21 Day of Closing Ceremony

A moment ago

"Hey, Annie," Kaito called out with a mischievous glint in his eye. "How about a little sparring match?" 

Annie's icy gaze met his, and she responded with a cold tone, "I don't have time for your games, Kaito."

 Undeterred, Kaito grinned and circled her. "Come on, just a quick one. It'll be fun, I promise." 

Annie reluctantly agreed, not wanting to back down from the challenge. She shifted into a combat stance, her every move calculated and precise.

 Kaito, on the other hand, remained relaxed, exuding an air of carelessness that seemed to infuriate her. Their spar began, and Annie launched a swift punch toward Kaito. 

His reflexes, honed by countless battles and his vampiric abilities, kicked in as he effortlessly dodged her attack. He ducked, weaved, and somersaulted, displaying an almost playful grace as he evaded every one of her precise strikes.

 With each dodge and taunting grin, Annie's frustration grew. Her every movement was met with a playful remark from Kaito. "Missed again, Annie! You're not as tough as they say!"

As the other cadets watched, they couldn't decide whether Kaito was exceptionally skilled or just plain lucky.

Annie, her icy facade cracking, decided to launch one final attack. She aimed a powerful punch directly at Kaito's chest. But Kaito had something else in mind. He sidestepped with a graceful twirl, and with lightning speed, he delivered a light but cheeky slap on Annie's butt.

SLAPP

The slap echoed through the training area, and the cadets' jaws dropped in disbelief. Reiner and Bertholdt looked as if they'd just seen a ghost, and the latter face seemed to have eaten shit.

Annie froze, her mind trying to process what Kaito had just dared to do. She felt a strange warmth on her butt despite the tight clothing.

Slowly, she turned back to face him. Kaito was rubbing his hands with a serene, Buddha-like expression and mouthed the word "Soft."

Heat surged to Annie's face, her cheeks turning crimson. A raging current of anger simmered beneath the surface. Her dark eyes bore into Kaito with an intensity that could rival even the most fearsome Titan.

Kaito, realizing he might have a gone teeny-whiny bit too far, raised his hands in mock surrender, a sheepish grin on his face. "Okay, okay, I might have taken it a step too far. My bad, Annie."

Kaito's eyes widened in alarm as he saw Annie pulling the dual Titan killer swords from her ODM gear. He knew he'd pushed the boundaries of their duel too far but he had no regrets.

Without wasting a second, he activated his ODM gear and shot off, trying to put as much distance between himself and Annie as possible.

Annie had had enough of Kaito's shit and wasn't about to let him escape this time. She swiftly activated her own ODM gear and began her relentless pursuit. The chase was on, and it was clear that Annie was not going to give up until she caught and diced Kaito.

They weaved through the training ground like a pair of acrobats, their ODM gear propelling them through the air with incredible speed and precision. Kaito's agility and speed were impressive, but Annie's determination and fury fueled her pursuit.

As they continued to chase each other, their fellow cadets watched in a mix of awe and amusement. It was a spectacle unlike any other, a duel of fates.

Just when it seemed like Kaito might manage to escape, a commanding voice cut through the commotion. "What the hell is going on here?"

Both Kaito and Annie froze in their tracks, their eyes locking on the approaching figure of Shadis. The atmosphere grew tense, and the cadets fell silent, waiting to see how their instructor would react to this chaotic situation.Shadis, with a mixture of annoyance and exasperation, strode up to Kaito and Annie. His stern gaze bore into both of them, and he crossed his arms with an air of authority.

"Explain yourselves, you two," Shadis demanded, his voice like a thunderclap in the training ground.

Kaito, still floating in the air from his ODM gear, scratched his head with a sheepish grin. "Well, you see, sir, it was just a friendly little sparring match, and things got a bit... carried away."

Annie, her ODM gear still active, remained silent but shot Kaito an icy glare that spoke volumes.

Shadis' expression grew more incredulous by the moment. "A friendly sparring match, you say? This looks more like a chaotic circus act."

Kaito had the decency to look somewhat contrite, even though his mischievous glint still lurked in his eyes. "Sorry, sir. It won't happen again."

Shadis sighed in exasperation. "Is this how you two waste your valuable training time? We're here to prepare for the battles against Titans, not play children's games."

Annie, her swords sheathed and ODM gear deactivated, nodded in agreement. She respected the seriousness of their training and had no intention of letting Kaito's playful antics disrupt it, but that didn't mean she would forget this.

'Kaito Ryder, you will pay the price for messing with me.... ', Annie swore in her mind.

Shadis pointed a stern finger at Kaito. "No more foolishness or I'll have you cleaning the outhouses for a week."

Kaito shuddered at the thought. "Understood, sir. I promise, no more monkey business."

With that, Shadis turned and walked away, leaving Kaito and Annie to their own devices.

Kaito sneaked a peek at Annie and saw her eyes seething with silent fury.

"Such a nice day this is, "whistling, he walked in the other direction.

___________________

As time passed like that, graduation day had arrived, and as Kaito woke up, a heavy sense of foreboding weighed on him.

The impending breach of Trost loomed like a dark cloud over what should have been a day of celebration. 

He knew that tomorrow would mark a turning point for all the cadets, a day where they would truly face the terror of the Titans.

The barracks were noisy with chatter, yet Kaito felt an eerie stillness in the air. His fellow cadets were already beginning to stir, and he could sense the mixture of excitement and anxiety that filled the room.

As he got ready for the day's events, Kaito couldn't help but reflect on the connections he had formed till now.

The knowledge that the Titans were about to breach Trost cast a shadow over everything. With the attack, canon events will begin in earnest, bringing destruction and despair with them.

With a heavy heart, he joined his fellow cadets as they prepared to face whatever challenges awaited.

Kaito stood there, surrounded by his fellow cadets, as Commander Shadis announced the top ten candidates who could join the Military Police and live a life of relative luxury within Wall Sina. 

He wasn't surprised by the rankings, with Mikasa taking the top spot, and behind him was Reiner at 3rd, Bertholdt at 4th, Annie at 5th, and Eren at 6th, just as it happened in the canon. Jean ranked 7th, Marco 8th, Connie 9th, and Sasha placed 19th. Poor Christa got 11th, though her ranking didn't matter much as she had already decided to join the Scouts. As for Kaito, he found himself in the second position. He never focused on the academic or discipline part, so that rank was understandable.

He thought about the events that will happen tomorrow.

He had already evacuated Carla to the other side of the inner walls, knowing that he couldn't save everyone, and neither was his intention to do so.

The fate of Trost was sealed, and he was unable to prevent it, not without incurring a heavy price anyway.

He didn't know why, but he was getting a bad feeling about tomorrow. The feeling was relentless, and it was courtesy of that his mood was not very good.

Shaking his head, Kaito tried to think about something else, something positive. Yet Kaito couldn't help but reflect on the series of unfortunate accidents that had plagued him during the training camp.

Each incident had felt like a scene out of a Final Destination movie, with his ODM gear failing at the most inconvenient times, leaving him in precarious situations. It was like the universe had a grudge against him.

The accidents didn't stop at the ODM gear mishaps. He had fallen onto swords more times than he could count and had himself skewered; luckily, nobody caught him on that, and on one particularly memorable occasion, the second rack of beds above him had come crashing down. These bizarre occurrences, while sometimes comical, only added to his sense of foreboding.

When he contemplated killing Bertholdt, the idea sent a shiver down his spine, as if the world itself were daring him to attempt it. It invoked a primal fear within him, one that transcended normal caution. This was an event that could not be changed, a fixed point in time that defied his attempts to alter it.

"Pshh.. ", Turning his head, he found Sasha looking at him with a bit of concern, " Is something the matter, Kaito? "

Giving her his signature cheeky grin, Kaito replied, "Ah, it's nothing. I was just thinking about how to confess my love for a certain potato girl."

"Ah.. Y-You.. " she turned her head away, trying to hide her flustered face, the sudden confession catching her off-guard.

As he stood among his comrades, Kaito couldn't escape the feeling that his past deeds were catching up with him, yet he also felt a sense of refreshment.

"Let's see what you fucking got me for me.. "