บท 49: A New Trio

[Narrator POV]

"Catch him!" The stereotypical fat neighborhood bully yelled out as he and his friends chased after a boy. They ran through the streets and alleys either unaware of the damage they had done by poorly imitating the boy's parkour or deliberately ignoring it.

Although scared out of his wits at the idea of getting caught, Armin kept doing his best to evade the onslaught of stones and broken pots thrown at him as he jumped over yet another wall.

The cat-and-mouse chase went on until Armin led those runts near an abandoned house.

"Haa...haaa...you....too bad eren....isn't...here today...to protect you huh?" The bully said with a sneer on his face as he and his four buddies got ready to vent their frustrations on the poor blonde.

"Get ready to--ack!" The thin kid acting as a sidekick was sent flying comically as he got kicked from the back by a feisty girl with dark hair. "You okay Armin?" she asked with a calm voice.

"Oh, I'm okay, but where's eren, mikasa?" He replied with his usual curious expression. "Probably sleeping again" The small frown on her face was enough to tell she was annoyed at him for something.

'He promised to play with me.....is he planning to escape?'

Her thoughts couldn't wander for long as she had to step back to avoid the fat boy's punch. Getting under his body she grabbed his arm and gently pushed it back to make him lose his balance and fall over.

"How did you do that?" Armin stood beside her as he dusted off his clothes, leaving the other two minions on the floor.

"Eren showed it to me yesterday." The duo had long since been aware that Eren is not normal, although they do not speak of it openly, Armin had decided to place his trust in him the day eren saved him from getting beat up by such kids. While Mikasa chose to ignore his oddities for the sake of not losing her friend.

"Quit acting like adults." A sharp voice resounded from behind them as they got startled by the hand on their shoulder.

Turning around they saw eren with his usual nonchalant expression. "And stop trying to study my face idiots." The words coming out of his mouth would've made the kids their age cry but at this point, both were used to it.

However, that didn't mean they were okay with calling idiots though...

""That's rich, coming from a guy who dozes off like an old boor!""

Just like that, the trio went on to hang out somewhere else, leaving the nameless 'bullies', who shall never play a part in this story again.

"Say eren, what happened last month?" Armin asked with a determined gaze.

"Whatever could you possibly mean?" The attempts to dodge his questions were useless as Mikasa also joined in. "The day after you visited us, mom decided to let me go out and play with you, but when I came over to your place, I heard the neighbors gossiping."

"Yeah, I heard it too," Armin interjected. "Toji's mom near the bakery said that your mom was cheating, and that's why your dad got depressed."

Hearing that, eren just looked at him until he got uncomfortable enough to pry his gaze away. "Do you know what cheating means Armin?"

"Umm...she cheated on some kind of test?" The unsure tone of his voice implied just how much innocence resided in him.

"No...those aunties just want something spicy to talk about. As for my dad's depression, it's probably work-related."

"Yeaaaa...no I don't believe that. Everyone knows your dad is rich eren." Mikasa snapped back at him after catching on.

"Point is, it won't improve anything if you guys learned of what happened, so why not just ignore it and live in bliss," Eren answered in an exasperated tone.

"The book I'm reading, says that curiosity leads to change, and hence it leads to growth. I'm sure I won't regret knowing about your family matters. So spit it out!" "Yeah!" The oblivious kids with that boundless aura of innocence still did not wish to let go of this matter out of sheer stubbornness.

It was like how a little kid would specifically do the exact opposite of what they were told just to spite their elders.

"Haaa~ some other time guys....some other time."