Creak.
Grisha gently pushed the door open. Eren peeked inside from behind him, while Mikasa stood beside them with a worried expression.
"You're awake, Jax. It looks like you're recovering well," Grisha said with a nod. "Do you want something to eat?"
"Jax, drink some water." Mikasa stepped forward and handed me the cup she was holding.
"Thanks."
I took the cup and drank the water in a few quick swallows. After returning it to her, I turned toward Grisha.
"Of course. I'm starving."
A few minutes later, the four of us sat at the dining table eating lunch. Grisha, Eren, and Mikasa clearly had many questions for me, but because of my injuries they chose to stay quiet. The atmosphere around the table was unusually subdued.
After the meal, Grisha forced Eren back to his room to take a nap. I also convinced Mikasa to return to her room and rest. Grisha remained behind, claiming he needed to check on the condition of my wound.
The two of us sat across from each other at the table in silence. After a long pause, Grisha finally spoke.
"Jax, I wanted to ask... how did you deal with Skog? After all, he was..."
"I fed him to the wolves," I said calmly.
"Huh?"
Grisha blinked in surprise.
"He... was just fed to the wolves?"
"Everyone has to pay the price for their actions," I replied. "What he did to my family deserved a price. That was his."
I stood up and glanced at Grisha, who still looked stunned.
"If there's nothing else, I'll return to my room."
Grisha said nothing, silently watching as I left.
I stepped into the hallway between the rooms and paused for a moment. Then I walked over and knocked on Mikasa's door.
"Who is it?" Mikasa's voice came from inside.
"It's me. Can I come in?"
The room went quiet for a moment. Then the door opened, and Mikasa immediately rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me.
"Jax, you lied to me," she said tearfully. "You said you were just going out to handle something."
"I really was handling something," I replied while gently rubbing her head. "There were just a few complications."
Mikasa clearly did not believe me. She raised her fists and struck my chest several times.
"Liar. Who gets injured like this just handling something?"
"It's alright." I held her head with one hand and lightly pinched her cheek with the other. "Everything is over now. I came back safely, didn't I?"
Mikasa huffed softly, grabbed my hand, and pulled me inside the room before closing the door.
"Jax, stay with me. Don't leave," she said seriously.
"Alright. I'll stay."
I rubbed her head again.
"Go to sleep. I'll sit here and won't go anywhere."
After a little coaxing, Mikasa finally drifted off to sleep. I sat alone in the chair beside the bed, quietly thinking about the road ahead.
Until now, I had been avoiding things. I waited for events to happen before reacting instead of taking action first and eliminating danger early.
Hank and Yato were dead because of that.
"What exactly am I running from?" I muttered while staring at my hands.
Was I afraid that another tragedy like that Incident would happen again? Or was I afraid of dying?
As memories of everything I had done since arriving in this world surfaced, my fists slowly tightened.
Since joining Mikasa's family, what had I actually done?
I had not tried to find any information about my good brother Renn. I had not used my knowledge of the future to prepare for what was coming or uncover hidden truths. Instead, I spent my days immersed in a fragile and temporary peace, pretending that nothing would change.
When had I become this weak?
I closed my eyes and spoke quietly to myself.
"I can't keep living like this."
I opened my eyes again, my thoughts finally clear.
"I have to take the initiative."
At the very least, I had to protect Mikasa.