Chapter 25

So for the remaining time Eren and Annie had until dinner, they continued to spar with each other and train their bodies by working out.

Right now, they were walking towards the infirmary side by side. Eren wanted to go ahead and visit Mikasa again before eating at the mess. He told Annie she could go on without him, but she unsurprisingly told him that she wanted to go with him.

As he was walking, he began to think of what happened after he and Annie finished talking. He noticed that at the beginning, she seemed to be distracted and looked like she had something on her mind.

[FLASHBACK]

Annie's punches and kicks were sloppy and it didn't take his mind reading ability to figure out that the reason was because of the small talk they had earlier.

Seeing her like that, Eren decided to actually attack her. Annie was a bit surprised because usually Eren would dodge and block her attacks and wouldn't attack her seriously.

So she really didn't expect it when Eren swiped her leg back which caused her to fall forward.

"What the hell was that for!" Annie said as she struggled to get up. Eren had her right arm locked behind her back and her left arm was held down. He had his right knee pressing down on her back so she couldn't move.

After trying to escape out of his grasp, Annie gave up.

"Are you done?" Eren questioned. Seeing her stop struggling, he still didn't let go of her.

"What are you talking about?" Annie questioned back. Eren just sighed when he heard her.

"I'm talking about how distracted you seem to be. What happened to wanting to get stronger? Your punches and kicks were sloppy and weak and your speed was even slower." When Eren finished talking, Annie stayed silent because she was definitely not going to tell him the reason. She didn't know though that Eren already knew what she was thinking.

Eren sighed once again and got up. He offered a hand to Annie and helped her get up. "I already told you before that you can talk to me whenever. So when you're ready to actually say what's bothering you, then you know where to find me, but right now let's continue. You don't want Mikasa to get too far ahead of you right?"Eren said, but included the last part to encourage her.

He knew though, that Annie genuinely really didn't want Mikasa to leave her in the dust. So they continued to spar and as time went on, Annie started to act normal again and focused on improving her skills.

[FLASHBACK END]

When they arrived at the infirmary, the nurse let them go towards Mikasa's room, and let Annie come in as well even if she's never seen her here before. That was naturally because Annie snuck inside every time she came here, but seeing that she was with Eren, the nurse didn't object to it.

"Eren...Annie." Mikasa said as the two walked into the room.

Eren went towards Mikasa and gave her a long kiss. Annie who was near them, felt a certain type of way when she saw the couple kiss.

What was wrong with her? They usually did this around her all the time and she normally didn't care at all, but why did she now?

"So did you kick her ass for me?" Mikasa said with a small smirk after the kiss. Eren sat next to her and chuckled.

"A little bit, but she might just surpass you again if she keeps working hard like she did today." Eren said with a small smile while glancing at Annie.

The two girls had some sort of small rivalry which wasn't anything serious. When Eren surpassed Annie and Mikasa, they stopped sparring with him, and ended up sparing with each other. At first they were about even, but Eren started to really train Mikasa which resulted in her surpassing Annie. That's when Annie decided she'd start pushing herself and accepted Eren's offer.

So the three of them continued to talk until the nurse came in. Mikasa showed the nurse how she was fine and asked if she could go. With a small check up, she was able to leave with Annie and Eren to the mess hall. Not without a warning from the nurse to take it easy during training so she wouldn't injure herself again.

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Right now, Reiner and Bertholdt just sat down at their table after getter their food. When they saw the trio of Eren, Mikasa and Annie walking in, they furrowed their brows.

They've noticed how close Annie has gotten with the couple. With Reiner, he really couldn't say anything because like her, he was being friendly with the enemies. With the so called "Devils".

Bertholdt himself was the same as Reiner, but seeing Annie so close with Eren, he couldn't help but feel jealous. Yes, he had a small crush on her. Even if he knew that Eren already had a girlfriend, he still felt jealous.

"What do you think she's been doing with them?" Bertholdt quietly asked Reiner since there was still people around them.

"She already told us that she trains and spars with them, but she's gotten even closer to the two. She used to sit with us but now she sits with Eren and Mikasa. We haven't even had a single meeting in a while." Reiner said.

"She doesn't seem to be close with the others at the table though." Bertholt said and Reiner agreed with him.

So the two decided when they finished eating, they'd wait till Annie was alone and tell her to meet up with them.

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In a room with dim lighting, one could see a male figure sitting down and reading something. The man had short blonde hair, icy blue eyes with noticeable thick and bushy eyebrows.

Erwin Smith, 13th commander of the Survey Corps was currently reading a report he got. Some time ago, he received a letter from his past commander, Keith Shadis. It was about a boy named Eren Yeager who according to Keith, showed extreme skill with the ODM and did very well during the trainings, as well as easily surpassing his fellow cadets with his strength. Apparently the boy had nothing else to learn over there, so Keith wanted to have him graduate early and train with the Survey Corps.

Erwin at the time pondered about the boys strength and could easily say he'd make a fine soldier for the Survey Corps if the reports about him were right, but he didn't know what to feel on forcing a child to join. Well that was until he found out in the report that the kid actually had a dream or goal on joining the Survey Corps which surprised him a little.

A kid with his strength could easily get into the top 10, so why would he actually want to join? When he read Eren's profile, he began to understand.

Lived in Shinganshina, mother eaten by a titan, and a missing father. That day must have been a nightmare for him.

Now he was reading this report about the boy wanting some time before he graduates early and joins the Survey Corps. He wouldn't deny it because if the kid thought he wasn't ready as said in the report then there was no need to force him.

'Eren Yeager.....we'll see if what's said about him is absolutely accurate. Could he possibly be another Levi? No, I can't compare them now. I'de have to wait and see for myself until he joins.'