From: mew3point14@doramail.com (Daniel Snyder)

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bride. She knew love, and she 
knew what it was to be loved. But she was proud, too, and resolved not 
to give herself to anyone.

"On day of her wedding, she was dressed in her most beautiful gown and 
surrounded by everyone she loved. But she frowned, because she was proud 
and she had only half-chosen her husband-to-be. Although she knew him by 
the word of others, she had never seen his face.

"'Smile and love your husband,' they all shouted, 'smile and love your 
husband.' And the longer she did not smile, the louder they shouted, and 
the more impatient everyone became.

"Finally, she swallowed her pride and smiled weakly. In that moment, her 
bridegroom came to her. She saw him for the first time.

"He was beautiful to look upon, and charming in his bearing. Willingly, 
she smiled then. Willingly, she married him.

"What was the name of the bride?"
--
Nightmares, goblins born from the blind spots in the mind's eye, the 
psyche's glaucoma. In dreams, the unconscious mind obeys its own rules. 
These are the rules of a moment, free from causality. Shinji had 
nightmares of damnation: he was on the borderline of wakefulness for 
them. A jellyfish dying upon a dry beach is aware that the sea no longer 
infuses it with the life. Ikari Shinji revisited his past with rapid eye 
movements and gamma waves.

He remembered his father's bristly beard, the fine knit of the sweater 
he wore, the shine on his shoes. He remembered the bitter smell of 
coffee hanging in the enclosed air of the cafe. Ikari Gendou had ordered 
a "salad sandwich", something Shinji had never heard of before. The boy 
had ordered soup and a plate of sushi. Their dishes lay untouched.

"I would like you, Shinji, to become a kendo instructor." Even in a 
half-filled cafe in Kantai suburbs, even in the late afternoon, the 
words were absolute; Commandments. "You have dedicated enough time and 
effort, and will continue to do so, that it would be foolish not to."

_I'm here,_ Shinji thought. _I'm awake. I'm dreaming. Why can't I _do_ 
anything?_

"There are two types of people," Gendou went on. "There are information 
consumers and information producers. Neither type is better than the 
other. After all, we all read the Internet, watch the television, and so 
on."

Shinji had nodded. The head was outside of him. _I know what he's going 
to say next,_ the boy thought. _He's going to talk about the other kind 
of people. I know this. Why can't I stop him? Why can't I say anything?_

Gendou continued. "The second type of person is an information 
_producer_. Such a person is a researcher, a leader, or best of all a 
teacher. This person produces information--either assembles it from his 
own body of knowledge and repackages it for a particular consumer, or 
else discovers some nuance of the universe and announces his discoveries 
to the community at large."

In his dream, Shinji prophesied. _It had been years since I last heard 
from otou-san...and then he just swooped down one day and took me to 
lunch. I felt...exuberant. I had no idea what he wanted from me, I just 
wanted to be with him again. And I took every word he said to heart._

"I want you to be the best kendo swordsman ever. And once you are, I 
want you to share that knowledge with others. It is imperative that you 
do so. Study at kendo--at Korean and European swordsmanship, if it gives 
you a perspective."

In the dream, Ikari Gendou reached for his wallet to pay for the uneaten 
food. Shinji's body stood while his soul poured out his prophecy. _I've 
been following his words to this day, and...and he knew I would. He 
specifically put those ideas into my head for a reason. Tou-san wanted 
to make me stronger, and he wanted to make me disciplined, and he wanted 
to give me a venue to compete in...so that when I met my mother, the 
Living Rose, I would be ready...but for what? Why?_

Ikari Shinji woke dazed and exhausted to the tintinnabulation of his 
alarm.
--
"I prophesied in my dream last night," Shinji revealed on the stairway 
up to the roof. "I saw that my father wanted me to practice with a sword 
to gain a little control of the Living Rose. He deliberately raised me 
to be a Duelist...for as long as I've had this ring, maybe longer." He 
looked at his left hand, where the thirteen-petaled signet lay. The hand 
seemed to hover in space, between his eyes and the staircase below. "And 
beyond that...I don't understand."

Nagisa Kaworu nodded. "Because we haven't gotten there yet. Patience, 
friend Shinji. All things will come to pass."

He opened the door for the three of them, and they emerged into a bright 
summer's dawn. The hands of the sun already lay upon the land; the day 
would be a hot one. An early morning breeze skipped across the folds of 
Rei's skirt and ruffled Shinji's hair.

"Perhaps it would be better to say that all things have the chance of 
happening," Kaworu remarked. "In any one instant, any thing we can 
conceive of, more than we will ever be able to conceive of, can come to 
pass. A scientist will tell you that a particle in a box has a chance of 
decaying, or that approximately so many blades of grass are out there on 
the parkland. We know, of course...ah, go on."

Shinji finished the thought. "We know that all of this is really in the 
Will of God. We can know the odds of everything, but certainty requires 
an act of faith." He turned to Rei. "Do you understand?"

Ayanami Rei answered frankly. "No."

"Look inward, friend Shinji," said Kaworu. "Now you prophecy, where you 
see the will of God extending at all angles into forever. Now you find 
beauty and compassion in the ways of the masses, and so can bring them 
to the Holy One, blessed be He. But we are past this point now. We must 
leave the people, and every aspect of God we know as the Holy One, 
behind us. To unlearn, we must turn ever inward. Practice your sword 
play, and we will continue to talk."

Shinji set down his bag. He unzipped the top, then froze, looking at his 
swords. He raised his gaze to Rei and Kaworu and asked, "Why don't I 
teach the two of you?"

They were thunderstruck. In blank amazement, they looked at each other, 
then at Shinji, as if the universe were splitting apart at the seams. 
Ikari Shinji went on. "If you'd like to, I don't see why you couldn't. 
After we get home from class today, I can take an hour to show you a few 
basics...then, tomorrow morning, you can practice with me."

Rei stepped forward and bowed. "Thank you, Shinji. I will accept your 
offer. I never even thought of studying from you."

"I would be delighted to learn as well," Kaworu added. He too bowed. 
"Take time to plan a lesson. We are both patient...and I, for one, am 
shocked to discover how eager I am to learn."

Shinji smiled. "Wonderful. Then let's start by stretching out." Boy and 
girl walked to either side of him and stood a half-pace behind him. 
"Stand straight, your feet shoulder's width apart. Roll your head around 
like this, being careful not to roll your head too far back..."
--
Nagisa Kaworu stood up out of the furo. Rivulets of water ran down his 
body, poured out from the cupped palms of his hands. "That," he 
whispered, "was truly ineffable." His words, so soft, were almost 
drowned out by the dripping water. Kaworu turned to gaze with seared 
eyes to his  companion. "Words do not exist for how I have been taken 
higher by this morning's work."

Behind him in the furo, Shinji laughed. "Kaworu-kun, don't say that. All 
I did is lead you and Rei through a few stretches, then talked you all 
through my sword practice. We could have done that any day."

"Yes but...today was that day." Kaworu threw back his head and laughed. 
"Today is Happy Birthday. Today is the Opening of the New Year. Today 
for the first time I experienced life as a student of the martial arts, 
Shinji. A whole new dimension to my life came into being. Duties and 
responsibilities rise like jack frost on a window pane."

The two boys dressed and joined Rei and Pen-pen for breakfast. When they 
all had something in their bellies, Shinji said to Kaworu, "You might 
want to maintain your self-control when we start practicing this 
afternoon."

"You know, Shinji."

"I can appreciate that you're excited about studying kendo," he went on, 
"but laughing during practice--like you just did in the bath--isn't very 
good form. I'm asking the two of you to be prepared to be focused this 
afternoon. OK?"

"I will," Rei said in a contented tone. "If I must work on my self-
control as you say, then I shall."

"As I," put in Kaworu. He went on, "Now that we are beyond Tiferet, we 
have acknowledged Sitra Ahra and taken it into our vision of the 
Universe. When the Holy One, blessed be He, brings good to this 
world...because it is channeled down from Love and Judgement, it is 
possible to take on an evil form. Bearing this in mind...to understand 
the purpose of creation, and to fathom the workings of God, we must 
accept the Judgement of God. This is given the name Gevurah, or Power. 
It can also be called Rigor, which shows how internalized the nature of 
God has become."

"That only makes sense," Shinji said. "The Kingdom can be united with 
the Holy One, but can go no further. If anyone is going to move closer 
to God then Compassion, then it's going to be as an individual rather 
than a tribe."

Across the table from him, Rei was staring wild-eyed at Shinji. Pen-pen 
looked in amazement from one to the other.

Kaworu did not bring Rei to Shinji's attention. "Moving beyond 
Compassion requires Power; and a necessary aspect of Power is Din, or 
Judgement. Past the fulcrum, the first step is Divine Judgement. And the 
manifestation of this Judgement is vicious, Shinji, because _you_ become 
your own judge. Rabbi Jacob Agus said, 'Evil is not a self-contained 
force, but a relative absence of the spirit of wholeness.' To move 
beyond good and evil, you must make the spirit whole--by admitting to 
yourself that everything you do is a prayer and judging your lifestyle 
by this measure. The origin of penitence, true penitence, lies in 
Gevurah. Not because you are born in a state of sin, but because you are 
born in a state of good and evil, should you struggle mightily for 
Gevurah."

"I must not run away from it..." Shinji gasped.

"The psalmist wrote, 'The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God.' It is 
here, Shinji..."

Both young men finally paid attention to Pen-pen's ruckus of squawking 
and flapping. Ayanami Rei, eyes bulging, head clasped in her hands, was 
slumped down with her elbows on the table.

"Rei? Are you all right?" asked Shinji.

"Say something," Kaworu begged, lifting her upright into his arms.

"I'm...a little dizzy," she said after a moment's struggle. "Unless I'm 
very greatly mistaken...this is all starting to make sense."

"Really?" both her housemates said.

"Yes--just today," Rei leaned forward and put her palms down on the 
tabletop, "there is something here that I was not aware of. Or maybe it 
was that I was so unconsciously aware, when I realized it, it could not 
be unconscious and conscious at the same time. Just now, since you took 
me on as your student, I see things in a different way."

She smiled and put her arms around their shoulders, closing her eyes. 
"Please help me understand. I want more of this. That is all that I 
_know_. Come with me to the greenhouse, come with me to school; and when 
the feeling overcomes me..."

"We will be there," Shinji said. "That is a promise."
--
Ayanami Rei touched a rose blossom. She caressed the petals with one 
hand while the other held the stem between the thorns. "Life must be," 
she declared. The heart that had slumbered within her fluttered, and she 
smiled. To her companions, she said, "It is the will of God for there to 
be life, here and there. Even in places I have never been to, or seen, 
or been told about, there is the will of God. God wants growth. There is 
no _reason_ for it, it simply is. God is the all-powerful, the all-
knowing, the all-seeing, the all-loving, and the all-enriching. Without 
that growth, God would atrophy and withdraw. How could anything grow and 
now have God be a part of that growth?

"Yet the terrible part of life is that it makes the Universe tripartite. 
There is before birth, life, and after death. Before my birth, life with 
me could not be remembered. After my death, life with me shall not be 
invoked."

She carefully let go of the rose, turned on her left foot and raised her 
arms before her. "Shinji, Kaworu my beloved, this greenhouse is my mind. 
A blazing light from Heaven is pouring down to be refracted a thousand 
different ways." She wrapped her arms around herself and took a step 
towards them. They were instantly at her side, supporting her. "I adore 
it, yet it fills me too fast to pour out of my mouth. I...I have no 
words..."

"We are right here," Kaworu said.

She smiled again, silently, with her eyes closed. A moment of rhapsody 
flowed between the three. Then, half-caressing them and half-pushing the 
boys with her fingertips, Rei stood up on her own two feet again. She 
led them out of the greenhouse, pausing to set the timer for the 
watering.

"I have a truth to tell you, Shinji," she remarked as they stood outside 
of the greenhouse. "This building is where I was born."

Shinji gasped. "This...your roses...are the Living Rose?"

"They are not the totality of the Living Rose," she said with a shrug. 
"But yes, they are."

"I...I never even thought of it." Shinji faced Rei and asked earnestly, 
"What is the nature of the Living Rose? When I was at one with it, I was 
concentrating so hard on my mother's state of being I didn't pay too 
close attention to its inner nature...what is it?"

Rei shook her head. Shinji looked at Nagisa Kaworu, who smiled 
sympathetically. "I have been a part of Feuervogel Academy since it was 
a dream in the minds and hearts of men, friend Shinji. If you ask me, 
'What is that part of you?', it is impossible for me to divorce it from 
whatever else makes me who I am. Rei is too little, and I am too much, 
for an answer."

Ikari Shinji hung his head. "I wonder where I could go for the happy 
medium, then..."

"I say, young fellow!"

"Over here."

"And down a little."

Shinji raised his head again and led the group over to where the three 
Magi were, poised along the path down to the south end of campus.

"In one of the absolutely fascinating coincidences of linguistics, the 
word 'rose' has a homonym in Hebrew."

"'Bara', in Hebrew, is a verb meaning 'to create'. Specifically, it 
means 'to create something from out of nothing'."

"Those who have received say that 'Bara' describes the motion of the 
universe of the Sefirot to the universe of the Throne. Or, more 
properly, Emanation leads to Creation, and the word for this is 'Bara'."

"Thus, when we speak of God sitting on his Throne, what is meant is that 
God is taking willful interest in his creation."

"A miracle."

Shinji took a few very quiet breaths, then burst out, "So, 'Inochi no 
Bara' means 'The Living Rose', and also 'Life's Creation'? But what does 
that have to do with my mother?"

"Ah, what _does_ that have to do with your mother? That, that is the 
question."

"Everywhere outside of Feuervogel Academy is the energetic null and void 
that your father has created from the universe."

"And the Academy is sheltered from this by your mother, the Living 
Rose."

"The Living Rose, who is Life's Creation. This suggests terrific 
mysteries to you, no?"

"It does," Shinji replied honestly. "I have to think about this for a 
while."

"Maybe this morning wouldn't be the best time to be doing that."

"You see, the entire Board of Directors has asked you to come and speak 
with us after your first period class."

"Naturally, we're not going to be present, because we refuse to take 
responsibility for you. But I hope that won't deter you from attending."

Nagisa Kaworu tugged gently on Shinji's sleeve. "I understand how 
important these events are to you, friend Shinji. But classes are on the 
verge of starting. We should hurry to not be missed."

"Thanks, Kaworu." To the Magi, Ikari Shinji bowed quickly and said, 
"Tell the Board that I am honored and I will arrive as soon as 
Fuyutsuki-sensei allows me to go." And then he rushed off to his class 
without a backwards glance. They entered homeroom just in time for 
Ayanami Rei to answer roll call.

In anticipation of their day's studies, their history teacher had drawn 
another map of Europe--bold arrows led back and forth through Spain and 
Turkey while smaller arrows traversed and confronted each other across 
the center of the continent. Contrasting the strength of the symbol of 
the map, Fuyutsuki Kouzou himself looked frail. As if in imitation of 
his late student Tsuwabuki, Fuyutsuki wore a greatcoat over a sweater, 
muffler and woolen pants, and he covered his head with a beret. He spoke 
softly, stepping from side to side at the blackboard; and the class was 
still, following his words as best they could.

"In the waning years of the Fifteenth Century, abortive plans were 
assembled for a Crusade by sea. Once again, petty wars--chiefly between 
France and Italy--caused these great plans to crumble. But I believe 
that even greater causes were due to the events in Spain and Portugal of 
the 1490's. As we all know, 1492 brought the expulsion of Jews from 
Spain, the conquest of Granada and the discovery of the Western World. 
This latter event...profoundly..."

Fuyutsuki trailed off, staring at the board before him. After a moment's 
pause, he carefully passed the pointer from his left hand to his right 
and slipped his left arm around his waist. He then stepped to the board 
again and faced his audience. But he was no longer speaking to them. 
"Pope Innocent...Charles VIII...Egypt..."

All at once, his face went white and long. He tumbled down onto his left 
side, letting the pointer slip from his grip. Then, upon the cold 
classroom floor, Fuyutsuki Kouzou lay still.

Gasps of shock burst from the class. Without thinking, Shinji rose to 
his feet. "Keiko! Yuuko! Aiko! Run to the infirmary and get a medic over 
here. On your way back, let the office know what's happened."

"Right away!" the three girls chorused, scampering off. Shinji grabbed 
Shigeru out of the seat next to him. "You know CPR, don't you, Shigeru-
kun?"

The young man blanched. "Shinji, it's too late. You know he has a bad 
heart..."

Shinji glowered like a mountain. "And you're letting him die under your 
care?"

The long haired boy swallowed nervously, then forced himself out of his 
seat to the front of the classroom. Kaworu followed. As Shigeru began 
pulling off layers of Fuyutsuki's shirts, Shinji turned to Rei. "Rei, go 
and find Kanae-sempai and bring her here. Sensei's her good friend. 
Kanae may know something helpful about his health."

"Yes," Rei said, and then she left as well.

Aoba Shigeru had begun catapulmonary resuscitation on the teacher. Gone 
was his previous reticence. He now went through the chest compression, 
and kisses of life, with a vigor belying his years. Beside him, Nagisa 
Kaworu was counting out the time. Shinji saw that there was no way to 
help them, for the moment. He turned and faced the classroom. Most of 
the remaining female students were clustered in the back of the room in 
shock, if not sobbing. The other males were standing around awkwardly in 
their gaudy school uniforms. Ikari Shinji spoke. "All right. First thing 
I need to know is if anyone else knows CPR? ...I see. In that case, is 
there anyone who can help the paramedics when they arrive? Anyone know 
about nursing in general?"
--
Shinji paused only long enough to catch his breath before he called out 
to Juri and Miki. "Arisugawa-san! Kaoru-san! I'm up here."

They glanced up to where he stood, on the edge of the upper walkway, 
then hurried across the courtyard. He intercepted them on the stairway. 
Blue, orange, brown, black and white against a summer sky and timeless 
stucco.

Shinji leaned his head to them and spoke quietly. "The paramedics 
weren't able to revive him, and Kaworu and Shigeru-kun were trying for 
almost ten minutes before they arrived. What's the word around campus?"

"People are talking already," Miki reported. "Somebody was looking out 
the window in my class and saw the paramedics rush by. We all jumped to 
the conclusion it was Fuyutsuki, but...nobody wanted to think..."

Juri put in, "I shudder to think about what'll happen if people find out 
there's been another death. We'll have a veritable riot on our hands."

"He's not dead yet," Shinji said. " What we need to do...is avert a 
riot. What will pass will pass, but how the world reacts to it is still 
very much within our control. We can't change the odds that we lose 
Fuyutsuki-sensei, but we can change what the reaction will be. The two 
of you--I want you to go around campus like I am, and be honest. 
Fuyutsuki-sensei is an old man with a bad heart. He has been just as 
hurt as any of us by the deaths on campus. He's been pushing himself 
these past few days. It's hardly surprising that he pushed himself too 
hard. This is a minor tragedy, yes
--
but it is not any cause for undo alarm."

"I understand," the other two replied in unison.

"If the two of you see anyone else from the party--like Shiori-san, or 
your sister--then tell them what I've told you. Remember, we cannot let 
people's emotions get the better of them."

"I agree," Juri said smartly. "We'll get to work at once."

"One last thing."

Shinji took their hands in his. He looked at them squarely and simply 
and said, "Have faith in yourselves, and in God. We can maintain order 
on this campus if we maintain our faith."

A moment of silence passed, and then the three split in their separate 
directions. At the top of the stairs was the door to a classroom. 
Drawing upon the equanimity he had culled with his friends a moment 
before, Ikari Shinji found the strength to pull open the door and step 
inside.

The class within was full of students--twenty-four in number, all 
suddenly with eyes for Shinji. The boy guessed that they were a few 
years below him in age. At the digital whiteboard was a middle-aged 
teacher with a singularly odious look on her face. Different ways of 
writing the same mathematical equation were on the board.

He spoke. "If I could have everyone's attention for just a moment? Good. 
Has everyone heard the news just now?"

There were nothing but blank stares. To his horror, Shinji realized that 
simply because _someone_ knew the information did not mean that 
_everyone_ knew the information. In fact, he had just upset the lives of 
25 people without intending to do so.

He reached for a foundation. "In that case, I will keep my remarks here 
short. My name's Ikari Shinji, I'm one of Fuyutsuki-sensei's homeroom 
students. I'm here to report that sensei has, unfortunately, been taken 
sick today and is in the infirmary."

"Is he dead?" someone at the back of the room shouted.

Shinji had known that the question would come. "Of course he's not dead. 
He's just not well, it isn't the same thing. Has anyone here had to come 
to school when they weren't feeling well?" Several hands raised. "Then 
you know exactly what Fuyutsuki-sensei is going through. He hasn't been 
feeling well for much of this term, and now he's under the weather 
again."

"When's he gonna be back?" another child asked.

"I'll bet you he'll feel better if you all take time to make cards for 
him today after you're done with studies," Shinji said. "The important 
question--and then I'll let you get back to your studies--is, is anyone 
here on the shogi team?"

One boy in the front row raised his hand.

Shinji nodded. "Fuyutsuki-sensei was the advisor for the shogi team, but 
the captain and lieutenant captain will be leading practice today." He 
bowed to the teacher and said, "I'll let you return to your teaching, 
then."

He paid the teacher's rather snide comment no mind as he let himself out 
of the classroom. With his mind on the next class' presentation, he was 
startled by the presence of the three Magi on the landing outside of the 
door.

"The Board of Directors will see you now."

Shinji shook his head. "I can't. I'm in the middle of averting a clear 
and present danger to the campus."

"But that's the job of the Board of Directors."

Shinji stepped forward and snapped at the three. "They are not doing 
their job. Consider the facts. They did not act to prevent the Duels on 
campus. They did not act to prevent the deaths on campus. They did not 
do anything to mourn the deaths on campus after the fact. And they have 
not been open and honest in their dealing with the student body." He 
drew back and finished, "I don't want to make enemies with the Board, 
but it's clear that I have a different view of what a Board should be 
then they themselves do. Please tell them that--and let them know that I 
expect some more committal response."

He moved off down the walkway to the next door and entered.

"Well! Of all the nerve!"
--
As well as being the daughter of the Chairman of the Board, Ohtori 
Kanae's mother was the faculty housing director for Feuervogel Academy. 
Her apartment, above the faculty lounge, was palatial and well-
decorated. Shinji drank chilled tea from a genuine Tiffany glass. The 
scent of lilacs was in the air, though fresh herbs were growing in the 
window boxes. The late afternoon sun reflected off of marble flooring.

"What I can do for the campus," Ohtori was saying, "is have the 
chaperones available and on call. We can institute extraordinary 
measures for room checks. We've been giving the ability under certain 
circumstances where students can request a visit for their neighbors at 
any time of night. That way, if someone hears their neighbor 
crying...but you see, Ikari-kun, we can't just barge right on in."

"That's perfectly understandable," he replied.

Ohtori-okusan grew quiet, looking past a bronze lamp to the afternoon 
outside. "I can't believe, he's really dead," she said at length. "He 
was like a father to me, from the very moment he came here. He brought 
such life to my life. I'll never forget him."

"Nor will I," he said in the same tone. "He was a true friend and a role 
model to me when I needed both. May I have a little more tea?"

She nodded, and he helped himself. Shinji poured from a china teapot 
with a turquoise design painted on the sides. He pushed his chance. 
"Tell me, Ohtori-okusan, what do you know about the role of the Student 
Council at this school?"

"Why do you ask?" she came back. "I understand that you're running for 
the presidency. Don't you understand the nature of the position?"

"I don't understand what the nature of the position will be," he 
countered, "since the end of the world." Verbal swordsmanship. "And 
there's also a student's view versus an administrator's view. I was 
wondering if I could get the perspective of someone with years of 
experience."

She sighed deeply. "I don't like to think about it. I know that it 
wasn't Father's idea." Shinji successfully hid his surprise as she said, 
"The Student Council was absolutely responsible for all decisions here 
at Feuervogel below the level of the Board of Directors. Everything, 
except the curriculum itself. As far as I could tell, they weren't even 
accountable to the Board."

Shinji phrased the beginning of his next question carefully, to pry 
apart the veneer on the truth. "Yes, that is so. But do you know the 
reason _why_ this was so? Why so much autonomy was given to the Student 
Council?"

"I've no idea," she said. "I'd never heard anything like it before. And 
I don't understand why Father wasn't able to change it. As for myself, 
if they said that there were only going to be four monitors per 
dormitory when there was money for six, then we had four. The salaries 
for the two extra people just sat there to the next fiscal year. If 
someone wanted to have a party in their dorm room and knew one of the 
Student Council members, we couldn't do a damned thing before it, during 
or after. The Student Council has always had carte blanche."

The boy felt that it was his turn to give. "If I'm elected...I want to 
bring people together. I want to bring faculty, staff and students 
together to make a better Feuervogel. Tell me--the situation is 
different now in since the end of the world, but how can we work 
together to provide safe, comfortable housing here on campus?"

Ohtori was lost in thought again. "I don't know, Ikari-kun," she said. 
"I can't think right now. Maybe tomorrow. Call again sometime, will you? 
Please?"

"I'd be happy to."

"I would like strength," she said wistfully. "I would like to be able to 
do _something_ for the good of all of the students, and have power 
entrusted in me. I know I can handle the responsibility. If...if I just 
had a chance. Don't you see, Ikari-kun?"

"I believe in you, Ohtori-okusan." He smiled. "I'm proud to count Kanae-
san as one of my supporters. Even if you can't officially endorse the 
Liberation Party, I hope you'll work with us when the time comes. Until 
then..."

"Yes?"

"Could you give me a list of other staff members I could talk to? Like 
we've talked today?"

She gave him a list. He thanked her kindly and bade her farewell. From 
the faculty lounge he walked past the library towards his dormitory, his 
home. There were no other students who crossed his path; an after-school 
curfew had gone into effect, and there would be no students out of doors 
until daybreak the next day.

Storm clouds were gathering in the sky overhead. Maybe not that night, 
and maybe not that next day, but Shinji could see by the low elephantine 
masses in the sky overhead that the storm would come, and soon. He 
wondered, _Is there love? Kaworu has said that there is love greater 
than Judgement, Love with Power within it. It is not my time yet to 
know. It is not the time for the vote, and it is not time for the 
students to pour out their emotions across this campus. These things 
will come. I must be patient. Great is the will of God._

In the front room of Akumafune Dormitory, Ayanami Rei and Nagisa Kaworu 
were waiting for Shinji. Both were dressed in shorts and t-shirts. Pen-
pen stood eagerly by Shinji's duffel bag. Smiling, the young man drew 
forth bamboo swords and gave them to Rei and Kaworu.

He sat cross-legged on the floor with his bokken upon his lap. "Listen 
carefully," he began. "The most important thing in kendo is to master 
the sword. This means that you swing the sword--you do not let the 
sword's weight carry you. You dictate where the sword's tip will go, and 
this is done through practice. This control will not be easy to learn, 
but I will begin you on your way today."

Shinji stood and placed himself perpendicular to his students. "Grip the 
sword with your strong hand above your weaker hand. Hold it just below 
the guard, low enough so that the bones of your hand are not compacted 
in any way. Raise the sword until the tip is above your shoulder blades; 
and the secret is, you should feel the sword as an extension of your own 
body, a numbed limb, not merely as a thing you hold in your hands. Step 
forward as you swing down--feel the step in your hips and your ankles, 
and by extension, feel the swing in your hips and in your ankles. Stop 
when the tip of the blade is just above the base of your heart--like so. 
Do you understand?"

"Yes," they both said.

"I will stand over here to the side," he announced, "and I want you both 
to take five swings. Simply do your best, and I'll make a couple of 
comments when you're done."

In unison, Rei and Kaworu swung their swords, one, two, three, four, 
five times. After the fifth, they held their pose and relaxed. Shinji 
stepped forward. "Well done. I'm impressed, the two of you seem to have 
some natural talent for your work. Put your swords down for a moment and 
let me talk to you.

"Rei, I'm really impressed with your form. For a first-time student, you 
have a good idea of what you need to be doing. You need to get stronger, 
a little more sure of what your body is doing with the sword. I'll show 
you a few strengthening exercises tomorrow morning. We'll work on 
building your upper body strength."

"Thank you," she replied softly.

"Kaworu, you're noticeably stronger than Rei is. That's not a surprise. 
However, you need to improve your form quite a bit. I notice that you 
have a tendency to lead your swing with your right elbow."

"It feels more natural," he explained.

Shinji nodded. "It does, at the moment. That's because your body isn't 
used to swinging the sword; to me, at this point, swinging a sword with 
one elbow or the other is like trying to ride a bicycle backwards. If 
you want to become a better swordsman, you need to swing with both of 
your arms steady."

Kaworu said, "Then I will."

To everyone's surprise, there was a knock at the front door. Curfew had 
been interrupted. Shinji said to his students, "I want the two of you to 
practice with the sword. I'll see who's there."

He opened the front door to see five figures. Lit from behind with the 
waning rays of the sun, they were a cipher quintet. Then Shinji made the 
association--it was none other than the Board of Directors, out of 
Nemuro to Akumafune on the cusp of nightfall. The sunset, the beauty of 
the silhouettes before him, became ironic; it betrayed the calamity of 
the moment like a ribbon in a suicide's hair.

"Ikari Shinji." He knew the voice of Chairman Lorenz. "You were summoned 
to our meeting today, and yet you did not come."

"I was busy on the campus," Shinji replied, "too busy to be with you 
gentlemen. But thank you for coming here. Would you like to step 
inside?"

Ignoring the request, a man behind Lorenz spoke. "You have done a 
terrible disservice to the Board of Directors by shirking an opportunity 
to speak."

"As a member of the Student Council," he came back, "I will be 
responsible for the well-being of everyone beneath me. Today--even 
without the privilege of the position--I assumed the responsibility. I 
was ensuring safety and order on campus with a few of my fellow party 
members."

"I would say you did not!" a third member retorted. "You were running 
around the campus, leaving classes and interrupting others, while we 
were forced to wait for you."

Ikari Shinji took a deep breath, then slowly replied. "I was not 
absolutely certain that the Board would not address the recent death of 
Fuyutsuki Kouzou, and I was not absolutely sure that panic would break 
out among the student body if nothing was done. I had only my beliefs, 
founded on our past conversations. However...I foresaw that, if I went 
ahead and organized some kind of response anyway, then we'd more likely 
have a stable life here on campus. It was not assured, but more likely. 
And only I would suffer."

"And so you are!" burst in the fourth Board member. "Look at you! You 
are short one day's experience, and you have earned our personal 
enmity."

The young man shook his head. "If you do not like me...I do not know 
what I can do to change your opinion. I will accept that and move along. 
But tell me, can you punish me for skipping class?"

Silence came from the front doorstep.

Shinji stepped back into the dormitory, his hand upon the door. "All I 
ask, then, is that I be given another chance--tomorrow, maybe--to earn 
your collective respects. Until then, gentlemen, please forgive my 
rudeness in this moment. However, it is almost six and we have not eaten 
yet. Good evening." He closed the door, leaving five grown adults 
shocked in the dimming evening light.

He returned to the practice to find Rei and Kaworu working up quite a 
sweat. "That was very compassionate of you, friend Shinji," Kaworu said, 
"to keep your temper and your respectful tone."

"Compassion is an element of Judgement."

"When Judgement is synonymous with Power."

Shinji smiled. "You're about to find out how powerful my judgement is, 
Kaworu. Didn't I tell you once before about that dangling elbow of 
yours?"