Three Viewpoints Selected Cases

The Case of the Sacked Squad Leader - File No. 04 Hange’s Side (1/3)

When Hange got up in the middle of their room, it looked nothing like it usually did.

“Wuh?! What’s going on here?!”

…It was definitely the room they always used for research. But its floor, tables, and bookshelves had been changed entirely.

“I can’t believe this… The whole place has been sacked.”

The books were scattered, the lab equipment on top of the desk had met a horrible end, and fragments of wood and ropes had been scattered along the floor, leaving no place to so much as walk.

Hmm, this is bad. I don’t remember a thing.

******

Just as Hange was feeling lost, they heard a knock at the door accompanied by a frantic voice.

“Squad Leader, Squad Leader…Hange!”

“Hm? Moblit!”

A moment later, Hange’s aide broke through the door and entered the room holding a hatchet that must have come from a storehouse.

Hange noticed the broken lock on the door and realized that he must have broken the latch in order to come inside. Despite his imposing appearance, Hange’s aide let his shoulders down as he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Could you please answer if you’re awake…?”

“What do you mean?”

“The door was locked and you weren’t replying at all. I had no choice but to destroy the door…but what happened here?”

Moblit had been so preoccupied with confirming the safety of his superior officer that he only now showed surprise once more, having seen the terrible state of the room.

******

“…Your books and lab equipment. What happened to everything?”

“What should I do? I wonder if I did this?”

“You don’t remember?!”

“Not at all,” Hange said as they scratched their tousled head.

They remembered declaring that they would be holing up in the room for an experiment. That must have been what they were doing, given the prototypes scattered around. While there were some half-scribbled notes, they ended with a notice that the experiment was about to begin.

“Let’s start from the beginning and sort everything out. I was passed out here for a while, right?”

“Yes. It seems like you told Nifa that you’d be in here for a while. It was quiet whenever we passed by, for quite some time.”

He said everyone had left Hange alone for a while because it was assumed they were taking a nap.

“But then we received some paperwork that needed immediate confirmation and needed to wake you up.”

That was when Moblit did everything to wake Hange up, making loud noises and beating on the door.

“I was afraid that your heart had finally exploded from all of the excitement…”

“Hah, you worry too much. I don’t even have a scratch on me… Or probably not.”

Hange finished the work given to them by their subordinates a few minutes later, then went to Erwin to explain the situation.

“And that’s what happened, Erwin, but I don’t remember doing it at all. So please, just don’t make me write an apology…”

“At the moment, I’m afraid that’s exactly what you’re going to have to do,” the Commander of the Survey Corps said after hearing Hange out, shaking his head without emotion.

“It was a room locked from the inside, with no way in or out, right? In that case, the only one who could have destroyed that room was you, Hange.”

Though it was a daily occurrence for things to break in the course of Hange’s duties, given their enthusiasm for Titan research, they were also living in a resource-starved world. The Corps’s equipment was under close management, and anything that was broken had to be procured again and taken out of the budget.

Hange knew this well enough. But there was a reason they thought this wasn’t their fault.

“Think about it. My Squad was working on new types of weapons. Even our valuable prototypes were in pieces. Do you really think that’s something I would do?”

Erwin remained calm. The order he gave was not to pin down a criminal but to find the truth.

“…Alright, then.”

Hange decided to start by going to a subordinate who might know what was going on.

SOURCE:Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2

Good Night, Dear and Sweet Dreams (Goodnight. Sweet dreams, dear)

It was once said the dreams are a mirror of one’s heart. Perhaps dreams are a respite that allow one to forget their cruel and brutal day, or they might be an abyss even harsher than reality… What will tonight’s rest bring?

• Vol. 01 Sasha Blouse
• Vol. 02 Levi
• Vol. 03 Bertolt Hoover
• Vol. 04 Armin Arlert
• Vol. 05 Hange Zöe
• Vol. 06 Marco Bott
• Vol. 07 Annie Leonhart
• Vol. 08 Jean Kirstein
• Vol. 09 Moblit Berner
• Vol. 10 Mikasa Ackerman
• Vol. 11 Connie Springer
• Vol. 12 Reiner Braun
• Vol. 13 Carla Yeager
• Vol. 14 Ymir
• Vol. 15 Eren Yeager

******

Good Night, Dear and Sweet Dreams series is published in the Attack on Titan: Short Stories booklet that was included in the Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 1 Manga Box Set[BUY HERE]

The Following Stories under the same series had also been published on the AU Smartpass Website[LINK ] but not included in the Booklet

• Nile Dok
• Oluo Bozado
• Hannes
• Erwin Smith
• Krista Lenz
• Mike Zacharias
• Keith Shadis

Good Night, Dear and Sweet Dreams Vol. 09 Moblit Berner

Late one night, two soldiers could be heard quickly walking down the hall of the Survey Corps barracks.

“…How long did we end up watching after the sun went down?”

“Seven hours. The Titan stopped moving after four.”

“I see… Looks like we’ve got a real night owl on our hands.”

“If anyone’s a night owl, Squad Leader, it’s you.”

Hange, busy studying the biology of a captured Titan, stretched and asked the aide by their side a question. After using the recorded data to give a reply, he warned Hange about their actions.

“But how can you not be curious…? Whoops, I need to write an action plan for the squad before sleeping.”

“I already wrote it. Please sign it and go straight to bed.”

Hange took the documents that seemed to come out of nowhere as they showed their appreciation.

“Sorry to always do this to you, Moblit.”

******

Agh… They really don’t think of themselves at all when they’re running experiments. How many times did they nearly get eaten today alone?

Now that he was in his room, Moblit drooped his shoulders, changed into his nightwear, and got into bed with a sigh. Complaints about his superior mixed together with his hazy thoughts.

The Squad Leader gets too engrossed in things, that’s what it is. Studying Titan biology is an important mission, but what good is it if it gets you eaten?

Moblit began to imagine the day’s experiments, where Hange got as close as possible to a restrained Titan and tried to communicate with it.

“Hey there! Do you understand me?”

“Squad Leader!”

…It felt like Hange was too close.

The Titan opened its large mouth and loomed close above Hange’s head.

“What are you doing?! You’re going to be…!”

As always, Moblit moved to stop whatever was about to happen by force…but for some reason, his body didn’t move.

Hange’s head then went straight into the Titan’s mouth–

“Ah… AAAAAGH!”

******

“AAAaaahh…! Ah?!”

Moblit was awakened by his own screams. When he got up, he saw he was in the same barracks room as always. He put his head into his hands and let out a tired sigh.

So it was just a dream… I always have this kind of dream when there’s a test subject.

While a common dream among Survey Corpsmen, seeing one’s superior being eaten was never a welcome one.

If we lost Squad Leader Hange…it would be a major blow to the Corps. …I need to make sure to never take my eye off of them.

A shiver went through Moblit’s Body as he renewed his determination as his Squad Leader’s aide.

“Wait… Could this actually be…a prophecy?!”

******

“Hey, aren’t you gonna get up? I’m right here! A tasty human!”

“What are you doing, Squad Leader?!”

Just as Moblit hurriedly arrived at the area where the Titan was confined, he saw exactly what he expected: Hange holding a candle and speaking to an unmoving Titan at an extremely close distance. Moblit’s scolding didn’t mean a thing to them.

“Well, I couldn’t get to sleep. I thought I might as well watch over it all night.”

“The test is scheduled for tomorrow night. That’s why you need to hurry up and get ready for bed today.”

“Is it?”

“Please don’t forget plans that you made yourself, Squad Leader.”

Moblit breathed a sigh of relief as he communicated this information matter-of-factly. At the very least, his superior hadn’t been eaten.

…There aren’t many Survey Corpsmen who have to worry about their superiors getting eaten by a Titan when they’re inside the Walls.

As he dragged Hange, still in nightwear, back to the barracks. Moblit looked into the sky and carried out his job.

SOURCE:Attack on Titan: Short Stories

Three Viewpoints Selected Cases

The Case of the Sacked Squad Leader - File No. 06 Nifa’s Side (3/3)

Hange’s lab had been sacked despite it being a locked room with no way in or out. Hange, who was inside, had no memories of the incident, and everyone was trying to figure out the true story behind what had gone on.

Nifa, who worked under Hange, said she had carried tools for her superior officer’s experiments until moments before the room was locked.

“You can put Unit #1, the log mockup, in front of that bookshelf. Unit #2, the pendulum, goes in front of the desk, and put Unit #3, the wire trap, next to the shelf.”

The room was by no means large, but Nifa brought model after model for the trap into the room.

Is it really okay to put these inside here…?

Still, they didn’t have unlimited resources. They would have to run at least a few experiments using smaller mock ups before doing anything at larger scale. Nifa knew this, which is why she obeyed Hange’s instructions.

******

“I want to be alone for a bit, so I’m going to lock myself in here, okay? You take care of it if anyone comes by, Nifa. Give any documents or anything else that isn’t urgent to Moblit,” Hange said before swapping their glasses out for goggles. It seemed like they were getting ready to hunker down and start researching.

The Squad Leader didn’t even sleep last night… I don’t want to leave them on their own, but…

While Nifa was concerned for her Squad Leader, she believed in Hange, someone who had made it out of more than a few life-or-death situations.

“Please don’t do anything unreasonable.”

“Aren’t Survey Corpsmen always doing the unreasonable?”

“We’re inside the Walls right now. I’ll come get you when it’s time to take a break.”

Hange would be fine as long as they got the rest they needed. Nifa and the other squad members just needed to be on top of things. Having convinced herself, Nifa closed the door and heard it lock from the inside.

******

Petra was shocked when she heard Nifa’s explanation of the prototypes and leaped to her feet.

“You tested heavy pendulums and log traps inside of a room?! Isn’t that really dangerous…?”

“They’re smaller because they’re prototypes. At most, they were the size of this chair,” Hange said while gesturing to show the size of the prototypes. But Levi was still dumbstruck.

“Why did you lock the door? Did it not strike you that no one would be able to come in and help if there was an accident?”

“That’s right! You should have at least had someone else…”

When Nifa heard Petra say these words, she recalled that Petra was the type of soldier who put a strong emphasis on teamwork.

…But that wasn’t to say that Nifa’s corpsmates didn’t think of one another, either.

“I was working with traps that can activate out of nowhere. If someone who didn’t know what was going on came in and set one off, it’d be dangerous.”

…Yes, that’s the kind of person Hange is.

Hange may have appeared to me caught up in the experiment, but they cared about others, too. It was that kindness that lead to the accident. The rest of Hange’s squad knew that, which made them share the responsibility for what happened.

“…At least one of us should have stayed.”

“It’s fine with me, I’m still alive. I just don’t remember. So, Nifa, what do you mean when you say you figured it out?”

“Let’s go back to the scene one more time.”

The blame would be Hange’s alone unless the truth of the matter was revealed. Nifa knew that she had to prove her hypothesis, and so she went with her officers and squadmates to the room where it all happened.

******

The room remained in shambles. Still, Nifa’s eyes landed on a single piece of debris. She ran over Ang picked it up.

“Look! You changed the size of the model, didn’t you!”

“Oh… Now that you mention it…”

Nifa had brought a piece of wood used to support one of the prototypes into the room, but a table was now attached to it.

“That’s right, the small-scale experiment went well, so I thought I’d adjust it so that it’d reach a seven-to-eight-meter-class Titan…and put the pendulum trap on the desk…and that’s when it happened.”

As soon as Moblit heard Hange said this, he immediately began to scrutinize the desk and the size of the trap, compared that to Hange’s height, and arrived at the same conclusion as Nifa.

“So this log pendulum must have gone swooping down and hit you in the head, Squad Leader. That’s what caused you to pass out…

"…And then the base gave way, causing it to hit the shelf…”

“…Which caused the books to fall onto your test equipment, which is how we ended up with this mess… Excuse me, Squad Leader.”

Just to make sure, Nifa stood tall and raised her arms, thrusting her hands into Hange’s ever-tied hair.

“You have a huge bump on your head!”

“Oh, I do. Well, you know how sometimes bumps don’t hurt that much depending on where you get them!”

“I guess that happens every once in a while, but…”

Hange’s temporary memory loss must have caused them to forget the pain, too.

“…We’ll write apologies as well. We came up with these traps as a squad, after all.”

Everyone nodded at Nifa’s words before moving straight to cleaning up the room.

“I’ll take all the blame for this. We did learn that the weapons, while small, do at least work on humans.”

“Before you do, can you please go to a doctor to get that bump checked out?”

“You never know,” Nifa said, “once we start cleaning up, we might find out that surprisingly little equipment was destroyed.” After that, she pushed Hange out of the room.

“Sorry, I’ll get you something to make up for this,” the squad heard their leader say. They only shrugged as they began the work of picking up books and gathering splinters of wood.

SOURCE:Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2

Mobuhan wip

Veterans

Gossiping