"My name is Kaworu Nagisa, and as far as anyone knows, I'm a perfectly normal fifteen-year-old boy."
Asuka's cousin smiled serenely at the baffled class, and she buried her face in her hands.
"Idiot! You're not supposed to just say it!"
Between her fingers she saw him tilt his head with feigned innocence. "But it's how you told me to introduce myself, Asuka."
"Malicious compliance," she snarled.
In the row behind her, Toji Suzuhara barked with laughter. "This dude's cool!" he declared. "Pissing off Soryu definitely gets him in my good books."
"And with his first sentence," Kensuke Aida pointed out. "Effective and efficient."
Their teacher, Miss "Call me Misato" Katsuragi, looked delighted at the entertainment she'd caused just by asking the new student for an introduction. "Kaworu," she spoke up, "where did you move here from?"
"Asuka's and my sides of the family are from the same town," he began, but was interrupted by Suzuhara muttering, "The tenth circle of hell?"
"Shut your face!" Asuka snapped, at the same time as class rep Hikari Horaki scolded, "Suzuhara, cut it out!"
He ignored them both to accept a high-five from Aida.
"Not at all," said Kaworu pleasantly. "Classically Hell is described as having only nine circles."
Suzuhara and Aida howled with laughter.
(From the corner of her eye Asuka saw Rei nodding in agreement with Kaworu's statement, and made a note to tell her off later.)
Hikari, realising that Misato wasn't going to try to control the situation, stammered for Kaworu to take a seat.
As he passed her Asuka said peevishly, "You realise you owned yourself with that one, too."
"Of course I own myself," he replied. "Who else would?"
"And there you go again," she snorted. "Hopeless."
As he sat down there was a faint 'waarrk' from the lockers at the back of the room, where Kaworu's bag (and therefore its freaky contents) had been stored. Asuka crossed all her fingers that nobody else had heard or at least asked.
She soon discovered, at recess, that she had bigger problems than her weird cousin's new pet, or even his impending friendship with idiot-of-all-time Toji Suzuhara (why Shinji hung out with him she'd never know).
"Cancelled? Waddya mean the play's cancelled?"
Paper ripped as she clutched her script book.
"I'm sorry!" Hikari whimpered. "There weren't enough signups to meet the minimum participant threshold, so the activities committee refused our application."
"That's not fair," Asuka wailed. "C'mon, Kari, you're the coordinator, can't you pull some strings?"
Her friend's look of misery made Asuka feel a bit better. "The coordinator can't veto logistical decisions. I'm really sorry, Asuka."
"But … but..." But Mama was going to come watch … maybe...
She whirled and pointed. "Shinji!"
"Ack! What?" He jumped back from Kaworu's desk, which he and the other two Stooges had been leaning against.
"Shinji can do it!" Asuka declared. "You're not in a full-time club, you can follow orders – instructions – so you can help us put on the play."
"Huh? Get up onstage, in front of everyone?" His face reddened. "No way! —And I can't act!"
Asuka waved a dismissing hand. "You don't need to, just say the lines, nobody's expecting Takeshi Kaga at junior high school." Which is why they'll be blown away by me!
"I can't..." He gripped his elbows.
"C'mon, it'll be fun! And you might actually maybe even manage to look a bit cool for once!"
A sideways glance. "Um, why don't you ask Rei?"
Asuka stared. "What? She hates being the centre of attention."
Behind Shinji's shoulder, Aida rolled his eyes. "And who cares that Shinji hates it too."
"Anyway," Asuka ignored him, "she's in the movie club."
"Yeah, but if you asked her..." Shinji raised both eyebrows.
Asuka looked at him incredulously. "Why would that matter? Me asking?"
"Well..." He shuffled his feet.
Baffled, Asuka looked across the classroom, to where Rei sat at her usual window seat, absorbed in a book. The late morning sunlight cast a warmth on her skin, and she looked less pale-and-frail than usual, even peaceful.
Asuka swallowed, suddenly lost for words. Ask … Rei...
"Go on," Shinji encouraged quietly.
She opened her mouth.
He started to smile.
Then Asuka's script book hit him in the face. "Coward!" she shouted. "Dropping your sister in it so you can escape! Pathetic!"
She turned her back. "Whatever. Would've been a crap show with you anyway."
"Are you all right, Shinji?" came Kaworu's voice, and Asuka froze.
Hikari perked up. "Oh, Nagisa! You haven't joined a club yet, have you?"
Asuka spun around again. "You!" She pointed at Kaworu, who was leaning in to inspect Shinji's face. "You can be in the play! Put his name on the participant list," she instructed Hikari.
"Is that okay, Nagisa?" she asked, respectfully but unnecessarily.
Kaworu hummed thoughtfully. "I've never considered treading the boards."
Sensing victory within her grasp, Asuka charged over and grabbed his ear.
"Ouch."
"Do it," Asuka hissed, so the others couldn't hear, "and I'll help you hide that freaky thing you picked out of the stream."
Kaworu paused.
Asuka stared at him in dawning disbelief. "You hadn't even thought that far ahead. Had you."
He shook his head fractionally.
Asuka rolled her eyes. "Of course. Well? Deal?"
"Deal."
"Good."
She pumped both fists in the air. "Play's back on!"
"Great!" said Hikari. "I'll organise it with the activities committee."
Suzuhara said to Kaworu, "Dude, you don't have to do just what she tells you to."
"I am being adequately compensated," said Kaworu.
Aida muttered wistfully, "Wish Soryu would 'adequately compensate' me."
Asuka grabbed Kaworu's pencil case off his desk and hit him with it.
She picked the script book up from the floor and, only slightly less violently, shoved it at Kaworu. "Here – make yourself useful and study!"
"Which part?" he asked, flipping it open.
"All of them. Except Athena, that's me."
He stared at the long list of speaking roles. "That seems excessive."
Shinji spoke up loyally, "I'm sure you'll do great, Kaworu. And, um..." His voice and expression turned shy. "...I could, maybe, help you rehearse? If you want..."
Kaworu smiled warmly at him. "Thank you, Shinji. That would be very helpful."
Asuka hurried to leave before she gagged. But as she turned, she caught sight of Rei again. To her surprise, the other Ikari was looking in Shinji and Kaworu's direction with a subtle, but perceptible (to Asuka's expert eyes) frown.
...What's that about?