The first day of school term was always a bit odd. The spring weather in Tokyo-3 never seemed too sure of itself, an unpredictable selection of torrential rains and the hot blazing sun. The students never seemed too sure of what was happening either, and the short amount of time before the first class was always used as an opportunity to catch up on the changes they’d missed since they finished last grade. Fortunately for them, this year graced them with a warm sun blanketed by pale clouds. They could only hope for their cohort to be the same level of familiar and welcoming.
Resident troublemakers Kensuke Aida and Toji Suzuhara were cooped up in the back corner of class 2-A, far away from the observant eyes of their teacher and with their laptops faced away from any student who might try prying at the messages the two would send to each other mid-lesson. They were in the midst of discussing their plans for monetising their antics this year, when a familiar mess of orange hair entered their line of sight – Asuka Langley Soryu.
While not on any good terms with the duo after their money-making plans the year prior involved photos of her taken without her knowledge, her arrival was usually followed by that of their third musketeer, Shinji Ikari; Shinji was nowhere to be seen, to their great surprise. The two always walked together to school, and his absence usually meant something bad as he almost never missed class. Asuka, uncharacteristically silent, wandered towards the other back corner spot by the window and slumped into the chair as she emotionlessly looked out at the school’s front carpark.
“Ya know, we haven’t seen Shinji since break started..” Toji whispered as he leant towards Kensuke.
Kensuke caught what he was laying down. “Yeah, I’m worried. Maybe all that bickering led the wife to finally kill him?”
The two chuckled. Even though Asuka and Shinji had never dated, with their consistent close proximity to each other and their constant fights they might as well have been a married couple. Although no one in the class would say it to their faces (lest they face the wrath of Asuka), most had treated them as if that were the case for years.
“It’s like those old murder mysteries,” continued Toji, “she musta poisoned his dinner!”
“Or maybe she suffocated him in his sleep with a pillow to shut him up,” wondered Kensuke.
Suddenly, Kensuke felt himself getting pushed back as Toji craned over his desk, hands cupped around his mouth. Kensuke knew what was coming next, and in that moment feared the unholy consequences that would follow.
“HEY ASUKA!” shouted Toji, projecting his voice across the entire room. “DID YA KILL SHINJI DURING BREAK?!”
Asuka whipped her head around to face the two boys. Her emotions were concentrated entirely in her eyes, which directed a thousand yard stare into their souls – the scowled expression told them all they needed to know.
“She totally did it,” Toji joked as he leant back into his chair.
“Yeah, and now she’s gonna kill us too,” retorted Kensuke. He was relieved Asuka hadn’t smited them there and then, although he knew that her revenge would likely come when they least expected it.
Before any revenge plans could take place, the creak of the front door let the class know that their teacher was finally here. Ms. Katsuragi (or as the rowdier students would informally call her, Misato) stepped in front of her desk, bowing to greet the students.
“Hi class!” said Misato, greeting the class with a wide smile. “It’s good to see you all back after break! I hope you all had a great time and stayed safe!”
Toji absently looked around as Misato continued with her generic first day spiel. He wondered where Shinji could be, as he still hadn’t shown up to class. His eyes travelled towards the door, as Misato had left it ajar. Outside the classroom, he could make out two blurry head shapes, although he couldn’t tell who they belonged to through the small gap.
“Now class,” continued Misato, “I’d like to introduce you to some new classmates.”
Misato moved aside, and gestured towards the door. An unusual looking girl stepped in, with pale blue hair, ghastly skin and a frail build. Her outfit accentuated her oddness, wearing a sweater vest and a skirt rather than the uniform dress. Her face appeared completely expressionless, although none of the class could make much out as she faced Misato the entire time.
“Would you like to introduce yourself?” Misato asked the newcomer, although it served as more of a command than any sort of question. She grabbed some chalk and began writing out her name on the class chalkboard. Her handwriting was rough, but not enough to be illegible. Rei Ayanami was the name up on the board, with her finally turning to face the classroom when she was done.
A meek voice came from the girl. “Hello.”
Rei silently stared forward, much to the surprise of her classmates and teacher who expected her to say more. Misato, realising that this was going nowhere, guided her to one of the few remaining free seats, putting her next to Kensuke. He and Toji glanced at each other, silently agreeing that this girl was weird.
Misato returned to the centrespace in front of the desk, glancing towards the door. She repeated her hand gestures to come in for the next student, although they appeared to be a bit more resilient to coming in, judging by how long she was at it. Finally, after a minute of awkward silence, the student walked through.
Before the class stood none other than Shinji Ikari. Or, rather, a dramatically changed Ikari. She was dressed in the girls’ uniform, and had grown out her hair halfway down her neck. Pierced in each ear were pearl earrings, matched with the colour of her eyes. On her face was an awkward smile, one that screamed she wanted to get this moment over and done with. She tried to avoid making eye contact with anyone, although it was hard to avoid with the entire class staring her down.
Misato began to announce what was happening to the class. “Now, I’m sure most of you aren’t aware, but over the break–”
“Shinji is a girl now!” interjected Asuka, stating the obvious as she aggressively whirred to life. “BIG WHOOP!”
Misato tried to continue as normal after a pause. “Yes, and I ask that you refer to her–”
“With the correct terms yada yada yada! WHO CARES!”
Throughout this sudden show of aggression, Shinji had stayed silent as the expression on her face grew visibly more uncomfortable. Misato, with her own look of discomfort, gestured for her to go sit at a desk. Unfortunately for her, the only free desk left was wedged between new girl Rei and the riled up Asuka. As she slowly walked towards it, Asuka sneered at her, her eyes laced with venom; Rei seemingly paid no mind and blankly stared forward. Misato took an aggressive stance in front of her desk.
“Any more of that,” she angrily shouted, “and you can expect strong disciplinary action your way Miss Langley!” Asuka slunk back in her chair, audibly letting out an annoyed sigh. On the other side of the room, Toji traded odd looks with Kensuke for a second time before he looked over at the miserable-looking, deeply embarrassed Shinji. She still hadn’t said a word.
The class that followed was an incredibly awkward affair; Asuka, Shinji and Rei all silently stared forward, books untouched and notes unwritten. Not that there was much to write – it was the first day, after all, but resident overachiever Asuka would at the very least have drawn up a pretty looking title on any other day. Misato didn’t bother encouraging them to participate, knowing that she didn’t need to poke the bear further.
Theories were traded by much of the class over their laptops – while their attention would usually be focused on the unusual new classmate Rei in these sorts of situations, the loud kerfuffle between Asuka and Misato as well as Shinji herself (who was at the centre of it all) was too great a mystery to not ponder. Why was Asuka so angry about this? Why had this happened at all?
Kensuke and Toji for once sat out on the theorising, knowing that they could simply ask Shinji at lunch. She was their best friend, after all, so it’s not like she wouldn’t tell them what was up. The moment they heard the bells chime for break, they rushed out of class, ready to greet her. Right after them was Asuka, who managed to slap both their faces in sequence as she walked away. The duo grumbled, but stuck around waiting for Shinji as she slowly lifted herself from her desk. She was one of the last to exit the class, finding herself face to face with her fellow musketeers.
“So, Shinj… this is a joke, right?” began Toji. “Between us?”
Shinji gave him an odd look, not knowing if the question was serious.
“It’s–” Shinji took pause after finally breaking her silence, thinking about what she was going to say. “It’s not a joke. This is really me.”
Toji’s eyes widened, as his face took on a quizzical expression. The question was serious.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys earlier,” continued Shinji. “I was just… afraid that you guys wouldn’t want to talk to me anymore…”
“Well it’s unusual,” Kensuke responded while pushing up his glasses, “but we’re buddies for life – right, Toji?”
The gears in Toji’s head began to spin at maximum speed. You could almost see the smoke pouring out his ears as he processed Kensuke’s statement.
“Ya know Shinj,” Toji retorted, “ya meant to date girls, not… dress up like them! I dunno if I can hang with ya like this! It’s weird!”
Toji quickly turned heel as he walked away, too embarrassed to look at Shinji any longer. Kensuke began to chase after him.
“Sorry Shin!” shouted Kensuke from down the hallway. “I’ll go talk to him! I have a lot of questions to ask you so we’ll talk again later!”
Shinji sat in her favourite spot for moments like these when she wanted to be alone – a small nook between classrooms, sat against a mesh fence underneath a planted tree. Not that she wanted to be alone, nor did that really make the spot a favourite, but it seemed like the appropriate place for her to be in that moment. Her head was hunched down, trapping her in her own thoughts.
She thought back to how she had gotten here. She’d known she was a girl for years, but had bottled the thought for fear of losing all that she loved. However, over break, she’d finally gained the confidence to tell her parents, realising she couldn’t hold it in forever. Her mother had caressed her face, told her she’d always be her child, and hugged her close. Her father, his emotions ever mysterious, didn’t seem to treat her any differently. She was okay with that. This instilled a newfound bravado in Shinji – she was gonna tell all her friends, on her own terms. First on her list was her longtime best friend since childhood, Asuka.
The meeting with Asuka… did not go nearly as well. Shinji had blocked out most of the details, but she remembered a lot of yelling and crying, although she didn’t remember who was doing it. If it were anyone though, it was probably just her doing the crying and Asuka doing the yelling. The event demolished any confidence Shinji had, and for the rest of the break she became a shut-in, not contacting any of her friends nor stepping foot outside the house.
Her time as a shut-in was mostly spent watching the clock tick down as first term approached. She knew inevitably she was going to have to exit the house to return to school, and her mother must have picked up the look of misery on her face as she reminded her that break was coming to an end as she briefed the school. Misato, who had become fond of her anxious wreck of a pupil, came up with the bright idea to announce it in front of the class; Shinji didn’t know until the morning of that it would happen, and Misato certainly didn’t predict that Asuka would have such a vitriolic reaction to it. If Shinji had known beforehand she almost certainly would’ve intervened…
Her train of thought was derailed by the rustle of the mesh fence she was sitting against. Someone else had joined her. She turned her head and found herself making eye contact with the new girl, Rei. She stared at Shinji, her face once again seemingly emotionless. Shinji couldn’t parse her intentions.
“...Hello?” Shinji greeted her, wondering if she would react.
“Hello,” Rei responded, almost robotically.
“You’re the new student in class,” Shinji continued, “Ayanami, right?”
Rei nodded her head. She seemed oblivious to how odd she came off.
“You seem lonely,” remarked Rei after a long silence.
“I’m okay,” retorted Shinji, attempting to move on from this line of questioning.
“Yet you are looking down at the floor still.”
Rei was right, Shinji had indeed returned to hunching her head over her lunchbox. She quickly raised her head and fixed her posture, as if it disproved Rei’s statement.
“What’s it to you?”
“That girl was yelling at you in class.”
A deep chill ran down Shinji. She didn’t like this conversation at all, yet she felt compelled to answer anyway.
“That’s Asuka. She is–” Shinji once again took pause to consider what she was saying. “She was my friend.”
Rei inquired further. “So do you not have any friends?”
“No, that’s not… I don’t really want to talk about it.”
Rei seemed to take a moment to process this information. Shinji wondered if she had computer chips inside her head, and they were struggling to generate new responses; Rei remained expressionless the whole time. An eternity seemed to pass before she stretched an open-handed arm out towards Shinji.
“I would like to be your friend.”
Shinji’s brain blanked at the request. She wasn’t sure how to respond – sure, the girl seemingly had the emotions and personality of a robot, but she was also the only person bothered to talk to her and, as far as Shinji was concerned, not be weird about it. At the very least, Rei could keep her company as she figured everything out. There wasn’t a downside here.
Shinji awkwardly reached over her own hand and grabbed onto Rei’s to seal the deal with a handshake. At the very least, Rei knew how to do that like a person would. A slight smile formed on her face for the first time today.
While Shinji was distracted with Rei, Asuka had been quietly observing the two through some nearby bushes. Disgusting. She couldn’t believe that Shinji was already making new friends – this would be an embarrassing blow to her ego if she couldn’t find anyone to sit with at lunch either.
Asuka got up and dusted off her dress as she discreetly walked into the more populated areas of the school, trying to act as if she didn’t just spend half of lunch break spying on her now ex-friend. She knew she had to scout out someone that she could sit with, and fast. It’s not like she could sit with Shinji anymore, and she definitely wasn’t sitting with those buffoons Toji and Kensuke after their photography antics the year prior. She caught a glimpse of the two bickering; she giggled to herself seeing that her slaps had left visibly hand-shaped red marks on their faces. Upon seeing those two, she knew exactly who she could sit next to.
Back in class 2-A, class representative Hikari Horaki was peacefully sitting at her desk, picking away at her lunch when the usual chatter of the other students in the room fell silent. She sighed as she heard the chair next to her violently grind against the floorboards, followed by the slam of a lunch box onto the neighbouring desk. She knew exactly who had decided to sit next to her.
“What do you want, Langley?” Hikari probed. “Are you going to yell at me too?”
Asuka forced a laugh. “I’ve simply come to eat my lunch with you, class rep. Is that not allowed?”
The room was still silent, with the other kids now staring at the two. Hikari had a reputation to uphold, and she was not about to let the resident classroom disruptor mess it up.
“We’re not friends, Asuka,” Hikari sighed.
“We’re not friends yet, Miss Class Rep!” Asuka countered, a smug grin on her face. “But I’m sure my irresistible charms will win you over!”
Hikari sighed a second time, and returned to simply eating her lunch. She refused to make any eye contact with Asuka, keeping her eyes on her lunch box. Asuka took the lack of a “go away” as an open opportunity; Hikari saw her inability to catch on and leave her alone as a problem. As far as Asuka was concerned, she had already made a new friend.
As lunch break drew to a close, Shinji and Asuka both sat undeterred. Shinji shared an awkward smile with Rei, Asuka continued to eat her lunch with her unwilling companion. In that moment, they somehow shared a singular, identical thought: I can work with this.
