Chapter 3: Asuka Strikes!

Shinji woke up early this time and sat on the floor to get some hours of study for the laboratory class. He had taken biology during high school, but this was the first time he had to take two separate courses for the same subject.

He looked at his phone. 8:00 a.m.

Only thirty minutes for the class. Shinji submerged himself into his phone, where he continued reading his PDF version of the book for the course, becoming oblivious of his surroundings.

His surrounding suddenly became a little darker. Did someone turn the lights off?

As he began to look up to where his problem was, he saw someone who, funnily enough, made him feel a sense of Deja Vu. In front of him was a girl with short red hair, wearing some dark blue jeans, a white shirt, and a red jacket. She also looked at him as if he did something wrong, though her angriness turned into a forced smile. "Guten Tag, I am Asuka Langley Soryu; you must be the other group member." She extended an arm.

Shinji slowly got up and shook her hand. "Shinji Ikari." He noticed a girl behind her. "Is she with you?"

She had a yellow tank top and broken jeans with long brunette hair, green eyes, and red glasses. "If I am with her?" the unknown girl responded in a silvery voice, "depends on who is asking."

She began to laugh, making Asuka blush with embarrassment. "Mari Makinami Illustrious or you can just call me Mari."

Shinji smiled. "That accent, your British?"

"That's right, and I say you are looking quite colonizable." She said with a more sensual tone, making Shinji nervous.

"Mari!" Asuka exclaimed, full-on red.

Mari began to laugh. "I am just messing with him." The students started to enter the classroom. "Let's head inside, shall we."

Mari walked through, and as Shinji walked, Asuka went in, rapidly bumping him. No manners, my God.

They all sat at their table and listened to the professor speak. Shinji wrote in his notebook lazily, closing it after a few sentences. He turned to his side; he saw Mari writing some sentences before closing her notebook and taking out her phone, while Asuka seemed to be only listening.

Shinji kept looking at her.

"Watching girls, aren't we, Mr. Ikari."

The professor made Shinji snap back to reality. Some snickers were thrown about the room, one of them being from Asuka.

"Alright, who can tell me what the definition of biology is."

Shinji saw as the redhead raised her arm. "Yes, Mrs. Soryu?"

"It's the study of living beings."

"That's right, and that study includes all living creatures…." The professor trailed on, and Shinji kept listening. He placed his head on the table and kept looking at the class, stealing glances at Asuka.

Asuka had answered most of the professor's questions, something he began to notice. Shinji, now awakened, wrote a bit before listening to the professor. "Alright, anyone other than Ms. Soryu, explain to me the branches of Biology?"

Shinji raised his hand. "Zoology, Microbiology, and Ecology."

"Correct, Mr. Ikari, looks like you were paying attention after all."

Shinji smiled as he wrote what he said, a benefit of bottling up material before class. As he wrote on, he didn't notice the glare of a certain redhead.

As everyone exited the classroom, Shinji got a text from Karl.

Karl: Gonna head tomorrow to drink with the boys. Wanna come?

Shinji is typing…

Shinji: Sure.

As Shinji finished texting, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Asuka looked at him with a pout.

"Uhm, we are going to meet today; I hope you don't mind." She said, arms crossed and a smug smile.

"Oh, what, sure, I have no problem." Shinji saw as Mari walked next to Asuka. She proceeded to humph while Mari waved goodbye.

As Mari waved goodbye, Asuka grabbed ahold of her arm and began to walk away.

Shinji slowly stopped waving, a bit of sweat falling from his cheek as he scratched it. What the hell, man.

Two hours later

"Where the hell are they?" Shinji said, waiting in the exact spot Asuka told him. He began to get bored and decided to listen to some tunes.

He placed his Bluetooth headphones and played Killer Queen by Queen.

"Extraordinarily nice. She is a killer, Queen, gunpowder, gelatin…." He said in a low voice.

He then spotted the pair in the distance, he waved at them.

"I TOLD YOU, MARI! IT WAS HERE. WHY DID YOU DOUBT ME?" Asuka exclaimed at Mari.

Mari laughed as she petted her head. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, princess."

Shinji jumped a bit after hearing that. Princess? Why would she call her that?

"Anyways, let's get down to business and organize this work." Asuka sat down and opened her red computer. "Alright, who wants what?"

Before anybody could speak, she barged in. "Obviously, being the leader, I'll take the most important parts, that is searching for definitions, organizing references, and introduction."

Shinji raised his hand, much to Asuka's annoyance. "What do you want?"

"Was wondering if I could do the introduction, first and second part of the presentation?"

"What, you can't do that, I'll take the introduction-"

"Wait just a moment, why can't I do it?"

"Because I know what I am writing, duh."

"So, you don't trust me with writing something good?"

"I just met you, idiot; of course, I don't."

"Who are you calling an idiot?"

"I don't know, maybe the guy behind you."

"I was being sarcastic, Asuka!"

Mari looked in disappointment as the two bickered. "Can't we agree to disagree?"

"No!" Both responded.

Mari sighed. "Well, at least come to your senses. I wanna finish this and go eat something; I am starving over here."

Asuka hmphed as she looked at Mari. "You know what? Fine, I agree to disagree, Shinji Ikari."

Shinji sighed. "Fine, same."

"However,"

Shinji raised an eyebrow.

"You will do the introduction since you said I don't trust you. In other words, you better make something good." She responded while typing the assignment each one would have.

"I'll just take the remaining bits," Mari said quickly.

"Well then, I guess we are set; I'll see you two later," Shinji said as he got up and walked away.

Asuka watched him leave, her anger subsiding as she saw him go.

The arrival of Saturday meant the beginning of time off, or so Shinji thought. He hadn't accounted for the magnitude of work he would get during the first week. As he drove to the bar, he could only think of every assignment Shinji had to do, hoping he didn't forget them.

As he entered the establishment, he looked around until he saw the albino boy with two other people.

"There he is!" Karl yelled while laughing. His breath smelled of alcohol.

"You are already drunk? Couldn't wait for me?"

"Where is the fun in that?" he chuckled, "Oh right, Shinji, these are my friends."

"Kensuke Aida." The boy with glasses and a green hoodie said.

"Toji Suzuhara." The man with a black shirt and jogging pants said.

"Nice to meet you guys." As Shinji sat down on the barstool, he signaled the bartender.

"So, Ikari? Shinji? What you like us to call you?" Toji asked.

"Uhm, I don't know, whatever floats your boat," Shinji replied while looking away from Toji, distracted by the selection of drinks.

"Well, let us see, you are a man, and your name is Shinji…." Suzuhara chugged a whole beer before placing it down. "I got it; I will call you Shin-man."

Shinji looked confused.

"Don't worry, he is usually a bit smarter; the alcohol is killing his brain cells one by one," Kensuke said before getting hit in the head by Toji. "Ow, what the hell, man."

"You know what the hell, man. I am not dumb; I am here after all."

"Yeah yeah, you're only here because of your parents; I know where you would like to be."

Karl and Shinji looked at each other. "Do you guys need a room or something? This is getting way too personal."

"Huh?" Kensuke looked with a nervous stare, "ah no-no-no, it's that he is just here by force; what I wanted to say is he wants to be in Trident University because of his girl."

Toji once again hit him in the head while admitting defeat. "Yeah, pop wanted me to study here, and to be honest, so did I. Though I would have loved to be in the same college as my girlfriend." He shook his head, "what am I saying? I am not going to depress you with shit like that; let's talk the talk; you guys got girls? I already know your answer, Kensuke."

Aida gave an annoyed face and stood up his chair. "Oh yeah, what is it then?"

Toji formed a sad face. "No bitches."

He sighed and grunted. "Sounds about right. What about you two?"

Karl, who looked intoxicated, started smiling. "Me? Well, I don't have anything, hoping to get some person this year, or the next or the next, ah who the fuck cares."

Shinji looked at his Tito's vodka shot while pondering on it. "Well…to tell you the truth, I don't know, never gave it a thought. Sometimes I think I am better off alone."

The three guys were shocked by his response. "So, you rather stay a virgin?"

"I guess, I mean, I met girls during this week, but I am not going to think of getting it on just right there and then."

Karl nudged Shinji on the shoulder, and their thighs brushed each other, being too close for Shinji's comfort. "So, Ikari, who is the girl?"

Shinji smiled. "I am not going to say."

Karl looked disappointed as well as the others. "You seriously going to blue ball us?"

Shinji laughed. "Maybe when I have more intel, I can speak more about it. All I can say is one had brown hair and the other blue."

Shinji laughed and drank; he was too distracted to notice Karl had stood still upon hearing the girl had blue hair. Nevertheless, Shinji patted him back, taking him out of his thinking capsule.

Shinji stumbled as he got in the car; he had drunk so much. He barely remembered why he drank in the first place, and Karl wasn't faring any better.

"Alright, Shinji, we are pretty drunk; you are my eyes and ears," Kaworu said as he turned on the car.

"Wait just a moment; you're supposed to pay attention too." Shinji protested.

"I am drunk."

"So am I."

"Well, at least be a nice copilot and be on the lookout for pigs or something. The apartment isn't that far away."

"As long as your head doesn't explode or anything, we are cool."

Karl gave him a weird look. 'What- what the hell do you mean explode?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Nah, man, what did you mean?"

"Ah well, it was nothing really, just a dumb joke."

"You, ok?"

"I am fine. It was a dumb joke. Just watch the road Kaworu."

A lingering silence remained.

"No, but seriously yo-"

"Dude, watch out!" Shinji exclaimed as Karl swerved down the road, almost hitting a cat. "Dude, slow down."

"No, you man, you slow down," Karl said while moving, not being able to stay still due to the alcohol.

"Hey, you shut up; I am not going to drive. I am drunk too." Shinji said as he drank another bottle.

"Hey, man, don't do that; pigs might be out there."

Shinji's stomach began to growl, followed by small belches. "Oh, fuck, I should haven't done that."

He ejected a hot, orange-like liquid onto his dashboard, splashing into Kaworu's face. Shinji began to vomit a lot as he tried to reach the window to avoid destroying Karl's car. He puked all over the door as he tried to reach it.

Karl was stunned and lost control of his vehicle, making it swerve before retaking control and coming to a complete stop. When he changed his view from the road to Shinji, he saw him facing him, and Kaworu knew he wouldn't be spared.

Liquid came out of his mouth and fell onto his shirt and jeans. Karl began to twitch and freak out. He desperately opened the door, trying to get out but getting caught by the seatbelt. Upon freeing himself, he ran off.

Shinji could hear him in the distance ejecting his evils out of his stomach.

Shinji began to clean what he could but was too drunk to do anything. He began to close his eyes, passing out.

Upon opening his eyes, he saw a roof he didn't recognize. Well, he did; it was his own. As he rose up, a drumming sensation came to his head. He placed his hand over it.

"Oh damn." He said as he tried to soothe the headache. He didn't have any memory of what had happened yesterday.

He got up slowly, and pain came to his muscles. It was like he had broken all his bones. He slowly made his way to the bathroom, drinking some water, after feeling thirsty. Shit, what happened to me?

Shinji exited the throne room, still wearing his white tank top and blue-white striped boxers; he came upon Karl on the sofa. He had his headphones on and was playing Halo.

"Karl…"

No response.

"Hey, Karl…"

Still no response.

Shinji threw a piece of paper to his head. Karl was startled and turned around. Master Chief had died on the screen, and Karl had heard his death sound. He wasn't too happy.

"Dude, I was on an Elite run."

"What happened last night?"

Kaworu looked more compassionate to Shinji. "Oh, you don't remember. Typical effects of a hangover."

"Hangover?! You mean I got drunk?"

The albino boy had a deadpanned look on his face. "Yes, that's what you get when drinking too much. Why have you never gotten drunk?" Karl said as he turned his head back to the game.

"I have, but not at this amount." Shinji's eyes widened when he remembered something. He ran towards the fridge and saw a calendar. He saw it marked in various red circles like a thumbnail for a clickbait video.

FIRST MUSIC CLUB MEETING. DON'T BE LATE, SHINJI!

Shinji rushed, missing Karl laughing when he saw the boy speed off.

Shinji ran once again back to the campus, only this time he did not have the weight of college work and the few words a professor would say before turning back to his class, no, this time he was being late to something he truly loved and missing it was like a dream being shattered.

As he exited the car, which Karl had lent him with the promise he would clean it after his minor incident yesterday, he saw the campus completely empty, apart from some students who were probably participating in the clubs.

The brown-haired boy ran past his general studies building and found the arts section of the college. An architectural marvel of white marble and pristine wood, truly the budget had gone to someplace lovely, despite the university being focused on science and math.

He sprinted inside, started to breathe a bit slower, and walked quieter as he noticed the dead silence of the halls. One of the rooms was bustling with sound, so he assumed it was there.

Upon opening it, he saw many people playing a board game, or what he assumed was a board game. They all looked at Shinji with confusion.

"Uhm," Shinji gulped, nervous of having interrupted their session, "you guys know where the music club is?"

One of the people responded. "It's on the second floor to your right. This is the Dungeons and Dragons club."

Shinji smiled and bowed a bit. "Thank you."

Shinji closed the door and began to walk backward before something got in his path and fell to the ground.

"Ow, shit, that hurt." He touched his backside, of which he had immense pain due to the fall.

"Huh?"

Shinji looked forward and saw Rei, wearing a skirt. His nose began to bleed.

Rei blushed and covered herself. "What the hell are you doing staring there? And watch where you are going."

Shinji shook his head. "Oh, sorry, Rei."

"Wait," Rei said, putting her fingers on her chin, "Shinji, isn't it?" She pointed at him, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, the guy from History." Shinji rose and offered a hand to Rei. "You, ok?"

"Yeah," she took his hand and rose, the momentum pulling her forward and getting too close to him. Shinji could swear he felt her chest. "So, I am guessing you're here for the music club?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I brought my admission fee and my papers. I even brought my cel-"

Shinji looked at his hand and saw nothing. He promptly began to freak out. "Where is it? Oh God, did I leave it back home? No, this isn't happening."

Through Shinji's panic, he could hear a chortle coming from Rei, trying to suppress herself. Once she caught on, she blushed. "Oh sorry, it's that I found it funny, your reaction that is not your misfortune." She smiled at him and began to walk towards the stairs.

Shinji watched as she took the high ground and overlooked him. "You don't need an instrument now; it's orientation. Come on, you're going to miss it and try and not fall on your ass again." She said as she ran off laughing.

Shinji stood there dumbfounded. I made a girl laugh. He smiled and grunted as he ran up the stairs. Not going to fail again.

A/N: Hahah well guys I hope you enjoyed. I placed the Authors note here to not distract you lot from reading. I want to thank Asushipper for beta reading and Hydrastation for some tips. This is getting interesting to write so lets see what happens, considering on campus college has begun, I might be able to bring new ideas for this which is always the best. See you guys later, Chaddy out.