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Armin felt like he was going to freeze over. Wrapping the blanket tighter around himself, he looked around for Mikasa. She was probably busy in the kitchen, having done so much work.
The disturbingly comforting sound of heavy rain smacking thunderously against the windows coddles Armin as he tried to keep his breathing stable.
“Here,” Mikasa set down a cup of hot coffee next to him on the table. Armin grabbed it, his skin almost burning under the heat. It sent a shiver down his spine.
It was almost as if his skin was on fire again.
“Bertholdt,” he whispered amidst the chilly mist coming out of his mouth.
The coffee was hot; it warmed up his contracting muscles, allowing him to relax on the hard chair.
“It hurts…”
“Hmm?” Mikasa looked up from her own cup, looking concernedly at Armin. “You OK?”
“I…I just…”
Armin set down his mug on the table, ignoring the heated impact that came with his palms firmly pressing on it.
“I was thinking about that day.”
There was something about Mikasa: she might seem incapable of comprehending human emotions but there was a lot of empathy in there. She knew exactly what Armin was talking about.
“Armin…don’t.”
“Can’t help it. I don’t even remember. I can’t imagine how he must have felt, being…eaten…like that.
“I did it.”
“Armin…”
“Talking to him, there, it didn’t make sense. Any of it. I wonder, what have we done to earn such loathing?”
“I don’t know about the rest of us,” Mikasa said quietly, “but you, Armin, you haven’t done a single thing to earn any loathing.”
Armin’s solemn smile lit up the dulled down atmosphere.
“I don’t know, I have no idea what they’re gonna come at us with again. I don’t know…I don’t know if I’m ready.”
“It’ll be fine,” she reassured him. “I’m here.”
Armin’s hand closed around his mug again.
This time, the sound of drowning rain ringing gently in the background, they didn’t burn.
ARUMIKA WEEK ARUMIKA WEEK 2019 ARUMIKA ARMIN ARLERT