Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion

Italics - Thought

* - German

------- - different place, different time

Conversations and a Play

Shinji paces back and forth infront of a bench where a certain blue haired girl was sitting. She looked somewhat tired, although it was hard to tell. Shinji glanced at her once in a while but said nothing and continued pacing. Rei, content with just sitting patiently waited while Shinji gathered his thoughts. She could see Nerv headquarters from where she was sitting. Shinji had met her outside the building and asked her to talk. She was surprised to say the least, she thought he would never set foot anywhere near the building that caused him so much pain.

"I have to explain things to Katharina" Shinji says, but continues pacing.

"You should have spoken to her today then" Rei says calmly.

"I know, but Touji and Kensuke were with us the whole time...."

"Well it seems she understood you're trying to hide something so it should not matter how long you take to tell her"

"But I told her I'd tell her later, and to her later implies sometime today. You don't know Katharina, she doesn't like things unexplained to her"

"From what I see, there would be no complication if you tell her tomorrow, but as you say I do not know her" Rei says somewhat icily which confused Shinji.

"But Touji and Kensuke...."

"Somewhere private then, perhaps you can invite her to your house"

"Yeah...." Shinji says as if it was finally starting to make sense, "yeah and you can come to!"

"What?" Rei says surprised.

"And Asuka, and then we can finally talk about everything"

"Oh I see...." Rei says and then stands up, "well I think we solved all your problems so I need to be getting home now"

"Oh sorry, um... I'll walk you" Shinji says.

Rei doesn't say a word and begins walking.

--------------------

"Wasn't it a hassle for you to come meet me?" Rei says after a while of walking.

"Well yeah, but I really needed someone to talk to, who understands. Plus I had nowhere to go after school anyway." Shinji says.

"I see...."

"How can you stand still going there?" Shinji asks.

"School?" Rei asks, but she knew what he was talking about.

"No... to Nerv"

"I have no real reason not to go"

"But don't they do..... horrible things?" Shinji says not sure how to ask the question.

"It's not the same as it used to be. It's like any other science laboratory." Rei says.

"Do they do experiments on you and stuff?"

"...."

"... Sorry"

"Here's my house" Rei says, "Farewell"

"Bye Rei" Shinji says and after watching Rei enter her apartment, he heads to his own.

-----------------

Touji and Kensuke are in Kensuke's room. Two cups of tea that Kensuke's mother brought up were left untouched upon Kensuke's desk. Touji puts 1000 yen into his pocket and smiles at Kensuke.

"Alright man, you won't regret this" Touji says still smiling.

"I can't believe you charged me. And you call yourself a friend"

"Ai Li Xun, 15 years old, origin Chinese" Touji says professionally, ignoring Kensuke's remark.

"Thanks for the information it was definitely worth the money"

"She transferred to our school after her parents moved to Japan because her father had some... let's say bad relations, with the Chinese government. She has an older brother who is 18 years old and goes to college in Neo-Osaka. Her father now runs a restaurant and her mother helps when she's not busy taking care of Ai Li." Touji continues, again ignoring Kensuke, "She's 5 '9, 120 pounds, and a B cup. She enjoys the outdoors and likes nature. She practices martial arts and piano. When she was 5 she lost her little brother in a car accident. Her hair is black and so are her eyes. Her favorite color is green, favorite animal cat, lucky number 13, favorite kind of food Chinese, favorite subject gym, favorite-"

"How the hell did you get all the information!?" Kensuke interrupts.

"Okay I lied about the reason she moved and her bra size" Touji says.

Kensuke was a little taken back but then says "Still, how did you get the rest of the information?"

"Well Hikari gave me a lot of it. She has general information on most people in our class. I also asked Hikari to ask AI Li's friends for some information."

"So basically, I should be paying Hikari" Kensuke says, suddenly not as impressed.

"Oh come on, I bet you wouldn't have even thought to ask her"

"Did you get her phone number?"

Touji smiles evilly. "Maybe, I think I need some more... persuading to help me remember it"

"You better be joking"

"I really want to but this new game" Touji says simply as if it explained everything.

"100 yen" Kensuke says.

"What? At least... 750" Touji says.

"I already gave you 1000 that's overcharged already!" Kensuke yells.

"Well if you don't want it..."

"Fine fine, 750!" Kensuke says and rummages through his pockets glaring at Touji.

"Fine I'll make it 500 since you're a friend"

Kensuke sighs and hands over 500 yen. Touji grins even wider and immediately recites, "132-2381"

Kensuke runs over to his desk and writes the number down on a piece of paper. He then sits back down and continues glaring at Touji.

"Don't worry man, I'll let you borrow the game when I'm done with it"

"That's not the point!" Kensuke yells. Touji breaks out laughing.

----------------

Hikari sat in a classroom with several other students. They were all seated in a circle, they all had their undivided attention directed at the teacher speaking, and they were all the class representative of their respective classes.

"And so each class will perform their play on different dates and after every class performs, the principal and assistant principal with choose the winner"

The students immediately eyed each other when the teacher mentioned the word winner. The teacher did not miss this and quickly added, "Remember the object of this is to raise money for our school, not which class performs the best"

"What does the winner get?" One girl asks.

The teacher gives her the 'What did I just tell you' look and then responds, "The winning class will receive a class trip to a hotel in the Onsen district"

Some of the students' eyes light up while others mutter "That's all we get..."

"Remember the prize is just a motivation for you to do your best. In the end it does not matter who wins, just how many people come to see you perform."

"Won't people feel... cheated if they don't get to see the winning play?" a boy asks.

"The winning class will perform their play again in a real theater" the teacher responds.

Many students gasp and others break into conversation.

"I've always wanted to be an actress"

"Me too"

"A real theater? So we get a real audience? Not just parents?"

etc etc etc

-------------

"Gochisousama" Shinji says to no one. He then proceeds bringing his plates to the kitchen and washing them. After he finishes this task he goes into his room and starts his homework. But he could not concentrate, for he kept thinking about what he was going to talk about with Katharina, Asuka, and Rei.

Well what can I say? I could just explain everything bluntly and see their reactions. I'm sure they will have a lot to say about it. Or I could just wait for them to give me questions and I can just answer them. That would be easy. And I could count on Katharina to do that.... But how can I get into that? 'So Uh... What do you want to know?' No way It sounds to awkward. So I guess I just have to explain. What am I doing I need to do homework!?

Shinji begins typing on his laptop but soon he has stopped again and begins thinking.

I wonder what they will think. Will they grill me for doing such a thing? Will they agree with what I did? Hate me? Adore me? I know Asuka will be mad. I took from her the one thing that gave her pride. The one thing she could count on... Or maybe she would be happy. It did make her life complicated. But she likes being superior... Argh I need to stop thinking about this!

Shinji starts his homework again, but of course the same thing happens. That was how his evening went until he finally gives up, and goes to sleep.

-------------

Asuka was in a similar predicament, except she had already given up on homework and just sat at her desk thinking.

Katharina Hedwig... I guess I can somewhat see why that baka likes her so much. But is she really that great? Shinji came back from Germany a changed man, and it was all because of that girl. Her death had changed his personality so much... I wasn't even sure if it was the same Shinji. But it was, I guess it was his way of grieving. But now there's no reason to grieve anymore. He knew that from the second the third impact occurred. And now she's in Japan. He's going to see her everyday and they're just gonna pick up where they left off. I wonder if they were officially going out in Germany. What does she see in him anyway?

The phone rings interrupting her thoughts. Asuka takes a moment to collect herself and then answers.

"Hello?"

"Asuka? It's Shinji"

What? What's that baka doing calling me....

"Oh um Hi", Ack! I already said hello! What's wrong with me.... alright calm down., "Uh... How's it going?"

"I'm okay I guess, listen Asuka, I was wondering if you were free tomorrow?"

All the blood in her body rushed to her face at the comment.

"Wa...wa.wa..what?" Great, stutter Asuka, now that's the way to go.

"I said, are you free tomorrow?" Shinji asks.

"We...well" Oh my god this is ridiculous "Hold on a second"

Asuka puts takes her hand and covers the phone and then takes a deep breath.

"Alright, well I don't have anything planned why?" Asuka says overcasually.

"Well I was thinking you could come over to my house-"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!"

"And talk about the third impact and.... well everything" Shinji finishes after Asuka was done yelling.

"Oh....umm sure okay"

"I already asked Rei and she can come, I'm going to ask Katharina in school tomorrow"

"Fine fine.. is that all?" Asuka says impatiently. She wanted to get off the phone as soon as possible after embarrassing herself.

"Yeah, so I guess I'll see you tomorrow"

"Bye" Asuka says hastily and hangs up. She puts the cordless phone back on the receiver and goes to get a drink of water. She fills a cup with water and walks to her room. She takes a huge gulp, sighs and sits back down at her desk.

"What the hell is wrong with me...." Asuka says to herself and then takes another sip.

-----------------

"Well, your first period will be free" a teacher says to the class, "Due to a few announcements that the class representative will make and your teacher's tardiness."

With that the teacher walked out of the classroom and Hikari assumed the position in the front of the class.

"Doesn't it not matter if she's late or not if Hikari needs to make announcements anyway?" Shinji mutters to himself. Although he, unlike many of the boys in his class, did not adore Misato, but he did see how the other teachers were not very fond of her. They seemed often go out of their way to embarrass her or tell her class needless information to make her look bad. And these actions, Shinji did not like.

Hikari was writing on the board and when she finished she turned around and began speaking.

"At yesterday's student union meeting it was decided that each class will write their own play and perform it" Hikari says to the class. There were a few groans, a few cheers, and one slam.

The door slammed open and Katharina ran in. Her hair was even more untidy than the day before, and she looked like she just rolled off her bed and came to school. Literally.

"I'm late! I'm sorry!" Katharina says but then realizes that there was no teacher present.

"Uh...." Katharina looks confused and then sees the words 'Announcements' on the board. She then looks at Hikari who looked somewhat annoyed for being interrupted.

"Sorry?" Katharina says.

"Please take your seat so I can continue" Hikari says impatiently. She took her duties as the class representative very seriously.

"You know you'd make a great teacher. You have the voice and-" Katharina sees the look on Hikari's face, "and my seat is over there and I'm going to sit"

Shinji gives Katharina an unimpressed look as she walks by. Katharina sees and then simply laughs.

"As I was saying, we are required to write a play, cast actors and actresses, and perform it. Our parents and any other people who would like to, will buy tickets and come see us among all the other classes perform. The winning class receives a trip to a hotel in the Onsen district."

"We have to write and perform a play, and we either get nothing or a bath?" Kensuke asks.

"No" Hikari says disliking the unenthusiastic tone in Kensuke's voice, "We, I mean the winning class will also receive a chance to perform in a real theater infront of real paying customers and critics"

"So our parents are fake paying?" Touji asks smiling. Kensuke conceals his laughter to a grunt.

"You know what I meant" Hikari says glaring at Touji, "And both of you, raise your hand when you want to speak!"

A hand goes up toward the back of the room.

"Xun-san?"

"How are we choosing tasks? I mean actors, writers and such." AI Li says barely audibly.

"Well I'm glad you asked. For now we're not going to be choosing actors since we don't have a script yet, but we will choose... these" Hikari says as she points at the board.

There was a list of jobs on the chalk board that nobody had noticed. The job was follow by a number, which represented how many people were required for the job.

"Who decided-" Shinji begins but quickly raises his hand when he sees the glare Hikari gives him.

"Yes Ikari-kun?"

"Who decided the jobs and the number of people?" Shinji asks, genuinely curious.

"I did. I did it all last night. I figure this is about what we need, if we need something extra I'll fill the spot"

"Oh..." Shinji says.

"So, now I want all of you to volunteer yourselves to do one of the jobs. In the event that there are more people volunteering for a job than the number required, you will settle it among yourselves. If you can't then we will take a class vote to see who gets the job"

Katharina raises her hand and Hikari calls on her almost immediately.

"Yes Hedwig-san?"

"What if you want to be an actress?"

"You still will have to do one of these jobs unless you are one of the main characters. We will choose characters after the script is finished and if you are chosen to be a main character, you will no longer be required to do your job" Hikari answers instantly.

"And how are you chosen?"

"The writers of the script will choose candidates for each role and we will vote on who we think will do the best job" Hikari answers, again instantly.

"Is there an audition?

Hikari pauses for a moment as if to consider the idea but then responds "No, unfortunately we are pressed for time"

"I see.. but then how will we know who to vote for?"

"Well we will all get to read the script so I guess whoever we think can play that part the best. I will ask the writers to choose personalities that exist within our classroom."

"So like if there's a blonde haired German girl who comes to school late..."

"I believe most of us would pick you to play her"

"I get it"

"Any other questions?"

"Yes, are you always this professional when if comes to class rep stuff?"

Touji laughs, Shinji lightly hits Katharina's leg, and Hikari moves on as if nothing happened.

"What?" Katharina whispers to Shinji.

"Give her a break, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be class rep" Shinji whispers back.

"Of course not, that's why I'm not. But you have to admit she seems like she has a stick up her-"

"Ikari-kun Hedwig-san, please listen this is important!" Hikari yells.

"See" Katharina says but then closes her mouth.

---------------------------

"I can't believe this, I have to make costumes? This is ridiculous" Touji exclaims. Touji, Shinji, Kensuke, Asuka, Hikari, and Rei were in their usual circle of desks eating lunch. But today, for the second day in a row they were joined by another lively German girl.

"What about me? I didn't want to do costumes either" Katharina says.

"Serves you two right for trying to get an easy job" Hikari says.

"I take offense. Lighting is not an easy job" Kensuke says defensively

"I can't believe they picked you over me" Touji says, sulkily eating his lunch.

"Well Aida-kun is more adept with electronics and machinery" Rei says in her calm voice.

Touji could not argue that point so he continued eating and did not reply. Hikari looks over at Shinji who seemed to be deep in thought.

"Ikari-kun-"

"Hey Shinji, what are you so deep in thought about?" Katharina asks before Hikari could.

"Huh? Oh nothing, I was just thinking about what kind of script to right.

"Make it a romance story, that'll surprise all of us" Asuka says.

Shinji does not respond and resumed his trail of thought.

"Do you have any ideas?" Rei asks.

"Well... no. For now I'm just trying to pick a genre"

"I'm telling you romance. I would wanna see what you come up with" Asuka says, bringing her point up again.

"Maybe...." Shinji says. He then begins thinking again and the group decide not to intrude.

---------------------------

Lunch had ended and the students were in their respective seats once again. Misato taught the class, sounding very bored, and perhaps about a quarter of the class listened. The rest were busily typing messages to each other talking about anything.

Seeing this Shinji, who was usually attentive in his classes had an idea.

"Come to my house today after school" Shinji typed and sent it to Katharina.

"We haven't even been on a date yet" was the answer he got. He should have expected this.

"With Asuka and Rei" Shinji types to clarify things, although Shinji was sure Katharina knew what he was talking about.

"Oooh so I'm not enough for you anymore?"

Shinji just sighs and then laughs.

"That's right," Shinji types, "I need a fiery redheaded German girl, not a blonde one"

Shinji then receives a smack, hard, on the back of his neck.

"Ow!" Shinji says a little to loudly.

"Shinji-kun, is there something wrong?"

"Uh no Ms. Katsuragi" Shinji stammers.

Misato gives him one last look and then continues her boring lecture. Shinji recovers from the smack and begins typing again.

"So anyway, can you come? I was hoping we could all talk"

"I know. I'll come but I might be a little late"

"Why?"

"Is that any of your business?" The messages flashes on Shinji's screen. Shinji considered for a moment whether she was joking or not but decided that whether she was or not, he still wanted to know.

"No, but I still have a right to ask"

"I'm meeting someone" The messages come after a few minutes.

"Who?" Shinji immediately asks.

"I'm not sure, some guy"

"How did that happen?" Shinji typed although if he were to speak his voice would be trembling.

"There was a letter in my locker"

"What if its a prank?"

"Well than I won't be to late"

"And what if there's a bunch of guys waiting to rape you?"

Shinji hears a snort from behind him as Katharina suppressed a laugh. But Shinji did not laugh, he didn't like the idea of Katharina meeting up with some random guy.

"Well, I guess I would scream for help"

"Katharina, seriously. You shouldn't respond to random letters, they could be dangerous"

"You didn't seem to think so when you were breaking girls' hearts in Germany"

Shinji remembers the few admiring letters he had received in Germany when his school found out the he was an eva pilot. It was true, at the time he somewhat enjoyed the flattering remarks. "But those were love letters..." Shinji types trying to defend himself.

"So?"

"So it's different" Shinji types.

"What do you think I got?"

"......"

":-)"

"Let me see it" Shinji types.

"No" The response comes immediately.

"Why, let me see it!"

"No, it's private" Katharina responds.

"You don't even know who the guy is!"

"So, it's still private"

Shinji knew that Katharina was stubborn. If she did not intend on showing him the letter, he was not going to see it. There was no question of convincing.

"Fine, don't be to late" Shinji types and then exits his messenger program. Shinji was feeling angry but couldn't quite put his finger on why. All he knew was the Katharina had something to do with it. So when the end of the day bell rang, Shinji packed his things and was the first student out of the classroom. He thought that he had heard his name being called, but Shinji didn't turn around. He continued walking down the hallway, out the front door, and into the sidewalk. He continued walking, without looking back, all the way home.

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Author's Notes

Well I don't have much to say. Onsen means hot springs in Japanese. Oh and the next chapter (When the children talk) will explain a little about what happend between this story and Retold. Also, does anyone know how old everyone should be?