Fanfic / The Swim Of Things

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The Swim of Things is a Neon Genesis Evangelion continuation slice-of-life fic by Ret Nuh (who renamed himself Old Man Ret Nuh when he returned to the fandom). Ret Nuh started the first chapter in 2008, stopped updating in 2011, and returned to the story in 2025, when he began uploading it in Archive of Our Own, intending to take it to its conclusion, finally.

It has been two years since the Third Impact. While humanity slowly rebuilds itself, Shinji and Asuka are still living with Misato and Kaji (who are married and have a baby daughter, Keiko) in Tokyo-4, a city built on the ruins of the first and second Tokyo due to the Third Impact turning Tokyo-3 into a giant crater. After returning, Rei moved to another apartment next to the Katsuragi household on the insistence of Misato, who feels compelled to watch over her ex-pilot, and help her find a new purpose in life. Meanwhile, Shinji and Asuka keep bickering, each convinced that their feelings are unrequited.

Things come to a head when Rei joins Asuka's school swimming club, with options to become a member of the main team, a possibility which sparks Asuka's old feelings of jealousy and inadequacy back again. Asuka starts a fight with Rei which ends with both girls having an actual, heart-to-heart conversation, which leads to an exasperated Rei forcing Asuka and Shinji to have another actual, heart-to-heart conversation where they acknowledge each other's feelings.

Although Shinji and Asuka decide to begin dating, neither of them are willing to face the tidal wave of teasing and scrutiny which their schoolmates will unleash when they hear about them getting together, so they agree to keep their relationship a secret for the present time. At the same time, Asuka enthusiastically appoints herself as her newest teammate's personal trainer and caretaker, much to Rei's wariness, who is not looking forward to Asuka overseeing her dietary and exercise habits, or deciding her new gal pal needs to learn girl stuff.

The fic can be found in Archive of Our Own: link. The original version published in Media Miner can be found here. Ret Nuh's fanfiction can be found spread in several fanfiction sites: here, here and here.

Compare and contrast with other post-Third Impact Evangelion fanfics like Asuka & Shinji's Infinite Playlist, The Coming of the First Ones, A Crown of Stars, Epilogue of Evangelion, Evangelion: A New Awakening, Ghosts of Evangelion, Happy End Of Evangelion, HERZ, I don't want to forget, Orchestrating the Silence, Relapse (Deathbringer374), The Second Try, Those Who Earn It or You Are (Not) At Fault.

Tropes:

• A-Cup Angst: Although Asuka herself isn't lacking in the breast size department, she is envious of her friend Hikari's visibly bigger boobs; not helped by Hikari flaunting them. Asuka tries to cover her jealousy up by claiming she doesn't want big breasts due to the inevitable backache.
• After the End: The story begins place two years after the Third Impact, with the main characters try to lead new conflict-free lives as human civilization rebuilds itself slowl]]
• Amplified Animal Aptitude: Pen-Pen, a penguin, was able to learn how to use the remote, and is somehow capable of channel-surfing and understanding what he is looking at, although Asuka complains the penguin always picks the dumbest shows.
• Angry Collar Grab: When Rei informs her that Shinji and Asuka have decided to start dating each other, Misato grabs Rei by her collar, pulling her towards her, and demands Rei repeats what she has just said.
• Apologises a Lot: After admitting he stares at Asuka during swimming practice, and believing he is making her mad, Shinji apologizes...whereupon Asuka asks why he is apologizing for nothing again.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: All-ages versión when Shinji gets Asuka cornered and barefoot, threatening to give her the tickling of a lifetime. Being incredibly ticklish, Asuka braces herself for the worst, but Shinji simply puts her sock back on...much to her disappointment.
  She felt Shinji grab her foot and draw his finger over the bare flesh of the bottom of her foot. She couldn't help but giggle. She then braced herself for the worst as she knew how ticklish she was. But instead, she felt Shinji put her sock back on. She opened one eye and asked almost in disappointment "Aren't you gonna tickle me?"
  "Maybe later"
• Baby Talk: Misato and Kaji's fifteen-month-old baby daughter tends to skip over letters and sounds and shorten "commplicated" words:
  "Dada pay?"
  "Yes Keiko, your daddy will play with you now."
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Two years after the Third Impact, Shinji still engage in daily arguments and fights because Asuka still believes he doesn't care about her, and Shinji tries to hide he in facts loves her because he believes she doesn't love her back. After a while, Rei runs out of patience with their nonsense and forces them to have a civil talk and open up to each other.
• Beneath Notice: Rei learns all the gossip about her schoolmates by being the quiet girl in the background who nobody even realizes is listening in on them.
• Big Damn Hug: After Shinji has agreed to being strong for both of them, a sobbing Asuka collapses against him, too weak to keep standing upright. Shinji hugs her, refusing to let go, and she hugs him back.
  Asuka surrendered to her heart, leaning forward while still sobbing and collapsed her body against his. She didn't have the strength to hold herself up anymore.
  Shinji let go of her hand at this point to catch her. But something miraculous happened as Asuka never took her hand away and she kept it on his cheek. He then wrapped his arms around her and embraced her tightly.
  Both of them stayed in that position for a long, long time, simply holding each other. Neither able to let go of the other. This felt so right and so desperately needed.
• Big "NO!": Baby Keiko is NOT happy when her mother leaves home, tasking Shinji and Asuka with babysitting her. No matter what the teen duo suggest, Keiko screams a loud "NO!":
  Keiko: "MOMMY!"
  Asuka: "Mommy will be back later. How about if Uncle Shinji plays with you for a while?"
  Keiko: "Wan Mommy!"
  Shinji: "Do you want me to read you a story?"
  Keiko: "NO!"
  Shinji: "How about we play with your dollies?"
  Keiko: "NO!"
  Shinji: "Do you want snackies?"
  Keiko: "NO!"
• Blatant Lies: In the second chapter, when Shinji complains that he will get into trouble with Misato because Asuka pushed Mana into the pool, Asuka counters that he enjoyed seeing her mad with jealousy. When Shinji tries to deny it, Asuka points out she saw him smiling from ear to ear.
  "You lost your temper and pushed Mana into the pool" Shinji teased.
  "So?" Asuka answered gruffly "She deserved it."
  "But still, you lost your temper and lashed out" Shinji pointed out. "Misato doesn’t like that."
  "Well, it's not like you didn't enjoy it." Asuka sassed back.
  "Me?" Shinji questioned mockingly.
  "I saw you smiling." Asuka teased.
  "No, I wasn't" Shinji said. "I was aghast at the rudeness of it."
  "Spare me" Asuka laughed. "It was an ear-to-ear grin." Asuka then stopped walking and flipped her hair while looking directly at him. "You got your rocks off because I got jealous."
  Asuka had hit the nail right on the head with that statement and the only thing Shinji could say was "I uhh…." while blushing more.
• Cannot Spit It Out: A large part of the initial conflict between Shinji and Asuka stems from the latter getting irrationally jealous every time another girl talks to Shinji, but being unable to say she likes him, leading to Shinji believing she stopped liking him.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Asuka used to get mad at Shinji for talking with other girls and harass Rei for daring to talk to Shinji. The funny part is that she didn't even realize she was doing that.
• Coming of Age Story: The story revolves around Shinji and Asuka growing up and maturing in the post-Apocalypse world, learning how to love each other instead of hating themselves.
• Continuation: The story starts two years after The End of Evangelion. Human civilization is mostly back to normal, Shinji and his friends are going to high-school, and Rei joining Asuka's swimming club heralds big changes in the relationships among the former Eva pilots.
• Cool Chair: Played for laughs. As walking around the mall, Asuka leads her fellow pilots to the chair department, has Rei sitting on a comfortable, black, leather-covered massage chair with a bumpy back, and presses a remote's button. Rei begins moaning as the chair's vibrations loosen her strained, sore muscles, and Asuka states she has begged, pleaded, whined, cried and gotten on her knees and promised Misato she would be a perfectly behaved girl she would buy her that chair. Rei blissfully mumbles back that Asuka clearly hasn't begged hard enough.
• The Couch: The living room couch in Misato's apartment is a part important of many scenes involving Shinji and Asuka talking about their relationship or their future, or babysitting Misato's baby daughter.
• Couldn't Find a Babysitter: Misato and Kaji can seldom find a babysitter for their baby daughter Keiko, so they usually and automatically task Misato's teen wards Shinji and Asuka with taking care of their tantrum-throwing, fickle child.
• Crush Blush: Shinji blushes slightly when he admits he was waiting for Asuka ending her swimming practice to walk with her back home.
• The Diaper Change: Misato is talking to Rei about Shinji and Asuka's new relationship when Kaji interrupts to beg Misato to change their daughter's diaper. Misato just tells him to do it himself since she is busy and Keiko is his daughter, too. Kaji turns out to be worthless when it comes to changing diapers, so Asuka ends to taking his place (whereupon he bolts out of the baby's room).
• Doorstopper: As of April 2026, 422,281 words spread over twenty-nine chapters.
• Dude, She's Like in a Coma: In chapter 2, Misato finds Shinji sitting on their home's couch, with a sleeping Asuka sprawled over him and supporting her feet on his lap. Misato proceeds to teasing Shinji into lifting up her skirt and take a sneak peek, but Shinji refuses to give in to the temptation. Suddenly, Asuka open her eyes and tells Misato to stop torturing him.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Shinji always attended Asuka's swimming practice in order to stare at her swimsuit-wearing body for hours without coming across as a pervert.
• Ending After the End of the World: Two years after the Third Impact, most people have returned from Instrumentality. Though, Tokyo-3 had become a giant inland sea with some crumbled buildings sticking out of the surface, so the returnees had to rebuild the abandoned remains of Old Tokyo and Tokyo-2 into a new city.
• Everyone Can See It: In the first chapter, even though all of her friends are saying that Shinji is definitely gawking at her, Asuka refuses to believe he might even be interested in her.
• Fainting: Misato faints in shock after seeing Shinji and Asuka having a civil conversation without yells or recriminations, and then being told they have decided to begin dating.
• Fan-Created Offspring: Keiko, Misato and Kaji's pea-hating, fifteen-month-old baby daughter.
• Forbidden Fruit: After Misato tries to tempt Shinji into lifting Asuka's skirt, the latter asks why Shinji gets all flustered by her showing a little extra leg, since he sees her wearing a swimsuit every day. Misato answers that a skirt implies that she doesn't want anybody to see her legs, whereas a swimwear suggests she doesn't care; hence, the former is more alluring. Compounding her confusion, Shinji admits he would rather see her wearing underwear than a bikini because he isn't yet allowed to look at the former, regardless the latter showing more skin.
  Asuka: "And what's with you getting all flustered by me showing a little extra leg? You get to see the whole thing at swim practice all the time."
  Shinji: "Well…I…Uhhh…"
  Misato: "It's forbidden fruit"
  Asuka: "It's What?"
  Asuka: "It's forbidden fruit. When you're wearing a swimsuit, your legs are out for all to see. But when you're wearing a skirt part of your legs are covered. Those parts that are covered are deemed off limits to the eyes so to see some of those parts that would normally be covered is a very enticing thing to a male. It's all about the allure."
  Asuka: "That's just stupid. There's no difference between what you're seeing. Here I will show you.[…] You know Shinji, there are some things I just don't understand about you."
  Misato: "It gets even stranger. Let's say I let you get a very skimpy bikini, which I won't so don't bother asking, and I give Shinji a choice of watching you walk around all day in either that or a regular pair of bra and panties. Which one do you think he would pick?"
  Asuka: "The bikini of course. He would be able to see more of me."
  Misato: (to Shinji): "That ain't right, is it?"
  Asuka: "You're not allowed to be a wuss about this. Now tell Misato I'm right. You would much rather see me in an itsy bitsy, teeny weenie, yellow polka dotted bikini…Than a pair of dumpy old white underwear."
  Shinji: "Bra and panties."
  Asuka: "What?! Explain yourself baka."
  Shinji: "I'm allowed to look at you wearing a swimsuit, right?"
  Asuka: "Duh."
  Shinji: "Am I allowed to look at you in your bra and panties?"
  Asuka: "Well…Ummm…No…"''
• Friendly Tickle Torture: Shinji and Asuka are having a friendly -for once- tag competition when Shinji grabs Asuka by her foot. Asuka warns him about the dangers of catching a tiger, but Shinji replies he knows her weaknesses, and begins tickling the bottom of her foot, much to Asuka's horror, since she is awfully ticklish.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: Downplayed. Shinji agrees to Asuka dragging him to the mall together with Rei, but he puts on his headphones on the way, and thus he misses both girls talking well about him, for a change.
• Heroes Gone Fishing: The third chapter focuses on the former Eva pilots going to a mall to buy furniture and clothes, visiting different stores and trying to enjoy a normal day.
• Holding Hands: After Asuka accepts his offer to teach her how to cook, Shinji touches her hand, smiling. When Asuka doesn't let him move his hand off, muttering his touch makes her happy, Shinji wraps both hands around hers, and the two stand still for a while, enjoying the moment.
• Hope Is Scary: In the first chapter, Rei tries to convince Asuka that Shinji spends the whole time staring at her, but Asuka refuses to believe her, frightened of getting her hopes raised and destroyed once again.
  Rei had to ask her "Why won't you not believe me?"
  "Because there's no reason for me to get my hopes back up. They will only be shattered again like every time else. I— I can't handle this anymore."
• The "I Love You" Stigma: Even after having living with Shinji for years, Asuka is still nearly unable to tell "I love you", being afraid of both the naswer and her inability to handle it. She will not let someone else telling it for her, either, because it will not mean anything if she cannot even say it.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: During a tense conversation with Shinji, Asuka reveals that, in spite of all her bluster and arrogance, she regards herself as a worthless girl who is frightened of other people and doesn't deserve to being loved due to her jerkassery.
• Insult Backfire: In the third chapter, Rei threatens Asuka with insulting her if the redhead doesn't stop laughing at her unusually grumpy mood. Asuka challenges Rei to do her best, and unfortunately Rei proves she sucks at insulting: Asuka shrugs being called "Red-Headed Demon" off, pointing out that Rei already used that one earlier, and laughs at being called a brat, an insult which she had already been called thrice just that morning.
• Insult of Endearment: Asuka doesn't mind Shinji calling her a brat. In fact, she likes it, considering it a pet name.
  Rei: "But I still find it difficult to believe Shinji would insult you."
  Asuka: "It's not really an insult to me. Here I'll show you. Shinji do you think I am a brat sometimes?"
  Shinji nods
  Asuka: "But I'm your little brat and you like it…" (pouting) "…Right?"
  'Shinji blushes and nods
• Lethal Chef: Nobody wants to try Misato's food, not even her baby daughter. When she shoves a spoonful of mashed peas into her penguin pet's mouth in order to prove her food is perfectly safe and tasty, Pen Pen lets an "Urk!" out, falls over sideways and passes out.
• Let's Wait a While: As soon as Shinji and Asuka decide to get together, Misato and Kaji want to give them "The Talk"; though, the newly-reunited couple angrily states they only want to be around each other first, figuring their relationship out, and they aren't ready for sex yet.
• Limited Wardrobe: Asuka wants to drag both Shinji and Rei to the mall, but she becomes frustrated with Rei planning to wear her school clothes. So, Asuka walks over to Rei's closet, opens it up, and finds that Rei has nothing but school uniforms. Earlier, Asuka forced Shinji to ditch his school clothes and change into blue jeans and a t-shirt...which he only owns because Misato and Asuka got them for him.
• Living Emotional Crutch: A core part of Shinji and Asuka's relationship is that, despite her boisterous bragging, she thinks of herself as weak and coward, and needs Shinji to be strong for both of them, so she can stand up for herself.
• Love Confession: In the first chapter Rei, fed up with Shinji and Asuka's endless misunderstandings, arguments and fights, forces Asuka to ask what Shinji feels for her, and listen to his answer. So, Shinji finally dares to confess he still likes her.
• Love Hurts: At the start, Asuka is afraid of telling Shinji she loves him, and even more afraid of any possible answer, and she would rather be left to her own pathetic devices than take a risk and be hurt again.
  Everything though went quiet though when he heard Asuka ask in a small fragile voice "Shinji, do you still… love me?"
  Shinji froze again. His hand was twitching faster than Asuka had ever seen it go. She couldn't handle it and she tried to run away while crying "Forget I said anything…"
  She only got a few feet away from the chair as Rei tackled her from behind and tried to pin her to the floor. "Get off of me." Asuka cried.
  "He hasn't answered yet." Rei said back trying to keep Asuka down.
  "I don't want to know. Just let me live in my own little pathetic world" Asuka yelled while crying. "It's better if we stay apart. I would only end up hurting him again."
• Luminescent Blush: Hikari's face turns red when Asuka jokes about the former's boyfriend groping her when nobody is looking.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": While Asuka is wondering why Mana isn't practicing their swimming laps with them, Rei and Hikari get terrified when they realize that Mana is flirting with Shinji and the other boys instead of training. Both girl turn around and ascertain that Asuka has also noticed that Mana is doing, and the red-haired volcano is about to erupt.
• Matchmaker Crush: Rei is still interested in Shinji, but she has become so frustrated with Shinji and Asuka refusing to see each other's feelings even after Instrumentality and two more years living together that she drags both of them into one room and doesn't let them out until they talk things over in a civil way.
• Mathematician's Answer: In the first chapter, Rei uses this kind of logic to avoid to answer a Misato's question.
  When the two looked up at her she asked with absolute confusion "What's going on???"
  Rei answered for them. "Shinji and Asuka have decided to start dating each other." This was a way of Rei forcing the fact and making it impossible for the two to run away from what was happening.
  A big smile came over Misato’s face and then she promptly fainted.
  Misato woke back up with a wet cloth on her head while lying on the floor. “She will be fine now." Rei told the other two.
  Misato though reached up and grabbed Rei by her collar, pulling her down towards her. "What did you just say?"
  "That you will be fine." Rei repeated a bit on the surprised side.
  "No, before that."
• No Periods, Period: Kaji reveals Rei that the real reason for her body previously experimenting no menstrual cycles and being intolerant to meat was that Dr. Akagi's pills were messing up both her mind and body.
• Noodle Incident: In chapter 2, when Asuka claims she can cook, Shinji asks if she wants him to bring the "fish incident" up. Seldom details are known, except that A Suka's attempt to cook a fish meal ended with their dinner turned into ashes, a pan burned and a stove shorted out.
• Not a Morning Person: In the third chapter, it is 9:00 AM on a Saturday morning when Asuka bursts into Rei's bedroom to wake up her and invite her over for breakfast. Rei just turns her head aside, pulls her blankets up and over her head and mumbles Asuka to go away. Repeatedly. Because she is tired, and her bed is warm and comfortable, and she isn't an early bird, so she wants to sleep in until the noon.
• Oblivious to Hints: In the third chapter, Touji and Hikari are sharing ice cream in the mall's food court when they spot Asuka, Shinji and Rei walkind around the mall. Aware that Asuka will freak out if she sees one member of her swimming team ignoring her diet, and guessing that her friend doesn't want her schoolmates finding out yet that she is going out with Shinji, Hikari covers her face and tries to go unnoticed until the trio walks out of sight, while Touji repeatedly asks what she is doing, and why she is telling him to pretend he has not seen what they have just seen.
• Oblivious to Love: Two years after the Third Impact, Asuka has convinced herself that Shinji has gotten over her, and he only attends her swimming team's trainings because Misato ordered him to. Meanwhile, Shinji, who attends the school team's training because he wants to see Asuka, is convinced that Asuka has gotten over him, and cannot figure out why she gets so angry when other girls are stalking him.
• OOC Is Serious Business:
  • Misato faints in shock when she sees Shinji and Asuka having a civil talk (Not arguing, not teasing, not yelling, simply talking!), and then being said they have decided start dating each other.
  • In chapter 2, Toji, Hikari and Kensuke become flabbergasted when Asuka walks into the class looking perfectly calm and cheerful instead of pissed off because Rei has made it to the swimming team.
• Patchwork Fic: Although this is an original series continuation fic, and the author doesn't care about the Girlfriend of Steel game, he decided to incorpórate Mana Kirishima into the story.
• Phony Veteran: In the second chapter, Shinji and Asuka are watching a show where a stinky, rude man is claiming he was an Evangelion pilot, and he piloted "da orange big robot" before switching over to the "blue robot" because he stopped liking the orange, and also piloted "da big red robot", infuriating Asuka who hates her mother being disrespected by a phony. On top of this, the interviewer is former Nerv employee Maya Ibuki, who knows the identities of the real Eva pilots, knows they weren't adult but teen kids, and is well aware that the big blue robot is the orange one with a paint job.
• Poor Communication Kills: In the first chapter, Asuka got mad and hit Shinji because she thought he had fallen asleep as pretending to watch her swimming training. Nevertheless, Shinji pretended he had fallen asleep because he was afraid that Asuka would get mad if she found out that he was staring at her during her practice. When told about it, Asuka get flummoxed as she has no issue with Shinji staring at her.
• Promoted to Love Interest: In canon, Rei doesn't seem to be even aware of Kensuke's existence; in this story, they begin dating after a while.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: When Asuka wants to talk Shinji into watching her favorite show, she dons her best pleading, wide-eyed stare and cute singing, pleading voice, to devastating effect.
• Redheads Are Ravishing: In the second chapter, as Asuka is racing Shinji home, the latter takes a moment to consider how beautiful is his redhead roommate and girlfriend.
• Relationship Upgrade: Shinji and Asuka hook up in the first chapter after being forced by Rei to confront and admit their feelings to themselves and each other.
• Retail Therapy: In the first chapter, Asuka is feeling upset and mad after a bad day in school, so she decides to go to the mall to try to cheer herself up.
• Right Behind Me: As reflecting over the last time he was placed in an one-week-long school suspension, Touji wonders out loud how pissed off Hikari would get if he missed another week of school. Hikari suddenly shouting "VERY!" from behind him causes him to jump from his seat.
• Rule of Pool: Asuka and her swimming team are gathered by the school pool when Mana tries to get Shinji's attention by blowing kisses at him. With a growl, Asuka pushes Mana off the edge and into the pool.
• Secret Relationship:
  • Shinji and Asuka get together at the start of the story, but don't want any of their schoolmates to find out.
  • Rei and Kensuke also begin dating at one point, and they try to keep it a secret for as long as possible.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Asuka finds out that Rei and Kensuke are having a secret relationship, but guessing she owes it to them since they kept their mouth shuts when Shinji and she began dating, Asuka keeps it to herself, without letting on that she knows they are dating.
• Secret Test of Character: Invoked after Rei's first training with the swimming team, when she asks whether Asuka pushed them hard to test their resilience. Hikari denied it, though, stating that Asuka simply expects everybody to put so much effort into their training as her.
• Shoot the Television: Variant. As having dinner, Shinji and Asuka are seeing a man in the news claiming to be a former Evangelion pilot. When the phony claims he piloted "da big red robot too", Asuka angrily throws her spoon at the TV, splattering applesauce all over the screen.
• Shopping Montage: In the third chapter, Asuka drags a reluctant Rei to the mall to buy a new lamp (and a new set of clothes when Asuka finds out that Rei only owns and wears her school uniforms), with Shinji being "volunteered" to tag along. When they arrive at the mall, Asuka refuses head straight to the department store, pick up a lamp and leave, insisting that the trio wanders around, visiting every shop in the mall, with no real intent to buy anything. Two hours later, Asuka leads the trio to a clothing store, where Rei is "instructed" to spend one hour trying twenty pairs of jeans and twenty-five shirts before settling on one which Asuka will not disapprove of, while Shinji remains out of the dressing room, waiting patiently (and meekly) for them finishing.
• Shout-Out: Jeopardy! is one of Asuka's favorite shows, although Shinji believes that is because she can answer more questions than the rest of Misato household.
• Shower Scene: In the second chapter, Rei and Asuka take a shower after swimming practice, where talk about Asuka and how much she has changed since they were thirteen.
• Show Within a Show: Keiko, Misato and Kaji's baby daughter, absolutely loves a children tv-show called "Little People".
• Sleep Cute: In the second chapter, Asuka sets out to watch TV by lying down on the couch, placing her head on a pillow and putting her feet up on Shinji's lap. Five minutes later she is dozing off, and Shinji ponders over how cute and peaceful she looks right now.
• Sorkin Relationship Moment: Rei gets tired of Shinji and Asuka being oblivious to each other's feelings, even after the end of the world, so she brings both of them to her apartment and tells to stop dancing around each and having a sincere, honest conversation for a change.
• Supreme Chef: Shinji is the Katsuragi household's official cook because he is really good (and because neither of his roommates are able to prepare a meal without destroying both the food and the kitchen equipment).
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: After spotting Asuka, Shinji and Rei walking around the mall, Hikari tells Touji they have seen absolutely nothing, and "Now let's get out of here before the people we didn't see swing back around and the redheaded one has a hissy fit over what I'm eating."
• Their First Time: In chapter 13, after having known each other over two years, spending several months dating, talking to friends who were in committed, sexually active relationships, and moving gradually from hand-holding to kissing to heavy petting, Shinji and Asuka finally have sex for the first time, finding the experience extremely fullfilling and rewarding.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Asuka intended to take Rei to the mall to buy a new lamp for her, but after seeing Rei's closet, full with nothing but school uniforms, declares they are hitting the clothing stores, too. In answer, Rei gulps audibly.
  "After that nightmare of a closet I'll be damned if all we leave from the mall with is a stupid lamp." She heard two very big gulps coming from her counter parts behind her. "Trust me Rei, that gulp wasn't nearly big enough."''
• Twitchy Eye: Asuka insists on taking Rei to the mall, but doesn't want her wearing her school clothes, so she opens Rei's closet...and finds nothing but school uniforms, a sight which makes her eye twitching.
• What Does She See in Him?: Played with. In the first chapter, Asuka mutters she will never understand what Mana sees in Shinji...which is hilarious because Asuka herself in denial of her own feelings towards Shinji.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: While trying to drag both Shinji and Rei to the mall, Asuka briefly wonders why Rei hates go to the mall, and quickly comes to the realization that Rei gets uncomfortable around large, noisy crowds of people, just like Shinji.
• With Catlike Tread: In the third chapter, two of Shinji's female schoolmates spot him waiting outside of the female clothing store's dressing room, so she decide to spy on Shinji to find out who is his girlfriend. Unfortunately, they choose to hide behind a nearby rack of clothing which hardly can hide anything, so they are spotted by Rei and Asuka right before walking out of the room, allowing them to come up with an excuse to not reveal Shinji and Asuka's (who isn't in the mood for everybody teasing her- new relationship.
• The X of Y: The Swim of Things.