The last thing Asuka wanted to do that night was go to a festival, even one at the prettiest shrine in Tokyo-3. She was just hitting her stride on a really good mope, she'd downloaded three super-sad movies to cry to, and the fridge was full of her favourite caramel custard pudding. The stage was perfectly set for a world-class sulk sesh.
It was well earned after the last few days. To count up:
1. Realising she had a crush on her best friend;
2. Realising said best friend wasn't interested, in the squickiest way possible;
3. Realising that her social freak of a cousin was having a better love life than she was;
And to ice the sulk-worthy cake,
4. Mama couldn't take them to the festival anyway, even though Asuka had promised to win the top prize at the fishing booth. She'd gotten so close last year, she was sure she could do it, and Mama would be so proud of her – she'd look at Asuka, and smile, and say "Mein Schatz" like she used to...
"Asuka? Are you sure?" came Kaworu's voice through her bedroom door.
"I already said I was! Go away!" she shouted.
"She said no again," Kaworu reported, and Asuka heard muffled voices answering him and realised the Ikari twins must've come to collect her – it was what they did every year, after all.
God they're stubborn, she thought, and clamped a pillow around her head to muffle her ears.
When someone touched her shoulder, she whipped the pillow in their direction at full force.
"–oof."
Oh shit.
"Rei? Rei!" She launched herself up and off the bed.
Rei was slumped on the floor, the collar of her yukata askew, one tabi sock free of its escaped slipper. Her hand was pressed to her temple and eyes unfocused.
"I'm sorry," whimpered Asuka, and crouched at her side, a reaching hand hesitant at her shoulder. "I thought you were Kaworu! Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?"
Rei blinked dazedly. "Seven?"
"...Hint, it's one hand."
"Oh. Eight?"
"Urk. Shinji?" called Asuka wretchedly.
Shinji had been the highest-scoring and youngest-ever graduate of the community centre's advanced-level first-aid certificate, and each year renewed his qualification with clockwork reliability. He bustled calmly into the room and took Rei's vitals, shone a light in her eyes with his phone torch, tested her motor control and reflexes, before pronouncing that she should be fine after a few minutes sitting down.
"And then we can all go to the festival," Rei said, looking at Asuka (or attempting to). "Right, Soryus?"
Asuka squirmed. She couldn't really refuse Rei now, could she?
"Shinji got you a hair thin. Thing. Pin," said Rei, and her brother squawked.
"We both did!" he said hurriedly. "And it was Rei's idea!" He fumbled in the pocket of his yukata sleeve and withdrew a small cellophane-wrapped parcel that he tried to pass to Rei, but she ignored him (or just couldn't see him) and he gave up and held it out to Asuka.
Internally, Asuka writhed. Externally, she accepted the gift with a muttered, "Thanks," and opened it carefully.
A bow of twisted cord in shining gold, with two tassels hanging down, and a spray of tiny flowers the same shade of blue as Mama's eyes (and her own).
"It's really pretty," she admitted.
"Will you wear it tonight?" Rei asked.
Internally, Asuka writhed across the floor, right up the wall and out the window. Externally, she nodded.
"Good," said Rei, and a stupid little part of Asuka's stupid little heart fluffed up flossily at pleasing her.
I guess I can mope later.
'Later' turned out to be less than half an hour after arriving at the festival. Asuka had barely finished her daifuku stick, and they hadn't even played one game of lucky dip, when their quartet stumbled onto a flagstone square that had been turned into a dance floor, and before Asuka knew what was happening, someone was shoving her at Shinji (a blur of blue in the corner of her eye suggested the identity of the shover).
The shamisen player didn't help by calling, "You have to dance!"
"Dance, dance!" echoed the hosts, tapping their tambourines.
Asuka looked around in panic to see Rei grabbing Kaworu's hands, expression resolute. He seemed surprised, but allowed her to drag them together, and they started stepping and swaying in time. No escape that way.
"Go on, son!" bullied the nearest host, poking Shinji's hand with a folded fan to push it to Asuka's upper back. "And you, pretty girl – it's festival, relax!"
Go along and it'll be over sooner, Asuka thought grimly, and took Shinji's hand in hers (the lead grip, but too bad for him if he had delusions about Asuka Langley Soryu following).
The two of them shuffled across the square semi-on-beat with the taiko drum. Shinji's face was as red as Asuka felt hers to be, and they both kept looking over at the family members who'd abandoned them. The music was accompanied by each of them saying "ow" and Shinji saying "sorry", as they stepped on each others' feet.
Gradually the movement of the couples on the dance floor let Asuka lead Shinji into a corner away from the other festival-goers. Several of the closest lanterns were out and it was shadowy, almost dark.
"Uh, Asuka?" Shinji wavered. "Isn't it a bit – um, isn't this spot kind of..." He gulped. "Private?"
"Don't get ideas," she snapped. "Your clumsiness is less of an embarrassment this way. Besides..."
She cast another glance at the others. Rei and Kaworu were also dancing in a clear space by themselves, but that was because people had stepped back to watch them admiringly. Rei was so pretty, even in a plain grey yukata, and Kaworu moved so lightly he could have been floating. They look really good together, Asuka sighed. ...Dorks.
She met Shinji's eyes again, all seriousness. "Your sister is trying to set us up."
Shinji's jaw dropped. He stopped moving completely and just stood there, holding Asuka's hand and shoulder. "Huh?"
"I said Rei's trying to get you and me together!" Asuka said. "She keeps arranging things like – well, like this!"
"But – why? She – I mean, you like … y'know … and—" He gulped. "And I … like..."
Asuka narrowed her eyes. "Does Rei know that you're into—?" She jerked her head back at the ethereal pair.
She'd thought Shinji was blushing before, but his skin had apparently decided to invent some new shades of red. "I. Uh. Haven't … exactly … in words..."
"She's your twin!" Asuka flared. "Don't you dummies talk to each other?"
"Don't call Rei a dummy!" he flared back. "And you can talk, you've been Rei's best friend for how long, and haven't told her how you feel?"
Asuka felt herself inflate like a hot-air balloonfrog and Shinji flinched, but stood his ground and glared even as her grip ground the bones of his hand together.
"That doesn't matter," said Asuka, over the contradiction of her own heart.
Shinji looked hurt at that, as though she'd said something to wound him, and his hold on her back softened. "Of course it matters," he said gently. "You and Rei—"
"Why aren't you dancing, Shinji? Soryu?" interrupted the girl herself, and Asuka jumped a vertical mile.
"Gotverdamnt ninja!"
"Are you uncertain about dancing, Shinji?" asked Kaworu cheerfully, at Rei's side. "It's quite easy, once you relax and enjoy it."
Inspiration struck, and Asuka took her hand off Shinji's chest to grab Kaworu's wrist. "Yes, that's right!" she said, and charged from the dance floor with both boys in tow.
Out the secluded semi-lit corner she and Shinji had retreated to, the shrine gardens were quiet and almost deserted. At a small lawn bordered by trees, buffered from the main festival activities but within earshot of the music, she stopped suddenly and all but threw her captives together.
"Shinji can't dance, Kaworu can," she said, "therefore, Kaworu teach Shinji!" With half an eye on Rei, she concluded logically, "Then Shinji won't step on my toes so much next time." Not that there'll be one.
Rei's eyes widened as she discovered the flaw in her 'Shinji + Asuka dancy → romancy' plan (well, aside from the flaw of it existing in the first place) and she nodded seriously. "Yes. Shinji, learn from Nagisa."
"Hahhhuh?" Shinji blubbered.
"I am happy to help," said Kaworu. He directed Shinji's hands into place while the shorter boy made a noise like a boiling teakettle. Kaworu smiled at him. "Like with the kite."
"Hublmn'ng."
Kaworu began to move to the music, and helplessly Shinji was carried along, even though their postures should have had him leading.
The heart-eyed expressions on both of them quickly exceeded Asuka's stomach capacity, and she had to look away, around, at anything else.
Soon her eyes fell on Rei, and inspiration struck again.
She sidled over. "Y'know, I don't think I'm so confident about dancing either."
Rei turned a surprised expression on her. "But you are very coordinated and athletic. Dancing uses skills you have in abundance."
Asuka fought to keep her strategic wits clear of the happy glow of 'compliment from Rei'. "Yeah, but dancing with someone is different," she argued. "Following their lead, letting them guide and support me, moving closely with them..."
She watched the wheels turning in Rei's head, holding her breath until she got a nod.
Rei held out her arms, and Asuka stepped into them with a mental high-five to herself.
"And then you and Shinji can dance beautifully together," Rei said woodenly.
Geez, she could sound a bit happy about it, when it's what she wants, Asuka thought crossly. "Yeah, sure," she said out loud, and then deliberately gave up every other thought to the bliss of dancing with Rei.
It was...
It was...
It...
If this is all I'll ever get, it's enough, thought Asuka, and it was almost true.
Rei wasn't light on her feet – there was no whimsy or carefree joy in her movements. Her grace and elegance were of a different flavour, deliberate and whole-hearted – she focused on her chosen action with full attention, like a force of nature. Her eyes were as clear and pure as rubies, and they were levelled directly on Asuka.
Who swooned uselessly for a few moments (who could blame her?), before rallying to meet and match.
The flute had taken lead in the distant music, and Asuka let it soften her limbs to flow with and embellish Rei's wordless directions. It was easy, natural, comfortable – who needed choreography or instructions, as long as they had each other? A smile bloomed irresistibly on Asuka's face; she curled and flicked her fingers, shimmied her shoulders, tossed her hair. Rei lifted their joined hands and nudged Asuka's shoulder to spin her, laughing, in place.
When she settled again, Rei's arm curled around her waist, and her glowing smile was so close, brighter than any lantern.
Asuka found their steps slowing until they stood still. The music sounded very distant, but Rei's breath very close. A section of blue hair had fallen forward over its clip; Asuka lifted and smoothed it back into place, fingers lingering.
"Perfect," she murmured. They were in a bubble, just the two of them, and nothing else mattered or even existed.
From a few metres or light years away, it was Kaworu who popped the bubble. "Wrrfg!"
"Kaworu!" cried Shinji.
Asuka's head whipped around to see Kaworu staggering backwards away from Shinji, dragged by a pair of flat grey straps wrapped around one arm and across his eyes and mouth. Shinji grabbed at them, trying to rip or pull away, but though they curled and shaped themselves around their target's bicep and head, at the same time a rigid strength resisted the rescue attempt.
"Mf-mm-mmff!" Kaworu protested, struggling, but was reeled back towards the trees.
Asuka charged, following the straps past a stand of willows until they ended, or rather began, at—
"—Goddamn Angel," she groaned, and panic faded as quickly as it had appeared.
This one at least had a face, or mask, with squinty-arched eye/holes and a grinning mouth; a stumpy limbless black-and-white-halved body centred with the familiar red orb; the grey straps issued from grey shoulder-caps each framed with dorsal fins.
Another muffled protest announced Kaworu's arrival, followed by Rei and Shinji, who halted in confusion to look between the cryptid, and Asuka with her hands on hips.
"A new Angel?" Shinji asked, like it wasn't obvious.
Kaworu managed to free his mouth, though the straps still bound his eyes and other arm. "Zeruel," he explained, like it meant anything.
The cryptid used the loop around his bicep to twirl him in place, and Asuka was reminded of her spin by Rei.
"Does it think it can dance?" she scoffed.
"They like to show off," Kaworu said. "Like some huma—people."
Asuka scowled and crossed her arms, but of course with the strap across his face he couldn't see. "Shut up, I don't 'show off'."
"Yeah you do," Shinji muttered, and Kaworu smirked, "I didn't say you."
As Asuka made futile but satisfying rude gestures at him, he fumbled until the ends of the Zeruel's straps were in his hands.
"All right, all right," he said. "Are you done now?"
The Zeruel spun him again, and anyone else would have overbalanced and fallen, but he kept his footing and began to peel the straps off himself. Shinji made a stressed noise and tried to help, but a strap batted him away with a solid-sounding smack even though under Kaworu's hands they crinkled like crepe paper.
Asuka cast a sideways glance at Rei to find the other girl watching her. Rei looked away and retreated a step, and Asuka scowled at the interrupting cryptid. The magic of her dance with Rei had vanished – even though Asuka had known at the time it would only last until Rei remembered her matchmaking agenda, she still felt bitter to have lost it.
Your timing sucks, she thought aggressively, watching the Zeruel be lifted onto Kaworu's back and its straps looped over his shoulders like a knapsack.
It spent the rest of the festival there, hiding in plain sight, and Asuka's aggression stayed strong as the four of them wandered the shrine among happy festival crowds, eating sugar- or oil-loaded stall food and drinking equally healthy drinks.
They played tombola and string-pull, watched acrobats and a naginata demonstration, bet on a chicken race and lost.
Asuka got the second-top prize at the fishing booth – a plush monkey; minutes after winning it, the neck stitching gave out and its head fell off, spilling cotton everywhere. She hurled it in a bin. You don't deserve to be given to Mama!
And eventually she and Shinji caved to Rei's pressure and danced together again.
It was worse than before – not only did they bump into each other every second beat, he stood on her sandal and it came right off. She had to hop awkwardly while he tried to put it back on.
"This Cinderella reboot sucks," she grumbled, and flailing to balance accidentally kicked Shinji in the face.
"Ow!"
"Crud! —It's your own fault!" she snapped.
His response was muffled by Asuka's long yukata sleeve thwapping in his mouth. The fabric came away with a dark wet stain of saliva.
"Gross!" she wailed.
Rei spoke up, "If Shinji kneels, Soryu can use his shoulder to keep steady."
Asuka glared – I've had more than enough of your ideas! – and swooped down to snatch the sandal from Shinji. She managed to grab it, but the movement was too much for her one-footed balance and even as she shoved her foot into the straps a terminal lurch took hold –over she went, and the dance floor flagstones—
—stopped centimetres away.
She blinked.
"That was close," said Kaworu's voice at her ear, and clapping broke out from the audience of festival attendees who'd apparently been watching Asuka make an idiot of herself, and her cousin rescue her.
Kaworu had hold of her wrist and behind her shoulder, almost like a dip from a fancy tango or something, but Asuka's weight wasn't hanging from his hands – she was held up by the flat grey straps of the Zeruel clamped to his back, that curled beneath her waist.
"The Angel saved me?"
"Zeruel helped."
"That's what I said."
"—Ah. Of course. Yes, they did."
Over his shoulder, the grinning clown-face grinned clownishly.
"Thanks," said Asuka grudgingly. "...It can help me up now."
Kaworu nodded and stood – he must've lent Asuka some of his floaty, because she didn't scramble at all getting her feet back under her.
"Are you all right, Asuka?" asked Shinji. He had a hand pressed to his cheekbone where Asuka's foot had connected.
"Fine," she said curtly, then despite herself: "Sorry."
Shinji shrugged a self-deprecating smile. "I started it, stepping on your sandal. Guess I need a few more dance lessons." His gaze and smile moved to Kaworu, and both increased in sappiness by at least four hundred percent.
Asuka grabbed his ear to hiss into it. "What you need is to talk to your sister."
The smile wilted. "R-right."
Asuka took one of the Zeruel's straps and used it to haul Kaworu away. "That's enough festival for me," she announced.
"Oh – but..." Kaworu began, looking beseechingly back at Shinji, but the other boy waved him sheepishly on.
"See you at school tomorrow, Kaworu."
"...See you later, Shinji, Miss Rei."
Rei wore a disappointed expression watching Asuka and Kaworu leave, but didn't protest when Shinji distracted her by taking her hands. The siblings began to dance together as the cousins left.
Asuka winced. Sorry, Rei. Hope you have better luck than I did. Being annoyed at her friend was one thing, but being inflicted with Stupid-Shinji's hazardous attempts at physical coordination deserved sympathy regardless.
Maybe it would make the impending cancellation of her plan easier to bear. The truth can hurt, but so can getting your damn foot trodden on.