"Misato, are you trying to sneak out?" Asuka called from the door, eliciting a quiet giggle from Shinji but not interrupting his bento-packing even for a moment.
"Um… no?" Major Misato Katsuragi emerged from her room in her full uniform, her red beret in hand. "I believe the suitcase is in the open", she eyed both the suitcase and the bag in the apartment entry area. "And I told Shin-chan I was leaving?"
"You told
him, but not
me?" Asuka asked in an annoyed tone. "I thought you trusted me!"
"Asuka, I really don't have time for that", the Major sighed. She knew the day ahead of her was going to be filled with unpleasant conversations; Doctor Akagi, never the most pleasant person to work with, has gotten far worse in that regard recently. "I'll be out for four days or so, but Kaji will take care of you two, so don't worry."
"We don't need a
babysitter", Asuka scoffed. "We're responsible people!"
"I'm sure", Misato's eyebrow twitched. "But I'll be sleeping better knowing a responsible
adult is with you most of the time."
"I thought you just said
Kaji-san was watching us?" Shinji chimed in, making Asuka stifle a chuckle. "Here, Asuka, your bento", he handed her a red box. "I think we shouldn't be holding you anymore–"
"Thank you, Shin-chan, I knew I could count on you saving me from oppression", Misato said with a smile and not without some relief in her voice.
"–so please tell us one thing", Asuka picked up, exchanging glances with Shinji and clearly being barely able to contain a rather wry smile. "Namely: when were you going to tell us that Toji Suzuhara was chosen to be a Pilot?"
Major Misato Katsuragi was a military officer with the experience befitting her rank and exceeding what would normally be expected at her age. It made her quick recovery easy – but was not enough to mask the surprise obviously painted on her face. "How did you know? Did he tell you?"
"He didn't", Shinji reassured her immediately. "He's good at keeping secrets. But–"
"We have our sources", Asuka interrupted, her tone suddenly annoyed. "Never underestimate a smart person facing a good mystery. So… why didn't you tell us?"
Misato let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. "I'm sorry", she began; to Asuka's surprise, her tone sounded genuinely apologetic. "I should have. I
was going to tell you once the activation test was done. And don't blame him, he was ordered not to tell anyone."
"The test in Matsushiro, right? And Toji is the pilot?" Shinji asked insistently.
"Yes", Misato confirmed. "This is just another model, quite similar to Unit-02, but we still have to do a test off-site before it can be accepted into our Cages."
"If it's similar to Unit-02, why not take me, then?" Asuka interjected with dismay in her tone.
"Commander's orders… and Doctor Akagi's choice. It's going to be a quick run, nothing really can go wrong, so we wanted to keep you all here, at full combat readiness", Misato explained patiently. "Don't worry. You'll be fighting alongside him in no time. And speaking of the devil, if you don't let me go soon, I'll have to explain myself to Doctor Akagi… and she's going to give me a big helping of her own personal hell."
"Right. What's wrong with her lately, anyway?" Asuka asked as she stepped aside, allowing Misato to put her shoes on.
"I think it's the stress", Misato replied evasively. "She always had a lot of difficult work, right? And recently, she was quite busy."
"I hope she gets better", Shinji said with a worried smile. "Thank you for being honest with us, Misato-san. Please take care… and
please eat regularly while you're there", he added in a more serious tone.
"Yes, yes", she rolled her eyes – but not without a smile on her own. "And you two take care too. And
please make sure
Kaji eats right, will you?"
"Yes, Misato-san", Shinji replied with a chuckle. "And if he asks why I'm doing that, I will tell him it's on your orders."
Misato gave him a surprised, then a confused look – but decide not to comment on that. "See you in a few days!"
***
"Your opinion?" Asuka asked after the door closed behind Misato and the two started to put their shoes on.
"I believe her", Shinji shrugged. "I'm sure NERV ordered Toji to be quiet. I don't like her hiding things from us, sure, but I understand
why she did."
"Well, so do I, I just don't agree with… well. Anything. She didn't even give us any good reason, except 'I was going to do it later'", Asuka pointed out.
"I guess it's the military way?", Shinji suggested. "We are, in a way, her soldiers."
"I don't see any rank emblems on
this uniform", Asuka pointed to the collar of her school uniform. "Do you? And the plugsuits are also suspiciously unranked."
"I don't know, maybe we're too young?" Shinji suggested as he pressed the OPEN button. "Do you have everything?"
"Yes", Asuka confirmed and stepped out. "Too young to have a rank, but not too young to pilot a– what the hell are
you doing here?" she suddenly exclaimed with disgust.
A very out-of-breath Kensuke Aida needed a few long moments to recover. "Is Major Katsuragi still inside?"
"No?" Asuka replied in confusion and growing irritation, suddenly aware that this annoying boy was about to deprive her of a significant chunk of her private time with her own, personal boyfriend. "Why would you need
her for?! Don't you know how she deals with perverts and stalkers?!" she hissed.
"I'm no pervert! And I'm not stalking her! I just wanted to–" Kensuke tried.
"You appear, in the morning, at her door", Asuka pressed on mercilessly. "How do you even know where she lives?! No doubt, you're here to catch her unaware, and hoping she would open the door in the negligée she sleeps in!"
Shinji pondered for a moment whether he should intervene and save his friend from the brutal assault he found himself under – but he decided this was not a good idea for two reasons. First, it meant Asuka's wrath would have to focus on somebody else – most likely, him – and while he could do something like that for someone innocent, he was not
quite sure Asuka was
entirely wrong about Kensuke's motives; it was, after all, quite odd for him to appear here at this time of the day. Second, Kensuke was quite sure to accompany them both on the way to school, making any private conversation impossible and depriving them of an opportunity to hold hands or – as he sometimes dared to – steal kisses on the way. Truth be told, his conscience
was gnawing at him a bit for letting Asuka tear his friend apart – but he silenced it with a certainty that this was not an innocent person suffering here.
"…and I suggest you don't approach her closer than fifty metres, because I saw her shoot ten-out-of-ten at
thirty with her regular handgun", Asuka wrapped a stream of accusations, implications, and threats up. "And if you want to start defending yourself, don't bother", she scoffed at the boy who was definitely not in any condition to defend himself. "Come, Third, we have a bus to catch."
***
About five minutes later
"That was
brutal, Asuka", Shinji whispered as they reached the bus stop; Kensuke was following them, but his steps were slow and shuffling, leaving him well out of earshot.
"Well, yes", she admitted freely. "And? Listen, I know you like this nerd for some reason I cannot fathom… but I don't, and you should appreciate I didn't rough him up for bothering us with his presence."
"Well… you didn't
have to point it all out", Shinji suggested.
"Hey! I didn't burst out the highest calibre, okay?" Asuka scoffed. "He'll recover."
"I'm afraid to ask what
the highest calibre is…" Shinji gave her a worried look.
"If the gorilla was in his place, you'd see it. The highest calibre is for the biggest targets", Asuka explained.
"Um… can we declare Toji a… protected species for now?" Shinji tried. "At least until the whole Piloting business straightens out?"
Asuka pondered for a moment. "Okay, but with a self-defence clause in place", she agreed. A questioning look from Shinji prompted her to elaborate. "If he does something stupid or provokes me, the protection is gone."
"I hope it's not a setup for 'his existence is provocation enough'", Shinji remarked, somewhat bitterly.
"Oh
please", Asuka scoffed. "Sure, his presence is offensive–"
"Asuka…"
"–his behaviour makes actual gorillas ashamed–"
"Asuka…"
"–his face is an insult to the concept of a divine Creator–"
"Asuka!"
"What?" she turned around, with a snarl.
"Where are you going?" Shinji asked, standing a few steps away from her, confusion clear on his face.
"To the bus stop, stu– oh", she stopped herself, realising she was a good dozen steps past it. "You see for yourself: even
thinking of him lowers the IQ of the smartest person in the school! But no, I'm going to hold to that. But not for longer than necessary to sort this crap out", she declared as she walked back to the actual stop, effortlessly ignoring the mentally beaten and morally broken form of Kensuke Aida.
"Thanks", he smiled carefully.
***
The drive to school was an awkward one, as it was fully expected to be; even though Kensuke chose to keep his distance, his presence limited the possible interactions and once again made Shinji's conscience gnaw at him. "I think I should talk to him", Shinji finally began with a low voice once they got off the bus.
"Whom, the nerd? Don't worry, he's used to that", Asuka shrugged, shooting a look at Kensuke, still shuffling a dozen metres behind them. "He'll recover."
"Um… him too, but I was thinking about
Toji", Shinji explained. "Tell him we know, and–"
"Sure, go ahead", Asuka interrupted with a shrug.
"Huh. Okay?" Shinji looked at her with surprise.
"What?" she asked, clearly confused. "What were you expecting, some dumb shit about
the power of friendship? Maybe advice?"
"Actually, some comment about wasting my breath or another remark about his intelligence", Shinji admitted.
"Hey. He's dumb or he's
playing dumb so convincingly that he got
me fooled", Asuka shrugged. "And while I don't like him – or him", she indicated Kensuke with her thumb, "I get that you three are friends. You want to talk, go talk to him, I don't care. Just don't let it dig into your time with me and be home on time to cook for me."
"And soon enough that Kaji-san doesn't complain?"
"Ah. That. He'll come late, anyway, he always does", she shrugged. "And I still don't get why Misato thinks we need a
babysitter, anyway."
"Well, my guess is on the suspicions that we might have… you know.
Did something we shouldn't have done", he suggested with some blush creeping on his face.
"Ah. That", Asuka replied with a similar blush. "I told her this was bullshit!"
"I don't think she believed you", Shinji stated.
"Thank you, Pilot Obvious", Asuka rolled her eyes. "Oh well. Maybe we'll be able to squeeze him for more information? He usually sleeps with you in the room, interrogate him! Use the techniques I taught you, and you'll have everything by the morning!"
Shinji gave her a doubting look; from all he knew about the man, he could be a trained spy, and Shinji already had his opinion about "techniques". Still, he decided that arguing with Asuka was not exactly something he had any desire for right now; Toji weighed too heavily on his mind.
***
Shinji intended to talk to Toji just before the class – but Toji was faster. "Hey, man, why the long face?" he exclaimed, jumped up, and went to intercept Kensuke and give him a close look-over. "What have they done to you? Shin-man, what is this?"
"Well, I went to ask something of Major Katsuragi, and–" Kensuke started.
"Man, you won't let it go, will you?" Toji interrupted with a heavy sigh. "It's a bad idea. A very bad idea. Trust me."
"How would you know?!" Kensuke scoffed. "I'm number one when it comes to enthusiasm!"
"Yeah. Hard to miss. Let it go, man", he said, surprisingly absentmindedly and went towards the door.
"Hey, Suzuhara, where are you going?!" Hikari Horaki called behind him. "Class begins in a minute!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know…" was the only thing that came from behind the door.
Hikari shook her head in disbelief and tried to go after him, only to be stopped by the teacher entering the class which triggered her reflexive "Stand! Bow! Sit!" routine and made it impossible to pursue.
'There goes my chance', Shinji sighed heavily as he exchanged glances with shrugging Asuka.
'I'll catch him on the lunch break, I guess…'
***
A few hours of class, an ineffective ambush at the cafeteria, and a few minutes of thinking like Toji later
"Toji…" Shinji spoke quietly, standing a few metres away from the boy in question.
"Hi, Shin-man", Toji replied without even turning from the railing he was resting against, overseeing the school's courtyard. "Let me guess. You already know."
"Yes", Shinji confirmed and approached a few steps. "We… found out."
"Sorry. I couldn't tell you", Toji said, still not turning. "They made me sign those papers."
"It's okay", Shinji took the last few steps and leaned against the railing next to Toji. "I know how they do things in NERV. They promised you something, right?"
"Heh. Why? You think I wasn't like Kensuke? All eager?" Toji chuckled sadly. "Yeah, not my style. My sister's getting better care", he explained, his eyes still staring into the distance.
Shinji knew he should have said something in reply – but could find no words.
'I'm not good at this', he realised with a mix of sadness and annoyance and defaulted to what he was most used to: "I'm sorry."
"For what?" Toji turned to him with some annoyance on his face. "It wasn't your fault. Now I can defend her myself, right?"
"Not what I–"
"Don't worry", Toji interrupted and turned back to look over the yard. "I'll be fine. Just… don't tell Kensuke, okay? I'll tell him once this is done. He'd go pester the Major again, and she deserves better than being bothered like this."
"Okay", Shinji nodded.
They stood like this for a few long minutes; Shinji was trying to think of something to say – but, to his dismay, could find nothing fitting.
"Shin-man", Toji broke the silence at some point with a small smile on his face, "Ayanami was here. Looking for you, I think. I think she has her eyes for you."
"Ayanami?" Shinji asked in a confused voice. "I don't think she 'has eyes' for anyone."
"I don't know", Toji smiled. "Just a hunch."
"We should go back. I think Class Rep is looking for you", Shinji changed the subject, not knowing what to think of his friend's remarks.
"I'm not going back", Toji shrugged. "Tell them I got called away or something."
"Are you sure?"
"What are they going to do?" Toji chuckled sadly. "Kick me out?"
"Okay", Shinji chuckled. "See you then."
"See you", Toji replied. "Thanks, man", he added after a few moments.
Once more, Shinji was not sure how to reply; he just smiled, trying his best not to be awkward – and left his friend behind to his own thoughts. Contrary to what Asuka might have said about Toji, he had plenty of those.
He just did not like to share them too much.
***
The awkward expression must have stayed on Shinji's face, though, as he was greeted with a questioning look from Asuka; he answered it with a quick nod and sat down with Kensuke to have a quick lunch – and to apologise.
"Hey, idiot", Asuka interrupted their quiet talk not long later. "Don't wait for me, I'm going with Hikari after school."
"Sure", Shinji nodded, wondering whether to point out her earlier remarks about 'dig into his time with her' and eventually deciding it would be too obvious for the listeners. "Just don't be too late, I won't say a word, but…" he trailed off.
"Yeah, I know", Asuka rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, it's
Hikari, I suppose her bedtime is, like, eight. See you at home."
"See you", Shinji confirmed and turned his attention back to Kensuke. "Come on, I know she was cruel to you this morning, but it's not that she has a vendetta against you. Just… don't do this again."
"I know, I know", Kensuke shivered. "I just really wanted to be a Pilot!"
Shinji stifled a sigh. He usually enjoyed those lunch breaks and he did not mind listening to Kensuke's ideas and rants – but this was one of those cases when the boy's enthusiasm was incensed and at the same time, there was no mitigation from Toji's attitude. And so, the lunch break ending sound that echoed across the halls brought only relief, even if it meant the bento remained only half-eaten.
***
Later that evening
"I'm home", Asuka reported as she opened the door and sniffed the air. "Nice smell."
"Welcome home, Asuka. Did you eat already?"
"Nope. Feed me", she demanded as she entered the living room. "Is Kaji here already?"
"He's not, he called and said he's going to be late", Shinji replied as he raised his head from above his homework and got up to start the stove.
"He'd better call if he was going to be
on time, really", Asuka remarked with annoyance in her tone. "Well, more time for us."
"He's like that, this can't be helped", Shinji shrugged with a smile. "How did your talk with Hikari go?"
"You know, this is
exactly what I can't stand with the Japanese thinking, this
can't be helped attitude", Asuka shook her head.
"Can't be helped", Shinji repeated with an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that."
"Ugh", Asuka rolled her eyes. "
Exactly that. Whatever. Hikari just wanted… to talk, I guess. About boys, mostly."
"Um…"
"What? Do you think I'm stupid?" Asuka scoffed. "It was her who did the talking. She thought your gorilla pal was in love with Ayanami."
"Toji? No way", Shinji shook his head.
"So I told her. And then I told her that even if he was, Wondergirl is total crap when it comes to relating to people, so… what's that face?" she furrowed her brow.
"Ah, nothing", Shinji shook his head as he filled Asuka's bowls before putting them in front of her. "Toji told me he thinks Ayanami has 'eyes for me', as he put it."
"Whoa, for him, it's Goethe-level of poetry", Asuka chuckled. "I sure hope you're not going to be trying to test that theory?" she asked with just a hint of a threat in her tone.
"Asuka…" Shinji let out a heavy sigh; absentmindedly, he noticed he had been doing it increasingly often recently.
"What? I'm serious, don't, I don't want to be forced to commit some emotionally-motivated murder", she stated matter-of-factly. "Mm, good stuff. Thanks. Anyway, how did
your talk with the gorilla go?"
"I told him we knew, he asked that I didn't tell Kensuke", Shinji reported. "He's rather at ease with all that."
"That's it?" Asuka asked in disbelief. "You were there for most of the break!"
"Well, part of it was looking for him", Shinji pointed out. "And besides, he's not exactly a talkative type."
"Heh, good for him, because Hikari
is", Asuka said – and her ears immediately went red. "Scheisse."
"What? Oh", realisation suddenly appeared on Shinji's face. "When you said 'boys'…"
"Scheisse", Asuka repeated. "Me and my big… I told you nothing, okay? She'll make me scrub floors daily if she learns I told you."
"I thought she'd
want Toji to know?" Shinji asked, his expression confused.
"Yes, she does, but not in a direct way", Asuka tried to explain. "She wants him to take a hint and take her out, but without telling him directly, so he'd never be
completely certain, just certain enough for him to take a chance."
"Isn't it a bit too complicated? What if he
doesn't take a hint? He's got quite a lot on his mind right now."
"Well, it's
always complicated, right?" Asuka shrugged. "It's not that
we had a very straight path, too."
"Well, yes", Shinji recalled the few confusions he suffered through. "Sorry."
"…and we still have
a few kinks to iron out", Asuka added with a sigh. "Anyway, keep your mouth shut about it."
"I will", Shinji agreed. "Can I count on you keeping quiet to Kensuke?"
"
Please. I don't even talk to him except when I'm ripping him a new one", Asuka shrugged once more.
"And about that…"
"As long as he doesn't appear at our doorstep, or try to stalk me, you, or Misato, or try to take photos without asking first and taking 'no' for an answer–"
"I think he's afraid of you now", Shinji interjected.
"Good. So should be. It's the order of things."
Shinji let out yet another heavy sigh.
'I suppose that's just how Asuka works', he concluded, happy that he understood his girlfriend at least a little bit.
***
About two hours and all the homework later
"Asuka… are you sure about that?" Shinji checked as the girl of his dreams settled in his lap. "Kaji-san can walk in any–"
"Hardly. It's about eight thirty now, he said he wouldn't be before ten, so he'll be here in about an hour. We're safe until then", she declared.
"Wait, he said
ten and–" Shinji protested.
"He's a spy. Or at least he's acting like one. And spies have some funny habits regarding the clock. He explained that to me when we were talking aboard the ship, on my way here", Asuka elaborated. "You know, stuff like 'if you came on time, it means you're horribly late already' and all that. So, my guess is nine-thirty. If you want to be
really safe, then we can pretend to be good kids around nine, but that'd be too much. Besides, I have some practice in hiding on cue, right?"
"Fair point", Shinji relented; his resistance was dwindling anyway in the face of Asuka's hand already locked around his neck and his hands already on her sides, ready to take a little bit more chances.
***
'That's the spirit!' was the remark that the free part of Asuka's mind generated as Shinji unexpectedly dared to move his kisses to her neck instead of going back to her lips after they made a pause in their kissing to draw some breath. She was already happy, even impressed, by the fact that he – granted, awkwardly and clumsily, but in the end, effectively – managed to flip their position and place her on her back and underneath him. Even as fully clothed as they were – assuming 'shirt and shorts' could be called 'fully clothed' – this allowed for far more contact and reassured Asuka that the boy actually listened to her.
'Perhaps I should give him some more sugg-shit!'
Her good mood evaporated within the split second it took her to realise that the
beep she heard was, indeed, from the door. "Stop and drop", she hissed out, "you're the blanket now" she added and accentuated it with a definitely not a very gentle push.
"Ow" was everything Shinji could say as he hit the floor.
'At least I covered you instead of dropping you to the floor…' he complained internally. Still, despite his bitter thoughts, the shock brought him out of his reverie quickly enough to get up and scramble out of the potentially suspicious area before Kaji was even able to remove his shoes.
"Hello, kids!" he called out. "I smell something nice in the air, is there something left for a tired traveller?"
"Good evening, Kaji-san", Shinji managed to say in as collected a voice as he could muster; he hoped that the cold water splashed on his cheeks would reduce the heat he felt – and, as he was quite sure, was treacherously visible on his face. "I saved you some, I hope it'll be enough. Please, come in. Tea?"
"With pleasure", Kaji agreed. "Is Asuka home?"
"Hello, Kaji-san!" Asuka waved from the couch, careful not to show her own face; she was painfully aware that her blush would be far more obvious. She nervously checked her watch and cursed quietly; it showed 21:14, and that meant she failed in her predictions, a fact that filled her with shame. "Don't mind me, I was just taking a nap. Beauty sleep, you know."
"Of course", Kaji chuckled, immediately annoying Asuka with the lack of the obvious 'but why would you need it?' compliment. "So, how you two have been?" he started – and Shinji was happy to pick the conversation up.
***
Less than two hours later
"Are you asleep yet, Kaji-san?"
'There goes my rest and my peace', the man sighed internally. "No, not yet", he replied. Shinji was rarely the one to reach out, and even if it was a long day, rejecting a chance to help him felt wrong.
"How could I know if I'm a good friend?" Shinji asked.
"Well, that came out of nowhere", Kaji replied with a sincere surprise in his voice. "I thought you'd ask about Katsuragi… or Asuka. You two seem to get along a little better than the last time I saw you together?"
"I… don't think so", Shinji tried, happy that Kaji could not see his face. "She's just in a good mood recently", he added; it was, after all the truth, and the fact that he and his actions were the reason for said mood was not very relevant to the case at hand.
"I see", Kaji replied, leaving Shinji unsure whether he believed him or not; the darkness was a double-edged sword, after all. "Why do you think you might not be a good friend? Did you have a fight with your buddies?"
"No… the opposite… I think", Shinji replied, happy to present his nervousness as uncertainty. "I… I went to talk to him, and we just… stood there. Not talking, just looking at the city together."
"Did
he try to talk?"
"No. He just… stood there. And I didn't know what to say."
"It's fine. It was most likely enough", Kaji replied with a smile audible in his tone. "Support is not always advice or help, or even listening. It's the women who talk a lot. Men… are often quiet."
"I see. And how it is when it's a man and a woman?" Shinji continued.
"Then, there's no friendship", Kaji stated firmly. "Men and women are just too different. The character we use for 'she' literally means 'the woman far away'. To us, women will always be on the distant shore. Basically, there's a river dividing men and women, deeper and wider than any ocean", he elaborated.
Shinji could not help but think there was a lot of bitterness in that voice. "I don't understand adults", he let out a sigh.
"People can't understand each other completely", Kaji replied. "Who knows if you can even understand yourself? Of course, that's why we spent so much time trying to understand ourselves… and others. That makes life so interesting."
"And difficult", Shinji added.
"And difficult. But it's worth it", Kaji's tone indicated a smile once more.
"Is it why you're trying to understand Misato-san?" Shinji asked and immediately decided this was, most likely, not his best idea.
"Just like I just said – there's the deepest river between any man and any woman, and the closer you try to get, the deeper it gets", Kaji replied, his tone somewhat surprised, but to Shinji's relief – not offended. "Is this about Asuka, Shinji?"
Shinji, once more, was glad that the darkness hid his reactions; even if his voice could betray him, his suddenly red ears would not. "I don't know how to deal with her, sometimes", he replied evasively but truthfully. "I want to get along with her, but she is… difficult."
"You're very kind with your words, Shinji", Kaji chuckled. "Yes, she is. But this is what makes her the willful woman worth pursuing, isn't it?"
"Just like Misato-san is?" Shinji replied automatically – and realised that this time, he had to hit a nerve. "I'm sorry" he added a moment later.
"Go to sleep, Shinji" came after a few long seconds. "You have school tomorrow", Kaji added.
'And you're asking too many questions', he added quietly.
'I can see Katsuragi's influence on you now… for better or worse.'
***
The moon stood high over the city, and Asuka tried her best not to look at it.
She knew Shinji would do his best in getting the dark secrets out of Kaji; after all, she trained him well and motivated him to do well. She was just worried that Kaji could as easily get
Shinji's secrets – and that would be very bad. On the other hand, it has been almost an hour, and there was no surprised yell; she could even swear there was some soft snoring from the room those two shared.
'Perhaps he succeeded?' she mused.
'Well, I shall learn that tomorrow!' she decided – and having pushed that aside, she could finally fall asleep.
***
The night was dark, and Shinji's head was full of thoughts.
'No friendship… maybe he's right?' he mused with worry and sadness.
'But… it's right there in the English word, right? "Girlfriend", "boyfriend"…' he recalled the words from his English classes.
'Is it different in the West that it is here, or maybe it's just words?'
He wondered whether he should not ask that question – but the soft snoring was telling him that it would be rather a rude thing to wake Kaji-san to help alleviate his doubts. And so he was, as usual, left alone with his issues.
'And I can't even try to take those to Asuka… she's been helpful with many things – and I have to ask her for help before the Math test', he reminded himself,
'but I can't ask her about this! And Kaji-san… I didn't know he was such a pessimist. He's always smiling!'
The night was dark, and the thoughts refused to go, letting him fall asleep only after once more reaching the conclusion he voiced before:
'I just don't understand adults.'
================================================================
And here we are, ready for Bardiel. Who is, of course, coming next chapter.
Since this one is a little bit longer than usual and I am scrambling to wrap up my other, longest fic ever, you can expect the next chapter around late August or early September.
