lucky."
"Oh my God, Eren!" yells a familiar voice. Eren looks towards the direction the voice came from and spots a panting Mikasa barging her way past two service members and Armin following behind her, giving out apologises to anyone unfortunate enough to be in Mikasa's way.
"Oh crap," Eren mutters under his breath.
"Eren! Are you okay!? I recognised your car and ran here as fast as I could. I knew something was wrong when you didn't show up to the exam today but I assumed you just decided to stay home because I ditched but I couldn't double-check because my phones been dead all day and-" Mikasa's rambling is cut short when Eren covers her mouth with his hand.
"I'm fine, Mika. Nothing majors happened to me but I do have a strong headache. So please. Turn it down a notch."
Mikasa's eyes start to fill as tears flow down from her eyes onto Eren's hand. She mumbles a sorry into his hand. Eren removes his hand from her mouth and starts wiping away her tears with his finger gently. "Why are you crying? I told you I'm fine. And don't worry about this morning. It's good it played out the way it did. I...I got lucky. There is no way to guarantee you would also have got as lucky. If anything happened to you because of me...I'd..."
"What exactly happened here, Eren?" Armin asks. Eren starts to explain how he was on his way to school but suddenly really needed to go to the bathroom. So, he pulled up onto the side of the road and ran to the restroom on the park. When he got back his car had been KO'd by a drunk truck driver.
"What about the blood?" the observant Armin asks pointing to Eren's stained collar.
"Oh, I, Uh."
"Let's save the question for this idiot later," Carla interrupts. She harshly pulls on Eren's ear. "He never did use anything up top so let's not fry what little might be left just yet. I'm sure your dad will want to ask him about all this anyway, Mikasa."
"Don't remind me of that fart cloud," Eren mutters.
"What was that? Mikasa asks.
"Oh, uh." Eren scratches the back of his head struggling to think of a way to worm his way out of this one. Luckily, he is saved by the ambulance driver making her way to the back where they are gathered.
"Well, Mr Yeager. Even though you say you feel fine, we are going to take you to the hospital now that the police have moved the abandon trucks that were blocking the roads. We just want to double-check everything to make sure you don't have any internal damage. Oh, and your friend and girlfriend can come too."
"Girlfriend!?" Eren and Mikasa shriek at the same time. They dart their faces into opposite directions hoping to hide their tomato faces. And their smiling faces. Armin and Carla look at each other and chuckle. It's like the whole world knows the truth besides them.