Carrying a large bag, Jean and Sasha wound their way through twists and turns to a secluded building. Pulling back his hood, Jean cautiously checked the surroundings. Only after confirming there were no problems did he go inside with Sasha.
Passing through a slightly dim corridor, they finally saw what it looked like inside.
"We're back. We bought the food and picked up some medicine too. Not sure if it'll be any use for that Ymir fellow." As he spoke, Jean took a small package out of the bag.
"Thank you so much, Jean." Historia thanked him, took the package, then turned and left. Watching Historia's face, which hadn't shown a smile in a long time, Jean hesitated to speak.
Ever since Historia revealed her identity, she hadn't smiled once. Could that little angel from before really never come back?
"Back?" A calm voice pulled Jean out of his daze. He turned to look—it was Levi, the Squad Leader who had led them here to Trost District.
Behind Levi were two female soldiers. One was Petra, whom everyone knew, and the other was a black-haired female soldier no one had seen before.
However, the way Petra looked at the soldier beside her was a bit strange. The black-haired soldier was one of Hange's subordinates. Because Levi needed manpower, Hange had sent over several trusted subordinates, and Kira was one of them.
But how to put it—this Kira seemed to have a special kind of admiration for Levi. The way her eyes sparkled whenever she looked at Squad Leader Levi made Petra, herself a Squad Leader fangirl, very uncomfortable.
"Squad Leader, everything you needed has been bought. But why did you insist on having me pretend to be that bastard Eren?!" Jean complained, pointing at Eren standing beside him.
Eren shot back, "Huh? What are you talking about? You think I wanted you to pretend? With that long horse face of yours, you'd be exposed at a glance!"
Jean instantly exploded, shouting angrily at Eren,
"What?! You dare make fun of me? Want to fight?!"
Eren: "Come on! I'll beat you till your teeth are all over the ground!"
"Bastard! Don't think you can be that arrogant just because you can turn into a Titan!"
Mikasa and Armin pulled Eren back, while Sasha and Connie held onto Jean. Only then did the two avoid actually getting tangled up in a fight.
Levi looked at this group of unruly subordinates, his brows nearly twisting into a knot.
"That's enough. Stop messing around. Their targets are Eren and Historia. The only way to draw them out is to do this. We can't let Eren and Historia actually act as bait."
"Tch!" Jean shook off the hands holding him, saying, "Fine, I get it. But if I'm pretending to be Eren, then what about Historia? Who's pretending to be her? None of the girls here are blonde."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's gaze turned in unison toward Armin. A bead of cold sweat appeared on Armin's forehead.
"Uh, e-everyone… why are you all looking at me?"
After quite a while, Armin—looking as though he'd been thoroughly bullied by the group, eyes shimmering with tears—was forced to agree to pretend to be Historia.
Seeing Armin's aggrieved expression, everyone couldn't help but laugh for once. The heavy atmosphere of the past days eased a little—only Armin's world had been hurt.
Just at this rare moment of lightness, Levi suddenly flashed forward, moving at astonishing speed as he charged toward the doorway, startling everyone.
Only Kira, a member of the Survey Corps, stared at Levi's swift figure with stars in her eyes. Before joining the Survey Corps, she had been an ardent fan of the Squad Leader.
Unfortunately, her strength wasn't enough to join Levi's squad, so she rarely had chances to witness his skills firsthand. So if she didn't swoon now, when would she?
"Come out!" Levi delivered a side kick toward the dark doorway. A dull sound rang out, as if someone had caught Levi's kick with a fist.
Without hesitation, Levi rushed out the door into the dim corridor. Immediately, the sounds of fists and feet colliding echoed from within.
"Oh no! Squad Leader Levi! Everyone, help!" Kira's startled cry snapped everyone back to their senses.
Petra reacted the fastest, rushing forward at once. "Squad Leader! Eh!"
The others also reacted, but before they could go help, a figure jumped in first.
Yago clutched his chest and staggered backward, a faint footprint visible on his clothing. His chest burned with pain, and his breathing was unsteady.
Before Yago could catch his breath, Annie Leonhart, wearing a pink coat, also stumbled backward into the room, looking somewhat disheveled.
Yago grabbed Annie Leonhart to steady her. Her hands trembled slightly—clearly, Levi hadn't held back just now.
"Are all the Ackermans this terrifying?" Yago thought helplessly.
"Yago—and Annie?!"
"Annie?!" Seeing Yago, everyone was somewhat surprised, but the moment they saw Annie, they were shocked. Everyone already knew Annie Leonhart's identity as the Female Titan. Though her current outfit looked odd, they all went on high alert.
Destroying the walls and trying to capture Eren—acts like these left no room for complacency.
"Annie! Are you still trying to take Eren away?!" Armin shouted, secretly signaling to Mikasa at the same time.
"Yago, why are you together with Annie? Could it be that you're a traitor too?" Eren asked Yago with grief and anger. Were all the traitors really his good friends?
Not good with words, Annie faced everyone's questioning with a pale face. Memories of everything she had done surfaced in her mind, filling her with guilt. But when she tried to speak, she didn't know what to say, only stammering softly,
"N-no… it's not… I just…"
Yago was still holding Annie. Seeing everyone's tension and Annie's state, he wanted to explain on her behalf. But just as he opened his mouth—"Everyone, listen to me… damn it!"
A swift punch blasted toward him from the front, while a whipping kick came from behind. Holding Annie, Yago couldn't dodge in time. Gritting his teeth, he twisted his body and took both the punch and the kick with his back.
It was like being struck by a heavy hammer. A terrifying force slammed into Yago's back, making his throat go sweet as a thin line of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.
"Yago!" Seeing Yago spit blood, Annie panicked. The spikes on her ringed fingers instantly emerged.
Eren rushed to the front of his companions, his hand already raised to his mouth. Mikasa, who had thrown the punch, and Levi, who had delivered the kick, both took blades handed to them by Kira and Petra.
At this hair-trigger moment, Yago raised his hand and shouted loudly,
"Wait!! Let me say something first!"