Humanity's Butterfly

Chapter 20

She wasn't sure where Levi had disappeared following that night with the wisteria flowers. By the time she had entered the medical bay and into her space, there were some wisteria flowers placed on her desk as if seeking her attention. She had known who it was who sent her favorite flowers as she found herself staring at the closed door in anticipation for the past few days, half expecting him to find her, but he never came.

Sunako must admit that she was glad at the very least. This gave her time to sort her thoughts and bring back her sense of control over her emotions. She had been going back and forth between the medical bay, Hange's office, and the cabin, and whenever anyone tried to bring him, Sunako would immediately change the subject before they could get a word in.

Her mind and her heart seemed to have brought an inner conflict to her. When she set her mind on something, her heart said another. It's as if there's a war raging within her between what's logical and what she truly feels. She tried, many times, to convince herself that she was nothing but his subordinate, his second-in-command, and that there was nothing between them. And yet, despite how much she buried herself into her work, how she tried to bury her feelings of love towards him, she found her mind slipping back to him.

She didn't know what had gotten into Levi, nor could she comprehend what he wanted with her. She had then put aside and stopped believing that they'll ever be something more than Captain and subordinate, and yet his actions only told her a different story.

That maybe, just maybe, Levi wanted her too.

And this small contradicting thought frustrated her to some extent.

Unable to reach a proper conclusion, Sunako stubbornly carried on with her life normally— or normally as she could muster, for she tried to put the matter at bay in the back of her mind.

Fortunately, she has something that may keep her mind occupied from thinking about him for a moment. She put on her hood to keep her from attracting unnecessary attention. She was unfortunate that her cat mask is destroyed so she settled to cover her face with a scarf. Without anyone noticing that she was gone, she summoned two clones in her stead and instructed one to act like her until she comes back while the other to patrol the area around them just in case as she disappeared without a trace.

She decided to go to Trost on foot and not bring Izanami with her since she is sure that her squad may notice that her horse is missing and that would blow her cover.

It didn't take long for her to arrive in Trost as she maneuvered around the district easily without anyone spotting her or even taking a glance at her. Of course, thanks to her shinobi training and experience, she was able to get by from unsuspecting eyes as she arrive at the back of the herbalist's shop. Her onyx eyes observed her surroundings with a critical as she hid in the shadows and waited for the herbalist that she contacted.

With the circumstances happening with the Scout Regiment and the medical bay running low on supplies, she has no other choice but to act in caution in order to not get caught by the government. And so, she arranged a secret meeting with the herbalist that she manage to contact to stock up on medicinal herbs until the dust has settled.

A middle-aged man wearing glasses came to the back of his store, carrying pouches that contain different kinds of herbs as he looks around. Sunako recognized the man being the herbalist she contacted as she decided to make her presence known.

"Mr. Friedrich Plesner?"

Friedrich was startled at first before he calmed down after Sunako showed herself to the herbalist, pulling the scarf from her face but not the hood. He was a relative of Moritz, her personal blacksmith when she needed him to make her weapons. It was actually Moritz who connected her to Friedrich. Her first impression of Friedrich is that he's very soft-spoken and timid but he's also passionate when it comes to his occupation handling herbs like how Moritz is passionate about the weapons and tools he makes.