The canteen was a hive of activity, the smell of dry bread and boiled potatoes wafting through the air. The wooden benches creaked under the weight of exhausted cadets.

Vivienne sat between Armin and Eren, a plate of stale rations in front of her. Across the table, Mikasa ate quietly, her expression as unreadable as ever.

Armin, ever curious, leaned forward. "Vivienne, I've always wanted to ask—how did you modify the trigger on your ODM gear? I've never heard of anyone setting it up like that."

Vivienne straightened slightly, a flicker of satisfaction rising in her chest. She had expected Armin to notice, but it was still nice to have someone acknowledge her work.

She had barely opened her mouth when a loud, mocking voice cut in.

"Ohhh, Princess Mitras is a mechanical genius now?"

Jean Kirschtein.

Vivienne let out a slow breath before turning to face him. He had just dropped onto the bench next to Connie, a smirk on his face as he propped an elbow on the table.

She raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Do you need something, Jean, or do you just enjoy listening to yourself?"

Jean snorted, swiping a piece of bread from Connie's tray and ignoring the half-hearted protest from him. "I just think it's funny. A noble girl, messing with ODM triggers like she actually knows what she's doing? What's next? Gonna teach us all how to embroider our uniform patches too?"

Connie and a few others laughed, but Armin frowned. "Jean, don’t be ridiculous. She's obviously done something right. You saw how fast she was today."

Jean rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, we all saw. She was flailing around yesterday, and suddenly she's zipping through the trees like a pro?" He leaned forward, smirking. "What, did you bribe someone to fix it for you?"

"Jealous?" she said smoothly, taking a deliberate bite of her food.

Jean scoffed. "Jealous? Please. I just find it very convenient that you, of all people, have suddenly found a way to cheat your way through ODM training."

"Cheat?" Vivienne let out a short laugh, gripping her fork a little tighter. "Are you telling yourself that to make yourself feel better? Should I slow down next time so your fragile ego doesn’t take a knock?"

Across the table, Eren smirked. "She’s right, Jean."

Jean shot him a glare. "Shut up, Jaeger. Nobody asked you."

Eren just shrugged, clearly enjoying the show.

Vivienne crossed her arms and gave Jean a once-over. "It must be exhausting—having nothing better to do than point out other people’s weaknesses while you're left in the dust yourself."

Jean’s grin faltered for just a second before he covered it with an exaggerated sigh. "Right, because I'm so threatened by you." He rested his chin on his hand, his smirk returning. "I have to admit, though, Princess—that was impressive. I didn’t know you had it in you."

Vivienne frowned.

That almost sounded like a compliment.

Almost.

But the teasing tone in his voice made it clear he wasn’t going to let her have it so easily.

"I'm honoured," she said dryly. "Really."

Jean's grin widened. "You should be."

Armin, sensing the rising tension, cleared his throat. "Vivienne, what were you saying? About your ODM triggers?"

Vivienne tore her eyes from Jean and exhaled through her nose. "Right. Well, I found that the standard trigger required more pressure than necessary, so I adjusted the tension in the internal spring mechanism—"

Jean groaned loudly. "Oh, great. Now we're getting a full-on engineering lecture."

Vivienne narrowed her eyes. "You could just walk away."

Jean rested his chin on his hand again and grinned. "Nah. This is way too entertaining."

Vivienne took a slow breath, resisting the urge to shove his plate off the table.

Jean Kirschtein was insufferable.

And unfortunately, she had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time he got on her nerves.

Vivienne let out a sharp breath and stood abruptly. She grabbed her plate and turned on her heel without another word, her boots clacking against the floor as she walked away.

Jean watched her go, still grinning, but Armin sighed and shook his head slightly.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"That really wasn't necessary."

Jean looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "What? She dishes it out—she should be able to take it."

Armin gave him a pointed look. "Jean... do you even know who her family is?"

Jean scoffed, crossing his arms. "Yeah, she's some spoiled noble from Mitras. Pretty obvious."

Armin shook his head. "Not just any noble. If I remember correctly from what I've read about ODM history... her family actually invented it."

Jean blinked. "What?"

Eren, who had been watching with an amused expression, suddenly frowned. "Wait. Are you serious?"

Armin nodded. "The first ODM prototypes were developed by a group of engineers in Mitras. Vivienne's family was one of the main contributors. Her great-grandfather and his brother were directly involved in the development of the release system we use today." He glanced towards the door Vivienne had walked through. "That's probably why she knew how to set it up. She’s probably been around this kind of technology all her life."

Jean’s grin faltered slightly. He leaned back, arms still crossed. "Tch. You're telling me she comes from the family that made ODM gear?"

Connie, busy stuffing his face, finally spoke up between bites. "Man, that's kind of crazy. You just made fun of her for not knowing what she was doing, and it turns out she probably knows more about ODM gear than any of us."

Jean scoffed and picked up his bread again. "I wasn’t making fun of her—"

Eren snorted. "You literally accused her of cheating."

Jean shot him an irritated look. "Oh, like you don’t run your mouth every five seconds, Jaeger."

Eren shrugged. "At least I don’t sound stupid when I do."

Jean put down his bread. "The hell did you just say!?"

Armin quickly raised his hands before the situation escalated. "Alright, alright! Let’s not start another fight."

Jean snorted but said nothing, his eyes drifting towards the exit.

So that's how she did it.

He didn’t know exactly why, but the knowledge annoyed him. Not because he actually thought she had cheated—but because it meant she had really outperformed him today.

Jean ran a hand through his hair and clicked his tongue. "Tch. Whatever."

But he glanced back at the door.

Maybe he had underestimated her.

And that annoyed him even more.

Outside, Vivienne clenched her hands into fists, anger etched across her face. It was almost as if Jean knew exactly what to say to get under her skin. Every time, her patience with him ran out, and she had to stop herself from punching him. If she could project the same intensity onto Titans, then she had already won the battle for survival.

In a way, she was surprised she had managed it. Her relationship with her father had been far from good in the weeks leading up to her announcement that she intended to join the Survey Corps.

She didn’t know exactly when things had changed. Sitting next to each other at the dinner table in silence. Walking past one another without so much as a greeting. It had become a routine—one that both father and daughter had grown used to.

However, they had always found common ground when it came to engineering. Various screws, springs, and other tools were scattered across the table. Her emerald-green eyes lingered on them for a moment before she turned sideways.

"A hair trigger?"

Her father, who was fiddling with a tool needle, nodded. "A trigger that shortens the trigger travel and reduces resistance, so it can be pulled faster and with less effort."

She nodded, impressed, tilting her head slightly. "What would you use it for?"

"Everything," her father replied, still focused on the object in his hands. "Anything that requires a trigger. It’ll save you a lot of time and energy."

Vivienne nodded again. The words sounded familiar; he had mentioned something similar before.

"And how would you make such a trigger? I suppose the spring would need to be weakened and replaced with a softer one, right?"

A small smile, tinged with pride, spread across her father’s lips. Why did she suddenly miss that smile? Her hunch had been right.

Stops or set screws were used to adjust the trigger so that it only had to move the bare minimum to release, thus limiting the trigger travel. A reduced first stage should make all of this possible. Her father held the trigger up to her, and she leaned forward.

"You’ll hardly be able to tell the difference from a normal trigger," she said.

"And that’s the point," he added with a smile.

Something hard struck her shoulder.

She barely registered it.

Because suddenly—

Smoke. Thick, choking, swallowing the air.

Heat. Scorching against her skin. The scent of burning flesh.

A scream. Her scream. Someone else’s. It didn’t matter. It all blurred together.

A building collapsing. A rush of dust and rubble swallowing everything.

Figures in the dark. Twisted shapes, moving unnaturally—

Her breath hitched.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Why does it feel like I’m burning?

Why does my body hurt so much?

Vivienne looked to the side.

"We haven’t even tried to talk this out yet!"

Her breath caught in her lungs.

"Vivienne?"

Bertholdt’s voice pulled her back to reality, and her head snapped in his direction.

Her hand went to her forehead. What had just happened? She turned slightly, locking eyes with the person who had bumped into her—Reiner Braun, another cadet.

"Are you all right?" he asked in a low voice.

A tight feeling spread through her chest, nerves creeping in. She looked down as an uncomfortable heat built up inside her.

Reiner’s eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze sharpening when she didn’t answer straight away.

"I’m fine," she finally said, looking forward, away from them. "I’m sorry I bumped into you."

Reiner didn’t respond immediately, but after a moment, she heard his voice.

"It’s all right."

She walked away slowly, the tightness in her chest still there, her breath a little unsteady. When she glanced back slightly, she saw Bertholdt watching her nervously, while Reiner’s gaze remained serious, scrutinising.

Vivienne quickly looked forward again.

What had just happened?