/KiKi Ichibanya, Outskirts of Hakone Academy/
As the sun dipped below the horizon, and night fell across Tokyo-3, Shinji was enjoying dinner with friends, sitting at a circular table with Mayumi, Hikari, Kensuke, Toji, and Kaworu, in that order. It wasn't long before Shinji began to feel a strange yet familiar sensation, akin to sonar pinging off of an approaching beast of the deep blue sea. This bore fruit in short order: right as their orders came back, Rei and Asuka walked in, looking somewhat tired...albeit in a triumphant sort of way, at least as far as the Second Child went.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e41kuRsXKuw
Shinji, unfortunately, opened up with the worst possible question. "
Back before school, huh?"
Asuka's expression morphed into an irritated glare in an instant. "
Willst du das wiederholen?"
Why did I say that, he briefly thought with a grimace.
Fortunately, his proverbial bros came to the rescue before he could apologize. "Sounds like she made a bet about how long it would take to do her mission," joked Kensuke, adjusting his glasses in a jokingly ominous way.
"Sounds like she shouldn't cash checks her mouth can't write," snarked Toji, audibly slurping his curry noodles into his mouth.
"It's '
write checks her mouth can't
cash'," impulsively corrected Hikari.
Toji blustered, "You get what I mean!"
"...y'all can bite me," groused Asuka, pulling up a chair to plop herself down between Mayumi and Hikari. "Where's Mana?"
"She's working late with Katsuragi, apparently," answered Mayumi.
"Hmm." As Rei took a seat between Shinji and Mayumi, Asuka's eyes glared at Kaworu, nestled between Toji and Shinji. "Why is
he here?"
"Am I not allowed to partake in outings with my roommates, Asuka-chan?" remarked Kaworu with a genuine grin.
Asuka's retort was instinctive. "
Don't call me 'chan', you pervert."
"People always call me that, yet they always seem to sputter with disbelief when I ask them for proof of my alleged depravity," he nonchalantly said.
"That's because most students can't believe you can say that with a straight face," said Hikari with a tired expression. "Just ignore him, Sohryu-san. You'll become inured to his wordplay eventually..."
Kaworu sniffed, as one honestly offended. "Are you accusing me of being a playboy, Hikari-chan? I'm nothing but unfailingly honest with my intentions~"
Asuka looked utterly bewildered and repulsed. "You
disgust me."
"He's heard worse," chorused Kensuke and Toji.
Huffing, Asuka grabbed her menu and looked it over. "I want something with a lot of meat."
Shinji instinctively covered Kaworu's mouth with his hand before the boy could talk.
Is it sad that I'm able to predict that...? Without warning, something slimy brushed against his palm; he yelped with disbelief, yanking his hand away. "Did...did you just
lick me?!"
"You shouldn't put your hand on someone else's mouth, Shinji-kun," casually remarked Kaworu. "Some might accuse you of being rude."
(Mayumi and Hikari both hung their heads in utter disbelief at his audacity.)
"Says the guy who literally just licked his hand," grumbled Toji.
"I do not 'lick', Toji-kun," huffed Kaworu, sounding offended by the thought.
"
Spare us whatever perverted word you happen to prefer," growled Asuka, looking one more innuendo away from throttling him.
(Rei finally pinched the bridge of her nose, betraying just a
hint of frustration. Even her legendary stoicism had limits.)
Kaworu smiled, shifting his gaze back towards Asuka. "You seem to be quite the hothead, Asuka-chan; a passionate sort, eager for an outlet to relieve your stress..."
"If you say
anything like what I
think you're about to say-"
Asuka's threatening snarl was swiftly interrupted. "Are you aware of the Boxing Club? I'm a member."
Shinji blanched.
He's not suggesting...?
Asuka, far from bewildered, looked
intrigued. "You saying I'd be able to slug you in the face...and
nobody would get mad at me?"
"If you can~" slyly taunted Kaworu.
Before anyone else could stop this potential trainwreck, Asuka gleefully directed the proverbial tracks to her person. "Then sign me up!"
(Rei briefly looked at Kaworu with alarm, her face quickly settling into a stony mask.)
"It'll have to be next week," remarked Kaworu, uncaring for how the others were looking at him with disbelief. "All of the after-school clubs don't start back up until after the next
New Moon."
"As if a measly Angel would stop me from giving you your comeuppance!"
Asuka's boisterousness simply made Kaworu chuckle. "I look forward to it." Sipping at the last of the broth from his bowl of stew, Kaworu rose from the table. "I'll be right back," he said, heading for the restrooms.
In the brief lull of conversation, Hikari cleared her throat. "So...that was...
something..."
"Should I sell tickets?" joked Toji.
"SUZUHARA," hissed Hikari.
"Come on, Class Rep! With Nagisa's reputation, a lot of people would line up to see him get knocked in the kisser," griped Toji.
Asuka snorted, finally putting in her order. "I should've figured something was up after
nobody reacted when I slapped him the other day. Means I'll have even
less of a guilty conscience."
"You don't sound like you would feel guilty at all," observed Kensuke.
"Exactly." Asuka finally looked in Shinji's direction, only to frown. "What, you afraid for the pervert's life? I'll just bruise him."
"...it's not that," murmured Shinji, recalling a particular incident that was all too infamous as far as his own reputation was concerned. However, the bit that had gone unreported — whether it be from duplicitous editing or something else — was what had happened
after his infamous 'Yakuza Fight Club' incident. "Nagisa-kun...shouldn't be taken lightly."
Asuka audibly scoffed; although Hikari and Mayumi seemed confused, both Kensuke and Toji seemed to realize his implication. "Oh yeah...you said that Nagisa's the one who sprung you from that fight club," murmured Suzuhara with trepidation.
When Asuka looked back at him with confusion, Shinji elaborated, "It wasn't publicly made known...but after the footage ended of my fight with Sho Minazuki-"
"Oh yeah, I remember watching that," said Asuka in an offhand manner. "He made you look like a punkass weakling."
"...
as I was saying," continued Shinji, briefly inhaling to get himself back on track, "What most don't know is that I was saved by Nagisa-kun."
Mayumi blinked, finally recalling the various conversations that had been had following the fallout from the Olympics disaster in early August; Hikari, meanwhile, blanched with shock. "I know you said he was the reason you were even at that fight club to begin with...but he managed to defeat someone you couldn't?
How?"
"You think he might be an A.T. Adept of some kind?" wondered Kensuke.
Shinji shrugged. "Maybe? I can't really remember the details." After Sho had put him through the ringer during their first encounter, recalling exactly what Kaworu had done to the redheaded berserker was difficult. "All I remember is that...well, he made it look effortless."
"...wonder if anyone ever talked to him about that after the fact," grumbled Toji. "Seems like he'd be a handy trump card if he could pull
that off."
"I'm not sure," admitted Shinji. "He was on the bus back to Tokyo-3 with his club before anyone could talk to him about it...then right after the Olympics, there was the incident with the Kuchisake-onna..."
("The coochy-
what now?" wondered Asuka under her breath.)
"...then immediately after that was the Angel battle with Armisael...and then a lot of
other things..." As Shinji trailed off, Kensuke, Toji, and Mayumi all winced in sympathy. "...August was a busy month."
Hikari looked at them with a somewhat haunted expression; Asuka, meanwhile, seemed to be rather
pleased by this turn of events. "Well, if he's as tough as
you make him out to be, I won't have to worry about knocking his block off."
"Such a violent girl," murmured Kensuke.
"A real gorilla girl," agreed Toji.
"I can
hear you," griped Asuka.
"Then maybe I should call you a 'red devil' then?" taunted Toji.
Asuka theatrically pointed her chopsticks in Suzuhara's direction, holding them like daggers. "I can find out where you sleep, you know."
"..."
"That's what I thought." Asuka sighed, sinking back into her chair. "Geez, First, I have
no idea how you put up with all of this..." When she didn't get an answer, Asuka looked to her right, only to blink. "Where'd she go?"
It was only then that Shinji and Mayumi realized, with startled expressions, that the blunette who had been sitting between them was gone. "Uh..."
"
Man, she can be quiet when she wants to be," observed Kensuke, punctuating his words with another bite into his curry kebab.
xx
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRxM9_CcD30
In the hallway leading to the restrooms, Rei Ayanami waited patiently. When Kaworu Nagisa stepped out of the men's restroom, she wasted no time. "What are you planning?"
"Planning?" echoed Kaworu with a strange expression: not quite a smile, but not quite apathetic either. "
Planning is how things go wrong," he quipped.
"...I've kept a distance out of respect for our prior struggles," she said diplomatically. "But I won't allow you to endanger things."
Kaworu chuckled. It was a strangely ominous sound. "Ayanami-san...the Second Child has no need to fear me. What purpose would there be in unduly harming her? If anything, she's in more danger from whoever will rise to face her during the New Moon. This whole little escapade of ours will be a mere sideshow."
"Then why pursue it?"
"Why indeed? Only time will tell if it'll bear fruit. Will it be at cross purposes with your work, or the work of our erstwhile allies? Who is to say..." Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he added, "I'll tell them you threatened me with vigorous bodily harm. I might as well ensure your reputation remains unsullied, after all..."
Rei watched him depart, unsure what to make of his behavior or actions. As sad as it was to admit, she lacked the time to
worry about him, compared to other threats.
Kaworu Nagisa...what is your ultimate endgame? Only mutual respect born from countless timelines' worth of shared suffering kept her from prying further.
I hope that you know what you're doing...
xxxx
END OF 9/8/2015
xxxx
I get the feeling when Asuka learns that Kaworu is in the boxing club, she will use him as a punching bag I mean sparring partner.
/oh hey look who saw it coming
)
