"Is it ok for us to stay here?" Shinji asked self consciously as they walked into the hot-spring resort. It was built in a classic Japanese style, with a one story hotel backing onto a series of volcanicly heated hot pools. In addition to the main one, there were several sulfur pools that gave off a strong smell. All were interconnected by little paths over the rocky slope. The place was empty in the middle of the week.
"It's ok. NeRV is paying," Misato explained, as Asuka added, "You need to relax a little. You're wound so tight you'll vibrate in C sharp if anybody pokes you."
As Shinji shrugged, not having a response, Asuka continued, "Come on - our rooms are over here." Each one had their own (Hey, it was on NeRV's dime).
Seeing Shinji's lack of enthusiasm, Asuka awaited for Misato to enter her room before adding, "Don't worry - it's all shallow water."
"I know, it's just..."
"You wish Hikari was here? Or is it Rei that you're pining for?"
"I'm not pining, but I feel guilty. Here we are, about to go play at a vacation resort, and Rei is stuck back in Tokyo Three. It doesn't seem fair. At least when we missed out on the Okinawa trip, all three of us had to stay behind. But this feels wrong." Plus, the mixture of piloting (which was a serious, life & death activity) with something frivolous like taking in a hot bath was very jarring. It felt like all the carefully compartmentalized parts of his life had been put into a blender and pureed.
Asuka rolled her eyes, "I'll bring her something from the gift shop. A tea shirt or something, ok? We are the ones that risked our lives, so we rightly deserve the rewards. We earned this." She pushed him towards the guestroom
Shinji shook his head 'no', "Everybody deserves to be happy."
But maybe he could call Hikari, at least - he did have her phone number (Technically, he had Rei's as well, but she never picked up unless the call came from NeRV command staff).
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Shinji leaned back on the cot in the onsen guestroom. "It was pretty anti-climactic - Asuka handled everything." Shinji chatted as he stared at the far wall of the bare, closet sized room. "If I had know that was all I'd be needed for, would have asked to go to Okinawa with the rest of you," he joked. Misato would get come get him shortly, but he wanted to have a normal, non-Evangelon, non-NeRV conversation for a few minutes.
"It's ok," Hikari replied, "are you ok? I mean you both?" Shinji had nonchalantly given her a synopsis of the battle against the Angel, and now she was feeling guilty about having a good time in the sun, hanging out with Touji and the others, while the pilots risked their lives.
"Yeah, Asuka overheated a little, and I fainted. Nothing serious."
"Nothing serious? You need to worry about yourself!" Hikari paused, gathering herself, "I'm glad that you weren't the one that had to go down into the volcano. I know that sounds really selfish, but the last time you had to pilot I was so worried, and there was nothing I could do to help."
"You are helping. I.. " Shinji tried to put his thoughts into words. To explain how there were two of him, and the normal one was getting lost, getting worn away by all the craziness. "There is something wrong with me. There are gaps in my memories. Like the scar on my neck - everybody keeps asking me about it, but I have no idea how it got there. And I know I was living with my uncle, but all of a sudden this summer, I was staying with one of my teachers because Uncle had to go to America. The crazy thing is that I have no memory of him leaving." Words just poured out of Shinji. Even though it felt good to talk about all this, he would never have been able to say all that in person, but the phone provided a layer, a protective barrier. And he knew Hikari wouldn't think he was weird or crazy. "And being around you makes me feel normal, like maybe it's all going to be ok."
Hikari was at a loss how to react. Nobody had said anything like that before. If she had been had been in the room with him, she would have.. She wasn't certain what she would have done. But talking to Shinji made her feel important.
There was a pounding on his door. "Baka, you ready to go down to the pool? Misato and I are already there, and if you don't come soon, you won't have time before dinner is served!"
"Sorry, I have to go," Shinji replied.
"I.." Hikari began, but she had waited too long – the phone disconnected. "I think I like you."
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"Hello Rei," Shinji sat down next to the other pilot, "Do you enjoy reading that?" They had just gotten back from Mt. Asama (by way of the onsen), and he had been on his way to pick up his school stuff from the locker room before heading home when he had decided to act on his concerns from yesterday.
The blue haired teen looked up from the Geofront Operations manual. "I do not enjoy reading it, but I do enjoy knowing the information contained therein." Rei responded "How did you find me?" She had specifically gone to a rarely used break room next to the generators so that she could avoid people. Being on stand by meant that she had to stay on base, but having all the people around was tiring. Here, it despite the noise, it was quieter.
"I asked people. It took a while."
Rei' brows furrowed. Shinji had gone out of his way yet again to be in her company. That was really very foolish. She needed to inform Shinji that he was doing something very dangerous. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She couldn't bring herself to drive him away. It was strange.
"I just want to invite you to a party at my place. With other people."
Rei nodded, "Will you be preparing the food?" She asked. Her face got hot. Again, that hadn't been what she had meant to say. Why could she not speak logically when Shinji was nearby? It was troubling.
"I was planning to. Why?"
"I would like to assist you."
Shinji smiled. "I would like that." A vague memory of cooking with another oddly quiet girl almost surfaced, but then he lost it. Shinji sighed. He hated these weird deja-vu moments. On a rational level he knew that he had never been that close to any girls before Rei and Hikari.
"Then I will be there," Rei replied, looking intently at Shinji.
"Oh, right, I still have to figure out what day I can do it on. I'll ask Misato and let you know. Ok?"
"It does not matter. I will be there."
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"Do both pilots check out?" Misato asked Ritsuko. A med tech had given them a once over up at the caldera, but she wanted a second opinion from Ritsuko – she trusted her opinion more.
"Yeah. I took a look at the charts that you emailed me: Asuka has some heat exhaustion, while it looks like Shinji just fainted from the strain of doing the impossible." Ritsuko took a drag on her cigarette. She looked … pleased. The normally severe scientist was smiling. "All they need is a little break."
"What has you in a good mood? You weren't this cheerful even after we took out the fifth Angel." Misato asked. "Are you just glad Asuka's ok?" She doubted that that was the reason, but she felt that she should give her old friend the benefit of the doubt
"No. Well, it's nice that she survived." Ritsuko gestured with her cigarette in the general direction of the changing rooms, where Asuka was taking a long shower. "No, it's what Shinji did. It should have been impossible even if his sync score was at 100. And you know what that means? That our theories are wrong!"
"And that's a good thing?"
"For a scientist, finding out that a theory is wrong is better than sex." She just wished that she had been there to observe first hand. But Maya had done an exceptional job – she had set up a redundant sensor arrays all along the volcano, as well embedding several in the D-Type equipment, and they had delivered good data, 'that girl was an amazing find – she's turning into a top notch researcher.'
"Well, for a tactician, it makes a mess of my plans. I like to know what I have for resources." Misato sighed, "But the kids did good."
Ritsuko snorted. "Is that why you took them to the onsen? I thought you just want to go there yourself."
"Maybe. But the pilots deserve a break. It was tough on them."
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
That night, Asuka sat in front of her computer as she searched for any mention of 'Third Child', 'Shinji Ikari' or 'pilot of Unit 02'. She needed to know how he pulled off the stunt with the magma. Not that she wasn't grateful (she was) and not because she was jealous (she was) but because a wild card like that could get her killed.
And also because she was jealous.
She went through all the major search engines, but they came up with almost nothing – what little she did find only peripherally mentioned him as either the child of Yui Ikari, a brilliant neuroscientist (deceased), or of Gendo Ikari, director of NeRV (scary bad-ass). But it did make for fascinating reading: She had never realized that Shinji had such a dysfunctional family. It was almost as bad as hers, before her mother had snapped, and Asuka had had herself declared an emancipated minor.
She even tapped her NeRV pilot salary to pay for the right to search all the Japanese papers' online archives, many of which were behind a pay-wall.
Finally, around 3 am, the Kamakura Crier came up with a hit. Asuka read the article. She was half asleep, so when she finished, she read it again, to make sure she understood. She pulled up the background information on Shinji that she had obtained in Germany and skimmed it frenziedly. "Fuck. It matches."
She collapsed onto her bed, not certain what to think.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Motomu Kamiya was having a bad day. He gently rubbed his bruised arm. There was no way that his NeRV salary would cover the gambling debt.
When he had explained that to Mr. Nakamura, the soft spoken giant had helpfully offered to cancel his debt in return for a favor. And in case he wasn't convinced, he had not-so gently crushed his arm.
Thank goodness he could use his Section Two clearance to find out the First Child's address. And better still, she didn't even have an assigned guard.
He was glad that all Mr. Nakamura had asked for was a little bit of Rei Ayanami's genetic material - it could have been a lot worse..
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"Welcome back!' It was the Monday after the school trip to Okinawa – the one that the pilots had not gone on. Shinji had arrived early as usual, and he had made a point of greeting Hikari when she walked in a few minutes later, a fresh box of chalk and a stack of printouts in her hands.
"Thanks. I feel really bad that you couldn't come." Hikari beamed, "But at least you got to go to a onsen. Was it fun? My family went to one once when I was little."
"Kind of. Except there was one point where Asuka..." Shinji began when Rei walked in.
"Asuka jumped into a volcano." Rei monotoned as she joined the other two.
"Wait, what?"
Shinji made placating motions with his hands "She didn't jump - she was lowered carefully, to retrieve the Angel chrysalis. In her Evangelion. I told you about this when I called. She's fine."
"Yes. The attempt was a failure."
Shinji looked oddly at Rei. The first child appeared as quiet and withdrawn as normal. But there was something… off in her demeanor. It was almost playful. "Anyway, I was saying to Rei earlier that I want to have us all get together for dinner. I feel bad that I have been so busy with everything that I haven't had time to get together with you guys.
"Oh, that's very nice. When are you planning on it?"
"How about tomorrow?"
"Ok, that sounds great. Who else is going to be there?"
"You and Rei. When I mentioned it to Misato, she said that she would invite some of the bridge staff as well.
"Oh. In that case is it ok if I invite Touji?" Hikari blurted.
"Touji?"
"We hung out a lot while at Osaka." Hikari looked down at her hands awkwardly, "He's actually a lot nicer than his gruff exterior would have you believe. His sister is in the hospital, so he's been really stressed out lately. I think this would be a nice thing to do for him."
Shinji glanced at Rei, feeling lost.
Rei nodded. "That will be acceptable." Touji was an irrelevant sack of meat. "But he should arrive at the appointed time, not before."
"Yeah, Touji is more into eating food than preparing it," Hikari giggled.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
That afternoon, Shinji trooped back to the Geofront. It was Tuesday, the day he usually had off, but Dr. Akagi wanted to run some additional tests, to see if she could replicate what had happened on the mountain.
Getting into the simulator test plug all by himself was oddly lonely, 'I guess this is what Rei always has to deal with during her extra sessions.'
"Ok, Shinji. I would like you to act exactly the same as at the volcano" Ritsuko turned on the video feed, showing a recording of the Mt. Asama..
Shinji tried visualizing Eva, and having her carry out the same attack.
"Hmm," Ritsuko watched the data. "Are you doing anything different?"
"No, I am trying to concentrate like I did back then." Shinji wasn't about to explain the whole 'Eva' thing to Dr. Akagi. He didn't want her dissecting him or something.
"Try varying what you're visualizing."
For the next half hour, Ritsuko tried out various scenarios, which meant very little to Shinji - he just floated and concentrated on Eva carrying out various manga-like attacks. The only time there was a change was when Ritsuko tried adding nicotine to the LCL to induce stress. But all that happened was that Shinji's heart started beating like a trip hammer, but his sync score didn't budge off of the baseline. After that, with still no results, Ritsuko told him to eject.
"Sorry. It's not the same if I'm not in actual combat. I don't now what happens, but my brain switches over somehow." Shinji guzzled the cup of water, trying to get his heart to calm down.
Ritsuko nodded, rubbing her chin and watching the boy like a laboratory rat as he walked out the door.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Lt.. Commander Fuyutsuki handed the report to Gendo and then turned to examine the art hung upon the wall to give his former student some privacy while he finished reading it. Not that Gendo would care even if he stood behind him, reading over his shoulder, but the Lt. Commander was meticulous in all aspects of his life, and that included being polite.
"There are anomalies."
The older man turned back to face Gendo. The commander, as always, had his hands stepled in front of his face as he leaned his elbows on his massive desk, giving him an introspective look. It was all part of a presentation that he had he cultivated as a counter for a youth spent on pugilism and other pursuits that tended to not impress potential donors.
"Yes. The 'patch' is not exactly as the 'cloth'. But overall, Shinji is performing adequately, and she accepts him." Discussing this always made Fuyutsuki extremely uncomfortable. It called into question his core beliefs. But as one of only three people who knew the full extent of the 'patch' or the 'reconstruction' (or whatever euphemism that they felt like using that day) he had to help monitor it. "But for how long?"
"Long enough, though we may have to make adjustments to emotionally isolate him. Possibly detain him in the geofront and set Rei to watch over him." Seeing the Lt. Commanders frown, Gendo sighed, "You know why this is necessary. You read over the scenario. The more emotive contact he receives, the higher the chance of a deviation. He is our lever for controlling Instrumentality."
Fuyutsuki frowned at the dispassionate analysis of another person, especially a child. The fact that said child was one of their only tools for preventing the destruction of the human race made their manipulations necessary, but no more appealing.
"Do you object to me evaluating him?
Gendo gestured as if to say 'knock yourself out'. "As long as there are no deviations."
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"Hey kids, make the food extra fancy - we're celebrating Misato's promotion as well as everything else!" Ritsuko called out loudly enough to be heard by the teens. She and Misato were chatting in the living room area while Shinji, Hikari and Rei were working in the kitchen. Asuka was hiding in her room.
Misato had agreed to the party, and even volunteered to buy some pizza, but Shinji had wanted to cook part of the meal - that was where the fun was.
"So, they seem to be getting along pretty well. I am a little surprised, as I know Rei can be difficult to interact with." Ritsuko nodded towards the kitchen as she turned back to her friend.'Neither the First nor the Third is behaving according to the expected model. Gendo will need to be informed - Shinji is far more gregarious than he is supposed to be, and Rei is much too calm. She should be a bundle of barely restrained blood lust with this many people in close proximity.' Rei's deviation was actually a pleasant surprise, but Shinji's could play havoc with the Scenario (She wasn't supposed to know about this, but screwing your boss had its perks).
"Yeah, I'm a little surprised. Shinji was so withdrawn when he first arrived in Tokyo 3. But I guess he was just shy. He's still not very social, but he gets along pretty well with his two friends. Of course, it probably doesn't hurt that they're pretty girls" Misato leered.
'At least one of them is,' Ritsuko glanced at Rei, calmly chopping vegetables a few paces away from Shinji. And not knifing him. 'Maybe having her attend school with everybody else was the right decision.' "Does everything have to be about sex with you? You need to get a boyfriend." This was not the first time Ritsuko had raised this topic, but this time, she had a plan.
"Yeah, that's not likely to happen. Unless you haven't noticed, but this job takes 110% of your time."
"Yeah, saving the world is a full time job." Ritsuko took a sip of her beer.
"I would have described it as killing the Angels," Misato growled out.
"So, have you spoken to Kaji lately?" The blond scientist quickly changed the topic to sidestep the emotional mine field that was Misato's father's death during Second Impact.
"What's this about Kaji?" Asuka plopped down onto the love seat opposite them.
'Just when I finally set up the conversation...' Ritsuko sighed. Kaji was being a pain, hanging around, flirting with Maya (and sometimes her). Having him hook up with Misato again would make both of them more tolerable – they would then spend all their free time sucking face like in college, giving her time to work.
"Don't you want to be with the others?" Misato jerked her head towards the kitchen.
"Pfft, no. I don't cook. Besides, I'd rather be here with the rest of the adults."
Ritsuko and Misato exchanged an amused look. Asuka scowled but let it slide. "Incidentally, what's the deal with the scar around Shinji's neck?" She asked quietly.
This time the look that the two women exchanged was not amused, "If you want to know, you should ask him."
"But that's the thing – he says he has no memory of it," Asuka was leaning forward intently, fishing for details to confirm what she had read on-line.
Hikari broke out in giggles at something Shinji said (though by his confused look it wasn't clear if he knew what was so funny). Ritsuko scowled 'that is definitely going to be a problem'.
After the interruption, Misato repeated, "You're going to have to ask him. Though I would wait until you can talk privately, as it sounds like he doesn't want to talk about it publicly."
Before Asuka could reply, the doorbell rang. Shinji rushed over to let in the three bridge techs.
"Oh, hello, Sempai. I didn't know you would be here." After greeting their host, Maya drifted over to the cluster of people around Ritsuko, a bottle of wine forgotten her hands. Asuka took that as her cue to retreat - it was clear that she wasn't going to get any information from those two, at least not when there was an audience.
She frowned, watching the socializing groups as she stood partly obscured in her doorway. Trespassers, the lot of them. She like people, but the apartment was her territory, and she didn't appreciate complete strangers wandering around it. As Shinji walked by she grabbed him by the arm to give him a piece of her mind. "I see you invited everybody who crossed your path."
Shinji's face fell, "You said you didn't mind if I had a party here."
Asuka rolled her eyes, "I thought you would invite just your cooking buddies, not random NeRV staff. I am surprised that the two stooges aren't here."
A moment later, the door opened again. "Hey, guys," Touji walked in, followed by his wingman, Kensuke. "Thank for inviting us!"
Asuka facepalmed. "Oh, wonderful. The jock and the nerd. Now we have the complete set."
Shinji winced. He knew he had forgotten something. He quickly pulled her into her room and shut the door so he could whisper, "Oh, right. I forgot to tell you that Hikari wanted to invite Touji - he's had a rough year."
Asuka smiled, "That's ok. Now I can tell my friends that I spent the evening with all of the school's losers. The Nerd, the Jock, the Dweeb, the Doll and the Twat. If you were playing cards it would be a full house." Shinji hissed in horror. He glanced over his shoulder to where Hikari was welcoming their schoolmates. Thankfully, Asuka had replied in a whisper as well .
"Don't ruin this."
"Oh, don't be such a spineless dweeb. Of course I'm not going to say that where they can hear it. But just so you know, I am NOT happy, and you WILL be punished." Asuka pasted on a fake smile and headed back out towards the living room. She wasn't going to let anybody think that she was some sort anti-social loser.
As they walked by, Kensuke already had his camera out and was recording everything."But why did you have to invite the Otaku?" Asuka sighed in exasperation. "He doesn't have the emotional depth to have had a 'rough year'"
"He overheard me inviting Touji, so I couldn't very well say no." Hikari replied as she walked up, a platter of food in her hands.
"Actually, yes, you could have! It's a short, one syllable word. You should practice it - you'll need it once you get to college." Asuka snapped, 'especially with a chest like that', "There was absolutely no reason to... Kaji!" She broke off as the perennially rumpled Ryoji Kaji came in, carrying a cooler.
"Thanks for inviting me, Rits. I brought the punch!"
Asuka's face lit up, "ok, this party might actually not suck."
Shinji rolled his eyes, causing Hikari to giggle again.
"I don't see what is amusing, representative Horaki." Rei asked. Maybe Asuka approved of this situation, but she did not - not only were there far too many people present, making it difficult for her to control her instincts, but Hikari had been monopolizing Shinji, making it very difficult for her to interact with him.
"It's not what Asuka said, it's how she said it. She's such a child."
Asuka was half way to the living room, where Kaji as setting up the punch bowl, when she turned back. "I can hear you, you know. I was created to have superior hearing." Misato was hovering next to Kaji, so there really was no point in going there anyways. Not until Misato got plastered, at least.
Shinji sighed. At least nobody was trying to start a fight. With his (volatile) friends, Shinji had learned to lower his expectations. He glanced over as Touji wandered over to Hikari. A trickle of … something penetrated his usual sense of detachment. Most days, he still felt like he was interacting with the world though an insulating layer. But there were moments when the plastic mask and oven mitts were stripped off. This moment was one of them. Watching Touji leaning over Hikari... It made him uncomfortable. More than uncomfortable - for the first time that he could remember, he found himself getting annoyed. 'Touji is way too pushy.'
But after a tense few minutes (as the disparate groups got used to each other), people started mingling and Shinji had a few moments to watch Touji chat with Hikari. 'She doesn't look upset.' Maybe he should give the jock a chance as well. He walked over. "So, how is basketball?" He asked, gritting his teeth for the inevitable deluge of pointless information.
Asuka just snorted at the insipid conversation, "You want me to get you some punch? How about you, Rei? You ever have punch"
"No, I.."
"Come on, I'll get you some." Asuka led the the other girl towards where Misato was still chatting up Kaji. Asuka gave an evil grin. Now that she had a wingman all she needed was a strategy to get Rei to deflect Misato. Failing that, she would convince Rei to have some punch. She was fairly certain that Kaji had spiked it, and it would be amusing to see a drunk Ayanami.
Meanwhile Shinji continued to periodically run back to the kitchen, bringing out more food. Finally, he slipped the last of the appetizers onto a plate and turned off the stove. "It's getting really crowded," Maybe too crowded – Misato had turned on some music, and there were multiple conversations going at the same time.
"Oh, I think it's nice," Hikari had never been to a house party before – it's not something good girls did – but she had read about them in manga (her sisters, not her own).
"Hey, have you got a WiFi connection I can use?" Kensuke held up his phone, "I'm all out of data."
"Sure." Shinji stepped over to the glasses wearing geek to help.
"So I know Misato," Kensuke nodded at the purple haired babe, "But who is the blond chick and the woman chatting with her?" Kensuke tried not to stare. They were hot. (So he liked older women. There was nothing wrong with that). He started his video recording app and surreptitiously angled his phone to record the far side of the living room.
As Shinji explained who was who in NeRV (and Kensuke kept peppering him with questions), Touji wandered over, holding a cup out awkwardly, "Hey, Class Rep. I brought you some punch,"
Hikari tried the the punch. It was strangely bitter, but Touju looked so eager to please that she drank it all down anyway. "That was pretty good."
"You want me to get you more?"
"No, that's ok." It was very awkward. During all the time that she'd had a crush on Touji, she'd never once talked to him (except in her official role as class rep). Even at Okinawa, they hadn't really talked – more like they had hung out with the same group of friends. Now, here they were at a party together, and she didn't know what to say to him. She glanced at Shinji, but he was chatting with Kensuke, "Um, so how is basketball practice?"
"It's good." Touji perked up. It was really nice that everybody here was so into basketball. As he talked, Hikari's eyes began to glaze over, "Hey, you want to go outside? It's kind of hot in here?"
Hikari nodded, "Sure." She felt oddly flushed, and she was having trouble focusing on details – everything on her peripheral vision was fuzzy and out of focus. As they headed towards the door, she tripped on her own foot, and only Touji catching her kept her from falling down. For some reason, she thought that was extremely funny, and she couldn't stop giggling.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"Sempai, I think you've had enough to drink." Maya was getting nervous – as the party progressed, Ritsuko kept matching Misato drink for drink. And while everybody knew that the Captain (now Major) had a famous tolerance for alcohol, Ritsuko was not made from same mold.
"Oh, don't be such a worry wort, Maya. I'm fine." And she did look fine, except that she was sitting quietly on the love-seat, just listening and not participating in the the conversation. Though admittedly Makoto and Shigeru were geeking out over some band that Shigeru had gone to see live last summer, so she could be forgiven for losing interest.
"Maya, how come you don't have a boyfriend?" Ritsuku asked suddenly. Ok. She was drunk
Maya perched on the arm of the love-seat silently for several moments before replying, "Because I'm gay." She glanced nervously at her Sempai.
"Oh, that's ok, then," Rutsuko nodded and took another shot of sake.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
"The punch is poisoned." Rei handed the cup back to Asuka. She was still uncomfortable, but strangely, having even more people somehow made it better - they stopped being potential prey, and became part of the background. Or maybe she had just gotten used to them. Whatever the case, she still stood behind the drink table, where there was more space. The only problem was that it placed her across the room from Shinji. Her eyes tracked him as he talked to Kensuke.
Asuka took a tiny taste. "It's not poisoned. It DOES have some alcohol - Kaji spiked it."
Rei frowned, "Alcohol is a poison. Why are people consuming it?"
"Technically, yes, but people LIKE alcohol. And in moderation it's perfectly safe. Here try some."
Rei looked at Asuka as if she had asked her to jump into a live volcano. "I do not see any reason to participate in recreational self poisoning."
Asuka gave an exasperated sigh and took a sip of the cup herself. "Has anybody ever told you that you are a stick in the mud?" When that didn't garner a response, she added, "You have to loosen up, live a little. Otherwise, how are you going to get a boyfriend? Or girlfriend?" she added quickly.
"I will cook for him." During this whole exchange her gaze had not deviated from Shinji.
"You're surprisingly old fashioned." Asuka paused, glancing to see where Rei was staring so fixedly. "But you better get a move on, or Hikari will snag him first."
Rei nodded morosely. Hikari was her friend, so she shouldn't kill her, but she wasn't certain what other options were available.
"You're really bad at this." Asuka considered, "But then again, so is the baka. What the hell. I'll steer him in your direction," Asuka finished off her cup. 'Why not? She's a fellow pilot - she's going to be better for the baka than that teacher's pet.' And it was a relief that Rei was into guys.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Touji and Hikari stood outside of the front door of the apartment building, getting some fresh air, neither one talking. Hikari because it was really hard to concentrate, and Toui because he was at loss as to what to say.
Suddenly he turned to face her, "I like you."
"What?" the Class Rep asked, confused.
"I really like you." Touji repeated.
"Oh." Hikari nodded, not certain what to say. 'That's nice.' She watched as Touji's face got closer to hers, and was only a little surprised when his lips touched hers.
They kissed for several moments before Hikari pushed back, "Um, I think we should go inside." This was wrong.
As soon as Touji stepped back, Hikari darted inside. But it was too hot, to close. Something had happened. She couldn't think - her head felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Her only coherent thought was 'I can't let Shinji see me like this.' She grabbed her pocketbook and fled.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Motomu Kamiya was surprised at how easy it was to get into Ayanami's apartment. The door wasn't even locked. He took a seat on the bed and waited, checking the syringe before starting to sharpen a knife to pass the time. He probably could get some genetic material from all the bandages that were scattered all over the floor, but he wanted to do this right - he didn't want Mr. Nakamura to be angry with him.
He owed a lot of money.
It wasn't long before he heard the sound of the door opening. He quickly stood up to grab the teen as she entered. 'Easiest job I've ever had.'
Which is when everything went wrong.
"Why are you here?"
"I just..." He managed to gurgle. The blue haired girl was calmly pressing him into the wall by the neck as she crushed his arm with her other hand. He hadn't even seen her move.
Despite her calm demeanor, she radiated a seething anger. And her grip was much stronger than Mr. Nakamura.
Her face pressed in close to his, Rei whispered, "You smell of fear."
Motomu tried to move the knife, but the bones in his arm were grinding against each other and he couldn't breath. He whimpered.
With her mouth still next to his ear, Rei continued, "You are meat." She squeezed harder.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
The next day, as the lunch bell rang, Touji came came up to Shinji. "Hey, Bro. Thank you for inviting me to the party yesterday." He punched Shinji in the shoulder affectionately.
"Um, ok. Are you going to come up to the roof to eat lunch with us?" Shinji invited, 'please say no.'
"No thanks," The jock waived as he walked off.
"Oh, ok," Shinji smiled. He was kind of glad not to have the jock joining them - he wasn't a bad person, but Shinji found him a little stressful to be around. In his experience, Jocks beat up Shinjis. So whenever Touji was close by, Shinji was always on guard, which was tiring.
He looked around, for the usual lunch group, "Uhm, Rei, have you seen Hikari? Is she eating lunch with us?"
"The class representative has already left. I do not think she will be eating with us today," Rei relied.
"Oh, ok," Shinji nodded, hang dog. He had been looking forwards to spending some more time with Hikari. They seemed to have something going on. He wasn't certain what, but it felt like it was more than just simple friendship. At least the sort of friendships he was familiar with. And she was a very gentle person, very easy to get along with. His only other real friend was Rei, and while he liked her a lot, she was much harder to talk to. He never knew what was going on in her head. Shinji glanced over to where Rei was standing, waiting for him.
Rei watched Shinji. It would soon be time for food. She concentrated and and reminded herself: Shinji would provide food. He would not BE the food. But nevertheless it would be an intimate closeness.
"Hey, Asuka," Shinji called out as the redhead pulled out her lunch (apparently she had been planning to eat in the classroom). "Want to join us for lunch?"
The Second Child slowly turned to look at Shinji, radiating skepticism all the while before breaking into a radiant (fake?) smile, "sure, why not?"
As Asuka joined Shinji and Rei, Rei became stiff and even more unreadable than usual.
"So, Shinji, where did you live before you moved to Tokyo 3? I heard it was with your maternal uncle?" Asuka pried as they headed up the stairs.
"Yeah, I lived with Uncle, but he was actually my father's brother. I don't know why his last name was different."
"The Commander changed his name from Rokubungi to Ikari when he married Yui Ikari," Rei intoned.
"Oh, that would do it." Shinji smiled at the withdrawn girl. "I didn't know you knew so much about my father."
"He is my commanding officer." The way Rei said it, it had some hard-to-place emotional valence. The teens settled into their usual spot, and Shinji gave a bento to Rei before pulling out his own.
"Baka. Why didn't you make a lunch for me as well? We're roommates."
"Because you didn't ask?" Shinji defended himself.
"Well, I'm asking now." Asuka pronounced, watching Rei out of the corner of her eyes. There was something she had promised Rei last night, but after all the punch, all she had was a vague memory. 'Oh well, probably nothing important.'
Shinji shrugged. "I guess I can do that."
Asuka smiled as Rei glowered.
"I will assist you." The blue haired girl pronounced.
Asuka's smile faltered, "You mean you're going to come all the way over to our place just to make food for me?"
"That is incorrect," Rei replied coldly, "I will be coming to Shinji's apartment to make food for us to share. You may have any leftovers."
Shinji watched the conversation in confusion. Food was supposed to make people feel happy, so why where they arguing about it so much? It didn't make sense.
"Wait," Asuka considered, "Does that mean that it's going to be vegetarian?"
"I always cook vegetarian. You didn't mind at dinner last night."
"Huh." The cuisine had been Indian style, and Asuka had actually not noticed the absence of meat, what with all the exotic tastes. Just to be sure, though, Asuka stole a piece of food from Shinji's bento, "Huh. That's not bad. I guess I'll accept it."
Shinji snorted in amusement, assuming that Asuka's arrogance was a show.
"Did you learn to cook from your Uncle?" Asuka returned to her fishing trip. That was why she was eating lunch with these losers, after all. Not because she liked their company or anything.
"Sort of. Uncle worked long hours, and I always felt like I was a burden, so I started cooking to help out with the household chores."
"Well, I guess he misses you now that he has to cook for himself."
Shinji shrugged. Asuka watched him closely, but he did not give any unusual reactions.
Rei glanced at Asuka, annoyed. She had promised to 'put in a good word' to Shinji, but none appeared to be forthcoming. She was beginning to suspect that it wasn't Asuka's hair that annoyed her, but the girl herself. "Why are you here, Pilot Sohryu? Your stated objective for attending this secondary academic institution is to practice interacting with people, yet you do not do so."
Now it was Asuka's turn to shrug, "I do. I hang out with Hikari, I talk to you. I am starting slow."
"Speaking of Hikari, did you guys see when she left last night? She disappeared kind of early from the party, and she's not at lunch. I hope everything is ok."
"Meh. She probably got bored. The only reason I didn't leave was because I LIVE there."
Shinji didn't know how to respond. He thought the party had been fun, but he didn't want to say so for fear of being labeled a loser.
"You gave the appearance of enjoying yourself when you attempted to poison me." Rei contradicted.
"What? Poison?" Shinaji asked, shocked.
"The punch was spiked, and little miss stick-in-the-mud here thinks alcohol is poison." Asuka smirked, Ok, it HAD been fun. But there's no way she was going to admit that to the baka.
"In the spirit of practicing social interaction, why don't you tell about yourself, Pilot Sohryu?" Rei steered the direction in a safer (less embarrassing) direction. How was she to know what alcohol tasted like? She was a minor.
"There's not much to tell. I have perfect genetics, and a perfect upbringing to create the perfect Homo Superior."
"That actually sounds kind of horrible." Shinji visualized growing up in a sterile laboratory, locked away in some old castle in Germany filled with failed clones of yourself.
Asuka whirled on him with a snarl, "What would you know, Untermensch? You couldn't even get a 30% sync score during your first two battles against the angels. It was a miracle that you survived."
"Yes, it was." Rei nodded agreement.
"Well, I do fine in the simulator training," Shinji whined.
"According to my understanding, a miracle is a good thing." Rei began, before fading out. She had not meant to offend - she just did not know how to phrase her thought correctly. The miracle wasn't just that Shinji had survived, but that he had been willing to make friends with a monster like her, to care for her. To treat her like a normal girl. This was not something she had ever had any experience with, so she did not know how to explain it, or to explain how important it was to her. But she felt that she should try. She was just opening her mouth when the school bell rang.
The three teens sat in silence for a minute. Shinji looked at the two girls. Despite how they had ganged up on him at the end, he had enjoyed lunch. "Asuka, are you going to NeRV after school? You can walk with Rei an me."
Asuka glared at him for his presumption before giving a small huff of defeat. "I guess that would be for the best."
It was History next, so they went back down like prisoners walking to the gallows.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Hikari spent all of lunch hiding in the girls locker room. 'I can't believe I kissed Touji. What if he thinks I like him?' The problem was, she might like him a little. It was just that she liked Shinji a lot more. But what would she say if Touji asked her? Her stomach roiled with anxiety.
She made herself comfortable in a back corner and tried to eat her lunch. 'What will I say to Shinji? He will want to know why I left the part so early'
Hiding in the locker room like this was childish, but she couldn't bear to face either one right now. Hiakri glanced down at the rice. She couldn't eat. The embarrassment, the anxiety. It was too much. She lay down on the bench tried to relax.
/\/\/\Stay/Light/\/\/\
Hikari wasn't in class after lunch. Shinji began to get nervous, 'I wonder if she's ok. Maybe she has a stomach bug or something.' He kept looking around, but she didn't show up.
After the interminable lecture ended, all the students fled as quickly as they could.
"So, Baka. You ready to go?" Asuka asked imperiously, as if she was a princess and Shinji was her servant.
"Give me a couple of minutes - I want to check with the office to find out if Hikari went home sick or something."
"We'll wait for you by the front entrance, but don't take too long or we are leaving without you." Asuka turned to Rei, "Come on."
"Why would we not wait for Shinji?" Rei asked as they headed down the stairs.
"Because you want him to chase after you. You don't want to be easy, always available. Make him desperate." Not that Asuka had much experience, but she wasn't a genius for nothing - she did her research: Teen Vogue, Seventeen, and others. And the consensus was clear (to Asuka, at least) - women had to toy with their men. The guy had to chase the girl, otherwise they wouldn't value them.
They walked down to the front and got their outdoor shoes. Asuka glanced at her watch. She would give Shinji another two minutes and then she would leave - she wasn't going to spend all day waiting for him. 'The baka might get the wrong idea.'
"Currently, Pilot Ikari is searching for Representative Horaki. Does that constitute 'chasing?" Rei asked
It was definitely chasing. But the first child was so stiff and awkward. She didn't want to dash her hopes. "Nah, Shinji's just being nice- He may be a doormat, but he tries to help everybody."
"Thank you, I think." Shinji replied as he stumbled to a stop next to them, slightly out of breath.
"You're welcome." Asuka saw the skeptical look on on Shinji's face, "What? Just because I speak my mind you assume that I hate you?"
"Yeah, kind of. That was the impression you give off."
Asuka sighed in exasperation, "After all the training for the 7th Angel, I know you pretty well."
Rei had been walking quietly by Shinji side up to this point, but now a faint growl emanated from her.
"And how you keep trying despite being desperately incompetent is actually rather impressive."
"Shinji is not incompetent." Rei interrupted, "His skills are simply different than yours."
Asuka opened her mouth to catalog the way in which Shinji was inferior before casting a glance at the teen walking hunch shouldered in front of her, 'Right. Misato said I need to work on my social skills.'
"Fine, whatever."
They walked in silence, Rei on the left, Asuka on the right, and Shinji in the middle. He glanced over at Rei out of the corner of his eyes. She was walking a lot closer than she usually did. It was kind of nice. Though he also felt a little guilty feeling that way, since she wasn't Hikari.
"Hey, Baka. How did your uncle die?" Asuka asked out of the blue.
"What? Uncle? He's not dead. He moved to America - Los Angeles, I think - for work." Shinji looked confused.
"That's not what the newspaper said." Asuka retorted. "I read his obituary." That wasn't quite true, but she was hoping to shock information out of Shinji.
"When did it say he died? He left in June, and I had to stay with my teacher for a couple of months." Shinji was very confused. When did his Uncle pass away? He hadn't really interacted much with him, and his memories of the man were rather vague, but he HAD lived with him for years... He should have been informed!
Asuka smirked. June matched what the police report had said. "I think that you're.." She began when Shinji stopped at the entrance to the train station. "What's wrong?"
"It's not opening," Shinji waved his NeRV ID card over the sensor again, but the turnstile didn't let him through."
"There is no mag-lev sound." Rei interrupted, "The power is out."