I Became the Villain of Attack on Titan

Time flowed on, and it had already been three years since Wall Maria had fallen and two years had passed since humanity began its operation to reclaim the lost territory.

Life at the northern farmlands, which was initially harsh, had become something everyone had adapted to.

The Marleyan Warrior Unit had diligently gathered intelligence each day, leading to several important discoveries.

They learned that the current royal government held no real power, that the Reiss family controlled things from behind the scenes, and that the Central Military Police was linked to them.

All these insights into the inner workings of the walled society were slowly uncovered.

Most of this crucial information came from Shiniro.

While it wasn't easy to gather such valuable details from the northern settlement, Shiniro somehow managed to consistently provide high-level intelligence.

Even the Warrior Unit was impressed by his ability, though they couldn't always verify the accuracy of the information.

Creak.

The old hinges groaned as the door opened, revealing Annie, wrapped tightly against the biting cold, returning home.

The northern farmland, even in the relatively mild spring, was bitterly cold.

"Annie! You're back," Bertholdt greeted her warmly.

Usually, Annie and Shiniro handled the reconnaissance and espionage tasks, so they often returned late.

Annie gave a slight nod in acknowledgment, not bothering with words, and slid into a chair.

"The weather's freezing out there… Want some warm tea?" Bertholdt asked gently.

But Annie, too tired or uninterested, simply shook her head.

"Hey, Annie's getting more cynical by the day," Reiner joked with a small chuckle, trying to engage her.

In the past, a comment like that would have annoyed her, but after living together for so long, they'd all gotten used to each other's quirks.

"Oh, now you're not even responding," Reiner grumbled, pretending to be disappointed at her lack of reaction.

Annie stepped into her room, quickly changing into more comfortable clothes before rejoining the others.

Bertholdt was busy preparing a meal, while Reiner stood nearby, teasing him about how salty the soup was.

It was a scene she had witnessed countless times over the past three years, a routine that had become all too familiar.

But something felt off.

As Annie glanced around, she noticed Shiniro was nowhere to be seen.

Shiniro, like her, often spent time gathering intelligence outside.

While the two clowns, Reiner and Bertholdt, messed around inside, it was usually Shiniro who brought back valuable information from the outside.

He wasn't home yet tonight, and it made her uneasy.

"...Reiner."

"Bertholdt, next time, let's try something besides—huh?" Reiner turned mid-sentence, caught off guard by Annie's sudden question.

"Where's Shiniro?"

For a moment, Reiner looked taken aback, before casually replying with a mischievous grin.

"Dead."

Annie's icy glare made Reiner swallow the rest of his joke, his hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as he corrected himself.

"Alright, alright, don't look at me like that. I was just kidding. He's probably out training in the forest."

"Training?" Annie's skepticism deepened.

Shiniro was diligent about his physical conditioning, sure, but staying out this late just for training seemed unusual.

She stared at Reiner, unsure if he was being serious or pulling her leg again.

Reiner chuckled nervously, sensing her suspicion. "No, for real this time! Ever since you knocked him down that one time, he's been staying out late, pushing himself harder than ever."

Annie's mind clicked as she pieced it together.

She remembered that incident—how she'd bested Shiniro in combat.

Apparently, it had wounded his pride more than she realized, and now, he was trying to reclaim some of it.

"Tch, Annie, you've got to be more careful with a man's pride," Reiner joked, still grinning.

******************

A dull thud echoed through the forest as my foot slammed into a tree trunk again.

I had been kicking the softer trees repeatedly, working on my training.

At first, the pain was almost unbearable, like my shins were splitting open. But over time, the skin toughened, and the task became more manageable.

After a long session of striking the trees, I sat down to catch my breath.

"Shiniro."

Just as I was about to relax, I heard a voice behind me.

"When did you get here?" 

Turning around, I saw Annie standing there, her usual impassive expression on her face.

"I've been here for a while," she replied, her eyes slightly narrowing as she watched me.

"For a while, huh?" I muttered, feeling a bit awkward.

I didn't know how long she'd been watching, but her presence immediately made me self-conscious.

The truth was, I had been training so intensely lately because of my humiliating defeat during our last sparring match.

I never imagined that someone so much smaller than me could completely wipe the floor with me, but Annie had done just that—smacking me in the jaw so hard that I almost passed out.

My pride had never taken such a hit before.

"Why are you training so hard?" she asked, her gaze shifting from the trees I had been kicking back to me.

"I don't know, I just felt like I'd been slacking off recently," I said, trying to sound casual.

Annie's eyes drifted to the tree I had just been practicing on, and then they settled back on me, studying me silently.

"Are you training so hard to get revenge on me?" she asked, her voice steady, but her words striking like a blade.

I froze.

For a second, I was speechless.

She had hit the nail on the head, but I couldn't admit that to her.

Maybe she was joking, but with Annie, it was hard to tell.

She wasn't exactly known for making lighthearted remarks.

"Haha, that's... quite the joke," I stammered, trying to laugh it off, though the awkwardness in my voice probably gave me away.

She didn't respond to my words, just stared at me with those half-closed eyes, impossible to read.

I quickly changed the subject.

"Hey, Annie, could you tell me how my form was? It wasn't bad, right?"

"No, it was the worst. Zero points."

I thought I had practiced enough, but that was a harsher critique than I expected.

Of course, Annie's hand-to-hand combat skills were top-notch—on par with professional fighters I'd seen back in modern times, especially when it came to striking techniques.

It was probably smarter to swallow my pride and learn from her.

"Then, could you tell me what I'm doing wrong? Or, if you're okay with it, maybe teach me some other striking techniques?"

Once again, she gave me that unreadable look. Silence hung in the air before she finally spoke.

"You really want to learn?"

"Of course! Even if I get hit a few more times, I want to get better."

The thought of taking a few more hits made my jaw ache already, but I put on a playful expression. Annie saw it and cracked a small smile.

"...No. I'm not teaching you."

But despite her smile, she shook her head.

"Why not?"

"I'm scared."

I wasn't expecting that answer.

She started rubbing her arms. What exactly was she afraid of?

Just as I was trying to figure it out, she spoke again.

"You might use what I teach you... against me."

"...What?"

Annie looked me straight in the eyes as she said it.

It wasn't a sharp gaze, but there was something peculiar in her eyes.

It was like the look of a stray kitten on the street, wary of a stranger approaching. 

"If someone as big as you learned those techniques and attacked me, I wouldn't stand a chance," she said, her expression once again impossible to decipher—halfway between a joke and something more serious.

But this time, I knew how to respond.

"Annie, I promise, I'll never use what I learn against you."

"Instead, I might just have to kick Reiner's butt for all those lame jokes," I added with a grin. 

Annie let out a small laugh, a "pfft" that felt light but genuine.

Maybe that laughter was a sign of approval.

She brushed her hair behind her ear and looked at me.

"Does it hurt?" she asked, her gaze dropping to my leg. 

Blood was dripping from a cut, likely from the calluses tearing open.

It wasn't anything to worry about—thanks to the Titan healing ability, I knew it'd heal on its own soon enough.

"...Now that you mention it, it kind of stings," I said, suddenly aware of the pain once she pointed it out.

Another brief silence fell between us. I could feel the awkwardness creep in, so I broke it first.

"You said you learned those techniques from your father, right?"

"Yeah," she nodded, her expression softening, as if the mention of her father brought back some distant memories.

"He must've been quite something," I remarked, watching her closely.

For some reason, Annie's face seemed to darken at the mention, a subtle shift in her mood.

"I don't know."

"Huh?"

"...I don't have many good memories of my father."

Annie's gaze dropped to the ground. The expression on her face grew darker, as if staring into some distant, painful memory. 

"But still..." Her voice faltered for a moment, as if something was caught in her throat, holding her words back.

After taking a deep breath, she finally spoke again, slowly, as if each word was a struggle.

"I want to go back..."

Despite having no good memories of her childhood—only grueling, abusive training at the hands of someone who wasn't even her real father—despite the fact that they weren't blood-related, the only place she could think of, the only place she wanted to return to, was with him.

"He was far from a good person, but still..."

"...Annie."

"I want to go back," she repeated, her voice trembling.

Her lips parted, as if she wanted to say more, but they just quivered soundlessly.

Whatever else she wanted to express never came out.

Annie's words hung in the air, unfinished, as if they were too heavy to continue.