Part 3
By the time Uo found Tohru in the bathroom, she had begun to cry to herself, alone, huddling up into a rather small ball as the image of that girl's head burned itself into the back of her retinas. Those black, empty eyes with the dot in the middle. The pale, empty skin without any pigmentation whatsoever. Just who was that girl? The one who called herself Rei Ayanami?
"Hana mentioned something about feeling weird waves," Uo said, holding Tohru in her embrace as they walked to the nurse's office, "What happened in there?"
Tohru couldn't speak. For one, the shock of seeing that nightmarish image had driven out her strength to form words, but beyond that, she was afraid of what Uo would say. After all, what would she think? How could she believe that she had just seen a girl crumble apart in front of her? Was Rei a ghost? A fiend? Tohru remembered that ghastly face from her dream, decaying before her. Was Rei that fiend, that decaying head on the bloody beach? Tohru felt as though she were going to vomit, felt sickness consume her torso as she struggled to remain erect.
Soon, she was lying comfortably on a hospital ward bed, the nurse making suggestions for her to just return home. However, Tohru refused. Her mother was depending on her to graduate High School, and even one day off would ruin everything! She couldn't just go ahead and ruin her dreams for her, even if she was no longer—no! She mustn't think that way. Her mother would always be with her, and right now, she didn't have time to be upset over something like that.
After a few hours, specifically until the end of the day, Tohru was allowed to leave the nurse's office, although she was still slightly in shock over what had happened earlier. Although Uo, Yuki, and Kyo were all concerned about Tohru's well being, Hana appeared the most concerned, asking Tohru the strangest questions regarding the incident. "What happened? What did you see? How did it feel? Were you frightened? How much so? What name did the entity give?"
And this was all before Tohru even implied she had seen someone.
"Cool it with the questions," Uo replied, mildly shocked.
"She's probably just too shocked to say anything at all," Yuki said, his voice strained with worry.
"Can't blame her," Kyo replied, frowning, "I mean, she just saw something. Don't know what the hell could make her so afraid, though. You see a ghost or—" Kyo stopped in his tracks so abruptly that the group, at first, didn't even realize he had stopped. Upon glancing into his eyes, one could see Kyo's face fill with sweat, his eyes wavering in their sockets, his breath rattling in his lungs, as though he were locking eyes with the dearly departed.
As raindrops started to fall from the sky, Tohru traced the angle of his view toward just what had startled him so greatly. He was staring at a girl, several yards away, hiding naked behind a bush. Although Tohru couldn't make out many things about the girl from her angle, she was able to make out a mane of scarlet hair, although even that was entangled within the leafy branches. Uo smirked. "You're a perv."
"What?" Kyo stammered, turning on Uo.
"You're just looking because she's naked, aren't you?" Uo laughed.
"Is anyone else in the least bit curious as to why she's naked in the first place?" Yuki asked, anxiously.
Hana stared anxiously at the figure, her breathing changing gradually as she took a few steps forward. The others started to glance after her, staring as she approached the naked figure. "Wait, Hana!" Tohru cried out, following her. Her hand wrapped around Hana's wrist, holding her back for a moment. "What's the matter, Hana?"
"That girl. Her electric signals." Hana was struggling to articulate herself, but Tohru was able to piece together her message. Was this girl, inside the bush, connected to Rei?
Tohru's grip slackened, and Hana broke free, growing closer to the red haired girl. The others followed her, Kyo in the lead. As they drew closer, new things became apparent about this child. For one, she wasn't Japanese at all. In fact, she looked German. Her scarlet red hair was entangled around the branches of the bush she was hiding behind, her arms hugging her knees to her bare breasts as she sobbed into herself, heavily. Hana reached out and poked her bare calf.
"Go away," she mumbled, her voice muted behind her flesh. She sounded young, like a middle school girl, but, like with that Rei girl, probably a good two years younger than Tohru. She certainly was developed, though. Her body was more akin to that of a Freshman's than an eighth grade student, with an hourglass figure and large breasts. Tohru wondered just how such a young girl could look like that. Maybe it was the European blood in her.
"Are you lost?" Tohru asked, anxiously.
"Go to hell."
"Now what kind of attitude is that?" Uo snapped.
"Hey, girl," Kyo mumbled, glancing down at her, "Are you upset?"
"No points for subtly," Yuki sighed.
"Dummkopf!" she snapped, hugging herself tighter than before, "What does it look like."
"Come on, get up," Kyo mumbled, kneeling down to her level, "You're going to get cold out here if you stay here too long."
"I don't care!"
"Just get up already. You're embarrassing yourself, and you aren't going to accomplish much, Asuka."
Asuka?
The girl glanced up at the sound of her name, revealing bloodshot, teary eyes. The moment Tohru's eyes came into contact with those two soft spheres, she felt somewhat at ease. Her angular face, beautiful by any ordinary standards, stared up at Kyo, an expression of confusion and bewilderment on her face. "How do you know my name, exactly?" she asked, in a high voice.
"Wait, you're white, but you have a Japanese name?" Uo stammered, "How does that make sense?"
And then it hit Tohru all at once. Those eyes. She remembered them now. On that beach, the girl with the eye patch. The red hair, the strangling, it all made sense now. Tohru tried to hold in the shock at this revelation, and but, rather slipped out of consciousness, falling through darkness, consumed entirely in oblivion.
When her eyes fluttered open again, she was lying on her bed, everyone at her bedside. Everyone, that is, save for that girl who had been there before, the German girl, Asuka. She glanced up at everyone, frowning, before sighing, "What happened?"
"You fainted," replied Yuki, "Kyo had to carry you in his arms all the way home."
"Oh, he did?" stammered Tohru, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to be a burden. I'm sorry!"
"It wasn't a big deal," Kyo mumbled, glancing over at his knuckles.
"But—"
"Don't worry about him," Uo laughed, smirking in amusement, "He's just a big softie and doesn't want anyone to see it."
Tohru blushed.
"What the hell are you going on about, you blonde haired freak?" snapped Kyo, glaring hatefully at Uo.
Tohru blushed a deeper shade of red.
"I know you liked it."
Tohru was a supernova of blush.
"What the—"
"What happened to that girl? Asuka?" Tohru asked, anxiously.
"What do you mean what happened to her?" Uo asked, her attention deviated for the moment from Kyo, who had also forgotten his frustration at the sound of the German girl's name. "She's just getting some clothing on."
"So she's here?" Tohru asked.
"Yeah, in the house," Kyo replied, frowning.
"She has clothing with her?"
"Well, that's the thing," Yuki replied, frowning, "We had to lend her some of your—"
"Gott im Himmel!"
"Three guesses who that is," Uo mumbled, clearly frustrated by this point, "What is this, like the third time?"
"The fourth, to be exact," Yuki sighed.
"What do you mean?"
The door slammed open as Asuka darted into the room, her face red as she glared at Yuki. Tohru noted, mildly, that she was wearing one of her pink blouses, only it was rather ill fit. It wasn't that she was too short or too tall for it, but rather that her rather prominent bust was far too large for the shirt. The fabric was pulled against her breasts, to the point where Tohru was surprised that it fit at all.
"What's wrong this time?" Yuki asked, mildly annoyed.
"Well, aside from the fact that none of this clothing fits, everything's just fine and dandy," Asuka snapped.
"So what's wrong?" Kyo asked, frustrated.
"This is ridiculous! Whoever wore this must be one of the most flat-chested people I've ever met! You Japanese people really are underdeveloped."
"You're one to talk. Aren't you part Japanese?" Uo asked, aggressively.
"I don't need to explain to the likes of you!" Asuka snapped, "Besides, just whose clothing is this, anyway?"
"It was my mom's actually," Tohru replied, frowning.
Asuka's harsh expression softened for a moment. It almost appeared as though the energy she had harnessed inside of her body began to slowly slip out of her. A small glint of tears shone in the corners of her eyes for a moment before she blinked. Rubbing a knuckle along her cheek, passing it off as her scratching her face. Shaking her head, she mumbled, "So you're giving me hand-me-downs from your mom? Just what were you people thinking?"
"Oh, I'm sorry! Do you want me to get better clothing?" stammered Tohru, blushing.
"Are you just going to bend to what anyone wants the moment they complain?" Asuka stammered, shaking her head, "You're almost as bad as that idiot!"
"What idiot?" Tohru asked.
"The Third."
#
"I've never seen a woman actually drink that much beer," Shigure stammered, her eyes wide.
The purple haired woman was dumping drink after drink down her throat, through her lips. A large series of glass columns surrounded her position at the table as Hatori, Ayame, and Shigure all stared at her, amazed by just how much she was putting away. Trying to deviate the situation away from merely her ability to consume alcohol, Hatori asked gently, "So how old are you, anyway?"
"29."
"And just why were you so afraid, anyway? Before, I mean," Hatori asked as Ayame and Shigure stared in awe at the site of her alcohol consumption.
Lowering the cup from her lips, she sighed, anxiously. She dropped her gaze to Hatori's eyes, sighing, her lips curling into a frown. "I don't understand it all myself, so I hope you can just bare with me on this one."
"Fine. I have no problem suspending my disbelief," Hatori replied.
"By this point in time, I'm ready to believe whatever it is you have to say," Shigure added.
"And if that's what my Shigure is going to say, then I suppose I could lend an ear too," Ayame added, a grin on his lips.
Smiling awkwardly, the woman began. "In my world, I mean, where I came from, there was this horrible thing that happened called the Second Impact. Half of humanity was wiped out, and some bad things happened. Fifteen years later, these creatures called Angels reappeared. I was part of this organization called NERV that was supposed to stop the Angels using these gigantic robots called Evangelions. There were three main ones in total, and each had to be piloted by one of three children: Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Sohryu, and Shinji Ikari. The three of them fought against the Angels, but none of them really could realize how the higher ups in our organization had rigged everything. They intended to create a Third Impact by fusing the first two Angels, Adam and Lilith, and bring everyone into one collective being. I tried to stop it, but couldn't help them. I failed, but, after that, I don't know what happened. I don't know what's going on."
"I see," Hatori mumbled, "The story is fantastic, but I guess, if you truly emerged from another world—"
"So wait, you actually believe me?" the woman asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Yes," Hatori replied, "There is no way that you could have possibly entered the Sohma compound without any clothing on. You would have been seen first."
"I see," the woman replied, scratching her cheek bashfully as blush filled her face.
"I suppose it might be a good idea to ask around to find these three children," Shigure replied, smiling slightly, "Rei, Asuka, and Shinji. I figure that it would be easy to find them."
"So just what is your name?" Ayame asked.
"It's Misato. Misato Katsuragi."