Chapter 1: Full Moon
One day after the successful defeat of the 11th angel, Shinji and Asuka had a relatively quiet day at school. Same droning on from the teacher about the Second Impact. Same usual shenanigans from Toji and Kensuke, dubbed alongside Shinji as 'The Stooges' by Asuka and the class representative Hikari Horaki. Same usual banter between Shinji and Asuka as people whispered about them acting like a 'married couple.'
And, of course, Rei sat quietly at her desk, staring out the window as she usually did.
Unlike months before, however, she was thinking a lot more, continuing the train of thought from the night before.
After the usual day of classes was over, Shinji and Asuka made their way to NERV for some sync tests. This was nothing new, and Doctor Akagi loved her data, so they made their way over, talking idly with Rei following a few feet behind.
"O-oh, by the way, can we stop by a music store after we're done at NERV? I need to get a new tape for my SDAT." asked Shinji in his usual meek manner.
"Ugh, of course that stupid tape gave out on you, you might as well have married it by now! But fine, we can go, I left some CDs in Germany that I'd like to pick up anyways." replied Asuka.
"Great!" said Shinji, noticing Rei behind them "A-Ayanami, you can come too if you want!" he called out.
"Idiot! Did you really have to invite her?" whispered Asuka through gritted teeth. With someone who presents themself with as much pride as her, the fact that she could exhibit jealousy at something that small would come as a surprise.
"W-well, you always say she's a doll, maybe if she picks out some music she'd be more i-individual" came Shinji's reply as he quickly turned his head to his roommate. "It's your choice, Ayanami!"
Choice, thought Rei.
Commander Ikari never spoke of choices.
"That would be acceptible" said Rei, formal as she always was.
"Fine!" conceded Asuka as she picked up speed towards the geofront, with her fellow pilots taking a moment to catch up.
It was boring at NERV, as per usual, so the pilots were all relieved to get out of there and make a detour to the music store.
The sun was about to go down as the three got to their destination, a small shop a few blocks from the mall.
The air inside was cool as some pre-Second Impact music played at a moderate volume.
Shinji immediately moved to the classical section as Asuka made her way to the Rock and Pop section of the store. There were both CDs and tapes of various albums, as the Second Impact created a market for any kind of possible music format.
Meanwhile, Rei meticulously made her way through each section of the store, until a peculiar tape caught her eye.
It was not flashy, the cover was half in black, half in white, with two interesting-looking characters in front of each background. There was text in English that was in black text centred over a bar of white.
The Money Store
Rei's knowledge of English was rudimentary, so she could make out the words, but didn't particularly understand what they meant beyond surface-level translation. She was unaware what a "Money Store" was, perplexed at such a concept.
Regardless, she was transfixed by it.
"Whatcha got, Wondergirl?" Asuka chimed in from Rei's left, snapping her out of it as she leaned in to read "The... Money... Store... hmm, haven't heard of this, must be one of those odd post-Impact albums." Her knowledge of English was far greater thanks to her stepmother and her American citizenship.
Words of encouragement came from the other side "Hey, you found something, Ayanami! Nice!" said Shinji as he approached her from the other side. "What is it?" he asked as he took a close look.
He and Asuka exchanged a look as they took in the appearance of the two characters on the cover, who appeared to be enacting something that their class rep would not approve of.
"Look, Shinji, it's you!" exclaimed Asuka as she pointed to the figure that wore a dog(?) mask and was held on a leash by the other, to the vocal dismay of Shinji.
Putting his slight annoyance aside, he asked Rei "Do you have a player?"
"I... do not" Rei realized
"Thank God NERV gives us a little money for what we do. You can buy a player here!" said Asuka.
"We get paid?!" questioned Shinji as he held some bills along with the tape he was going to buy.
After Asuka explained that the NERV ID could be used as a debit card, the trio made their way to the counter with CDs, tapes, and a brand new SDAT for Rei.
Shinji raised an eyebrow "ABBA and the Scorpions?" After living with Asuka for a while, he began to pick up on western music due to her insistence of watching MTV and similar channels.
"Yes, of course! They are very popular in Germany! Besides, you idiot, can't always listen to Beethoven, you need some fun once in a while!"
They each got bags for their goods and began the journey home.
Rei bid adieu as she turned to head home.
"What the hell did Ayanami buy?" asked Shinji as he and Asuka came upon their apartment building.
"Something called Death Grips, I've never heard of it, but if it caught Wondergirl's eye, its gotta be weird." replied Asuka as they made their way to their floor.
Shinji shrugged as they entered an empty apartment. Misato had paperwork from the last angel so it was Shinji cooking the two of them.
Rei entered her dreary apartment, school bag in one hand and her spoils from the music store in the other. She set down her school bag as she unboxed the new SDAT, which luckily came with headphones. This was a much newer model than Pilot Ikari's, so it was quite sleak and even came with a small speaker for when headphones weren't plugged in.
After reading through the manual and making sure everything was in order, she plugged in headphones, unwrapped her new tape, carefully inserted it, and pressed play.
She was immediately greeted by a fast, loud, booming drum beat.
Then some low vocals,
"Get get get get got got got got, blood rush to my head hit hot lock, poppin' off the fuckin' block knot clockin' wrist slit watch bent thought bot"
Then a synthesizer that played a wild sequence over and over.
She listened to the entire tape in one sitting, taking in each new, and peculiar sound.
She could not understand what the lyrics meant, but she conceded that she would seek help, and she had an idea of who to ask.
She took in the various tempos, synthesizers, and vocals. She had never heard anything like it before.
Rei was not sure what time she ended up falling asleep.
A/N: And there it is! I'm gonna use this note to explain what the hell I'm thinking. As a fan of both Evangelion and Death Grips, I thought that Rei would be the most likely person to listen to them. Something about the very loud and aggressive music contrasted with her very tame personality is funny to me. So I decided to brainstorm ways that it could affect her personality and whatnot. You'll see soon (hopefully, I'm gonna be a bit busy for the next month so I wanted to get started and get something out).
With that, Until next time!