...And with one decisive, expert movement, Athena slices the head off the raging Minotaur! Hurgh!
(Okay Kaworu, now you fall backwards ... ugh, what was that weak effort? More drama, this is high tragedy! Do it again! ...Better. And at the same time, you're going to throw the bull's head away, to show me cutting it off.
—Yeah, it might get a bit busted up, you'll just have to fix it then, won't you? Stop complaining! Now, I swing my sword like this, and so you follow that movement – match it perfectly, otherwise the effect won't work – while you get decapitated and die. All right, let's go!)
Hurgh! And lo, the beast is vanquished! Its vile blood stains the floor of the labyrinth...
(psst Hikari, the red crepe streamers! Over his neck – yeah, like that – how far do they roll...? Ooh yeah, nice and bloody. ...More!)
The terror of the beastly Minotaur will no more haunt the citizens, thanks to Athena's triumph!
(The laurel wreath – yeah, just at the temples, angle it up a bit – ow, my eye...)
The goddess restores (ow) the rule of wisdom and justice to the land, and (ow) the Hellenic Republic is peaceful once (ow) more.
(Don't worry about it. Throw the silk flowers now!
...Ow!)
Bravely enduring the ravages of combat, Asuka summoned her dignity and discipline to pose victoriously over her slain foe.
"Ouch," he said from beyond the grave.
"Shut up."
"Your foot is on my neck."
"Serves you right for being a monster," said Asuka, but moved it to his shoulder.
Hikari called, "Curtain down!"
—and their first full dress rehearsal was finished.
"Yay! Go us! That was awesome!" Asuka hugged Hikari, who wilted.
"I'm sorry about the wreath in your eye, Asuka – and the flowers..."
"It's fine!" Asuka breezed, though half her vision was blurry. "The show must go on! The struggle of civilisation over brutality cannot be relinquished."
Kaworu got to his feet and carefully collected his prop-costume head. "It's not the Minotaur's fault how it was born."
"It killed all those people," Asuka pointed out.
"It was trapped without food, as much a prisoner as anyone sent into the labyrinth."
Asuka rolled her eyes. "It's a monster, doofus. An antagonistic or villainous role. And I'm the protagonist hero who kills the monster. That's how it works!"
"So the scripts say."
Hikari hadn't gotten involved in the discussion, instead checking the clock on the wall. "We have this room booked a little longer. Did you want to go over anything, Asuka?"
"Aside from explaining to this doofus how stories work? Nah, that was pretty good. Don't want to overdo it this early."
They packed up all their stuff and tidied the room, before heading back out into the main community centre. It adjoined the town library, and it was the library service desk where Asuka needed to return the keys.
Miss Ibuki was on duty – Rei's favourite, since the youngest librarian had never discouraged her from reading science and other 'hard' non-fiction, unlike some other staff, who earned Asuka's contempt for trying to push "nice stories for a sweet little girl". So regressive!
"Hello Asuka," said Ibuki pleasantly as she approached. "All done for today?"
"Yep! Thanks, Miss Ibuki!" chirped Asuka, and passed back the key.
"Maya is fine," she smiled, and put it in its drawer. "I was only a teenager not that long ago myself, you know. —No, really!" she laughed, when Asuka didn't answer.
But Asuka's attention had been caught by something else. In front of Ibuki's computer sat a steaming mug of coffee, and the design showed a heart-shape striped with shades of pink and orange, on a background layered with all the colours of the rainbow.
Asuka swallowed.
Ibuki – Maya – followed the direction of her stare, and gave a tiny flinch.
"Um," blurted Asuka, but stalled. A frantic – ahem, strategic – glance around showed Hikari and Kaworu browsing the stacks, chatting together as they waited for Asuka. Out of earshot and not paying attention. "Um."
Maya's voice was quiet but steady. "Yes, Asuka?"
"You. You're." Gulp. "—Do you have a girlfriend?"
She nodded. "...I do, yes."
I do, yes. I do, yes. I do, yes. "How did you know?"
Her brows furrowed. "Know … that she's my...?"
Asuka couldn't meet her eyes, just stared at the mug as words rushed out. "How did you know you liked her like that? How—" she stammered, "—how do you tell the difference from, from friend-liking? Thinking she's cool, or sweet, or smart or whatever? How do I – you – know it's like-liking?"
"Oh, Asuka," sighed Maya, and Asuka was floored by the warmth and sympathy in her voice. "It's different for everyone, whoever the other person is."
That's not helpful, Asuka thought childishly.
But Maya continued, "Think … think about what's different in how you feel with her, from with your other friends. Not just how big the feeling is, but what shape or even colour it might be, how it makes you want to act. Think of what you might say or do, if you could be sure of the answer. Think of what you want the time you spend with her to have in it, or to mean."
Asuka found herself sniffing and blinking, and a tissue appeared in front of her. She grabbed it and muttered, "Damn hayfever," and blew her nose.
"Gets worse every spring," Maya agreed. She paused. "There's – well, there's a book I could recommend to you, but unfortunately our only copy is on loan at the moment. Let me see if the other one I like is in..." She turned to type at her keyboard.
Suddenly Hikari was at Asuka's side, making her jump. "Miss Ibuki!"
"Oh – hello, Hikari," said Maya. She gave Asuka a quick nod – Asuka hoped it meant 'discretion mode engaged'. "What's the problem?"
Hikari thrust an opened book at her. The hardcover and every page were warped and bulging in a distinct tree-root-looking rash. "I found it on the shelf like this!"
Maya frowned. "Another one? That's sixteen already!"
She gestured behind her to a trolley piled high with volumes of all kinds – chunky novels, slim picture books, broad reference tomes alike. Every one Asuka could see had the same bumpy ripples sprawling across their surfaces.
"What is it?" Hikari wrinkled her nose. "Some kind of water damage?"
Maya shook her head. "Too regular a pattern, and none of the books next to these have anything similar."
Movement in the corner of Asuka's eye caught her attention – Kaworu was circling the service desk, looking intently at the ceiling. As Asuka watched, she figured out that he was focused on the fluorescent lights, specifically.
He stopped at the end of the long desk, furthest from Maya's workstation, and tilted his head.
Asuka wasn't surprised when he climbed onto the desk.
She cleared her throat, mind racing. When Hikari and Maya looked at her expectantly, she said, "What do the books have in common?"
"Well, nothing," said Maya, and wheeled the trolley closer so Asuka and Hikari could reach.
"Nothing that we can easily notice," Asuka corrected. "Maybe we just need to look closer, and cross-reference the details."
As she'd known they would, both Hikari and Maya were intrigued by the thought of analytical organisation, and promptly dived into the piles of books. Yeah, I'm good, thought Asuka smugly.
A blur of white light between one ceiling fitting and the next made Asuka blink. Beneath it, Kaworu didn't hesitate before climbing from the desk onto the top of an adjacent bookshelf.
Idiot! He's going to fall!
His foot brushed a protruding label – 'Nippon Decimal Classification 160: Religion – 190: Christianity' – and Maya started to look around at the noise.
"What!" Asuka blurted – distracted again, Maya looked back at her quizzically. "What … if..."
"Yes?"
Behind her, Kaworu stepped across the gap between two bookcases, higher than his height above the floor, as casually as if he was strolling a garden path.
"What … if … I read out loud!" Asuka suggested desperately. "Maybe a pattern is more obvious when spoken?"
Maya and Hikari exchanged dubious looks as Asuka ran her eyes over the spread of damaged books.
"Shichigon-zekku poetry! Perfect!" She made an unnecessary amount of noise as she grabbed the book and leafed it open to the first piece, and cleared her throat ostentatiously while peeking at Kaworu from the corner of her eye.
He was standing under the largest light fixture, staring directly at the glowing neon tubes and reaching up with one hand.
The tubes were … wobbling?
Asuka tore her eyes away. "'Mount Fuji'. This great peak above the clouds," she read, "where legendary wizards come to work their magic; In the deep pools of whose caverns holy dragons have inhabited from old..."
She peeked again. Kaworu's hands were both back in his pockets – he was nodding along to her recital – and one of the tubes, she suddenly realised, wasn't a single pipe, but a double helix.
Huh. "When snow overwhelms, and smoke rises up like the hilt of a sword..."
The light fixture rattled as the double-helix detached itself, a glowing circlet.
"Did you hear—" Maya began, and Asuka raised her voice again.
"It is as if! A great white fan! Sits inverted!" -rattle, clatter- "In the heavens above the eastern sea!"
The fluorescent light flickered and sparked – Kaworu grabbed the double-helix and hopped lightly down behind the bookcase, just as Maya turned around.
"Oh! Was there an earthquake? I didn't feel anything."
"Me neither," said Hikari.
"Those really tiny ones," Asuka babbled, "you don't notice them when you're focusing on something else, right?"
To her relief, Hikari nodded. "That's true – the one last month was like, four point two, and I was using the electric whisk and didn't even realise there'd been a quake."
"Exactly!"
"I suppose so," Maya admitted. "I should check for damage, or anything fallen."
"We'll help," Hikari began, but Asuka had spotted Kaworu lurking by the front door. His hoodie had apparently become a puffer vest, or he'd suddenly put on a lot of weight.
"Actually I need to go," said Asuka, "gotta … get stuff ready for … homework! Since we've been rehearsing. Sorry Miss Maya!"
"That's fine," she said. "Thank you, Hikari, but policy is for staff to respond first, and cordon off access to patrons, in case there's any hazard present."
As they went to leave Maya waved Asuka to hang back. "Here," she said quietly, and passed a slip of paper.
Emeralds in Violet [on loan], was first on the list, then Her Smiling Eyes [1 copy available].
"You can always talk to me, Asuka," said Maya. Her own smile was warm with empathy.
"Thanks," Asuka whispered. She folded the note and tucked it into her pocket, where it burned like a torch.
Hikari took her own train back home, and Asuka and Kaworu made their way to the Ikaris' house yet again.
Rei and Shinji had been doing homework together – well, Shinji did his while Rei read, then helped her with hers (she was very smart, but missed enough classes with her health issues that there were always gaps) – but came out to the playhouse when Asuka messaged the group chat (which had been named 'Alien Invasion').
Seeing Rei in person after the conversation with Maya made Asuka feel … something. Different from other friends? Sure of the answer? But I don't know – and everyone's a bit different – and what if I'm wrong?
"Soryu?" Rei asked. "Is something the matter?"
Asuka schooled her face. It'll have to wait. "Oh, just another weird day with weird cryptid freaklets," she said breezily, and gestured to Kaworu, who was unzipping his hoodie.
The double-helix unwrapped itself from around his waist and shoulders. Its glow was calmer now – didn't hurt to look at – and it had separated into a scarf-like single length.
It raised one end, seeming to regard its surroundings and company (though of course without a face, Asuka couldn't be sure). The other Angels briefly paused to return the attention, then returned to whatever Angel activities they'd been involved in.
"What's its name?" asked Shinji. "—Waugh!"
The thing had launched itself at him, and before anyone could respond, threw loops of its body around him like a boa constrictor.
"Shinji!" shouted Rei.
"Get off him, freak!" Asuka yelled, and grabbed at it, but it wiggled away from her grip.
"Kaworu?" Shinji stammered. "Is – it – what's it doing?" He at least seemed to be breathing normally rather than getting strangled.
Kaworu hadn't panicked, but he looked – for the first time Asuka could remember – actually awkward. "Armisael is … impressionable."
"Wh-what does that mean?" Shinji whimpered. The 'Armisael' was rubbing one of its ends against his face.
"Is it going to hurt Shinji?" Rei demanded.
Asuka stiffened. "Is it going to mess him up, like those books?"
"Books?" Rei echoed, and "Mess up?" Shinji quavered.
"No! No, he's safe," Kaworu reassured them. "Just – when I collected them and made contact, they … got an impression from me. Of my … feelings. That they are now acting on."
The three of them looked at the Armisael, and Asuka realised that the motions that had looked like attack and capture were – well, not that.
Shinji went bright red. "Oh. Oh, um, okay." He put up a cautious hand, and the Armisael nuzzled into it like a cat. A shy smile appeared on his face.
"It will fade," Kaworu muttered. His own blush wasn't as dramatic as Shinji's, but the fact that it was there at all...
These idiots, thought Asuka. Flirting via cryptid, how ridiculous.
Rei looked between Shinji and Kaworu, her expression still clouded. Asuka wondered if she was slower to trust something that had at least looked like it was attacking her brother.
Asuka had moved on, of course. "So what was the deal with the books, anyway?" she asked Kaworu.
He settled on his floor cushion, legs stretched in front with ankles crossed, and linked his hands behind his head – embarrassment either faded or conquered. "Armisael was trying to get 'impressions' from them. They had observed humans drawing significance and information from books, and wished to do the same, but their tools for doing so are limited."
"So it just ended up damaging them instead," Asuka concluded. "No wonder Miss Maya was upset."
"Miss Maya was?" Rei glared at the Armisael.
"Well, guess we know which one's Rei's least favourite Angel," Asuka snickered. "Hurting books, jumping Shinji, and causing problems for the best librarian? You're not doing yourself any favours," she said to the Armisael.
It was still busy cuddling Shinji, and didn't react.
"Armisael just wanted to understand, and to join in," said Kaworu. "That's why they calmed down when you were reading aloud, Asuka."
"Huh? Me?"
"Yes. You gave them what they were searching for – connection."
"Oh. I – I guess."
"That's really cool," said Shinji. He was cross-legged on his own cushion, right next to Kaworu's of course. "You're really good at this Angel-catching, Asuka."
She preened. "Damn right I am." Nobel prize, here I come!
Rei's frown cleared up at last, and she sat on her cushion, looking at the Armisael from close range. "It likes books?'
"Maybe you could read aloud to them," Asuka suggested. She strolled over to the bookcase and ran her finger along the spines. "What does it like, Kaworu? We've got action, mystery, slice-of-life..."
She froze.
"They all sound good," Kaworu said. "What's the one you have there?"
"Nothing!" Asuka yelped, and grabbed a different book at random. "Uh – ancient literature! Sun Wukong the Monkey King, get into the classics!"
She passed it to Rei, who looked at her with concern. "Soryu?"
Asuka grabbed Tutu and flopped onto her own cushion. "C'mon, you'd better show this silly Angel how you're supposed to treat books."
Slowly Rei opened the volume and started to read aloud, but Asuka had her eyes squeezed shut and all she could hear was the title of the book on the playhouse shelf, in Rei and Shinj's collection, that had frozen her.
Emeralds in Violet.