Misato stood in front of her bedroom closet, deep in thought.

"Now where's my butt?" she muttered.

"What are you looking for?" asked Makoto, who sat on the side of her bed.

"My butt," said Misato. She paused. "Oh, you know what? I gave it to Shinji."

"What?"

"Oh, and he gave it back to me earlier, and I threw it somewhere." Misato paused in thought, then walked over to the head of her bed, reached under her balled-up blanket, and pulled out a fleshy fake butt. She frowned. "Shinji put a hole in my butt." She dangled the fake butt toward Makoto.

"Oh, I see. Uh, Major Katsuragi, I think we'll be fine without, um, prosthetics."

"You don't have to call me 'Major', Makoto. We're well past the point of formalities."

Makoto stood up and smiled. "Would you prefer to be called, 'My Queen'?"

"That's not bad," said Misato. She walked toward Makoto. "But the Queen requests a favor from her Prince." She smiled.

"Oh, anything for my Queen."

"Could you pose as a student at Shinji's high school and see what he and Kaworu are up to?"

"Ha ha ha."

"We need to know if the situation with Kaworu is at risk of destabilizing."

"Oh, you're serious," said Makoto. "Major- I mean, My Queen, wouldn't he recognize me from NERV?"

"Relax. Shinji's way too oblivious. You'll be fine."

Makoto sighed. "My Queen, there's just no way students are going to think I'm a teenager."

Misato paused. "Well, not looking like that..."

The next morning, just before class, Makoto approached the Second Impact classroom. He was dressed as a goth in a big black trench coat, black lipstick, black fingernails, and white makeup. As he entered the classroom, he got shoved by a student chasing another student into the classroom. Makoto stumbled, recovered his balance, stood up, surveyed the classroom, and walked over to an empty desk near the back. He stepped on his coat and nearly tripped again, but caught his balance and sat at the open desk.

Once everyone was seated, the Second Impact teacher began. "Good morning, class. To continue what we discussed yesterday..." The teacher stared at Makoto, who looked away. The teacher blinked and shook his head. "I think I'm seeing that ghost again. But no matter. Anyway, as we discussed yesterday, the horror of the Second Impact affected everyone, and your textbooks have detailed first-hand accounts of the tsunamis, starvation, radiation poisoning, disease, breakdowns of governments and society, and even cannibalism. Yes, cannibalism. I can tell you that, when you have no food but all the barbeque sauce that you could dream of, you start to go a little bit crazy." The teacher stared out the window, lost in thought. "I could really go for some Chinese right now. But anyway, everyone should pair up and pick a passage in your textbook to summarize and present to the rest of the class."

Everyone moved around. Makoto saw that Shinji and Kaworu paired up quickly, and he tried to find a seat near them so he could overhear their conversation. By the time he did so, almost everyone else had found a partner.

"Does everyone have a partner?" the Second Impact teacher asked.

"Well, I-" said Makoto.

Asuka plopped down in a chair across from him.

"Good, looks like everyone's all set," said the teacher.

"Hello, Makoto," said Asuka.

"Oh, I'm not Makoto," said Makoto. "I'm, um..." Makoto tried to think of another Japanese name. "I'm Shinjo. Shinjo Abe." [Due to an accident involving the Dirac Sea, Abe was the Prime Minister of Japan in every possible timeline.]

Asuka just stared at him. "You mean 'Shinzo'?"

"Right, that's what I meant."

"Okay, Shinzo. I'm Asuka. Nice to meet you for the first time ever."

"Nice to meet you. Maybe we should get started on the assignment." Makoto skimmed through pages of the Second Impact textbook. Memories of repressed trauma came back to him. Oh, God, I'm in high school again, he thought.

"Hey Shinzo. Knock knock."

"Uh, who's there."

"The Second Impact."

Makoto sighed. "The Second Impact who?"

"You said you'd never forget!"

"Asuka, this is in really bad taste."

"Oh, lighten up. You're a teenager, right? It's not like you actually lived through it or anything."

"Look, Asuka, I'm going to let you in on a secret. I'm actually an adult."

"Gasp!"

"You have no idea how crazy things got around the time of the Second Impact. I mean, I remember when I was a kid, after the national government collapsed, a Great Dane became mayor of my town."

"So? What do you have against the Danes?"

"I'm talking about a dog."

"Oh."

"Anyway," said Makoto as he glanced over at Shinji and Kaworu, "Misato asked me to keep tabs on them, see what's up. You don't happen to know why Kaworu's here, do you?"

"Well, Shinji would hate it if I told you." Asuka stretched out her arms, cracking her knuckles, then leaned in. "So Shinji told Kaworu that he kissed both Touji and Kensuke. He was joking about Kensuke, but Kaworu doesn't know that. Kaworu still doesn't know that Kensuke moved to another school district."

"Uh huh. And who's Kensuke?"

"He's a friend of Shinji's."

"Okay. And who's Touji?"

"He's also a friend of Shinji's. Boy, you've really done your research!"

"Wait, Shinji has friends?"

"Shut up, I have more stuff to tell you. Okay, so when Shinji went on that trip to the hot spring, Kaworu snuck into the female section with a really hot girl. Shinji's been really suspicious of Kaworu ever since."

Makoto saw Kaworu get a bathroom pass from the teacher, then exit the room.

"Sorry, Asuka, but I have to go now," said Makoto.

"Fine," said Asuka, arms crossed. "Leave me here to do all the work."

Makoto ran out of the room, and followed Kaworu into the bathroom. They both used a urinal, and then went to adjacent sinks to wash their hands.

"Hey, Kaworu."

"Hello, Makoto."

"Uh, I'm- my name isn't 'Makoto', it's Shinjo, I mean, Shinzo." Makoto pressed the soap dispenser and was annoyed to find the soap was a rough powder.

"I find the Lilin's propensity for multiple identities to be quite curious."

"Uh, thank you." Makoto decided to get straight to the point. "So, you're an angel, right? Why are you enrolled in high school? Seems kinda weird."

Kaworu glared at Makoto, then spoke. "First, I want to spend more time with Shinji. I feel like I was born just so I could know him."

"Aw, that's adorable," said Makoto. He smiled, and Kaworu grinned as well before continuing.

"Second, I want to find Kensuke Aida and end him."

Kensuke pursed his lips. "Uh, I'm not sure he goes to this school."

Kaworu paused. "Yes, he does."

"No, I'm almost certain he goes to another school district."

Kaworu didn't respond.

"You must have seen him by now if he, you know, attended here."

"Regardless, I should return to the classroom in order to complete the assignment."

"I'll see you soon." Makoto waved as Kaworu left the bathroom. Probably should've asked him not to murder Kensuke,thought Makoto. Oh, well.

Makoto stayed in the bathroom for several minutes more, undecided if he should return to the classroom or just call it a day and leave school forever for the second time.

Suddenly, Shinji bolted into the restroom and headed for a urinal. Makoto waited by the sinks. Once Shinji was done, he went to a sink to wash his hands.

"Hey, Shinji," said Makoto. "Recognize me?"

Shinji turned toward Makoto. "Uh, no. Why are you dressed like that?"

"I'm a goth."

"What's a goth?"

"It's a style of- You know what? It doesn't matter."

"Are you a new student?" Shinji asked as he washed his hands.

"Yeah, but I've already heard a lot about you. You're dating Kaworu, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"How's it going?"

"It's going pretty well." Shinji got some brown paper towels from a dispenser and dried his hands.

Makoto decided to get to the point before Shinji left the bathroom. "I heard about you guys and the hot springs resort? Something about Kaworu meeting a girl?"

Shinji paused. "I'm sorry, but that's not really any of your concern."

Makoto felt bad about prying, but he felt like he should test Shinji so he could return to Misato with useful information about Shinji and Kaworu's relationship. "I mean, most guys would get upset. It would be pretty understandable to get upset, you know, when the guy you're dating runs off with a girl. God knows what they were doing at that hot spring. Shit happens when you party naked."

Shinji froze in place and stared off in the distance.

What's he doing? thought Makoto. Is he going to yell at me? Is he going to cry?

Shinji then ran into a bathroom stall and closed the door. Makoto listened intently for the sounds of sobs, but heard sexual grunts instead. Fuck this shit, I'm done, thought Makoto, and he walked out the door, being careful not to trip on his trench coat.