Shattering Humanity-Chapter 79: Surprise Attack

Inside the Sister Mountains, the shuttles are still busy with or without Squad 40.

Families and students are entering and exiting from opposite sides of the shuttles. Within the crowd, someone is looking suspicious, wearing a large coat, with their hood up and head down. A set of SunSwords at both of their hips.

People in the crowd look nervously and they begin to whisper to each other.

Citizen 1: "Why is there someone from the military using public transportation?"

Citizen 2: "Is there a new safety regulation going on? Is he here in case those new terrorists try to do something?"

Citizen 3: "I’ll just take the next shuttle."

The mysterious figure is murmuring something, as if a prayer, as they get on the full shuttle.

The doors close and it begins going through the barely lit tunnel. The shuttle hums and the sounds of people in their own lives and discussions are heard.

Little Boy: "Funny Man! Funny Man!"

His MaMa: "Eren, don’t be mean to strangers!"

The little boy is watching the funny looking man talking to himself.

With most of the passengers unfazed by the SunSword wielders presence, the man slowly reaches for the bottom of the hilt to their sheathed swords. They twist the end a few times and uncovers a red glowing button on each of them.

The little boy focuses on the red light.The mysterious man takes a deep breath and mutters one more line louder.

Mysterious Man: "I shall help you as a sign that I am one of the good. In hopes you spare my soul and I may join you in the Heavens from which you came, as an order of God."

He holds down both of the buttons and a slow beeping noise can be heard but even people close can barely hear it as a phone ringing. The beeping quickly starts getting faster and more high pitched. The boy, holding his mother’s hand with one hand and picking his nose with the other watches as the beeping becomes a constant ringing.

Mysterious Man: "To the Fallen Angels, please anybody, accept me."

From the reflection of the little boy’s eyes, the beginning of an explosion can be seen and from outside of the shuttle the explosion de-rails the shuttle and sends it into the dug out walls of the mountain.

Screaming from those not dead by the explosion can be heard as the dirt and gravel of the mountains cover and crush the shuttle full of people of all ages. The screams and cries become muffled the more it’s buried.

From inside a college double dorm sized room, within the underwater traffic tunnel remodeled into the sanctuary Sanpaku, there are two beds, one on the left and right wall from the entrance.

Itsuka’s backpack, and a plain bowl filled with water, is in a corner next to the bed with her and a sleeping Friend in it. Her beautiful face now has the Takamagahara Symbol beside her right IceEye, popped off in 2nd stage, giving off a light blue aura.

She’s looking at her make-up mirror with her giggly and bubbly version skipping around, with a tattoo now. She sighs, closes the mirror, and goes back to her base-kit. She humbly smiles and scratches the dog’s ear.

Itsuka: "I can’t believe how stupid I am for questioning whether or not my reflection had a tattoo after I got one."

Sol is sitting on the bed on the opposite side of the room. Her legs on the wall and her back on the bed.

She does an uncoordinated back somersault and lands on the floor. She looks down at Shelly. Her legs are in a sleeping bag on the floor, her back against the entrance wall, her backpack next to her in the corner. She is writing inside a journal.

She turns the page and uses both sides to document her thoughts.

Itsuka pets the peacefully sleeping dog and looks upset at the girl on the floor.

Itsuka: "Are you sure you don’t want the bed Shell? Friend and I can sleep on the floor."

Sol: "Yea, I feel really bad. We can snuggle together if you want! We’re both small enough."

Shelly smiles and closes her journal.

Shelly: "It’s fine, really. I feel more comfy when I sleep on the floor. It brings back good memories."

Sol: "Sleeping on the floor brings back good memories? Do you not remember a lot of good things?"

Shelly gets surprised and Itsuka is trying to remember something.

Itsuka: "Wait, didn’t you mention something about your memory back in Hanabi City?"

Shelly: "Oh yea, I never fully told you all about my photographic memory, sorry."

Itsuka and Sol get really interested.

Itsuka: "Holy Shit! I totally forgot you DID say that! It should be me apologizing. I was more focused on processing the facts that the IceEyes were actually symbiotic aliens. Between you catching the alien eye, our new bounties right before that, and Katsu’s accidental eye transfer, everything was becoming a surprise attack of overwhelming information and it all happened back to back to back. I guess it really has been an eventful two days."

Sol notices the closed journal in the girls lap.

Sol: "So, if your head is a literal ’picture journal’ why are you writing a diary?"

Shelly blushes and puts the diary back in her bag.

Shelly: "It’s for Katsu, in the future. When his mother was taking care of me, she could easily read me and my feelings for her son. She told me that when she had first started dating Katsu’s father, and when he would be gone for a military tour, she wrote in a diary everyday. She wrote about their days together. The good things and bad. Or she wrote how she felt when they didn’t get to see each other for a while. So she recommended I write one. That way, one day when I feel it is the right time, I can give it to him and it will be easier to convey my feelings."

Sol has golden heart eyes and drools while she blushes.

Sol: "Oh. My. God. Shelly you are so cute and committed to your man! I don’t care which ’Division’ I end up in, you’re my leader until the day I die!"Itsuka(to herself): "That makes Katsu your leader by default."

Shelly: "Thank you Sol, you’re too kind."

Shelly looks down at the dairy/journal half sticking out of her bag.

Shelly: "Katsu’s mother finally convinced me, once she told me it had helped her figure out her own feelings, not just communicate them. There’s been more than a few pages in my journal where I’ve started it off obviously upset at or worried about him, but by the end of the entry, it’s me apologizing to him for being embarrassingly overprotective and weird with this way of telling him."

Friend slowly wakes up and jumps off the bed, shakes out his thick fur, and stretches his front legs.

Itsuka: "I told you, once you confess your true feelings the first time, it’s easier every time afterwards. Because of our kiss, when I went to find him and we dropped of Friend, he told me that ’I’ve changed him’."

Sol(still unconvinced): "What, you changed his diaper after he was done crying into your boobs?"

Shelly snorts a laugh and Itsuka slowly opens her compact mirror.

Sol: "Honestly Sis, I don’t know what you see in him, but I have NOT been vibing with his attitude."

Itsuka is looking at her permanent face tat that she got as a match to the man she fell in love with only 48 hours ago.

Shelly: "I’m not going to disagree with anything she said Big Sis, but because he’s the exact opposite of Katsu, it’s only natural I don’t get along with him. We even threw a punch at each other during our first meeting and I knocked him out by accident. It all started from his attitude towards Katsu being nice."

Itsuka watches as Friend walks over to the bowl of water and begins lapping it up loudly as she continues.

Itsuka: "Because of Daisuki’s stupid immaturity, boys and girls have separate rooms."

Sol: "Can you believe the nerve? That guy has multiple wives, another willing to join, and he tells US ’we can’t sleep in the same room as long as we’re in Sanpaku or until we’re married’. How do you get married in an apocalypse anyway? What priest or government can officially marry us?"

Itsuka and Shelly giggle at her rant.

Shelly: "I guess Katsu and Saku get to sleep in a room connected to Sensei’s ’Captains Quarters’ in case of an emergency attack from the Iceman or someone from the Sister Mountains."

Itsuka: "When I asked Saku if I could sleep with his dog tonight, if we can’t be adults that can sleep in the same room, I was surprised he was ok without much of a fight.’As long as he is happy’."

The dog finishes his drink, licks his chops, and burps into a happy looking pant.

Friend: "RrrufF!"