Happy New Year everyone. :-)
As always, love and respect to keamoose for kicking my butt and proofreading my work. Very special thanks to Silvermoonlight GJ and jcmoorehead for their feedback and friendship.
Hope you enjoy this chapter.
As always, constructive critiques, reviews and feedback are appreciated.
Kensuke sat hunched over his personal laptop in the NERV cafeteria, crunching some serious code. Minutes of furious typing, a pause, a tap on the Return key, followed by his head popping up and 30 seconds of cursing. He'd been at this for over an hour and things were going nowhere. It wasn't exactly the way he'd envisioned spending his Wednesday night lunch break, but getting to the bottom of this Toji mystery was more important to him than anything. Even calling Hikari.
It was about 8:30pm, but the place was still relatively busy. NERV operated 24/7 and someone was always having a break or dinner or even breakfast depending on their shift. Kensuke had settled in to a 4pm to midnight shift, so this was his meal break. After one particularly long stretch with the laptop, he closed the cover and drove at his food hoping to re-energize himself.
"Thanks Dad," he said to himself, enjoying the leftovers of rumaki, rice balls and and pickled veg. Even though they shared all the chores, Kensuke always preferred his father's cooking. Maybe not having his mother around made any meal made by his dad more special. Maybe it was the real ingredients. Whatever the case, Kensuke was enjoying the food until he hit a particularly vinegary carrot strip. Scrunching up his face, he wiped his mouth and got up in search of a drink.
Pulling out all the ingredients for his famous Study Guide out of the cooler, Kensuke headed for the checkout only to spot Asuka already there. As he came closer, he could hear the cursing.
"Does she always let go like that?" he wondered. His upbringing meant that hearing any woman cursing was a bit surprising, but he was impressed with her stream of imaginative expletives all the same. He also enjoyed the view. Her hair up in a ponytail, what she had on was definitely not NERV-issued. A bright red, yellow and black cropped workout top with what looked like printed claw slashes across the back, paired with black tights, Deutschland in red and yellow running down the outside of the right leg. What really surprised him were the neon pink and green hi-tech runners she was wearing.
"Where the hell is it?" Asuka let out a long sigh and a series of curses that could make a sailor blush. She'd come straight from the running track and had her workout bag slung over her shoulder. She'd shifted the bag in front and was rooting through the contents.
"What's missing?" Kensuke asked.
"My fuckin' prax card." Asuka kept digging, not looking up.
Kensuke looked over and saw a huge tray of food sitting on the counter.
"C'mon, don't make me go back to the…" Asuka was getting really annoyed.
Beeeep.
"Here."
Asuka looked up and saw Kensuke holding her tray in one hand and his prax card against the reader in the other.
"Grab this will ya?" he said, looking at the tray.
"Thanks." Asuka swung her bag to the back and took the full meal.
"No prob." Kensuke snatched up his three cans from the counter and paid.
They walked together and Kensuke stopped to get an oversized cup and straw.
Asuka spied the cans. "So, is that the magic concoction that powered Mari through class Monday?"
"Yup." The pair kept walking til they were at Kenuke's spot. "Join me?"
Asuka saw the laptop. "You're working, I don't wanna bother you."
"Oh, no. That's mine. I'm on lunch and I need a break." He sat down.
"Wait, you're on lunch and you need a break? I don't get it." Asuka sat down across from him.
"It's kind of a project I'm working on. Been at it for a while, but I'm not making much headway. Figured I'd make up some Study Guide and get back at it." He started popping open cans and pouring them into the cup.
"Is that what you call it?" Asuka smirked. "Mari wouldn't shut up when she got home, plus she was up singing and dancing all night long. When I got up in the morning, she was finally starting to wind down. By the time I left, she was out cold on the couch. So, thanks." She took her first bite.
Kensuke stared at Asuka's tray. An inch-thick pepper steak with gravy, sticky pork ribs, a small bowl of boiled potatoes and a helping of pickled veg similar to Kensuke's own. There was also a cup of what smelled like the pickling liquid, plus pads of butter and packets of salt and pepper. To wash it all down was a bottle of water and a big iced Coke. He watched as her knife and fork started making a dent in the mountain of food.
"Uhm, oh, sorry," he clued in. "I mean, sorry about Makinami. Is she OK?"
"Mmm hmm." Asuka finished her mouthful. "She's fine. It's just, I think she was a bit freaked out when she woke up yesterday. She barely made it to sync testing and the rest of the night she was like a zombie."
"Oh, crap."
"Yeah, so no more of those things." She pointed her fork at his oversized cup, then took a healthy bite of the pickled vegetables.
Kensuke decided it would be good to change the subject. "So, doing extra training? It's kinda late for hand-to-hand combat."
"Nah, I'm training for the triathlon in Yokohama next month. It's not exactly the same, but at least I can swim and run and bike," she used air quotes, "on my own schedule. I just need to get myself back in competition shape, so it's good enough."
"That explains the food then," he smiled, "and the outfit."
"Yup. Actually the tights are mine. The top is on the NERV website. It's from the 02 Collection." Rearranging her food Asuka took the cup of pickling liquid, poured some in with the potatoes, and mashed away with her fork.
Kensuke looked very confused.
"What?" Asuka shot back. "They don't have any real German food here, so I have to get inventive. I'm used to sauerkraut and potato salad with vinegar, so ta da! This is the best I can do. Forget about bratwurst or schnitzel or spaetzle..." She started to sound almost dreamy.
"Ahhhhh, I guess I never thought of that. Well anyway, that's plenty of good food and you'll need lotsa protein and carbs. That triathlon has taken down some of the best athletes from around the world. Most do OK in the first stage, but the middle stage really decides the winner. Ever since they extended the course to include the hills in the west part of the region, the bike stage has really kicked people's asses. By the time they start the last stage, most competitors have already used up their reserve. They end up flat on their faces less than halfway home."
Asuka's mouth dropped open. "Don't tell me you've done the triathlon." She tried not to sound insulting.
"Nope," Kensuke smiled, "but I've been keeping stats on the race since I was a little kid. Once I figured out the math I started doing statistical analyses, comparing results before and after the course changes. Add in the competitors vitals and race stats and I think my results are fairly accurate predictors."
"So you do this kinda thing for the whole triathlon series here in Japan?" Asuka asked.
Kensuke took a sip from his cup, "Nope, just Yokohama. I was born there and grew up watching the triathlon every year. My dad is a fan and he started taking me before I could even talk. The math part was just for fun. Later on they added a music festival and this year they're gonna hold tryouts for Japan's Ninja Warrior series. The whole area gets flooded with people for the events, not to mention the beaches. The Ninja Warrior part should be fun but it's nowhere near as cool as the old series. Now it's all people who train hardcore. The original show had average folks dressing up in crazy costumes and acting silly. Folks watched for the weird outfits and wipeouts, which were EPIC. Still it should be fun."
Asuka was intrigued and her ego poked out its head. "Actually, I have a tryout with them if I want."
Kensuke stopped mid-slurp. "Whaaat?" Now he was intrigued.
"Yeah. It's complicated, but the Ninja people offered me a tryout. I filled out an application to confuse Mari about the whole birthday Wrestlerama thing and they ended up wanting me. It's cool and all, but I've been planning for this triathlon since before Mari and I arrived in Japan."
"Sure, I get that. You're committed. Speaking of which, I have to get back to this. Excuse me." He flipped open the laptop cover and scanned the page. "Hmm… hmm… hmm… aha!" He started typing.
Asuka's curiosity was piqued. "Mind if I ask what you're trying to do?"
"Well, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." There was a pause before he chuckled. "Seriously, right now it's all just a lot of boring code."
Asuka's face lit up. "Well, I'm pretty good at debugging code. I can have a look if you like."
"Thanks, I wrote a debugging program and that came back clean. At this point I'm pretty sure it's already outdated for what I'm writing here, so I'm checking the code line-by-line. It's not very long so," he spun the laptop round. "See?"
"Here we go," Asuka thought. "Time to shine." Instead, what she saw shocked her. There on the screen was something she'd never seen, ever. It was like seeing code for the first time. There wasn't even a frame of reference she could use to recognize what he was doing. As for being short - she checked the corner of the screen - "598 lines? Holy shit!" she thought.
"Don't worry. I'll just keep at it." Kensuke recognized her blank stare and spun the laptop back to him.
He was typing away when Asuka pulled out a notebook and began writing. "Have you thought about this?" She slid the notebook over.
He stopped typing and had a look. "Yeah, been there, then I did this. Then this and this. I even tried this. His pen was flying and Asuka was getting worried. When the notebook returned, she looked at the result and decided to backtrack. It didn't take long to realize Kensuke had a gift, and she felt her respect for him grow exponentially. All she could do was smile.
Kensuke looked up from his screen again and smiled back. "Like I said, don't..."
"Teach me!" Asuka interrupted.
"What?"
"Well, at least let me help, please?" She sounded like a kid at Christmas. "What you're doing looks amazing. Totally confusing but amazing too. I've never seen anything like that code and I want to learn. Could you tell me again what it is you're trying to do?"
"I can't believe she's so excited," he thought.
"Well?"
He just shook his head and grinned. "OK fine. I'm looking for something and I haven't found it yet. This is gonna be a tool to help me find what I'm looking for." He didn't want to go into any details yet in case the whole plan blew up.
Asuka listened carefully and started to read between the lines. "So, maybe we could work on this on our free time. You know, away from work and school." She was testing the water to see his reaction.
"That's what I was thinking. Look, I have to get back. I'll see you tomorrow at school, OK?" He got up and walked off.
"Definitely," she called out. "OK, he's up to something, but I have no idea what based on his work," she thought. "Well Asuka, looks like you've got a mystery on your hands." She smiled and went back to her food. "Auugh, cold!" She grabbed the tray full of food and headed to the microwave.
The Data light on the modem was flashing like crazy, the living room dark except for Mari's face lit up by her tablet. Dressed in an oversized green t-shirt with Suck It across the front in a spray paint design and baggy grey track pants rolled up to the knee, she was listening to her favourite mix through big over-ear headphones, reviewing her work. Music always made things flow smoothly for the young Brit. As she bobbed her head to the slow pulsing rhythm, she checked off each task one by one. Everything was just the way Mari liked it, and right now she was laser-focused and feeling great.
"Files downloaded, check. Naughty Kensuke photos located and stored, check. Backdoor to Tiger's connection, open. OK, here we go."
With a few keystrokes, Mari could see everything, all the devices connected to the remote router.
"Let's see, a laptop, her TV… hmmm interesting and… her phone, BINGO!" she almost shouted to herself.
Unsure how much time she had, Mari systematically scanned all the connected devices and downloaded everything.
"Better safe than sorry," she smiled to herself.
Next, she dug into the OS files and dropped in a few surprises, making sure to cover her tracks as she worked. Satisfied with her efforts, Mari turned her attention to the message board where all this started. With a bit of work, she accessed the site's directories and downloaded all the content, making sure to remove the Hikari and Kensuke photos.
"Time for some fun," she said out loud.
Mari pulled together a few pics from the photo booth server and uploaded them to Tigertigertail's original post.
"Impressive what a superuser account will let you do," she grinned, fully satisfied. "Now, Belladonna makes her move."
Hi…
I'm REALLY sorry but I haven't been able to raise the money you asked for.
Is there anything else we can do to avoid the pictures getting out? My family would be sooooo embarrassed. I'm sooooo ashamed!
Belladonna
"Short, sweet and pathetic. Perfect! This should get Tiger salivating about all kinds of bribery options," Mari grinned.
As she waited for the reply, Mari opened the folder she'd labelled KHXR and started flipping through her friends' photos. At first there were a few chuckles and a smile or two, but as she got farther in, Mari felt her face getting warmer, her body reacting in that familiar way.
A blip appeared on Mari's screen and the counter for her inbox changed to (1) unread.
It took a moment for Mari to focus but a sly smile crossed her face. The game was underway and she couldn't wait to spring her surprises.
Clicking on the new message, her smile grew wider as she read. "You are soooo easy, aren't you?" she thought.
Well, well. I guess we could work out something, but I'd rather get paid now. If I can't get it from you, there are plenty of companies that will cough up the cash. Thanks for the great content, looking forward to spending all that money. :-D
Next time, keep it zipped and don't be stupid. Enjoy the shame. :-P
T³
"Awwww, she doesn't wanna play," Mari pouted to herself. "Oh well, guess I can start here."
Popping up tabs showing Tigertigertail's router and the website server, Mari zeroed in on the phone and activated the keylogger. Mari watched as her new nemesis started searching for the folder with the x-rated pics.
"That's right, click away sweetheart. You just keep looking and looking." The activity was getting busier on the phone as each minute passed. Mari watched as the phone searching stopped and picked up on the home laptop.
"Nope, not there either," Mari teased out loud. She pulled up a picture of her prey and smiled, imagining the confused look on that angelic face.
To add insult to injury, Mari triggered the surprises she'd planted and watched as the data transfer rates at the router skyrocketed. She knew the laptop and TV would be stuck in an endless loop of popups and known malicious sites the next time anyone loaded a webpage, but it was the phone that made her most proud. Mari could listen in on any conversation and also use it to remotely switch on Tiger's lights and her TV. Just a bit of fun to start, then the phone would up and die at her command.
Mari sat back and sighed, knowing her work was done. The lights on the modem were getting dim and visions of Kensuke and Hikari were flipping through her mind. Sure, they were her friends but it didn't stop her from wondering how...
She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard "Hey you" softly in her ear.
Mari's eyes opened, then went wide. Her face felt so hot she was surprised it didn't glow in the dark. She sat up and spun to look at Asuka.
"Jeeesus, you scared the shit outta me!"
"What? I was trying to be nice and not startle you. It's not my fault you freaked out," Asuka snapped. "Still, it's nice to know I haven't lost my touch," Asuka smiled to herself, flipping on the living room light using her phone app.
"Ughh," Mari groaned, reacting to the brightness. "You know I hate when you do that! Anyway, how's the training going? You're out later than usual."
"Yeah, I couldn't get motivated," the redhead answered. "You know I work out better on my own so I decided to wait until the pool was almost empty. By the time I'd done the swimming, the bike ride, and the run, I was starving, so I grabbed dinner at the cafeteria."
"Lemme guess. Boiled potatoes with vinegar and cabbage? Some giant slab o' meat?"
"Ha, ha, ha," Asuka scoffed. "For your information it was pickled vegetables. You think you're so smart."
"No, I just know you is all. So, you sat in the cafeteria complaining about the food to anyone who would listen, I'm guessing."
"Wrong again dummkopf. As a matter of fact, I've got an interesting story for you. Kensuke was there having dinner, so I joined him. Did you know he's from Yokohama? Plus he's been keeping stats on the triathlon since he was a kid."
Mari's ears pricked up at the mention of his name but she played it cool. "Oh yeah?"
"Oh, and you'll be glad to know I made him promise not to give you any more of his Study Guide. Can't have you bouncin' off the walls like the other night," she teased.
"Knock it off will ya. I already apologized for keeping you up the other night." Mari felt a mix of embarrassment and annoyance.
"I was only joking." Asuka gave her best friend a little squeeze. "I'm sorry." She knew that despite her bold personality, Mari really didn't like to be teased. Asuka had learned the hard way not to go too far, but she loved dancing close to the line.
"So you got some info on the triathlon? Cool." Mari continued to act nonchalant.
"That's not the best part," Asuka started to sound excited. "That boy is some kinda uber coding genius! He showed me some stuff I'd never seen before."
"Wait, back up for a minute. How did you find all this out?" Mari asked.
"Welllll, he had his laptop at the table and we got to talking. He told me he was building a tool to search for something. When I offered to help he showed me the code and…"
Mari froze. "Did he say what he was looking for?"
"Nah, he made some joke about having to kill me but he didn't give me any details. I convinced him to let me help, so we're gonna work on it in our spare time. I gotta tell you, it's a bit of a turn-on that he's better than me," Asuka grinned.
"I'll bet he's discovered the pictures are missing," Mari thought. "That must be it. Maybe I can have a bit of fun with those two, but if he's as keen as Asuka says, I'll have to work fast."
"Helllllooooo. Earth to Mari, come in please."
"Huh?"
"I said, it's a bit of a turn-on. Jeez what's up with you tonight?"
"What? Nothing. Are you serious?" Mari tried to focus.
"What can I say? I like a challenge and this is definitely something I wasn't expecting," Asuka replied.
"Me either," Mari said quietly.
"So, whacha been up to?" Asuka asked.
"Just playing some cat-and-mouse games online. Terrorizing people in general," Mari replied. "Simple stuff, you know. Blackmail, extortion, petty larceny." She grinned.
Asuka just rolled her eyes. "Well my little felon, I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late and…"
"Don't spend all night looking at porn," Mari said in sync with Asuka. "I know."
As soon as Asuka's door was closed, Mari started making fake accounts to contact Hikari about the stash of personal photos.
"Hopefully I can have some fun with those two. Just gotta steer clear of Kensuke online based on Asuka's new info."
Kensuke had just finished his latest report from the Network Control Centre. As the newest member of the team, he'd drawn the 4:30 to midnight shift.
"23:30 No incidents to report." He looked at the line and sighed.
Even though he was well-paid, this wasn't exactly what he called an exciting evening. Mind you, when something did go down what followed was periods of manic activity, followed by root cause analysis reports, reviewing downtime logs and filing more reports.
He scanned his four screens and sat back, bored. Pulling out his phone, he brought up the code editor. In the middle of a line of code, Hikari's chat bubble popped up.
"How's work?"
"Boring, what are you doing up so late?" he messaged back.
"Can't sleep. Stress and frustrated," came her reply.
"?"
"No luck with Toji so far and..."
"Try not to get too stressed. I'm working on something to help us search for info."
":-D" popped up on his phone. He knew her emojis were very cutesy, but he smiled just the same. Ever since the photo booth, he'd been feeling even more attracted to Hikari and not just in the pants.
"I know it can be frustrating," he tapped, "but we should get together with Shinji and see where we are with this. We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise."
There was a long pause as he watched the dots flash on his screen. Finally he saw her response.
"Thanks for that. Actually, when I said frustrated I meant…" There was another pause. Three blushing emojis appeared. "Why haven't you shared the pics? I'd like to look too. ;-)"
Kensuke read the last message a few times, his face looking confused. "? You have the pics," he sent back.
He watched the dots next to her icon pulse and pulse and pulse. "No I don't," was all that appeared.
Kensuke thought back to Sunday. "In the booth… Left the booth. Walked away… Smart ass remark… Walked away….. Train," he counted off in his head. "Nope, don't remember putting in my email to send the photos."
He messaged back and they compared notes until Hikari finally sent an all-caps reply. "OMG! WHERE R THE PICS?"
"Friday, finally." Shinji breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the school week was over for him.
He came out from the darkness of the Chemistry building and waited while his eyes adjusted. Making his way over to the large open green space everyone called 'The Common', Shinji started scanning the crowd. Kensuke had messaged suggesting they meet up to discuss the Toji investigation.
Other students were close by, sitting in groups chatting and laughing. Afternoon classes were done for the most part and this was a popular meeting spot. The sound of music came from all directions as everyone was either reviewing their week or planning for the weekend. Shinji recognized a few people and waved but didn't stop. Even with the therapy and public speaking experience, he still found it difficult to start conversations. He was aware that made him seem like a snob but most folks treated him well, and that was all he needed for now. Scanning the lawn, he spotted Kensuke and headed over.
"Hey."
No response.
Shinji crouched down and eyed his friend. Kensuke was sitting propped against a tree, sunglasses on, his books and laptop neatly stacked beside him. It only took a moment before the snoring started. "Another long night at NERV, then school, no wonder he's out," Shinji thought.
A loud snort from Kensuke snapped Shinji back to reality and a grin started to grow on his face. Carefully, the First Child leaned in to Kensuke's ear.
"Kensuke, we'll have to hurry up, Shinji will be home soon," Shinji whispered in his best Misato voice. "You know I love it when you call me Major." Shinji tried not to laugh.
Kensuke shifted and moaned, "Just five minutes more, OK?"
Shinji kept going. "Oh, you naughty boy. OK, just five minutes more and I promise I'll unlock the handcuffs." He was was almost busting.
Kensuke's eyes popped open as he took a startled breath. Before he could calm down, he heard Shinji. Looking over he saw his best friend, curled up on the grass, laughing so hard his face was bright red.
"I fuckin' hate you, Shinji Ikari," Kensuke muttered, pushing down his sunglasses.
"I couldn't resist," wheezed Shinji, trying to catch his breath.
"Well lay off. I didn't get any sleep and I have to work at 4 today." His grumpiness was coming through loud and clear. "I'll be sleeping through my whole weekend. Hoo fuckin' ray," he cheered sarcastically.
Shinji propped himself up and gave his friend a good look. He definitely looked pretty ragged. "Sorry bub. Really." He saw a faint smile growing on Kensuke's face. "If it makes you feel any better, me, Mari, and Asuka, we've got all-day training, sync tests, and physicals tomorrow. The works. So, Hoo fuckin' ray too."
"Yeah, if it weren't for the free education and the friends I don't think NERV would be my first choice, but whatever." Kensuke managed to smile. "Listen, I've got something to tell you about our little project."
"I figured. What's up?"
"So, last night I ran into Asuka at work and we got to talking." Kensuke explained the conversation as Shinji nodded. "She's really enthusiastic and smart with coding, so I was thinking. We could include her in this plan. I mean, we've got a lot of work to do and we could use the help. She doesn't seem like the type to blab. Whadda ya think?"
"Well, I guess it's OK, but if we bring her in, what about Mari?" Shinji asked. "I think Asuka's great, but I can't imagine her keeping quiet about this with her best friend. I realize this isn't official but we don't need anyone outside of our group knowing what we're doing. I also think Hikari should have final say on this, I mean, it is Toji after all."
"I knew you were gonna say that," Kensuke shifted uncomfortably.
Shinji knew his friend had been struggling with his feelings for Hikari since Toji's death. Every gaming session had included some chat about the situation. He was fairly sure Hikari knew what was going on, but she never mentioned it. Kensuke didn't dump on him, but Shinji thought things had reached a point where his friends were able to hang out without feeling weird or uncomfortable. Kensuke's reaction made him a bit uneasy to ask but he pushed on.
"I thought you guys were getting along fine."
Before Kensuke could answer, they both spotted Hikari making a beeline for them. She came up quickly and stood over them both.
"Hi Shinji." She looked almost as bad as Kensuke.
"Hi. We were just talking about you." Shinji smiled up at her.
She mumbled something, then looked down at Kensuke. "Hey."
"Hey." he looked up and scooted over.
Hikari almost collapsed down next to him.
Kensuke read the look on Shinji face. "We were up late working on the Toji thing, before you jump to conclusions." He glanced at Hikari, hoping she would get the hint.
"Tthhats right, we were," she followed up sleepily.
Shinji knew better than to ask any more questions, so he switched gears. "I've been doing a bit of research and it looks like NERV records don't show anything about Toji since the battle with Yahoel. All media coverage only mentions Unit 00 and Unit 01, or Gendo, Rei, or me. Anything prior to that is locked down tight. I can't get in even with my clearance. They don't have a service record, a copy of his death certificate, nothing. Something is definitely fishy."
"OK, so we know we aren't nuts here. At least that part is good," Hikari reacted.
Kensuke turned to Hikari. "I was telling Shinji about the code I was working on that might help crack the security on the missing info on Toji but," he paused, "I also told Shinji I want to bring Asuka in to help us."
Hikari looked confused.
Kensuke continued, "She could really help with the coding, and it might help to have someone who isn't so emotionally attached involved. This is a lot of work and we can use all the help we can get. Also, we aren't sure what to do about Mari, so we want your opinion."
Hikari thought for a moment. "Look, I know you're both worried because it's Toji, but if you think Asuka can help then I'm OK with it. I'll admit I was shocked and pretty emotional when everything happened at the cemetery, but now I just want to get to the bottom of this. I think we can trust Asuka and I think, if you two agree, we should get Mari to help too. Like you said, we have a lot of work to do."
Shinji and Kensuke both a bit surprised by Hikari's matter of fact answer but it didn't last long.
"Ok then," Shinji announced. "I'll message Asuka and Mari to meet us here."
A few quick taps, then Shinji fell back on the grass, feeling the stress leaving his body.
The other two joined him, and within minutes all three were snoozing.
"Owww!"
"C'mon, we've gotta go! I just got a message from Shinji about meeting with everyone," Asuka pulled her friend along faster than needed.
"I got the same message. That's no reason to pull my arm off!" Mari snapped.
After about ten minutes of wandering, Mari spoke up again. "Do you even know where you're going?"
"Of course I do, it's over…." Asuka looked confused, then annoyed. A minute longer and she looked at Mari, her face like a lost child.
"C'mere," she put her arm around Asuka's shoulder. "It's OK to admit you don't know everything. I promise not to tell anyone." She smiled and gave a squeeze.
Asuka rolled her eyes but was secretly glad Mari understood her so well.
"Honestly though, we've been going here since what, April? And you don't remember the way to one of the most popular places here? I don't know," she teased.
Asuka pushed away, "Remind me again why I like you."
"I'm smart, I'm funny, aaaand you wish you had my boobs?"
"Shuuddup!" Asuka blushed, glancing down at her chest.
"Over there. I think that's them," Mari ran off across the lawn.
Asuka came after and pulled up next to her friend.
"Seriously?" Asuka looked down at the sleeping teens.
"Maybe they got tired of waiting for us? Pfffffttttt…." Mari tried to hold back her laugh.
Asuka nudged Shinji in the ribs with her foot and grinned at Mari.
"Hmmmm?" Shinji mumbled and open his eyes to the redhead looking at him. "Oh, hi Asuka. Sorry." He reached over and smacked Kensuke on the arm.
"Whaaat!?" Kensuke sat up and pulled off his sunglasses. He looked around and saw the newcomers. "Hi Mari, Asuka." He leaned over and tapped Hikari. "Hey, wake up. They're here."
Once everyone was sitting, Shinji explained the situation and the plan to find out what happened to Toji.
Then it was Hikari's chance to speak up. "Would you be willing to help us? Toji deserves this. We all want you in on this, we trust you, but the choice is up to you."
"Wait, so, I'm Toji now. I'm the Fourth Child. I pilot Unit 03. What the fuck!" Mari steamed. She looked at her friends before stopping on Hikari. "I know I'm the new girl but I had no idea." She looked at Asuka, then back at her friends. "At NERV in Europe we only knew about Rei and Shinji."
Asuka nodded.
Mari shook her head and looked at Hikari again. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"It's not your fault. You didn't have a say. If anyone's to blame, it's the Commander," Hikari reassured her.
Asuka moved over and gave Mari a big hug. "You can count on us," she announced to the group.
"Right?" She looked Mari in the eye.
Mari nodded and looked round at the others. "Definitely."
There was almost a collective exhale as the tension was gone. They all sat and divvied up jobs and responsibilities. Shinji and Kensuke shared some more Toji moments while the girls laughed.
It was getting close to 4:00 when Kensuke got up to leave. "Time for work, but it looks like we've got another mystery to solve, gang. Meet you all at The Mystery Machine later," he grinned.
Dead stares.
"Scooby Doo? Anyone? No?" He shrugged and turned to go.
"Wait, can I talk with you a minute?" Hikari got up.
"Sure," he answered and they started off.
Hikari turned back, "Thanks everyone," then carried on with Kensuke.
Once they were out of sight, Hikari stopped again. "Have a look at this email I received from someone called Belladonna."