Chapter Ten: Can You Deal With Asuka, Shinji?

"Dr. Akagi, could you please excuse some of my students and let them sit in on your class for an hour or so?" The man speaking was the Zweite-Einschlag photography instructor, a brown-haired, sharp-dressed man in his late thirties. "If your students have no objections, of course." He looked over the orchestra students, today all in their blue and white weekday uniforms. The violinists and violists, including Alois, sat patiently with their instruments on their laps, practicing stretches of notes with their left hands beside them. The two boys at the first cello stand were rather obviously passing notes back and forth, while the rest of the section sat quietly.

Shinji squirmed a little. He never liked the idea of having his picture taken, but figured he'd a least be safe from this torture because of his position towards the back of the practice chamber. However, what he really didn't like was the idea that these strangers would listen to them play. Photography specialists would have no idea how to appreciate the pieces they played, or understand that they were still unrehearsed and not at their finest. Shinji furrowed his brow in thought. What if their playing was so off-key it turned the visiting students off from classical music? That would be my fault, then, he thought, and what if I mess up and everyone thinks I shouldn't be here? At this school? That I'm not good enough? The half-day before had gone smoothly, but that didn't alleviate his worries...

Dr. Akagi's words interrupted his train of thought. "It is entirely fine, Mr. Isenburg. We're glad to help your students." She turned away from the photography teacher and stepped onto the podium, now facing her own, slightly apprehensive, students. "Business as usual, but pay close attention to your positions. We don't want to look bad." She glared at a slouching third-violinist who took the cue and straighted up hastily. "Polovtsian. From the top." Four dozen instruments rose to match the movement of her baton, eagerly awaiting its downfall to begin.

Two cuts in the air for tempo.

And then, magic.

Light, airy notes floated about the room, drenching the musicians in sound. Shinji had always loved the Polovtsian Dances, as well as the opera it was originally from. He was thrilled to be playing it at Zweite-Einschlag, even though it wouldn't be quite the same without vocals, because after all, it was one dash of familiarity in this aliien environment. Shinji wan't familiar enough with his music to looks away from the notes, but he knew that if he closed his eyes he'd be able to see his mother working at her desk, playing a recording of the opera Prince Igor as she typed furiously on some mystery project.

The mental image troubled him slightly. The woman in the underground base, the one with the beer, she said his mother's research had something to do with God. Did that mean something to do with the Angels? Shinji shuddered, which caused a strange sour note to escape his cello as the bow shook. The Angels. He'd have to fight one tomorrow.

The tempo took on a different rhythm as the first movement finished up. According to Alois, this was the class's main format. A play-through of the song they were working one, not stopping for anything sort of a nuclear explosion, then work on smaller parts, and sometimes small group practice with the each different instrument section. Shinji wondered how this would play out if they had a new piece. Was everyone at this school just so good that they could play anything through on site? The thought intimidated him.

But not as much as the figure who just walked into their class. The fiery hair sent up a warning flag in the back of his mind, and he wandered back to the memories of his first day. It seemed like forever ago, and yet it was only four days.

Shinji and the rest of the cello section propped their right hands on their knees. There was a long rest for them as the violas took the melody for a little bit, giving Alois a chance to lead his section into the next movement.

Shinji looked back over to the door and saw the redheaded girl standing with five other students, three boys and two girls. All held large-lensed cameras. They began to quietly disperse throughout the room, trying not to disturb the musicians. Well, most of them were, at least. The fire-haired girl obviously didn't care about their art as she stormed through the middle of the first violin section to get a better shot. Shinji saw Dr. Akagi give her a correcting glare, and noticed her expression quickly change from anger to exasperation as she rolled her eyes and returned her full attention to conducting. The bright camera flash briefly blinded a few violinists to quickly lost their place in the music, judging by how their bows swerved and now moved at odds with the rest of the section.

Shinji sighed inwardly. At least the girl didn't see or remember him.

It was time for him to play again. It was a short section of crescendos; each line began soft like a bird's call, but with eight hard strokes from the full bow ended with a fortissimo cry of the Valkyries. The pattern repeated for a short while, before a sudden silence.

The red-haired girl looked away from her camera's viewfinder, and locked gazes with Shinji. She was clearly no longer interested in the violins. She began to dodge her way between stands and musicians to reach the cellos.

Alois began a solo on his lower G and C strings, the rest of the section backing him lightly. Normally a baritone singer would have this part. Alois had bragged about his short solo bit to Shinji the night before; apparently he had dueled the first-chair cellist for the right to the part. Shinji asked if Dr. Akagi was the one who judged their playing in the battle, but it turned out that both boys were fencers and Shinji assumed the wrong type of duel. Part of him was greatly amused by this. Strange friends were at least entertaining ones.

When he glanced away from his music he jumped in his seat. The girl was standing tall right next to him, fiddling with her camera settings. Despite her obvious beauty, she had a gargoyle's face. Stony and scowling. High above the rest of humanity, in spirit if not in fact. Shinji did his best to ignore her as he pace of the music picked up. Nerves got to him. Everyone else was so much more familiar with the song. He was struggling, and couldn't help it. He felt terrible. He got lost. Letting his section down by messing up. Did he really deserve to be in the same class as all these geniuses?

"You're off-beat," the girl rasped into his ear, her warm breath stinging at his neck, "Idiot. You're not that good. You don't deserve to be here." Her index finger deliberately punched the shot trigger, capturing Shinji's shocked face in the camera as he turned to her. "What?" she whispered. A wry smirk turned up the corners of her lips, but her eyes remained cold and stony. "You know it's true."

Shinji said nothing, but grimaced and returned to his music. That was how you dealt with these people, right? Don't react. I mustn't run away, he muttered under his breath, I mustn't run away, I mustn't confront, but I mustn't run away. The next few dozen measures were relatively simple. Just normal background providing for the violins. He could sight read this well. He'd show her.

Show her he did. It was perfect. He even threw in a few fancy bowlifts to show off just a little. The girl soon grew aggravated and moved onto other people, seemingly with the goal of distracting the musicians as important to her as getting good shots. Shinji grinned a little. This round, he won. Maybe this little victory forshadowed an actual victory, over the Angel. He really hoped so.

The photography students stayed for around an hour and seemed satisfied when they left. The orchestra spent most of the rest of the day until lunch perfecting the fifth page of the Dances. It was uneventful, successful and... normal.

Shinji liked normal. Normal was a big relief, normal was good. No hidden lairs. No cosmic horrors. No transformation, pocket universes, or hidden passageways. No demonic parrots. He could like this school, maybe. Maybe this place could be good. He clicked his cello case shut and slung it over onto his back. After lunch and free period, at two o'clock, the normal academic classes would start and go until dinner at six. He was still slightly nervous about those. He was sure that geometry would be fine, but was a little uncertain about modern world history and world literature. Given that Zweite-Einschlag was an international school, either of those could have an odd or unexpected curriculum. He at least had two classes with Alois and one each with Mari and Drake, so maybe they could help him catch up a little.

Oh yes, and somehow Kaworu was in every one of his academic classes. It couldn't be coincidental.

Geometry, literature, physics, modern world, computer science, and German. The last one was what gave it away; Shinji knew Kaworu spoke fluent German, because of their first meeting. There was no way he would be in a beginner's class for a language when the school offered seven other options to take. It was beyond suspicious.

"Hey, Shinji! Lunch with us today?" inquired Alois, bounding up to his side.

Shinji wanted to say yes, but had promise Rei and Kaworu he would meet them in a "dress rehearsal" for the next day's fight. "Um. No." Alois looked more than a little disappointed. Shinji desperately tried to correct himself. "I-I mean! I mean I really want to but... but I have to see the Deans!" He was terrible at lying. Alois raised an eyebrow. "Um... first real day with classes and all? See them? Yes?" he squeaked.

The blond boys sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, but whatever you're really doing, just be careful. You're still new here, after all."

"T-thanks."

A female voice shouted from behind them. "Hey! New kid! Wait a second, idiot!"

The two boys froze, and turned to see a certain female photographer had returned. Students cleared to either side of the hall for her. The stride- and it was a stride, no walk could carry such arrogance- was fast and confident, and the placement of her feet made her hips swing back and forth in an arc, the motion only highlighted by her tiny, certainly-not-regulation-length skirt and over-the-knee, bow-adorned socks. But no one questioned her breaches of dress code, or her attitude, or even why she was in the school when she lacked much artistic talent. No one questioned Asuka Langley, the Princess of Zweite-Einschlag, because she just was. And she was very good at being; being spirited, being strong-willed, and being the chairman's daughter, among other things.

"We need to talk, Shinji Ikari," she spat. Flame-colored hair flew around her face as she tossed her head.

Shinji took a cautious step back. "I-I really can't right now, I-"

"You have no choice!" she yelled, jabbing her finger into his chest, "You've bitten off more than you can handle. Kaiji told me all about what you're doing."

Alois was red in the face as he stepped up to defend his friend. "Faut péter dans l'eau pour faire des bulles, Langley. Go away. Don't bother him."

"If I could understand what you just said, I'd probably want to punch you. Brainless idiot."

He scowled. "Le cerveau il etait en option chez toi, Langley. Not me, not Shinji. I may not know what's going on with you and him, but-"

"I don't have a clue what's going on, either!" wailed Shinji, "So please just leave me alone!" He tried to gather his wits and took a few deep breaths. He fists clenched and unclenched. It was a nervous habit he's had since forever. Breathe. In and out. He was better now. "I-I guess I do kind of need to talk to you. Both of you."

Two pairs of eyes widened with mild surprise.

Asuka was the chairman's daughter. She probably had some connection to the Angels and Warriors of Light. Maybe she knew more about the mysterious Evangelion. And Alois... Shinji didn't want to leave his best friend completely in the dark. He didn't want to keep avoiding him, making up excuses. "At dinner," he began, speaking to both of them, "can we talk? I need to go do something. Clear things up. I'm... confused. I'm really confused, and I'm sure I only know a fraction of what's going on right now. But I know... I know that I don't want to make enemies. And I don't want to lose friends. S-so please, can we deal with this later?" he pleaded.

Alois smiled and nodded. Asuka made a small "hmph" sound and stormed off, fiery hair swirling behind her.

"Shinji, 1. Asuka, 0," muttered Alois, chuckling a little. People around them began whispering, trying to guess what had just happened, and why. The boy looked at Shinji with earnest eyes. "And you know what? I don't want to lose friends, either." He smiled and continued walking, leaving Shinji behind. "I'll talk to you later!" he called back.

Shinji felt like, somehow, the right thing had just happened.

After some difficulty in the dark theater corridors, Shinji made his way to Rei and Kaworu's secret room, the room with floating artifacts and no dimensions. As he sat on the fluffy white carpet, he couldn't help but stare up at the screens dancing in the air above them, Rei reading and tending to them as usual. When he looked up, he didn't see a ceiling. Only white. Just like the walls- either there was no surface, or the surface was everywhere. He couldn't tell. Someday he'd have to just keep walking and try to find out how big the room actually was...

Kaworu lay on his stomach on the other end of the carpet, flipping through the pages of three different Evangelions and carefully comparing the passages. Suddenly, Shinji noticed a startled look appear in the boy's red eyes.

"W-what is it?" asked Shinji, now a little worried.

Kaworu shook his head. "Nothing really. Simply... Shamshel may be a little more difficult to fight than I first assumed. We had better practice."

"Shadow," said Rei.

"...excuse me?" prompted Shinji.

"Shadow. He is red shadow. Colorless... red shadow. Furious. Desires. And minions, cherubs. Fighting will be hard."

Shinji was very surprised. Although he didn't understand a word of it, this was the most he had ever heard Rei say at one time. Shinji pulled the loose cello string from his pocket, preparing to transform, when an idea occured to him. "Say, Kaworu?" The silver-haired boy looked up from a last check at the Evangelions' instructions.

"Yes?"

"Um. I was wondering... two things. Well, maybe three." Shinji felt his cheeks grow just a little pink. kaworu tilted his head a little to the side in curiosity. "Well... Rei's fan turns into... metal fans, and my spare string becomes razor wire... stuff. So... how do you have a sword? I mean, it's, like, an actual weapon."

Kaworu grinned a little and removed a fountain pen from is pocket. "The pen is mightier than the sword, ne, Shinji?"

Shinji felt his lips twitch into a slight smile. He had never heard Kaworu use any sort of humor. Even if it was a little lame.

"What else is it that you wanted to ask?"

"Oh. Um. Y-you know Asuka Langley?" he stuttered.

Kaworu's face darkened. "Oh. That girl."

"Y-yeah. Anyway, I wondered if she-" Shinji was interrupted by a screech. He span to see Rei on the floor. Shivering. Clutching her heart.

"Rei!" shouted Kaworu. He rushed to her side. She was gasping a little and moaning. "Rei... Rei, are you okay? Oh, please..." He was terrified. Worried. Something was wrong with Rei. His Rei. "Please..."

The girl shuddered. "Here..." she gasped.

Shinji had no clue what was going on. All he knew was that if Kaworu, calm, stoic, easy-going Kaworu was scared, then something had to be terribly wrong. He didn't know what to do. He just watched the two pale teens, watched to see what would happen.

Kaworu stroked the girl's face with his hand as he tried to help her into a sitting position. "Oh, Rei..." He hugged her body close to his, comforting her and giving support at the same time. His hand made circles on her back, calming her shaking.

"He's... here..." she whispered.

"Who's here, Love?" murmured Kaworu. Shinji had a terrible feeling about this in the pit of his stomach.

"Here..." she squeaked, "Shamshel... is early. We have to go."

End Notes: Finally, I get to write another Angel attack chapter. It's going to be epic. And Asuka... you will be seeing much, much more of her. As of this publishing, the story is now completely outlined to the end. I'm afraid this will be a giant project upon completion. And now that I know what's happening, I'm curious to know what y'all think is going on. So please, review and message with theories and predictions! May the Wild Mass Guessing begin!