"What?! Why can't I use the tram?!" Asuka loudly protested, pointing forward through the gate. "That guy ahead just got on board!"

The pair of Section-2 agents that had been standing by the sides of the gate recoiled slightly at the volume of her voice, but didn't budge in the slightest. They'd obviously been waiting for her, since it was pretty uncommon to see the black-suited men hanging around inside of the Geofront, otherwise. Plus, Asuka suspected that they might have been part of her security detachment, although it was hard to tell what with all of the gorillas in Section-2 looking like clones of each other.

"We have standing orders to keep you within the Geofront, Second Child," the agent on the right spoke in a baritone voice. "As such, you're currently not allowed to use any of the exits."

"Besides, where do you have to go right now?" the agent on the left added, sounding like the complete opposite of his partner. "You don't have school today, right?"

Only now, in her very first interaction with the men in black of NERV, did Asuka confirm that they were apparently capable of differing speech and independent thought. Pushing the proof of non-mass production to the back of her mind, though, Asuka refocused on the important bits of the conversation.

"Where do I need to go?!" the redhead threw up her arms in frustration, not giving credit to her ears. "To Misato's apartment, obviously!"

But no answer came to Asuka's statement of the obvious. On the contrary, both men fell eerily silent for a few, long seconds, and the Second Child was pretty sure that she caught the two blinking behind their glasses, before they eventually shared a look.

"...Wait, are you saying that no one's informed you?"

"Inform me?" the redhead quickly rounded on the left agent. "About what?!"

"Major Katsuragi was placed under arrest for insubordination during the last battle, so her guardianship over you and the Third Child has been revoked," the man explained, his more corpulent partner nodding in agreement. "You are going to be staying in one of the apartments within the Geofront from now on."

"W-What...? Insubordination...?" Asuka echoed, her mind quickly realising how Misato had never appeared in Shinji's room. Very out of character for her. "What happened?!"

"I'm afraid that we're not privy to the details. We're not handed after action reports regarding the battles against the Angels," the second agent elaborated, the tone of his voice not shifting a bit from before. "I suspect that we were only informed of Major Katsuragi's situation because we've been tasked with moving your belongings to your new residence and..."

The big gorilla kept his baritone explanation going, talking about theories and justifications and such. But Asuka was only listening with half an ear, her mind busy elsewhere.

'Is it because of what happened to Shinji...? Did he go and play the hero under Misato's orders, and that's why she got into trouble?' the Second Child wondered, quickly concluding that her assumption was the most likely cause. '...So not only Shinji, your screw up has affected Misato, too.'

Asuka felt her heart sink, Akagi's prior words coming back with a vengeance: how her contributions to the fight had been nil, how she had failed miserably at piloting EVA...

But then Asuka's expression hardened, well-honed reflexes detecting the rapidly burgeoning depressive wave and immediately diverting it down the usual pathway of blaming someone else.

'No, it's not my fault! I could have handled that Angel on my own! That's what they get for not trusting me!'

The moment of weakness handled, she brushed aside the feelings that had almost forced their way past her mask and focused on the matter at hand. She was being moved out?

"Wait a minute..." Asuka suddenly realised, sending a scalding glare at Mr. Monotone. "Did you just say that you goons are going through my things?!"

"Goons?!" The big agent angrily retorted, shattering a second theory for the day. "We're professional security, you little-!"

"Hey, easy there," Mr. Casual grabbed a hold of his partner's shoulder, silencing him. "Ladies are zealous about their privacy, you know? It's because you're so high strung that you never get any dates."

"B-Bwha?!"

Leaving his larger comrade to explode in indignation, Mr. Casual then turned towards Asuka with what some would have called a winning smile. The Second Child would have classified it under the shit-eating variety, instead.

"Don't worry, some of our female fellows are handling the move. Besides, like my friend here said, we're a professional bunch. We wouldn't blabber about any secrets even if we found any."

The burly agent let out an audible sigh just as Mr. Casual finished his explanation, finally managing to fall back into his usual patterns. He then crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow at his partner.

"...How is that any different to what I was saying?"

"I don't know. In that I was all smooth, and confident and all that stuff that chicks dig so much, maybe? I tell you man, you need to relax. You're always so serious, it's no wonder you can't get in the pants of that barkeep you like so much!"

"I- I don't..."

"Yes, you do! Or are you going to tell me that all your awkwardness is just for show?"

The two grown men then fell into a series of silly arguments about who liked who, whether they had any chances and more stuff that, as far as the Second Child was concerned, was very stupid. Their discussion also brought annoying memories of Misato being her usual and irritating joker self, which the redhead didn't need right now.

Besides, Asuka could feel the beginnings of a headache at the idiotic antics before her.

"Fine, whatever!" the Second Child finally yelled at the bickering idiots. "Can you two just shut up and get me to that room you're talking about, now?!"

Which earned her their undivided attention as well as a narrow-eyed glare from the tallest of the two, which Asuka didn't care much about.

"...By all means, sorry about that." Mr. Casual acknowledged, tipping his head forward in a placating gesture before turning to lead the way. "Follow me, Second Child."

Asuka did as she was told and followed the man, with Mr. Monotone falling into step a bit behind her. Mr. Casual then guided them through the maze of hallways that made up the Geofront until they reached the residential area, which was little more than additional doors on each wall with a different colour guiding arrow painted on the floor. It also had an access to the park section of the Geofront from time to time, but the greenery was doing very little to bolster Asuka's spirits at the mundane sight.

Shortly after, the group arrived at room 550 and Mr. Monotone handed Asuka the keycard for the door. The Second Child quickly opened the door and stepped over the threshold, intending to get the whole thing over and done with as soon as possible, but promptly stopped dead in her tracks.

"...Huh," Asuka mumbled to herself, taking in on her surroundings. "This place isn't half bad."

For one, it was spacious. Much more than the outside might have hinted at: the apartment had a big western-style bed inside a large bedroom, a wide living room with a generous TV and a respectable kitchen and bathroom to the side. The Second Child had been dreading a small study with a bunk or something along those lines, but her new quarters were a pleasant surprise. If Asuka had to guess, she'd put their size at just slightly bigger than Misato's condo, but this one she didn't have to share with both her and the Third.

Said idea didn't fill Asuka with as much joy as she thought it would, however. Something that the redhead found puzzling, considering that she had finally achieved the independence she'd been clamouring for when she had first arrived in Japan.

...

...It was probably due to how empty the room was at that point. Surely, her spirits would pick up when she had the chance to decorate the place however she wanted?

"We'll be outside. So if you need us, just give a holler." Mr. Casual commented, slapping his partner's back and stepping through the door. "Come on, big boy, let's leave the lady to get settled. In the meanwhile, I'll tutor you on some moves you can put to practice tonight."

Asuka let out a grateful sigh when the door closed between her and the two Section-2 agents, idly wondering if she could ask for a change in security detail now that she was going to be cooped within the Geofront for the foreseeable future, and whether her request would actually be given the slightest consideration by whoever was in charge. For some unfathomable reason, the redhead was willing to bet that it wouldn't, which would be perfectly in line with her usual luck.

In any case, Asuka pushed those thoughts aside for later consideration and began to wander her new quarters, familiarising herself with what was to be her new home: it was lacking in many amenities, but what was there looked as if it had been set up by a decent interior decorator, something that Asuka had not expected out of NERV. Or perhaps the things already in the room were some of the belongings of whoever had been in the room before her?

The latter theory earned some points when Asuka found a cardboard box within the bedroom's wardrobe, which was slightly dusty but not dirty enough to indicate years of abandonment. Furthermore, the smoothness of the edges and some tear marks here and there indicated that it had been used many times in the past.

Curious, Asuka carried the fairly heavy box into the living room and carefully opened it, finding a myriad plastic items stacked in very neat order of size within. Wasting no time, the Second Child grabbed the biggest item, one that had seen better times, and took it out of the box.

"Wow, this thing looks ancient..." the redhead whispered to herself, inspecting the red and white machine from every angle. "...Family Computer? Is this some sort of videogame console? I like the colour, at least."

Setting the device aside, the Second Child reached further into the box, taking out a pair of controllers and a few videogame cartridges. Spending barely a second on each of them, Asuka discarded those cartridges which had kanji she couldn't read, or that looked plain silly. Which was most of them.

Eventually, though, her hands took hold of one cartridge that didn't fall into either category, even if the cover did look very cartoonish.

"Dragon Warrior?" Asuka read, her tone unimpressed. "Talk about imaginative titles. Bet you there's a princess in despair somewhere in there."

Despite her words, though, the Second Child's eyes flickered from the cartridge and towards the fairly large TV in the room. She wondered for a moment if the screen would be compatible with the archaic hardware, before deciding that there was but a single way to find out and putting herself to work on checking all the different cables and connections. The TV didn't look brand new, after all, and logic dictated a probable connection between the two devices, considering the console's presence in the adjoining room.

A hunch that was proven right shortly after when Asuka pushed the ON switch and sat on the floor with controller in hand, a cushion set to make the hard surface beneath a bit more tolerable.

"I'm not expecting much, but it still beats staring at the ceiling. Been a while since the last time, anyway."

And while eyes that had gotten very little actual rest since the day before itched in protest, Asuka paid them no heed, instead opting to press START and immerse herself in an audience with an 8-bit King. For a few hours, she would be in a different world, be a different person, and forget all about her troubles.

A bit of escapism never hurt anyone, after all.

-O]|[O-

The Third Child trudged through the muddy grass, falling rain and biting winds striking his body in the same way that they had been doing for a long time, now. As he moved, the young man made sure to strain his ears in hopes of hearing anything that could prove helpful (or dangerous) for his situation, since the wall of white around him limited the workload on his vision to making sure he didn't stumble over any protruding rocks or other irregular surfaces.

But there was very little to hear outside of the howling of the wind, as well. Wherever this countryside was, it didn't appear to have any animals in it, or people, or whatever. It was as devoid of life as the hospital had been.

'...Except for that... thing, of course,' the Third Child shuddered, not at all because of the rain. 'I hope there aren't any more of them out here.'

'...And Asuka was there, too, right before...' Shinji winced, remembering that the protagonist of his nightmares for days to come hadn't been the only one with him in that hospital.

The shrill scream that he'd heard from the hallway returned to the forefront of his mind, freezing the boy down to his very core. Having the chance to catch his breath had also given Shinji the opportunity to realise that the terrified shriek had been the very last thing he'd heard from his teammate. Knowing that made Shinji worry, to say the least.

Especially considering that he had run away from her. Again.

'I hope she's all right...'

And it was in the middle of that thought that Shinji collided with something, something hard that let out a girly yelp even as the Third Child was forcefully made to sit on the grass; rebooting back into full awareness, Shinji's mind decreed that automatic reactions be sent towards the one that was also rising off the ground…

"I-I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where..."

…but then the young man blinked, his mind needing a second to process and identify the part of the situation that was out of place. Wasn't he supposed to be completely alone?

Shinji quickly looked at the person that he had collided with, calmly picking themselves off the ground, and his eyes became wide as saucers.

"A-Asuka! You're all right!"

"Dost thou know me...?" the Second Child replied with a quizzical look, bringing a hand to her chin. Shinji, for his part, blinked speechlessly at Asuka's words.

For starters, they were unlike anything he'd ever heard before, both in accent and content, but the words were also being delivered in a very different way than he was used to. Rather than Asuka's usual loud and domineering tone, the words of the girl before him were courteous and measured.

It was a far cry from what Shinji had been expecting, and shocking enough that the young man felt the need to check that he had not stopped the wrong person. But the girl before him had blue eyes and red hair, just as he remembered them. Everything seemed to be in order.

But it was at that time that Shinji's eyes fell upon Asuka's clothing, quickly noticing that they were really strange: Asuka was fitted with a breastplate, as well as with several other plates of metal over her legs and arms and interconnected by chainmail. The only visible piece of actual cloth looked like a red coloured undershirt, but Shinji's attention quickly jumped from that and to the much more important longsword and shield combination that the redhead had strapped to her back.

The sight brought shivers down Shinji's spine but, thankfully, Asuka didn't look like she was going to start swinging her weapon, unlike Shinji's last encounter with the Middle Ages. Quite the opposite, in fact: with the armour somehow managing to shine even without the Sun's rays hitting it, she looked like a knight errant. Like something straight out of a fairytale.

Jumping to his feet, Shinji threw that last detail into the ever-growing pile of stuff that didn't make much sense.

"...But thy visage is not one I recognize. Couldst thou perhaps be a soul I assisted in times past?" 'Asuka' wondered, breaking the boy out of his staring. "If so, pray excuse me for forgetting, but I'm afraid that remembering every single person I've saved would prove an impossible task for someone of my stature."

"W-Why are you talking so weird, Asuka? It's me, Shinji!" the Third Child insisted. "S-Stupid Shinji, remember?"

"Shinji...?" The knight echoed, and she leant closer for a better look. She shook her head shortly after, though. "Pray forgive me, but I know none by that name. This situation is most puzzling, but mayhap you confuse me for someone else?"

The young man's first instinct upon seeing Asuka's reaction was to call bull. How could she say that she didn't know him, after everything they'd been through together? After he'd been worried sick about her safety, Asuka decided that this was the best time for an elaborate joke?!

But Shinji just managed to keep his temper in check, precisely because he had been on the receiving end of Asuka's pranks one too many times in the past to recognize when his fellow Pilot was trying to pull one on him. And 'Asuka' didn't seem to be joking this time. Either that, or she'd attended some serious acting lessons at some point.

'She looks like Asuka, she acts like Asuka and she sounds like Asuka... for the most part,' the Third Child wondered, his body relaxing while his thoughts remained too busy racing past one another. 'But she doesn't know me? And what's with the weird getup? What the hell's going on?!'

"In any case, perhaps thou mayst assist me, for 'tis a grave problem I face, indeed," 'Asuka' continued, taking a worn map out of a pouch and remaining blissfully ignorant to Shinji's reactions. "His Majesty entrusted this map to me, in hopes that I'd rescue the fair Princess of the realm and put an end to the tyranny of the despicable Dragon King, but the script on the parchment has proven undecipherable in the face of my best efforts and halted any actual progress in my quest."

'...Is this even the same Asuka I saw before? The Asuka I know...? She must be, right?! Who else could it be if not her?! But then why doesn't she recognize me?!'

"I believe the crux of the problem to lie in my unfamiliarity with the written form of the language used in these lands." 'Asuka' unfolded the map, showing it so Shinji could see. "Shouldst thou be a native, wouldst thou pray take a glance at this map and help me find my way to the lair of the Dragon King?"

The appearance of the pale parchment right before his eyes finally managed to break Shinji's recurrent train of thought, although it did very little for his state of mind, otherwise.

"I-I'm sorry," the young man muttered, shaky hands pushing the map away. "I-I can't look at anything right now."

"W-What? But thou must!" 'Asuka' responded, a glimpse of the girl Shinji was familiar with seeping through her surprise. "The fate of thy realm hangs in the balance!"

"I'm sorry, it's just that-!"

"Okay, Miss Thou," a third voice suddenly cut into the conversation. "Please quiet down a little, will you?"

And it was then that Shinji's mind encountered a critical error: belying all logic, the information issued from his auditory system reported that the new input hadn't sounded like a third different voice, but rather like a third voice that should have been a second voice. The voice of the person right before him, as a matter of fact.

But the request had not come from the knight, his visual system reported. It had come from somewhere to Shinji's right, instead. And it was when the young man turned to find the source that he saw a person break through the wall of encroaching fog. A figure dressed in a red raincoat and carrying a matching umbrella as a defence from the rain.

And a figure that Shinji knew very well.

"E-Eh? A-Asuka?" the young man stuttered, his eyes continuously looping from one girl to the other. "Another Asuka?!"

The newcomer paused for a second and raised an eyebrow at Shinji, a hint of confusion flying over her expression for all of an instant before she motioned for the boy to stand put.

"You quiet down a bit, too. I'll be with you in a minute."

"What luck! Two people in short succession after finding none for so long! The Light's blessings must be with me on this day!" A wide smile appeared on the face of the first Asuka, as she turned to show the map to her twin. "Art thou familiar with the ways of this realm, my Lady, so that thou mayst guide my blade to the lair of the Dragon King? I asked for the cooperation of this young man prior, but I fear the minions of my nemesis may have found him sooner than I did. His wits appear to have all but left him."

"Yeah... That's a fairly normal state of affairs there, I'm pretty sure." The newcomer stated, throwing a wink in Shinji's direction at the same time. She then shifted her attention from the confused boy and back to the other girl, grabbing hold of the offered map. "Okay, let me take a look at that."

Both girls huddled together under the umbrella, chatting casually as if they were the oldest of friends. Although Shinji's mind was far more interested in trying to understand why either of the Asukas weren't weirded out in the slightest by talking to... themselves.

Perhaps he'd just absorbed all the available shock and confusion in the environment into himself, leaving none for the girls to feel surprised with? That sounded about as reasonable an explanation as the scene taking place before his very eyes, after all.

"Hmmm, I see... Yeah, I think I can help you." The second Asuka eventually paused for a bit, throwing a glance in the knight's direction. "How's your sense of direction, though? Navigating in this weather might be difficult, you know?"

"Not to worry, for 'tis impeccable, of course! As befits a heroine of my renown!" the knight proudly tapped a fist on her chest, the gauntlet and breastplate letting out a healthy clanging sound. "Many times have I found my way through labyrinthine cave networks with naught but a glint of light before me!"

"Good to know the fate of the kingdom is in such capable hands, then." The second Asuka smiled, before stepping forward and motioning with her arm to a point in the distance. "Okay, listen up: go straight in that direction until you climb the third hill, then follow through the valley to your right until you reach a mighty fortification. The Dragon King will await your challenge within, although you'll likely need to defeat his two lieutenants before you have the chance to do so."

"That shall not prove a problem." The knight grinned boldly, reclaiming her map with a nod of her head. "My deepest thanks, kind Lady, I shall continue on my quest immediately. Pray look after the young man until his health returns?"

"Sure will! Good luck!"

And with a smile and a wave from both sides, the knight turned and disappeared down the indicated direction until the sound of her steps were swallowed by the whistling winds. It was at this point, with her double out of earshot, that the second Asuka put her free hand on her hip and let out a hearty laugh.

"Hah! That will teach 'em!"

She then whirled towards Shinji, the self-satisfied smile never leaving her face.

"Good, you're still here! Been a while since I last saw one of you."

Stepping forward, Asuka invaded the young man's personal space and inspected him like one would an interesting piece of jewellery, much to Shinji's embarrassment. Humming to herself as she did so, her grin somehow managed to become even wider.

"And you're the lost puppy variety? It's been even longer for one of those!" The redhead then backed away just as quickly, bringing a finger to her chin. "Guess you're the one I noticed before. Although I still don't know who was laughing...

"Eh, not important, it doesn't feel like there are any others out here, anyway." Asuka shrugged, before turning away with a beckoning motion. "Let's go, Shinji."

"Y-You know me?!"

Asuka paused for a moment, staring at the young man as if he'd grown a second head.

"Of course I know you. Why wouldn't I? Did you hit your head or something?" The flicker of confusion from before returned to the redhead's face, lingering for a few more seconds until she dispelled it with a shake of her head. "...You're one weird Shinji. Come on."

'One weird Shinji?' the Third Child wondered as his feet came to a brief stop. 'What does she mean by-?'

'Brief' because it wasn't long until the young man realised that he would quickly need to move once more. After all, Asuka was already disappearing through the fog and Shinji didn't feel like being alone again; confusing company was still better than no company.

"Umm..." Shinji started, falling into step beside the redhead. "W-Where are we going?"

"Somewhere warm and with a roof," Asuka replied, her smile never letting up as she covered him with the umbrella. "Unless you'd rather stay in the cold and rain?"

Shinji felt his cheeks heat up, the relief of finally being out of the biting rain quickly being overshadowed by something, and someone else. Umbrellas and the downpours that came to Tokyo-3 from time to time had been major players in many a fantasy scenario concocted by the Third Child's busy teenage mind, after all.

Scenarios that had no place in his current situation, Shinji had to remind himself. The young man quickly decided to focus his thoughts on how nice the words 'warm and with a roof' sounded, instead.

It would no doubt be better than letting his brain run free.

-O]|[O-

The walk to the place Asuka had described didn't take long, and Shinji soon found himself standing before a charming little farmstead. Its walls were painted a pale yellow, with a pair of blue windows framing a red door, and the roof of the building shared in the latter's colour scheme. There was a pen on either side for what Shinji supposed would be animals but that currently lay empty, as well as a garden in the back in which wild vegetation quickly grew under the constant rain.

It was pretty, and the sight felt strangely nostalgic, too, in a way. It didn't take long for Shinji to figure out why: the farm looked like it had been plucked straight from a children's picture book.

"Cool, huh? I just built it!" Asuka grinned, motioning with her arm towards the back of the farmstead. "The garden's a bit bare right now, but I want to put some flowers and stuff there when I get the chance. Ooor when the weather improves a bit, whatever comes first; come in, I'll get us something hot!"

Asuka lead the way, opening the farm's door and charging further inside without bothering to take off her shoes. Shinji made to stop her, driven by both his customs and the fear of mud ending up all over the place but, to his surprise, no marks of any kind had been left behind by Asuka's footwear.

Shinji looked down at his feet and found his shoes mud-free and shining as if they'd just been polished. His ears also picked up on the whistling sound of a teapot reaching its boiling point from further inside, despite the fact that the both of them had just gotten here and water heating so fast was just plain impossible.

Not asking for any approval, his mind automatically put the two strange facts in the ever-growing 'Ignore That' list. Without wasting any more time, Shinji promptly stepped into the kitchen proper.

"...So the weather's not always like this, over here?"

"Nah. Although it's been like this for quite some time, now." Asuka rummaged through the cupboards until she produced a pair of teabags, placing them in two cups and grabbing hold of the boiling water. "And the latest shake-up hasn't helped matters at all, either. Some parts around here are still very unstable, so you shouldn't go anywhere near them; have a seat, by the way."

Shinji did as told and took a wooden chair carved with animal motifs for himself, engravings that extended to the other chairs and the table, as well, showing pictures of dogs, cats and a variety of farm animals. A carving of two horses playing around was especially prominent among them, for some reason.

Before long, Shinji's examination was cut short by Asuka planting a cup of freshly prepared green tea in his hands, the redhead humming a happy tune as she sat down to enjoy her own. Looking around, Shinji found no sign of sugar or any other additives anywhere on the table or the back of the kitchen, so he figured that everything necessary had already been put into the tea.

A hunch that was proven exactly right, much to Shinji's shock. Not because Asuka had brewed some very fine tea, since his roommate had already done so during some special occasions in the past, but rather because his drink tasted exactly as he liked to have it, and his personal recipe wasn't what anyone would call common.

Tea habits were one of those few things Shinji Ikari could have been called compulsive about.

"How...? How do you know the way I like my tea?"

"Hello?" Asuka paused in her sipping, raising an eyebrow at the young man. "Because you're a partial representation of Shinji Ikari, maybe? One that shares a few common traits with the others? You really did hit your head, didn't you?"

"Partial representation...?" Shinji echoed, eyes widening slightly. "W-What do you mean? I'm Shinji Ikari!"

"No, you're not. You're just a mental image, Shinji Ikari as Asuka Langley-Sohryu sees him. One of them, anyway."

"But I'm not!" the young man insisted, taking Asuka by surprise. "I-I mean, I don't know anything about this mental image thing, but I know I was fighting the Angel before! And then there was this light and then I- I just... I just woke up here!"

"Wait, did you just-" Asuka quickly put down her tea, leaning forward and narrowing her eyes at Shinji. "Did you just say 'Angel'?"

"Y-Yeah, I was fighting the Angel before. Is... that important?"

"Of course it's important! That changes everything! You couldn't know about the Angels unless you were one of the Pilot Shinjis, which you're not!" The redhead brought her hands to her head, her hair going from side to side. "Oh, blimey! Are you telling me that you're the real Shinji!? I thought that you were just a minor Aspect!"

"A-A minor Aspect?"

"Yeah, like Miss Thou earlier! Although I guess that you wouldn't know." Asuka waved a hand in front of her with a stressed sigh. "Long story short, a minor Aspect is someone like me, but in a transient and limited form. They show up and go all the time around here."

"And where is 'around here'?!" Shinji suddenly stood up, slamming his hands on the table. "Where exactly am I?!"

"...Oh, right." Asuka went eerily quiet for a few moments, before motioning towards the fallen chair with a strained smile. "Umm... You might want to sit for this one."

"What? Why?! Just tell me!"

"T-Trust me, it's for your own good."

Shinji felt the end of his patience draw near and a rebuke come to his tongue, but the young man bit down hard on it and kept it from coming out. The Third Child then picked up the chair and did as he'd been told, if only because seeing a worried expression on Asuka's face was ground-shattering enough to override any objections he might have had.

"This," the redhead finally elaborated with a tired groan, signalling around her with her hands. "Is the mind of Asuka Langley-Sohryu. Welcome, I guess."