8 The training monster

This is training unit no.104 with the bald man with the goatee being Keith Shards the man responsible for the training of unit no.104 this is also the unit Eren, Armin, Mikasa and Ryuu are in

Keith begins his training the moment he sees these new recruits by embarrassing, putting down most of the recruits and crushing such of their moral as possible

While Keith trains the new recruits 2 men in the distance are talking about this saying it was a right of passage and how this creates perfect soldiers, soldiers without a moral compass basically blank sheets and while the trainees couldn't hear the conversation Ryuu could thank his enhanced hearing

Keith continued walking and belittling the soldiers sometimes skipping one these are the people that have seen hell in the last 2 years and they are the people that are already blank

He would first ask for their name and place of origin then the insults began but Keith didn't rely solely on insults or verbal abuse

Keith would sometimes scream sometimes whisper and sometimes get physical but it worked his methods produced some of the best soldiers out there

Once he got to Ryuu and stared into Ryuu's eyes he froze with sweat covering his back Keith saw that Ryuu's eyes were not normal they were like a wolf's always ready to pounce but that is not what frightened him after all Keith saw many recruits similar to Ryuu but what distinguished Ryuu from the rest is the spark of insanity hidden deeply inside of his eyes

In the end, he ignored Ryuu making him out to be a blank slate and continued his belittlement on the other recruits

Soon a comedy performance started where Sasha Blouse otherwise known as Potato girl ate a potato during Keith's interrogations and belittlements which was followed by a comedic talk over the value and importance of potatoes between Keith and Sasha

Apparently, Keith didn't find it funny and

ordered her to run until she dropped which she promptly executed while Keith went away to interrogate other people

Before they knew it it was sundown yet Sasha still ran while Eren and some other people were talking about her on the porch of the house

Then they saw a convoy bringing out dropouts and in the middle of it a boy remembered that Eren still hasn't introduced himself

Before Eren could introduce himself they all heard a strange noise like something was dragging heavy rocks across the ground at a fast pace and when they turned around to looks at the running Sasha they saw someone behind her running as well

They saw a boy with now dirty white hair running with ropes attached to his waist while each rope lead to a giant rock bordering the size of a small boulder and there were at least 7 ropes but probably more

"Oi, oi, or are you kidding me? Is he even human." The boy who asked Eren where he was from was astounded by the sight in front of him and so were the others besides Eren and Armin after all Eren, Armin, Mikasa, and Ryuu lived together so they saw this scene daily

"You shouldn't be surprised. You are going to see this more often than you think." Armin seeing their astounded faces and reactions couldn't help it but release a small chuckle

"Wait you know the guy?" The boy was once again astounded

"Yes the 4 of us came from the Shinganshima district. He is like an older brother of ours and as you see he is strong like super strong. Do you know the story of 'The boy who was a titan'?" Armin spoke up again and into the conversation dragged in a seemingly unrelated topic

"Yeah from what I remember 2 years ago when the Titans attacked there was a boy who survived the attack but wasn't able to get on the boat so he swum to the boat and grabbed on to it then at some point he couldn't take it anymore and he pulled himself up to the boat with one hand making everybody believe a titan had come for them. The story became more of a myth than anything even thou it is confirmed to be true so what about it?" The boy recalled the tale he once heard from some people and when he talked about it it seemed like he had a face full of admiration but also fright

"Yes well, you see Ryuu is that boy we saw it ourselves." Armin almost collapsed of how much he had to hold his breath is not to laugh when he saw the face if the boy

"Wait for what? So that's him?" The boy snapped and looked between Armin and the running Ryuu like monsters

"In the flesh." Armin again answered while the boys and girls all started to talk again at the moment presenting themselves to each other and introducing themselves while sometimes glance at Ryuu

All the while Ryuu was running and he soon caught up with a huffing and puffing Sasha

"Oi, you alright? Can you hold up? Do you need some help?" Once Ryuu came next to Sasha he could hear her ragged breath, he could see the sweat dripping down her face, her twitching muscles and her bloodshot eyes

"N-no need thank you." When Sasha heard somebody call out to her she was momentarily stunned but once she turned around and saw a handsome face asking her if she was alright she couldn't help but blush and she stumbled a bit almost falling if not for Ryuu holding her up as she almost fell

"You sure you are alright?" Ryuu asked again for confirmation if she was alright while she only stumbled a little bit that stumble broke her willpower so right now she can't even stand let's not talk about running

Seeing this Ryuu picked her up in a princess carry with his strong arms and continued his run but this time he had a blushing Sasha with him

While all that was going on Eren was talking to the others about the Colossal and Armored Titan, Eren also declaring his wishes and ideas to the others as well as Eren being mocked for his wishes by another guy especially the wish about killing all the titans

While they later made up Mikasa still ranted to Eren about it while the guy fell in love with Mikasa on first sight so when Eren told her to cut her hair he almost punched him but fortunately, for him Mikasa refused

Soon night came and in front of the no.104 training units dorms came a shirtless and sweary Ryuu carrying a barely conscious Sasha on his shoulder

During his run, Ryuu got tired so he put Shasha on his shoulder as it was more comfortable for Ryuu that way

As he got closer he saw a girl with long blonde hair and big blue eyes approach them while holding some bread and water in her hands

"Umm I have saved you some bread and water so eat if you are hungry." A sweet almost angelic voice came out of her mouth as she talked while she fidgeted a bit when she saw Ryuu's naked upper body

"Thank you." Seeing her Ryuu politely thanked her before taking the 2 pieces of bread and bottles of water

He gave one bread and one water bottle to Sasha while drinking the other bottle and throwing back the bread to the girl

"Why are you giving it back to me? Aren't you going to eat?" The girl was astounded as she saw how Ryuu trained and she knew that he must be famished, she thought she brought too little bread for him yet here he is giving it back to her

"Don't worry about me I'm not that hungry" Replying Ryuu took another gulp of water before carrying Sasha back to bead while his back faded another girl came from the shadows

She has black hair, sharp eyes, and freckles on her face

"Hey what are you doing?" She saw it all play out so she asked the blonde haired girl in a rude voice and soon the girls talked a bit about kindness and debts

"Hey, why do you think he refused the bread?" Just as they were turning around to leave the blond girl asked still intrigued by Ryuu's behavior

"Don't know why are you asking me?" The freckled girl rudely replied yet looked at Ryuu's direction with softened eyes before they returned to her previous sharp look

The next morning everybody was tested for their aptitude and how they could handle the 3D Maneuver Gear which Mikasa aced while Eren was able to somehow barely do it because of Ryuu's training

Once Ryuu stepped up to the device every recruit turned their heads to him waiting for his results or rather some waited for him to fail while others waited for him to succeed but many more people wanted him to fail

"What is going on?" Seeing this the instructors were dumbfounded and asked recruits why they were so intrigued that's when they found out about Ryuu's training the previous day and about how he is allegedly the boy mistaken for a titan

Hearing of his training and alleged origins the trainers\instructors were intrigued and they proceed to watch Ryuu's performance as well

Getting closer to the device Ryuu didn't feel pressured or nervous instead he was relaxed so once he got strapped on he remained strapped like it just happened

'Well this is not fucking funny ' Ryuu remained motionless while the Gear didn't move at all from the moment he was strapped on till now it is like time froze around Ryuu with him and the Gear in the middle of it

But in actuality, the gear should have broken by the pure weight of Ryuu's body so in order for the gear to not break Ryuu decided to use his new ability hair manipulation

By making his hair too thin to be seen by the naked eye Ryuu stabbed hundreds if not thousands of hairs into the ground and around himself before hardening the hairs so even thou Ryuu looks like he is supported by 4 steel cables he is actually supported by thousands of small hairs

Everybody was shell shocked from this display of talent or rather what they thought is talent yet before they knew it Ryuu was already off the Gear and proceeds to do his own training

In the evening everybody was dining while Ryuu ate the least even thou he did the most making a lot of questions arise from the other recruits

"Ryuu should I cut my hair?" This time around no one mocked Eren because of Ryuu's presence so the group were able to eat in peace while Mikasa also didn't cut her hair as Eren suggested probably because she wanted Ryuu's opinion

"Well honestly yes you would look much prettier with shorter hair that's not to say that you are not pretty right now." Ryuu liked Mikasa with shoulder-length hair the most the previous hairstyle is in his opinion too long while the future one is too short this is optimal for Ryuu

"Then I will cut it," Mikasa replied with an indifferent voice but she was secretly blushing and happy that Ryuu called her pretty but it's not like she is gonna reveal it anytime soon

"I'm full." Ryuu decided that he had his fill and left outside for more training leaving his bowl more than half full

Everybody was again dumbfounded, while training everybody tried to eat as much as possible yet here is someone who did the exact opposite

While Ryuu was training Mikasa was cutting her hair while Eren and Armin talked with Bertolt and Reiner as even thou Eren didn't have to learn how to maneuver the Gear they still bonded as neither Bertolt nor Reiner mocked Eren for his dreams

Soon Armin, Eren, Bertolt, and Reiner were outside the training grounds and talked some more about their dreams and convictions

After walking for a few minutes in the dead of night they came at a stop before a beautiful lake which shone with the moonlight but as they were enjoying the moment they heard cracking sounds and looked down the cliff only to see the most dumbfounding image ever

It was Ryuu with rocks tied to ropes on his back climbing the cliff with his bare hands

"You need some help Ryuu?" Eren spoke up with an indifferent voice while the rest just stared at the scene with dumbfounded eyes not believing what they were seeing

"Ah ooh, so its Eren and Armin and friends? Well anyway no I don't need help this is just some training." Hearing a voice Ryuu looked up to see their wide eyes and chuckled a bit before replying

"Ah sorry we are Bertolt and Reiner pleased to meet you. Are you sure you don't need help?" Bertolt was the next one to speak up and introduced himself to Ryuu

"Naah I'm fine don't worry about me and go the trainers might find you if you stick around for too long" Finishing his speech Ryuu continued climbing while the group heeded his advice and went to their houses

For Eren and Armin this is a usual sight while for Bertolt and Reiner this is highly unusual promoting them to believe that Mike is a training monster

The next morning Ryuu arrived at the training grounds a little before everybody had to be gathered making everybody yet again dumbfounded especially Bertolt and Reiner