Armin had no doubt in his mind—this was just a dream.

  He was dreaming, and the Eren and Mikasa before him...

  they were simply illusions, shaped by memory into the forms he most longed to see.

  And that was exactly why…

  he wanted so badly to hold on to their faces, to this moment to etch it into his memory somehow.

  There were no photographs from this time. No drawings. Nothing left behind.

  So when this dream ended, before their faces began to fade,

  he wanted—no, needed—to remember Eren and Mikasa as they were now.

  Once he woke up, he would find a way to write it all down, record everything about this fleeting memory.

  Armin stared at Eren intently, in silence.

  As if he could preserve every breath, every shade of color in those eyes.

  “What? What’s with that look?”

  Eren frowned a little, sensing Armin’s gaze.

  Even then, Armin didn’t say a word.

  He simply raised his hand—gently—and pressed his palm to Eren’s cheek.

  It was warm.

  The heat of his skin, the shape of the bone beneath, the delicate flesh under his eye...

  It was all so vivid.

  He knew this was a dream, and yet— the warmth, the texture... it all felt real.

  So real, it almost hurt.

  It was as if something deep in his chest were being torn apart.

  Mikasa, startled, spoke up.

  “A… Armin?”

  Armin thought

  '

  Eren...

  Even after you died, I thought about you—over and over again.

  I kept wondering if your choice had been the right one… if there could have been another path.

  I asked myself countless times… if it had been me instead—could I have taken that burden, so you wouldn’t have had to?

  Why did you... carry it all alone, without saying a word?

  Why did you choose such an unthinkable genocide…

  and in the end, choose to die at the hands of the one you loved most?

  I always thought that was too cruel.

  To yourself. To all of us.

  And yet, in the end—

  you did it all for us.

  To give us space to breathe in this merciless world…

  To end the Titans. To stop the wars.

  To preserve some peace, at least for as long as we’re still alive…

  You bore every sin and let yourself be killed—by our hands.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I survived the path you carved out.

  And even now, I’m still walking it. '

  He didn’t say a word, but all those emotions

  spilled out through his eyes.

  At first, the tears came quietly.

  Then, all at once, they broke free—

  and they wouldn’t stop.

  His chin trembled, and his shoulders shook ever so slightly.

  Armin couldn’t say a thing. He just cried.

  Eren’s voice came, flustered and confused.

  “A-Armin…? What’s wrong? Are you really sick or something?”

  Mikasa quickly stepped in, her voice filled with concern.

  “Armin… Did you have a bad dream or something?”

  Armin couldn’t even shake his head.

  He couldn’t speak.

  His throat had closed up, and his breath caught in his chest.

  But—

  if Eren was truly standing there before him…

  there was one thing he wanted to say, no matter what.

  Armin took a deep breath,

  then looked straight into Eren’s eyes and opened his mouth.

  “Eren…”

  His voice trembled, and the words kept slipping away at the edges.

  But every bit of his sincerity was there—undiluted, unshaken.

  “Eren…

  Thank you for being my friend.

  Thank you for listening to someone like me, who had nothing special to say.

  And… thank you for saving Mikasa and me.”

  More than anything, Armin hoped—truly hoped—that these words would reach Eren, wherever he might be.

  Just like what he had seen at the Paths,

  even after the body dies, the soul and will do not disappear.

  He didn’t know exactly what a soul was or how the human spirit might remain in the universe after death.

  But he had seen it with his own eyes:

  how the wills of past inheritors, already dead, could be awakened and spoken to.

  How they could fight together, side by side.

  After that, it became clear—

  a human’s consciousness didn’t simply vanish with the death of the body.

  Maybe that was only possible through the Founding Titan’s power.

  And maybe now, with that power gone, it no longer exists.

  But just as Ymir the Founder remained in the Coordinate for thousands of years after death…

  maybe—just maybe—this moment could still reach Eren.

  So Armin spoke,

  pressing every ounce of his heart into the words.

  Swallowing his breath, his tears—everything.

  It was a kind of confession.

  A final thank-you, from the one who survived to the one who was gone—

  words he could only now bring himself to say.

  “I truly hope these words... reach you...”

  At that moment, Eren looked at Armin, his mouth slightly open in disbelief.

  “...Armin...”

  His voice was small, his eyes wide.

  His face showed confusion, and the tips of his fingers trembled just slightly.

  He was completely, utterly bewildered.

  And then there was Mikasa, quietly watching from the side.

  She glanced back and forth between Armin’s face and Eren’s.

  '... Wait a second. What is this atmosphere?'

  From the very beginning, she’d thought Armin was kind of delicate… even pretty.

  But knowing he was a boy , she’d never really thought much of how close he was with Eren.

  But now—this felt too serious.

  Too tender.

  Too…

  Dangerous.

  His words had been quiet, but the feelings he held for Eren were too deep—too intense.

  It was a kind of emotion that even the young Mikasa, without fully understanding it, instinctively sensed she needed to be wary of.

  She’d never once thought of Armin that way—

  but suddenly, a strange sense of threat welled up from within.

  A girl’s intuition, sharp and abrupt.

  ...Wait. Was Armin actually a girl?

  I never actually checked., right? Had he been hiding it all this time…?

  And just this situation, wasn’t that basically a confession?

  Mikasa furrowed her brows slightly and looked at Armin once more.

  His tears had stopped,

  but Armin’s eyes still held emotions too deep for words.

  They seemed calm and yet there was something quietly desperate in them, like a plea that clutched at the heart.

  It was painful, grateful, unbearably tender…

  '...Ugh.'

  Mikasa felt a strange ache in her chest.

  And the words Armin had just spoken—

  they felt like something she should have said to Eren.

  Somehow,

  it felt like Eren was being taken from her.

  Armin... You’re not seriously...

  Mikasa lowered her gaze in silence.

  Then, very quietly, so that no one would notice,

  she clenched her fist, tightly.

  But after I read it again, I’m not really sure .