Neon Genesis Evangelion Higher Learning -Strike Fiss 2000 Seventh Lesson: Classroom Behavior Everyone was still lock-jawed from the last presentation. Kensuke and Toji and their amazing weekend. Kensuke had gotten it all on film. All of it. Three days of their own 'special' brand of humor condensed into half an hour of tape. The presentation had ended with a rather interesting scene of the two of them in the boy's washroom, using the urinals and talking about trees falling in the woods. Of course, the camera was behind them and didn't show anything too bad, but Toji did accidentally let his butt-crack show for a few frames, causing the entire class' jaws to drop. Hikari was blushing furiously, and couldn't bring herself to look at either of them. Sensei Kaoru just sat at his desk with a similar expression on his face. "Uh...thank you for that insightful look into your weekend, boys." Kensuke and Toji...who had done a lot worse in public anyway...were both smiling proudly. "See? The camera never lies!" Kensuke announced. "I control reality in my hands!" he began to cackle. "Among other things." Keiko commented, prompting a giggling fit from most of the girls. "Mm, they're just jealous of our fantastic, multi-media presentation!" Toji replied with a mighty laugh. Kaoru shook his head. "Uh, if anyone else has any questions?" Nobody said anything. "Okay, lets move on." He continued. "Quickly. I'll give you both a B for effort. The voice-over and soundtrack was well done, but I really did want an oral report since we're trying to see how different both of your views on the events were." "I'll tell you right now, I had a different view than his in the last scene!" Toji laughed. "ANYWAY..." Kaoru laughed, then turned to his list of names. "Mmm, let's see. Shinji. Why don't you come up with your weekend's partners and tell us about it?" Not surprisingly, Asuka stood with him and they walked nervously to the front. "The married couple will now tell about their fantastic arguments over the last three days." Toji narrated into the mic of Kensuke's camera. Everyone laughed, turning to the front. He was right. They would never agree on events, and would probably start fighting. It would be a lot of fun to watch. Kaoru edged his glasses up on his nose and nodded. "You may proceed, Mister Ikari." The class hushed to listen and watch Asuka's reactions. Shinji looked over to Asuka, who looked back at him nervously. He turned to the class. "Uh, well, Asuka caught a sinus cold." Asuka's eyes widened and she nodded quickly. "Yes. It was bad too." The class was so quiet, they could almost count the number of cicadas outside. "Uh...so I cooked some soup, and she felt better." Shinji said. "It was good soup." She agreed. "Chicken ramen." The Sensei looked at them with a raised eyebrow. "That's what you did all weekend? For three days?" Asuka and Shinji both looked at each other at the same time. It was eerie. A sync-training flashback. Then, they both turned to Kaoru and nodded. "Hai." They said in unison. Rei raised her hand. Everyone turned to her. "We also had a Sync- Test." she informed the class. Asuka and Shinji both nodded quickly, cursing themselves for forgetting it. "Uh yeah!" Shinji beamed. "And Baka here got a higher score because I had the flu." Asuka smirked. Shinji turned and glared at her. It wasn't cause she had the flu...It was probably because of her hang-over. He said nothing, though. "He looked so proud he beat me by a point!" Kaoru blinked and shrugged, turning to the class. "Does anyone have any questions for them?" Kensuke nodded. "You mean, you guys didn't fight?" They both nodded, blushing slightly. "Not even ONCE?" Toji gasped. Hikari even joined in. "You both got along for THREE days?" "Hey! It was only two and a half!" Asuka defended. Shinji nodded. Another long pause. Shinji began to fidget, letting his hand clench and straighten out a few times. "Very well." Kaoru shrugged. "You both can sit down now." They did so without even exchanging words. "I'll give you both an A for actually getting along for such an impressive period of time." He laughed. The class all nodded; nobody disputed the high mark. "Uh, let's see. Who's next?" Shinji relaxed back in his seat, not daring to look at Asuka. Honestly, he had been terrified that she'd start telling the class about the whole thing; making sure to leave out the parts embarrassing to her while knowing he'd be too embarrassed to try to correct her. Sure...she had lied a bit about the sync-test, but that was okay. After all, she felt bad enough knowing he had beaten her anyway. A small 'mail' icon flashed on his computer screen. A moment later, it opened. [Thanks, Shinji. I owe you one.] He blinked, and glanced over to Asuka out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling...just enough to let him see. Suddenly, though, she frowned and began typing quickly. [Don't think that means you can sleep with me, Hentai.] Shinji frowned and began typing back. [Why would I want to even if I could?] There was an audible gasp from Asuka. Everyone in the class turned to her in surprise. Kaoru peered over his glasses. "Are you okay, Miss Sohryu?" She nodded quickly, trying not to glare at Shinji, who had a peaceful, innocent grin on his face. "I...I'm fine. Can I get a drink of water?" Everyone was giggling as she ran out of the classroom with a barely audible 'baka!'. Actually, she said it quite loudly...it was just interrupted by a loud, long wailing siren. Kaoru sighed and closed his books as the students all packed up quickly. "Okay ladies and gentlemen. We all know the drill. Let's go." He smiled and nodded to Rei and Shinji, wishing them luck. They ran off, catching up to Asuka, who was already out the front door. Evacuations had been going well. They were only five minutes away from being ready to go into full battle mode. Ritsuko watched the readouts on the main monitor as each shelter reported the number of people secure. Hands in her pocket, she smiled to herself, feeling the air outside of the command room door shift slightly. "You're late." She said. Misato rushed in. "I'm sorry..." she turned to the main screen, sizing up the situation with a practiced air. "Did the Fuji Observation Center...?" "Didn't detect it!" Shigeru reported. "It just suddenly appeared directly over us!" Makoto hadn't even turned around from his computer as he tried to make heads or tales of the information coming into it. "Pattern Orange detected! No AT Field, though...?" "What is this?" Misato blinked. Orange? They had never had an attacker with that kind of wave-pattern... "A new kind of Angel?" Ritsuko offered, getting worried. Maya turned around in her chair. "The MAGI are withholding a final judgment." Taking her first good look at the visual outside, Misato sighed to herself. The 'Angel' looked to be a large, black-and-white striped sphere. Moving at only a walking pace, it was almost peaceful. "Damn." She whispered. "A situation like this and Commander Ikari's not here..." The glowing white eyes of EVA-01 watched from between two buildings as the Angel crept across the sky, moving ever-closer to the top of the Geofront where it would probably start it's attack. Shinji smiled to himself. "I really got her with that one." "Can all of you hear me?" Misato's voice interrupted his thoughts of Asuka. "I've sent you all the target's data." She continued, forcing him to focus. "This is all we know right now." She said. "Approach it carefully and observe it's reactions. If possible, lure it outside of the city limits." She paused. "Two of you will back up the other. Got that?" It was a standard 'I have no idea what to do, so give it your best shot' plan. Every other Angel they had faced up until now had at least tried to attack right away. This one was behaving strangely. Asuka smiled from the plug of her EVA-02. "All right, ma'am!" she replied happily. "But I think Shinji should be the point-man on this one." Shinji blinked. "Uh?" Normally, Asuka was clamoring for a chance to whip some ass in combat. Asuka's face appeared on a com-link besides him. She was grinning fiercely. "Well, this is a job for the highest rated, bravest, number- one sync rate pilot, right?" He smiled back at her mocking face. "Or don't you feel UP to it, Shinji?" she edged. Challenge accepted! "No, I can do it." He grinned right back. "I'll show you how it ought to be done!" Asuka cocked her head slightly. "What was that??" Misato had enough of the playful teasing. "Okay you two. Knock it off." Asuka smiled smugly at him in the 'she's on MY side' look. He turned to the monitor. "Isn't that what you said, Misato? 'You're number ONE!'" "Well...uh...that was..." Shinji looked into Asuka's eyes and grinned evilly. "And combat is a MAN's job after all!" Asuka gasped, not believing he was going so far to goat her. "Talk about a social dinosaur!" she stuck out her tongue at him. "Unit-02 will back you up." She grinned. "And save your ass when you fall on it..." Rei's com sputtered to life. "Unit-00 will back him up as well." Misato sighed. "I can't believe those kids. I haven't even ordered anything yet." "Mmm...Shinji's getting more manly, isn't he?" Ritsuko teased. "No." Misato snapped back, trying to remain serious. "I'm going to have to have a talk with him when he gets back." To Be Continued... ---------------------------------------------------- Hoohaw! Well, not much happening this lesson, of course, nobody minds, because "The One I Love Is..." was wrapped up this last week, and everyone is enjoying the mighty keen and spooky conclusion to one of the pioneering epic Eva fan-fictions out there. ^_^ Mochas cheers for Alain! But, yes, next episode...PLOT! YES! HONEST TO GOODNESS PLOT! I promise you! ^_^ Everyone seems to love the WAFF so far, but I don't want to lose the audience who is wondering where this is all leading up to, so hold in there one more week. Hehe. Wonderful things are just around the corner. Class Presentations Outtake (by Alain Gravel) --------------------------------------------- Rei: "At 7h00 PM Saturday, Kaoru-sensei and I shared a meal. An hour later, we shared a bed. Then the kitchen table. Then the refrigerator. Then a bath. Then..." --------------------------------------------- ^_^ e-mail: strikef@bigfoot.com website: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9110 archive: Hell yeah! Just send me mail about it. Strike Fiss, Ninja Crowbotics 2000. Khattam-Shud, EOF.