The next couple days passed quickly, and with each passing day, Misato's methods had started growing more and more… bizarre, and so far, didn't even seem to be having that much of an effect. The pair were now wearing the same training outfits, brushing their teeth at the same time, eating food by the same amount at the same intervals. Yet, their test results weren't really improving.

Shinji had actually come up to being on time more consistently, though when it came to the dance mat tests, he frequently messed up still, which caused Asuka to mess up as well, which then usually resulted in an argument. Asuka hadn't slowed very much at all, but was getting better at covering it up, however, most of her time training was spent getting frustrated at Shinji, so there was really no way to win.

Misato had to go into work this particular Tuesday morning, so I was left in full care of the dynamic duo for a few hours.

"Shinji, you still need to work on your form during steps 12 and 13, keep that in mind on the next rep."

"Y-Yessir."

"Oh, and Asuka, step 27 you're still taking way too quickly, don't forget about that."

"Ugh, yessir."

They finished their tenth set of the afternoon and I started on dinner for them. I had bought loads of eggs, as they both seemed to enjoy omelettes, so I fried up two and put in front of them. It was almost creepy how smoothly they ate together. Each bite, in tandem. Why couldn't they apply this to their actual training, where it mattered?

A knock came to the front door.

I looked at the clock on the wall. "Well, it's about that time, did Misato forget her key?" The teens shrugged in unison, and the three of us walked out to the door, where I opened it, expecting to see my commanding officer.

However, in place of her stood three teenagers, all wearing the uniform of Asuka's school. Two males and a female. I recognized the two guys, they were Shinji's friends. Kensuke and Toji, I believe their names were. They were the two that got forced into Unit-01's entry plug during Shinji's fight with the 4th Angel. No clue who the girl was, though.

Immediately upon seeing the duo dressing in identical training clothing, each one screamed.

"What the hell is this?" Toji yelled. "Is this some kind of torture?"

In unison, Asuka and Shinji started. "It's Misato's idea."

Kensuke fixed his glasses. "There's gotta be a good reason for this, right?" He looked at me. "Hey, you aren't Misato."

The duo spoke in unison again to further explain. "She has us eating in sync, breathing in sync, even sleeping together in sync."

Horrified faces all around. "This sounds deplorable! What kind of operation is this!? How... uncouth!" The girl that stood between Toji and Kensuke spoke up. I wasn't expecting her to get quite as angry as she did, she looked like a sweet girl. I guess I should know looks can be deceiving by now, huh.

Luckily, Misato approached from behind them, saving me from having to explain the smaller details. "How are we all doing here?" Toji and Kensuke's faces immediately brightened up, seemingly forgetting about the state of the friends they had come to see. However, the young girl wasn't as impressed, folding her arms and turning towards the older woman. It's only now I noticed Rei was standing behind Misato on the walkway as well, looking as placid as always.

"I wish to know what's going on here!"

Misato laughed and walked past the group into the apartment, Rei following close behind. "If you all want to come in, I'd love to explain. You'll all get a kick out of it, I'm sure!"

We all walked inside while Shinji and Asuka remarked angrily, still in unison.

"This isn't funny!"

"HA! That is pretty funny!" Toji guffawed. If she wasn't focused on doing the dance mat training, Asuka probably would've decked him. "The two of them should've just explained it like that from the start!"

Misato had gone over every aspect of her plan with Rei and the trio of newcomers, as we all sat with refreshments in the den. The girl's name was Hikari Horaki, she was the class representative, who came here to check up on Asuka, while the other two were doing the same for Shinji. It was nice to know they had friends that actually seemed to care about them.

"So have they gotten any better at doing their tests in unison?" Hikari questioned.

"Well, you can see for yourself."

Just a few moments later, Shinji and Asuka hit different steps at the same time, causing them both to tumble out of sync as a buzzer went off. The two mats were hooked up to machines that would alarm where they made mistakes, a very obnoxious system that I can't say was working too great thus far to keep them on track.

Asuka tossed her headphones across the room in frustration, pointing at Shinji while looking at me. "Scheiße! How am I supposed to practice, when he's not even good enough to hit the same steps as me! We're getting nowhere!" As she yelled, the boy was slowly picking himself up off the floor.

"Do you want to give up?" Misato said bluntly before taking a swig of beer.

Asuka put on a smug look and flicked her hair. "Well, it's not like there's anyone else here to take my place."

An equally smug expression crept along Misato's face. "...Rei? You want to give it a try?"

I see, a little bit of tough love, eh? We knew from tests that Shinji and Rei could sync quite well with each other, so this was Misato's trump card. If this didn't invigorate Asuka, I don't know what would.

Putting on the headphones and stepping onto the dance mat, Rei and Shinji both started the test routine. Without even seeing the entire set in action, Rei perfectly mirrored Shinji's moves. The two flowed in a smooth, graceful dance, neither missing their marks in the slightest. I had never seen a more perfect performance. They might've had a real chance in pulling off the plan, if Unit-00 wasn't still under repair.

Misato snickered softly, taking another drink. "I guess all we have to do is change up the plan for Rei and this would be a done deal."

Toji and Kensuke chuckled loudly. Rei and Shinji kept hitting perfect marks.

…and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Asuka, who I had neglected briefly in this scenario. My heart sank.

This was the first time I had seen Asuka cry. She tried to hide it, but, I could tell. She muttered something under her breath and took off out of the den. The front door slammed shut.

It felt like time had slowed for a moment. I felt my blood run cold. Hikari had said something, but I didn't hear it. I couldn't hear it. Instinctively, my body started moving towards the front door. Faster, faster.

I was out on the walkway.

The elevator was in use.

I was running down the stairs.

They went on for far too long.

My feet were hitting hard on the sidewalk.

I didn't even know where I was going.

The sun was starting to set.

Where was she? Why did I care like this? I doubt I would've even ran after my sister this way. Was it because this was my job? Was that all this feeling was? Was that really all it was?

"ASUKA!" I called her name out into the brisk evening air. I called again and again.

Scaling the hill to the park, I figured its lookout over the city would be the best place to call from next. She had to hear me from there, but… would she come to find me even if she did hear?

I reached the top and entered the park.

Suddenly, I remembered the day we first met, when Kaji had pushed me onto the deck of the Over The Rainbow. I saw her there, standing serenely against the ship's railing. She looked like a painting against the vast blue sea.

Reality snapped me back, with the feeling of deja vu filling my mind. There she was, just like that day, leaning against the park railing, overlooking the industrial expanse of Tokyo-3, the sunset's amber glow bleeding over the area through the buildings in the distance.

I took a deep breath and strolled softly up to the bench behind her. I sat. I knew she knew I was there, but we both just held our places. The stillness offered her solace, and I didn't want to make her speak to me until she was ready. I listened to her controlled sobs and soft sniffles. Could anything I say even help her? Why was I even here? Misato or Shinji could probably motivate her more than I could, so why did I run out here?

No.

No.

No.

This wasn't the time for those thoughts. This wasn't about my job. This wasn't about the mission. This was about Asuka. I messed up helping her before, and this was my chance to set things right. To help her. Just like how she and Shinji couldn't afford to be anything less than perfect with their synchronization, I couldn't fail her here. As a member of NERV, as her guardian, and as her friend.

More minutes passed. She turned around, slowly making her way to the bench, refusing to raise her head. She sat beside me, and from what I could see, her face was flushed, stained with tear trails.

She was the first to speak.

"I messed it all up. That just isn't like me." She sniffled. "Seeing wondergirl and stupid Shinji outpacing me like that… it hurt."

"...it all became too much, huh?"

"This entire week, no, the entire month, has made me feel like crap."

I wrung my hands. "Sorry."

She swung her head to look at me. "H-Huh?"

"You've needed encouragement and help, and I've not been there to give it to you properly. So, I'm sorry." She swallowed hard and was silent for a few moments, looking back at Tokyo-3's steadily shadowed buildings. I spoke softly. "You enjoy piloting the Eva, don't you."

"...it's not that I enjoy it. It's an honor. I'll never understand why stupid Shinji is scared of it."

"...and when he started mastering the choreography quicker than you, it made you angry, right?"

"Of course it did! If there was a plan where I could take down both sides of the Angels at the same time by myself, then..." Asuka's jaw clenched. "No one would need to feel sorry, because I'd already be the winner."

I pondered that for a little while. "Yeah, you're probably right."

She looked at me again. "What?" Sounding almost shocked that I agreed with her.

"We could've spent the week making that kind of plan. We might've even found one that worked. You could've taken Unit-2 out to the battlefield and mopped up the Angel like it was nothing." She began growing a weak smile. I bit my lip, thinking about how to word what I was going to say next. "...but what about the Angel after that?"

Her expression turned to one of confusion. "I-I don't get what you mean."

"Let's say you crush this Angel by yourself. It has given you this week of preparation, this week to come up with a hypothetical plan where you can train to handle it on your own. What will you do when the next Angel doesn't give you that opportunity? Would you be fine with dying, or letting someone else die, because you couldn't work with your teammates?"

"Well, th-that's not… I mean..."

I looked into her eyes. She didn't have the same look of anger she wore a week ago when we were in a similar position. "This isn't just about beating the Angel, Asuka. This is about learning how to work together with your teammates. When you can understand them, everything should fall into place. Then, even if the next Angel catches you off-guard, at least you won't be alone." I looked out towards the city. "All I'm saying is, you just swallow your pride, give it your best, and then you will win! I know you can do that. I believe in you."

Silence again.

After a little bit, she sniffled again and stood. "You sounded like a real tool, giving out a corny, inspirational speech out of the blue like that, you know." Spinning on her heel, I noticed some of the fire was back in her eyes. Not in anger, but in passion. "Fine! I get it! I just have to suck it up, right? Make the next few days count, then I never have to do sync training with that wimp ever again? We can just win and be done with it."

"You got it." I smiled at her. She started to smile back, and then spun towards Tokyo-3, walking right up to the railing, and took a deep breath.

"YOU HEAR THAT, YOU STUPID ANGEL!? I'M GONNA SYNC WITH THAT IDIOT SHINJI AND THEN WE'RE GONNA KICK YOUR ASS!" She let out an exasperated sigh, followed by another deep breath.

"Feel better?"

"...my pride's still got a hole in it from earlier, but I'll fill it with ten times the amount once I can finally get that silly dance plan mastered. I'm not gonna let it hold me back!"

I laughed heartily. "That's good to hear."

We walked out of the park together, making our way down the hill, letting the cool, evening air relax us both on the way. All of a sudden, she ran a few steps ahead, turning to point a finger at me.

"You have to make me a promise right here, before we go any further."

Peculiar. I stopped and stared questioningly at the outstretched digit. "What kind of promise?"

It was clear she hadn't thought this over too much in her head, as her cheeks turned to a soft blush from embarrassment. "W-Well! You have to promise to tell me I did a good job after every battle, of course!"

"H-Huh?"

"It's only fair, isn't it? Then you shouldn't feel sorry about not encouraging me before or whatever! Just make it part of your job!"

My job, eh? I scratched the back of my head. If she thinks that'll help her, I guess it's not a big deal. "Okay, I promise."

"Hmph, good. Just as expected!" What a strange girl, but… she seemed happy now, at least a little. She really was good at bouncing back.

Eventually we arrived back at Misato's place. The air in the apartment changed immediately. In just a couple hours, Asuka had stopped taking the lead as much. She had begun taking points from Shinji's movements and using them on subsequent reps. They were both improving far faster than I expected.

Misato pulled me aside before we started getting ready to head to bed. She crossed her arms. "Just what did you do, anyway?"

I looked back towards the den, where Asuka was finishing packing up her training mat. "I just told her what she needed to hear, that's all…"

Misato sighed. "Maybe I should've let you speak to Shinji before too. Might've given him a boost when he needed it." I chuckled sheepishly. I wasn't too sure if I could've done anything to help Shinji. Asuka seemed to me to be a much simpler case, at least right now anyway.

We said our goodnights, and prepared for the final 3 days. I fell asleep without a single doubt in my mind that they'd ace this training.

They still had their spats, but Asuka's new focus had made the training itself go far smoother than I could've ever hoped for. Before we knew it, the night before the Angel was supposed to reactivate was here, and their progress had earned them a night of relaxation. Misato left earlier in the evening to keep an eye on the Angel and get things prepared for tomorrow's battle. Things like that were usually my job, but since having Asuka in my care, a lot of my duties were scaled back. It was a shame, I quite liked doing diagnostics and checking on repairs, but it was hard to argue that any of it was more important than her.

I sat with Shinji on the floor of the den, playing a card game with him to pass the time.

He looked over his hand with an increasingly worried look. I chuckled nervously. "It's just Go Fish, Shinji. No need to get that worked up."

Shaking his head, he spoke up. "Isn't it normal to be worried about losing?"

"I suppose? I guess being that synced with Asuka has made her rub off on you a bit, eh?"

He blushed. "Wh-What? No way."

We both laughed. He then proceeded to beat me soundly. What a dangerous boy, a real maestro in the art of... Go Fish-ing? I laid back on the floor mat. We heard the shower turn off, and Asuka walked into view wearing the long t-shirt she usually sleeps in, patting her hair with a towel. Without a word she walked past us, into Misato's room on the other side of the den, shutting the slide behind her.

The slide opened back up. "Listen, boys. This is the impenetrable wall of Jericho! If either of you pass this line, that means you accept death by execution!" The door slid shut with a hard clap. A few seconds later, Asuka exclaimed, muffled by the wall. "Ugh, I can't wait to get back to my real bed. Sleeping on the floor is a nightmare…"

Shinji scratched the back of his head and sighed, clearly overwhelmed by the redhead at this point. I stood and stretched. "Well, I'll let you get to bed. Big day tomorrow and all."

"Right." I started to leave the den. "H-Hey, Lieutenant?"

"Hmm?"

The young boy scratched his cheek with a half smile on his face. "Thanks for the help this week."

I chuckled and gave him a thumbs up. "That's my job. Have a good night, Shinji."

Laying on this bed roll in this still unfamiliar room, tonight of all nights, I couldn't fall asleep. I stared at the ceiling, going over things in my head, as I'm usually wont to do on sleepless nights.

That's my job.

I haven't changed at all, even now. That's still where my mind goes first, whenever anything happens. "This is my job". But why? Why did it have to be just "my job"? Why was that all I was concerned with, now that I've become very aware of the things at stake and the people who have entered my life? I felt like I was still treating all of this like I was a husk, no genuine feelings existing within me. Like that emptiness deep inside was still defining me. How could I possibly change that? How? What am I doing wrong!?

A light flicked on somewhere in one of the hallway rooms, illuminating the sliver of wall through the crack I left in the door. I heard a door be shut, a few moments passed, that door slid open, and the light turned off. I kept staring at the ceiling. My mind circling the events of the week, trying to find where I was messing up.

I didn't even notice the door to the room had opened. My mind stopped circling. I was awake. There was now someone lying beside me. I could feel them. Their breath was softly blowing against my neck. I swallowed hard and turned to face them. The moonlight streaming in was just enough.

Asuka.

She was snoring peacefully. Must've gone the wrong way from the bathroom without realizing. She was close, almost too close. I could see that her hair was messy, still looking a tiny bit damp from her shower, and her expression was a relaxed one. This rest was well deserved. She worked hard, even after the earlier problems, and she even let me convince her to return and give it her all. I didn't think she fully accepted what I said about understanding her comrades. That was fine. I'm sure she would in time, even without my help.

I spent a while just watching her sleep, enthralled by how peaceful, how genuine, she looked. I guess in a way, I was jealous of her right now. She knows what she fights for, and can sleep like this knowing a tough battle is on the horizon. I don't have anything like that. What a broken person I am…

"...momma… momma..."

Sitting up on the bedroll, I put the sheet I was using over her. She cuddled into their warmth. I stood up and walked out of the room. She was just a child, dreaming of her mother, and I was lying there, jealous of her. Without knowing her or her struggles. I couldn't even push myself to ask her about her life when I had all those chances, and then I told her to try and understand her teammates? What a hypocrite I am…

I walked out onto the complex's walkway, the night air sending a chill through my body. I leaned against the wall, looking out at the city lights. I didn't think about anything. I was sick of being inside my head tonight. I just watched as the distant lights flickered, for no reason at all. At some point I started crying. No sobs, no noise at all, just tears, dripping off my cheeks. I don't know how long I cried for, I don't know how long I stayed out on that moonlit walkway, all I do know is that I woke up in the den, lying a couple feet away from Shinji.

It was morning.

"The final defense line at Gora has been broken!"

Misato nodded and then yelled over the comms to the two pilots. "Alright you two, he's here! Now's not the time for mistakes! Once you hear the music, activate your AT fields, and then start the battle plan from step 1!"

In unison, the duo answered. "Roger!"

One of the technicians called out. "The Angel is passing the mountain range, entering the city!"

Asuka's voice came across the comms. "Everything's green. Full power!"

Shinji's voice followed. "Same here. Everything'll be finished in 62 seconds."

Another call out. "Target has entered position zero!"

Closing her eyes, Misato squeezed her fists. She then yelled. "Exterior power, activate! Go get 'em!"

The music began, and with it, a unified dance. The two Evangelions, running side-by-side, unleashed attack after attack on the Angel. It split it two, but they were prepared. The Evas retreated, every step meticulously planned, and the creature was falling into place with the exact same expectation. They bombarded it with ranged weaponry, creating an opening for the two to close in on it. Sealing the Angel's fate with a kick, as soon as the timer went off.

A flawless performance. 62 seconds on the dot.

The two sides of the Angel's form exploded into a bloody cyclone, ravaging the buildings on either side. Dust covered the monitor's playback.

"...they got it, right?" I asked no one in particular.

The screens slowly began to clear.

Misato smiled. "You're damn right they did."

The comms static dissipated, making everyone in Central Dogma privy to yet another argument. The two Evangelion units lay in a mangled mess in the crater that was just created.

I couldn't help but laugh, and every spectator felt the same. They were safe for another while. The battle had been won. They deserved to let off their steam for a bit longer.

"Ahhhh! How nice it is to be home!" Asuka happily skipped into my apartment, tossing the bag of just cleaned laundry onto the floor of the living room, before enthusiastically slumping herself across the couch. I put my own bags on the kitchen counter and turned to lock the door.

We had collected our things from Misato's apartment earlier, so we spent the rest of the day out, finishing errands that I had put off for the week. I walked into the living room and sat down in the chair across the room from her.

She turned to look at me.

"You're really going to keep me waiting all day, huh?"

I scrunched up my face. "...for what?"

She sat up with a groan. "Gah, du vergesslich schwachkopf! Hello, your promise?"

"...OH! Damn, I'm sorry, Asuka. With everything that happened today I just…" Her expression looked a bit deflated, so I just shook my head instead of continuing with an excuse. I walked over to the couch and sat beside her. Giving her a smile, I put a hand on the top of her head.

"You did a good job today, Asuka. I'm proud of you."

Author's Note: Well, that was a bigger arc than I had anticipated! Can you believe I wanted to fit it all into a single chapter at first! Ha, what a silly person I am.

I hope you all have been enjoying Matsuo's budding relationships with the characters around him. He's still got a long way to go, emotionally, but he may find some of his answers sooner rather than later. What will happen when he finally allows his heart to open? Stay tuned!