"Yago, what's wrong with you? You've looked really absent-minded ever since the day off."
Yago patted his face in confusion.
"Have I? I don't think so."
Armin: "It's super obvious!"
Yago said indifferently, "Well, you can't really blame me. Armin, look at this one-on-one combat training—so many people are slacking off. Or what, Armin, do you want to get serious with me?"
After saying that, Yago gave a mischievous grin and shot Armin a glance.
Armin gripped the wooden dagger in his hand. Thinking about how Yago had once beaten up four delinquent kids bigger than them all by himself in the refugee camp, Armin felt that maybe slacking off wasn't such a bad idea after all.
One-on-one combat training, as the name suggests, meant pairing trainees up in twos, taking turns playing the role of a criminal. The criminal held a dagger, and the other soldier's job was to snatch it away. A lot of people couldn't understand—could learning hand-to-hand combat really help against Titans?
So many people were slacking off like Yago, only halfheartedly going through the motions when the instructor was around. Some were even worse—like Sasha and Connie over there. When those two troublemakers got together, the effect was definitely greater than one plus one.
Sure enough, one of them clenched a dagger in his mouth and struck a snake-fist pose, looking like he was trying to make his opponent laugh to death. The other refused to be outdone, responding with a one-legged rooster stance. It became a contest to see who would laugh first.
Of course, there were people who trained seriously too—Marco, Thomas, Historia, and the others were all practicing properly.
Actually, just like Armin said, ever since the day off, Yago had felt off somehow, like his body wasn't cooperating. There was always this strange feeling, as if he'd been beaten up hard under the covers in the middle of the night.
Armin scratched his head. There was nothing he could do if Yago wanted to slack off. Just then, he saw Keith Shadis leave, so Armin said he wanted to find an opponent of similar strength. Yago lazily agreed.
With no partner left, Yago started wandering through the crowd, yawning now and then as he watched everyone either fight seriously or go through the motions.
Suddenly, Yago's deep gaze met the blue eyes of a pale-blond girl across from him. One look was enough—they were kindred slackers. They exchanged a glance. Good. Keep slacking separately.
But misfortune struck without warning. A low cry spread among the trainees: "The instructor's coming!"
The trainees immediately reacted as if facing a great enemy. Those training seriously became even more focused, and the slackers hurriedly started pretending to practice.
Yago looked around. Armin was happily sparring with Mina, apparently having completely forgotten his former good partner. Yago looked around in confusion.
"Damn it! Not a single person alone?"
"Fine, let's do it, just the two of us." Annie calmly tossed the dagger to Yago. Yago caught it, his mouth twitching. He really didn't want to fight Annie.
"Can I refuse?" Annie had already raised both arms, forearms vertical to guard her face. "What do you think?"
Seeing Keith Shadis getting closer and closer, Yago could only sigh.
"Alright, let's go. I'll go easy on you—just look at our height difference, we're not even in the same weight class."
The moment height was mentioned, Annie's entire aura turned cold, sending a shiver down Yago's spine.
Yago held the dagger. "Annie, watch out!" He burst forward, but the dagger wasn't aimed at Annie.
Annie maintained her stance, her gaze icy. Just as Yago closed in, Annie suddenly crouched down, her left leg flashing out like lightning toward Yago's right leg.
"So fast!" Yago was shocked. Annie was incredibly fast. But he wasn't slow either—his right hand quickly moved to meet her left leg.
"Smack!" A dull sound rang out as Annie's whipping kick slammed into Yago's right hand, instantly numbing his entire arm. But Yago's extraordinary physique let him recover quickly. His numbed right hand suddenly grabbed Annie's calf, and Yago swept at the leg supporting her body.
Unexpectedly, Annie simply tapped the ground with her right foot and lifted off, both legs locking around Yago's right arm. Neither of them kept their balance, and they fell to the ground together.
Yago struggled free, and Annie also pulled back to create distance. Yago looked dusty and disheveled, feeling a bit embarrassed, while Annie still looked eager to continue.
"I really underestimated you, Annie." Yago tossed aside the dagger, raised both hands, and his eyes grew serious in a way rarely seen.
The two of them drew a lot of attention. Yago attacked with wide, powerful, rapid strikes, while Annie relied on refined technique, precisely evading every one of Yago's attacks. Yago grew more and more impatient. Annie's small body moved incredibly fast—every time Yago barely brushed her clothes, she slipped away again.
But anyone with a discerning eye could tell that Annie was clearly stronger than Yago. It was only because Yago had great stamina that he could last this long; otherwise, he would've gone down long ago.
"Annie! Is dodging all you can do?!" Yago shouted in frustration, but Annie remained calm, continuing to evade his attacks.
Finally, Annie seized an opening. As Yago's right hand had just pulled back, Annie flashed in and wrapped both arms around Yago's right arm, instantly throwing off his balance.
"Crap!"
With a hook of her right leg, Yago was about to lose his support and fall.
"It's over. Yago's definitely lost," Jean Kirstein said confidently with his arms crossed.
...
Eren's eyes were shining.
"Amazing, so awesome!" Mikasa said, "Eren, I could actually teach you guys too. I taught Yago his combat skills, you know."
At the same time, Mikasa felt a bit unhappy with Annie. After all, Yago had learned combat from her—now that Yago was losing to Annie, wasn't that indirectly her losing to Annie? And Eren's look just now made Mikasa uncomfortable as well. Eren had never admired her like that before.
Mikasa didn't realize that what she was feeling right now was called jealousy.
Yago also understood his situation. Since he was definitely going to fall, he decided to go all in. He suddenly clasped both arms together and hugged Annie tightly, dragging her down with him.
Annie clearly hadn't expected Yago to still have a chance to counterattack, and she was caught off guard, falling together with him.
Bang! They hit the ground hard. Yago couldn't help letting out a cry of pain. With him acting as a cushion, Annie didn't feel much pain, but she was a bit stunned, ending up sprawled on top of Yago.
Only then did Yago realize that Annie was lying on top of him. Because of their height difference, Annie's head was right near Yago's chin.
A faint, subtle fragrance drifted into Yago's nose. He instinctively took a deep breath, then met Annie's embarrassed and furious glare.
Yago said awkwardly, "Uh, if I say I didn't do it on purpose, would you believe me?"
"Ah!" Annie drove a hard elbow into him, forcing Yago to release his grip, then she stood up.
When Yago climbed back to his feet, Annie raised her arms again, but this time her eyes clearly carried a hint of killing intent.
What Yago had just done really did look a bit… like that.
Yago tried to explain, "Annie, what I mean is, I'm not thinking what you think. Besides, your body really hurt me too—it was all bones…"
Seeing Annie's expression darken further, Yago wisely shut his mouth.
Keith Shadis hammered Connie on the head with his fist. Sasha trembled in fear beside him.
"Are you two trying to laugh the Titans to death?! Go run fifty laps! No food until you finish!"
"Ah~ no, please!" Sasha wailed, but her voice was drowned out by an even more miserable scream.
"Stop! Annie, ah!" The pain-filled cries drew everyone's attention. On the training field, Annie had taken Yago down for the nth time. The one holding back wasn't just Yago—Annie hadn't used her full strength either. Now Annie made Yago truly understand what it meant to be utterly crushed, with no chance to fight back at all.
Yago shakily raised a hand toward Eren and Armin, who were watching.
"He-help… help me."
But seeing the murderous look in Annie's eyes, they very sensibly chose to ignore him.
That day's training ended amid Yago's screams.
...
This chapter has been posted for review. Thank you. If you like this fanfic please leave a review as well. It really kills motivation to work on a story that can't get even a single review in a week