#round around midnight
Late Night Stories Vol. 08 Annie Leonhart : A Story of Days Past
“You know… I’ve always wondered.”
A Military Police Brigade station in Stohess District.
Work was officially over for the day, and so the lights in most of the rooms were off. However, brightness continued to leak out from one room. In it were this year’s new recruits, taking care of the office work that had been forced onto them by their superiors.
“What is it, Marlowe? Who are you talking to?”
“Annie. I always wanted to ask.”
The blonde girl who coolly worked her way through the documents, mechanically flipping through them and stamping them, looked up with a furrowed brow.
••••••
“You trained in Trost District and experienced actual combat right afterwards, right? The others who made it into the top ten would have experienced the terror of the Titans first-hand, too… It wouldn’t be surprising at all if they’d wanted to become MPs and live in the interior. So why were you the only one who joined the Military Police Brigade? They didn’t all die in that battle, did they?”
“…Only one died. The rest joined the Survey Corps.”
“The Survey Corps?! Not even the Garrison?! Why?”
Annie didn’t so much as flinch as Hitch overreacted and confronted her with the question.
“…Who knows.”
The dismissively reply made Hitch stars at Annie’s face and changed the question.
“In that case, what kind of people were your corpsmates? Huge idiots?”
“Yeah… I guess they were idiots.”
••••••
Annie’s hands never stopped sorting through the paperwork as she answered the badgering with a few words about the other members of the 104th.
“First…was an idiot obsessed with family. Her childhood friend wanted to join the Survey Corps…and she said she’d protect him. That friend of hers was fifth, right after me, but he said he was going to join the Survey Corps from the beginning… He was the weirdest one.”
“Do weirdos like that really exist in this day and age?”
“The rest of them…were probably influenced by what that idiot said. He actually declared in front of everyone the night before graduation that he’d exterminate all the Titans so that we could explore the world freely.”
“Hah. It’s not quite the same reasoning, but he sounds like Marlowe.”
“I think it’s natural for anyone to follow their ideals. Without dreams or goals, humans are just…”
Marlowe stopped working to try to give his personal opinions about the world, but Hitch cut him off and asked Annie to continue.
“Yeah, yeah. So what about the others? It’s not like everyone was influenced by this idiot, right?”
“There was one guy who said he was going to become an MP even after the battle, so…I might have been a little surprised by him.”
••••••
“He…lost his good friend… His marks were good up until then, but he was the kind of person who always bragged about them. He only ever thought of himself…but then he changed.”
“Was it something about his state of mind?” Marlowe asked, but Annie expressionlessly shook her head.
“Who knows. Like I said earlier… I’m not them. I’m not some stupid dreamer, and it’s not like I have ideals, either. I don’t have anything I want to protect… I’m a coward who just wants to save herself.”
“That goes for everyone who became an MP, though. Are you someone who gets self-conscious about what others think of you?”
“No, that’s not it. I…” Annie began, her hands stopping suddenly in the middle of organizing the pile of now-completed documents and latching them together.
“…I’m heading to bed.”
“Hey! No fair, Annie! You need to help us with the rest…! C’mon.”
Hitch’s attempts to get her to stay were in vain. Just as Annie was about to close the door, she stopped.
“I just…make whatever choice seems easiest.”
As Annie looked to the floor, she thought of her training corpsmates. She bit her tongue as if to brush the memories away and headed to the sleeping quarters.
SOURCE: Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2
TRANSLATION: Ko Ransom
