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AREva Chapter 4

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Aluntur Rituali Evangelion chapter 4: School is a Strange Place

September 26, 2016

It is eight thirty in the morning, and the NERV cafeteria's TV is tuned to the news. The headline reads "GIANT ROBOTS SABOTAGE CITY". Jackie stabs her bacon with an oversized knife and takes a large bite. "Can you believe that? It's like pistol whippin' a blind kid who just saved your life!"

"The Evas are still secret, Jackie." Loki says, looking up from his cereal. "Though I doubt they'll stay that way. Especially with Weyland Industries' new logo plastered on Unit 05's chest. The PR department'll have one Hell of a time explaining that.

"How the heck can you keep fighting giant zombies a secret?" Jackie replies.

Cassie stares at the TV and asks "Wait... are they blaming us for the Angel attack?"

Jackie pats Cassie on the head. "Not your fault~."

"I do find a bit hard to believe that nobody was looking at what we were shooting at." Loki responds.

"And just what is this monster, that the robots were so intent on destroying?" says the newswoman, Video footage is played of the Trident stumbling in place, firing uselessly into the Angel. Osip seemingly shrinks into himself. . "We'll have more on this story after these messages."

Cassie slams her hands on the table. "Did they just use a picture of Unit 14 hitting that apartment building for a demolitions company commercial‽"

Still with his head down Osip finally speaks up. "That battle was... somewhat embarrassing. But I am sure we will be better prepared for next time."

Jackie frowns a little."We better. Hopefully, this thing doesn't make us flip out... Cass, what did you see in the thing, anyway? Zombie goo?"

Cassie's expression quickly becomes dire. "An eye."

"That's all?"  Jackie asks.

"It had three pupils." Cassie clarifies.

Lou interjects somewhat hurridly. "It was wrong. That's all. People shouldn't be subjected to seeing it. That's all."

Yumi walks over to the Pilots' table. "Oh, so you saw the news too. NERV is, um, is going to have a press conference about the fight later today. You should... you should keep quiet about being the Pilots for now. A lot of people pr-probably aren't happy about this..."

Jackie makes a comment. "Besides, they're going to be expecting, I dunno, macho military jocks screaming that they can be anyone's wingman anytime and not a bunch of kids."

"Having certain people make a television appearance," Motoko says, glancing at Jackie, "will just unnerve people more..."

"Wingman?" Cassie asks.

"Basically, your battle buddy in air combat." Jackie responds.

"That's it, we're having a movie night." Loki proposes.

Noting Yumi's mention of keeping quiet, Osip looks somewhat exasperated. "A classic example of secrecy backfiring. Do we know when NERV will finally let everyone know what the Angels are?"

Yumi scratches her head. "Umm, I'm not sure. Colonel Ishihara will be handling the press conference. I'm not sure what the agenda is..."

"I take it we won't be making an appearance? There's a few conspiracy theories about WI, and I don't feel like giving the nuts extra ammo right now."

"Not that I've heard... Today is your first day of school, as scheduled." Yumi says.

"Can't we just take accelerated classes, or military training, or, I dunno, lie around all day~?" Jacqueline inquires.

"No." Yumi looks awfully stern. At least, as stern as she can look.

Cassie quickly seizes an opportunity. "Ms. Yumi may I make the argument that my lack of public relation experience makes me a security risk when being sent to public school? I don't have knowledge of how to separate military knowledge from civilian knowledge."

Loki slaps Cassie on the back. "Don't worry. Jackie and I will make sure that nothing bad happens to you~!"

Jackie pulls Loki into a rather rough noogie. "And if anyone tries to hit on ya, they're going to get cold-treated candy for dessert."

"Aw, thanks." Loki responds.

Osip contributes his own thoughts on the matter. "School is important. You may be Evangelion Pilots for now, but you need to develop as individuals for the future."

"These arrangements have already been decided up, Cassie. As long as you don't mention the Evangelions or the Angels, you'll probably be fine. Also, who made this bacon? It's delicious!"

"Ask the cooks, Yumi." Loki suggests. "Osip, where will you be while we're pretending to learn?"

"Actually, Osip, you've been, ummm, requested by Dr. Murai. I'm not sure why..."

Cassie looks sullen. "I don't suppose there is a standard of grades we have to keep to in order to keep piloting the Evas?"

Yumi answers. "You won't be dismissed as Pilots for low grades, but there will be, umm, consequences."

"What sort of consequences? Spanking? Torture? Ooh, do we still get grounded?" Jackie's grin is back in full force.

Yumi pauses, uncertain what to make of the girl's response. "It depends. Most cases will result in extra classes or tutoring, as well as reduced privileges around NERV." She glances at the clock on the wall. "Ah, it's almost time for you to go!"

Osip stands from the table and turns to leave. "Good luck at school today. And do not get yourselves into too much trouble."

"Wishful thinking, Osip." Loki snarks.

The trip is uneventful, aside from a few wrong turns. The complex is enormous, resembling a college more than anything else. They wander into the staff room, hoping someone will be able to help them. Several teachers are leaving for their classes. One of them walks over to the party and introduces himself as their Japanese teacher, Kouji Ishii.

After a short walk, Mr. Ishii stops by a classroom door. "Here we are. Wait here, and I"ll call you in one at a time to introduce yourselves to the class."

"We're all in the same class?" Loki muses.

Motoko pokes her head in for a second. "Hm... looks like a pretty normal class... there are a lot of foreign students, though..."

Mr. Ishii begins. "Before lessons start, we have a few students that have transferred in..." As soon as he finishes the sentence, the students begin muttering to each other, discussing theories on who these mystery students might be.

Jackie hops to the front in a rather brazen manner. "Hi! I'm Jacqueline de Macquerel. That's what my name is~!"

Cassie follows in after and blurts out "I'm Cassie Schneider. I'll be taking my seat so we can begin the lesson quickly now!"

"I'm Loki Weyland, and that's all you need to know for now."

Lou stands up from the back of the room, says "Anderson", and sits back down. People around him are briefly startled by his appearance.

"Nice to meet you, everyone. I'm Motoko Iwatani, and I transferred here from Fukuoka... I look forward to a good year with you all." She then bows to the class.

The newcomers take their seats. Motoko fares rather well in the class, but the non-native speakers have immense trouble. After the first break, the group is approached by a student with glasses and a serious face. "I thought I'd take this time to introduce myself," he says. "Hideki Hinata, class representative." He preforms a small bow.

Loki looks at the boy, unsure of his intent. "Hi. Anything we should know about the class?"

"If there's anything you need, I will do my best to accommodate you." the boy responds.

"So we go to you if a classmate is having a psychotic break?" Cassie asks.

Jackie looks oddly at Cassie. "I doubt anyone's gonna go psycho here."

"D-don't ask things like that, Cassie, you're not supposed to." Lou objects, in English.

"This ain't Columbine!" Jackie snaps.

Hideki gives the party a nervous look before regaining his composure.

"Mental distress was fairly common at my old school." explains Cassie, trying to give a reasonable explanation.

"Eh, just give 'em a kick in the jimmies and take 'em to the nurse's office. Should work well enough." Loki jokes.

Jackie shrugs. "In the West, most high schools have counselors, but I hear Japan believes that emotional distress is solved by friends and family."

The boy is a bit befuddled by the newcomers, but still wants to help. "I'm not sure if I can help with that. That sounds like something better suited for a professional. I can, however, show you to the cafeteria during lunch, if you'd like."

The door opens, and the next teacher walks into the classroom. Throughout this next class, more and more people start giving the Pilots suspicious glances, and whispering to each other.

The second break then starts. Hinata doesn't return this time, which the rest of the class takes as its cue to barrage the transfer students with questions.

"Where are you from?" "Do you speak English?" "Are you going to join any clubs?"

The newcomers are rather startled, unsure what to do. Cassie tries to answer the questions as best she can, leading to a lot of half-responses and factoids about Canada. Jackie answers the questions in her idiosyncratically creepy way, and Loki responds with non sequiturs. Motoko shrinks away, and notices Lou doing the same. She wanders over to his desk, hoping to find shelter against the barrage of questions.

"Motoko." Lou says.

"Yeah?" The girl replies.

Lou pauses. "Why are you doing this, again?"

"What, exactly?"

"Never mind, sorry." Lou pauses again. "Can I get help for you on this work, later? I, uh, I can't read this at all."

"Hm, you mean today's assignment? Oh, yeah, sure, I can do that..."

The students begin to ignore Lou and Motoko, who refuse to play along in the game, and channel more questions to the others. Loki has switched to spouting random Spanish phrases in the meantime. After a short time, a girl's voice shouts over the crowd "WOULD YOU IDIOTS SHUT UP?"

The voice comes from someone seated by the window. The girl is somewhat short, and has silenced the crowd without looking towards them. She remains quiet after this outburst. Most of the crowd backs off; the quarter-sized remainder can only blurt out a few more questions before class starts again.

The third class is notably silent, providing much-needed respite for the transfer students. Soon, it is time for lunch. Hideki returns, and escorts them to the cafeteria. "It seems you've been getting the traditional transfer student welcome. There's so many of you, so it's been especially bad."

"I wouldn't say 'traditional'..." Motoko muses.

"It wasn't that bad." Loki says.

"Well, maybe not. It seemed like a fitting thing to say."  Hideki chuckles to himself a bit.

"So, tell me a little about yourself, Hinny~" Jackie flutters.

Hideki shoots the girl a sharp glare. "Don't call me that." He pauses for thought. "That's some peculiar Japanese... Jacqueline, right? Did you pick it up from anime or something?"

Jacqueline applies another of her distinctive grins."Yep, yep." Hideki sighs in response.

Shortly after, the group reaches the cafeteria. It is large- too large for the apparent population of the school. It stretches all the way from the ground floor to the glass ceiling of the structure, which illuminates the area with sunlight.

Hideki leaves to grab his own lunch. Cassie waits for the others to settle at a table before announcing her plan. "We need to get out of here. I say we run for the front door."

"You really thought it was that bad? I mean, two of us are apparently habitual attention seekers, but that's still a minority!" Motoko responds.

Jackie pulls the panicked Cassie into an awkward hug. "If you sat on my lap, would that make it all better~?"

"You managed to avoid the gaggle of people by being quiet or talking like a Spanish person. I'm now the Canadian freak with anime hair!" Cassie tosses her hands up in the air. "I'm still not exactly sure what anime is!"

"We'll show you later. What do you think we should start with? Gundam? Ghost in the Shell?" Loki suggests.

"Hey, Loki, get her started ooooon... Ideon!" Jackie grins evilly.

"Nah, I say we start her off slow." Loki objects. He then pauses for thought. "That tangent aside-"

"Because you're new, they assume-" Lou catches himself. "I'm sorry, Loki. You were saying something?"

"Yeah, sorry." Loki turns to Cassie. "You're new, and thus interesting. That's why they're so fascinated by you."

Lou's agreeance with Loki worries him.

"Maybe we should just take Cassie to Shibuya-3 over the weekend..." Motoko proposes.

"What is 'Shibuya-3'?" Lou asks.

"Lou, I thought you'd been living here for a while... you know, downtown? Fashion district, commercial center? Any of that ring a bell?" Motoko inquires.

"I stayed in the base for most of that time. They won't let me ou... uh, they don't think I'd acclim... it's sort of complicated." Lou stammers.

"...I see. Well, we'll take you too, okay?" She suggests.

"Right. Right. Um, thanks." Lou says, retreating into himself.

While the Pilots are discussing this, a boy of relatively small stature approaches.

"Ummmm.... I was wondering if it was true..." he says sheepishly.

"Is what true?" Cassie asks.

"That you're the ones that controlled the robots from yesterday." the boy says.

"Where the Hell'd ya hear that?" Loki asks.

"Everyone's been talking about it." he says, glancing away.

Loki puts his hand to his chin. "Hm. I'm not surprised. Giant robots stomping around town would be a noteworthy event. And we showed up the day after the incident, so I can see why people would make the connection."

"I heard on the internet that they are actually controlled by bears." Cassie offers.

The kid looks slightly disappointed. "Well, if you're not, that's fine too... I just thought it'd be cool if you were. Sorry I asked..." He turns to leave.

Jackie frowns at the kid's disappointment. "Wait, kid!"

He turns around, excited by his curiosity.

"You look the sort... do you play MechWarrior?" Jackie grins.

"Ummm, yeah, some. Why?"

Loki bursts into a grin of his own. "Oh, sweet! LAN party!"

Cassie sighs. "You two are going to drag this game into our apartment aren't you?"

"Hell yeah we are!" Loki says with enthusiasm.

"Absolutely not!" Motoko objects, and is promptly ignored.

"Wait, wait, wait... apartment? You live together? Like, in the same apartment?"

"Uh, yeah. We're transfer students." Jackie says. "We're different, though. Normally, we'd stay with a family, but we're on a government program, so."

"We're all best buds here!" Loki reaches his arms around and tries to get as many of the group into a hug as possible, and Jackie makes a similar attempt.

The three hug recipients look rather uncomfortable- especially Lou, who has locked up entirely.. "What are you doing?" he asks, flatly. "Get off me. Now, please."

Loki makes a frown. "Fine, fine." He releases his grip, and his accomplice does the same.

"I'm going to go wash my hands... and face..." Lou says as he stands up to leave.

"I, uh... I think I hear someone calling me." the boy stammers. He turns to make his exit as well.

"If you wanna talk, we're always here!"Jackie calls after him, grinning.

Loki rubs his hands together. "Well, that went well!"

Cassie groans. "I don't think I'm going to bother coming to school tomorrow."

"Awww, Cass. Don't be like that." Jackiesays, patting her on the shoulder.

Hinata returns to the table, carrying a suspiciously luxurious-looking lunch. "I'm back."

Jackie cocks an eyebrow. "What, they have à la carte here?"

"No, this is part of an arrangement I've made with someone." Hinata raises his eyebrows. "They... owe me." He chuckles, thoroughly pleased with himself.

Loki adopts a more relaxed posture. "Color me curious."

"What are you, some kind of mafia Don?" Jackie half-jokes.

"Oh, no, nothing as shady as the Mafia. I just sometimes make things happen for people, and they owe me favors."

Loki makes a mental note to find out more about this kid.

"Do you think it would be wise to return to class before anything else annoying happens, Motoko?" Cassie asks, anxiously.

"Yeah, we can wait for Lou, then head back to the classroom... Maybe I'll bring a lunch tomorrow..." Motoko responds.

"Oh, did something happen while I was gone?" Hinata asks.

"The rumour mill kept spinning, Hinata. That's all." Motoko responds.

"Er, some kid came up to us... a bit hunched over. Is he an otaku?" Jackie clarifies. "He thought we were the pilots of those freaky mechs from the other day."

"Oh, rumors. They'll die down soon." the boy says, flippantly.

Loki gets out his laptop and waits for it to boot up.

"Pilots? Oh, that must've been Yuuki Ashikaga. He's generally pretty quiet, but he's really excitable when it come to robots."

"Because we showed up the day after the robots did." Loki adds. He plugs in a flash drive, types something, and puts the ensemble away.

Cassie taps Motoko on the shoulder and quietly mentions her idea of heading back to the classroom to avoid cafeteria hecklers. Motoko nods in response.

"You're new, new is interesting. The robots are new, robots are interesting. It's simple math, at this point." Hideki says.

Jackie postulates."I mean, it could have been some cops or military guys or something... what, is this the only high school in Tokyo?"

Loki snaps his fingers. "Oh, that reminds me. When we have our MechWarrior game, we'll have to drag Osip into it somehow."

"This isn't the only high school in Tokyo-3, but it's the largest. The others are private schools, with high tuition and such." Hideki answers.

Lou comes back with a meal mostly consisting of rice and rice byproducts. Motoko addresses him. "Lou, Cassie and I were about to go back to the classroom. Do you want to come with us?"

"Oh. Yes, yes, sure." Lou glances at Loki and Jackie, warily. Just then, the bell rings announcing the next class.

Loki clutches his stomach. "Guys, I think there was something bad in my food. I think I'll find my way to the nurse's office."

He gets up and walks out of the cafeteria, toward the staff room. He walks in, noticing that the only people in there are the nurse and a few resting students. A few actually look sick. He pulls his flash drive out of his pocket, and walks toward the fire alarm. Just then, the nurse stops him. "Can I help you with something?"

Shit. Loki grits his teeth for a second before using his cover.

"Ah, yeah. I think there was something in the food that didn't agree with me." He covertly puts the drive away.

"Oh, yeah, cafeteria food will do that sometimes if you're not used to it. Would you like to rest a bit? We have a spare bed."

"Sure, thanks." Loki walks over to the bed and sits down. He notices that the nurse is occupied with paperwork, and thus won't be leaving any time soon. The boy rests for a few minutes, thinking. After some deliberation, he decides to not try anything right now. He could probably do it right now by asking the nurse, but that'd lead right back to him if anyone noticed. "I'm feeling better now, thanks. I'll go back to class now."

The nurse nods, and he finds his way back to the classroom. Upon returning to his seat, Jackie asks him where he was.

Loki grunts. "Nurse's office. The food didn't sit well with me."

The girl raises an eyebrow. "It's better than stuff from Yankland... or some schools in China."

"American school food is about as good as a prison meal, I say." Loki retorts. He turns his attention to the teacher, and the girl does the same.

The rest of the day passes uneventfully.
Previous chapter

This chapter ended up being less of a hassle than I thought. Thanksgiving might've helped with that, by giving me a guilt-free break. I don't have much of a rant for you this time. Instead, refer to this. Keep in mind that this was written on Wednesday. I finished Thursday night. Well, technically it was Friday morning. Either way, it went much more smoothly after the holiday.
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