Tokyo-2, Outer District 6
December 6, 2041
1848 hours

If there was any way for Kaworu's face to take on an expression even more blank than it was right now, it was likely yet another mystery of the universe.

As someone of his age, he naturally had to go to school. For which he had to go out of his way to study, seeing as he wasn't some naturally gifted prodigy. Or maybe it had something to do with the lack of parents riding his ass about studying not exactly helping to motivate him. In either case, he found the need to actually read his textbooks outside class as well.

Problem was, it didn't always help him.

Such as now.

It wasn't as if he was bad at maths. Equations were something he came to be pretty familiar with from his hobby, considering all the calculations he routinely had to do when picking components for circuits without burning them out from overvoltage. His general lack of knowledge when it came to humanities like classical literature was excusable with his background.

But when it came to physics not immediately related to his hobbies, like kinetics, his brain simply refused to 'get' it and realize how they expected him to solve the problem.

And considering it has happened before, chances are it wasn't caused by Asuka and her friends being next door celebrating the former's birthday in a not exactly quiet manner.

In fact, Kaworu was starting to concede to the fact that staring at his textbook for much longer wouldn't get him anywhere closer to wisdom. Luckily, the choice was ultimately taken out of his hands.

"You know, I found it hard to believe the two of you would be really living together."

Kaworu lowered the textbook enough to glance over at the source of the interruption. – "I didn't exactly ask for it myself."

"How did it happen, anyway?" – Mari asked, leaning against the frame of his room's door.

"Ask her."

"Your respective versions might not match."

"I know."

"Just saying."

Kaworu rolled his eyes. – "I know." – He went back to reading, one last effort at trying to figure it out.

Not that Mari seemed to care. – "And? What exactly have the two of you been up to in your lonesome?"

He closed his eyes and sighed, closing the book for good. – "Nothing."

"Oh, really."

"You got the wrong door." – Asuka interrupted, appearing behind Mari. – "Right door girls' show, left door freakshow."

"I was just wondering what he was doing all his lonesome. Don't you ever drag him out of there?"

"What for?"

"So you prefer his bed, then?"

"No! / No."

Mari just snickered at the simultaneous reply from both teens.

"Don't even joke about that!" – Asuka warned with a dangerous glare.

"It's kinda an obvious setup, you know. I mean, why else move in with him?"

"Don't know, don't care. Ask dad's superiors, they were the ones who made the decision."

"Uh huh. I smell connections."

"And I smell someone being full of shit! Now come on, Hikari's waiting."

"Yeah, on that note..." – Mari turned to Kaworu. – "Wanna join us?"

"Not particularly, to be honest." - Kaworu replied, raising his voice to be heard above Asuka's 'Are you fucking kidding me?!' – "It's not me you and the class rep came to see. I'd just get in the way."

"It sure as hell beats sitting in your room all alone. Come on!" – Mari insisted, walking up to him and practically dragging him off the bed by his arm. – "It'll be fun!"

"Like hell is he coming!" – Asuka fumed.

"Aww, don't be like that. Don't you feel the least bit sorry for him?"

"Nope, she's not." – Kaworu muttered under his breath, perfectly content to let himself get drowned out by Asuka's 'Like hell!'.

"Then let's put it this way. I don't recall seeing him give you any presents."

"How would I even know what she'd like?" – Kaworu pointed out.

"Ask, perhaps? You could've bought her a can of beer or something."

He had to admit to himself that the girl had a point. With Asuka's generally dismissive behavior towards him, him and her knew next to nothing about each other. No likes, no dislikes, no opinions, no past experiences, nothing. Well, maybe a very shallow knowledge on the latest part, but nothing like sitting down and having a chat to get to know each other or something. They barely even saw each other outside school and work, actually.

Whenever Asuka wasn't at school or at work, she was either away from home hanging out with her friends, or shutting herself in her room loudly listening to music and just generally letting him know that he wasn't welcome. Not that he really tried, either: he too was either studying for classes, busy with his hobby or off to do that weird psychic training thing with Rei. With which he wasn't advancing nearly as fast as they expected and frankly saw no point in trying, but Rei insisted for him to be able to do it just in case he ever needs it.

The girl had a rather... unusual idea about being prepared for the unexpected, it would seem.

And it most definitely didn't help any in making Asuka stop the constant insinuations and innuendos that he and Rei were an item. Which honestly left Kaworu completely baffled: Asuka made it abundantly clear time after time that she wasn't interested in him herself and therefore didn't see Rei as competition, so why was she even doing it in the first place?

"Actually, he's got a booze stash in the fridge. Don't know what it is, but it's not beer."

Mari's head immediately whipped towards Asuka so fast Kaworu didn't even see her move. – "Seriously?!"

"Yeah. He apparently drinks that instead of coffee in the morning."

"Well, there you go! You're fourteen, don't tell me you're afraid of some alcohol. Nagisa, be a darling and share some of it with us, would you?"

Kaworu swallowed. – "Uhhh... I don't think that's a good idea."

"We'll pay you for it!"

"It's not the money. That's strong stuff."

"We're not kids. We can handle it."

"Again: I really really really don't think you should."

"Quit stalling and show us the goods. Hey, Kari!"

"What is it?" – the named person asked, sticking her head out of the door of Asuka's room. – "Oh. Hello, Nagisa-san."

"Hello and good timing. Maybe you can talk them out of it."

"Talk them out of what?"

"He agreed to give us some of his alcohol stash." – Mari replied with a grin.

"You did WHAT?!"

"I didn't! I do not want to give them any, that's why I'm asking you to talk them out of it!"

"That's not what you said a minute ago..."

"Oh, come on! This isn't funny!"

"Who said I was kidding? Come on!"

"No!"

He turned tail and tried to return to his room with full intent to lock the damn door behind him this time and prime the tripwire as well (he put it up more for nostalgic value, really; with his new tenants, it was too risky to leave the attached nailgun primed against potential burglars while he wasn't at home). Asuka, however, seem to have other ideas and moved to block his way.

"Alright Nagisa, let's play it out this way." – she stated calmly. – "Either you fork over the booze peacefully, or I'll help myself to it the moment you're not looking and tell dad you snuck it into our drinks in revenge for my attitude towards you."

"And you think he'll believe you?"

"Who is he more likely to believe, some noname guy or his own daughter?"

"I could just sit in the kitchen and watch the fridge." – he pointed out. – "Or even better, just bring the stuff to my room."

"And how exactly do you mean to stop me with your eyes? Because you know I can kick your ass in a fight, so force ain't gonna work." – She crossed her arms in front of her chest. – "And what's with this 'really don't think that's a good idea' white knight shit, anyway? Is this seriously how you try to pick up girls?"

"I'm not, just... drop it."

"No, I'm not gonna just 'drop it'! You're treating me as a fucking four year old who can't even be trusted to wipe her own ass without screwing it up! It's just alcohol! I'm going to be drinking that stuff later on ANYWAY! What's the big deal here?!"

"That what I've been saying for the past two minutes! It's probably too strong for you!"

"Don't give me that! You're drinking it all the fucking time!"

"Because I don't get drunk from it!"

"Bullshit!"

"You know, we can easily put that to the test." – Mari chimed in.

"How?"

The girl's lips immediately settled into a cat-like smirk. – "Drinking contest."

"Which I have no intention of losing." – Asuka added.

Kaworu sighed in exasperation. – "Why are you so insistent on getting drunk?"

"To preempt any wannabe date rapists from force-feeding me with more booze than what I know for a fact I can handle, for one." – came the curt reply.

He had no idea what to say to that.


Three hours later, Kaworu sighed once more as he closed the door of Asuka's room behind himself. Walking into the living room, he tossed his shirt onto the couch before dropping down next to it, the furniture loudly protesting against the sudden weight.

If it was possible for him to turn any paler, he did the moment the phone started ringing.

He briefly considered not answering it at all, even though he knew very well that it wouldn't buy him much time. That is, if it was who he thought it was... because if it was, he was not looking forward to the ensuing conversation.

Well, there was nothing he could do about it now.

As he got up, his eyes briefly fell upon the five empty bottles haphazardly scattered across the living room table.

At least his hand wasn't shaking when he picked up the receiver. He might've been warmed over, but he didn't drink that much. – "...hello?"

"Hey, kid." – came Shephard's sort-of cheerful voice from the other side. – "Put my girl on, will you?"

"She's, uh... kinda not available."

Which was the exact literal truth.

"In that case, tell her to watch the clock. I'm not excusing her from school if she can't wake up because she was up late, birthday or not."

"I, uh... can't really give her that message right now."

Shephard audibly chuckled. – "You're not afraid of her, are you? If she starts raising a fuss about it, add that if she's got a problem, she can direct it at me. That'll get her to back off."

"It's not that. She's... not really in a communication-capable state right now."

"Why's that?"

Kaworu swallowed. Hard.

"Makinami... kinda sorta challenged her into a drinking contest. With me."

Silence.

After about half a minute, Kaworu had to glance down at the phone to make sure the line hadn't disconnected. As he feared, it wasn't and the adult on the other side knew how to read between the lines.

"...sorry." – he offered lamely.

"...how bad is it?" – came the reply finally. The tone was... less pissed than what he expected.

That is, not pissed at all. More like as if the man just went 'What.'

"...lights out. All three of them." – Which was a rather nice way of putting it that Asuka futilely tried to match him shot for shot, with Mari following suit so as to not be left out and dragging an understandably reluctant Hikari into it as well. Hikari was the first one to lose her struggle with staying awake, followed by the other two.

It was inevitable, in hindsight. He told them it wasn't beer and they could feel that themselves, if their strained exhalations after every shot were of any indication. Anything less just didn't give him the kick he needed in the morning. Hell, he didn't even know what it exactly was; all he cared is that it was the strongest locally available liquor and the shopkeeper didn't seem to care that he was visibly underage.

But schadenfreude didn't really help him right now, if the even longer silence in the phone was of any indication.

In fact, Kaworu's metaphorical tails were now firmly tucked between his legs. – "...sorry." – he added very quietly.

"I know my daughter. She played dirty, didn't she?"

"...yeah."

"Figures. Where is she right now?"

"In her room. Her friends too. I carried them in there." – For which he was actually thankful that Asuka knocked herself out, otherwise he'd never hear the end of it. Even if him carrying her there was actually all he did, not just an excuse to feel her up. Better to just tell her that she went there herself and can't remember because of the alcohol... and hope for the best.

"Thanks. I don't get it, though; how the hell did she rope that Horaki girl into it? She seemed like the type who wouldn't pull stupid shit like this."

That, Kaworu could answer without worry. After all, he wasn't the one in the crosshair for now.

"They told her that she needs to 'train' so that she won't get drunk on champagne if she gets invited to weddings in the future or something like that. And I'm not sure she's ever heard of hangover." – A bullshit reason if he ever heard one, even if Hikari fell for it.

And Shephard seemed to share his opinion. – "...for cryin' out loud, that girl will be the death of me." – A sigh came over. – "Looks like I'll have to make some calls. Asuka's one thing, but someone's gonna miss the other two if they don't go home sooner or later."

"I could try waking them up." – Kaworu offered.

"No, don't do that. If they're that smashed, they're not gonna make it home in this cold. Let them sleep. I'll figure something out."

"Um... sure."

"Might wanna catch some sleep yourself. Just saying."

"Right."


Chapter finished on 17/02/27, after an almost four month hiatus.

It's not merely the disorientation and sleepiness that makes it exceedingly dangerous for drunk people to go outside during the winter. While falling asleep in a ditch is certainly a contributor to the risk of them freezing to death, a greater one is the fact that alcohol dilates skin capillaries, causing the body to vent heat more intensely than usual. Thus temperatures in which a human would shiver but otherwise shrug off by staying on the move (which is what shivering is: involuntary movement to temporarily produce heat in order to offset the accelerated loss of thermal energy due to being in a cold environment) would be outright fatal to a drunk person, especially if they fall asleep and thus stop moving, decreasing the amount of waste heat created by the chemical processes in the muscles and further tipping the body's heat balance towards a net loss.

Asuka's change in vocabulary from her canon incarnation is primarily caused by her upbringing. In canon, she of course grew up in a German-speaking environment which didn't really come through in her mannerisms, considering that Yuko Miyamura has neither the reason nor the ability to speak her native Japanese with a German accent without it coming across as awkward. Even Tiffany Grant, despite her skill with German, didn't have Asuka speak with a German accent. In SCE, Asuka speaks unaccented American English in-story due to having grown up with her father who also uses that particular accent, hence her use of American slang. It was mentioned all the way back in chapter 1 that everyone speaks English unless specifically depicted otherwise because Kaworu, Asuka and Shephard do not speak Japanese and nobody except Kaworu (and to some extend, Shephard) speaks German, but everyone speaks English in one dialect or another; Kaworu, in particular, speaks in German-accented British English. Dialect-wise, Second Impact wiped out the great majority of American English speakers and the Confederacy uses British English as the official lingua franca, so the post-Impact generation of Japanese youth are taught British English in school and speak it with a Japanese accent. There are exceptions, of course; the pre-Impact generation lean more towards American English for historical reasons (especially those who lived near Okinawa) and the Suzuharas use Kansai-accented Australian English instead.