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It was a particularly strange night. The cooks for the Training Corps had the week off, resulting in whatever was on their plates. It was cold, hard, plain, bread. And the hard part wasn’t an overstatement.
Sasha tried her hardest to break through it, yet, not even her monster-like hunger could consume it. She set the bread down in disappointment, her stomach growling in discontent. Connie attempted to comfort his friend, but not even his jokes could motivate her.
Many people attempted to break the bread. A notable attempt was the use of the 3DMG sword. The cadets all watched intently as somebody reined hellfire on the loaf, enough to perhaps make Instructor Shadis proud. But alas, not even that could break the bread. The cadet with the sword was so frustrated that they picked up the bread, rolling their arm and throwing it like one would with a baseball. The bread hit the wall with a thud and rolled from the scene with the cadets fading hope.
As everybody grieved the failed attempt, a scream was pulled out of the mouth of Franz. Everybody turned to the man to see him bleeding at the mouth. Hannah, his girlfriend, ran to him. In Franz’s hands was the forsaken bread. In the hardened crust was a tooth. The trainees connected the dots, realizing how hard the bread truly was.
“Hey, this bread must be made out of the shell of the Armored Titan.” somebody mentioned. They all turned to the voice and saw Reiner, the designated ‘big brother’ of the corps. In his hand was the bread, a dent in it. Their faded hope was relighted, hoping they found their solution. Reiner turned his focus back on the bread, using both his hands to break the bread in half. He was struggling. His eyes squinted and his hands strained with the sole purpose of breaking the bread. And that he did. The mess hall erupted in cheers, some even shedding tears of joy.
Reiner attempted to pull at the inside of the bread, only to realize the horror of what they were facing. The crust wasn’t the only hard part. Everything about the bread was hard. The corps all quieted, and a deep silence fell upon the hall.
“Hey, guys! I bet I could bite into the bread.” another voice called out. They all once again turned to the source. This time being Eren Jaeger. Everybody stared dumbfounded at the boy, even his own best friends. “Are you serious, Eren? Did you not see what happened to Franz?!” Jean yelled, pointing at the bleeding man in Hannah’s arms. “Did I stutter horse face?” Eren turned to his bread as everybody turned his attention to him.
“Well, what are you betting?” Connie asked. Eren looked back at Mikasa and whispered something into her ear. Despite the fact the girl looked distressed, Eren looked confident. “I’ll tell everybody here a dark secret of mine. If that’s not enough, I don’t know what is.” Many people perked up at the deal. Eren was quite kept to himself. They didn’t know much about him besides the fact he witnessed the fall of Wall Maria and he had a deep hatred for Titans. And based on the way Mikasa panicked, it must be an interesting secret.
“Deal!” Reiner voiced.
Eren smirked, swiping his piece of bread off the table. He lifted it to his mouth and bit into it. The room tensed as all eyes focused on the green-eyed boy. After a minute of silence, a loud crunch arose from Eren. The bread on the outside dropped back into Eren’s hands. He chewed on the food, his face contorting to one of disgust. He gulped the food down, his look of disgust leaving. “Well?”
The room broke out into a frenzy. Screams of confusion and frustration rang into Eren’s ears. He snickered, watching his fellow trainees. He didn’t like the taste of the bread, but it wasn’t as bad as what they served in the refugee camps. His mind drifted to that night he woke up with the key around his neck.
“Eren! Why are your teeth sharper?” Armin asked, his eyes focused on his teeth. He felt around his mouth, noticing the difference. “Eren.” the voice jostled him, the finger in his mouth scraping his tooth wrong. The pad of his finger started to leak crimson. He couldn’t register the pain because it was already wrapped in cloth by Mikasa. It was strange, that day. Not only did his teeth sharpen, but his ear shape also looked pointy. It looked like the ears of the creatures in Armin’s storybooks.
Eren looked at the surrounding area, seeing as the panic slowed to a stop. He continued chewing on the bread, pretending to not feel the eyes boring into him. “Eren. You are not human. There is no way you could bite through that!” Jean accused. “Not only are your teeth sharp, but your ears are pointy!” Connie said. Eren looked at his friends with a glare. “What if I wasn’t? What then?” That’s all he needed to send the corps into a panic for the second time that night.