Hey, guys. It's been a year plus one month. I am now a second year student at my university and I finally have some juniors. It's really different from when I was in high school. Back then, nobody cared about senior-junior stuff lol.

Okay, I am very sorry for the very very late update. This is the latest I've ever been. I also expect most of you guys to have forgetten about this story. I don't have any excuses except that I have ran out of fuel back then. I got too entranced with many other anime. But since this summer I don't have any anime I'm into. And with Shingeki! Kyojin Chugakkou being adapted into anime, I thought I might return to SnK fandom. I reread this fanfic and quickly wrote chapter 21 and finished it in one day. I'm amazed when I read the draft for the last arc and feels stupid I ever abandoned this fanfic in the first place. This might be one of the best stories I've ever wrote.

Anyway, thank you Tian Lee, vegassassin, ALXXXSB, LuckyAmigo, Minami Shimada, Gishel, Arslan Senki, angellovsyaoi, Liz, mxcmxc12, Historia Reiss, kath0544, Ana cii Bunny, DandelionMoon, Anonymouse222, Jakesivs, pineapple, kirei chime, AliceKat, and Guests for reviewing. Thank you very much for reading this story and sorry I have abandoned you guys for so long.

This chapter marks the beginning of the last arc of My Genius Sister. I suggest you to pay attention on every little event here if you want to solve the mystery by yourself later ;)

Disclaimer: I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin

"M-mom?" his voice wavered.

Behind him, Mikasa held her breath at the gruesome sight.

The body of Carla Jaeger, oozing with unstoppable fresh and warm blood, lied cold against the carpeted floor of her bedroom. The shaky hands of Eren Jaeger, already painted with red, proceeded to touch his mother's cheek.

"E…ren…" came a weak whisper. "I'm…sorry…"

She didn't say a thing after that.

.

.

.

"Dad! Dad, where are you going?!" he screamed, reaching to grab his coat just to stop him.

Behind him, Mikasa could do nothing but bit her lip.

The back of Grisha Jaeger, as if dismissing Eren's presence, remained cold and quiet as the man made his way out of the house, pulling a suitcase with him. The shaky legs of Eren Jaeger, already numbed by the thought of being left alone, kept chasing the silhouette of his father in hope to make him turn.

"Eren, I have to leave."

He didn't even turn around.

.

.

.

"…Mikasa?" he muttered, jaw shaking.

The smile of Mikasa Ackerman, who's standing in the midst of violet flowers, for some unknown reason, it brought forth the fear in his heart. She was not following him from behind, not walking by his side, but was standing a good distance away while facing him. Pulling her red scarf, Mikasa nodded at him. She raised her hand—his heart nearly stopped beating at the gesture—and waved at him softly.

"Bye-bye, Eren."

She didn't keep the scarf anymore.

Chapter 21. Red Scarf of Fate

"No! Mikasa!"

Eren woke up with a start, his hand extended skyward. His heart was beating wildly when his eyes travelled around the room. He could hear frantic footsteps before his foster sister appeared beside him.

"What's wrong, Eren?" Mikasa asked, scowling in concern.

"M-Mikasa…?"

"Yes? Eren, you're crying." She mumbled, her thumb gently wiped his tear away.

He got up, feeling like his head was going to burst. Mikasa took a seat at the edge of the bed beside him. And that was when he noticed that she was wearing a pink apron… and she smelled like fried egg.

"What were you doing?" he asked, still scowling due to the dull pain.

"I was making lunchboxes."

"Huh? Lunchboxes? It's winter break, right?" His brow arched.

Mikasa giggled. "Eren, are you still half-asleep? Today's the field trip." She pointed at the calendar, where Eren excitedly circled today's date and marked it as "FIELD TRIP WOOHOO!"

Eren blinked. "What?"

"What the fuck are you doing? Get your ass here right now, damn four eyes," he hissed.

"Hold on! I'm still not done having fun!" Her eyes wouldn't leave her computer screen and the chatroom.

"Hanji, if you don't come soon, Rivaille will really leave you behind." He sighed.

"Hanji!"

"Waiiiiit! Gosh, just a while!" She quickly got up.

Running toward to front door while buttoning her coat in a rush, Hanji almost fell flat on her face if Irvin didn't hold her shoulders to prevent the impact. Exhaling in relief, Hanji grinned, missing the terrified look on Rivaille's face.

"Safe~" She snickered. "Oh wait! My glasses! Where on Earth are my cute little glasses?" she asked, panicking and her arms flailing about.

Pulling the object from her head, Rivaille scoffed. "Put your shit together, you little moron."

Chuckling, Hanji said, "Thanks~"

"Shall we go?" Irvin asked, smiling.

"Right—oh wait! I found this red scarf when I was looking for spare shampoo in your room, Rivaille!" Hanji produced a red scarf identical to Mikasa's from her coat. Without asking, she coiled the scarf around Rivaille's neck. "Perfect!"

"What the hell, shitty glasses?" he grumbled. "I don't remember having any red scarf in my room. And what, you fucking barged into my room while I was away? You've got guts, you—"

"Don't sweat the details! It's cold outside anyway. Let's just go. We don't want to make the juniors wait!" she cheered, rushing out of the apartment.

Ding-dong

Annie opened the door of her apartment. Her expression quickly shifted the moment she saw her guests, who were carrying backpacks. Her nearly permanent scowl deepened. Her fist landed itself into the face of her guest in lightning speed, sending the built blond flying to the wall.

"Reiner!" Bertholdt screamed in horror and ran to his best pal's side.

On the other side, Reiner, whose nose was bleeding, grinned at the petite blonde.

"Good punch, Annie."

"That's what you get for being insensitive, jerk. Think twice before picking a fight with me." Annie looked down to him like she was looking at dirt.

Wiping his bloody nose, Reiner got up. "I find that part of you attracti—uguah!"

This time, Annie buried her fist deep into his abdomen.

"Reineeeer!" Bertholdt screamed again. "A-Annie, you're going too far! Y-you know Reiner's just joking in the chatroom this morning!" he said nervously.

"Whatever," Annie picked up her backpack and put on gray sport shoes before wearing white winter coat and blue scarf. "Let's just go," she said after locking her apartment door.

"Wh-what are you getting at?" Her eye twitched in disgust at how her life nemesis looked almost identical to her at that moment. Her gaze was locked on the red object around his neck.

"Right back at you. I don't give a flying fuck as to why you're mimicking me, but it's revolting so cut it out." His glare was even deeper than usual. His voice showed clear disgust the moment his eyes landed on the light brown poncho she was wearing.

Around them, people, especially a certain spectacles-wearing androgynous-looking entity, had a hard time holding their laughs. The famous geniuses of Shingeki High were face to face, looking like they were about to kill each other. Both were wearing similar light brown ponchos and coats, similar black boots, and identical red scarfs.

It was a surreal sight.

"Cease your disgusting laughter, Hanji! You're the one who made me wear this world abomination in the first place!" Rivaille snapped, throwing the red scarf to the ground.

"Oh boy, the poor thing!" Hanji quickly picked up the red scarf and dusted it off. "Fine. If you're not going to wear it, I'll give it to Eren," said Hanji as she randomly coiled the scarf around Eren's neck. "Look! Now you're a match!"

Eren and Mikasa looked at each other. They look pretty similar, although pale in comparison with Rivaille in Mikasa just now. Eren was wearing black boots as well, but he was not wearing any light brown poncho. Instead, he was wearing dark green coat. After seeing how they looked somewhat like a couple, Eren got flustered and threw his face, while Mikasa only tucked her scarf upward to hide half of her face.

"What is this difference in reaction," Rivaille commented dryly.

"It's nice to be young~" Hanji commented, both palms on her cheeks.

Eren sweated as he saw Mikasa's green face. So it was true that she had motion sickness. The first ten minutes of the journey, she looked just fine. But after that, she just kept quiet and it became worse as the color of her face changed dramatically. Eren wished he had brought some medicine.

"Are you alright, Mikasa?" he asked.

Mikasa merely replied with a nod. Even though Eren could clearly see she was not okay.

Eren tried to look around, thinking if somebody brought medication for motion sickness. Unfortunately, everybody in the bus looked completely fine. Eren took a peak to the seat in front of him. He and Mikasa were sitting at the second row with Mikasa sitting far from the window. The first row seat was occupied by the seniors. The person sitting in front of Eren was Rivaille and Hanji. Hanji looked like someone who would carry a drug store's worth of medicine everywhere she went. She was worth to ask.

The bespectacled senior was cheerfully telling stories about chromosomes while the shorter senior looked like he was bored to death. Eren sometimes wondered why Rivaille never told Hanji to shut up as soon as she started talking. Because once she had started, there was no break long enough for one to express displeasure.

"…and so, don't you think it is superb for something that small to determine our traits? Oh, I don't mean to offend you by saying small, but you know, I had to emphasize that part. Again, I think chromosomes are supposed to be called—"

"Hanji-senpai!" Eren shouted.

"Hm?" Hanji stopped and turned around.

"Do you have medication for motion sickness? I think Mikasa's having a hard time staying alive over here," said Eren, pointing at the half-unconscious Mikasa.

"For the love of Titans, what have happened to her?" Hanji acted surprised.

"I'm surprised you even need to ask. Go get her something to make her feel better, you good-for-nothing glasses. She looks like she's missing half of her soul." Rivaille retorted sharply.

"I wonder if souls have traits. They don't have chromosomes, after all. Or they do?"

"Enough messing around."

"Right, right." Hanji rolled her eyes, then turned to Eren. "Unfortunately, Eren, I don't bring that kind of stuff. I do bring some sleeping pills, though. Rivaille is an extremely light sleeper, so he needs them. Want to give it to Mikasa? I think she's better off sleeping at this rate." Hanji shrugged.

"Hmm… I'll consider it. At the meantime, I'll try asking the others just in case they have some meds," Eren said before leaving to the others' seat.

Unlike the first two rows, the back rows are practically a mess. Connie and Sasha were doing some kind of stand-up comedy while the others were laughing, clapping hands, slapping their seat, or throwing chips everywhere. What a poor excuse of a special class. If the regular class students saw them, they would cry.

Annie was the only quiet person at the back row. She was looking outside the window, her ears plugged with earphones. Eren could guess that she was listening to songs and maximum volume to block the noise from her crazy classmates.

Eren took a seat beside Annie—the seat beside her was empty—and pulled one of her earphones out. Her shoulder jolted slightly, indicating that she was a bit surprised. She turned and scowled when she saw Eren. "What do you want? Be quick, because the noise is killing my eardrums."

"Mikasa is feeling sick. Did you, by chance, bring some meds?" he asked.

"Mikasa is?" Annie cocked a brow, looking almost like she couldn't believe what she had heard. "Sorry, but I don't bring anything other than gastric meds," she said, going as far as showing Eren the content of her bag to prove it. She brought quite a lot of the pills.

"I see. Thanks, though. But wait, you have gastric problems?" Now it's Eren's turn to sound unbelieving.

"What, it's weird?"

"No, it actually makes sense. I always saw you either drinking milk or eating a piece of bread on lunch break. I was wondering if your stomach is okay. Now everything makes sense."

"Are you picking a fight with me?"

Eren laughed. Annie was so easy to provoke, it's sometimes funny. "No, I'm not. By the way, sorry to take your time. I gotta ask the others if they have the meds." Eren stood up.

"Look at how much reliable you've become when Mikasa is vulnerable, onii-chan." Annie smirked. It's been a while since she last used that sarcasm.

"Oh, leave me alone." Eren rolled his eyes and left for the others.

Connie and Sasha was the center of attention, so it was hard to approach them. Eren decided to start asking from Christa and Ymir, who was the farthest spectator out of all the classmates. Christa was handing Ymir some kind of sports drink when Ymir was snacking on some party-sized potato chips by herself. Eren had no idea the tall girl was such a glutton.

"Ymir, you have to drink. You've been eating too much snacks!" Christa scolded. It was true. When Eren approached them, he could see one huge plastic bag filled with empty bags of snacks. It's only been half an hour since their departure, and Ymir had already consumed that much snacks. She could be an even greater glutton than Sasha.

"I didn't have my breakfast this morning, you know. I'm staaarving." Ymir said as she gulped down the sports drink before continuing her snacks.

"You're eating too much. Ah, Eren, what are you doing here?" Christa asked when she spotted Eren approaching their seat.

"Uh… I just want to ask you guys if you bring any meds for motion sickness because Mikasa isn't feeling too well."

Ymir wolf-whistled. "Look at how reliable our Eren is. Mikasa must be crying with joy." She snickered.

"Ymir! Don't tease him!" Christa pouted. "Umm…. Sorry, Eren. I don't have a bad case of motion sickness so I usually just bring some sports drink. If you want, I can give Mikasa some. It can make her feel a bit better," the petite blonde offered kindly.

"I appreciate the feeling." Eren smiled. "I'll try asking the others. If they don't have any meds, I might come back for some sports drink. Thanks, Christa."

"It's alright. Sorry I can't help much." Christa smiled apologetically. "Ymir also only brings gastric medication, so…"

"Gastric mediation?" Just like Annie. Gastric pain was actually quite common, so it was not surprising for some people to bring them. But Ymir didn't look like she was the type to skip meal or eat less. So why would she even need them?

"I know what you're thinking, Eren. You're confused as to why I need them when I eat this much, right?" Ymir said, as if she had read his mind.

"Uh, well…"

"The answer is simple. Because I have a parasite in my body, and it's eating what I have eaten. I can't feel full," Ymir explained with a sour face.

"What? Parasite? Huh?"

"She's talking about worm infestation, Eren…" Christa translated Ymir's ambiguous explanation.

"Oh, I see… You sure talk oddly, Ymir."

"Oh, shut up."

Eren left the two and went to Armin. Eren knew well that the blond didn't have motion sickness. But Armin usually brought various kinds of medicines, so he was worth to ask. Eren approached Armin, who was sitting beside Jean and Marco. They were watching Connie and Sasha's "show".

"Oi, Armin."

"Hm? Oh, Eren. What are you doing? Where's Mikasa?"

"She's still at our seat, half-dead."

"Eh?! H-how? But she was just fine this morning. How could this happen so suddenly? She was… she was—NOOOO! MIKASAAA!" Armin's eyes were teary when he shouted histerically.

"Calm down, Armin! I'm just joking!" Eren snapped. Armin was seriously exaggerating.

"O-oh, I see…"

"What is it, what is it? Is there something wrong with Mikasa?" Sasha asked, popping out of nowhere. Apparently, Armin's loud shout had taken their attention. All of them were looking at Eren.

"Oi, oi, it's only been half an hour but you already did something bad enough to Mikasa to make Armin cry?" Reiner commented, grinning.

"What a guy, Eren!" Connie added, snickering.

"I'm going to murder you…" Jean muttered darkly.

"Can you all just calm the fuck down?" Eren rolled his eyes, groaning. "Oh, now that all your attention is finally on me, I wanna ask if any of you brought meds for motion sickness."

"Nah, I don't have motion sickness, so…" Reiner shrugged.

"I have headache pills!" Sasha said.

"Nobody needs that, stop acting like a retard." Jean hissed. "Anyway, you don't look sick to me." Jean looked at Eren, eyes narrowing.

"Not me. It's Mikasa."

"Mikasa has motion sickness?!" all of them practically asked in unison.

"Is it that much of a surprise?!" Eren retorted.

The crowd shoved Eren to the side and went to the front seat where Mikasa was. They were all wearing a face of disbelief when they saw the genius of their class was holding her stomach, with one of her hands covering her mouth. She was sweating and her face was a bit pale, green even.

"I can't believe it…"

"Mikasa, are you alright?!"

"Seriously? You're not acting, are you?"

"Mikasa has motion sickness!"

"Hey, you want some sports drink?"

"Wanna eat something? You'll feel better if your stomach is filled."

They bombarded her with a mountain of questions. Eren tried to make them stop, because Mikasa looked like she was at her limit. Her face was full of cold sweats, her body bent more than before. And that was when she managed to say one line after being quiet all this time:

"Stop the bus!"

Rivaille, knowing what's happening, made the driver stopped the bus. Very quickly, Mikasa dashed off and went into the forest, followed by Hanji. The classmates in the bus could see from the windows how Hanji stroked Mikasa's back as the raven-haired girl threw up near a pine tree.

When Mikasa was back, all of them were already sitting quietly on their respective seat. As the raven-haired girl weakly threw herself on her seat, she took the sleeping pill Hanji gave her and slowly lulled herself to a deep slumber.

After that, nobody dared to make a voice louder than a whisper.

The inn was your everyday classy wooden lodge not bigger than Christa's mansion. Maybe there were just about five or more rooms in it. The lounge, which took almost one third of the whole building, would be the first thing you see when you march in. A little further in was the receptionist table. Everything inside was pine-colored; from the floors, the walls, until the ceilings. Most of the wooden furnitures were also pine-colored to match the floors, creating a harmony. At both sides of the building, there was a huge glass window which height reached the second floor. From there, the outside view could be seen clearly.

And also at the both sides of the building, there were straircases made of pine woods to access to the second floor. All the rooms were in the second floor. Every room had identical design; consisted of twin beds, a bathroom, a veranda, a TV, a single-door fridge, and a wardrobe.

The seniors were in-charge of leading and organizing the groups. Out of the three seniors, two, Rivaille and Irvin, were tasked to reconfirm the rooms to the receptionist. While Hanji were in-charge of breaking the class into groups of roommates.

"Now," Hanji spoke up. "You are free to choose your roommate. Don't leave anyone behind, okay?" She winked, grinning happily.

Almost immediately, Ymir slung her arm across Christa's shoulder and said, "Of course we're going to be in the same room, aren't we?"

Christa giggled. "Oh well…"

"Hmm… so, we're going to be in the same room?" Eren asked, turning to face his blond friend.

"I guess we're stuck together." Armin smiled.

On the other side, Reiner and Bertholdt were also pairing up. Well, the two of them were practically inseparable, so it was to be expected. The other pair was Jean and Marco, which was also quite expected. But the remaining problem was: Connie was the only guy left with three girls; Mikasa, Annie and Sasha. Mikasa and Annie were literally fighting over Sasha because they didn't want to be in the same room with each other, or worse, with Connie.

At this rate, one of the pairs would be a boy-girl pair. However, it was not the first time an accident of that kind had happened. Similar problems had also emerged in class when they were told to form a two-person group. The outcomes varied. Sometimes they were given lenience and two groups were allowed to be a three-person group. Sometimes one boy-girl group was allowed to form. However, under the current circumstances, it was impossible for the second option to be applied. The only option left was option one.

"I wonder how we're going to deal with this…" Hanji mumbled, rubbing her chin.

An urge to suggest option one emerged inside Eren. He had a bad feeling about leaving things to Hanji. The senior was well-known to be very exotic and crazy at times. He wouldn't want some crazy outcomes forced onto them.

Eren raised a hand. "Senpai, what about allowing three—"

"Oh, I know!" Hanji's fist hit her palm. "Eren and Mikasa are siblings, right? They sleep together all the time—according to Rivaille—so I guess it's fair to let them sleep toge—I mean, be roommates." Hanji showed a toothy grin. "How is that? I personally think it's a genius idea, coming from me!"

At first, the whole class started whispering, but not even five seconds since the whispering session started, Christa frantically raised her hand and literally shouted, "Yes, I agree! I think there is no problem letting siblings sleep toge—I mean, be roommates!"

"Christa! Think it over! Even though we're siblings, this kind of thing is—"

"Oh, what's the harm, Eren? Don't tell me you get aroused from sleeping in the same room with your sister?" Hanji asked, feigning surprise.

The guys were all looking at Eren, except Jean was glaring.

"I-I'm not!" Eren denied, flustered. He quickly turned to Mikasa, who had been quiet up until that point. "Say something, Mikasa!"

Mikasa was desperately looking for something inside her backpack when Eren suddenly elbowed her and asked her to say something. "Uh… what? Say what? About what?" she asked.

Everybody blinked, surprised at how Mikasa could stay oblivious of all the commotion involving herself since a while ago. Mikasa asked to make sure what the problem was, and Hanji kindly filled her in by telling her the story. After Mikasa had grasped the situation, she answered with: "Sure, why not?"

"Mikasa!" Eren couldn't believe she just agreed in a heartbeat.

"You don't like to be in the same room as me, Eren?" Mikasa asked, tilting her head to the side.

"That's not the problem!" Eren snapped. He turned to his blond best friend. "Say something, Armin! This shit is getting more real…"

"Eh? Um… Mikasa doesn't look bothered, so I don't think there's any problem with being roommates?" Armin smiled nervously, scratching his cheek with his index finger. "It's only for three days anyway."

"Not you too…" Eren buried his face in his palm.

After they were done doing the check-in, Rivaille and Irvin returned.

"Okay, brats. Here are the keys. Go to your assigned room and prepare for the first activity. Go wear the thickest clothes you have in your bag." Rivaille narrowed his eyes, his obsidian orbs glinted devilishly. "This is going to be an extreme game."

TO BE CONTINUED

I hope you enjoyed your read. I haven't been writing for a long time so my writing might have gotten rusty. Anyway, there are quite a lot of important hints in this chapter. I wonder how many hints you've caught X3

By the way, I plan to draw a cover for this fanfic by myself, but I suck at coloring so maybe I'll leave it black and white. Oh, and if you want to see my drawings, check it out on my instagram account, yukizuki (underscore) fuyuna

See you again! I hope I can finish the next chapter soon!