Class 2-A. Tokyo-3 First Municipal Middle School.
The previous day.
"What the hell is this?!"
The Doctor looked up from his grading wearily. Asuka slammed the worksheet down on the table in front of him. "I believe it's called homework," he said. "They did have that at Heidelburg, didn't they?"
"Not that. I'm talking about these problems!" She stabbed her finger down on the sheet of paper. "Markov chains? Fifth-dimensional linear algebra?! Happy primes?!?"
"So?"
"So this has to be graduate-level work at least!"
"You were the one complaining about being bored."
"That doesn't mean I signed up for this!" Asuka turned up her nose. "It's impossible! I won't do it!"
The Doctor sighed. "Oh. Well. If you don't think you can handle it, then..."
He gave that a moment to sink in. Asuka glared at him, her eye twitching. The Doctor waited, a knowing grin slowly spreading across his face.
He made a show of going to pick up the worksheet. Asuka snatched it back up. "I despise you," she growled, crumpling the piece of paper in her hand. She turned and stomped off.
The Doctor watched her go, the smile fading from his face. Not much fun in getting her riled up, is there, he thought. There's just no challenge to it.
She does make it far too easy, the voice of the Fourth agreed in the back of his head.
Like shooting candy in a barrel, the Seventh chimed in.
"Excuse me."
The Doctor looked over to see Rei patiently waiting to the side of the table. She carried a briefcase in her hand, the handle handcuffed to her wrist. "The commander asked me to relay these documents to you. Sign here, please." She handed him a clipboard.
"I was wondering what that was about." The Doctor scanned through the form on the clipboard. Classified information, non-disclosure under penalty of law, blah blah blah... "I thought, well, maybe they're really pushing things with the school uniform these days, but then there woulda been a memo... was it really necessary to wear it around the whole morning, though?"
"Yes." Rei put the briefcase on the table and unlocked the handcuffs.
"Must've made PE interesting, at least..." The Doctor scribbed a question mark on the dotted line and handed the clipboard back. "So what is it?"
"The experimental data on Lilith. As you requested." Rei keyed a code into a small panel on the briefcase's flap. It opened itself with a hiss. "The commander sends his apologies for the delay."
"Oh, brilliant. I'd almost forgotten about that." The Doctor pulled the case over to him and looked inside. The contents didn't look like anything special -- just a set of three-ring binders, each filled with a thick stack of printouts. He pulled one out and started flipping through the pages. Rei took the clipboard and walked away.
"Oh, and Ms. Ayanami --" The Doctor said absentmindedly. "Don't suppose you'd mind sticking around for the sweep-up after class? Sadahiko and Tomoe have mysteriously vanished again, and I can't find it in myself to go checking 'round the back of the gym shed."
Rei paused by the door. "Technically," she said, "as you are not human, the Second Law does not apply. I am not required to follow your orders."
"Oh. Well, then." The Doctor grinned. "Suppose I'll just have to settle for you actually listening to me, won't I?"
For the briefest of seconds, he thought he saw the corner of her mouth ever-so-slightly twist in an upwards direction. Then she was gone.