Late Night Stories Vol. 05 Reiner Braun A Story of Absent-Mindedness
“…You know it’s your turn today, Reiner.”
The recruits were busy training, marching through the night. They dragged their heavy feet, weary from the afternoon, as they carried torches in their hands.
“…Remember when we pulled an all-nighter studying the other day?” Bertolt said next to him, causing Reiner to remember.
“Oh. To tell a story to keep everyone awake?”
“I’m begging you to… I feel like my feet are about to stop. I won’t fall behind if it’s an interesting story. I’d need to be in the group to hear it, after all,” Armin said, looking up at Reiner as he staggered back and forth, just barely keeping up.
“Okay. In that case… I’ll tell you a story from the other day.”
A few days earlier, Reiner was training with a group outside, when they were caught by a heavy evening squall. Of course, rain was no reason to stop a training exercise. If the soldiers didn’t have any rain gear, that just meant a drenched uniform. Their one saving grace was that they would be heading back to the barracks immediately afterwards.
“…Once all of you guys got back, the first thing you had to do was dry your clothes and wash off any mud with well water, right?” “ But you were squad leader then, Reiner, so you had to go and give a report before that,” Armin continued. Reiner nodded while a shiver ran through his body, as if he was remembering how cold he was that day.
“I finally gave my report to the instructor and went back to the well, then took off my shirt to start wiping off my body, but just as I did…”
Reiner turned to face the shrieks and saw two female Training Corps recruits, Mina and Krista, passing by. Thinking that they must have been shocked to see him shirtless, he turned his back to them in a panic and apologized.
“S-Sorry. I’ll be done fast, so, just a minute…”
“N-No, we’re sorry, too! Don’t worry, you can finish up!”
Reiner paid no mind to the girls as they watched him wring his shirt with his exposed, muscular body, before starting to wipe it clean…
“Hey, Reiner? Um… Can we ask you a favor?”
“…And then the girls asked if they could touch my abs. It’s not like it would hurt anyone to say yes, so I let them, and…they said things like, ‘Wow, it’s really a six pack!’ or “What do you do to work out?’”
The girls didn’t hold back as they put their hands all over him.
“Heh! You’ve got a pretty solid chest, Reiner.”
“Wait, Ymir…! Hey, both of you!”
Ymir’s teasing stirred the girls on, as they started to touch not only his abs but also his chest, arms, and back. Reiner sighed at what a mess the situation had become.
“Wh-What did you just say happened…? Really? I’m so jealous of you!!”
While the situation could be seen as fortunate depending on one’s point of view, Reiner spoke of it as if it were a complete mystery to him. Jean, who was next to Reiner, impulsively threw his torch to the ground.
“Oh! Well, Mikasa wasn’t there, you know!” Reiner said.
“That’s not the problem here!!” Jean replied through clenched teeth. Marco tried to calm Jean while picking up his torch.
“Why don’t you try working out until you have a body like Reiner’s?”
“O-Oh, so I just have to keep working out…”
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” a smiling Armin said as he listened in on the conversation, shutting Jean down completely. “Vertical Maneuvering is your specialty. If you put on any more muscle, you wouldn’t be able to use your skills as well.”
“T-True, balance is important… Wait, don’t tell me that right now, Armin! Can’t you leave me the smallest bit of hope to cling onto?!”
This made Reiner notice that Armin, who tended to lag behind, was still in proper formation with the rest of the squad. He saw that everyone else was there, too and was satisfied to know that he had accomplished something by telling his story.
SOURCE: Attack on Titan: Short Stories 2
READ ALSO: Late Night Stories Vol. 03 Krista Lenz : A Heart-Pounding Story
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