I'd like to dedicate the author's notes to a true baka, SuPeRnOvA! First off, wtf were you talking about the whole thing with, and I quote: "I don't care that you portray yourself in the Eva world in one of your perverse fantasies, but if you could play the 5th child, then Anno would have asked you to." Secondly, it ISN'T A BIRD, BAKA! THEY OBVIOUSLY WOULDN'T JUST PUT IT OUT IN THE OPEN AND SAY "HEY, LOOK! HERE'S THE NEW EVA!" IT LOOKED LIKE A BIRD UNDER TARP! THIS MEANS THAT SOMETHING WAS TRANSPORTED WITH IT! Bakana kuso.

I'm also thinking of changing the font. What do you think?

One last thing: when something says "E: text" it's said in English, as opposed to Japanese.

With that said, I don't own Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor any other anime, nor do I OWN an Evangelion, nor do I own the Angels. That's up to some guys in Japan. Wait.

The 5th, Maybe

Drake glared at the computer screen. He had made sure that it was what he thought it said. He wasn't exactly perfect when it came to reading Japanese, but he had checked it over several times already. If this girl hadn't figured out that he WAS by now, she shouldn't be piloting an EVA herself. He translated it one last time, just to be sure.

To: DrakeHoffman@Tok3schooldistrict.com From: AsukaSoryu@Tok3schooldistrict.com

Are you the new Eva's pilot?

He mentally sighed and sat up in his chair. He typed in his reply:

Maybe

A new message popped up:

Do you have a high Synch Ratio?

Maybe

Have you had any special training?

Maybe

Have you had any battle experience?

Maybe

Are you a baka?

Maybe

From behind him, he heard Asuka scream in frustration. "KUSOTARE! BAKA! CAN'T YOU ANSWER EVEN ONE OF MY QUESTIONS?!?!?!"

He calmly replied, "I did, though. Check my answers again, they are all correct."

Luckily for Drake, Shinji thought, the bell rang and they were excused for lunch.

Asuka went over to Drake and raised her hand to slap him. His face reddened in the place she hit, but Drake made no attempt to comfort the wound, nor to ask her why. Shinji was surprised to not see steam erupting from Asuka's ears.

"BAKAYARO! WHAT DO YOU MEAN ALL YOUR ANSWERS ARE CORRECT?!?!?!"

"You asked if I was the new Eva's pilot. I am an Eva pilot, but I'm not sure if it's the new one. You then asked me if I have a high Synch Ratio, I don't normally, but there have been spikes. You asked me if I had special training. I had training, but I'm not sure if it was all that special. You asked me if I had any battle experience. I have been in battle, but it wasn't much of an experience. You asked me if I was an idiot, who is someone who has an IQ lower than 25. I don't know, I have never taken an IQ test before. It might be lower than 25. Now, please excuse me, I have lunch to get to," he calmly explained, pulling out a sub sandwich and a small bag of cheese covered tortilla chips, as well as a clear soda bottle filled with blackish brown liquid and a red label, which served to piss Asuka off even more. Luckily, the teacher seemed to notice her being pissed off and asked if anything was wrong. Quick-change Asuka, of course, smiled sweetly and said no, walking off.

Luckily for Drake, though unluckily for Shinji, they didn't have anymore classes with him that day. However, Drake's luck seemed to take a turn for the worse when Asuka walked in ahead of Shinji and screamed. There, sitting on the couch, was Drake. Asuka was about to scream her protests when Drake spoke first.

"I am no happier about this arrangement than you are, but for some reason, Cap'n Crunch felt it was necessary."

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT MY NAME IS NOT CAP'N CRUNCH?! IF YOU DON'T GET IT RIGHT. uh. I'LL KILL YOUR FISH!"

"IF YOU DO THAT, I'LL SUE!" Drake shouted back to wherever Misato was. "Anyways," he started again, "if something like the 7th were to occur again, it would be disastrous, seeing as how it would likely happen on a much larger scale. So, rather than letting disaster happen, Captain Misato- "

"MY NAME ISN'T CAP'N CRUNCH! I'M KILLING YOUR FISH!"

"I DIDN'T CALL YOU CAP'N CRUNCH! Anyways, she thought I should be placed here, seeing as how it would be more likely for me to work well with the two of you if I did."

"Well, that makes since, I suppose." Shinji said.

"NO IT DOESN'T!" Asuka exclaimed. "I DESERVE PRIVACY! YOU TWO ARE SLEEPING IN HERE FROM NOW ON!"

"Nuh-uh, nope, sorry. The sleeping assignment doesn't go like that. You're sleeping with Misato, and Shinji and I are sleeping together, thank goodness."

Shinji, too, seemed relieved about the sleeping arrangements. "Well, I'm going to go work on my homework. See ya!"

"I'm going to feed my Bettas!" Drake said. Both he and Shinji left so quickly, Asuka couldn't protest the sleeping arrangement to them, so she went off to find Misato.

"Hey, Drake?" Shinji said.

"Yes?" Drake asked as he carefully washed some worms.

"Why do you pilot your EVA?"

Drake sighed as he put his work down. "I pilot it partly because I would not entrust anyone else to do it. If I let someone else, they may not be as inclined to protect my EVA as I am, so."

"I see. Is your EVA really a bird?"

"What? Where did you hear that?"

"Ayanami said that your EVA looks like a bird."

"Ah! I see! What Rei meant is that it looked like a bird under the tarp. In reality, it looks much like any other EVA, it just came with a large steel kite type object."

"Why?"

"Well, we are worried that an Angel might show up that can fly too high for us to attack. My EVA comes with minor flight capabilities. We didn't have time to install anything big, so it just flaps that big ol' metal kite and it flies up."

Shinji and Drake both worked in silence for a while. Luckily for them, Asuka obviously didn't feel like barging in and complaining up a storm. A couple of times, Shinji looked over to see Drake inspecting bubbles that seemed to be at the tops of half the tanks. After a while, Drake took the divider that Asuka had put up for privacy and closed himself off. Shinji heard some technical noises and realized that Drake must have a computer. Why he would need privacy to use a computer, Shinji had no idea, but continued to work on his homework. He would have finished sooner, but his mind kept bugging him.

Can I really trust him? I didn't even know a new EVA was coming in! And that's not to mention the fact that this kid is FREAKY! ::mental sigh:: I guess I don't have a choice. But I still think that he's hiding something from me.

It's just too bad that Shinji Ikari could have discovered EXACTLY what was wrong if he were to remove the screen at that moment. Unfortunately, he didn't.

Even though none of you love me, I decided to post this anyway. I hope you *don't* enjoy it, and I hope that there will be SOME arguing as to whether or not to come to my house and kill me over Drake, the American.