Time flew by, time flew until the end of October 849.
The close combat training has finished, after the physical training in the morning there was a military theory class where they learned many things such as the operation and maintenance of the cannons. How to reinforce and patrol the walls among other things.
In an open space outside the training corps base, there was a long row of cannons and there was an instructor standing in front of everyone. "As a soldier, it is also necessary to learn the exact use of artillery. You will learn that shells can stop titans. The correct use of this weapon by people can kill titans, howitzers even then still have a low hit rate."
After the instructor finished talking about the power and use of various shells, he told everyone how to handle it and personally tested how to operate it. What precautions should be taken? In fact, the theoretical class in the previous three weeks has been discussing these kinds of questions, but now it is only based on the real object.
"Okay, start the operation by squad, ask questions if you don't understand, and be careful not to hurt anyone." After the instructor finished speaking, he instructed everyone to begin, and some of the male soldiers couldn't wait. This is the actual cannon operation under their own hands.
There are a total of eight guns on the field, and six people from 7 Squadron are trying to fire artillery shells.
Nelson put an ordinary shell into the cannon and Thomas was about to pull the strap.
"Cover your ears." Takashi reminded everyone, who were a little quiet. Many were not used to the roar of this gun.
"Hmm." Christa and the others covered their ears with their hands.
"Bang!" With a loud noise, the cannonball slammed into the open space in front of him, raising a cloud of smoke and dust. Takashi only felt his head buzzing. The cannon wasn't very powerful, but it was loud enough to deafen him!
"This gun is really powerful." Daz said in a shaky voice.
Ymir shook her head and scolded, "Damn, this thing is really loud."
Christa then withdrew her hands and breathed a sigh of relief.
After a few more operations, their training for this class was over. It took them about an hour and a half to familiarize themselves with the use of cannons.
Because there are only 8 cannons, the other squadrons were divided into six different classes to operate the cannons.
After Takashi's group left, the second batch of squadrons started to leave. At this time, someone came to ask Christa, who had finished learning, for advice, Christa smiled and ran to help.
Watching Christa endure the huge roar of the artillery fire, force a smile and enthusiastically help instruct everyone on how to operate the cannon, Takashi frowned, this girl was seriously ill.
"Do you mind?" Takashi said to Ymir.
Touching her forehead with her hand, Ymir felt a headache, "I can't control it, she always seems to be helpful, even if she can't stand the loud noise of cannonballs, whenever someone asks her for advice, she will run to help others. There are many similar things, I can only deal with those guys who have ulterior motives, but I'm not qualified to make the decisions for her on some things."
"Really?" Takashi looked at this scene expressionlessly. After a while, he couldn't take it anymore and went straight to Christa.
"Takashi, what's wrong?" Christa, who had been pushed aside by Takashi, looked at him with her blue eyes suspiciously.
Looking slightly at Christa, Takashi advised, "If you don't like to do things, don't force yourself, they can ask the instructor directly for their doubts."
He is not against Christa helping others, if she enjoys it, he would never interfere. But obviously she couldn't stand the loud noise of the cannon fire, and forced herself to help others despite that.
Christa hesitated, "But I was asked to help, I should..."
Interrupting Christa's words, he said bluntly, "You don't need to live like others need. You should know that many people admire you and love you very much."
After a pause, Takashi said solemnly, "You know a big secret of mine and I don't like that behavior you have, I don't like you being like that. It makes me feel uncomfortable."
Christa panicked, "I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?"
Takashi shook his head, "No, in fact, this will be the first and last time you get advice on this situation from here on out, everyone praises you for being a good person, but are you happy? Why do you always act soft in front of all the people expecting to be loved? If you don't like it, don't do it."
"I...but...we should be nice to people and help each other." Christa was a little overwhelmed.
"There's nothing wrong with being nice. I can't tell you a good reason, but I hope to see you be yourself, don't force yourself to act like that in front of others. We will always be hated by other people, that's a natural thing and no matter how well we act, in the end we can't do anything about it."
Christa's eyes dodged, she lowered her head and remained silent.
"You know very well that me and Ymir are delighted.... We have certain difficulties, as friends we hope to see you act normally."
Ymir's expression was helpless, and she crossed his arms around his chest, not that she didn't convince her, but it didn't help.
"Takashi, I'm sorry, I want to ask you something, do your parents like you?" Christa looked at Takashi with red eyes.
Slightly dumbfounded, Takashi didn't understand why the goddess Christa suddenly asked this, when he was still on earth, his mother was similar to Jean's mother. As for the previous Takashi, he was an orphan.
And Takashi's identity now is a bit more complicated.
"Dad, why are we moving to a forest, will we leave uncle alone?" Takashi, as a child, looked at his father with a confused expression.
Touching little Takashi's head, Takashi's father said, "I don't know either, just know that I'm doing it to protect you from this cruel and evil world. Remember that son, remember to fight only for you and nothing else for you."
"What about my mother?"
"Oh, your mother was weak and died shortly after giving birth to you..." Takashi's father looked at his son with a somber expression.
That rainy day, Takashi and his father left their home and headed for the forest, where until before arriving at the cycle 104 training corps he lived.
Suddenly, Takashi held his head in pain, a series of memories began to invade his mind uncontrollably. "Is it sure he won't die? You don't know if it will turn out that way, I can't risk my son in this kind of experiment."
"The tests are done, we only have one chance before we are discovered. Once done, you have to disappear with your son, if it turns out your son will have in his possession the greatest weapon to fight the titans."
After hearing those words, Takashi remembered lying on a kind of stretcher blindfolded.
The first person he looked at after that was his father, his eyes were full of worry and he was only glad when he woke up.
"Sleep now son, you don't need to remember these painful moments. Just think about forgetting, you must forget. When you turn fifteen, I will tell you about how special your power is." Takashi's father said.
"What power are you talking about?" Takashi came to himself and then looked at Christa. "My parents died at an early age, I couldn't have a mother's love for a long time and I don't remember my father's appearance very well."
"But if there's one thing I'm sure of, it would be that all parents love their children."
Christa stared at Takashi, "Really? All the books say that a mother loves her child, but my mother doesn't love me. She wanted me dead, on that farm it happened..."
Suddenly, the atmosphere became silent, and Ymir looked at Christa in shock, she didn't know before.
Christa stopped talking, she was the only one who still kept secrets with Takashi and Ymir. She was the only one who knew of their biggest secrets, so she wanted to share in a certain way with them.
With a sigh, Takashi looked at Christa with regret, "The title of mother is not for the one who raises you or begets you, the title of mother is given to that woman who takes care of her children regardless of life's consequences. If she gave birth to you and does not show that love she is not your mother."
"Being a mother is not only a blood connection, but also love and understanding. Don't blame yourself for that, I didn't have a mother and most certainly many other people didn't experience that feeling either."
"Let's live for ourselves and stop thinking about the past, we have to work hard for the present." Takashi said with a forlorn smile.
Christa burst into tears, Ymir didn't speak and hugged her tightly. She knew that she and Takashi were different from Christa, they are a time bomb that could explode at any moment without the possibility of escaping that explosion.
Thomas and Nelson were surprised to see Christa cry, they knew Christa's identity, but were shocked to hear that her mother wanted her to die, which was too cruel for Christa, who was a child at the time.
With a somewhat indifferent expression, Takashi looked at Thomas and Nelson, "You've heard it all, pay attention in the future, we can't control many things and we can't make decisions for Christa, but if there are those guys taking advantage of her kindness, crush them hard."
"Yes!" They both nodded.
The barrage of artillery fire continued, and the conversation here was only heard by everyone in the seventh squadron.
Daz didn't speak, he couldn't say any words of comfort for Christa and just watched.
Takashi is no mentor about life, to be honest he needs someone to tell him he is doing well in this place, but if he can do something for others he will do it without much thought.
In this world you can't stay in misery, if you live in the past and don't strive to build a present, death will slowly embrace and you won't be able to do anything about it.