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The second hand of the large clock on the back wall of the cafeteria was ticking faster than usual, or at least that's how it seemed to Levi, who truly hoped it would not mark twelve. In that moment, recess would be over, and this would become the third day of this week that Hange hadn't had lunch with him.
Levi was more than used to the strange habits that Four-eyes followed. But this past month they were more chaotic than usual. She skipped at least one meal a day, didn't turned in eight assignments, fell asleep in four different subjects and last week he had to sneak into her bedroom to wake her up himself, or he too would have fallen asleep on his bike, and they would never have made it to school on time.
Finally, the second hand completed a revolution, and the cafeteria bell immediately rang. Levi sighed in annoyance, picked up the remains of his lunch and headed to his classroom for his last block of lectures of Thursdays.
Hange didn't bother showing up to the next two lectures. This is going to call for an intervention, Levi thought seriously, still taking mental notes of all the changes he kept seeing in her. All because of her two new damn titans. He frowned.
One month ago, Levi forced Hange into telling him the real reason she had been asking other people for lunch money. It turns out that she captured two titans and locked them up in her biology club and was spending all her money on food for them. How the hell did she even manage to catch them and imprison them in a classroom? He wondered. Only someone as nuts as her could've come up with such an idea and executed it correctly. Levi did not think it was a good idea in the long term, but he agreed to keep the secret and buy her dog food to feed the titans.
This decision might seem strange to some, but it was made consciously. At the beginning of the school year, Zeke, the student council president, transferred schools. Hange, having the second-highest grades in the third year, was his immediate replacement. This limited the time she spent in the biology club researching titans. Levi noticed how she slowly became less lively, so when she happily explained to him the legend that inspired her to give Sawney and Bean their ridiculous names, he didn't have the heart to refuse keeping her secret.
All these changes in her habits put her at risk though, Levi observed. If any teacher were to find out-
CRASH!!
A loud noise brought the entire class out of their thoughts. The history teacher, Erwin Smith, abruptly stopped his monologue about the contradictions in the new history textbooks and announced, "Kids, I'm going to make sure everything is in order. Please stay in your designated seats while I'm gone." He turned and left the classroom.
A few moments later, a familiar tangle of brown hair with glasses peeked at the doorframe and ran in, sitting in the empty chair next to Levi.
Mike, who was sitting in front of Levi, turned around to face both.
"Where on earth have you been Hange?" he questioned.
Hange looked at him with a confused gaze.
"What are you talking about Mike? I've always been here."
Mike raised an eyebrow, but he didn't question her further and looked back at the board. Levi gave her an accusatory look, and she winked at him in response.
After several minutes, Erwin came back into the classroom.
"Well... it wasn't an accident." He told the class. "The only thing I found were glass shards and titan nails scattered around the lower floor entrance, which is quite strange."
"Did the titans infiltrate our cafeteria again?" Nanaba, who was beside Mike, asked anxiously.
"No, it looks as if a glass container was thrown from the first floor" Erwin explained to Nanaba. “I don't know if someone dropped it by accident or if it was a bizarre prank, since we didn't find any students nearby."
He turned to look at the center of the room, separated his lips as if he was going to announce something, but no words came out. He blinked, slightly startled and then turned back in Hange's direction. He scrutinized her for a few seconds, confused. But he didn't seem to care too much, as he continued with his lesson, right where he had left off.
After an hour without major interruptions, the bell rang marking the end of another school day.
"That's all for today's class, see you tomorrow," Erwin said as he closed his book.
All the students started to pack up their things and quickly exited the classroom. Levi remained seated, watching Hange who kept writing in her notebook. Meanwhile, Mike put on his backpack and helped Nanaba finish packing her things.
"Well, Nana and I have plans, so see you later guys," said Mike towards Levi and Hange, while grabbing Nanaba's hand.
Nanaba blushed at that action.
"Later" Levi said dryly.
"I wonder what kind of plans you two have, since you don't want to invite anyone else," replied Hange laughing.
"Hange, don't say that! It’s not what it seems," Nana said even more embarrassed.
Mike just laughed.
"I'll pretend that I believe you Nana, see you tomorrow," Hange answered, while the couple headed towards the door.
Levi watched as they walked together, hand in hand, until they disappeared into the hallway. Then he glanced at Hange's hands which were dirty and kept drawing diagrams that appeared to be unrelated to what Professor Erwin talked about in class.
Levi sighed slowly.
"I can't believe that you sacrificed your titan nail collection so you could sneak into class without getting scolded for being late."
Hange giggled.
"Levi, I've already told you about the great sacrifices one must make from time to time in order to gain knowledge. Besides, since now I have-”
Hange stopped her explanation, turning sideways to make sure no one was around.
"Sawney and Bean, I can easily fill another jar with titan nails," she whispered.
Levi turned while rolling his eyes at the mention of her two horrible and stinky favorite giants.
"Are we going to Marley's Pizza today?" Levi changed the subject while still looking away from Hange. "Nicolo mentioned that his dad added iced tea to their menu."
When he looked back at her again, Hange had already cleared the mess from her table, and she was slinging her purple nylon backpack over her back.
"Oh Levi, I'm sorry I can't go. I'll be at the biology club for a while; I have a lot of experiments to do with Sawney and Bean today."
Levi felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. Hange, in all these years of being friends, had never once refused to go out to eat after school.
"Four-eyes, how exactly do you plan to survive? Eating titan shit?" he said more harshly than he meant to.
Hange, as always, didn't appear to be taken aback by his tone and laughed loudly.
"Silly shorty, you already know that titans cannot defecate," she responded while turning to look at him, and then smiled. "Don't worry, I'll eat something later, see you tomorrow."
With that, she ran out of the classroom before Levi could ask her what she had eaten at lunch, if she had eaten at all. Levi breathed in and out slowly, packed his belongings into his green canvas backpack, slung it over his shoulders, and began walking slowly towards the school exit.
₊˚⊹ ☂︎ 𐂯 ‹/𝟹 𐂯 ☂︎ ⊹˚₊
The sun cast an orange hue on the pavement while the breeze blew softly and warmly, suggesting that summer was approaching. A few hours had passed since the students of Titan Junior High had gone home. The only ones left inside were the members of the wall-cleaning club and the biology club. Levi pedaled his bike, which felt lighter than usual despite carrying a pizza box in the front basket, since a certain person usually accompanies him on his bike trips, but not today.
At the bike rack, he chained his bike and grabbed the food from the basket. Afterwards, he headed towards the main entrance and entered the building. The hallway felt cooler than the outside, the lights were off, and the echo of Levi's footsteps could be heard. When he reached the end of the corridor, he went downstairs to the basement. As he went down, the sound of his footsteps was joined by the sound of crazed laughter. In front of the end of the stairs was the door he was looking for, the one whose sign read: "Biology Club." Levi didn't bother knocking, he just grabbed the knob and turned it.
At the back of the room, both giant beasts were immobilized while Hange stood with her back to the entrance, holding a very big feather duster with which she tickled Bean. The brown-haired titan let out moans and shrieks eerily resembling human laughter, while Hange herself burst into fits of laughter.
"Why the hell are you laughing, Four-eyes?" he yelled.
Hange, still with her back turned, continued to guffaw.
"Levi! How could I not laugh? Bean is so ticklish."
Levi could not comprehend why that would be funny, but didn't ask her to explain either. He turned left and walked along the wall, heading to an old wooden desk with a couple of chairs on both sides. He placed the pizza on top of the desk as he noticed that on the board in front of the desk, two humanoid silhouettes were drawn. Hange left the duster leaning against a wall, ran to the board and marked certain body parts of both silhouettes with a cross.
"It turns out titans have areas of their bodies that are more ticklish than others, just like humans," she explained, looking at him with eyes that brimmed emotion. "Don't you find it fascinating?"
Levi didn't reply, he just opened the pizza box. Hange jumped as if she'd just noticed the large box.
"Levi, thanks a lot! I haven't eaten all day. I was starving."
Hange grabbed a slice and began to devour it. Once she'd finished her first slice, she looked up at him.
"I’m serious, I don't know what I would do without you."
Levi turned to look back at the door, trying to control the heat crawling through his cheeks.
"You would probably starve to death, or maybe lose an eye," he exclaimed, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye as she was finishing her second slice.
"Both options have high probabilities," she answered smiling.
Levi grabbed a napkin and served himself a slice. They both sat and ate in silence for a while, until the box was empty. He raised his arm, looking at the time on his watch, which read: 6:16 PM.
"Oi, we should go home, it's late."
"But I haven't cut my boys' nails yet."
Levi looked at her in a serious manner.
"You can do that tomorrow after school."
Cheerfully, she responded "Maybe if you help me cut thei-"
"Of course not," he interrupted automatically.
"But Lev-"
Levi gave her such a withering look that Hange stopped and sighed, discouraged.
"You're so difficult sometimes. Fine, I'll just go gather my things."
She got up from her chair and walked over to a shelf, from which she took some books.
Levi stared at the strange diagrams that Hange had drawn on the board. Around them were a bunch of written notes: a tickling intensity scale of one to ten, a two-column table, the left column titled "Number of hours without sunlight" and the right one titled "Activity Percentage."
Levi continued to scan the board until he saw it: very small in the lower left corner, there was a drawing of an umbrella with a heart at its tip. On one side of the umbrella handle, was written the word "Titans" and on the other side of the handle was written the name "Hange."
This insignificant doodle which any person would make made his heartbeat faster as he clenched both fists tightly.
₊˚⊹ ☂︎ 𐂯 ‹/𝟹 𐂯 ☂︎ ⊹˚₊
Hange, already equipped with her purple backpack, approached Levi, who had his back to her and was placing the eraser on the edge of the board.
"I'm going to throw the box in trash can. Go ahead to the bike rack" he said sharply and exited the biology club without looking at her.
Hange stared confused at the door. She knew more than anyone that Levi has a particular way of speaking. One that doesn’t accurately reflect what he feels and that, to ears unaccustomed to it, might initially think he is very harsh or even rude. She had accepted this part of him and had dedicated to learn his personal language. Hange was the person who best understood the true meaning of Levi's words and actions. However, this time she could not comprehend the reason for his sudden mood change.
She tried to analyze the situation for a few seconds. Unable to conclude, she gave up and lay her eyes on Sawney and Bean.
"See you tomorrow guys! Please don't make loud noises while I'm gone," she said happily, waving her hand from side to side.
"OOOAAIII," the titans responded in unison.
Hange had already taken a step towards the door when a blur on the board caught her attention. The love umbrella she had drawn at lunch had a slight change: her name had been erased. Hange stopped in her tracks.
Did Levi have just erased a part of my drawing? she wondered. She wasn't upset, just confused. Why did he do that?
Pondering, she went out the door and grabbed her frog keychain out of her pocket. She took the key with the "BIOLOGY" label and inserted it into the lock. And why didn't he erase the whole drawing?
She turned and walked up the concrete stairs. When she reached the ground floor and faced the windows, she realized that Levi was right: the sun was still visible, but at any moment it would begin to set below the horizon.
Hange wasn't entirely unaware of the extremes she'd fallen to in the last month. She knew that she would have to get the best grades in the next exam period to make up for her incomplete assignments. And it wouldn't hurt to start packing a lunch from home, as Levi had recommended. She told herself. But she couldn't help it, her new position as the student council president put too much pressure on her shoulders, and her new titans had provided a welcome distraction.
Finally arriving at the bike rack by the main entrance, she saw Levi standing next to his bike, putting on his helmet. She felt a pang of guilt when she noticed that Levi's dark circles were a little more pronounced than usual.
When Hange was elected president, he had volunteered to be her secretary, and to say he helped her was an understatement: they were practically sharing presidential duties equally. Besides, he didn't hesitate to take it upon himself to make sure she was eating enough to keep from fainting. I must return the pizza favor later, she decided.
"What the hell are you waiting for? Put on your helmet," Levi said angrily, reaching out to hand it to her.
Hange put the helmet on and adjusted the strap around her jaw as Levi sat on the bike seat. She handed Levi her backpack, and he placed it in the front basket above his own. Hange lifted one leg and placed her foot on the rear axle. She reached out, grabbing Levi by the shoulders, and placed her other foot on the other side of the rear axle. When she felt stable, Levi started pedaling.
They followed the same route twice a day since first grade. The street on which Hange lives is right across from Levi's, yet he had always insisted on dropping her off at her door and then returning alone to his own.
The air gently caressed their faces as they observed more cars than usual, signaling the end of the workday. As usual, Levi was quiet, and Hange didn't hesitate to fill in the silence.
"Leviiiii, please tell me you'll help me trim Sawney and Bean's nails tomorrow," she exclaimed.
"You've already managed to fill an entire jar with titan nails on your own. I don't understand why you would need my help this time," he replied monotonously.
"I collected those nails from the school dumpster located in the titans study section," she explained cheerfully. "I've never trimmed titans nails per se. Plus, we could simultaneously use that time to talk about the baseball team's complaint."
"So, what do they want now?" Levi snorted.
"They told me they have a game next week, and we haven't taken their uniforms to the cleaners yet," she replied in a more serious tone. "And you won't believe it Levi, they're going to play against Liberio Junior High, the same school Zeke transferred to..."
She remained silent for a few seconds, staring at nothing.
"Damn, I never thought I would say this, but I wish he'd come back," Hange commented.
She immediately felt Levi's shoulders tensing under her hands.
"Don't talk about that insufferable macaque," He yelled irritably. "Why do you want him back? He did us a favor by leaving, now he's Liberio's problem, not ours."
"I know you hated him Levi, he wasn't my favorite person either. But if he came back, he could be president again and it would take a weight off our shoulders," she replied sadly. "I really don't understand how he could be part of a sports team, manage the student council and maintain good grades at the same time."
"Because he took advantage of the younger students to get them to do him favors," Levi explained as they entered one of the city's main avenues.
"He convinced that trio of first-year idiots to clean the baseball field and the cafeteria with the promise of buying them lunch on a Friday," he elaborated.
"Wait, you mean Armin, Eren and Mikasa? Plus, Friday’s lunch in the cafeteria is free," Hange mentioned.
"No, I'm referring to the other trio: the potato girl, the bald dwarf and the horse-faced one. And yes, exactly, he tricked them into working for free," he replied, still irritated.
Levi stopped pedaling at a red light, just as Hange burst out laughing.
"But Levi, Connie's only two centimeters shorter than you," she said, raising a hand to wipe a tear that had escaped due to her laughter. "Who gave you the right to call him a dwarf, Shorty?" Hange laughed again.
Ignoring the mocking at his height, Levi continued his explanation.
"Petra also told me that he constantly talked to second-year girls, searching for volunteers to organize the winter festival, and he hinted that whoever did the most activities would be the one he would ask on a date... what a disgusting monkey!"
The traffic light changed to green, and they continued their way.
"Wow, and to think he asked me out right after the winter festival, and I wasn't even involved in its organization," Hange declared abruptly, as she felt the tension in Levi's shoulders rise once again.
"What the fuck did you just say, Four-eyes?!" Levi said, almost shouting.
"Just as you heard, he told me that since we're both the smartest students in school, we could make a power couple," she explained casually. "I told him that I would think about it, but not to get his hopes up since my schedule with only the biology club was already tight, but now I'm wondering if he was just planning to use me as you sai-"
Levi spun his head sharply to look back at Hange. She had never seen him express such visible disgust (or any emotion) before.
"First your stupid giants, and now... You're telling me that precocious beardo aske-"
"Levi, watch out!" Hange screamed.
They were approaching a red light, where cars were crossing at full speed in front of them. Startled, Levi turned the handlebars brusquely to the right, entering a dead end. Hange felt Levi break with all his might, and then, she felt her feet lifting off the rear axle as she watched the wall at the end of the alley grow larger.
Then, everything turned black.
₊˚⊹ ☂︎ 𐂯 ‹/𝟹 𐂯 ☂︎ ⊹˚₊
Similar to being underwater, Hange could hear voices but couldn't make out what they were saying. With her eyes still closed, she stretched out her right hand and felt something soft beneath her palm. Hange tried to move her other hand so she could feel and distinguish the unfamiliar place she was in, but only felt a sharp pain that spread throughout her left arm
A weak whimper escaped her lips, and finally she was able to hear clearly.
"Hange, can you hear me?"
Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw Levi standing above her, looking at her with concern.
She looked around with caution, noticing that she was on a hospital stretcher next to a wall with a window. There were more empty stretchers against the other walls of the white room. The sun had
already set.
"Levi... what happened? It hurts..."
Levi averted his gaze and remained silent for a few seconds.
"I avoided us being run over by cars, but when I braked, you flung out of the bike and collided against a wall. Your helmet shattered on impact, and you landed on your left arm," he explained.
Hange eyed her arm, which was already in a cast that started just below her knuckles and ended before her elbow.
"Well, that explains the pain," she laughed weakly.
Levi looked up again, he appeared guilt-ridden.
"I got distracted by stupid things, and that's what caused you to get hurt... I'm sorry."
Oh Levi, you look so tough on the outside, but you really are a softie. Thinking this, Hange couldn't help but smile. Levi held her gaze for a second, only to glance away again. Hange didn't know if her already impaired eyesight had gotten even worse with the impact, but she could swear she saw Levi's cheeks flush slightly.
"Uh... well... I'll go tell the nurses you're awake."
With that, Levi turned around, and the door creaked as Levi disappeared into the hallway.
Hange was left alone, thinking about all the funny stuff her friends would write on her cast. She could even ask Moblit to make a portrait of Sawney and Bean on it. Of course, I just have to explain to him that I have two titans in the club and hope he doesn't faint.
Giggling at the scene she'd imagined, Hange carefully sat down on the stretcher. She noticed their backpacks were on the floor next to it. Levi's pencil case was placed on top of both backpacks, making her wonder if the nurses had him filling out forms when they arrived at the hospital. Thankfully her glasses were intact and folded inside his pencil case.
She looked at her arm again, bringing it up to her eyes to examine it. I wonder if I've broken my radius or ulna, or maybe both at the same time. She began to rotate her arm, slowly sliding her gaze over it. Levi's sudden turn must have been with such force that-
Hange's thoughts stopped as quickly as they began. She opened her eyes in astonishment, feeling as if the temperature in the emergency room had risen, and her heart began to beat faster than usual. She saw it: very small, on the side of her hand, below the knuckle of her pinky finger, on the white cast, was a drawing of an umbrella with a heart at its tip. It was almost the same as the one she had drawn on her board at lunchtime. On one side of the umbrella handle, was written the name "Hange," but on the other side, instead of "Titans," it was written the name "Levi."
Hange stared at it for several seconds, stupefied. That explains a few things... she told herself. And her lips broke into the most beaming smile they'd ever made.