Class 3-A
It was with a profound, long-suffering sense of boredom and contempt that I watched Asuka Langley Sōryu scrawl her name upon the blackboard in technically perfect Latin script, then finish introducing herself to the rest of the class. She faltered when her gaze fell to me, but the focus of my attention was on my girlfriend, not on the disruption to the class day, and so she continued, trying to save face and presumably make up for lost time. This was my first day back in class after the week I had spent unconscious as my body grew accustomed to the Super Solenoid Organ that I now possessed in place of a heart. I was currently hiding my normative form from the class–changing hair color and eye color, not to mention keeping my A.T. Field hidden–which, after examination, I had concluded consisted of a number of things: first, my hair was actually now silver; second, my eyes were the red that they usually only became when I used the Lance or became otherwise magically charged inside the entry plug of my EVA; and third, I could use the Lance of Longinus while in humanoid form, and not just within the confines of the Evangelion–my body could now take the strain of summoning and using the weapon. Beyond that, we had suspicions with regards to my capabilities (my defensive Absolute Terror Field, for example), but the nature of those suspicions was that they were so dangerous that we dared not even attempt to ascertain whether or not they were true.
Unfortunately, that week out had made my first day back correlate with the day of Kier's arrival and her own first day at the school. So here I was, being treated to Sōryu's hauteur, with my only consolation being that since I had so thoroughly demonstrated my superiority in the arena of piloting to her on the Over the Rainbow (the very memory of which gave me headaches, let me tell you; the Second Child's thought noise, while manageable, was the very worst kind of thought noise), I would be spared her oh-so-very tsundere (and yandere, but we don't like to talk about that) attentions. Still, it was cold comfort when she was rubbing her arrogance in the class's face, and I had to bear witness to it for the second time–really, it was bad enough the first time around, and it was only because of my older sister's aforementioned tsundere fixation that I was able to get through it at all. Thankfully, this time I had Rei with me, and she very subtly unfolded her A.T. Field at too low a frequency for the MAGI to detect, soothing me and granting me the forbearance to make it through her little presentation without comment by way of soul resonance–which we had mastered to that limited extent that such an ability was open to us.
Very soon, however, it was finished, mercifully enough, and Sōryu went to take her seat, at last allowing for class to begin. I opened my notebook, set up a chat box between myself and Rei, and began taking notes on the day's lesson. Pretty soon, I had the transcript of everything the teacher was going to say today down verbatim–courtesy of the fact that my soulmass was currently accessible through my Super Solenoid Organ–and once I had sent this record to Rei, then began to berate myself for writing it down in the first place, I pretended to continue to use it, whilst simultaneously unfolding my own A.T. Field at the same low intensity, then tuning it to the frequency that allowed for perfect soul resonance, such that we could now communicate telepathically along our A.T. Fields. After a while, I didn't even need the chat box anymore, and we instead began to converse purely from mind to mind.
So, that, as I guess you've gathered, is Kier's manifestation for the evening, I sent.
She certainly is loud, now isn't she? Rei sent back, the tone of her thoughts far different from her speaking voice–more in line with one of her past manifestations, now that I think about it. And with no sense of propriety, it seems.
She suffers from less a lack of propriety and more a lack of a sense of cultural relativism, I mused to her. Last time, she never really got the meaning of the phrase 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do, even unto the very end. And I do mean 'the very end;' I can only assume that the time frame I transferred back from was one in which she was deceased–I see no other option.
I didn't doubt your accuracy, Rei assured me. You seem to have developed a fixation on it.
Part of keeping a combat-ready persona at all times; the two most important things in a fight are, in my experience, speed and accuracy, after all. It doesn't matter how big your gun is if the other guy shoots first, I explained mentally. Likewise, the same goes for strategy; a stratagem's success or failure can oftentimes depend upon who can adapt faster and better. The one who fails, dies. Accuracy is a key part of both. So I think I can be forgiven for being devoted to being as accurate as possible.
Hmph. We'll see whether I forgive you or not, now won't we? she teased.
I…I…yes, I suppose we shall, I sent back. I always backed down from teasing matches with Rei; she was as merciless with her jibes as I was in combat, and I theorized that if I didn't rise to them, she wouldn't continue–though, secretly, I very much wished her to, and didn't rise to them because of a wish to avoid argument. To me, they were a sign that she cared–and such signs were very precious to me.
When class finally let out for lunch, Rei and I went up to the roof, as per usual, and we enjoyed each other's company, as well as the bento boxes I had prepared for us both before we left Misato's apartment. But unlike what we did normally, now we just waited for what we both knew was about to happen–Kier. "Before you say anything, Second Child, I will bear anything you say about me with a sense of only mild boredom. Speak badly of Rei, however, and you and I are going to have a problem. And trust me, you don't want to have a problem with me."
"Well, you're certainly perceptive, Third," she replied from the roof entrance. "And why do you think I'd say something bad about your girlfriend? Does she have any notable flaws you don't want me pointing out?"
"On the first count, spoiled children like yourself are not often versed in the finer points of subtlety. I don't need to be perceptive to sense you trying to sneak up on us," I countered without missing a beat. "On the second, not only are you a spoiled child, but you're also a harridan. Rei is flawless, utterly perfect in my eyes, but I wouldn't put it past you to invent flaws to satisfy your own insecurities."
"I am not insecure!" she insisted.
"Oh, really?" I asked, unconvinced. "Well then, care to tell me why you tried to seduce Kaji?"
"How do you know about that?!" she cried, horrified.
"Oh, wait, you actually did?!" I exclaimed, feigning surprise."You really are hopeless, aren't you, Asuka…Langley…Sōryu?"
"Y…you tricked me?" she accused, her energy finally gone.
"No. I read your mind," I replied sarcastically. "Now, if you will excuse us…"
The Second left, and slammed the door behind her.
And she didn't even say you should be friends this time. How sad, I remarked.
Rei scoffed mentally. As if I would ever be friends with her, she sent back.
I laughed.
"The recent battle has severely damaged Tokyo-3's intercept system," said Misato, giving out the mission briefing as we closed to the drop point in our YB-50s. "Only twenty-six percent of our defense capability has been restored. In addition, our operational capability for actual combat is virtually nil. Therefore, we're going to have to intercept the target at the water's edge right before it reaches land. Units One and Two will make a coordinated attack in a series of waves. In other words, close in and take turns."
"Roger," I replied, trying to appear disaffected, but actually chafing at the bit just a smidge. Of course, I knew that Rei and I had agreed to feed Israfel to our EVAs together, and so that stayed my hand. Sōryu, on the other hand, had no such reassurances.
"This sucks. My first mission in Japan, and I can't even fight solo!" she whined.
"Yes, well, I don't see why you're complaining," I chided Kier. "If you're good enough to handle Angel elimination missions solo, it should not be too great a task for you to prove that today. A wise man once said that 'you will never serve as an officer unless you know the hardships of a grunt,' after all. Just keep your nose clean and back me up. You'll be fine." I said this knowing full well she wouldn't listen, but oh, well. So much for her…
Just then, the lock bolts on our EVAs were released, first for me, then for Sōryu; not for the first time, I wished this thing had a float system as it and I plummeted to the surface. We landed in a crouching position, one after the other, and then the trucks carrying our umbilical cables came up to us and were attached to our backs. "Two against one doesn't seem like a fair fight," she sulked.
"Yeah, well, this is war. Fair fights aren't exactly the mission statement, you know," I snapped at her. "Is it too much to ask for you to keep your mind on the task at hand? This isn't a game, Second Child."
"Yes, I suppose you're right," she admitted.
"Good. Now, you're after me," I said, chambering the first round in the clip of the pellet rifle, then letting the weapon fall to my side. I popped one of my shoulder pylons and pulled forth a prog knife, readying myself for a repeat of the combat simulation from what must have been at least a month ago by now–or at least, I seemed to be. It was Sōryu's call, though, and if I knew her, she would jump the gun.
As soon as the Angel burst out of the water, she called, "Cover me!" and charged it head-on. I didn't wish to waste ammunition, and in reality, Kier didn't seem as though she needed me to lay down suppressive fire. Do you remember what I said about her only hearing things when she was ready to do so? Well, this would be a perfect example of that reality. She slashed it through the center with her EVA-sized spear, and I was left to watch and wait, my head propped up against my fist and a bemused smirk upon my face as I mentally counted down how long it would take for the Angel to regenerate itself, then show us its true abilities. Really, it kind of reminded me of waiting for Cornelia to comprehend what I had done to the Tokyo settlement's elaborate superstructure during the Black Rebellion. "Well, what did you think of that?" she asked. "A fight should be clean and elegant, without waste, no?"
"That may well be true; however, I think you'll find that the world of is never coincides with the world of should," I advised half mockingly, as I pointed with the EVA's finger at the 'corpse' of the Seventh Angel as it reactivated, its face plate forming a red-and-blue Taoist taijitu while its body, cloven in twain, formed fully into two separate forms.
"WHA…?!"
"Never assume your opponent is dead until you have confirmed the kill," I lectured, moving out of my rather languid position and taking hold of the EVA's control yokes (which I knew didn't actually do anything, but wasn't certain she knew). "And it isn't over until the core has been ruptured. Remember that, and you might just survive this war, Sōryu."
The grey one and the orange one, not having seen me thanks to my holding back on the suppressive fire, began to double-team her, and it was suddenly a two-on-one fight. Israfel was every inch the opponent I remember–without a coordinated assault, its ability to move in tandem was frustratingly paralyzing from a strategic perspective. Victory without Rei would not be impossible for me, of course, but it was not desirable; I knew this beforehand, and so, right on schedule, the mission objectives came down to inflicting enough damage to put them out to sea to regenerate, and securing Unit-02. Simple enough, I thought to myself. "I am…the Bird of Hermes," I said once more, holding out my left hand; and once more, the Lance of Longinus took shape and form in my grasp. I fired from the hip directly into the fray at the two Angels to get their attention, and then once the clip was spent, I tossed it away, twirled the Lance end over end in my hand, then snapped it down before me.
The pair closed on me swiftly; I swept out both of their legs, dancing to the side elegantly. Then I planted the pronged tip into the orange one's body, then swung it around like it had turned the Lance into a baseball bat, slamming into its grey sibling and sending them both flying. In midair, they remerged, seeing that their split form had become a liability, but that was exactly what I wished for them to do. Grinning manically, I launched myself at them, Lance in hand, and as I closed to close range, I cried out, "Gáe…BOLG!"
"Today at eleven hundred hours, zero seconds, Unit-01 was attacked by both Targets Alpha and Beta, which, after Unit-02's assault, had split from one another," reported the voice of the debriefing officer, First Lieutenant Ibuki Maya. "Unit-01 managed to damage both targets sufficiently to necessitate their remerging, followed by their retreat after further damage was inflicted. This allowed for the recovery of Unit-02, which, after the initial attack, had been submerged two kilometers off of Saruga Bay. MAGI projections predict that in one week, the Seventh Angel will have repaired itself to a sufficient degree for another attack to be initiated."
"Before you say anything," I interrupted, heading off Sōryu's oncoming eruption, "you should remember that one, had it not been for me, your life would have been terminated today; two, thanks to me, your Evangelion was recoverable; and three, you were entirely unprepared for the Angel's change of tactics."
"Alright, you two; just what do you think your job is?" called Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki.
"To eliminate the Angels," I answered instantaneously. "However, before you get on my case, sir, I would have you remember that it was not only Pilot Sōryu, who is very much new at this, but all of NERV who was unprepared for the target's change of tactics. Any humiliation you endured today is a direct result of your inability to adapt to the demands of the situation. So do not go blaming this failure on us–in Commander Ikari's absence, you are our commanding officer, sir, so our failures are your failures. Not to mention it is unbecoming of a commander to berate their own subordinates for their strategic failings."
It didn't take a detective or a world-class diplomat to see that Fuyutsuki was outraged at being dressed down by someone less than half his age, but try as he might, he couldn't formulate a counterargument that didn't immediately degenerate into rather lackluster ad hominem attacks–which I oh-so-graciously informed him of. Enough of this, and he merely conceded the point, but with an admonition that this state of events was unfortunate, before he pressed a button on his console that allowed him to descend. I saluted all in the room, then retired to the shower; I was kind of in a rush to return to Rei.
After my shower and dressing in my NERV pilot's uniform, I exited the men's locker room, and then was pleasantly unsurprised to see Rei waiting there for me. How did it go? she asked.
I shrugged. As we had expected, more or less. I managed to marginalize the Angels without involving the U.N., so NERV's credibility remains untarnished. Moreover, we have between a week and ten days before Israfel recovers from my use of the Lance's ultimate technique. If my EVA had a Super Solenoid, I would have been able to provide enough mana for the attack to be delivered at full strength, rather than the one quarter maximum potency I had to work with, but since I was manifesting the Lance through the EVA, I was unable to deliver the killing blow. Thankfully, this also works in relation to the plan, so we're more or less set, I sent back.
That's good to hear, she replied. Let's go.
"Tadaima!" I called out, taking off my shoes and my NERV-issue jacket. I walked past all of the moving boxes, knowing precisely what this meant. I opened the door to my room and nodded to myself upon finding that everything was precisely as I remembered from last time.
"Why are you still here?" asked Sōryu, obviously aiming to shock me.
I turned to her, minorly annoyed, and cut off her oncoming continuation. "Listen, I can see that you're moving in with Misato and me, but I would ask that you don't make presumptions. Your room will be over there," I lectured her, pointing over at what had become my room the last time I had gone through this little farce. "Now, would you kindly remove these boxes and place them in your room? And seriously, who needs this many personal belongings?! Are you compensating for something or what? Or is the West merely the foremost purveyor of decadence and slovenly greed, as we had been given reason to assume, on top of being totally belligerent?"
"Hmph. I don't see what grounds upon which you stand to make such demands. I mean, seriously…"
"NOW, Second Child. Do it now or I do it myself," I snapped. "And trust me, I will be far less gentle with your effects. I mean, honestly; talk about a lack of common courtesy or decency. What kind of manners must they be teaching you in Berlin? Oh, and make sure to move my belongings back into there just as it was when you got there. Believe me, you do not wish to see what would happen if Misato found the absinthe I keep around for cooking…"
"What's that about absinthe?" asked Misato.
"No. It's off-limits to you, Misato," I replied instantaneously, remembering this little debacle of a day far better than I wished to. "That's why I kept it under lock and key, by the way. I've seen you; when it comes to alcohol, you really don't know when to stop."
"What?! I'll have you know that I know exactly when to stop; I just choose not to," she corrected me. "And besides, we've got more important matters to worry about."
"We're not going to like this, are we?" I asked rhetorically.
"I don't know, and I don't care," she responded.
"There's only one way to destroy the Seventh Angel–to initiate a simultaneous, two-pronged attack, destroying both the Angel's cores while they're still separated," explained Misato. "To that end, I want you to live together so as to achieve a better understanding of one another in order to be able to execute this."
"I'm not having sex with her, if that's what you're saying," I said, pointing at Sōryu.
"No! That's not what I meant!"
"That's a first," I huffed, still irked by her teasing on the Over the Rainbow.
"I just want you two to live together, that's all."
I laughed. "You really need to work on your wording, Misato," I remarked.
"Regardless," she continued, soldiering onwards and pulling forth a floppy disk. "The master attack plan will be choreographed using this music. If you follow it exactly, you should be able to work completely in synch to destroy both targets. We begin now, we attack in seven days."
"Working with a plan whose chances of success are so slim? That's typical of you, isn't it, Misato?" I remarked again. "But, by the same token, it's taken you this far, so I suppose I can say that it works for you, and so I'll trust in it for the time being." Of course, the fact of the matter was that I did, but that it would have to go differently this time around. Thankfully, unlike last time, I had no predisposition against speaking my mind, and so this would almost certainly be blessedly easy.
Now, even though I say that, it still seemed as though it was a divine wind which brought Rei to the door before three days had passed. In the few hours following the briefing, Sōryu and I had been forced to dress in identical clothes, then to perform on pads for a game that was somewhere between 'Twister' and 'Dance Dance Revolution.' And in that time, Kier and I were out of synch like you read about; so when Rei came in to check up on me, I saw fit to go forth and seize the moment–fuck the day. When she rang the doorbell, we both came to get it together, and when she saw us in our matching outfits, her soul wavelength went from amused to irritated to angry over the course of a few seconds, though none of it registered on her face.
"What is going on?" she asked impassively.
"Rei! Good, you're here! Come in!" I rushed out before Sōryu could get a word in edgewise. She nodded at once and obligingly stepped into the apartment that Misato, Sōryu and I all shared–temporarily, that is.
"Rei-san? What are you doing here?" asked Misato, a tad nervously. She's still slightly afraid of Rei, I thought. Good. That can only work in our favor for this exercise.
"I am here to check in on Shinji-kun," she replied, attaching an honorific presumably because she was talking about me to Misato, as opposed to speaking with me directly. "Will that be problematic?"
"A…a bit, since Shinji-kun and Asuka-chan are trying to synchronize, and your presence might be a destabilizing influence," ventured my guardian.
"If they are in the middle of something, I would like to stay and observe," said Rei, sitting down on one of the chairs in the kitchen and watching Sōryu and I struggle at our assigned task. "I shall not be a disruption."
"I…I suppose that's okay, then," Misato ceded, sitting down herself and continuing with the task at hand. "Let's go again, you two!"
I groaned inwardly, but mustered my resolve, acknowledging that I would only have to do this a few more times at most before Rei stepped in, and soul resonance could be achieved. It was almost funny; in the short time that I had had the skill, soul resonance between myself and Rei had become something akin to a drug for me, and it was thus something I worked towards getting throughout the dance with Sōryu.
Third row, first column; first row, fourth column; fourth row, third column… I thought to myself, keeping track of each dot I was designated to reach at any given time. I waited for it to happen; invariably, due to the high-tension environment that existed between myself and Kier–and not the good kind, either; this was antagonistic, combative tension–we would begin to get competitive (or rather, Sōryu would, and out of a vested interest in synching, I would as well), and inevitably, one of us would slip up, and then somehow, someway, in Sōryu's view, I was always at fault. When it was due to her, I usually judged it a battle not worth fighting, slipped in a none-too-subtle jab at her dignity, and then continue on; when it was me who was actually to blame, which was, as one might have guessed, relatively rare, I would skip all of that and proceed onto the last item on the list. Finally, the board lit up–one of us had made an error, and I knew it wasn't me.
"May I try?" asked Rei, heading off the oncoming eruption of Mount Sōryu. "Perhaps it will encourage them to work together."
"Sure," agreed Misato. "Go ahead."
Sōryu stepped off of the pad obligingly, a smug smirk on her face, and Rei got on. We set our Super Solenoids to resonating Absolute Terror frequencies, and then got to work. What followed was a thing of beauty.
Sixty-two seconds later, we stood up, having gotten a perfect rating on our synch test. I had intentionally erred, and Rei moved to the same dot as I did, even though we were in error, thus tricking the machine into reading perfect scores. Misato and Sōryu stared blankly at us for several seconds, the former in wonder and the latter in horror. "Well, I'll be damned," Misato swore. "Maybe I should alter the mission plan to pair up Shinji-kun and Rei-san."
"No…no way!" cried Sōryu. "But they screwed up!"
"What you fail to understand, Second Child," I began, "is that it isn't about whether we were perfect or imperfect. The Seventh Angel requires a simultaneous, synchronized assault on both halves at once, not that we get every dot right when dancing on a pad. It is the coordination that counts in this instance, and not how closely we follow the plan. After all, I think it was Napoleon who said that 'no battle plan ever quite survives first contact with the enemy.' The precise choreography will almost without a doubt be screwed up by the Angel's actions; we must adapt and carry on, else defeat shall be the result. Isn't that right, Misato?"
"You're correct," she replied, her expression thoughtful.
"To that end…NERV Operations Director Captain Katsuragi Misato, I, NERV Pilot Ikari Shinji do hereby request a transfer of living quarters," I said, drawing the surprise of both the Second Child and Misato, though more from the former than the latter. "Effective immediately, I would like to move in full-time with NERV Pilot Ayanami Rei so as to become more reliably synchronized with her. Should we succeed in this, I move that the change in living arrangement becomes permanent. Should we fail, however, this arrangement shall be reversed at once. I also motion that the mission plan indeed be changed to reflect this new status quo."
"You two have been planning this for a while now, haven't you?" Misato accused, playfully suspicious.
We nodded, perfectly in synch.
She sighed. "Very well. Motion approved."
"WHAT?!" shrieked the Second Child.
"Arigatō gozaimasu, Misato-san," Rei and I said in unison, bowing in like fashion.
"You two lovebirds have fun. And don't make me regret this."
We grinned at once.
It was the day of our rematch with Israfel, Angel of the Trumpet. Misato proclaimed "EVA Launch!" and inserted the floppy, starting the mission timer as EVA-00 and EVA-01 were conveyed to the surface of Tokyo-3 via the catapult system. We shot up into the air at once, taking out our spanners and throwing them down at the Angel, and when they hit, it was divided in twain. We flipped in midair, then began our descent, smashing the halves' faces into the ground with a pair of two-footed axe kicks that used our momentum to add weight; we landed and crouched, then launched ourselves backwards off of them, backflipping into a pair of matching kneeling power-slides, our hands in the ground to stop our motion. Then, we did the thing we had been practicing since we had moved in together.
"Let's go! Super Solenoid synchronization! Absolute Terror frequencies align! Begin soul resonance!" we called out together, kicking our Super Solenoid Organs into action and making our minds and souls coincide, linking our actions to one another in harmony. I, being an expert on the fine art of blitzkrieg–or rather, consistent offense–took the lead in our match. Thankfully, since my demonstration of the prototype combat system on the Over the Rainbow, all three of our EVAs had been fitted with the same rigs.
We popped our shoulder pylons, bringing forth our dual progressive knife sets from their sheaths, reversing our grips and closing to effective combat range. We launched ourselves at our targets, neutralized their Absolute Terror Fields as we reached the optimum distance from which to do so, and slashed through at their waists, then spun up and around to slash across their faces. We each took one half, stabbed them in the chest region on either side of their cores, carried them up and over our heads, then slammed them down into the ground on the other side of us–albeit, outside of the limits of Tokyo-3. We closed the gap between us; then, we proceeded to cut their Super Solenoid Organs out, and simultaneously we fed them to our Evangelions.
Their pilots already having one each, and the beasts inside the EVAs already having adapted to our presence, the Evangelions replicated the Super Solenoids in record time, completing themselves and making it so that they now had fully-formed souls, destroying the personality transplant operating systems inside at the same time. I breathed a sigh of relief as the last remnants of Ikari Yui, no longer having a mortal form to call her own, drifted into oblivion; likewise, Rei breathed a similar sigh of relief, albeit for a vastly different reason–the personality transplant OS of Unit-00 rejoined with the other half of its soul, which was, of course, hers. At that point, the personalities of each EVA came to the fore; from Rei, I gathered that EVA-00 was her companion, Saga, at the same time that I perceived, to my great relief, that EVA-01's true soul was that of my familiar, Jaquelyn, as opposed to the incomplete familiar known only as Perdition's Flame.
The Angel, confused, recombined across the great distance that separated it from itself–at least fifty kilometers–and formed a temporary solution, visibly frightened that the Super Solenoids of both its halves had disappeared. I smirked, quoting my sister as I said, "What, still alive? Don't be such a pain!" Rei and I pounced from opposite directions, covering a distance of twenty-five kilometers each into the mountains and driving a total of four progressive knives into the Seventh Angel's makeshift core at once.
Israfel, Angel of the Trumpet, vanished into a massive explosion.
"NERV Central? This is Pilot Ikari," I reported.
"And this is Pilot Ayanami," reported Rei.
We spoke next in unison. "The target has been neutralized."
