Disclaimer: I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or The Rebuild of Evangelion.
NEON GENESIS
EVANGELION: SUBSTANCE
Episode 12:
"Tidal Wave Pt. 2"
"Rits! Hold that thing!", Misato yelled while running at top speed. Some of the files she held beneath her arm were blown away, but the Captain didn't seem to care.
Dr. Ritsuko Akagi sighed as her old friend jumped inside the lift at the last second, making the transport shake with her weight.
"I can't 'stop' it. It's not an elevator", she tried to tell Misato while the woman caught her breath after what seemed like a marathon.
Years ago, Ritsuko had found the installation of personal lifts inside NERV HQ curious. Most of the personnel owned cars or used the monorails to move around the Geofront, so the rather crude transport mode was, let's say, out of place.
She blamed the lack of funding.
Nevertheless, it was quite useful for small trips around the pyramid-like structure that was NERV HQ, and since the doctor rarely left the her workspace, she didn't had to use it that much.
Which made Ritsuko question herself why Misato was using them, since the Captain was the proud owner of a expensive/vintage car, a car Misato liked to brag about on NERV's corridors.
"Yeah…right…", Misato tried to say, her hand on her chest as she struggled to breath properly. "Thanks anyway."
"No problem", Ritsuko responded as the lift started to shake and make its way down the dimly lit tunnel. If Misato hadn't been there, Ritsuko considered taking a nap on the way: after analyzing the Angel's body, she quickly went home to feed her cats before returning to work immediately. No time for sleep. "Something happened to your car?"
Misato hugged her folder, steadying her breath slowly with closed eyes. When she was finished, she glanced at Ritsuko, smiling.
"Nah, just forgot my Parking Card at home. Had to leave it outside", she explained, earning a frown from Ritsuko. "That idiot sees me everyday, i'd figure he let it slide this time."
"Just security protocols, Misato", Ritsuko responded with slight reprimand. "If your memory is failing with age, it's not our fault."
Misato groaned. "Yeah, right. We're on the same boat, Rits", she retorted playfully. "So… got anything good from the Angel?"
Ritsuko placed her elbow on the armrest and crossed her legs for comfort. "Nothing revolutionary. The core was mostly useless, but that's to be expected", she said. "As for the body per se, we got some good data on it, especially on the tissue we managed to analyze. The Angels can be a mystery, but no mystery is impossible to solve."
"Hmm, that means you haven't found anything?", Misato asked with a brow raised. Ritsuko was a master when it came to explain things without explaining anything.
"Humpf, of course we did", she retorted, mildly insulted. She wasn't angry, as Misato tended to say such things ever since they met, but any scientist would feel insulted when someone doubted their skills. "Have a look."
Ritsuko opened her neatly organized folder and handed a particular file to Misato. The Captain stared at it for a few seconds, trying to decipher its contents. Not everybody was a genius like Ritsuko.
"Uh, i'm kinda lost here, Rits", she admitted, glancing at the doctor.
The faux-blonde sighed and pointed at a few wave-analysis data written on the paper. "Look: here we have the human DNA wave pattern, as you would already know if you didn't spent that week humping with…"
"Yeah, yeah, go on", Misato waved her hand dismissively, not wanting to bring up that subject.
Ritsuko cleared her throat.
"...anyway, I compared it with the data we got from the Angel's tissue. Notice something odd?", she asked, staring at Misato.
The woman gazed upon the file, her eyes darting from the Angel's to the human's pattern repeatedly. They looked… similar.
"Ritsuko… are you implying that…?", she started, with wide eyes and a look of disbelief.
"I'm not implying anything", the doctor cut her off. "The fact is that, besides a few differences on tissue and matter, human and Angel DNA composition are a 99,89% match."
Misato kept silent for almost half a minute, trying to wrap her mind around it. If Ritsuko was correct, that meant that the most dangerous threat humanity had ever faced was…
A pang of nausea ran through her body, making Misato put a hand on her head. "I… i'm just not sure what that means", she said, sighing.
Ritsuko stared at her friend with a pitiful look. She knew about Misato's… thoughts on the Angels. She had heard the story a long time ago from Misato herself. She wasn't sure if the results from her research were going to affect the Captain, but there was no reason to keep her from it.
"Misato, as of now, that doesn't mean anything. Life evolves in many ways, we are only trying to discover the 'how's' and 'why's'. Don't get upset about it", Ritsuko said, trying to comfort her friend. She was never good at it.
Misato sighed, returning the file to the doctor. Why was she upset? She didn't had full grasp of what NERV knew about the Angels, so she relied on whatever Ritsuko shared with her.
So the Angels had similar composition to humans, maybe even evolved from the same source. So what? That didn't change the fact that they were the enemies, things to destroy and contain for the safety of humanity. If she didn't, something similar to what happened 15 years earlier would happen again. Something even worse.
Misato had vowed to destroy them all. That was a vow she was not willing to give up.
"Yeah", she said, catching her breath. "I know. Whatever they are, or where they came from, it doesn't matter."
Ritsuko nodded, and silence resumed between the two women. Misato occasionally dangled her legs, waiting for the ride to end, while Ritsuko kept analysing her files.
When the lift arrived at the station, both hopped out and started to walk towards Central Dogma, side by side. Misato had seemingly processed the information enough, as she smiled softly while walking.
"Any synch tests today?", she asked the doctor out of the blue. Apparently, she felt the need for conversation.
Ritsuko was not a fan of small talk, but she could bear it in Misato's case.
"Tomorrow. We'll try to synch Rei with Unit-00 again, and make some routine tests with Shinji", she said, before raising a brow and looking at Misato. "I assume you had that talk with him."
Misato snorted, putting her hands on her jacket's pockets. NERV could be chilly sometimes.
"Yeah, don't worry. He seemed to catch the message", she answered.
"I certainly hope so. The damage was minimum, but we can't risk Unit-01 like that again", Ritsuko declared.
Misato huffed at Ritsuko's priorities. "I was more worried about Shinji's safety, Rits."
"The Pilot's safety is important, yes, but remember that the Evangelion is what we spent billions on", Ritsuko said with indifference. "I know you like the kid, but we have to be realistic."
"Yeah, great. We are putting kids on a building sized death machine and we don't even care about what happens to them", Misato complained, not happy about Ritsuko's dismissive attitude.
Ritsuko sighed, understanding Misato's worries, but not wanting to have that conversation right now. She changed the subject.
"How's Shinji, then?", she asked. Misato smirked lightly.
"He's doing good", she answered honestly. "Got back to school, even made some friends there."
"I see. That reminds me: did Mari sign her school papers already?", Ritsuko questioned.
"She did. Supposed to be there at this very moment", Misato explained, suspecting that Mari would skip class. "Weird kid, but seems to take care of herself good enough. Besides, its good that Shinji has another Pilot to talk to."
"Well, there's Rei", Ritsuko suggested mockingly.
"Uh, I don't know. She doesn't seem very… talkative", Misato answered, scratching her head. Ritsuko nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm sure Shinji tried to, but I just can't read what goes on Rei's head."
"Neither do I", Ritsuko lied, glancing away. "Anyway, just make sure Mari doesn't make any moves on Shinji or something. I know that type when I see one."
Misato snorted, nudging Ritsuko with her elbow. "Relax, it's good for Shinji to have someone to talk to. Besides, I heard that there's someone already eying our little Third Child", she said, a sly smile on her lips.
Ritsuko glared at Misato with her brows raised. "Really? Well, that's surprising. He didn't seemed the type."
"Well, that proves you don't know anything about men, Rits", Misato laughed. "Girls go crazy for guys like him: quiet, polite, damn good cook as well."
"I'll take your word for it", Ritsuko said, sighing.
The two women arrived at a familiar metallic door, which opened after a quick card flip. They crossed it and entered the Command Center.
Inside, they notice that both the Commander and Sub-Commander were absent, judging by the carefree nature of the trio of technicians that worked there: Shigeru Aoba wore a pair of earbuds and twirled his fingers on the air, no doubt practicing his yet unknown musical skills.
Makoto Hyuga and Maya Ibuki were both reading: the glass wearing one holding the latest manga magazine and the young short haired girl entranced by some book, no doubt a cheesy romance.
Distracted by their respective hobbies, they didn't even notice the door opening and the two high ranking woman staring at them. Ritsuko cleared her throat.
The trio raised their heads at the sound, and seeing the disapproving look Dr. Akagi was giving them, jumped out their seats and saluted.
"C-captain! Dr. Akagi…! We were just…", Hyuga started, stammering.
"Slacking off", the blonde finished, a serious look on her face. They gulped.
Misato snorted. "It's not like we have much to do as well, Rits. Let them be."
Ritsuko glared at her friend, amused. "Who's 'we', Captain? I still have a lot of work today."
"Really? So I guess you won't accept an invitation for dinner at my place, then?", Misato questioned, crossing her arms.
Ritsuko winced at the thought. Misato's cooking was infamous, to say the least.
"That's right", she said, coughing into her hand.
Misato raised her brows and pouted. "Hmm, I could ask Shinji to cook for us, if you want. He's pretty good", she told the doctor.
"Hah, another one of those qualities you were saying Shinji has?", Ritsuko asked, snorting.
"But of course!", she exclaimed, before turning to the female technician sitting close to her. "Maya, explain to our good doctor the value of a man who knows how to cook", she asked the girl, smiling mischievously.
Maya, on her end, started to blush and stammer. Unbeknownst to Misato, Maya was not an specialist on… well, both things.
"W-well, I…", she started before being cut off by Shigeru Aoba, sitting beside her.
"Nonsense, Captain. Chicks like charm and style", he said in a sure tone, smirking. Aoba's supposed success with women was known, even if questionable. "The Third seems like a good kid, he just needs a little more… advice. Maybe he can turn out as good as I was at his age!"
"Pff, yeah, right", Hyuga barged in, laughing at his colleague and friend. "I remember you trying to impress girls with your guitar 'skills' in high school. Don't remember you actually succeeding on it, though."
"D-dude, shut up!", Aoba exclaimed, frowning. "Just because you never got any action doesn't mean I didn't!"
Misato snorted. "Well, Ritsuko and Maya don't know shit about men, and you two don't know shit about women. What a merry crew we are", she mocked them, leaning on the central console close to the trio.
Aoba shrugged and smirked, confident on his own abilities. Hyuga coughed on his own hand, embarrassed: he wasn't one to contradict Captain Katsuragi. Specially Captain Katsuragi.
"Well Misato, if you're done preaching your B.S., I got work to do", Ritsuko declared, sitting in a chair besides Maya. The girl stiffened slightly.
"Oh, come on Rits! Don't be such a workaholic!", Misato said, exasperated. "We haven't eaten together in ages, it will be fun!"
Ritsuko rubbed her temples, tired of Misato's insistence. "I'm serious, I still have to store the Angel's report and run the MAGI on it. And trust me: someone needs to oversee the process, or else…"
"Uh, Dr. Akagi?", Maya barged in, raising her hand with an innocent expression on her face. "I… I can do that for you, if you want."
Ritsuko turned to her protégé with wide eyes, surprised by her sudden voluntary attitude.
"Maya, thank you, but I need to oversee it personally, I...", she started, before Misato rushed in and hugged Ritsuko from behind.
"Yes! Thank you, Maya-chan!", she exclaimed happily. "Come on, Rits! Beer is on the house!"
"Of course it is, you're the only one who will be drinking it", Ritsuko groaned.
The doctor sighed and gazed at Maya, who was looking at her with a soft smile. Well, the young girl was the only one around who was capable of dealing with the MAGI, being her personal student. Besides, that was a good opportunity to test the girl's skills, which were almost at her own level.
Sighing, she nodded. "Okay, fine", she said, as Misato jumped with joy.
"Yes! I'll let Shinji know", she said, grabbing her phone from her pocket.
Meanwhile, Ritsuko turned to the young girl and smiled softly. "Thank you, Maya. Just be careful: the MAGI can take care of itself, but a human hand is essential. Any problem happens, let me know. Just remember we have synch testes tomorrow."
Maya blushed at the trust Dr. Akagi put on her. "Y-yes, Dr. Akagi. I won't let you down!", she said, smiling.
"Hey, what about us?", Aoba turned to Misato, mocking a hurt expression. "No invitation for your loyal crew?"
Misato snorted. "Yeah, not this time. I'm sure you guys don't want to see how small my apartment is", she explained.
When Misato turned away, Aoba nudged Hyuga with his elbow, implying that the glass-wearing technician would very much like to see how small Misato's place was. Hyuga blushed furiously.
"Well, that's a shame", Aoba declared, sighing. "Oh, and Dr. Akagi? Take pictures, please."
Ritsuko and Misato ignored the comment, but Maya Ibuki punched Aoba's shoulder with all her strength, making the long-haired man whimper in pain.
Thinking back on the matter, Shinji realized that Mari's presence at school was not that surprising: she was the same age as him, after all, meaning that the girl also attended school. He had no problem with it, of course: she seemed nice enough, even with the weird nickname she had given him and her obnoxious behaviour.
That said, he didn't expect the girl to be assigned to the same class as him and, to top it all, sit right in front on the boy. Her arrival had been met with awe (by many boys) and distaste (by some girls), though it was unintentional from her part: her foreign appearance caused quite the stir on class, with people whispering here and there, some wanting to know more about the new 'hot' student. It seemed that any new arrivals on Tokyo-3's school were subject of much discussion, Shinji mused.
Mari, on her end, seemed to ignore the looks the whole class were giving her, simply sitting on her desk humming casually.
After the initial shock caused by Shinji and Mari's apparent acquaintance, the class started to brew other theories about the girl. Among them, they suspected that she was another Evangelion pilot, a theory strong enough to make someone send a message to her personal laptop, similar to what had happened to Shinji.
Mari heard a beep on her computer, perking up and widening her eyes.
'Are you a pilot too?', the message asked.
Mari grinned, turning to Shinji behind her. "So they already know you're a pilot, puppy-boy? Geez, how careless", she said, mockingly clicking her tongue in disapproval.
Shinji scratched his head, embarrassed. "Well, I didn't knew what to do, so I was honest", he explained. At the time, he judged that telling the truth was the best idea. He didn't knew the gravity of the consequences.
Mari snorted at his explanation. "Heh, don't worry. People would find out eventually", she said, before turning back to her screen, a sly smile on her face. "Now, let's see what I can do…"
After some quick typing, she hit 'enter' and the message was sent. A few rows behind them, a group of boys read the message:
'Maybe. But if I was, I would ask NERV's security to do something about people snooping on the pilot's classified information, right? Maybe some of you won't be coming back to school tomorrow, nyah (*ΦωΦ*)'
Mari heard a laptop being closed quickly and some students on the back adjusting themselves on their seats, looking straight ahead and sweating profusely. She snorted and put a hand in front of her mouth, suppressing a laugh.
Shinji felt someone poking his shoulder, turning around to see Toji and Kensuke leaning on him rather closely, frowning.
"Dude, you know her?", Toji asked, whispering intensely.
Shinji glanced at the back of Mari's head in front of him, before turning to his friends. "Well… yeah. She's a pilot too. Just don't go spreading that around", he explained.
"What?", Kensuke almost yelled, immediately earning a 'shhh' from Hikari, a few chairs ahead. He cowered behind Toji and lowered his tone. "Are you serious? We saw another robot on that fight, you mean that she was piloting it?"
"Listen, I can't talk about it", Shinji said, sighing. "Just ask her, if you want."
"Ask what?", a voice came from behind Shinji.
Turning back, the boy saw a smiling Mari leaning on him even closer than his friends, startling the trio with her sudden appearance.
"Uh, I…", Shinji stammered, before pointing at his friends. "They were asking some stuff about you."
Mari directed her look towards the two boys behind Shinji: she wasn't very impressed. The tall one seemed like a regular jock, wearing a blue jacket and a frown on his face. The other one was clearly some geek, looking flustered as the girl leaned towards them. His glasses prescription seemed to be a few degrees higher than hers, which denounced his stereotypical nature as a 'nerd'.
But, if they were puppy's friends, that meant they were good people. She extended her hand.
"Name's Mari, in case you didn't get it", she told them, smirking. "And yes, I'm a pilot. As our good puppy-boy here already told you, don't go spreading that around."
Both gulped, before returning the handshake. Kensuke cleared his throat and leaned forth, adjusting his glasses.
"Uh, so… was it you piloting that other EVA when the battle happened?", he asked meekly.
Mari smirked, crossing her arms. "Yep, that was me. But actually, that's not my EVA, it's…", she started to explain, before stopping and looking around searching for a particular person.
She didn't, and turned to Shinji with a brow raised. "Puppy, where's Rei?", she asked.
"Hm?", Shinji mouthed, looking around for any sign of the blue-haired girl. "... I don't know. Didn't see her today."
Mari hummed, scratching her cheek. "Shame. Wanted to talk to her", she said, blowing her lips. She turned back to Kensuke and Toji. "Anyway, for now, I'm just a provisional pilot. I have the same authority as the rest of the pilots, though, so if any of you want some ass-beating, a phone call will do the trick", she said, grinning.
The boys gulped again.
Shinji snorted. "She's just kidding, don't worry."
"Don't spoil my fun, puppy-boy", she said, mocking a pout.
After saying that, she closed her eyes, sniffed the air and perked up involuntarily. She leaned on Shinji, taking in the smell impregnated on him, and smiled.
Shinji, Toji and Kensuke froze at that, their eyes wide in surprise and embarrassment.
"U-uh, Mari…", Shinji started, not knowing what to say. "...what are you doing?"
Mari opened her eyes and glanced upwards, towards Shinji's confused expression. She leaned back, an apologetic smile on her face.
"Hehe, sorry puppy", she said, waving dismissively. "LCL, you know? I just love the smell."
Shinji coughed into his hand. "Uh, yeah, okay, no problem", he said with a unstable smile. Mari snorted and returned her attention to class.
At a distance, many girls (including Aiko Chihiro) glared daggers at Mari Makinami Illustrious.
Toji and Kensuke slapped the back of Shinji's head, insulted by the freakshow presented before them, but secretly jealous. They just couldn't wrap their head around all the attention the pilot got from girls, specially a pilot who seemed to be so meek and unimpressive. Sure, he was a pilot fighting for the survival of humanity, but couldn't he share some of it? 'Even some from this Mari weirdo would be good', Kensuke thought, sighing.
When they trio returned their attention to class, Shinji couldn't help but laugh weakly and look at the back of Mari's head. She was a weird girl, that's for sure, but it felt nice to talk to someone who shared his piloting duties. Even with her odd behaviour, she seemed nice enough, if not a bit obnoxious.
Before coming to Tokyo-3, the boy couldn't say he had many friends. Sure, he had some acquaintances here and there, but no one he could call a true 'friend', as his hobbies weren't very common for a boy at his age: playing the cello, reading, taking walks around town. No one was rude or anything, but he usually kept to himself, only talking a bit with some friendly colleagues. They seemed to understand his need for space, fortunately.
But here, he felt that he enjoyed talking to Kensuke and Toji. While the geek was a bit nody sometimes, especially concerning NERV matters, he was a nice guy, and tried to share some of his interests with Shinji (mainly manga and video-games), to a moderate degree of success. As for Toji, they both knew were they standed, and after that talk in front of the grocery shop, they began to share a casual friendship, talking about school and girls more than giant robots and hurt sisters. Shinji was thankful for that.
Lastly, Mari Makinami Illustrious seemed to enjoy his company, enough to sit right in front of him. He could see how they had things in common: both being EVA pilots, she apparently knew much more than him on that subject. But strangely, she didn't seem to talk about that matter with him that much: on that, she was similar to Misato. Whenever they had talked (two or three times) she seemed to be more interested in just making conversation with him.
She was genuinely a nice person, even with her quirks. Shinji liked that.
After the conversation died, Mari returned her attention to the class around her: the elderly teacher lecturing lies about Second Impact, the class casually ignoring him, whispering and gossiping all around. Some people still gazed at her, thinking she wasn't noticing. They were wrong.
Mari smirked. So this was Code 707, huh? All the Pilot Candidates piled up in one classroom. The 'Marduk Institute', or whatever lies NERV told about the supposed organization that chose pilots, seemed to have an easy job: just putting them in the same room for safety.
One easily placed bomb, and all the pilots in the world would be dead. How stupid.
Of course, there was no threat of any kind: Section 2 would take care of NERV's pilots. They were too precious to be careless about.
And by 'precious', Mari thought, I mean 'investment'.
Gazing at her left side, she saw an empty seat by the window. Rei Ayanami sat there. She sighed again, disappointed: she really wanted to talk to the girl a bit more.
'I want to see what makes you tick, Blue', she thought, smirking.
The bell rang at high noon, and all students rose from their seats, ready to leave the classroom and eat an well deserved lunch.
Hikari Horaki, sensing the rudeness from the class, rose as well and yelled:
"What are you doing? Bow before leaving!", she told the class with a surprising amount of intimidation.
The class groaned and obeyed, before taking off.
"Hey, puppy-boy, where do we eat?", Mari questioned Shinji as he left the room, accompanied by Toji and Kensuke.
Surprised, Shinji scratched his head, thinking. "Well… we usually eat on the courtyard", he explained, before pointing his thumb over his shoulder. "You want to eat with us?"
Mari grinned, slapping Shinji's shoulder lightly. "Sure do. Just need to buy some food first", she said.
At that, Toji and Kensuke frowned in disgust. "Uh, I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Mari raised a brow, confused. "Why, jock-boy?", she asked.
"Well, because the… what?", he exclaimed, exasperated. "Jock-boy?"
As Mari and Shinji snickered, Kensuke barged in, trying to finish Toji's explanation: "What we mean is that the last guy who ate school lunch was… well…"
"He spent the entire day throwing his guts out on the toilet", Toji told them, still frowning at what Mari had called him.
Mari mouthed an 'oh', before putting a hand on her chin.
"Well, I'm screwed, then", she said, sighing.
Shinji thought for a second, looking at the lunch he was holding: rice and eggs. He had carefully put them inside a bento box, but had accidentally put too much. This gave him an idea.
"I can share mine with you, if you want", he told Mari, holding the box in front of him.
Mari turned to him with eyes wide in surprise. She smirked at him, nudging his side with her elbow.
"What a gentleman, puppy-boy!", she said, laughing. "I get what Misato was saying now."
Shinji snorted and blushed lightly. "Yeah… thanks."
Toji and Kensuke groaned at the delay.
"Hurry up, will ya? At this rate, someone stole our spot already", he growled, earning a snicker from Mari.
Rei Ayanami left the black car, closing the door behind her. The driver took off without a word, leaving the girl alone in front of the school.
Walking slowly and gripping her bag on her hand, she made her way through the gate and entered the building.
It was past midday, so she had only the afternoon classes to attend, including Physical Education. She enjoyed that class: it was the opportunity to swim on the large pool they had at the school. The feeling of cold water running through her body while she darted through it was one of the few experiences she treasured.
Inside the locker room, she place most of her material on one of the boxes, keeping only her swimsuit inside the bag. She closed it and left.
It had been a tiring day: accompanying the Commander at the research site took a lot of walking, so her legs were a bit sore. She remembered how both him and the Sub-Commander were entranced by the Angel's body, a creature so large that they had to build multiple tents only to cover it.
Rei was not interested in such matters. If the Commander ordered her to learn more about their enemies, she would do so.
Arriving at the courtyard, she could see many students scattered around, eating and chatting while they could: break time was almost over. As she walked along, some of them glanced at her without turning, interested in the late blue-haired girl's arrival. She ignored them: as of now, she desired only to eat her lunch and attend her classes.
As she walked, she saw something in the corner of her sight: someone waving.
"Hey, Blue!", a voice called. "Come eat with us!"
Turning sideways, Rei saw a group of people sitting by a large tree, one of the few on the school's courtyard.
As she recognized them, she slightly raised a brow, surprised by two thing: Pilot Makinami was at her school, dressed in a uniform similar to her's. She had changed her hair: instead of twin pigtails, she now wore it in a bun, with a few bangs on both sides of her face. She smiled intently at Rei, waving and indicating that she wished her to join them.
The other thing was her company: Pilot Ikari was there, as well as two boys from her class. One of them was Kensuke Aida, along with Toji Suzuhara, eating from a bento and sitting right next to Ikari.
She didn't understand: Suzuhara had hurt Ikari physically, so it was strange to see them eating together. Had they solved the matter while she was gone from school? She remembered hearing about their presence at the Fourth Angel's attack, but nothing else.
Maybe they were friends now. This satisfied Rei: it was foolish to fight over such meaningless matters. Pilot Ikari was not at fault for any accidents that had happened previously.
She hesitated for a second, before approaching the group.
"Ayanami", Shinji greeted, smiling. "Good to see you."
Rei stared at his smile for a few seconds. Why was it that he smiled when seeing her?
"Pilot Ikari, Pilot Makinami", she greeted back, nodding at the other two boys as well. They raised their hands, mouthing a 'Hey'.
"Come sit with us, Blue", Mari called her, patting the ground besides her.
Rei reflected on it for a few seconds. She had only a few minutes to eat, and figured that if she exchanged conversation with a large group, she would only be delayed.
But if she didn't, she would have to find another eating spot, and take the same amount of time doing so. She decided to sit beside Pilot Makinami, who kept smiling at her.
"So, Blue, where were you?", the glass-wearing girl asked, her full attention on Rei.
Rei opened her bendo, pulling out her share of rice and soup. "I was accompanying the Commander", she simply said.
Shinji glanced at the girl, eating his food slowly. "At the body site?", he asked, frowning slightly.
"Yes, he asked for my presence", she answered.
Shinji nodded slowly, looking away from her with a strange look on his face.
Rei slightly tilted her head sideways, confused. Was Pilot Ikari bothered by her mentioning the Commander?
Kensuke cleared his throat, leaning onwards. "So… anything interesting about the Angel, Ayanami? Can you tell us?", he asked, his eyes sparkling at the prospect of getting any information.
Rei gave the boy a deadpan stare. "No. It's classified", she told the Kensuke, who began to mope in disappointment.
"Told ya, we can't say anything about it", Mari added, snickering. "I've trained EVA Piloting for years and still don't know much about them, so there's that. Figures we would know more about our enemies."
Kensuke put a hand on his chin and began to reflect on this information, while Toji simply sighed and rose from his laid back position.
"Yeah, that reminds me: where are ya from?", he asked Mari. "You don't look japanese."
Shinji lifted his head from his food, perking up. "I'm curious too", he told the girl.
Mari snorted and crossed her legs, looking upwards and scratching her chin.
"Weeell, I'm originally from London, so I'm british", she began to explain. "But I've been all around: America, Germany, any NERV site they needed. Mom was japanese, though, so that's why I can speak it so well", she added, grinning.
Shinji was about to ask about her father, but kept quiet. He wasn't one to pry into her private matters.
Besides, his own experiences with parents made it a touchy subject for him: he didn't knew how the girl felt about her own. Better to not ask anything.
Rei glanced at Mari, paying attention to her story.
"...so when the Angel's started to appear, they sent me here", she said, raising her hands and smirking. "The famous Tokyo-3! A lot better than London or Berlin, I might add."
Toji snorted. "Well, at least there's no monsters there."
"Ah, but that's no fun, is it?", Mari retorted, laughing. "No use for EVA Pilots if there's no Angels."
For a time, nobody responded. Mari looked around, seeing everyone either ignore her statement or look away from her. She didn't get it.
Toji frowned. "Yeah, right", he simply said. If there were no Angels, maybe Sakura wouldn't be at the hospital.
Shinji kept eating his food in silence, staring at the ground. If there were no Angels, he wouldn't have to pilot. Everybody would be safe. Toji's sister wouldn't been hurt.
The jock, noticing Shinji's behaviour, gave him a soft smile, telling him to not worry about it. Shinji nodded, sighing.
Mari looked at Shinji, seeing the boy with a depressed expression. She nudged him with her elbow.
"Yo, puppy, you okay there?", she asked, raising a brow.
Shinji lifted his head in surprise, forcing a smile. "Uh...yeah, sure", he answered.
As the awkward silence crept its way around the group, Mari cleared her throat. Had she said anything wrong? Maybe she enjoyed piloting more than someone normally would, but what was the problem?
Trying to lift the spirits, she turned to Rei, smiling.
"What about you, Blue? Where are you from?", she asked.
Rei glanced sideways at her, still eating. She responded in a monotone, almost a whisper:
"From NERV."
The bell rang. Lunch was over.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Notes: There are waters you should tread gently, Ms. Makinami.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, leave favorite, and, of course, a review. Criticism is welcomed.
See you guys next time.
