"It smells like Ikari."
The entry plug… I spend more time there than I do at home… home. I think of it as home now. This city is not unfamiliar. Maybe that's why… I came back.
Shinji put on the rest of his clothes, and walked out the door, pausing as he reached to change the sign on the door from "Occupied" to "Vacant". I wonder… will I come back again?
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Episode 17: A Familiar Ceiling------------------------------------------------
Deep beneath the surface of Tokyo-3, in Central Dogma, looking out on the Central Command Center, Gendou's hands were folded in front of his face, whatever features visible on his foreboding countenance, an imperceptible mask, as always.
"Unit Three is arriving soon," said Fuyutsuki, sitting at an extra chair, pulled up to Gendou's desk. "I assume we are going to choose the Fourth before it gets here?"
"It has already been done," Gendou stated. "The Child whose core could be prepared first was chosen. His name is Suzuhara Touji."
"Isn't he in the same class as Shinji? I don't know how Shinji will react to his best friend becoming an EVA pilot."
Gendou said nothing; his face and posture unreadable.
"How are the other operations going?" Fuyutsuki asked, immediately changing the subject.
"EVA Unit Four is still being prepared in Nevada. We expect it's readiness in at least a month. We are currently scouting candidates for the position of Fifth." Gendou responded, in his unshakable baritone.
"What about Units Five and Six? I thought they were a few months off completion as well," asked Fuyutsuki.
"Their production has been aborted. We have not received a clear report from Germany yet on why, but SEELE is suspected. However, whatever they did make is being shipped here for spare parts," responded Gendou.
"…We need more Evas, not less. Why would they be aborting a near-finished project?" Fuyutsuki pondered aloud.
"They believe they have a better project." Gendou interjected.
"What do you mean by that, Ikari?" asked the elder man.
No answer came from Gendou. A ring issued from a phone on his desk. Gendou picked it up and moved it to his ear.
"Yes. I understand. It shall be dealt with."
He placed the phone back on its receiver.
"Fuyutsuki, the Fourth Child has arrived for his first tests. Please go and deal with him. I have more pressing business to deal with."
Is it really that, Ikari? Or are you afraid you'll alienate him?
Gendou walked past the professor. Fuyutsuki turned and followed him.
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Shinji stared up at the ceiling, and switched his SDAT forward a track. He thought of what had happened more than a week ago, and yet seemed so fresh in his memory as to have occurred that morning.
"You mustn't run away, Shinji."
…instead, I ran back. From my current perspective, it seems better that when I ran away. Because everyone welcomed me with open arms. It turned out that not running away didn't hurt at all. People seemed genuinely happy I came back.
He thought of Misato crying into his shoulder just as he returned to consciousness. She… actually cares about me. I… can't remember a time in my life before when anything like that ever happened. I wonder… what does she think of me? A son, a brother? He stuck out his thumb.
His mind skipped over the two other pilot's visit to his hospital room
Asuka… she puts up a brash wall, but she actually does care for people. He smiled at the thought of how embarrassed she was when she got caught listening in on the door. Ayanami… so familiar. She reminds me of someone… I can't quite picture in my mind who.
Then an image flashed into his mind… One he had not remembered before, and that he retained only the still image of. He remembered seeing it just before he returned to unconsciousness, as he was being extracted from the entry plug. It was Gendou alone but watching, with tears rolling out from underneath his glasses and the tips of his mouth turned upwards in the slightest form of a smile. He would have looked no different that his normal impartial composure from a distance, but what Shinji could see made the difference for him.
"Everything is in my heart. That's good enough for me."
He started to cry, silently, and with a smile on his face. He… loves me! He loves me!
My father loves me! He cares whether or not I live or die! After 10 years… he still loves me! He fell asleep with the salty liquid still running down his cheeks and with a blissful smile on his face.
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Fuyutsuki was sitting at a desk beside Ritsuko, occasionally scanning a stack of papers he had in front of him. However, he was more interested in the boy that sat opposite from him—Suzuhara Touji, the Fourth Child chosen to pilot an EVA in accordance with the Marduk report.
"What do you believe your academic performance is, Mr. Suzuhara?" asked Ritsuko.
"I'm not sure… It's not hard to get at least 80% in all of the courses," the Fourth responded, somewhat casually.
"How well would you say you interact with others?" asked Ritsuko, with all the warmth of a scientist collecting her lab observations.
Again, Touji seemed very non-committal, no effort really put behind the words.
"I don't know how you'd term that, ma'am, but I have friends. I'm good friends with a boy named Aida Kensuke, and Ikari Shinji—you should know him, he pilots for you. I get along pretty well with-" He thought for a second, of clobbering Shinji before he really even knew his name.
"Is there something, Mr. Suzuhara?" asked Ritsuko, noting the sudden trailing off of his sentence.
"No… No, ma'am. I get along well with everyone."
"You mentioned the Third Child. What do you think of his job?"
"Piloting EVA? It looked rough, from that time I was in the cockpit."
"Mr. Suzuhara, you have been selected by the Marduk institute as the Fourth Child. You will become the dedicated pilot of Evangelion Unit Three. What do you think of that?"
That's a little abrupt. You might have wanted to get closer to that idea before you dropped the news, thought Fuyutsuki in remark.Touji sat straight up in his seat. "You've gotta be joking. I've been picked to pilot EVA?" He slumped back down. "Hmm… poor Kensuke."
"What about him, Mr. Suzuhara?"
"Well, he was acting so enthusiastic about it… He wanted it so bad he would have given an arm and a leg to pilot that thing. But the only one who actually wants to pilot it is passed over for his best friend."
Touji sat back up in his chair.
"Why was he passed over? Why me instead of him, or maybe Keigo?"
"Mr. Suzuhara, you are the best possible candidate. That is why the Marduk Institute chose you."
"I have other things I have to take care of. My dad works all the time, so if I became a pilot, no-one could look after my sister in the hospital."
"That can be taken care of."
Touji straightened up again. "What?"
"Conditional on your acceptance of the pilot assignment, we can move her to the special NERV hospital. The best doctors money can buy, and for free." Ritsuko said it convincingly, applying pressure, feeling Touji's reluctance slip away.
That's an unfair carrot to dangle over his nose, thought Fuyutsuki.
"So your saying that if I become a pilot… and only if I become a pilot, my sister will receive the best medical treatment in the world for free?" Touji asked, his voice shaking.
"Yes. Everything will be taken care of."
Touji bowed his head, and was silent for three minutes.
"I'll do it."
Ritsuko smiled.
"Excellent. Now, come here so I can teach you the pilot interface system."
Touji stayed sitting. What have I gotten myself into now? Will this eventually hurt me? It doesn't matter. It'll help my sister. That matters more. He stood up and headed to the door.
Before he got there, Fuyutsuki stood up, and held out his hand. "My name is Fuyutsuki Kouzou, NERV's Vice-Commander."
Touji shook it. "Nice to meet you, sir." He didn't seem all that concentrated on the words, or even the person on the other end of the hand.
Fuyutsuki smiled. "Welcome to NERV."
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NEON GENESIS EVANGELION------------------------------------------------
VARIATIONS
UPON A THEME
EP: 17"You must learn to sacrifice the needs of the few for the needs of the many."
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The silence that normally permeated the school during the first 10 minutes of lunch time was broken by a loud female voice in a classroom with only two people.
"That JERK! How come he gets to take school off for a week? He even said he was fine! GRRR!" Asuka took another rip out of her sandwich.
Rei didn't respond, looking at her bare desk.
"GRR! You don't even have a lunch, the least you could do is strike up some decent conversation! Jeez, the rest of the girls went to the store to buy their lunches, leaving me to talk to you! I'd get farther with a brick wall!"
She took another bite from her sandwich, and immediately grimaced.
"Because he wants to lie in bet so much recently, Misato made my lunch today! I can't believe how miserable he's making my life just by not doing anything!"
"Would you rather he be dead?" Rei breathed, almost so soft to make in inaudible.
Asuka, hearing this, spun around in surprise, a slice of ham covered in curry hanging out of her mouth. She quickly gobbled it up, and said, "What kind of question is that? Of course I don't wish he was dead!"
"You don't seem to be glad about it."
Asuka's eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped. …Is this… how others see me? She composed herself quickly, and narrowed her eyes. "What are you, stupid? Of course I'm glad!"
"Then why are you so negative?"
For the first time in her life, Asuka was speechless.
Hikari and two other girls walked into the room. Seeing Asuka turned towards Rei, she asked, "Are we interrupting something?"
Asuka whipped around. "No, nothing at all, just trying to get any kind of response out of the Nowhere Queen."
Rei sighed and returned to looking out of the window.
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Shinji's eyes opened, staring straight up at the ceiling.
What should I do now? No-one's home, my SDAT is nearly out of batteries and I really don't feel sleepy any more. Maybe I should make some food… but I'm not really hungry. …I know what I really want to do.
He roused from his bed, and put on his school uniform. He slipped his SDAT into his pocket, and checked to make sure his NERV I.D. card was in his wallet. He grabbed a pen and some paper and scribbled a note.
Gone to NERV.
Shin.
He walked out of the door, and descended to the street. As always, it was fairly barren of people. Tokyo-3… For a replacement for the capital, it's pretty devoid of life.
He walked to the train station and got onto a monorail heading into the city's core. After a 30 minutes wait in solitude, he entered the train, as there was no-one at the station.
The train was completely empty, and Shinji soon saw why. Looking out the train window, he could still see the remains of the Sea of Dirac in the Tokai district. The danger is over, but the public still doesn't want to risk anything bad happening. That's why the city is so deserted today.
After the train stopped, he left the station and walked for another empty block, stopping when he reached his destination… the gateway to the Geo-Front.
He walked up to the heavy steel doors. Removing his I.D. card from his wallet, he swiped it in the card reader.
He rode down the escalator to NERV H.Q. silently, not thinking much. Almost at the bottom, the SDAT's batteries died.
Well, here goes.
He walked up to the guard at the bottom of the escalator.
"Excuse me, but do you know where the commander's office is?"
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To Be Continued…
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Ending: Johann Sebastien Bach - Suiten fur Violoncello solo Nr.1 G-dur, BWV.1007 1.Vorspier
Original Story: GAiNAX
Character Design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto
Reviewer: Alexei Seranov
Story: Damion, One-Winged Angel
The title "Variations upon a Theme" I heard somewhere, and thought was good. The eyecatch title "You must learn to sacrifice the needs of the few for the needs of the many." is based on a Star Trek quote, but I thought it applied here.
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NEXT EPISODE
Shinji
confronts his father, but with more goodwill than in the past. Gendou feels
mixed emotions about acknowledging his son, as he has more important things to
worry about, when terrorists invade NERV! Being cut off from their best
strategists, NERV has to use whatever they can find, in the next episode,
More and Less than an Angel!