Raya's breath came in broken bursts.
Her body felt hollow, drained, like the mark had pulled something out of her.
The boy knelt slowly in front of her.
"You need to breathe."
She glared weakly. "Don't tell me to breathe. Don't tell me anything until you tell me who you are."
His jaw tightened.
He looked away.
"That's complicated."
"So is being attacked by a shadow corpse," she snapped. "Tell me. Your name."
He hesitated—just long enough to make her wonder if he even had a name.
Finally: "Eren."
She repeated it slowly. "Eren."
He nodded.
"But that's not what they call me."
"They?"
He stood, offering her his hand. She didn't take it.
"Who is they, Eren?"
His eyes glowed faintly—silver catching the dim corridor light.
"The ones who marked us."
Raya's blood froze.
"Us?"
Eren touched his own faint mark, fingers trembling with something between fear and anger.
"You think you're alone?" he whispered.
"You think these marks showed up by accident?"
"You think a Revenant just wanders into a school for fun?"
She swallowed hard. "Then… why me?"
His eyes met hers, and for the first time, she saw something like guilt.
"Because you weren't supposed to survive the marking."
Raya's breath stopped.
"What?"
"The others didn
't."
He stepped closer.
"You're the only one who lived."