Tokyo-2, First Municipal Elementary School
September 15, 2036
It had been two weeks since the start of the new school year. Even so, the students were still busily discussing each other's experiences during the summer break, all around school. The classroom of class 3-C had the same scene – except for a lone girl sitting away from everyone else and generally ignoring everything around her.
Rei Ikari gave no sign of noticing the turmoil among her classmates. As on every day of the previous year and the year before that, she spent most of her time in school staring out the window and thinking. The teachers often took issue with her inattention but realized the hard way after the first few times that there was simply no point in punishing the girl for it, as she always responded to the current subject in that quiet, collected manner of hers. Rei was unusually intelligent for someone of her age, yet it clearly translated into lack of social skills.
It was impossible to ignore when older kids started picking on her appearance, even though she never asked any adults for help. The reason was rather obvious, but after the request to her mother politely asking to stop the girl from dying her hair came back with the response that Rei is, and always has been, wearing her natural hair color, the teachers just gave up and put the troublemakers in detention.
Most of the children just ignored her now, but even those who whispered things behind her back when they thought she couldn't hear failed get a rise out of her. In short, Rei quickly proved her deserving of the nickname 'yuki-hime'.
Her thoughts briefly wandered back to the classroom when their homeroom teacher appeared, the Vortigaunt striding its desk with its signature gait. Rei highly respected their kind, for they knew what she really was and never tried to patronize her for being a child. Additionally, she couldn't read their thoughts even if she wanted to – a welcome break from her usual experience with the masses.
Plus this particular teacher didn't care about her not visibly listening to its lecture (which happened all the time) as long as she knew the subject material (which she did) and didn't disturb the class (which she didn't). The few surviving teachers from before Second Impact were initially skeptical about Vortigaunts working with children, but once the aliens stopped speaking in their usual gruff and to-the-point manner, they proved to be surprisingly good at it.
Especially since unlike human teachers, you can't lie to a Vortigaunt about why you haven't done your homework. Psychic powers did have their perks.
"Greeetings... to the young ones." – the Vort intoned in its species' trademark raspy voice.
"Hello, Kvasir-sensei." – the class responded in an enthusiastic tone. They almost universally liked their teacher, since he was somewhat less strict than others.
"I would like to ask... how the summer passed." – the teacher continued, its odd emphasis almost giving the impression it was speaking in rhymes.
At the even more enthusiastic reply, Rei toned them all out and her mind again wandered. She made an absent-minded comparison between the teacher's face and that of Unit-00's, until she was again interrupted by the teacher.
"I observed that an adequate part of class have had their days of birth in... the summer period. I would like for everyone to write a list containing their... acquisitions."
Rei knew it was completely unnecessary and she knew the teacher knew as well; she didn't ask the reason, however. She long since learned that dealing with normal children of her age group entails doing such things to direct their easily wandering attention into productive activities.
When the list going around the class got to her, she briefly hesitated. As per her own request, Yui didn't exactly drown her in presents (not that Rei was interested in the usual presents for children anyway) and the woman constantly doing overtime left the two with little time together. This was the case on Rei's birthday two days ago as well.
She didn't mind, though. Rei usually bought her presents herself, like the one yesterday. This ensured that the result is always satisfactory, unlike the inherent randomness involved in the traditional way.
Thinking back to that day, Rei wrote a single line under her name before passing the paper ahead.
Tokyo-2, Outer District 8
September 13, 2036
1638 hours
The warehouse was just like any other in the area: old, crumbling, abandoned. Those words could describe the entire district as well: a giant slum and in general a dangerous place, where anyone in the bad place at the bad time could be robbed, raped and/or killed, in any combination and order of the above. Those living in the more prestigious inner districts were advised to give a wide berth to the area unless absolutely necessary.
So it came as quite the surprise for the locals when a nine year old girl marched with a purpose towards one specific the building. It wasn't her azure hair or her freezing glare, but an unexplained and unseen presence about her that translated the message clearly: 'stay away from me if you know what's good for you'. All those living in the street knew what was in the building and avoided it like the plague, out of fear for being singled out by the gang operating in the area.
Inside the building, the sound of flesh hitting flesh was followed by a man being shoved against the wall by the force of the impact. He wiped the trickle of blood off the corner of his mouth before angrily retorting – "I told you already, the shipment hasn't arrived yet!"
All that gained him was another punch, knocking him to the floor. His attacker just smirked before replying. – "The boss doesn't care about your shipment. You want our protection, you pay. We say you pay now, you pay now."
"But I can't! Give me another week, I'll pay double if you want!"
The racketeer hauled the man off the floor by his collar. – "Listen up, you deaf fuck. I said we don't care-" – He was interrupted by a quiet knock on the door. – "Go away, asshole!" – He turned back to his would-be victim. – "Fork over that money or there'll be... complications with our business."
"I don't get it, I just paid two weeks ago. Next payment's won't-" – He received a fist into his stomach, turning the rest of the sentence into a strangled groan.
Another knock sounded, this time a bit louder. – "I said go away! We're doing business in here!" – The racketeer turned to his companion. – "Go check who's tryin' to stuck their heads somewhere they shouldn't be."
"Got it." – The other man walked to the door and looked outside through the peephole. He frowned. – "No one's here."
"Good. Dumbass probably got the message and fucked off." – He turned his attention back at his victim one more. – "As for you... if you really can't pay, I'm afraid we'll have to rectify that. We'll come by next week and you'll pay us triple, else you're gonna see just why is it a bad idea to not-" – He was interrupted again by a loud rapping on the door, causing the racketeer to blow air through his nostrils in annoyance. – "Fucking bastard, just can't get a break... Go outside and teach him a lesson!"
"Right." – The other man reached for the handle...
...but a split second before he reached it, the entire door suddenly flew off its hinges with a loud crash, tackling the hapless thug to the ground.
"The fuck-?!" – The racketeer shoved his victim to the ground once more and whirled around, pulling out a pistol and training it on the door. He squinted to try and see the aggressor, but the sheer amount of dust kicked up by the impact completely shrouded the doorway.
Moments later, a suppressed automatic weapon opened fire in the cloud, hitting the thug with devastating accuracy. The man couldn't even scream as his upper body jerked from the nearly two dozen small impacts, their collective force pushing him up against the wall behind him. His gun was the first to reach the floor, followed by his entire body drawing a bloody trail on the wall. Strangled gasps were all that escaped his pulverized lungs as he twitched and thrashed in a growing pool of his own blood, futilely grasping at his chest, which now had all the consistency of tenderized meat.
It only took a few seconds before he went still for good. Then the racketeer's victim, slightly pale but otherwise no worse for the wear, slowly got off the ground, just in time to see a child walk out of the dust cloud, casually stepping over the fallen door. – "Are you unharmed?"
"Uh... yes." – He was about to ask the girl what she was doing there, but the question died in his throat when he spotted the suppressed Micro-Uzi in her hand, safety off and fire selector switch on full auto. – "Did you...?"
The girl glanced at the still warm corpse at his feet, as if it was a completely uninteresting sight. – "If I assessed the situation correctly, you were being targeted for extortion."
"Ah, don't mind that."
She raised an eyebrow before replying. – "As you wish."
A loud noise came from behind her as the other thug finally pushed the door off himself and stood up, chain-swearing as he reached for his own weapon. He couldn't even touch it before the girl beat him to the punch. The owner couldn't even see her move: one moment, the Micro-Uzi was at her side, the next, she was pointing it over her shoulder, finger already pulling the trigger.
It was a full-auto snapshot, fired completely blind... yet somehow, each and every one of the bullets remaining in the 32-round magazine hit their target squarely in the face, splattering the wall behind him with blood and pieces of brain matter. He collapsed without a sound, already dead by the time his body hit the ground.
"Holy shit..." – was all the wide-eyed owner could say.
"It is of no consequence." – the girl said, deftly ejecting the empty magazine and stuffing it into her pocket before pulling out another and loading it into the weapon. Finally, she flipped the safety on and stuffed the Uzi into the back of her waistband, pulling her black sweater over it. – "I am here to purchase."
The owner nodded and dusted himself off at that. Frankly, he had no idea what was her deal – but if she was a customer, he decided he didn't care. – "What do you have in mind?"
"Four hundred rounds of 9x19mm Parabellum and a special request, please."
"Special request? Girlie, I just had two guys nearly blowing my brains out for not paying them ahead of time; I'm kinda short on money right now. Besides, I'm not a bank."
"Money is not a factor."
That got his attention right away. – "Shoot."
"I am looking for a weapon. Long range, high penetration power. Weight and recoil are not an issue. 12.7x99mm NATO cartridge preferred but not required. Do you have recommendations?"
"That's quite a tall order from someone like you." – He glanced at the racketeers' bodies and suddenly had a crazy idea – but as far as he was concerned, this day was already crazy enough. – "Tell you what, get rid of these two and I'll humor you."
"Deal." – the girl said immediately.
"Well then..." – The black market arms dealer folded his arms in front of his chest. Crazy day indeed. – "...you've come to the right place."
The list finally returned to the teacher who went over it, occasionally asking a question from whoever wrote this item or another.
Near the end of the list however, he almost skipped over a line before realization struck and he read it again, just to make sure he actually saw that.
Barrett Firearms M82A1 .50cal Anti-materiel Rifle
He looked at Rei Ikari with the best approximation of a raised eyebrow a one-eyed alien can muster, but said nothing.
At the window, Rei continued staring outside.