« 850年3月14日 »

               _{Annie Leonhardt. Apart from some rumors I overheard from the boys, there is still little I know about her. She does not seem to mingle with others often, and sometimes she escapes our chief instructor’s eyes to skip training. Why, I am not sure. But even so, from what I have seen during training, her accuracy is near flawless. She is fast on her feet. Her focus and intuition is strong. I will admit; when it is time for our graduation, I am sure she will become a strong soldier. I have also heard that she is skilled in martial arts.}

               _{And today, that rumor proved itself to be true. As Eren told me during dinner, she had single-handedly beat him in hand-to-hand combat, along with Reiner. I should have felt surprised, especially knowing that even Reiner was thrown down, but… Instead, it took a lot of my self-control not to get angry at her for hurting Eren like that. No matter how skilled she thinks she is, she should have at least held back. It was only morning practice after all, there was no need to put such ridiculous strain on him. Back then, as I looked over to her table while she ate, I thought about confronting her about it the next morning.}

               _{But later that evening, Eren and Jean got themselves into another quarrel. It had started with Jean talking about wanting to live an easy life deeper inside the walls, and Eren disagreed with that. They started baiting each other with more words, and at some point I tried to intercept… But for some reason, it only got worse; Jean suddenly grabbed Eren and started yelling at him. It looked like Eren was going to lose his temper as well; but then I saw it. It was brief, but the look in his eyes in that moment was the look he would make when he finally realized something.}

               _{It all happened very quickly, but I was able to catch onto what came next. Eren grabbed Jean’s wrist, moved his other arm to hinder his neck and swept a kick under his feet, bringing him down before Jean could even realize what happened. At this point, everyone in the dining area had their eyes on Eren; including Annie, I noticed.}

               _{What happened that evening left a deep impression on me. It made me think. There was something about Eren’s throwing style that seemed… very unlike him. Taking that into consideration, I remembered the rumors about her, and what Eren told me during training today. About his spar with Annie. And it clicked. It may be just a guess, but Annie must have taught him that move. There was no other person I could think of who would be capable of doing that. As exaggerated as the rumors were, it was still believable that she was noteworthy of her skill in hand-to-hand combat.}

               _{And when I realized that, that was when another thought came to me. Maybe… just maybe. Instead of getting angry at her for hurting Eren, maybe I should have felt more gratitude for what she did. If only I had thought of that earlier.}

               _{Whether or not I should personally give her my thanks is a different matter. The idea of Eren getting hurt still did not sit well with me. But, at least for now, I feel no anger towards her actions anymore. Wasn’t it Doctor Yeager who said, “No pain, no gain”? I suppose that applies here as well.}

               _{… Perhaps I should not underestimate Annie’s intentions so lightly from now on. Hopefully, if I am right, her intentions may be better than what the people around her think.}