Chapter 2: Demented Doll; The Girl Who Hides The Truth From Her World
Several days after Shinji accepted Rei as his lover, his whole concept of the new world began to bloom in a positive light. He was still on edge knowing that he and Rei were essentially newly weds, having fun of all kinds around the house. At first he couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong with what was transpiring, but Rei put up enough of a physical front to clearly to blind his heart, instead warming it in an intense light. He felt as if he were in a dream, an actually pleasant one for the first time in his life.
The only other concern he had now was the sounds of a banging fists on a door. Rei explained to him that they didn't live in the greatest of neighborhoods and drunks would often roam the night. Shinji thought nothing of it, shrugging off the rough details. Today, Shinji decided to ask Rei if they could leave their love nest and go out on the town.
"Sure Ikari, I don't mind," Rei smiled, immediately heading to their bedroom to get changed. Shinji had already equipped what casual clothing he could find in their closet, wondering if they could go out and buy some clothes. That immediate thought however, put a strange thought into his head.
"How are we able to live here without having jobs…?" Shinji puzzled, a nervous scowl crawling along his brow. It seemed that no mater how many time Rei had assured him of the best, there was always another question left to be answered. He waited patiently in the living room, the question constantly running circles in his head as his brain continued to comprehend it all.
Shinji opened his mouth to speak when Rei reentered the room but was cut short by her appearance. It was surprisingly bold for a girl like Rei; her blouse was black with the sleeves and area just above her chest being translucent. She had on a skirt that matched its unusual style with a black choker to finish off the wardrobe. For some reason Shinji imagined Rei wearing this once, it was a positive day dream as he recalled. Looking at her then back at himself, he realized that he didn't match her appearance in the slightest. Granted he didn't have any other clothes, but it still bothered him none the less.
"Does this suit me, Ikari?" Rei meek voice beckoned, the smell of a very pleasant fragrance accompanying her words.
"It's like it was made for you,. You look amazing in it Ayanami," Shinji replied, yet again being blinded by flashy visuals that rendered his important questions helpless. Smiling, Rei blushed and slowly approached Shinji, pecking him on his cheek before walking past him.
"Let's go, Ikari. We should get you nicer clothing. I like it when you look handsome," Rei analyzed with a smile, waving him on as she unlocked and opened the door. Shinji sighed at his failed attempts at speaking, proceeding to follow Rei out the door. From the very moment Shinji stepped out the door, his eyes grew with amazement from the sight that lay before him. Tokyo-3 had never looked so pristine before, it was almost unreal with its buildings reflecting off the sun's rays to give it the appearance of a holy city. The wildlife and plants around the apartment were the kind you'd seen within the compound of a rural, traditional Japanese home; they looked as if they were constantly tended to, with their bright colors and scents giving the warm breeze a life of its own. He only could imagine the city this beautiful in his mind, because seeing it here was truly unbelievable.
"Wow! Look at this place, it's so beautiful! Last time I saw Tokyo-3 it was absolutely destroyed…wait…how is it still around if it was completely destroyed…?" Shinji's brain had a hiccup; it was if he was seeing two versions of Tokyo-3 right before his very eyes. Rei tilted her head in confusion, gazing at the combination of puzzled and horrified that fused onto his face. Rei leaned forward and kissed him on his confused mouth, snickering at his thoughts being lost with the wind.
"What are you talking about Ikari…? Tokyo-3 has always looked this way…" Rei said faintly, moving ahead of him to go down the long, stainless steel steps to reach their starting point. Shinji scratched the back of his head in frustration, memories of its beauty now overpowering the horrible memories of its destruction. Shaking his head he hopped down the stairs, catching up with Rei in an instant since she waited for him at the bottom of the stairs. The streets were incredibly well refurbished; they all looked freshly paved with unbelievably straight paint lines that looked like something out of a movie set. Shinji clearly believed his eyes were lying to him; it was reflected in his strange gazes and looks as if he were staring at a mirage.
Rei led him over to a bench that sat next to a bus stop sign and helped sit him down. For Rei it was like leading the blind, which of course she didn't mind. They didn't have to sit for very long before a neat and tidy bus that was made to be a replica of an old tour bus pulled up to the stop. Stepping on board, it was surprisingly empty; Shinji remembered when buses and trams would go by this area or any area remotely like it, it was always a struggle finding a place. But this bus…it was eerily empty. Shinji decided to shrug it off, walking all the way to the back and sat on the middle seat. Rei adjusted her skirt as she sat down, smiling at Shinji before resting her head on his shoulder. Still being a little put off by so much contact, Shinji found his face growing red as she peeked over at her. She looked so peaceful laying her head on his shoulder; it was like all her cares in the entire world were futile when it came to resting on her Shinji. Shinji smiled and gently rested his head against hers as the bus took off.
The bus was exceedingly quick to reach its destination, with very few vehicles on the road to block its way. Coming to stop, he realized that Rei actually was dead asleep, with the jarring of the bus being what had awakened her. Rei's lazy eyes gazed at Shinji before planting a kiss on his cheek. That was yet another oddity with this world…Rei was so incredibly affectionate, as if she were literally an entirely different person. Although her timid gestures and demeanor were still apparent, she was very forward with what she wished for now. The two of them thanked the bus driver before hopping out onto the Tokyo-3 streets. The stop was in an odd location; there weren't many people around and the various shops and businesses were something you'd see more commonly in a rural district. Shinji couldn't help but to marvel at the tall buildings and how pristine, perfect, and beautiful they were. I had never used those descriptions to describe a city in his life but there is always a first time for everything. Rei couldn't help but to giggle at Shinji as he acted like a child; she'd never experienced the sight before but she truly loved every minute of it.
"Ikari, let's go into this store," Rei said, tugging on his arm to get his attention. Shinji's eyes followed their path which led into an old looking second hand shop called "The Closet". Upon entering, they were met with the smell of old books, which was unexplainably nostalgic and very lifting. Upon gazing around it was a store that specialized in both reading materials and clothing, which suited the name of the shop to the T. Shinji found himself falling into a dreamlike state as he gently brushed his fingers along the various clothing racks and book shelves that intermingled with one another. When Shinji's eyes caught a gander at the cashier, his unnerved tingling senses decided to pay him a visit. Upon closer inspection, the person was none other than Aoba, one of the operators at NERV HQ. He was sitting on a stool, tuning an old style base guitar without a care in the world. This disturbed Shinji since he was well aware that at one point Aoba had perished much like the rest of the personal at NERV during the Third Impact. No matter how many times his mind had tried to rewrite his memories, the events of Third Impact were tattooed on his mind.
"You should try these on, Ikari," Rei said tapping his shoulder. Shinji flinched as he was dragged from his deep thoughts, spinning around to see a smiling Rei holding up very stylish button down shirts and slacks. Apparently while Shinji was enjoying nostalgia and the wretched memories of the end of the world, Rei had been silently looking around, grabbing things for him try on one piece at a time.
"Oh, thanks Rei! I really like what you've picked out for me. Um…where's the dressing room?" Shinji asked, only to be met with a heavy wave of strange. Rei immediately began undoing his shirt that he was wearing, gently pulling apart each button as his face immediately burnt red.
"W-What are you doing?!" Shinji went into a state of panic as Rei stripped him down right in the middle of the store. He looked over at Aoba who looked up from the guitar for merely a moment, then went back to tuning it as if he hadn't seen a thing.
"Are you feeling OK Ikari? You know that's how this store works…" Rei assured to him as she then helped slide each of his arms through the sleeves of one of the shirts that she had picked out. Shinji made a loud gulp as he tried to come to some crazy realization that this was normal, only to be in a constant loop of "this can't be right" over and over again. She even reached down to undo his bottoms, causing Shinji to clench his legs closed.
"This is crazy! Isn't it wrong to be seen in public this Rei?!" Shinji continued his little freak out session as he allowed Rei to just stick to what she was doing. He looked down at her with his eyes filled with embarrassment to notice that Rei looking incredibly unaware of what was going on, as if this truly were just the norm. Shinji decided to give up and go along with what she told him to do, changing out his clothes two or three more times until he came to a decision.
"I really like the clothes you chose Ikari, they make you look very nice," Rei said with a smile as folded the rest over her arm and walked up to the counter. He turned to watch her interaction with Aoba; it was like they were total strangers as she handed him a card to swipe. He couldn't get a good look at it due to the dim lighting of the store but he simply assumed it was her pay card that she received from NERV to cover expenses. As Aoba handed her a large paper bag for the clothes, a strange beeping came from the small purse that Rei was carrying. The very moment the beeps went off, she turned to Shinji, immediately grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the store in an instant.
"What's wrong Ayanami, is everything OK?" Shinji inquired, noticing that her face had twisted into a strange fit of anger. Rei nervously bit her thumb nail as she waited at the area that the bus dropped them off at.
"Ayanami…can you hear me?" Shinji said, giving her shoulder a gentle shake. Her gaze was incredibly worrisome, as if something specific was hanging in the balance and it wasn't in Rei's positive favor. Still not showing any signs of attention to Shinji, a bus pulled up to their stop, which Rei immediately dragged Shinji into. As they threw themselves into a seat, Rei immediately clung onto Shinji's arm, trembling in a fright with her eyes staring out the window as if she had just seen the sight of a murder. The closer that they grew to her apartment, the worse she clenched her teeth down on her nail, which concerned Shinji to the highest degree. With the bus coming to a stop, her eyes began to water as she hurried out with Shinji's arm being his leash. They charged up the stairs at top speed, trying to run towards the epicenter of Rei's wild panic.
Upon arriving at the apartment, she covered her mouth and stared in horror at the sight of her door being torn wide open. Rei immediately pushed Shinji aside, charging inside as if everything in her life was about to fall apart. Shinji could only gaze on with great worry as he made his way into the apartment. His heart stopped cold as he caught sight of Rei; she was on her knees, shaking like a drug addict going through a withdrawal. Her eyes opened as if catatonic with her hands covering her mouth. The sight didn't seem all too horrifying at a first glance, but it was the details that could be seen. The door that had been locked had been torn open, as if a sledgehammer had been taken to it from within.
Shinji dove next to Rei's side, immediately pulling her into a tight hug to try and do anything to help her ease her nerves. There was a note that laid carelessly on the floor with handwriting that Shinji easily recognized. Rei threw her face into Shinji's chest, hugging him tightly as she began repeating her words like a broken record.
"Please don't leave me…please don't leave me…please, Ikari…please don't leave me…" she chanted like in her timid, mild tone as if she were a mental patient in a clinic. Shinji couldn't gauge what emotions to feel as he read the note since its familiar handwriting was awkwardly comforting.
"Shinji, escape from the house now! She can't be trusted! We've been stuck here for so long but now we're finally free. We're going to expose you Rei, so you better prepare yourself!" –Misato Katsuragi; Asuka Langley Shoryu," the message read. Rei began to cry and sob loudly into Shinji, shaking as if she had just been shot and dying from blood loss. His minds thoughts began to clash like dueling swords; the memories that he witnessed yesterday of Asuka and Misato abusing him, and now their message sitting before him, explaining that Rei, the sweet Rei in his arms, was a liar and could be putting himself in danger.
"I'm…not going anywhere Rei…I'm staying right here with you…just as you love me, I love you too…" Shinji said with a hefty sigh, now cradling Rei in his lap. Her gazes of fear were one of the most terrifying things he had ever seen in his life, and he was ready to do anything, to make Rei smile once again.
To Be Continued