The room is dark, and completely silent, save for the clicking of a keyboard. Ritsuko was alone in her dim office, sitting at her desk with a mug of coffee. She sat quietly as she typed a report on her computer. It had been another long day for her at Nerv Headquarters. Long and exhausting.
The day's events started nothing like she had planned. In fact, this long day started the previous night, when a call prevented her from leaving after she halted the tests on the swords. The call had annoyed her, but it was classified a top level emergency in the infirmary.
What she saw when she got there completely baffled her. After two long hours, she was finally able to leave, but when she returned the next morning, things hadn't gotten any better. In fact, one might say things had gotten much worse.
Ritsuko sighed as she completed the basic info of the report. This was going to be hard to articulate.
"Sunday, May 14th, year 2017," she said out loud. Reading her reports out loud always seemed to help her write them when they particularly difficult. This report, would be the hardest one of them all.
"Subject, Male, age 50," she continued.
She paused for a moment before reading the next line, remembering the subject that was currently contained in a secure room in the infirmary.
"Name, Gendo Ikari."
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Revelation 1:11
- The Case of Gendo Ikari -
By: OmegaGear
Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki looked over the papers Section 2 had delivered to him when he arrived at the crack of dawn. He had heard of the commander's break down when it happened last night, but didn't go into the details until now. What he read troubled him.
According to the report, the commander had been unresponsive to vocal communication, and was physically dangerous when the Section 2 agents arrived on the scene. It apparently took three of them to restrain him while Doctor Akagi sedated him.
Now, the commander was in the infirmary, awaiting examination by Akagi, leaving a broken puzzle for Fuyutsuki to put together.
"How many people know about this?" he asked.
"So far, only you, Doctor Akagi, the medical staff that came to retrieve him, and Major Katsuragi," the agent standing in front of Fuyutsuki's desk said.
"And you agents, of course," Fuyutsuki added.
"Of course, sir," the agent admitted. "But only the three that were present. I have the two that were with me watching the hospital now, and making sure the rest of them keep their distance."
"Good," Fuyutsuki said. He didn't need word getting out about the Commander before he could discuss it with Ritsuko and Katsuragi. The last thing they needed was another reason for morale to go down. There was also the matter of the commander's family. He wasn't sure how this would affect his son, even if the two were distant from each other.
"Alright, keep me posted," he said. "Make sure word of this doesn't get out. I don't even want rumors."
"Sir," the agent replied. He saluted and left Fuyutsuki's office.
Fuyutsuki waited until the door closed behind the agent before picking up the phone from his desk. He punched in a number and waited for the person to pick up.
"It's me," he said.
The person on the other end yawned before replying. Fuyutsuki felt a little guilty over calling so early, but this was urgent.
"What is it, sir?" Ritsuko asked.
"We need to talk about Shinji," he said.
"Shinji... Ikari?" Ritsuko asked, still sounding rather groggy.
"Yes."
"Why?" Ritsuko sounded confused.
"Because his father is sedated in the hospital after suffering a mental breakdown," he replied flatly.
"Mmm..." Ritsuko mumbled while the sounds of someone climbing out of bed could be heard through the phone. "You think it's best he doesn't know?"
"Yes, I do," Fuyutsuki said. "Shinji's always been unpredictable. We need to be careful with how he learns about this. I realize their relationship has been... adverse, but Gendo is still his father."
"Alright," Ritsuko agreed. "I'll let Misato know, but we won't be able to hide this for long. A couple days at best. Well... unless you disappear on a business trip. Then we can just say you're with him."
"Somehow, I don't think that's going to be possible," Fuyutsuki said sarcastically. "Seele probably already knows, and they're going to want to talk to me soon."
"Right..." Ritsuko replied. "Alright, I'll take care of it."
"Good, I'll speak to you when you get in."
Fuyutsuki hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. He stared blankly while thinking about what they were going to do. He wondered what Seele was going to do. It was never good when one of their members went bad in any way, and usually resulted in termination, in more ways than one. He knew all too well about the reality of the consequences. He had heard about it happening several times, even from one of the member's own daughter's.
Fuyutsuki forced the memory out of his mind and sighed. This wasn't good at all.
- x -
Rei looked at herself in the mirror as she let the water run down her body. She had just finished her shower and had a towel over her shoulders, but did not dry herself off. Instead, she leaned against the wall and gazed at herself in the reflection of the glass.
Ever since yesterday, she had felt so strange, out of place. Oddly, after she had rejected Gendo Ikari's plans and openly accepted Lilith's soul as her own, things became very strange for her.
The world seemed to be viewed from new eyes for the first time. She recognized everything, but there was a new awareness in her mind, as if she had been sleeping until now.
This did not help her with her continued confusion over her emotions and memories. More of them seemed to be revealed each passing day, and she was starting to wonder what was going to happen to her. She wondered if she would continue to develop on her own, as she desired, or if the memories would eventually shape her into her past self.
The thought of that outcome did not sit well with her. She felt anger at the idea of being shaped by someone else and glared at herself in the mirror. She'd change her face, if she could. She could not, however, but she could do other things to assert her individuality.
Rei turned from the mirror and started to dry herself off as she thought about what she was going to do. Looking over at her limited wardrobe, the first step came to mind immediately.
- x -
Shinji hummed to himself as he prepared some eggs for breakfast. The day had started off a little strange for the young man. When he had started preparing breakfast, Asuka had appeared when she usually did in the morning, but wasn't her usual fiery self.
Asuka was acting distant, in a strange way. It wasn't the usual upset distant behavior she exhibited. Instead, it seemed like she was distracted by something. She had walked into the kitchen to observe him for a moment, and then walked to the bathroom without a word. That had to be the first day in their entire time living together that Asuka didn't voice some agitated complaint first thing in the morning. Shinji was wondering what was going on, but knew that prying would be a mistake.
The oddity of the morning continued when Misato appeared from her room fully dressed for work. Shinji had only seen her start the day like this once before, and that was when she had to leave early for the conference to demonstrate the Jet Alone Project.
"Good morning," Misato said, sounding rather serious.
"Good morning, Misato," Shinji replied. He was still staring at her in shock.
Misato saw Shinji's confused shock and suppressed a sigh as she sat down.
"I'll be going into work early today," she explained.
"Oh," Shinji said. "What for?"
"Something important came up," she said.
"Oh," Shinji said, as if the answer explained everything. He knew when it was better to leave Misato alone when it came to matters of Nerv.
"Additionally," Misato continued, "You've been given the day off from Nerv."
"Huh? Why?" Shinji asked. They were never given the day off on such short notice.
"We'll all be busy with testing on the weapons left by Seele's Eva Series," Misato lied. She couldn't tell him the real reason. She didn't like keeping secrets from Shinji. When Toji was chosen as the fourth child, keeping the secret from him had torn her apart. She felt immense guilt over the events that followed, and hoped that this wouldn't end up the same way. She couldn't tell him, however. Ritsuko's phone call that morning had made that very clear.
"I see," Shinji replied. He didn't believe that at all. They were always busy at Nerv. Testing on some weapon wouldn't be enough for them to cancel pilot duties. Again, however, Shinji knew not to pry.
Shinji opened the cupboard to get the bowls for the rice when something surprised him.
"That's odd," he said while taking out their usual bowls. "A bowl is missing."
"Well, just get one of the other bowls," Misato said, not really seeing the big deal.
"Right," Shinji replied. Of course he would, but that wasn't the point. This whole day was just off.
Shinji took another bowl from the stack they only used when guests were over. It was shaped a little differently, and decorated to appear fancy. Subconsciously, Shinji placed the bowl at Asuka's seat at the table, much to Misato's amusement.
Misato smiled from behind her can of coffee at Shinji's gesture. She was sure he didn't even realize what he had done.
Before Misato could say anything to tease the unsuspecting boy, Asuka entered the dining room. She sat at the table quietly and started to eat without saying anything.
Misato watched Asuka eat for a second. She thought the young girl was acting strange, but it was different from last night. Now, instead of stewing in anger over something, she looked like she was lost in thought. Misato didn't want to bug her, however, and started to eat as well after thanking God for the meal.
Shinji also thanked God for the meal. He wasn't religious, like his guardian, but did the ritual out of respect. He even did it when he wasn't with her, finding it natural now. As he ate, however, he began to feel uncomfortable.
To say the least, Shinji found the silence unsettling. They were all eating breakfast without any conversation, like there was a rift between them all. Shinji didn't like it when things were like this, but he always let it be. He didn't want to stir trouble. Today was different, however, as much like last night, something in the back of his mind caused him to act out of his usual line.
"Hey, Asuka," he said. He looked over to the girl next to him.
"Hmm?" Asuka replied while she took a bite of the eggs Shinji had prepared.
"Misato said we have the day off today," he said.
"Oh, really?" she asked, now looking interested.
"Yeah, something about everyone being busy," he explained.
Asuka didn't believe that was the real reason, but didn't care. Any day she didn't have to spend doing stupid tests at Nerv was a good day in her books.
"So..." Shinji gulped, "want to do something?"
"Huh?" was all Asuka could muster in response. The question had in fact shattered something inside of her mind. Her thin perception of reality was cracking.
"Well, we never did go clothes shopping," Shinji pointed out.
Shinji suggesting clothes shopping with Asuka? Is he nuts? Misato thought. She took pity on him now. He probably had no idea what clothes shopping with a girl was like.
Clothes shopping? Asuka thought. With me? What?
Asuka found that she couldn't think straight. Her body started to move, but not at her conscious will. It stood up, and she said the first thing that came to mind.
"I'm going to go get ready!" she exclaimed quickly before taking off with inhuman speed.
Shinji and Misato watched as Asuka sprinted to her room and slid her door shut. Misato was chuckling to herself, knowing that Shinji was in for something he'd never forget.
Shinji suddenly awoke from his strange behavior at seeing Asuka run off to her room and blinked. He recalled what had just happened and wondered what had caused him to do that.
Clothes shopping with Asuka? He thought to himself in shock. What the hell was I thinking!
"What did I get myself into?" he asked, a little scared.
To give him some hint to his fate, the faint sounds of things being tossed about and a girl rifling through her clothes could be heard. It sounded like a war was going on in Asuka's room, and Shinji was going to be the eventual target of the weapons.
Misato smirked at hearing Asuka's activities in her room. She filed it for later use before returning her attention to the boy that was now staring at his ramen as if it were his last meal before execution.
"I'd tell you, but that would spoil the fun," Misato said as she stood up. "Well, I gotta head to work. Good luck, kiddo," she said while patting Shinji on the shoulder.
Shinji flinched as Misato's hand slapped his shoulder. Her words only made him feel worse about his predicament.
Misato honestly felt bad for Shinji. He had no idea what he had gotten himself into, but at the same time, she found it too amusing to not laugh. She left him sitting there and put on her shoes to leave for work. She took one last look at Shinji before saying goodbye and exited the apartment.
The day was calm as she left for work, but Misato was uneasy. She thought back to what Ritsuko had said over the phone before the crack of dawn. What she had described worried her.
- x -
May 13th, 2017.
Ritsuko arrived to the conference room to see Gendo Ikari, the Commander, and head of Nerv throwing and kicking everything in sight. He was shouting and growling in anger and frustration.
Several Section 2 agents were in the room, attempting to get close to the commander, but were held back as he continued his destruction of the room where he had just met with the committee.
"What's going on here?" Ritsuko asked.
"We don't know," one of the agents said. "Sub-commander Fuyutsuki had us come here when the commander didn't respond to his calls. When we entered, it was like this."
Ritsuko looked around the room. The usually dark room was now lit, revealing the plain grey walls with no windows or decorations of any kind. Several chairs and pieces of electronic equipment were scattered against the walls, some broken, others bent or dented. The large table in the center of the room had been flipped and papers were scattered all over the floor around it.
"Has he responded to anything?" she asked. She couldn't believe the state of the room, but was starting to understand why the caller had told her to bring sedatives.
"No, ma'am," the agent replied. "He doesn't seem to realize there are others in the room."
Ritsuko looked at the man in question. Gendo Ikari was currently swinging a chair to knock over some of the light fixtures overhead. He grunted with each swing, and when one proved to be stubborn, he threw the chair up all together, and finally knocked it loose.
"What was it all for!" he shouted while kicking the light fixture on the ground.
"Commander?" Ritsuko asked.
Gendo did not respond to her call and kicked another of the fixtures before taking the chair in his hands again.
"The plans... the sacrifices!" he yelled while throwing the chair against the wall to join the others he had casted aside. "Nothing! All for nothing!"
"Commander!" Ritsuko yelled, trying to get a response.
The man made no sign that he had heard the woman. He grabbed one of the light fixtures and smashed it over the leg of the up-ended table while continuing to rant.
"Twenty years..." he growled. "For twenty years I sacrificed everything!"
Ritsuko was silent as Gendo smashed the light fixture in his hand on the tip of the table leg over and over. She had never seen the cool, collected man behave so emotionally.
"Everything!" Gendo shouted. "Everything!"
"Commander..." Ritsuko said sadly. She was starting to understand. As a doctor, she knew how to see the signs of a mental break. Gendo Ikari had finally cracked under the stress of everything.
"My life! My love!" Gendo shouted while throwing the now smashed light fixture against the wall. "My dreams!"
Ritsuko remained perfectly still as the man bent down and took the lip of the table in his hands. The Section 2 agents, on the other hand, took this opportunity to move in.
"Even my own son!" Gendo cried as he threw the table by flipping it as hard as he could.
That was enough for the agents to make their move. In the blink of an eye, two of them grabbed Gendo's arms as they were still raised from flipping the table. A third wrapped his arms around the commander's waist tightly and looked back at the doctor.
"Doctor Akagi!" the agent grunted. "Sedate him!"
Gendo struggled against the three men holding him. He wasn't finished. He hadn't done enough damage yet. He jerked and turned in their grip, attempting to elbow them while still ranting loudly.
"My own son!" he bellowed. "For nothing! Nothing!"
Ritsuko had arrived behind the man at this point. She had a needle in her left hand, and raised it cautiously.
Gendo did not notice the doctor behind him as he struggled to break free. He just kept repeating the same two phrases over and over with each twist of his shoulders to try to escape.
"My own son! For nothing!"
Ritsuko steeled herself and pierced the needle into Gendo's neck. She pressed down the end of the syringe, causing the clear liquid to flow into his blood stream. As the liquid did its work, Gendo began to slowly stop his struggling.
"My own... son..." he said softly as the sedative took hold. "For... nothing..."
At last, the sedative put Gendo Ikari down and the agents lowered him slowly. Ritsuko took out her cell phone and called the infirmary.
"I need a medical team in the main meeting room at once," she said.
Ritsuko looked down at Gendo sadly while she and the agents waited for the medical team to arrive with a stretcher. For quite some time, Ritsuko had wondered if Gendo had lost his humanity in the darkness of his plans. Now, there was no doubt, that underneath that cold mask was a human that still held things dear. It was tragic that it took so much for it to come out. Tragic that he had to break in order to express himself.
- x -
Present day.
Ritsuko sighed as she watched the security video one more time. Normally, Section 2 wouldn't allow the recordings from such a classified area to be watched, but given the nature of the patient, the doctor had managed to convince them to release it to her.
Watching the commander's break didn't get her any closer to answers, however, so she took the tape out and placed it in a drawer at her desk before locking it.
It had been nearly eight hours since the commander was sedated, so he'd be waking up soon. Ritsuko had determined that there was no physical damage besides his shoulder from earlier, and of course neglected the detail of his right hand.
Once Gendo Ikari woke up, the real challenge would begin. Since this situation demanded her full attention, Ritsuko had called in Misato to oversee the continued testing on the swords with Maya. After discussing it with Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, she agreed it was best that Shinji was given the day off from Nerv. Judging by the way Gendo had spoken of his son during his break, she didn't want Shinji getting close, or knowing about his father until she was sure it was safe. And since giving only Shinji the day off would be suspicious, she gave all the children the day off.
Ritsuko took a sip of her coffee and looked at the monitor that showed her Gendo Ikari's room. That was an image she thought she'd never see. Gendo Ikari laying in a hospital bed, seemingly in a coma.
She hoped it didn't come to that. As much as she had come to hate what the man had done, she couldn't bring herself to outright hate the man himself. His display of emotion proved he was still human underneath it all.
Ritsuko hoped that glimmer of humanity won the battle that was happening in his mind. She would do her best to help him along the way. To do that, however, she would need to learn who Gendo Ikari truly was. To even begin to try, she would need to journey into his private life.
The problem was that Gendo Ikari's private life was the biggest mystery of them all. Besides Ritsuko, the only person he was close with was Kozo Fuyutsuki, but even he would admit he knew very little about the private life of the man laying on the bed.
Getting any clues wasn't going to be easy.
- x -
Shinji was washing the dishes when Asuka came out of her room humming to herself. He turned to look over to his roommate, and choked on his own breath at what he saw.
Aside from her usual A-10 hair clips, Asuka was wearing a light blue sleeveless top that hugged her figure rather well. While nothing extraordinary, it was a color that Shinji rarely saw the girl wear, and he couldn't help but notice how it brought our her eyes.
Underneath the top, Asuka had a simple white skirt that went down past her knees. To finish it all off, she had on a pair of toeless flats. The outfit was very simple, but on Asuka, Shinji thought it was perfect.
Asuka smirked at seeing Shinji's dumbfounded look. She relished in the power she had over him at times like this. Seizing the opportunity, she walked up to a frozen Shinji and flicked his forehead.
"Are you finished?" she asked flatly, trying not to let her excitement out.
Shinji stuttered suddenly. He had been completely lost in gazing at her, and was now embarrassed at having been caught out in the open like that.
"I... uh..." he stammered.
Asuka smirked at the hapless boy in front of her. It felt good to have things back to the status quo for a moment. She was a little worried she was losing it. To her joy, however, she still had the power to reduce Shinji to a bumbling idiot.
"You look great," Shinji suddenly said. He went stiff and tilted his face towards the ceiling after the words came out. He had again acted without conscious thought.
Asuka stared blankly at Shinji. He had never, ever commented on how she looked before. Not once, even when she asked, did he give his opinion of her appearance. So now she didn't know what to respond with. She had lost control of the situation again.
"Uh... thanks," she said, blushing.
The two stood there briefly, neither looking at each other. Shinji kept looking at the ceiling above Asuka while she looked down towards the ground. They were both blushing now, frantically trying to think clearly. Neither could think, however. It took Shinji's strangely bold sub-conscious to get them out of the awkward situation.
"Well, we should get going," he said. He finally managed to tilt his head back down to look at Asuka and smiled nervously.
Asuka nodded and turned to walk to the door.
Shinji let her go first, thankful that he managed to breathe again once she was about five feet away. That was short lived, however, as the scent of her shampoo invaded his senses when he took a deep breath. The sweet fruity scent nearly made him faint.
Asuka walked to the door with a blank expression. She couldn't believe what was happening. She wondered if she was dreaming, although she never had dreams like this. No, she usually had nightmares, actually, so this had to be real. In some weird and twisted way, this was really happening. Asuka couldn't believe it, but the proof was irrefutable.
Finally coming to terms with the situation, Asuka perked up and took a deep breath. She was going to maintain herself. No matter what happened, she was going to remain composed, and not allow her to be left so confused again.
Now ready, Asuka realized that Shinji hadn't arrived at the door yet.
"Hey, you coming, or what?" she asked sharply.
"Err, coming," came Shinji's rushed reply.
Asuka tapped her foot until Shinji finally appeared at the entryway. She took one look at him and frowned.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Seriously?" she asked. She had an eyebrow raised at him now.
"What?" he asked.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Asuka said loudly.
Asuka was speaking of Shinji's choice of dress. He was wearing his school uniform, of all things, which was totally preposterous on a day out with no school. He at least had forgone the jacket and tie, which was a new addition, since they were in high school, but that didn't really make things any better. She couldn't believe that even Shinji could be so socially inept. To make matters worse, he hadn't gotten his new uniform yet, so he looked twice as dorky in pants that didn't cover his ankles. Asuka wanted to slap her palm on her forehead, but suppressed the urge.
"Come here!" she spat.
Before Shinji could respond, Asuka grabbed him by his shirt collar and dragged him into his room. As if he were a doll, she tossed him onto his bed, one handed, and proceeded to rip open his closet. After a minute of digging and muttered cursing, Asuka fell to her knees and threw her hands up in frustration.
"You're not kidding!" she shouted.
"Huh?" was all Shinji could reply with. He had no idea what the problem was.
It hadn't taken her long to go through Shinji's entire wardrobe, and Asuka was not impressed. There were five school uniform sets, all of which were too small. Besides that he had a few crew t-shirts, all of which were a good five years out of style, and khakis. Khakis,of all things. No one wore khakis anymore. That trend died off with Old Navy when someone thankfully dropped an N2 mine on their headquarters during the Impact Wars.
Not giving up just yet, Asuka turned on her knees and eyed Shinji's dresser. She got up and pulled open the drawers, not caring about the mess she made as she dug through them. She didn't even care when her hands went wrist deep into his drawer of boxers.
Shinji watched helplessly as Asuka turned his room upside down. His clothes were everywhere, and she didn't seem to be satisfied with the results of her search. It was going to take him a while to clean this up.
Asuka was huffing loudly by the time she was done. In her hands she held an old pair of jeans that didn't look too promising, but they would do. She continued to hold the jeans in her left hand while she surveyed the shirt in her right. It was a white crew style t-shirt with a blue stripe horizontally through the middle. It wasn't the most appealing shirt, and in Asuka's opinion, it was boyish. It was something a ten year old would wear for his mother, but it was the best she could find.
"Here," she said.
Asuka threw the clothes at Shinji. He caught the garments and looked at them. He hadn't worn those jeans since coming to Tokyo-3, and that shirt... He wondered if it even still fit. He got it when he was twelve from the teacher he lived with.
"I'll be waiting outside," Asuka said hotly.
Shinji just stared as Asuka left his room and closed the door behind her. He looked down at the clothes in his hands and then at the room around him. Clothes were scattered everywhere. Even the drawers of his dresser were on the ground, as Asuka seemed to find it much more efficient to pull them out entirely and dig through them on the floor. To be frank, it looked like a tornado had just gone through, and Shinji was worried that the rest of the day was going to end up the same way.
Sighing, he started to change.
On the other side of the door, Asuka had her arms crossed again while she tapped her foot impatiently. She really couldn't believe what she had just seen. Shinji's wardrobe didn't need an overhaul, it needed an infusion of nitrous oxide during a jump start. She should have been thankful, in way, she realized. Not many people could claim to have seen a living dinosaur, but clearly that's what she had just experienced.
He's so helpless She thought to herself. How could anyone be so out of touch with the world?
Shinji finally exited his room and stood before Asuka. She eyed him from head to toe with a speculative look. The jeans fit him a little tightly, but at least covered his ankles. They were light blue, which didn't look good at all on him, but it at least gave her an idea on where to start on their mission to rebuild Shinji Ikari's image. The shirt, by God's grace, still fit Shinji, although as Asuka had feared, made him look three years younger.
"It's not much," Asuka said while rubbing her chin, "but at least its better."
Shinji sighed. He knew he didn't have Asuka's fashion sense, but he never worried about it before. Now, he suddenly realized he was a lot further behind the curve than he thought. Part of him was thankful he had someone to help him pick out clothes this time, although the other 99% was just afraid.
"Say, Shinji," Asuka said.
"Yes?" Shinji replied.
"Just how much money did you say you had saved up again?" she asked.
"Err... I didn't..." Shinji said.
"Well, how much?" Asuka asked again, irritated that she had to repeat her question.
"I don't know," Shinji admitted quickly. "However much they give us weekly times eighty weeks, I guess?"
Asuka's eyes went wide in shock at Shinji's explanation of his bank account. She knew exactly how much Nerv gave them on a weekly basis. 25,000 yen. It was below minimum wage, but also tax free. If Shinji had seriously spent his entire time in Tokyo-3 without spending a single of his own yen, he had amassed 2 million yen. The equivalent of 20,000 US dollars. He was quite possibly the richest kid in school.
The gears in Asuka's mind started to move, and her face twisted into a mischievous smile. Shinji knew that smile all too well, and what happened next only compounded that fact.
Asuka rubbed her hands together and grinned.
"Wunderbar..." she said.
- x -
Misato wasn't surprised to see Ritsuko waiting for her when she entered the halls leading toward the main hanger. Whenever things were this serious, she was on top of the ball when it came to being on time everywhere. The woman looked ready to take on the day's challenges as she stood with some folders in one hand and her ever present mug of coffee in the other.
"What's the situation?" she asked as the blonde joined her as she walked down the hall.
"With him? Or the things?" Ritsuko asked before taking a sip of her coffee.
Misato cringed. She didn't want to talk about the commander at the moment.
"The swords," she answered. "How have the tests gone so far?"
"Not good," Ritsuko said. She handed Misato one of the folders she was carrying and explained, "So far, conventional means of extracting samples have been ineffective."
"I see," Misato replied. She didn't like the sounds of that. This sort of thing wasn't her expertise, so thinking outside of the box wasn't really possible in her case.
"That folder has all of the data we've managed to collect thus far. Maya will be able to explain them in better detail," Ritsuko said. "She'll also fill you in on some of the ideas we were tossing around when we stopped last night."
"Alright, sounds good to me," Misato said as they rounded the corner. She hadn't looked at the folder yet. She figured she may as well wait until she got to the hanger so she could ask Maya any questions she was going to have when looking through it.
"I'm sorry for dropping this on you," Ritsuko said.
"It's okay," Misato assured her friend. "I understand completely."
"Thanks," Ritsuko said. "Did Shinji suspect anything this morning?"
"Honestly?" Misato thought about it for a second. "He probably found it suspicious that he's getting the day off out of the blue, but he didn't pry."
Misato's lips suddenly curled into a smile and she continued.
"Plus, you won't believe what he did after he found out," she baited her friend.
"Try me," Ritsuko dared her. After last night, she was sure nothing could surprise her.
"Shinji practically asked Asuka out on a date," Misato said with a smirk.
Ritsuko suddenly spat out the coffee she had been sipping.
"What?" she exclaimed. Ritsuko couldn't hide her shock. She was wrong, there were things that could totally surprise her still.
"Yup," Misato said triumphantly. She always enjoyed getting that kind of reaction out of her usually composed friend. "He's about go out clothes shopping with her."
"Clothes shopping?" Ritsuko could barely stifle her laugh. "That's not a date. That's a suicide attempt."
"Oh, I'm sure he'll survive," Misato said cheerfully.
"Ha!" Ritsuko laughed. "You'll have to fill me in tomorrow."
"Sure thing," Misato replied with a grin.
The two women chuckled to each other. It was nice to have a good laugh before they faced the day. Lord knows, they needed something to laugh about in the middle of the huge mess they were in.
- x -
Gendo Ikari opened his eyes slowly to a blank ceiling he was unfamiliar with. Florescent light welcomed his eyes to the waking world, and he had to squint while they adjusted.
Laying still for a moment, Gendo stared blankly at the ceiling. The thoughts of his failures still dominated his mind, preventing anything else from getting his attention. He felt a great guilt crushing him, which paved the way for anger and regret.
"M...my..." He tried to speak, but the words rasped out as he discovered his throat was dry as a bone. He licked his lips and cleared his throat to try to coax some moister into his mouth, but found that it wasn't helping much.
While still trying to moisten his mouth and throat, Gendo tried to get up from the bed. He barely flinched, however, as he discovered that his wrists, ankles, and waist were all restrained to the bed by leather straps.
Gendo started to struggle under the restraints, attempting to break free. He rattled the bed roughly as he struggled, but the restraints were bound tightly, and he eventually gave up.
Gendo considered his situation. He was helplessly tied to a bed. He had no control over what was happening, and that was because the people that had put him there deemed it best that way. Gendo wondered if perhaps that was the way things should have been all along. When he thought he was in control, he made decisions no person should have made regarding the people around him. He even knew at the time he made them that they were unforgivable.
Back then, he didn't think it mattered. All that mattered to him was achieving his goal. Once he achieved his goal at the end of his journey, the crimes he committed wouldn't matter. He would have been beyond the consequences.
But, he had failed in reaching his goal, and he had to face the weight of his decisions. They hit his once shielded heart like a mighty hammer, breaking him at his core. He knew he was beyond forgiveness, because not even God would forgive what he did.
As the feeling of utter hopelessness once again took hold of him, Gendo Ikari felt his mind become a blur. All he could do was linger on the thoughts of the one person alive that would ultimately serve as his judge.
"My son..." he said sadly.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Revelation 1:11
- Lady -
Shinji was robotic as he walked beside Asuka. The journey to the mall had been a silent one, although it wasn't a peaceful silence. He could feel the eyes looking at him. He knew he looked silly, especially next to Asuka, but he didn't respond.
Asuka could also feel the stares they were getting. She felt her cheeks go pink whenever girls would giggle, obviously finding their appearance amusing. She wanted to give them a piece of her mind. She wanted to show them the consequences of laughing at her, or Shinji. She did not lash, out however. For some unknown reason, she grinned and bore it. At the end of the day, Shinji would be a new man. She would make sure of that.
The two were nearly to the mall when they passed by the local arcade. Shinji glanced over and stopped walking.
Asuka took a few more steps before realizing Shinji was no longer beside her and looked back.
"What did you stop for?" she asked.
Shinji looked at the entrance of the arcade. He could make out a giant pair of cockpit style machines in the center of the front, and found himself curiously drawn to it.
"Hey, want to play a game?" he asked.
"Huh? now?" Asuka asked with her hands on her hips. It was a little early to be at an arcade, even if it was a Sunday.
"Yeah," Shinji replied. "It'd be easier now than later when we have to carry all the bags," he explained.
Asuka blinked. His logic made sense. She was actually surprised he was able to articulate such a solid argument. He usually came up with something stupid.
"Eh, why not," Asuka relented. She'd at least enjoy giving him a good pummeling. She never lost to Shinji when it came to video games.
The two walked to the arcade and Shinji bought some tokens. Asuka took a look around while waiting for him, pondering which game she would use to deliver the thrashing. There were a good number of people around the arcade considering how early it was. Still, most of the games were readily available, since the arcade had multiple machines for most of them. She saw the latest Tekken Tag game and grinned. That had to be the worst game for Shinji to play.
"Let's try this one," Shinji suddenly said.
Asuka turned to look to where Shinji's voice had come from. He was standing next to a pair of cockpit style arcade machines she didn't recognize.
"Is that new?" she asked.
"Must be," Shinji said. "I haven't seen them here before."
Asuka walked over and looked over the machines as Shinji took a seat in the one on the right. The title of the game was Virtual-On Jupitour, and it was made by Sega, her favorite game company. The cockpits had twin sticks that looked suspiciously like the ones found in the Evangelion cockpit. Something in Asuka sparked as she put the pieces together. This was a challenge as a pilot, she was sure of it.
Feeling the fire in her burn brightly, Asuka got into the left module and chuckled.
"One game couldn't hurt," she said sweetly.
Shinji put in the tokens and the two started up a versus match. The game had a large selection of robots to choose from, and Shinji wasn't sure which one to choose. He eventually settled on Myzr-Delta, a purple robot that seemed to have a good balance for its stats.
Asuka smirked at Shinji's choice. Now she could really tell this was a personal challenge. She looked through all of the selections, but to her dismay, the only red one was a girly robot named Fei-Yen. She thought the thing looked ridiculous, which a skirt and what appeared to be bunny ears? What the hell kind of robot was that? She was about to surrender to her fate when she noticed Shinji's selection box was scrolling through colors. She saw it scroll through a shade of red and gave a sigh of relief before shuffling over to Myzr-Delta and choosing its red variant.
Shinji suppressed a grin and chose the dark purple Myzr-Delta. If that's how Asuka wanted to play it, he'd gladly oblige.
The two waited patiently as the match loaded with their hands firmly gripping the twin control sticks. When the announcer said "go" they both sprang to action instantly.
Shinji laughed as he dodged Asuka's robot. He found the game very responsive to the control sticks, and found it instantly enjoyable to fly around blasting his energy rifle at Asuka.
Asuka was jerking her sticks back and force furiously while smashing the buttons to fire at Shinji. He was a squirrelly little bastard, she'd give him that much. She was laughing as the environment exploded around them, however. He'd run out of places to hide soon.
Shinji flew his robot from barrier to barrier as Asuka continued to fire madly at him. He found her strategy to be so typical of her. Guns blazing, no concern over defense. That was so Asuka. She didn't even see it coming when he slowly spiraled around her fire until he was right on her and cut her down with an energy sword.
"What?" Asuka exclaimed as her robot started to explode and the screen blinked a warning that her life bar had depleted. "Nooooooooo!"
Shinji chuckled at Asuka's response. It was rare for him to beat her at video games, so he was enjoying this.
Asuka glared over at Shinji and snatched a handful of tokens from his pocket. She put in another one and hit rematch before the counter could hit zero.
Shinji was still chuckling as the rematch loaded up, much to Asuka's displeasure. She was going to wipe that stupid grin off his face.
The rematch began, and Asuka launched her robot at Shinji's. She slashed at him with her energy sword, but Shinji dodged backwards and shot her several times with his energy rifle before she could recover.
Asuka growled as her robot was pummeled with energy fire. By the time she recovered from her lunge and darted to the side, it was already smoking. An alarm was blaring from the speakers behind her, letting her know her energy level was critical.
"Damn it," she hissed. She spun around to look for Shinji's robot, but could spot it. She walked through the environment slowly, looking for a sign of the purple robot. She did not see it, however, and cursed when she was hit from behind and her screen blinked red again.
"Scheiße!" she cursed in German.
Shinji was laughing freely now. He had completely outwitted Asuka.
Asuka heard Shinji laughing at her and started to tremble with anger. She felt her cheeks go red at being humiliated by him, and wouldn't stand for it. She growled as she leaned into his module and started pounding on his shoulder with the sides of her fists.
"Aaaaaargh! Don't you know you're supposed to go easy on a lady!" she fussed.
Shinji continued to laugh as Asuka beat on him. The pounding was exactly the same as the one she had given him in Unit-02's cockpit when she complained about him piloting it without her permission. In other words, it didn't hurt at all. He fended off her fists and leaned over to her module in return.
"And since when were you a lady?" Shinji joked before sticking his tongue out at her.
"Whaaaaat? What did you say?" Asuka couldn't believe it. Now he was really in for it. "That's it, now you're doomed!"
Asuka dropped another token into the machine and hit rematch again.
"I don't care how many tokens it takes! You're going down, Third Child!" she hissed.
"Bring it on!" Shinji replied.
The two continued to play the game as a crowd formed to watch. For nearly half an hour, Shinji beat Asuka repeatedly, causing her to growl and curse after each match. After particularly embarrassing defeats, Asuka would threaten Shinji with her shaking fist. The crowd seemed to enjoy the show. They were even taking bets on how long Shinji's win streak would go, or how long before Asuka actually made good on her threats and started pummeling him.
Asuka didn't hear the crowd around them. She had completely zeroed in on the game as she continued to attack Shinji's robot relentlessly. This match was going better than the last twenty, so she was being extra cautious. She had kept Shinji in her sights at all times, nursing the trigger so as to not flood the screen with explosions and smoke. Shinji was firing back in kind, which she dodged expertly.
The match was coming down to the wire, and an alarm was going off as the timer clicked down past ten seconds. Asuka looked back and forth until Shinji finally stopped flying around. He also noticed the timer and took her dead on. Asuka smirked and flew at him as well. The two robots were about to collide, swords drawn, when Asuka strafed to the right.
Shinji hadn't anticipated the sudden dodge. Not when there were only three seconds left. His attack flew harmlessly to Asuka's left, leaving him completely open.
"There!" Asuka said joyfully.
Asuka thrust both sticks forward and hit all four buttons simultaneously. Her robot surrounded itself with a fireball and rammed into Shinji's. The timer stopped at 00.57 as Shinji's robot blew apart and Asuka laughed like a maniac.
"Yes!" She exclaimed madly. "Victory is mine!"
Shinji didn't say anything. He was more concerned with the state of the arcade machine. Asuka's module was smoking from the amount of force she had been using on the sticks, and he wasn't sure if it was actually operational anymore.
Asuka smiled proudly as her screen flashed "Winner". She exited the machine and grabbed Shinji by the wrist as the crowd split a path to avoid her.
"Now to immortalize my moment of triumph!" Asuka proclaimed while dragging Shinji behind her.
"What?" Shinji asked nervously. He couldn't help but notice the scared looks on everyone's faces. He also thought he saw some people giving him looks of pity.
Asuka didn't notice the people around her as she dragged Shinji to a booth. She tossed the helpless boy through the curtain and stepped in.
"What the hell is this?" Shinji asked. He didn't recognize the kind of booth they were in.
Asuka didn't answer. She took a seat next to him and put in a token. She scrolled through the backgrounds, finding most of them extremely tacky, but she didn't have time to be picky. She had to strike while the iron was hot, before Shinji recovered.
Shinji stared at the screen as some really cheesy images were scrolled through by the girl next to him. It suddenly clicked what kind of booth they were in. It was one of those photo sticker booths.
What? Photo? His mind screamed. He didn't understand what was happening.
Asuka could see Shinji's face on the screen and smirked. It was priceless. She didn't care about the background anymore, she had to capture it. Leaving it on some kind of pink border, she threw her arm over Shinji's shoulders and brought his face next to hers in a head lock.
"Sagen Käseeeeeeeee!" she sang in German.
Shinji sat there completely frozen, cheeks flushed, as the camera in the booth flashed four times. The lights had him seeing stars as Asuka left him in the booth to retrieve their photos from the printer on the side.
Asuka smiled with anticipation as the photo stickers printed. She held them up and grinned at Shinji's face and then stared blankly. The photo was perfect. Shinji looked completely bewildered, with a rather cute blush, while she smiled proudly. That wasn't the problem. The problem was the border she had so foolishly left the selection on in her rush to capture the moment.
There, right before Asuka's eyes, a border of pink and red hearts surrounded her and Shinji's faces. She couldn't believe it. She wondered how she could have been so careless to allow something like that to happen.
No way! Asuka thought in horror. No way! How could I have missed that? HOW!
Shinji came stumbling out of the booth. He was rubbing his head like he was recovering from a hangover and looked over to Asuka.
"How'd they turn out?" he asked.
"Huh? What?" Asuka asked while staring at the photos she was holding up to the light.
"The photos," Shinji said.
"Uh... what photos?" Asuka asked nervously. She quickly shoved the strip into her purse.
"The ones you just put into your purse," Shinji said, squinting.
"Terrible!" she said quickly. "No need to waste your time looking at them!"
"Hey, you used my money to take them," Shinji pointed out. "Let me at least look at them."
"No!" Asuka screamed while pulling her purse away from Shinji.
"Geez, what's the big deal?" Shinji asked. "If they're that bad, why keep them?"
Asuka choked on her breath at the question. She had no answer, and yet, she couldn't throw them away either. They were the first photos of them together. Nearly a year together, and it wasn't until now they had a photo together, and it had to turn out like this. She stood there in a silent inner battle while Shinji scratched his head. He was about to interject when a familiar voice suddenly spoke from behind them.
"Hey! Look, its Asuka and Shinji!" Hikari said.
Shinji turned to see Hikari walking towards them with Toji. The two were carrying a few bags, appearing to have just come from the mall.
"Oh, hey guys," Shinji said.
"Hikari!" Asuka exclaimed, sounding a little scared.
Hikari smiled at her two classmates while Toji gave them a curious look.
"What are you up to?" Shinji asked.
"Oh, we were just picking some things up before heading to the hospital to visit my sister," Toji said.
"Oh, that's nice," Shinji said.
"Yeah," Hikari agreed. "Toji's such a sweet guy."
The statement earned a blush from Toji and a chuckle from Shinji. Hikari grinned at her work, blushing a little herself, before observing her friend.
"What are you two doing?" she asked.
"Us? we're just..." Shinji started to say before he was cut off.
"Nothing!" Asuka cried.
Toji flinched at Asuka's outburst. Her behavior had taken another strange turn from last night, further confusing him. He just didn't understand what was with her half the time. He pitied Shinji having to deal with her 24/7.
Hikari, on the other hand, understood Asuka's behavior completely, and gave her a knowing smile.
Asuka saw the look Hikari was giving her and felt like she was shrinking as her cheeks got warm. She felt trapped by the situation, and just wanted to run away.
"Yeah..." Shinji said while rubbing the back of his head. "We're just on our way to the mall to go clothes shopping."
"Oh really?" Hikari said inquisitively. Now she really knew something was going on. She didn't know if she should question Asuka, or congratulate Shinji. She'd at least corner Asuka at school the next day.
Asuka could feel Hikari's intentions from her eyes alone. She knew there was no escaping her questions, but she could at least delay the inevitable. She hastily grabbed Shinji by his hand and started to pull him away from the other pair.
"Yup! Lots of shopping to do!" she said nervously. "Mega dork here needs a new wardrobe! Let's go!"
Asuka had dragged Shinji only a couple of steps when Hikari spoke a little loudly.
"Hey, what's this?" she asked, pointing at the screen on the side of the photo booth. She was using an obnoxious tone, making sure Asuka felt the heat.
Asuka watched time come to a crawl as Shinji started to turn around. Her eyes locked onto the screen on the side of the machine that was showing past photos taken and panicked as theirs was up. Moving faster than ever before, she threw Shinji aside before he could look and kicked the screen with her heel, breaking it entirely.
Hikari and Toji jumped back as Asuka came flying past them and smashed the screen she had been pointing at. Toji had an arm wrapped around Hikari's shoulders while he slipped in front of her to shield her from the debris.
"What the hell, you Devil?" Toji exclaimed. Even for Asuka, this behavior was strange.
Hikari was a little shocked at Asuka's sudden kick to the booth, but smiled to herself after she recovered. She had already seen what was on the screen, and couldn't wait to ask her friend about it later.
Shinji was really confused over Asuka's behavior. He had no idea what the hell was going on, but at seeing her assault and destroy a part of the photo booth, he didn't think it was smart for them to stay and figure it out.
"Okay, maybe we should go," Shinji said while getting up
Asuka was panting heavily as her heart recovered from its frenzied pace. She looked over to Shinji and nodded.
"Yeah, good idea," she said.
The two walked off silently while Toji and Hikari watched. Toji was rubbing the back of his head, trying to figure out what had just happened while Hikari just smiled brightly.
- x -
Misato growled as the testing on the swords continued. Much like yesterday, they were making no headway on identifying what the weapons were made of, or how they were able to change shape. They had been at it for nearly four hours now.
"No response," Maya said as they fired another round of radiation at the sword in the first cage.
"Ugh, this is hopeless," Misato said.
Maya frowned as she observed her monitor. She was also getting frustrated by their lack of progress. It made absolutely no sense that nothing affected the swords in any way.
Misato glared at the sword hanging in from of her. It seemed to leer back at her, mocking her futile attempts to unlock its mysteries. Misato wanted to take its shiny face and plunged it into a volcano. See how it handles the extreme heat.
Something dawned on Misato at that thought. The swords were all completely clean, despite them having been bloodied from cutting Evangelions.
"Hey, Maya, were these cleaned?" Misato asked.
"Mmm? I don't think so," Maya answered.
"Hmm..." Misato rubbed her chin while looking at the sword. She recalled the battle the swords had been used in. There was blood everywhere from the Evas as well as the beast. The entire area had in fact been covered in red and black blood, yet this sword didn't have a single spot on it.
"Okay..." Misato said to herself. She snapped her fingers. "I've got an idea!"
"What is it?" Maya asked. She was eager to try something new.
"Hit it with LCL," she said.
"What? LCL?" Maya asked. She didn't understand.
"Yeah," Misato said.
Misato knew the properties of LCL were entirely organic, and the closest thing to Eva blood they had on hand, short of damaging one of their Units, which was out of the question.
"Fill up a test plug and have it brought over here," she ordered.
Maya blinked in surprise before finally saying "Yes, ma'am. But why a test plug? That will take at least an hour to have moved here. We could do this in a few minutes using one of the piloting plugs."
"I don't want to risk damaging an important piece of equipment," Misato answered.
"Oh," Maya replied. "I'll get right on it."
"Alright," Misato said before turning to leave. "I'm going to go get some coffee. You want something?"
"No, thank you," Maya replied.
Misato nodded at Maya and left the young woman to work on preparing the test plug. She wasn't exactly sure what to expect when they tested the LCL on the sword, but was sure something was going to happen.
- x -
Ritsuko watched from another room as Gendo Ikari laid inside his hospital room alone. He was still restrained to the bed by the leather straps, but he was no longer giving any physical struggle.
It had been about three hours since Gendo had woken up, and the observations, so far, were not good. Gendo spent the entire time since waking up mumbling to himself. When Ritsuko had gone inside to examine him up close, she could barely make out what he was saying.
Like last night, Gendo was repeating the same phrases about everything being for nothing, and of his sacrifices. He particularly seemed fixated on his failures regarding Shinji. Ritsuko believed she understood that fixation a little.
In terms of Gendo Ikari's sacrifices, two involved other people. He lost his wife, Yui, to an accident that was out of his control. He probably still considered it a sacrifice on his part, however, because he had guided her towards that day to further his plans, one way, or another.
His sacrifice of Shinji, however, had been a choice he made of his own volition. He had full control over what he was doing, and he chose time and time again to sacrifice his son to further his goals. To have his goals suddenly wrested away, and his efforts invalidated, probably brought the weight of his decisions crashing down on him. The decisions involving Shinji seemed to be the ones that were crushing the man the most.
Sighing, Ritsuko began to scribble some notes on her clipboard. She noted that there was no response to medicinal treatment or direct communication with nursing staff, or herself. She also explained that the subject was displaying classic signs of a mental break, which would need to be monitored closely.
Now tapping her pen on her lower lip, Ritsuko contemplated her options. There was an obvious medical treatment involving drugs and therapy, although she knew that was a largely superficial treatment. It was hit or miss on whether that would actually help a patient, and largely depended on their willingness to open up to someone entirely. Gendo Ikari was not that type of person.
Another option was to have friends and family take care of his recovery, which left the list at her, Fuyutsuki, and Shinji. That was an equally unappealing course of action, as neither her, nor Fuyutsuki could really be considered friends, and Shinji's relationship with Gendo was apparently the main reason for his break.
Ritsuko sighed at the hopelessness of the situation. They may as well pray for a miracle, because that's what it was going to take for Gendo to recover. She continued to watch Gendo through the one way mirror at that thought. She had seen miracles. She wasn't the most religious person, but her years at Nerv had made her realize miracles did indeed happen.
Taking a sip of coffee, Ritsuko resolved to not give up hope. If the son could come back from the dead twice, then the father could wake up from a mental break.
- x -
Asuka stood outside of the dressing rooms, waiting for Shinji to come out. The day had gone more smoothly since they had arrived at the mall, and they were finally shopping for his clothes after a quick lunch. Asuka had finally managed to calm down after downing an entire coke, and was now in full blown shopping mode.
Shinji exited the dressing room slowly, looking a little nervous. He stood in front of Asuka with his shoulders slouched and his head tilted down.
Asuka observed Shinji's appearance in the outfit she had chosen. He was now wearing jeans that were a much better fit, and a normal blue color. On top, he had on a cherry short sleeved button down crew necked shirt. It was a simple look, but it went well with his hair, and helped him look more his age.
Shinji kept his eyes looking away from Asuka while she reviewed her work. He wasn't use to being scrutinized while clothes shopping. He usually just grabbed something that was his size and bought it. Having Asuka, of all people, looking him up and down was making him very self conscious all of a sudden.
Asuka didn't like the way Shinji was avoiding her gaze. His behavior was causing him to slouch, and it made him look pathetic.
"Don't slouch," she said while grabbing his collar.
Shinji stood up straight as Asuka pushed up on his collar and gulped . The scent of her shampoo was quite strong, now that she was standing so close, making his legs weak. He inhaled the familiar fruity scent, picking out a flowery highlight he hadn't noticed before. He wondered if it was perfume.
Asuka pat Shinji's shirt straight and took a step back to get another look. Now that he was standing up straight, she decided that the look suited him.
"Alright, looks good to me," she proclaimed.
Shinji felt himself blushing at Asuka's comment. That was the first time she had said he looked good in any way.
Asuka ignored Shinji's blush and turned back to the clothing rack she had gotten the shirt from.
"We'll just take this, this, and these," she said while grabbing five more colors of the same shirt. She tossed them over to Shinji, who caught them with a confused look on his face. "Change back into your clothes and keep those together. I'm going find you more pants."
Shinji looked at the stack of shirts in his hands and swallowed the lump in his throat. They had been in the store for fifteen minutes. The first store of what would be many, and he already had six shirts and a pair of pants. At this rate, he was going to need to buy a second dresser.
Sighing, Shinji went back into the changing room and put his normal clothes back on. He placed the shirt back on its hanger and stacked it with the others before exiting with all of the items to be greeted by a rather cheerful redhead holding a pile of jeans and shorts.
"You're in luck," she said, "Their jeans are on sale, and the shorts are the latest style."
"Luck, right," Shinji muttered. In his mind, sales didn't save you money when you just bought twice as much stuff because of them.
"You say something?" Asuka asked from behind the pile of clothes in her arms.
"Err, no ma'am," he replied quickly.
"Good," she said with a hint of warning in her tone.
Asuka handed Shinji the pile of pants and shorts and turned back to look at the racks of shirts.
"There's no need to try those on," she said. "They're the same measurements as the first pair."
"Great," Shinji said, although he wasn't very enthusiastic.
Now outside with the pile of clothes in his arms, Shinji was watching the wonder that was Asuka when clothes shopping. She was darting from rack to rack, looking through the clothes with reckless abandon, yet grabbing out pieces with keen precision. By the time she felt satisfied with her search of the store, Shinji couldn't even see over the pile of clothes in his hands anymore.
"Well, that's one down," Asuka said proudly.
Shinji didn't reply. He slowly walked towards the counter with the clothes, constantly saying "excuse me" in case people were in front of him. When he felt his foot hit the base of the counter he dropped the massive pile with a gasp.
"Did you find everything you were looking for?" the clerk asked.
Shinji looked up at the clerk and grumbled.
The clerk was a girl that looked to be a few years older than him, possibly in college. Her brown hair was tied back in a ponytail except for her bangs, which framed her face nicely. Her face was nothing special, Shinji thought, although he wasn't about to say that. He did think that her green eyes were quite vibrant, however. She was scanning the clothes with a bright smile on her face.
"Yeah, I guess," he said. He was looking at the girl with uninterested eyes, but to some, it may have appeared that he was staring.
Asuka appeared next to Shinji and snapped a belt in her hands loudly, causing him to jump in surprise.
"Actually," she said a little coldly, "he neglected this."
Asuka placed the belt on top of the items that hadn't been scanned yet and eyed the clerk closely. The clerk smiled back and appeared oblivious to Asuka's hint as she continued to scan the items.
Shinji allowed his heart to calm down while the clothes were all scanned and bagged and then felt it race again as he watched the number on the register climb higher and higher.
These items are on SALE? He thought to himself.
Each item was ridiculously priced. Each shirt was at least 3000 yen, and the pants were at least 5000 yen a piece, despite being 40% off. Shinji was just about ready to faint from morbid shock when the final total was rung up.
"That'll be 96,700 yen, please," the clerk said.
How is that possible? Shinji wondered. How could he be spending that much money on clothes in a single store? He probably hadn't spent that much money on clothes in his entire life up to that point.
Shinji handed his Nerv debit card to the clerk while Asuka stood there smiling proudly. The first store had proven fruitful. Her mission to recreate Shinji's image was going well.
- x -
Misato watched as the test plug was brought into the first cage with the loading crane. It brought the back end up to the sword and came to a halt.
"Test plug in position," Maya reported.
Misato took a deep breath before answering "This is it. Everyone watch closely."
"Will do," Maya replied.
The rest of the people at the make-shift research station acknowledged they were ready, and Misato leaned on the railing to get as close a look she could.
"Alright," she said, "expel the LCL!"
"Roger," Maya said as she keyed in the command.
Everyone watched as the test plug expelled the LCL from the emergency release valves on its back end. The amber liquid sprayed out over the sword and coated it completely before the plug finished emptying its contents.
After the plug was empty, Maya had it raised so they could all observe the sword clearly. Her instruments hadn't picked up any strange readings, and she sighed.
Misato heard Maya's disappointment at the apparent results, but didn't give up just yet. She watched the sword closely, and got what she was looking for.
The LCL on the sword began to bubble and seemed to be absorbed into the blade. The whole process took only a few seconds, but when it was finished, the sword appeared perfectly clean, no trace of LCL to be seen.
Maya saw it too, and examined all of the monitors at her station. Despite there being an obvious reaction, the instruments didn't pick anything up.
"That's strange," she said. "The instruments aren't picking anything up, but something clearly happened."
"Hmm," Misato thought about what had just happened. The sword had absorbed the LCL, but what did that mean? She wondered what they could do from there to examine things further.
"Any bright ideas?" she asked.
"Well, the material of the sword clearly reacts to LCL," Maya said. "Wait, that's it!"
Misato looked over to the young tech who now looked determined.
"What is it?" she asked.
"We've been going about this all wrong, ma'am," Maya explained. "The reason our instruments aren't picking anything up is because we're trying to examine these swords as if they're made up inorganic materials."
"Okay, meaning?" Misato asked. She still didn't get it.
"These swords are organic," Maya said. "They're... alive of some sorts."
"Alive?"
Misato couldn't believe that Maya had just suggested that. The idea that these swords were alive was ridiculous, to say the least.
"I know it sounds crazy," Maya said. "But let me configure the equipment we use on the Evas, and you'll see."
"Alright," Misato relented. She decided she had nothing to lose. "Let me know when everything's ready. I'm going to be in my office."
"Yes ma'am," Maya said before getting to work.
- x -
Shinji grunted as he dragged the heavy bags of clothes behind him. They had now been to two more clothing stores as well as a shoe store. He had spent over 300,000 yen, and Asuka was showing no signs of slowing. He just hoped she left him enough money for a cab, because there was no way in hell he was going to be able to walk home with all of this stuff.
Asuka was nearly marching as she continued down the walkway of the mall. She had managed to just about cover the casual necessities for Shinji's wardrobe, as well as pick out some shoes for him to wear. The only thing left really were formalwear and possibly some workout attire. She didn't think Shinji ever worked out, but he may as well have clothes available should he decide to.
Asuka sighed as she thought about the prospect of Shinji working out. He needed to, as far as she was concerned. He was way too scrawny for his own good, as was evident by his struggle to keep up with her.
"Hurry up already," she called back to him.
Shinji groaned as he caught up to Asuka and huffed when he got a chance to stop and rest.
"Geez, you're pathetic," Asuka said while looking down at Shinji's struggling posture. "We're not even half way yet."
Shinji choked at hearing they weren't even half done with the shopping. He wondered how anyone could possibly plan on buying this much clothes.
"I'm doing my best, okay?" Shinji said.
Asuka was pleasantly surprised that Shinji didn't apologize, for once. Perhaps he wasn't a lost cause after all.
"Well, whatever," Asuka said before taking one of the bags. "I guess I'll help carry this, even though it's your job."
"Gee, thanks," Shinji said, making sure the sarcasm was obvious. Although, he did feel like a good fifty pounds had been lifted from his shoulders.
"You should learn to appreciate your good fortune," Asuka remarked before turning back around and continuing through the mall.
Shinji followed suit, finding it a bit easier to keep up now. He decided to enjoy it while he could, since they were on their way to buy even more clothes.
In the distance, a light blue haired girl watched the pair retreat down the mall.
Rei Ayanami had just exited a store she had been buying some clothes from when she heard the unmistakable voice of the second child. When she saw the two were also there shopping, the strangest feeling had overtaken her.
She found herself hiding reflexively while watching them talk. When they started to walk off, she looked down at herself and her bags, and seemed to feel somewhat inadequet. Unlike the other two, she was dressed in her school uniform. The navy blue skirt and sweater weren't bad looking, but she had been getting looks all day, and she was beginning to understand why.
Before, Rei wouldn't have noticed, or cared, but since 'waking up', as she had come to call it, her awareness made her very self conscious. Seeing her two fellow pilots dressed so differently hit her harder than the looks did. In particular, she noticed that they wore bright colors, where as she had been buying mostly black and white clothing.
Rei took another look at the contents in her bags. She would need to buy more clothes, she thought.
- x -
Fuyutsuki observed Gendo through the one way mirror while Ritsuko scribbled an update on her clipboard. From what she had told him, Fuyutsuki was at a loss over what to do.
"So there's been no change at all?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not," Ritsuko said. "He's been mumbling non-stop since waking up. We've been feeding him introveniously, because he won't respond to anything."
"I see," Fuyutsuki said in thought. He'd only seen something relatively close to this once before.
That was when he had observed Misato aboard the ship examining the Antarctic. She had gone completely mute and unresponsive to the world around her after witnessing Second Impact up close. As Fuyutsuki recalled, it took her nearly four years to recover, and there was no rhyme or reason to it. She just suddenly spoke up one day. He didn't think the world had that kind of time to wait for Gendo Ikari.
"I take it Seele's spoken to you?" Ritsuko asked.
Fuyutsuki nodded. Seele was in fact the reason he had come to ask about Gendo's condition.
"Yes, they're meeting with me tomorrow morning," he said. "I don't know if they're more happy or annoyed by Gendo's condition."
Ritsuko gave a morbid laugh at that statement. Indeed, there were two sides to how she felt about Gendo's break as well. On a personal level, she felt he finally was getting what he deserved. On a practical level, however, she knew that they needed Gendo to be in command. He knew all the secrets and how to deal with the different branches of government and Seele. Fuyutsuki was a close second, but he was also possibly too "human" to do the job effectively.
"I suppose it can't be helped," Ritsuko said. "They've lost a valuable tool, but also taken care of a headache."
"And now I'm going to fill those two roles," Fuyutsuki scoffed.
"You already filled the headache role a long time ago," Ritsuko pointed out.
Indeed, he had always been a thorn in Seele's side. That was why they threatened to take care of him if he didn't join Gendo Ikari at Gihern. It was a subject he didn't like to think about.
"Have you been able to examine the tissue samples recovered from the battle?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.
"Not yet," Ritsuko answered. "I'll be starting tests once Misato and Maya are finished with the weapons."
"Make it your top priority after the lances," Fuyutsuki ordered. "Seele wants that information."
"I'll be sure of it," Ritsuko said.
"Keep me posted," Fuyutsuki said.
The commander turned and left Ritsuko alone in the room overlooking Gendo Ikari's. The woman sighed as she watched the man mumbling on the bed. It was strange to think that everything seemed to be falling apart along with Gendo. She had to wonder if everything would be less tense if the man before her was still in control. The curious case of Gendo Ikari.
- x -
Shinji sighed as he relaxed on a bench in front of the store Asuka had gone into. She had finally decided to do some shopping for herself, allowing him to take a breather. Thankfully, it was also an undergarment store, so he didn't even have to think about his place on the subject of following her or not. Also, knowing she would take a while, he had taken the opportunity to do some shopping he actually wanted to. So, he had gone to the music store to purchase new strings, and some sheet music.
Shinji flipped through the sheet music he had bought for his cello, contemplating the songs. He had decided to buy a collection of modern pieces written for works of theater and cinema. It was a marked difference from his usual classical practice, but he did enjoy some of the music being written these days. It would be an interesting experiment, at least.
Shinji took a CD out from the bag from the music store and observed it. It was the accompanying CD to the book, which played the accompanying parts to the cello for most of the songs. He wasn't surprised they didn't carry such a thing for S-DAT players, and was glad that Misato had a stereo he could use. He just didn't like this sort of thing coming from speakers instead of ear buds. When the music plays from his ear buds, it surrounds him, making him feel like he's there, and a part of the performance. From speakers, it makes it too obvious that he's just listening to a recording. Still, it would have to do.
Shinji replaced the book and CD in the bag with the strings and stared blankly at the store Asuka was in, wondering just how much time had passed. It probably took him at least half an hour to get to and from the music store. She should be finished any minute now, he thought.
Just as Shinji formed that thought, Asuka called him over from the entrance of the store.
"Shinji," she said while waving.
"Mmm?" he wasn't really sure if he had heard someone calling him or not, but recognized Asuka waving towards him. "What's up?"
"Uh..." Asuka laughed nervously. "Come here."
Groaning, Shinji stood up and walked over, dragging the sizable load of bags behind him.
Asuka smiled sweetly at Shinji as he reached her by the entrance. He didn't like the looks of that smile at all. He couldn't remember ever seeing that kind of smile on her face, which meant he had no idea what was coming.
"Can I borrow some money?" she asked.
"What?" Shinji asked, shocked.
"I'm a little short," she explained.
"So buy less," Shinji said flatly. He had spent enough already, and wasn't about to drop another 100,000 yen for Asuka's clothes.
In response to Shinji's comment, Asuka's face turned into an angry scowl. Her eyes glared at him, and he could have sworn the air around them got ice cold.
"Ulp," Shinji swallowed nervously. This was a side of Asuka he was very familiar with.
Asuka leaned forward and glared at Shinji silently. Her eyes were ice cold, and conveyed the message of "you better, or else." She was met with no resistance as she reached into Shinji's pocket and retrieved his wallet.
- x -
Misato watched Maya arrange everything in the first cage with her arms crossed. It had been nearly two hours since she started configuring the equipment, and she was now ready to do whatever it was she had planned.
"Alright, beginning tests," Maya reported.
Misato nodded and watched the monitors as the tech got to work. She didn't know what the readings meant, but the fact that the lines were actually moving let her know something was happening.
"Ah ha!" Maya exclaimed. "I knew it! They're organic!"
Misato smiled and leaned over Maya's chair to take a closer look.
"So what exactly are we dealing with?" she asked.
"Not sure," Maya said while she continued to type in some commands. "But, their composition is very similar to that of the Evas."
"Similar to the Evas?" Misato asked. "How?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say they're made out of an LCL based organic tissue," she said.
"LCL organic tissue?" Misato repeated the term and thought about it. "That would make sense as far as their shape shifting goes, but what about their ability to penetrate an AT-Field?"
"Unknown," Maya said. "We'd need Dr. Akagi to take a look at these findings."
"Right," Misato agreed. "Well, I think we're done here, for now."
"Alright, I'll compile the data and get the report together," Maya said.
"Thanks," Misato said while standing up straight. "I'm going to tell Ritsuko what we found, and see if she has any thoughts."
"Okay."
"See you later," Misato said while waving behind her.
Misato contemplated the discovery Maya had made as she left the cage. She found it hard to believe that something that solid was made of organic tissue, but it also did make sense, in strange way, Also, in all the battles with the Angels, she had seen several powerful organic means of attacking, such as the 14th Angel's paper thin arms. She wondered just what they had contained in the first cage now, and whether or not it was safe to even keep them.
- x -
Asuka was beaming as she and Shinji arrived home after what she considered a victorious mission. She had successfully picked out a full wardrobe of the latest styles for Shinji to wear on any and all occasions. Such a feat was worthy of a medal, as far as she was concerned. The mega dork would be no more.
Behind her, Shinji huffed and wheezed as he staggered through the front door. He had bags upon bags of clothes in his hands, as well as looped around his arms and shoulders. He had lost count of how much money he had spent, but he knew it wasn't going to be pretty when he added it all up. He didn't even know how much money Asuka had spent on her 'things'.
All told, they had gone to nine stores, not including his music store, or Asuka's undergarment store. At each store, he had spent nearly 100,000 yen, resulting in way more clothes than he would ever get to wearing. He had protested Asuka at each store after the second one, which only earned him a taste of her fury. In all instances, he had relented, earning him more than a few "whipped" comments from people that had been around to witness everything.
Finally reaching the couch, Shinji dropped all of the bags and spun around before collapsing onto the soft cushions. He felt like he was sinking into the soft fabric of the couch and sighed. It was good to be home.
"Well, that was fun," Asuka said while reaching down to retrieve her bag of things from the ground.
"Yeah, fun," Shinji said tiredly. He was ready for a nap.
"You really need to start working out," Asuka said. "How can you be so exhausted from a little shopping?"
"You're probably right," Shinji said, not wanting to argue. Although what he really wanted to do was ask how what they had just done was a 'little' shopping.
"Of course I'm right," Asuka said.
"Mmm," Shinji mumbled his acknowledgement of her correctness. In truth, her constant jabbing about his lack of strength had begun to get to him. He also did feel a little embarrassed at how much the shopping had exhausted him.
"Well, I'm going to my room until dinner," Asuka said as she left Shinji where he laid.
Shinji heard Asuka's door slide shut and let out a loud groan. As beaten and sore as he had felt after the battle against the Eva Series and the beast from the sky, that was nothing compared to how he felt now. After clothes shopping with Asuka, Shinji was ready for any terror that was coming.
- x -
Asuka sat at her desk late in the evening thinking over the day's events. After they had gotten home, things had returned to relative norm. Shinji had passed out on the couch, which didn't surprise her much. She had taken the liberty of place all of his bags in his room so Misato wouldn't freak out when she got home. Doing so took her six trips, making her realize just how much Shinji had put up with while they were out.
Asuka smiled. He had been rather tolerant, although it's not like he did it for nothing. He got to be seen with her, and now he had some real clothes to wear. He should be grateful.
The day had gone well, as far as Asuka thought, but there was one last thing for her to figure out.
Asuka picked up her purse and pulled out the strip of photo stickers they had taken at the arcade. She looked at the photo calmly, taking note of how she felt as she did so.
Asuka felt a warm happiness at the sight of them together in the photo. It wasn't a romantic picture, but it was also a truer representation of reality. As a candid photo taken at the right moment, it captured the real Shinji, and the real Asuka. Shinji looked confused, as if he had been snuck up on, and had a slight blush on his cheeks. Asuka had him in a headlock and was smiling proudly. It was their first picture together. The first memory they had ever bothered to record.
Then there was the matter of the border. The pink and red hearts surrounded their faces like a cheesy valentine card. At seeing these hearts, Asuka felt her cheeks flush and her chest quiver. She honestly didn't know how she felt about the border. She was confused enough as things were, and these stickers were only bringing that confusion to the surface.
Sighing, Asuka put down the strip of photos and then looked over to the bag on her bed. She felt a little guilty about spending Shinji's money like that, after the fact. She was surprised when he didn't complain or even flinch after he found out just how much she had spent, but maybe he didn't want to confront her about her purchasing bras and panties with his money. If he had, she would have put him in his place, that's for sure. Still, though, he had spent the money on her, willing or not, and she hadn't even thanked him.
Looking back at the strip of stickers, Asuka shrugged and peeled one off.
"I guess he deserves at least this much," she said to herself.
Asuka looked at the sticker on her finger tip and stood up. She took a deep breath.
"Okay, Asuka," she said to herself, "no blanking out this time."
Steeling herself, Asuka opened her door.
- x -
Shinji gave out a loud yawn as he stretched in the kitchen. He had spent the rest of the day and evening after waking up putting all of the clothes away while placing his old clothes into a couple of the bags to be donated. Misato had thankfully agreed to pick something up on her way home, and even surprised them with a decent American style fast food meal It was another detail of the day that was a tad off, but a welcome one.
All told, the day was more eventful than he thought it would be, and he was ready to sleep.
Misato observed Shinji's prolonged stretch and yawn and smirked.
"Long day, eh?" Misato asked, already knowing the answer.
"That's one way of putting it," Shinji answered. He knew Misato was trying to corner him.
"So, how was your little day out with Asuka?" she asked. She hadn't gotten the chance to pry information out of Shinji earlier, since Asuka had been around too.
"Interesting," Shinji said. "Expensive, and exhausting."
"Ah yes," Misato mused, "The three laws of clothes shopping with teenage girls."
Shinji chuckled. He was sure Asuka was an entirely different case than any other teenage girl.
"So..." Misato said while eying the young man in front of her. "Did you get to see her try on any new outfits? May-haps some bras?" she teased.
Shinji choked and went red at the question. He was surprised he didn't outright faint, because his vision had gone blurry for a second while his brain processed the question.
Misato giggled from behind her beer can. Shinji was just too easy of a target sometimes.
Shinji regained his composure, and didn't dignify her tease with a response. He just walked towards his room, away from the still giggling Misato.
"I'm going to bed," he said.
"Goodnight," Misato called after the boy.
"Goodnight," Shinji replied.
Shinji was about to open his door when he heard the one behind him slide open.
"Hey, Shinji," Asuka said.
"Huh?" Shinji turned to look at Asuka.
Asuka had her head turned slightly, not looking at him directly. She seemed to be nervous about something.
"What's up?" he asked.
Asuka swallowed at the sound of his voice and took a deep breath. She turned to look at Shinji with a serious expression on her face,
"Here," she said.
Before Shinji could respond Asuka raised her hand and ran her finger over his forehead. She then flicked it and said "You did good today, Shinji."
"Huh?" was all Shinji could say while Asuka turned back around and closed her door. He stood there for a moment, wondering what she meant and rubbed his forehead.
Misato had watched the strange interaction between the two from her seat at the table and walked over to the still surprised boy. When she was beside him, he looked over to her.
"Oh, Misato," he said at seeing his guardian. He hadn't heard her coming and only noticed when he felt her standing close to him.
Misato saw the sticker on Shinji's forehead and had to press her hand to her lips to stifle her laugh. She could barely contain it, and felt her cheeks going red from the effort. She quickly walked past Shinji and into her room before she lost it.
Shinji was really perplexed now. He entered his room and looked into the window glass, the best reflective surface he had.
"Oh, it's that sticker," he said.
Shinji could see it on his forehead, but couldn't make out what it looked like in the faint reflection on the window. He carefully peeled it off and looked at it and went stiff.
The image of them together was surprising enough. Asuka looked genuinely happy, which was really rare for her. Nearly every smile she wore was always a mask of some kind, but her face on the sticker was as natural as he had ever seen her. He, of course, looked ever the unsuspecting fool, clueless and blushing. Then there were the hearts. He finally understood why she had been so reluctant to let him see the photos earlier, and even understood why she had kicked in the TV screen on the side of the booth.
What was confusing though, was why she would give him the sticker now. He would have expected her to burn them, not keep them. Still, Shinji felt something warm in his chest when he finally recovered from his shock.
Shinji wasn't sure what any of this meant, but he knew there was no way he could ask Asuka, or even begin to understand on his own. He did want to keep the sticker however, and knew where he'd never lose it. Reaching over from his bed, Shinji got his S-DAT player and placed the sticker on the back. He took one last look at it before putting in his ear buds. Smiling, he pressed play.
- x -
Asuka leaned against her door after she shut it. Her legs were shaking, and she slowly slid to the floor with a hand pressed against her chest.
"That wasn't so bad," she told herself.
Asuka took a moment to calm down and then stood up. She shook her head to try to clear it and walked back over to her desk. There were three stickers left, all with slight variants of the same image. She didn't know what to do with the rest, since they were all effectively the same. She hadn't really thought about that when they were in the booth, and just hit the button rapidly.
Lifting up the strip, she peeled another of the stickers off and observed it quietly. She wasn't sure how Shinji had reacted to the photo, or if he would keep it. She didn't want to know. How he handled it was his business. She wouldn't ask.
Asuka also wouldn't answer if Shinji asked her about it. She certainly wouldn't tell him what she did with the rest of them.
Making up her mind, Asuka placed the strip into her desk drawer and then reach up to retrieve the bowl Shinji had brought her the previous evening. She looked at the plain white bowl and smiled before placing the sticker on its outside. She looked at the sticker on the bowl that had served as a reminder of the night Shinji took the initiative, and rendered her powerless.
"Yeah," she whispered to herself with a smile.
Asuka placed the bowl back on the shelf over her desk and then got into her bed. It had been a long day, but she would never forget it.
To be continued...
Author's Notes: At long last, I have touched on Shinji and Asuka's situation. It took a lot of setting up, and the result is the longest chapter of my story to date, even after considerable cutting and editing. I hope all you S&A fans enjoyed this one. I wanted to make something unique, but plausible, and hope it came off that way. Leave your thoughts in a review. ^^
Also, I realize the oddity of the new school uniforms. This was due to an oversight on my part, early on in the story, that they should be wearing new uniforms, since they're in year one of high school in Japan. The passage of time is really strange in Evangelion, but if it's really to be believed that all of the pilots were 14 during the series, then it would actually be starting in December of 2015, after Asuka's birthday. So I'm running on the assumption that it did, and the majority of the series is actually in 2016, and covers their 9th grade.
I would also like to thank Weapon-VII for commenting positively on my direction with Gendo. I also felt that all too often, authors just kept him unchanging. I think that this is a possible path for him, because the original movies proved he was not completely lost.
Oh, and I hope it doesn't take until 2017 for Sega to make Virtual-On 5...
