The next day at noon, Tokyo-3 First Municipal Middle School.
"Kensuke, you have to pray sincerely before eating. That way, the Child of God can feel your devotion."
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
"You have to be sincere!"
Listening to Toji Suzuhara insist, Kensuke Aida looked at the yakisoba bread in his hand and felt rather speechless.
He simply couldn't muster any devotion while looking at something like this, but the expression on his friend's face was like that of a twelfth-century Teutonic knight preparing to conquer Prussia.
The Child of God Worship Society, a church with no official backing, had to be a cult. But to avoid becoming a conquered heathen, he still recited the prayer with sincerity.
"Those boys are so childish. Do they really think they're medieval holy knights? If they actually saw an Angel, they'd piss themselves in terror."
Asuka casually popped a piece of fried pork cutlet into her mouth and looked at the favored girl beside her, but continued without waiting for a reply:
"Today's lunch tastes pretty good, but if you factor in the breakfast I missed yesterday, it's not so great."
"You missed breakfast because you weren't there. It wasn't Ikari's fault." Rei Ayanami put a small piece of broccoli into her mouth.
Remembering what had happened yesterday, Asuka blushed faintly and retorted under her breath, "There was a reason for that yesterday... not that it was anything special."
Rei Ayanami merely glanced at her without speaking. Fortunately, that cool response gave Asuka some breathing room to calm down.
"Um, Asuka, Ayanami."
The sudden voice beside the table made the already jumpy Asuka flinch. She looked over warily and found Hikari Horaki standing there.
"Can I eat with you?" Hikari Horaki asked. Both as class representative and as a member of the Child