Chapter 31

"Well? You will not leave here until you tell me what your relationship is with Lord Ezir." - Mikasa.

It was at that moment that a bold idea popped into the boy's mind. A disdainful smile formed on his face.

"Oh? And how do you think you're going to trap me here?" - Zirken, advancing slowly against the girl.

"Don't underestimate me. You think I fought you with everything I had? I was only testing you." - Mikasa.

"Hoho, I'm so scared..." - Zirken, coming even closer to Mikasa.

The girl showed no hesitation and armed herself to fight. This time her stance is completely different from the one she has used in sparring so far.

'She really is more threatening now, but...'

When Mikasa least expected it, she felt something grab her waist and pin both her arms. Zirken was giving her a hug of sorts from behind. One of his arms was holding her waist while the other pinned both of her arms, leaving her a little shocked at how quickly it happened.

'He used the lethal step?! Even I can't be that fast!' - Mikasa.

"Well? Didn't you say you could stop me?" - Zirken, whispering in the girl's ear as he forcefully hugged her from behind.

"!!" - Mikasa.

The girl felt a shiver and a slight weakness. She tried to disentangle herself from Zirken's arms, but she could not do it at all. Until she stopped resisting because she didn't think there was much she could do.

"Gave up?" - Zirken.

"..."

"Good. When I let you go, I will leave and you will not try to do anything, understood?"

# Mikasa nods her head

Zirken releases her and quickly leaves the place, leaving her alone behind. He was in even more of a hurry to leave as the sun was close to setting.

'I'm sorry, Mikasa. I cannot let you discover me now. Soon I'll have too many enemies to involve you or our mother in this...' - Zirken, with a determined look.

He had little idea of the countless thoughts running through Mikasa's mind and the suspicions that were slowly being confirmed. Is Zirken bad at hiding his identity, or are the instincts of an Ackerman too keen?

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Some time had passed since the last events. Winter had arrived and two girls were grooming themselves in one of the girls' dormitories. One of them had blonde hair with beautiful blue eyes and the other had grey eyes and freckles on her face.

Krista/Historia's beautiful pink nipples are completely on display as she put on her white pants. Ymir had just put on her white t-shirt, but her beige panties were still on display, slightly revealing the brown hair above her pussy.

(I decided to put ecchi scenes in the story! hope you like it ;) )

"That place gets emptier and emptier as the months go by." - Ymir.

"Yeah... I hope we can stay until the end." - Krista/ HIstoria.

"What are you talking about? You're one of the ones with the best grades among the squadron." - Ymir.

"*small laugh* But I can't even come close to Ezir-san's scores." - Krista.

"Give it up. Don't try to compare yourself to that monster. I never thought a human being could move like that or possess such great strength." - Ymir, feeling a slight fear for his future.

"I agree, sometimes I'm even afraid to be his sparring partner! I can't count the amount of kids he's sent to the infirmary already..." - Krista.

The two finished getting dressed, their clothes were ordinary, but their bodies were covered by a green cape that protected against the cold. Soon they left the barracks, heading towards the training camps. When they arrived, they found most of the cadets already present in the place and Keith Shadis, who was about to start the annual evaluation.

"As said a few weeks ago, today we will kick off this year's test!" - Keith Shadis.

Every year an annual test is conducted by the instructor of the military academy. Several tests are held throughout the year, but this particular one has a much higher difficulty than the others.

"It's been a little over a year since your training began, so take this opportunity to prove that you're not just the worms you are! Understood?" - Keith, speaking in his usual stiff manner.

"YES SIR!" - All cadets present.

"This will not be a very complex test. Everyone here will form pairs and must survive for 2 nights in the snow storm. Each pair will be given a list of items they must obtain during that time. Those who survive to the end, bring half of the items on the list and return to base will pass! Otherwise, prepare to return to the camps and live out the rest of your lives hoping to become some titan's turd!" - Keith.

One of the soldiers working at the training camps took a few steps forward and handed a device into the instructor's hands. The item looked like a metal baton, but with some red details.

"This is a special type of lighter created by the intelligence team. Just flick it once and it will generate fire and heat for 6 consecutive hours if there is no interference. Because of the limited quantity, each duo will only receive one. So waste it however you want!" - Keith.

After the explanation, everyone was given 30 minutes to get together in pairs. A few cadets still remained calm, but most were quite nervous about the hidden dangers ahead. Everyone there had been in camp long enough to know that the military would put up some unexpected challenge in this test.

However, something unusual happened. Most of the cadets were desperately looking for a single person to be their match, and before long a golden-eyed boy found himself surrounded on all sides as he received a flurry of requests.

"Please be my date, Ezir!" - Unknown cadet.

"No! Be mine! I can help you so much more!"

"Let's pair off! I guarantee we'll pass the test!"

Everyone was clearly desperate to team up with Ezir Leonhart. Their actions are nothing unusual, given that Ezir remains in 1st place in the squadron. In their view, as long as they joined Ezir would surely be only one step away from success in the test.

'Bunch of self-interested... I bet they just want to laze around and leave most of the work to me' - Ezir/Zirken.

With a listless expression, Ezir ignored all requests and quickly made his way through the crowd. He was walking towards a girl with her hair tied up in a bun.

As she approached her, she realized that there was another boy talking to her, probably wanting to pair off. After all, in terms of strength, Annie is second only to Ezir and Mikasa.

Ezir wasted no time and quickly unleashed his murderous intent directly at the nosy boy. The cadet felt a terrifying chill, his heart began to beat faster and all his instincts told him was that he should get out of there immediately. And that's exactly what he did as soon as he saw Ezir approaching with a frightened expression.

Annie obviously knew who was coming to meet her and turned to face him.

"We'll go together." - Zirken.

"I don't want to. I'll go with someone else." - Annie, about to turn to leave.

"Please. We need to talk!" - ZIrken.

"Talk about what?" - Annie, pausing to answer him, but now on her back.

"Do you still ask? A few months ago I thought you were just in one of your phases, but we hardly see each other anymore! You're practically treating me like some random acquaintance!" - Zirken.

"Um. Is that all you wanted to say? I'm going to go find my date." - Annie, walking away again.

"So this is how you'll do it? Will you run away from me just like the others?" - Zirken, raising the tone of his voice a bit.

"..." - Annie didn't answer and continued walking without looking back.

'Tsk, if that's what you want, then so shall it be from here on out. ' - Zirken, becoming quite enraged inside.

The boy looked around as he analyzed the situation of his companions. The first one he was looking for was none other than Mikasa. His relationship with her was only no worse than his relationship with Annie.

Since the incident a few months ago, they had stopped having their training and even stopped talking for a while. The group even found it odd that they had distanced themselves so suddenly, but they didn't want to get into it. The only one who was happy about it was Eren, for obvious reasons.

Ezir saw her teaming up with Sasha, the potato girl, and felt a little relieved. No matter how much they were fighting, Zirken saw her as the person most for him and he absolutely did not want to see her get in trouble.

He noted that everyone was already with their doubles. Reiner was with Bertolt, Marco was with Jean, Eren was with Armin, Krista was with Ymir, and Connie was with Thomas Wagner.

It was then that Zirken realized there were no other options to partner up with and opted to do what he would normally do.

"Say it again, Leonhart. I don't think I heard you worm right." - Keith, raising the pitch of his voice and looking at Ezir with a menacing expression.

Everyone heard Keith's threatening voice and immediately turned their attention to them.