Please enter with caution if you cannot handle any heartbreak. Those looking for a consistently thrilling read from start to finish might want to skip this one. Given the world-view and structure of Attack Titan, it's challenging for it to be a pure 'feel-good' story. I will do my best to ensure that the unresolved regrets from the original work find a satisfying conclusion.
Naval cannons roared in unison, the entire shoreline engulfed in artillery fire. Limbs were torn asunder, and screams rose and fell in continuous waves.
A female soldier with long black hair, wearing a red scarf, lunged desperately towards a long blade, passionately kissing it. A tear slipped from her eye, before she was completely swallowed by the smoke of cannon fire... In a magnificent palace, a queen, crowned and radiating an imposing aura, stood at the grand entrance, surrounded by a hundred firearms. The queen ignored the weapons before her, instead gazing into the distance, her eyes filled with a sense of relief. The next second, the hundred firearms opened fire... A man floated in the void, his body covered in electric arcs and dense lightning, like the embodiment of a thunder god. With a soft roar, he unleashed countless bolts of lightning, transforming into a phantom image. All human structures in the vicinity exploded into ruins.
Thousands of towering Titans before him were all shattered. Civilians within tens of kilometers were all pulverized by the sky-filling lightning in despair. A prosperous modern city instantly turned into a dead city, filled with the cries of surviving women and children, and the desperate, resentful wails and roars of surviving youths... "I'm counting on you."
...Kanzaki suddenly opened his eyes, quickly sat up, gasping for air, drenched in sweat. He found himself feeling very disoriented, and his heart had a piercing, agonizing pain.
"Such a realistic scene..." Kanzaki pressed his forehead, trying to recall the fragments of his dream. All that remained was a sense of dread and anger that filled his chest, but the images were already blurry.
Kanzaki's eyes were filled with melancholy; the long nightmare felt like reliving an entire lifetime.
Kanzaki touched the corner of his eye and found it wet with tears. He realized that for some unknown reason, he was experiencing waves of pain.
"Hehe... That damned Hajime Isayama... making me have nightmares..." Kanzaki covered his forehead, feeling a headache.
Kanzaki gradually awoke from his daze, realizing he was in a completely unfamiliar environment.
"Holy crap!" Kanzaki suddenly shot up from a wooden bed.
He was in a somewhat primitive, rustic wooden room. Looking around, besides a small cupboard, there was also a wooden hanger with a pink jacket hanging on it.
As Kanzaki subconsciously pondered, he touched his chin, then abruptly paused, touching it again more carefully. Why was it so smooth?
Where were his pimples? He looked down at himself, stretched out his hand—it was soft and delicate. "Holy crap!" he exclaimed again, leaping off the bed. With a 'bang,' his feet instantly broke through the floorboards, sending splinters flying.
"Alright, not awake yet, I'll go back to sleep." Kanzaki confirmed he hadn't woken up from his dream and prepared to lie back down.
Then he stretched lazily, his hand sliding to the nearby clothes hanger, which snapped directly in half.
Seeing this, Kanzaki punched the wooden floor beneath his feet. The floorboards instantly shattered, his fist striking the bluestone ground.
"Hmm, not bad, it's still a superpower dream, it just hurts a little." Kanzaki nodded, understanding.
Kanzaki looked at his loose school uniform and pants, and his shoes, which were suddenly five sizes too big. Although it was unusual, he was in a dream, so what did it matter?
Just then, the small room's door creaked open, and a pretty little girl first stepped in, revealing half her body, then slowly walked inside.
So cute! Kanzaki's eyes lit up.
This isn't right, is it? How could I have a dream like this? This is a little girl, isn't it?
"You're not hurt, are you? My name is Mikasa Ackerman, and this is my home."
Saying that, she turned and shouted:
"Mom, Dad, the boy is awake!"
Mikasa Ackerman? It seems the after-effects are too strong; I'm having a dream about Attack Titan. Kanzaki couldn't help but show a wry smile.
Kanzaki walked up to Mikasa and carefully examined her small, delicate face, feeling a wave of sadness.
Mikasa blinked her big eyes, not knowing what Kanzaki was going to do.
Her adorable appearance made Kanzaki instinctively reach out and pinch Mikasa's face playfully.
"Ow! That hurts!" Mikasa rubbed her slightly reddened cheek, stepping back, looking at Kanzaki with great grievance and shyness.
Just then, a hearty man entered, glancing at Kanzaki and then at the floor. He had golden hair, deep, rugged features, distinctly European in appearance.
"Little friend, are you alright! My wife, could you get me a first-aid kit?"
"Coming, coming!" Just then, a beautiful Mrs. Ackerman, who bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Mikasa, also entered.
These must be Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman, I suppose. I don't know when I'll wake up from this dream, so I might as well enjoy it.
"Hello, my name is Kanzaki. You can call me Chance, or you can call me Kanzaki." Kanzaki said with a slight smile.
"Little friend, where are your family? Why were you lying alone in the forest? That's very dangerous. Fortunately, Dr. Yeager left us a first-aid kit last time, and it still has some liniment."
With that, Mrs. Ackerman picked up Kanzaki's slightly swollen finger, dabbed it with medicinal wine on cotton, and carefully wiped it. Then Mr. Ackerman picked Kanzaki up and placed him on the bed, and Mrs. Ackerman carefully wiped Kanzaki's entire body, which had no injuries whatsoever.
"You're quite heavy, kid." Mr. Ackerman, who had just carried Kanzaki, said with a laugh.
"That means Kanzaki is very healthy!" Mrs. Ackerman said, covering her mouth with a smile.
"I told you the floorboards in the room need to be replaced! Dr. Yeager will be here soon and he'll laugh at us." She finished, giving Mr. Ackerman a glare.
Mr. Ackerman scratched the back of his head and said honestly, "I've been busy with a few new orders lately, forging iron, and I forgot. I'll go replace them right away." With that, he exited the room.
Just outside the room, Mr. Ackerman's head popped back through the doorway.
"Little Kanzaki, just treat this place as your own home. If you can't find your family, you can consider us your family." He finished, then smiled and ran off.
Kanzaki felt a warmth in his heart upon hearing this. They truly were good people.
"About the floorboards, I'm sorry, I..."
"Oh, it's not your fault at all. They're very old and should have been replaced a long time ago. What matters is that you weren't hurt when you fell. Otherwise, if we had you stay with us to recover and then you got injured, I wouldn't know how to explain it to your family."
Mrs. Ackerman smiled, completely unfazed, while Mikasa watched Kanzaki quietly, her small eyes constantly darting around.
Kanzaki nodded.
Kanzaki looked at the adorable big eyes of eight or nine-year-old Mikasa at this moment and couldn't help but feel a deep sense of emotion.
"Mikasa, you're so cute."
Upon hearing this, Mikasa's face instantly turned as red as a ripe apple.
"Tha... thank you." She lowered her head slightly, not daring to look at Kanzaki, but every now and then, she would shyly glance up at him.
I'm sorry, Mikasa, I can only see you in this dream. I can't change your tragic lives. I'm truly sorry.
"Goodnight, Mikasa." Kanzaki smiled slightly, twisting his finger hard, preparing to wake up.
"Goodnight?" Mikasa was stunned.
"Crack!" A sound of bone breaking echoed.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!"
Three days later.
Am I really transmigrated?!
Kanzaki looked at his bandaged pinky finger, on the verge of tears.
He gradually accepted the world-shattering reality that he had truly transmigrated to Paradis Island, a medieval era without the internet or various flavorings and sauces.
"It's over, only two months until the college entrance exam, I'm doomed. I won't be able to go back, will I? It's over, my life is over, I'm going to be eaten by Titans." Kanzaki, with a titan bandaged pinky finger, huddled in a corner, muttering to himself, as if a dark cloud floated above his head.
On the other side of the wall, Mikasa curiously watched Kanzaki.
"What a strange person." Mikasa felt a peculiar sensation watching Kanzaki, who often talked to himself and liked to break his own fingers for no reason.
"Kanzaki... Kanzaki Gege, let's play hide-and-seek." Mikasa said shyly.
"Hide-and-seek?" Kanzaki was startled.
"Yes! Hide-and-seek. Don't you know how?" Mikasa said.