The very next day, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin arrived in front of the Training Corps barracks along with every other cadets. The instructor, Keith Shardis, stood before them and started the enlistment ceremony

"We shall now begin the enlistment ceremony for the 104th Training Corps!" He shouted with an imposing tone, "Unfortunately for you, I, Keith Shardis, have been assigned to be your instructor. I have not the slightest intention to welcome you!"

Eren looks around the crowd and soon set his eyes on the two culprits behind the breach of Wall Maria: Bertolt and Reiner. 

"Enjoy this moment while you can, Reiner. Soon, I will personally take a trip to your homeland and destroy everything and everyone you hold dear." He thought to himself, a twisted smile appeared on his face without him even knowing. "Ah, the absolute despair on your unbearable face, I could almost see it now! I will tear your sister's limbs off one by one in front of your own eyes as your motherland burn down to ashes! Why, you ask? Because I can!" The cadets around Eren took a few steps away from him, that sheer amount of killing intent he's releasing is enough to make a person suffocate; his presence alone is so strong that it is on par with Kibutsuji Muzan. Eren erases his presence before the instructor could notice.

"As you are now, you are all mere cattle who exist to fatten up the titans. You are nothing more than that! We will take you useless degenerates and make something out of you over the next three years! We'll drill the methods of fighting the titans into you!" The instructor continues. "In three years, when you find yourself before a titan, will you still be mere prey?! Or will you be an honorable wall that protects its king?! Or perhaps a glorious soldier of mankind that exterminates the titans?! Decide for yourselves!" 

After that, the instructor went up to the cadets one by one and lets them introduce themselves. Eren decides not to pay attention to them, they are all going to die in the future anyways. Dead men tells no tales, after all. After several minutes, one cadet catches his attention: Jean Kirstein.

'WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" The instructor shouted

"Jean Kirstein from Trost District, sir!"

"What did you come here to do?!"

"To enlist into the Military Police Brigade and live within the inner walls, sir" Jean said with a somewhat carefree tone

"I see, so you want to live within the inner walls huh?"

"Yes, sir!"

The instructor suddenly head-butted Jean, causing him to fall hard onto the ground.

"Who said you could sit?! Someone who can't succeed here won't make it into the Military Police Brigade!" 

 

"Pfft" Eren almost laughed out loud. 

"Honestly, how pathetic can he be?" He thought to himself. Even though he is one of the fan-favorites, Jean in the present is a good-for-nothing. If it wasn't for Eren triggering his character development, he would've been one of the corrupted Military Police in Wall Sina.

 

Next up is yet another cannon fodder, Marco Bott. Even though he ranked 7th in the training cadets, he ended up being eaten by a titan anyways.

The person after that is one of the supporting protagonists, Connie Springer. Honestly, Eren pities him. All of the people in his village ended up being turned into titans by Zeke's spinal fluid. Though Eren cannot prevent that from happening since he doesn't know the location of his village, he will get revenge for Connie by feeding one of Marley's titan shifters to his mother.

"You are next, who the hell are you?!"

Connie Springer from Rogako village in Wall Rose's southern district, sir!" His response was energetic. Unfortunately, his salute was backwards. The instructor presses his two hands on his bald head and crushes his skull

"You have it backwards, Connie Springer. It should've been the first thing you've learned -- that salute is a symbol that openly declares your determination to offer your life. Is your heart on the right side?!"

Suddenly, the instructor dropped Connie when he noticed Sasha eating a steamed potato.

"Hey you, what are you doing?" Sasha looked away, not even noticing that the instructor's eyes was on her. "YOU, I'M TALKING TO YOU! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

Sasha swallowed the potato in her mouth in panic and quickly answered him

"Sasha Blouse rom Dauper Village in Wall Rose's southern district, sir!"

"Sasha Blouse, what the hell is in your right hand?"

"A steamed potato sir! I happened to see it in the kitchen, so I took it"

"In other words, you stole it. Why...why did you take at potato out now?"

"It's best to eat it before it gets cold, sir. So I decided now is the time to do so, sir." Sasha says it with a straight face, as if it was completely normal

At this point, the instructor is not even mad, he's just can't comprehend Sasha's thinking process as his brain is trying its best to piece together her reasoning.

"No, I still don't understand...why did you eat the potato?"

"Are you asking me why people eat potatoes, sir?" Sasha says once again with a completely straight face. The instructor stopped moving, he stares at her and the potato, his brain has short-circuted. 

Sasha then rips the remaining portions of the potato in half and hands it to the instructor

"This half's for you, sir"

"Half...?"

 

Eren puffs his cheeks, trying his best not to laugh out loud

"God, I almost forgot this part. I almost choked on my coffee the first time I saw her." He thought to himself as he holds his stomach, trying to not make a sound. "Ah, she's the best comedic relief ever"

 

5 hours after the ceremony, Sasha can still be seen running around the field.

"Hey, the potato girl is still running"

"She's been at it for 5 hours, quite impressive. I kind of feel bad for her, she has to skip dinner for today" Eren said nonchalantly  

"Dauper village is a small village of hunters deep inside the mountains, isn't it?"

"hm? Is that...?"

"Its the dropouts" A girl named Mina answered Eren, "They opted to be transferred to reclaimed lands"

"What? But its only the first day..." Armin said

"That's how this world works, Armin. The strong lives and the weak dies, its simple natural selection" Eren answered once again with a care-free tone

"That reminds me, you weren't asked to state your name and birthplace or anything"

"*sigh* I'm from Shiganshina District, just like this guy" 

"I see, that's..."

"So you were there on that day, right?!"

"O-oi, Connie!" Marco urges Connie to stop asking

"Did you catch a glimpse of it?! The colossal titan?!"

"I...prefer not to talk about it' Eren turn his back on the two of them and walked back into his dorm. "Do me a favor and keep your mouths shut"

 

A few minutes later, in the cafeteria...

"Oi...didn't I tell you two to keep you mouths shut?" Contrary to Eren's wishes, Connie went ahead and blabbered to everyone about Eren, which then caused them to swarm Eren's table during dinner.

"Come on, just tell us somethin', anything!"

"How big was it?!"

"What did it look like?!"

"I heard it was big enough to jump over the wall!"

"That's what I heard from my village as well!"

Eren finally had enough and decided to answer their questions so that they'll stop pestering him

"Well, for starters, he isn't big enough that eh could jump over the wall. I could barely see his head when he first appeared. Oi, someone give me a piece of paper and something to write with"

As if titans were coming for them, people were bursting out of the door getting papers and pens just so they could see what the colossal titan looks like. They came back with the items Eren requested after only 2 minutes, Eren proceeds to draw picture of the colossal titan's head and its hands on the wall of Shiganshina District.

"See here? The colossal titan barely has any skin, and its movements are slow because of his size. However, we would have a hard time killing it because of all the head emitting from its body."

"I-is it really that terrifying" A girl asked with her hands shaking

"Of course it would be tough, we are talking about the titan who kicked a hole through the wall here!" Another person answered her.

"Th-then, what's an average titan like?"

Eren took a sip of the soup and suddenly dropped his spoon, the whole room went silent.

"Everyone, let's stop questioning him. I'm sure there are things he'd rather not recall-"

"No no, that's not it. The food just tastes like shit. Besides, the titans won't be a big deal once we master the three-dimensional maneuver gear." Eren stands up and dumps his "food" into the trash "Once I enlist into the survey corps, defeating the colossal titan will just be a matter of time"

"Oi oi, you crazy? Did you just say you're going to enlist in the survey corps?"

"Yeah, that's right. If I'm not mistaken, you're aiming to live it up in the Military Police Brigade, right?"

"I'm an honest guy, you see. I'd say I'm a lot more pleasant to be around than someone who's willing to throw their life away in the Survey Corps."

Eren slowly stands up as killing intent erupts from his body.

"Are you...implying something?"

Jean fell from his seat and quickly crawls backwards, the people around him also took a step back in fear of Eren.

"N-not really..." Suddenly, the bell rung. Eren took a deep breath and withdrew his killing intent. He reaches his hands towards Jean and smiles pleasantly, as if he was a completely different person

"Sorry, I crossed the line there. Let's call it even with this"

Jean took his hands and stood up

"I crossed the line as well, I didn't mean to dismiss your opinion." They high-fived and went their separate ways. Then, it happened...Mikasa walks past Jean, her beauty and elegance charmed him, he tries to reach out to her but instead of stopping and listen to Jean's compliments about her hair, Mikasa ignored his advances and caught up to Eren and holds his hands.

"You don't need to worry about me that much, Mikasa."

"Your anger gets out of hand quite easily, don't you remember what happened last time when someone tried to take our food"

"Ah, that guy again. But I beat him up good, huh? Hahaha~"

"*Ahem* E-Eren, should I cut my hair? I think it'll get in my way of using the 3D maneuver gear" Eren strokes her hair and ponders for a moment.

"Mikasa, your hair is beautiful, keep it this way. Don't let it grow out though, otherwise it'll really start to affect your performance" Mikasa's face turns red and nods

 

Jean quickly followed her outside of the cafeteria, his facial expression darkens when he saw Mikasa acting all shy around Eren. He wipes his hands off on Connie's shirt

"H-hey! What do you think you are doing?! What did you wipe on me?!"

"...my trust in others"

 

 

After several hours of non-stop running, Sasha finally came back and collapsed in front of the dorms. Suddenly, the scent of bread flood her nose, which led her to jump towards the source and take the bread away from the person holding it like the beast. \\

"KYAAAAAA!!!"

The second she bit down from the bread, Sasha came to her senses

"This is...BREAD?!"

"That was all I could save. But, well...you should drink some water first!" The girl who brought Sasha bread was a beautiful girl with blond hair and blue eyes. In Sasha's point of view, she was like a goddess shining down light from the heavens

"Are you God? Are you...GOD?!?!?!"

"...Oi, what are you doing?" Another brown haired girl came out of nowhere as Sasha began to chow down on the bread.

"W-well...this girl has been running all day long until now."

"You...you think you are doing the right thing aren't you?"

"...huh?" 

Sasha finished her bread and collapsed onto the blond girl's laps

"Are you doing it for the potato girl? Was what you got out of it worth the effort?" They stared at each other without speaking a word. Finally, a person emerged from the shadows and broke the silence, it was Eren! He approached the blond girl menacingly, with no life in his eyes.

"I finally found you, Krista Lenz...no, Historia Reiss"

 

---> To Be Continued