The training yard hums with the low, metallic clatter of drills and the distant bark of a captains. 104th are busy warming up, but Eren and Jean are too impatient and too competitive to wait. They rush to start before everyone else, ODM gear hissing steam on take off.

You watch from the side-lines as they bicker mid-manoeuvrer, and then you sense a presence beside you.

Mikasa appears at your side, her eyes hard and her voice as sharp as a blade. “You're always watching him,” she snaps, words accusatory and possessive. “Why? He doesn't care.” Her fingers curl at the fabric of your sleeve, her jaw clenched. Though she's grabbed you, she doesn't know what she intends to do. Shake you? Hit you? None of those feel right. Her chest is tight with jealousy, but this time it feels different.

Then her expression shifts, gaze softens into confusion. The line of her mouth falters and she searches your face as if you can give her the answers to her own emotions. "I... I'm not angry because you were paying attention to him," the words come slowly like she's still figuring out why she's feeling this way. "I'm angry because you're not looking at me. Don't look at him, look at me."