"Mr. Akagawa?"

"Hai?"

"Can I use one of the practice rooms?"

"Hmm? Oh, go ahead."

It was with relief that Ikari Shinji left his seat and made his way to the set of adjoining rooms. His normal Strings teacher was going under the knife for a knee problem, and so wouldn't be back for two weeks, leaving the music class fated to watch movies for that time. Shinji could see no point in sitting around when there was a golden opportunity to hone his cello-playing skills — it was the point of the class, for crying out loud. So instead, he made use of the practice rooms. It wasn't exactly time spent with a qualified instructor, but it was better than — at this point — literally nothing.

He flipped his SDAT player on as he walked into the cramped, dark hallway that connected the music room to the practice rooms. He was listening to music more and more lately, and was more interested in playing it as well. Maybe I'll become a cellist, playing for the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra... Shinji thought, then amended ...if NERV will let me.

Stepping into the last practice room — it had a piano in it he could tune his cello with — he flipped the light switch. Through the music, he heard an indecipherable noise, but he thought nothing of it as he put his cello down to turn off his SDAT player. The practice rooms may have been soundproofed, but the ventilation shafts weren't, a design flaw that Shinji dearly hoped someone got fired for.

And so it was that when Shinji switched off his music, he was completely caught off guard by someone moaning "Ohh... kami, yes..." behind him.

Shinji's first reaction was that the sound was coming from the vents, because they weren't soundproofed, but that was immediately struck down by the realization that the sound wasn't tinny enough. Then he wondered why he didn't see anyone else come in when he opened the door... and promptly came to the conclusion that he completely avoided looking at the right side of the room somehow when he turned on the light. He wanted to slink away without looking at the decidedly female owner of that voice, and pretend nothing had happened. But he was turning around of his own accord, and he found that he had no ability — nor desire — to stop himself.

The sight that he saw was magnificent. A girl, about the same age as Shinji, was sitting on one of the three chairs in the room, completely nude, legs spread wide. Her right hand was running all over her body while her left was busy at her clit. The look on her face -- eyes closed, and apparently oblivious to Shinji's presence in the room -- betrayed the fact that she was close to coming, and she let out another moan to reinforce this fact.

Shinji immediately froze. His rational side desperately wanted to give this girl the privacy she probably wanted, but other facets of him were currently in control of his motor functions. He could only stare at the girl as she pleasured herself.

Barely a minute passed before the girl's orgasm hit her and her back arched, mouth open in a silent cry of ecstasy. She froze up like Shinji. This tableau lasted for about ten seconds, neither person breathing or moving.

Finally the girl relaxed and slumped down into her chair. her eyes, which had been closed since Shinji walked in, fluttered open... and immediately came to rest on a pair of shoes on the ground. She followed the shoes up to the body they were attached to, and Shinji smiled weakly at her. "Um, hi."

He was momentarily deafened by her scream.

"Shh! Do you want to get caught!" He said in a rush before she could take in enough breath to scream again. Said breath got caught in her throat as she realized what she just did.

"Oh, shit, they're probably coming, too..." She said in a 'what-do-I-do' kind of voice.

"They're not the only ones..." Shinji mumbled to himself before glancing out the small window in the door. "Stay under the window and out of sight." He said as he opened the door to cut off his teacher, who was making a beeline for that practice room.

"Did you hear that?" Mr. Akagawa asked.

"Yeah, I did, do you know where it came from?" Shinji replied.

Mr. Akagawa stopped when he reached Shinji. "Could have been in the next room, but it should be empty this period. I'm going to go check it out."

"Alright, sir, be careful."

Mr. Akagawa spun on his heels and walked off to address the non-existent problem, and Shinji mentally wished he could have a few minutes with the guy who didn't soundproof the ventilation shafts before going back to the practice room, where the girl was already dressing. "The teacher's gone." Shinji said.

"Thanks." The girl said as she pulled a creamy yellow shirt on over her lavender bra, the last piece of clothing to go on her body. "Listen, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to... I mean I was..."

Shinji just shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I won't tell anyone."

"...Okay, good." She paused for about five seconds, then asked "Why were you watching me?" She didn't sound angry or embarrassed, exactly, just curious.

"Well, I had my music playing and didn't even notice you before I had come in here, put everything down and turned it off, and I kind of lost control of myself. I couldn't help it." Shinji admitted sheepishly, finally starting to blush.

"Hey, no problem. i didn't even notice you until after I was, uh, finished, so I guess that's understandable. And I can relate to not being able to control myself, too." Shinji, despite his blush deepening, laughed. "Um, I'm Motowa." She extended her left hand out to Shinji. "Er..." She blushed slightly as she brought that hand back and extended her right hand.

"Hey, I don't mind." Shinji joked, making Motowa laugh, sounding like music to Shinji's ears.

Shinji shook Motowa's right hand. It was very soft. For some reason, Shinji remembered a passage from Romeo and Juliet, and it recited in his mind: O were I a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek. He glanced out the window and saw Mr. Akagawa coming back. "Teacher's on his way back. I'll go out, you stay here until we leave."

"Yeah." Motowa agreed. "Don't worry about how I get out of here... I've, uh, done this before."

"Okay." Shinji said, trying not to focus on what exactly she has done before lest he have to explain to Mr. Akagawa why he was happy to see him. "Did you find out what the problem was?" He asked Mr. Akagawa as he flicked off the light in the practice room and walked down the hallway.

"No, whoever it was must have left." Mr. Akagawa replied as he strode past Shinji to the practice room, keys in hand.

"Uh, sir? Why are you locking the door?"

"It's the end of Last Period, Shinji, nobody else is going to be using this room until tomorrow."

"Oh... right, right."

As Shinji and his teacher walked back into the main music room, Shinji was already becoming worried about Motowa. I hope she can pick locks, or she's got a long, boring wait until... shoot, it's Friday! She's going to be in there for three days!

Despite his worries, Shinji could see nothing that he could do to get Motowa out of the practice room before Monday. He didn't have a key.