Notes from GobHobblin: Just a short chapter today. I've been so busy recently, I haven't been able to do the things I want! Thank you all for sticking with it, though, and thanks to those checking in on me!


"This feels tacky," Asuka grumbled, glancing around the room.

"This feels like a karaoke room," Shinji said reasonably. He was watching the screensaver on the main monitor, and casting nervous glances at the very tiny stage with the microphone stand. There were other mikes, for multiple singing partners, but that one single stand, with its single mike, seemed strangely foreboding. He was surprised to find himself gradually agreeing with Asuka in regards to standing in front of other people and singing….

It then occurred to him that all three children were sitting on the same couch, in the exact same pose: rigid, knees together, back straight, and hands planted firmly in their laps. He snickered in amusement.

"Hey…" he began.

"What!?" Asuka snapped. He glanced at her, then glanced to his left. Rei was studying him inquisitively.

"Ah…nothing. Nothing at all," Shinji murmured. They continued to sit silently. No one made any move toward the microphone, and the tension began to rise.

"Well…go up, Rei," Asuka muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"You wanted to do this. Get up, sing a song, and let's leave."

"We should each sing a song," Rei reasoned. "That's how karaoke works, I believe."

"I disagree," Asuka grumped.

"Rei, why don't you start?" Shinji suggested cautiously.

Rei approached the stage slowly, passing the table in the center and studying the touchscreen next to the stage. After a moment, she reached up and tapped it. Then again. Then again. She cocked her head, then tapped the screen again. The word Somewhere flashed up on the screen. Rei turned and studied it as the song began playing.

"You're supposed to sing into the microphone," Asuka said.

"I don't know this song," Rei said.

"Then why did you pick it!?"

"I'll know it after I hear it," Rei explained, and waited patiently. Asuka scoffed and crossed her arms, and Shinji read the words along with Rei, listening to the instruments, the melody pitched to what the singer should follow. It was a very pretty song, but somehow sad. It seemed to suit Rei, in a strange manner. When it finished, it asked if it should play again. Stepping up to the platform, Rei tapped the screen and picked up the microphone.

"How far should I…" she said into the mike, and the voice thundered in the room, making Shinji and Asuka jump. She held it a little further from her mouth. "Here?" The voice sounded much more natural.

"I think that's the right distance, Rei," Shinji said. The blue-haired girl nodded, pleased, and waited for the lyrics. Once the first set popped up, she began singing.

"Somewhere in the world, somewhere in the dark, I can hear a voice that calls my name…." As one, Asuka and Shinji sat up and stared at Rei. She was…very…very…good. Her voice was soft but sure, precise in the notes that it hit. There was no inflection at first, but gradually, as the song went on and she became more comfortable, the words lilted, and the tune drifted through the air. Through them.

She reached the refrain: "Feeling bitter and twisted all along, wading through an empty life too long…." By this point, the voice was strong and moving, and so odd coming out of the calm, blank girl that Shinji and Asuka cocked their heads and squinted in bewilderment. The song flourished, and drifted, and ended. Rei blinked for a moment, then replaced the microphone on the stand.

"That was a nice song," she said. "It felt like something I understood."

"That was…great!" Shinji gasped. "I…that was…I mean…well, tell her, Asuka!"

"…It was…it was…uh…." Asuka stumbled, and turned red. "It was…all right. Sort of. I mean, I've heard better, but…I've heard worse, too."

"That's ridiculous!" Shinji protested. "She was fantastic! Rei, you were fantastic!" Rei smiled, just barely, and her cheeks warmed.

"Oh, stop gushing!" Asuka mumbled. "It's making me sick."

"I bet you couldn't do better!" Shinji dared. Asuka made a fist, and her face snarled up. Shinji, in that moment, actually did not feel afraid. He felt pleased. He knew he had issued a challenge to Asuka that she could not let die, and he smirked internally. He couldn't wait to see how Asuka tried to retort.

"Why don't you show me how to do it, then!?" Asuka screamed, whirling on Shinji. His mouth dropped open, and he felt a fleck of spit on his cheek. He did…not…expect her to respond like that. He glanced nervously at the stage.

"You…you…you were the one who was saying—"

"No! Please! Show me how to do it! You and Rei are the experts after all!" Asuka raged, flinging an arm at the stage. "Go on!"

"I would like to hear you sing, Shinji," Rei said quietly. Shinji jerked his head towards her in betrayal. She was trying to be supportive, but she had supported the wrong cause. Stammering, he stood like a man walking to the gallows, and stepped up to the stage.

"Uh…um…okay. Let's see…I…well, I don't know any of these songs," he mumbled, flipping through them.

"That one," Asuka snapped. Shinji held his finger above the touch screen. The song was called A Cruel Angel's Thesis.

"That one?" he asked, confused, glancing up at the screen. The words were displayed on the main monitor. "He-hey! Wait a minute, you can't make me come up here and then pick my song for me!"

"I like the sound of the title," Asuka said smugly. "Sing it."

"I'm curious, too," Rei said.

"But…eh…all right, okay. Um…." He hit play and stepped up to the mike. The song began slowly, and the lyrics appeared. The melody would be high for a male, but Shinji found it comfortably within his range. "Uh…zankoku na tenshi no you ni," he began in a quivering voice, but he still felt relieved. This seemed a nice, easy melody to follow. "Shounen yo shinwa whoa that went high," he mumbled. "Uh…reeee." He experimentally pitched his voice up to match the note, as Asuka covered her eyes with a hand in despair. He reached the pitch, which actually was high for him, just as the song kicked into overdrive.

"W…wait, wait," he stammered as the beat increased to a faster tempo than he had anticipated. He tumbled into the first verse and fell over the chorus. He tilted and limped through the song, sweating bullets the entire time. In his ears, his voice jilted and wavered, surging back and forth like a dying animal. It didn't feel like he was singing notes, so much as screeching them in terror. Still, there were parts that felt easy and natural to sing.

But those high notes! There were so many of them! His throat and sinuses felt raw, and burned as he tried to keep pitch with the unforgiving pace.

By the end of the song (thank God, it ended!), he was gripping the mike stand with something bordering on frenzied madness. His shirt was sticky with sweat and his skin felt as though it had been pricked by hundreds of tiny needles. His bowels were absolutely aching.

For a few seconds, the only sound in the room was him panting into the microphone, trying to still his heart and the urge to vomit.

And then someone clapped.

Asuka, who had covered her head with her hands, sat up and glared at Rei. Rei was primly clapping, studying Shinji. "That sounded like a difficult song," Rei said. "And you sang it well."

"I don't…I think I didn't…but…." Shinji deflated, and smiled happily. "Thank you, Rei."

"Oh, puh-leeze," Asuka sniped. "You think that was good? It was atrocious. Shinji, don't ever sing again. That was just the worst, thing, ev—"

"It is your turn," Rei said.

"—ffffffff," Asuka finished, one eye scrunching up until it was closed. Her face turned very pink, and Shinji crossed his arms.

"She's right. She sang, and I sang. It's your turn."

"No, it's time to go. We did more than—"

"It's only fair," Rei said.

"No, it's not, because I don't want to sing and that makes it unfair to me," Asuka protested.

"Well, it's fine if you're afraid," Shinji said.

"…What did you say?" Asuka said.

"Is she afraid?" Rei asked, surprised. She had missed that implication.

"It seems like it," Shinji said.

"Stop talking like I'm not here!" Asuka roared.

"It could be that she can't sing," Rei said. "I know that there are some people who can't."

"It might be that," Shinji reasoned.

"…FINE!" Asuka screamed, stomping up to the microphone and pushing Shinji roughly off the stage. She flipped through the songs, squinting her eyes at them. She scrolled through the list of songs before picking one seemingly at random. The title Heart! Return to Your Origin flashed on the screen. She then stood in front of the microphone with her arms crossed, and the nastiest expression on her face.

The opening was a lively, and went on for a bit before the lyrics cut in. When Asuka began singing, it was as much of a shock as when Rei first opened her mouth. She was not bad. She was…she was talented. Shinji felt a little silly realizing he was the worst of the three at singing, but he kept forgetting that at Asuka's strange performance. In spite of the energetic lyrics she sang, she continued to stand stock still, with her feet planted and her arms crossed. The entire…song. No movement, no foot tapping, nothing. The only thing to move was her mouth as she sang. When she finished, she marched off the stage.

"I'mdonelet'sgo," she grunted.

"Why, that was…that was good!" Shinji protested. Rei was standing up and walking towards the stage, to pick another song.

"No, it wasn't, I hate singing," Asuka growled, grabbing her purse and pushing towards the door.

"Wait, wait…Asuka!" Shinji protested, standing to follow her. Rei ignored them, trying to find a song she liked. Shinji stumbled, but managed to catch up with Asuka in the hall. "Asuka, please, wait!"

"I didn't want to do this," she snapped, turning and glaring at him. Shinji was shocked by the expression. It wasn't anger, it was plain old misery. "I didn't want to sing, I didn't want to do this! I told you both and you didn't listen!"

"We did listen!" Shinji protested.

"No! You didn't!" Asuka snapped.

"We can't always do the things you want! This was Rei's day, Rei wanted to do this! Why is that such a big deal?" Shinji said, truly confused.

"It's always Rei, right? Always Wonder Girl, Rei, Rei, Rei, Rei…," Asuka snapped. It was then Shinji said the worst thing he could at that moment.

"You're being unreasonable!" he said. "This is crazy!" Asuka opened her mouth, and no words came out. Just one long, angry screech, forced between her teeth.

"How could you say that to me?" she finally grated.

"I haven't spent time with Rei in a while. We always spend time together! Why is it wrong for all three of us to do something like this?" Shinji asked again, feeling his own anger rising.

"How could you say that to me!?" she screamed again.

"What did I say!?" Shinji yelled back. Rei popped her head through the open doorway.

"I found another song I would like to sing," she said, and disappeared back into the room.

"Is that what you think of me!? That I'm crazy!?"

"I didn't say you were crazy, I said 'this' is crazy!"

"I'm not crazy!"

"I didn't say you are!"

"Excuse me," one of the karaoke bar's staff said, stepping down the hall. "You two need to—"

"GO AWAY!" they screamed in unison at the staffer. He slid to a halt, and backpedaled quickly down the hall. They stared after him, both panting in fury. Slowly, Shinji's tension subsided, and he turned back to Asuka. Her jaw was set, but she was unable to look at him. She quivered a moment.

"I…am not…crazy," she murmured. "I'm…not." Shinji's frustration vented to a sudden feeling of guilt. He was still agitated, but not as strong as it was a moment ago. He reflected on how rapidly this conversation had devolved, and tried to make sense of why Asuka had gotten so angry. He didn't call her crazy. Why would she think that? It made no sense. He wanted to tell her that's not what he had said. He did not say she was crazy. He bit his lip.

At the moment, though…this wasn't about him.

"You're not crazy," he said. "You're not." She gave him a cautious, sidelong glance, her jaw working behind the cheeks. She shook her head. "It's why I don't understand why you're acting like this," Shinji said. "Because you aren't crazy." She closed her eyes and shook her head. Shinji sighed. "That came out wrong, I know it did, and I wish I could say the things…you want to hear me say. I'm trying my best."

"It's not good enough," Asuka grumbled.

"Well, what would be?" Shinji asked. "Nothing's good enough." Asuka closed her eyes and shook her head at that. Shinji felt he had something wrong again, but before he could open his mouth to stick another foot in it, Rei's voice came from the room.

"Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars…." Asuka's eyes fluttered open, and she stared past Shinji. The words were English, and Rei's accent very good. Her voice was more confident with this one than the last song, and crept in between the words and over the notes like sweet honey. Asuka slowly drifted towards the door, gently holding up a hand and guiding Shinji to the side. She lingered in the doorway, and watched Rei sing.

It finished, and Asuka cocked her head. "I…know that song."

"It's one of Comm. Ikari's favorites," Rei commented. "He used to play it for me when I was younger." Shinji swallowed at that, feeling an odd sense of unhappiness at the thought that vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"My…mama liked that song," Asuka mumbled, as if in realization. "I remember her…listening…." She realized she had drifted, and shook her head, embarrassed by the sudden display of vulnerability. She glanced at Shinji, daring him to say something…but he did not. Rei walked over to the phone and picked up the menu.

"It is a very nice song," Rei agreed. "I have never sung it before. It was nice to sing." She glanced through the menu. "Shinji, could you help me find some food items that have no animal products?"

"Yeah, of course," he said. Asuka wandered to the stage, staring at the song title on the monitor. Shinji looked through the menu, and then ordered some snacks and drinks for them. He turned and looked at Asuka.

"Would you like to sing another song?" he asked.

"Nn…no." She mumbled.

"Do you want to pick a song for me?" he asked. She glanced up.

"You'll butcher it," she muttered.

"Rei will like it. And…well, you can make fun of me some more," he suggested. Asuka gave him a weird look. He smiled, and shrugged. "Or…well, there's other microphones. We can sing one together, or…."

"God, you'd drag me down," Asuka said. "Having your ridiculous voice limping along behind me. It'd make me sound worse than I already do."

"You sing very well," Rei said. "I admit, I was surprised." Asuka glared at Rei. She couldn't decide if the blue-haired girl was being sarcastic or sincere, and Rei offered no clues. Asuka sighed…and tossed her purse onto the floor.

"Shinji, get up here. The only way you're going to sound good is if I sing with you. Help me pick a song," she stated. Shinji hurried up to the stage, as Rei settled in place to watch them.

"Any you want in particular?" he asked.

"I don't know," she said. "Just whatever helps the hour to pass."