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Chapter 61: "We had joy, we had fun…"
"Hey, let's skip class today."
Asuka quirked her head and just stared at him through the reflection in the mirror, the toothbrush in her mouth coming to a stop for a moment. After spitting she looked back up at the mirror and again looked at him like he had grown a second head.
"Who are you and what have you done with Shinji Ikari?" She asked, whipping her face with a towel.
Shinji smiled; she could be cute when she let her guard down. "We're ahead, we don't need to go. Misato even congratulated us on our grades."
As it turns out, taking the same grade level over and over again made it pretty easy to earn perfect scores, though he had to make it seem like he was making an effort, it'd be suspicious if he suddenly got top marks. School had somehow found a way to become even more boring than before his journey through multiple lives.
However, helping Asuka with her Japanese always helped make things more exciting.
"Who are you and what have you done with Shinji Ikari?" she asked, whipping at her mouth with a towel, "Since when are you jumping to be a delinquent?"
He just smiled and leaned against the doorframe, he had already been up for some time, although that had left him with the dangerous task of waking Asuka up. It wasn't often she didn't get up at her typical routine time, but considering Leliel's arrival the day before it was understandable. Luckily today it wasn't too treacherous of a task, since she had the smell of breakfast greeting her when he gently shook her awake.
"C'mon, how many hours did you go without sleep while I was in that Angel? You deserve a day off." He countered.
Asuka raised an eyebrow as she turned and pushed past him to go to her room and change. Shinji couldn't help but smile to himself while he went to his own room. "I never thought you'd be the one to argue about not going to school Asuka. Whatever happened to 'I went to college'?"
"Oh you're one to talk mister, 'I don't need to study'." She called back.
Shinji snorted, "So you're just scared of what Misato will say?" Shinji asked, sliding open his bedroom door.
To his lack of surprise, Asuka was standing in her bedroom's doorway with a smirk. Her school uniform was nowhere to be found, instead, she sported a simple outfit of shorts and a light t-shirt.
"Looks like I got my answer then," Shinji said, gesturing to the hallway. She gladly took point, walking out to the kitchen only to be met with a confused Pen-Pen.
"We'll be back later buddy," Shinji said, crouching down and patting his head just to be met with the usual squawk.
At the front door, Asuka already had her shoes on and was tapping her foot impatiently. He felt no need to rush and took his time retying his shoes.
"C'mon, don't waste time with that, hurry up."
"We've got all the time in the world." He said, finishing and standing up. Only he knew what his words truly meant in that moment.
"Well, what did you have in mind?" Asuka asked as they both stepped out of the apartment into the warm air.
"I've got a few ideas," Shinji said with a smile as he took her hand in his and the two of them headed to the elevator.
A full-length Chapter 62 will be up later this week, I'll do a proper author's note there.