"Eren! We're back!" Rias cheerfully greeted her friend as she sat on the uncomfortable bench.
"Rias," Eren nodded at her but tilted his head in question in his usual expressionless manner. Sometimes, he reminded her so much of Koneko that Rias decided that waiting for her Rook to enter high school was entirely too long before introducing the two. "Who else is with you?"
"I am here as well," Sona said as she approached at a much more sedate pace. She slightly adjusted her glasses, making them glint ominously as she glared at her rival. Rias stuck her tongue out at the student council president. Sona chose to be the bigger woman... metaphorically.
Either she'd hit her growth spurt and gain her sister's... assets, or she wouldn't and would grow up to be a beauty like her aunt.
Either way, Sona didn't need to compete on such a base level.
Or so she told herself.
"I trust your summer was enjoyable. What progress have you made with the lesson discs I left for you?"
Rather than let Eren answer the boring question, Rias started speaking again.
"I also brought Akeno." "Hello." "She asked me to introduce you."
"Good afternoon," Eren nodded in the direction Akeno had spoken from and tried to greet her in Japanese. "It is a pleasure to meet you."
The pronunciation was correct, but the accent was off. Still, it was enough to get Sona to congratulate him.
"I see you have been practicing," she nodded with evident approval. "Now that you have the syllabary order down and some basic vocabulary, we will work on sentence structure and conjugation while increasing your word pool. By the end of the year, I want to be able to practice with some simple test conversations."
"But you don't have to worry about it right now," Rias hurried to add, sending a light glare of her own at Sona. "Akeno is fluent in English like us."
"Thank you," Eren nodded at them both.
Or at least tried to.
Instead of nodding at Rias and Sona, he faced Akeno and a nearby tree.
"Have you been out here all day," Rias asked, a note of worry in her voice as she looked around the wooded park, just now realizing how hot the August afternoon really was. For a devil, it wasn't a significant concern. But for Eren? "Should we head into the shade? I brought a picnic."
Kuoh didn't get as hot as some parts of Japan, but leaving someone to sit in the sun for hours on end was in no way safe. The tree leaves blocked a lot of the direct glare, but Eren was already sickly. Rias was worried about heat stroke.
"I am fine," Eren shook his head in denial. "Heat doesn't bother me."
"You're burning up," Rias insisted as she hurried to grab his hand not holding his cane. "Come on, my club is near here. You can cool off inside."
"Don't worry," he said as he lightly shook off her hand. "I run a few degrees hotter than most."
"It's true," Sona agreed. "He felt warm even months ago, and it was spring." Rias gave her rival another glare as Akeno looked at the Sitri in delight. "Ah, I just mean when I touched him, it was warm. Just his hands." Sona lightly flushed and fidgeted under the Gremory's glower and Akeno's widening smile. "But I do think the park furniture could do with an update. I will discuss it at the school's next budget meeting." It was a transparent ploy to change the subject, and everyone knew it. "We should be able to replace all the benches with more mod-"
"No."
Eren's one word stopped Sona's voice in her tracks.
"Excuse me?" Sona said with a frown. She wasn't one to tolerate people being rude.
Just because this was the first time Eren had done so didn't mean she would allow it to slide. The boy wasn't what she would consider polite, nor was he outright rude.
He was just... rough around the edges, unaware of the social niceties due to his upbringing.
Sona willfully ignored the fact that even if Eren knew how to be polite, he would still choose not to be unless it was someone he respected.
"Not this bench," Eren insisted, not cowed in any way by Sona's harsh tone. "If you want to change the others, go right ahead. Not this one."
"Why?" Rias asked instead of Sona. "It's really uncomfortable, the spot isn't good, and you're exposed to the elements. I've seen you sit out here in the rain. You can't keep doing that in your condition, even with an umbrella. Winter is coming, too. We even get snow here in Kuoh. We can replace the bench with a full sitting booth. There'd be more room, and you'd be safer."
"Not this bench," Eren repeated, stressing every word. He would not be budged on the subject. "It's comfortable to me, and the elements don't bother me as much as other people. I've dealt with worse."
"Why is this bench special?" Sona asked, trying to get why he was being so obstinate about a bench, of all things.
"It is important to me," Eren said, and none of the young women there were happy with that answer. But then he continued. "I met you here on it, didn't I?"
"Oh," Rias said softly, her face flushing softly as she twiddled with a strand of her hair.
"I suppose," Sona coughed and cleared her throat as she looked everywhere but at Eren, pretending as if her own cheeks were not pinking. "If we simply installed a retractable covering and maybe a heater for winter, it would accomplish the same goals. It is not as if Kuoh is hurting for funds."
This sentimentality from Eren was utterly new, but it was... nice.
Akeno watched it all in undisguised glee.
So cute.
But the best was yet to come if Eren remembered the plan she had proposed before the break.
Thankfully, he did.
"Since you are both here, I was hoping I could ask you a favour," Eren said in silence after Sona's words.
His voice was as without inflection as it usually was, but this was the first time he had asked for anything, so both young women paid close attention.
"If it is within our power," Sona hedged gently, knowing not to make any promises before hearing all the details.
"We'll do it." Rias, of course, didn't have such worries with her friends. "And Akeno will help."
"If I can," the queen said gently, hiding her smile behind her hand as her eyes lit up with mischief.
"I am looking for two girls. They should live in the area and are a few years younger than me."
"What are their names?" Sona frowned.
If they lived here, there was a good chance they were Kuoh students, in which case she would know them. But it wasn't guaranteed. Their school had stringent admission requirements, so they might have gone to a different school in the area.
"I don't know their names," Eren admitted with a shrug, his voice still plain and without inflection. As if talking about the weather. "I met them when they were younger. I was only ten, and they never gave me their names. I only recently found out they lived in Kuoh."
"So, they moved here?" Rias asked, and Eren nodded. That would narrow it down considerably. "Can you give us any hint or description we can work with? And why are you looking for them?"
"You shouldn't have trouble finding them," Eren shrugged. His voice was bland, almost deadpan. "They were cute when I met them. I imagine they are only more beautiful now." Both Rias and Sona frowned but let him talk. "One of them had bright blue eyes and crimson hair, so she should stand out in a crowd." Rias froze. "The other had black hair, so it will be slightly harder. But her eyes were the most beautiful amethyst you will ever see, and she wore glasses." Sona froze. "I promised to marry them when we got older, but I doubt they remember me. Still, I have to try."
Silence.
Absolute silence filled the little park path after Eren's declaration.
Then Akeno broke.
"Ahahahahaha," she laughed uproariously, doubling over to hold her stomach in an entirely unladylike fashion. If any students had been around to see her mad burst of laughter, her reputation as a Yamato Nadeshiko would have disappeared overnight. "Your faces! Ahahahaha! Oh, Satans! Your faces!"
" .NO!" Rias bit out through clenched teeth. Her face was so red it almost eclipsed her hair. Part of it was anger, but a larger part was absolute mortification.
"Rias." Sona, by contrast, was cold in her anger. "Deal with her. Ten thousand spankings. Don't hold back."
"Ufufufufu," Akeno lewdly giggled. "Don't threaten me with a good time."
Rias lunged at her queen, who danced out of the way with more giggles.
As the pair ran through the park, laughing and growling in turn, Sona took Rias' vacant seat on the bench. Her face was still flushed, which Eren thankfully could not see, and her heart was racing.
"That was quite cruel," Sona said harshly as she calmed herself down.
"It was Akeno's idea," Eren explained plainly, utterly unperturbed by either her tone or the joke. "She visited before you left for the summer and asked for my help with a prank. I am guessing the two women she talked about were you two?"
"We can be described as such, yes," Sona coughed gently into her fist, cheeks flushing again at the memory. "In case you were curious, Rias is the one with red hair. I am the one... the other."
Dammit Akeno!
Sona cursed inwardly. Talking to Eren had never been awkward before, but even now, she couldn't help the slight stutter in her voice.
"Do not be too hard on her," Eren sighed softly as if reading her thoughts.
"I shall be," Sona denied simply. "This is far from the first time she has pulled something like this. Rias lets her get away with too much. And do not think I have forgotten your part in this little joke. If you have such free time to go along with frivolities that toy with a young maiden's heart, then you have time for twice the homework. I shall revise our lesson plans."
"If you wish," her first student nodded, unbothered by her threat.
Something about the way he was handling this unnerved the young heiress.
"Why did you go along with her?" Sona asked, genuinely curious why the usually serious boy decided to go along with something so whimsical.
"I thought it was a good idea." Eren couldn't see it, but Sona frowned at him. She did not understand how playing with her feelings was a good idea.
"I fail to see how it is so. The joke was in poor taste."
Eren paused for a moment, then he seemed to slump slightly, and his following words came out not in his usual monotone but in a nostalgic, almost regretful tone.
"A word of caution," he said gently. "A dream is a beautiful thing. Pursuing yours is admirable. But do not forget to live. Do not forget to laugh with your friends. Or cry. Or rage. Someday, you might not be able to anymore. All you will have remaining are the memories of those times together. It will be all that pushes you forward."
Sona fought back the shiver she felt at the sheer blankness of his voice, even knowing he wouldn't see it.
She knew she was incredibly lucky.
Wealth, power, family, friends, a Peerage supporting her and a dream she pursued.
Hell, Sona had recently gotten out of her arranged marriage while Rias still had hers hanging over her head.
Looking at the man beside her, who had only a few years left to live, no family, and had given up all his wealth, Sona knew she had no right to complain about a prank between friends.
It also drew something to her attention she hadn't noticed before.
Eren looked worse than she remembered.
His clothes hung from a frame that looked skinnier than before. Despite sitting in the sun for hours, his skin was a shade lighter than she remembered.
And he had spent the last month alone.
Every day, sitting on an uncomfortable bench, with no one for company but their hidden familiars.
An unfamiliar and unwelcome emotion rose in Sona's chest as she looked at her student and friend.
Rather than give voice to it or continue criticizing the boy for the prank, she turned to another subject.
"Your hair is getting too long," she chided gently, grabbing a long strand of dark hair that fell to below his chest and pushing it out of his face. "You should get it cut as soon as possible. A tidy appearance helps maintain a tidy mindset."
Eren didn't say anything, just giving her a weary nod.
A sound had Sona pulling her hand away as if she had been scalded by the brown locks.
"Ufufufu," Akeno giggled at the sight, her uniform and hair dishevelled from the chase but unharmed otherwise. "How cute."
"You're in my seat," Rias said with a pout and a glare at her rival as she crossed her arms in displeasure. She was also dishevelled and had a twig in her red hair but seemed more concerned with Sona's placement than anything else.
"Hem," Sona coughed softly in her hand, acting as if nothing had happened. She did not get up. "Since Eren asked, I will not be harsh with your punishment, Akeno." The reincarnated devil looked at the young man in surprise as Sona continued. "You will join the student council every night for two weeks to aid us. There is a lot of work to be done after the summer. This will be on top of your usual duties. I trust this is agreeable, Rias?"
"You took my seat," Rias repeated, still pouting, but nodded. "Fine. She can lose some free time."
"Ah," Akeno gasped dramatically, raising a hand to her forehead to feign a faint. "What a cruel mistress I have! Sold off to slave away for another. You will save me, won't you, Eren?"
Perfectly timed and without any tonal inflection, Eren answered.
"No."
"Ha!"
"Pfft."
Even as Rias crowed in triumph, pointing a finger at her queen, Sona desperately covered her mouth to try and cover up the sound of her snort escaping from between clenched lips.
Everyone turned to the Sitri, though Eren's facing was slightly off.
There was a beat of silence as everyone digested what had just happened.
"Ufufufufufu," Akeno's giggles gained further fervour as she watched the normally stoic young woman turn red for the second time today. "How cute."
"Rias!" Sona snapped at her rival, who was staring at her like she was seeing a ghost. "Didn't you say you brought a picnic? Let's eat."
It took another five minutes for Rias to bring out the picnic basket she had brought, and Sona had to give up her seat to do it, but the four teens eventually settled into a light meal. Eren and Rias sat on the bench while Sona and Akeno contented themselves to rest on the blanket in the grass.
In the afternoon sun of a small park, the three childhood friends ate and talked about their summer and plans for the coming semester. They laughed, teased, and enjoyed a moment of freedom.
Freedom from their responsibilities, their pasts, and the worries of their futures.
The young boy sat on the bench through it all, eating lightly and listening to them. He rarely joined in their talk, though they tried to include him when they could.
He was content to simply be there on that bench.
Eren's mind wandered to memories. To memories far away and long ago.
Eren Yeager never smiled.
Even surrounded by laughter, that didn't change.
Even if all three girls there would swear, his expression eased more than they had ever seen.
But if, while listening and remembering, Eren dozed into one of his habitual naps, none of the young women with him tried to wake him.
And if, while sleeping, he saw three children running to a tree on a hill...
Eren Yeager never smiled.
But the boy in the dream?
Well, the young boy in the dream was smiling enough for both of them.
All three girls quieted, content to let him rest as they spoke and laughed in hushed tones as Eren napped on the bench.