Good Night, Dear and Sweet Dreams Vol. 07 Annie Leonhart

New soldiers, even ones in the Military Police, have a lot to do. That said, they still have more free time than in the Training Corps, so Annie’s peer seemed to occasionally go out to town and enjoy themselves, shopping and so on.

“Take a look, Annie. This skirt was on sale for fifty percent off!”

“…Hm.”

Annie met every piece of clothing that her roommate Hitch showed her with the same uninterested glance as she rolled about on her bed.

“You should come with me some time for a change. You’re not social at all, Annie.”

“…Leave me alone.”

******

Annie’s new post was in Stohess District, a town that protruded from the Wall and had a door allowing passage through it. These kinds of towns–such as Trost District and, of course, Shiganshina District in previous days–were full of people due to the Royal Government’s actions, making them also centers of distribution.

“Hm…?”

“C'mon, don’t you think this one would be perfect for me, Annie?”

Annie suddenly found herself in the center of its main street. Nearby, Hitch pointed at a show window. An aristocratic dress was on display in the shop.

“I can’t buy that dress…not on the kind of salary we get.”

“I know that! I was just saying,” Hitch said, letting out a trademark cackle. “Anyway, we’re soldiers. We don’t have any chance to wear clothes like that.”

“We’re soldiers, sure, but you know we’re MPs, right? What if one day we end up acting as guards for nobles, and there a handsome young aristocrat falls in love with one of us while we’re on duty… Something like that!”

“You dream too much.”

By Annie’s standards, she was being talkative.

Had she and Hitch…no, had she and any of her fellow recruits in the Training Corps ever joked back and forth like this?

The scene began to faintly blur.

******

“Oh, Annie!”

Someone began waving her hand and running toward Annie from the other side of the hazy scene.

“…Krista?”

It was the girl who was kind to everyone, someone who was always considerate, even to someone as unsociable as Annie.

“You’re going shopping? What a wonderful store.”

“Why–”

Why are you here? She wanted to ask, but her question was drowned out by the procession of figures who came to take to her.

“So you’re finally interested in dressing up, Annie?”

“Ooh, there’s a cart selling meat over there!”

Those she knew from the Training Corps walked through town, cheerful and excited. The scene was an impossible one, but it also reminded Annie of something.

“You're…all here.”

While only a few words came out of Annie’s mouth, they were filled with kindness.

“The boys are here, too. I think Reiner and Bertolt are on that street over there,” Ymir’s indistinct voice said, pointed in a different direction.

“Reiner and Bertolt…”

Annie’s spine froze in shock at the two names.

…That’s right. I'm…

Soon the cold was everywhere, and Annie held herself in her own arms, shivering.

I don’t have any right to smile.

As Annie’s senses grew colder, her happy Corpsmates began to disappear like fog.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry!”

******

“You sleep every night with such a scary look on your face. How do you do it?”

When Annie opened her eyes, Hitch was there, peeking at her bed with an astonished expression.

“…Is it morning?”

Hitch nodded, then stepped away from the bed to stretch as she put on her jacket.

“Yep. You’d better hurry up and change, or else we’ll be late.”

“…I know.”

The emotions in her voice was restrained, unlike in her dream. Annie felt relieved to hear the voice coming from her mouth.

I…can’t be the person I was in that dream. Not ever, no matter what happens…

Annie gulped down hard as something began to well up inside of her. She crawled out of bed. The sun seemed unusually bright.

SOURCE: Attack on Titan: Short Stories

Late Night Stories Vol. 01 Jean Kirstein : A Story of Disappointment

Late at night, a languid atmosphere lingered in the air in the boys barracks. In front of each of the recruits surrounding a table was a thick textbook on tactics, along with a variety of notes.

“Ugh… I’m so sleepy…” Connie said as he rubbed his eyes.

“This test is ridiculously difficult… Even I’m not close to finishing the materials,” Reiner shrugged.

“That’s why we’re all here pulling an all-nighter. You’d better not sleep,” Eren said, fighting back a yawn as he nudged Connie, who had his head in his hands. As Armin watched, he suddenly clapped.

“I know! Why don’t we all go around telling interesting stories so that we don’t fall asleep?”

“You want to tell interesting stories?” Jean echoed. Armin smiled back at him.

“That’s right… For example, Jean, why don’t you tell us about a time you were disappointed?”

“Hunh? Why me?!”

“I see… I might not fall asleep if we did that.”

“Good idea. I want to hear that, too.”

Though Jean was against the idea, he had no choice after all the others agreed. His shoulders fell.

“You, too, Marco?! Ugh… Fine.”

••••••

It happened when Jean went shopping with Marco. As part of their training duties, recruits had to calculate the food that would be needed during a fixed duration march, then go buy it.

“So you went in your military uniforms?”

“Yeah. But Jean said prices would be high in towns, so we went to a nearby farming village.”

While one could describe it as simply going shopping, this was actually an important part of their training that required a firm grasp on the many factors that went into a march.

“…And so, the shopping went fine. But…”

Jean sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

••••••

To the society inside the Walls, being a soldier meant having a stable job that allowed one to live off the people’s taxes.

…And so, to put it plainly, recruits were popular. The farmers and other young citizens of the village, both men and women, saw them as possible marriage partners who had promising futures.

Just as Jean and Marco finished shopping and had loaded their wagon, it happened.

“Um… These are for you.”

A number of girls from the village handed them snacks. The two gave their thanks and took them without a second thought before opening the packages, but…

“…Huh? What’s this letter?”

“Hm?! There’s no letter in mine!”

The bread that Marco had been given came with something extra, and it was clear to both of them what it was…

••••••

“Bfft… Haahaha! So no love letter for you, Jean?”

The entire table burst into laughter, beginning with Reiner. Jean did everything he could to protest as they roared.

“Don’t laugh! It was our first time meeting them, you know! What’s the big difference between me and Marco, anyway?!”

“I have a feeling I know what it is. You look like a bad guy, Jean, and Marco seems like someone you’d have a more stable life with.”

“Hey, what’d you just say about my face?!”

As Armin tried to stifle his laughter and explain the workings of a woman’s heart, Marco hopped in from the side to try to smooth things over, since he was the only other recruit involved in the story.

“It’s okay. I turned them down by saying that I didn’t know if I’d be able to become a full-fledged soldier or not.”

“Again, why would you turn them down there?! It only makes it sting more!”

The recruits laughed to one another, to the exclusion of a desperate Jean.

“Ah, all that laughing woke me up… That was a good idea.”

“I bet we could use it during camping training, too.”

“I’ll pick who tells the story next time!”

“I like that idea,” Armin smiled as he looked around. Now that his fellow recruits were awake, they began to switch gears and dig into their homework.

The night was far from over.

SOURCE:Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2

Three Viewpoints: Selected Cases

The Case of the Anonymous Invitation - File No. 12 Reiner’s Side (3/3)

Dinnertime, a few days after the training corps received the anonymous letter…

The young soldiers was busy gossiping about who had the right to accept the invitation to a meal described in the letter.

“Is Reiner Braun here?”

“Huh…?”

Just then, the instructor’s voice filled the mess hall, quieting it in an instant. Not only that, he had called a name that would normally never come out of his mouth.

“Come to the instructors’ office after dinner.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Reiner stood and saluted, but he didn’t understand. The Instructors ’ office was normally a place where troublemakers went… He barely had any familiarity with it as someone with high marks.

“Hey, that’s pretty rare. You getting called into the office?”

What could it be for…? I haven’t messed up lately.

******

Reiner visited the instructors’ office after finishing his meal, but his instructor’s attitude was as indifferent as ever.

“I understand you rescued a civilian lost on a path during our mountain training exercise the other day,” the instructor said.

“To be more precise, I made sure that it wouldn’t interfere with my squad’s actions… and guided someone I met while fetching water back down to the trail at the base of the mountain. I believe I included it in my report…”

Had it been determined that he’d done something inappropriate as squad leader? Reiner prepared to defend himself, but the instructor held him back, saying he wasn’t blaming Reiner for anything.

“A letter of thanks from that civilian arrived addressed to the corps. It seems another one was sent to us through regular mail the other day, but that they forget to write a name on it. That’s why they sent another.”

The instructor produced an envelope with Reiner’s name on it. He had seen the paper used for the envelope somewhere before. Reiner needed no prompting to open it.

“…Hm?! This note…!!”

••••••

“So that thing that read like a love letter from the other day…?”

“…It seems to have just meant they wanted to show their thanks. The envelope, ink, and handwriting all matches up.”

Reiner returned to the mess hall, explained the entire situation to his corpsmates, then discussed the letter in his hand as well as the truth behind the mysterious letter.

“But I think that’s a good thing. You’re getting a free meal out of it, right? The handwriting’s nice, too, so it’s probably some beautiful…”

“…It was a middle-aged man.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I saved an older man, about the same age as our instructor.”

After a moment of stillness, the mess hall exploded with laughter.

••••••

“…Gah hah hah, so it really was true?”

A few girls agreed with Ymir as she held her stomach laughing. By exchanging information in the girls barracks, it seemed as though they had figured out that Reiner was the one who helped the civilian.

“Oh, so the girls knew! We didn’t notice at all!”

“Still, Reiner. I’m impressed that you were able to be that kind and guide someone back despite being in the middle of that harsh exercise. If that had been me, a compass direction would be the absolute most I’d have been able to give him,” Eren said, praising him without any laughter. Reiner sounded serious as he explained why.

“We’re soldiers. No matter who it is, we can’t let ourselves abandon people in trouble,” he said.

…While he was trying to sound cool, it seemed as though his corpsmates would take a while to stop laughing now that they had gotten started.

“You might as well enjoy the opportunity, though. Have a nice private dinner with the old man who saved you,” one of them said.

“I already told the instructor no thanks… That was something any of us would have done. It wouldn’t be fair if I accepted.”

Reiner was now fed up with everyone’s reactions and tried to get them to go back to the barracks. But then, in a rare act for him, Bertolt came up to Reiner and delivered a warning as he sighed.

“Reiner… I don’t mind you being thoughtful… But I don’t want you getting involved in anything annoying because of it…”

“Yeah, I know. I’m not at all interested in being made fun of.”

Bertolt let out another quiet sigh. Reiner the soldier took the words as simple exasperation and followed him back to the barracks as he scratched his head.

SOURCE:Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2

Three Viewpoints: Selected Cases

The Case of the Anonymous Invitation - File No. 11 Krista’s Side (2/3)

One day, the Training Corps received a letter with no address inviting someone to a meal.

Speculation about its sender, as well as the intended recipient that this sender must have forgotten to write, was the topic of much discussion even after they returned to the barracks.

“I wonder who that invitation was for? A boy, or maybe a girl…?”

“I really would like to know! Oh, I’m so jealous!”

While the girls barracks were always alive with discussion, it was especially animated today. Krista smiled as she listened in, and then the conversation turned to her.

“If anyone is going to get a letter like that…don’t you think it’d be Krista?”

“What…?”

Everyone’s attention suddenly turned to her, putting Krista at a loss.

I don’t remember ever saving anyone…

••••••

“The letter said it was by someone who was saved, right…? I don’t remember ever doing something like that…”

Confused, Krista tried to nonchalantly signal the nearby Ymir for help.

“You’re always fussing over people, even when you don’t realize it yourself. So…I could see someone mistaking that for you saving them, can’t you?”

Hmm…I’m not very happy to hear that.

Krista knew that her kindness and caring that everyone thought so highly of wasn’t the real her. She was afraid of being praised for her false compassion, and so she desperately tried to find something that would let her deny it. Not out of the kindness of her own heart… but out of selfishness.

“Um, didn’t Marco also say something like, ‘When I got lost on that mountain, I thought I was going to die by the side of the path'…?” In other words… I think the person who sent that letter must have met the person it was for during mountain training the other day.“

••••••

"Mountain training…? Oh, that really tough one?”

“Now I remember! Where we had to hunt, even though we didn’t have enough food… I was ready to steal other people’s prey, forget about saving them.”

The girls in the barracks all held their heads heavy in their hands. Memories of the harsh, mentally and physically exhausting multi-day training exercise was still fresh in their minds.

“It would’ve been amazing if you managed to pull that off, potato girl. You shoulda tried.”

“There was no one to try on! The squads were far away from one another, and we were nowhere near any populated paths… We only saw our squadmates during that exercise.”

“…And even if you did, you wouldn’t get yourself invited out for a meal if you robbed someone in the middle of the road.”

Though Sasha talked about how tough of a time she had during training, Ymir was mildly bewildered by the toughness she showed regardless of the fact.

“I didn’t have any chances to talk to anyone outside of my squad, either. I had a hard enough time keeping up with the training exercise… You know that, don’t you, Ymir?”

“Oh… True. Unfortunately, I don’t recall coming across anyone rich enough to have a 'restaurant they often patronize.’”

“Oh… So it must be for someone in a squad that helped someone out.”

Krista’s gentle nudging had taken the girls’ conversation into a different direction.

••••••

As the group excitedly recalled their stories about the rigorous mountain training exercise, one girl raised her hand.

“Oh! I was in Reiner’s squad during the training… I want to say that he was the squad leader and that he saved a civilian then.”

“So the letter was for Reiner?!”

“Hmm… But if it was, that would be a little…”

“Wh-What do you mean by that? Come on, details!”

While it was only getting later, there seemed to be no signs of the discussion coming to an end. Krista simply watched them with a relieved smile, completely uninterested.

Phew… I got them to stop talking about me.

…And so she failed to catch the truth of the matter when it was revealed. While she would be fairly shocked to learn it alongside the boys a few days later, she was at least satisfied that she was now free of any suspicious.

SOURCE:Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2

Three Viewpoints: Selected Cases

The Case of the Anonymous Invitation - File No. 10 Marco’s Side (1/3)

Before the recruits could sit down for their long-awaited dinner, Marco was stopped by an instructor. In his hands was a wooden box filled with stacks of paper.

“Marco Bott… You’re on duty today, right? This is mail for the recruits.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be sure they get this.”

Marco gave the soldiers their letters from family and friends as per his assignment. Just as he thought about sitting down, he noticed one letter left at the bottom of the box.

“Hm? This envelope… Where’s the address?”

He picked it up and checked both sides, but it was only addressed to the recruits of the South 104th Training Corps, his own group. There was no indication of any name.

…Who could it be for?

••••••

…Maybe I should return it to the instructors. I’ll bring it back to them later, Marco thought, and held on to the mysterious envelope before starting his dinner. Jean, who sat next to him, quickly noticed the item placed next to Marco’s plate.

“Is that for you? It’s a pretty nice envelope.”

“No… I’m not sure. There’s not even a sender written on the outside…”

The corpsmates were starved for a good story during their grueling days spent training, so when they heard Marco say this, they excitedly joined in.

“If it just says it’s for the South 104th Training Corps, couldn’t that mean it’s for all of us?”

“Or maybe…it’s a trap set by the instructors to see if they can spot a spy?”

“Pop quizzes even during mealtime? Give me a break.”

As the young soldiers bantered back and forth, Marco was pensive.

I see… If it is part of our training… I would be the responsible party here.

He thought for a while before coming to his decision.

“Okay, let’s try opening it. I’ll take responsibility.”

“Nice, Marco!”

Marco calmed his cheering corpsmates before slowly tearing it open. A piece of letterhead just as fancy as its envelope was inside, and it contained beautifully written words…

…What?!

What Marco saw on the letter was much more complicated than he expected.

Can I…really read this out loud?

“What’s the matter? Was it a trap from the instructors after all?”

“No…it doesn’t look like that, but…”

While he hesitated to read it aloud, it was something he needed them to know. He looked the sheet of paper over from corner to corner, and only when he could find nothing that would identify who it was addressed to, Marco asked everyone to be quiet.

“…No, I think I need to be serious about passing along these feelings. If anyone thinks this is for them, raise your hand, even if I’m still talking.”

Marco calmed himself as much as he could before beginning to read in an objective tone.

“‘You saved me during training the other day. I just had to tell you how I felt, which is why I decided to write this letter…’”

“What…?”

••••••

“‘…You must be tired from all of your training. There is a restaurant I often patronize in Trost District. I’d like to ask you to join me for meal there. I await your reply.’ …That’s all the letter says.“

Marco looked through the crowd to see if anyone had identified themselves as the letter’s addressee…but instead, all of his corpsmates were talking among one another.

"A-An invitation to a meal?”

“Doesn’t that mean it's…”

“A love letter to one of us?!”

The recruits had read into the meaning of the letter, and now they all excitedly looked at one another.

“Huh? …No one knows whose this might be?”

Marco tilted his head, causing Jean to slump his shoulders beside him.

“Even if they did, they’re not going to say it was them after that letter! They’re gonna reply in secret, duh!”

“…Will they really?”

“…I’m at least glad to know that it’s not for you.”

Well…I guess it’s fine so long as someone replies, even if it’s in secret.

With that, Marco felt that the case of this letter was over. However, he had planted the seeds of endless rumors among the *Survey Corps.

••••

••••••

*It’s likely here, the Official Translator, Ko Ransom, had made a mistake in translation and meant to say “Training Corps”! (• ε •)

SOURCE: Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2

[PART 2|PART 3]