Interlude 7: Tales of Tokyo-2
Fushigiri's Fine Dining, Tokyo-2, September 10th, 2016
Second Lieutenant Kensuke Aida wondered, not for the first time, exactly what he was thinking when he decided to take Ichigo out to eat somewhere that was this fine for lunch.
It wasn't that it wasn't a decent place to dine, by far. The quiet, secluded tone of the restaurant worked well in Ken's favor for what he was here for, and the service and prices were both well kept and surprisingly decent on his wallet, respectively. The venue itself he held no ill will towards.
No, it was more towards himself, he thought as he sat across from Ichigo, who had actually dressed for the occasion quite nicely with a deep blue dress that set off her hair just so…
He had to keep himself from shaking his head in wonderment and disbelief. The fact that he'd talked himself into agreeing with Ichigo to something like this, while mostly shocking to him, didn't cover a part of him that was slowly becoming more and more okay with this. He wasn't entirely sure which part unsettled him more.
He thought back, not for the first time, to only about 2 days ago. He and Ichigo were emerging from Quelaan's apartment here in Tokyo-2, another lesson under their belts. He had looked, once more, into the space within his soul that the form of his Grip disappeared into, looking at the nascent Spirit within.
It was… overwhelmingly curious. That sort of emotion, that wonderfully simple sapience, had only just begun to emerge before they had been swept to the safety of Tokyo-2 during the Last Battle of Tokyo-3. Now, though the amount of Metos that he had been feeding it had increased, the joy of interacting with it, exploring its expressions of curiosity, had grown in equal measure.
"So," he said casually, "how's your Spirit doing? You mentioned you were finding a name for it. Any that have stuck out so far, yet?"
Ichigo shook her head. "Not as of yet. I appreciate your continued suggestions. Strange as some of them may be."
He shrugged. "Glad I can help." he said with a smile.
They had continued in silence for a moment before Ichigo looked over at him. "Kensuke?" she had asked quietly. She continued as he looked over at her. "You know how my memories of Rei's life have become… obscured."
"You've mentioned it a time or two." He'd replied. "Something to do with what happened at the First Battle of Tokyo-3, right?" Ichigo nodded silently. "So, what are you looking for?"
"There is a term." Ichigo had begun. "Something that you do with someone that you like." her brow had furrowed in concentration. "It is… what do you say? On the tip of my tongue."
A bolt of anxiety had struck his heart like lightning, and it hammered as he swallowed and offered the answer that, for some reason, a part of him dearly hoped was wrong. "A… date?" he said tentatively.
Ichigo nodded. "Yes. That's it. A date." she seemed to silently mull on the seeming significance of that word for a moment before she looked back at him with a peculiar look in her eyes. "Will you take me on a date?" she asked, somewhat bluntly.
He had been silent for a moment, his eyes wide. Ichigo had grown embarrassed, blushing slightly as she looked back to where they were walking. "Did I… did I do something wrong?" she asked quietly.
"No, no!" He'd quickly replied. "It's just…" he'd trailed off after a moment.
"Is there someone else that you take on dates already?" Ichigo had asked.
"Not…" He'd begun. "Not anymore." he'd settled on. "They're here, in Tokyo-2, but… I don't know where. And it's been long enough that… they might have moved on already."
That wasn't the only reason he'd not contacted Sayaka and Kyoko yet. Quelaan's words after that lesson still rang in his ears, and… that fire that she had talked about had been a little stronger than he'd expected.
"So, yes." he'd continued. "I'll take you on a date. Say, 2 days from now?"
Ichigo nodded. "That sounds agreeable. I will prepare for then, and be ready for wherever you may wish to take me."
"Oh, good. I'll find someplace we can go and let you know before then." He'd replied.
Even long into the night, as he lay alone in his bed, he tried to sort out the mess of emotions that now swirled in his head. How he felt about Sayaka and Kyoko. How he felt about Ichigo. And how he felt about the utterly terrifying prospect of… possibly moving on.
Ichigo coughed politely, dragging Kensuke back into the present as he looked at her smiling slightly at him, the sight causing him to blush a little. "Sorry." he said sheepishly. "Head was in the clouds."
"That is okay." Ichigo said quietly. "I understand there is a lot for you to think about at this present moment. With the retrieval mission tomorrow and all."
"Yeah." Kensuke said quietly. "That too."
"If I may be so bold," Ichigo said slowly, "what else were you thinking about?"
Kensuke opened his mouth, then shut it again. "Some other people." he admitted in a mumble.
"The people you…" Ichigo began, then paused as she blushed. "Took on dates before?" she said quietly.
Kensuke looked at Ichigo silently for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yeah. Sayaka and Kyoko. They're nice. We got together in Tokyo-3 before their families moved here. We had a good thing going too. A weird thing, but… a good thing." he said quietly.
"I am glad that you were positively influenced by them." Ichigo said quietly, as they finished their meal and took the check. It was silent as they waited for the card they had given.
"Thank you," Ichigo said after a moment, "for giving me this experience, even for how… awkward it must be. I think I should say that to you more often."
"No problem. Thank you for being understanding." Kensuke said, somewhat relieved, as the check came back.
As they stood to leave, and started making their way out of the restaurant, Ichigo looked over at Kensuke once again. "May I hold your hand?" she asked softly.
It was a moment more, within which they exited the restaurant, before Kensuke nodded. "Sure." he said simply.
With that, she took his hand, and they began their short walk home. It felt… good, Kensuke realized. Better than even he first realized. 'You know…' he thought. 'Maybe it isn't so bad to move on now.'
. . .
As they walked into the hotel they stayed in that had been set aside for NERV staff, they got into an elevator, still hand in hand, and went to their floor. As they emerged with a ding, they came to find themselves in front of Major Hyuga and Captain Faez.
"Oh." Hyuga said in surprise. "Hello, Ichigo, Second Lieutenant Aida."
"Hey there, kiddo." Faez said to Ichigo before glancing over at Kensuke with a bemused smile. "So, I see you bagged this kid. Seems a little nerdier than I'd expect of you, but hey, I'm just glad you've got him."
Kensuke blushed as Ichigo smiled slightly. "Thank you, Adira, for the kind words. Kensuke is a good man." she paused for a moment, her smile disappearing. "Were you… able to retrieve any of your painting supplies?" she asked softly.
It was silent for a moment as a somber look cast itself over Faez's face. "No. Nothing survived when Tokyo-3 got… corified. I've lost… everything. Even… my picture." she finished in a whisper.
"I'm sorry to hear that, Adira." Ichigo said softly. "I… I wish there was something I could do."
Kensuke blinked silently. Within his Grip, he felt a surge of… excitement. A desire to do… something. "Hang on for a second." he said offhandedly as his Grip appeared in his free hand, and he reluctantly let go of Ichigo's hand to take off his glasses.
"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked as Kensuke gently touched his glasses to the Grip.
"Following my Spirit's lead." Kensuke replied as the glasses began to glow softly with a pale blue light. "Ms. Faez, if you could… hold still for a moment, I guess?"
"O…kay?" Faez replied as Kensuke replaced his glasses and looked at her, his eyes widening from what he saw.
He looked at the Frame of Adira Faez's soul, but he could also see little packets of light, shooting stars, racing back and forth within the branches of the Frames. Seemingly on instinct, his Spirit seemed to pluck one of the motes of light out, revealing not only the images of a painting, but the feelings and thoughts attached to it. It looked like a monster, and there were few, if any, positive emotions attached to it.
"What did this picture look like?" Kensuke asked quietly as the Spirit seemed to start rifling through different pictures.
"It was… a photo." Faez replied slowly. Kensuke watched as his Spirit started sifting through photos faster than he could blink. "A group picture of my squadmates."
As she said the last word, the Spirit settled on a photo like she said, a group of women in military fatigues smiling at a camera. The… memory? Impression? Whatever it was, it was almost dripping with good feelings and memories.
He felt his Spirit connect to him and… push, and Kensuke looked down with wide eyes as the Spirit took the memories and… spun a new photo into existence in the air.
As it finished forming, Kensuke felt a deep exhaustion settle on him as his Spirit pulled away from their connection and the photo dropped into a now open hand.
All present regarded it with no small amount of shock before Kensuke bashfully presented it to Faez. "Uh… here you go." he said hesitantly.
Faez took the photo with near reverence, scanning it silently as tears welled in her eyes. "Thank you, Kensuke." she whispered. "Thank you so much."
"You're welcome." Kensuke replied, pondering at the sudden revelation of what it seemed his Spirit could do. 'But what to call you?' he wondered. It was not the only thing he would wonder that night.
. . .
Local Tokyo-2 Supermarket
"Man," Shirou Emiya mused aloud as he gazed down at a display stand of fish, "fish is expensive around here."
"All meat is, unfortunately." Shinji Ikari said sympathetically. "Chalk it up to the, well, impact of Second Impact wiping out a lot of animal species. There's been a downward trend relatively recently in prices, but they're still a lot higher than they were 2 decades ago."
"I see." Shirou replied somewhat absentmindedly as he picked out a decent enough specimen, and had it wrapped for him.
As the pair continued to shop for ingredients, having bonded over their two great past times: saving the world and cooking, Shirou looked at or glanced at Shinji wonderingly from time to time. Shinji picked up on this fairly quickly, and at first, thought nothing of it. As time went on, however, it began to get a little distracting.
As Shirou glanced at him again, Shinji looked back over. "Is there something wrong?" Shinji asked.
Shirou blinked. "Oh. No, sorry." he said quickly. "It's just… I've met a Shinji before."
"Different kind of Shinji." he continued as Shinji's brow rose. "He was a Matou instead of an Ikari. And he was… basically the opposite of you. Arrogant, quick to anger, and frankly, sadistic. Knowing a Shinji that's none of those things is… a nice change of pace."
"Was he part of your 'Holy Grail War'?" Shinji asked as they pondered for a moment on a rack of spices.
"Yeah." Shirou replied. "It was… not fun. Especially when Sakura got roped in." he continued darkly as he picked up some thyme.
"Shinji, Sakura…" Shinji said as they moved on to another aisle. "Lot of names I know."
"But certainly not the faces."Shirou chuckled." I guess I'll have to get used to that as an Outrider."
Shinji looked over at Shirou as he mentioned the organization." So... what's it like? Being able to go around the Worldsea and all that?"
"Well," Shirou began with a sigh, "it's… kind of crazy, especially with this being our first mission. Especially with Loki involved."
"He seems… a little unsuited to working with others." Shinji observed.
Shirou bobbed his head from side to side. "Most times. He's got his moments though. And he's not even the living cartoon."
They shared a quiet chuckle as they checked out and began walking home.
"Yeah." Shinji said quietly before he paused for a moment. "I wonder how Asuka and Rin are doing." he wondered.
. . .
Infinity Box
Asuka and Rin trotted into the cool, blue-stoned room, wearing light exercise clothes and towels around their necks, excited gleams in their eyes.
"Thanks for asking me to spar." Rin said with a sure smile as they entered. "You're a little young for how hard I usually go with Shirou, but I'm looking forward to whatever surprises you can dish out on me."
"Oh, I wouldn't dismiss me for my youth so easily." Asuka replied with a cocksure grin. "I might have more surprises than you might think."
"We'll see about that." Rin shot back as they emerged into the Infinity Box proper, and her gaze was drawn to the dark cave carved out of one wall, within which a dim glow emitted.
"Uh," Rin said uncertainly, "what's going on in there?"
"Oh, nothing to worry about." Asuka replied as she walked over towards the cave. "Just my mother getting her body restored. I've been meaning to check up on her today. I'll do it quick."
"Okay." Rin said, uncertainty still evident as she followed Asuka to the mouth of the cave. "How does that… work…?"
Rin trailed off into silence as Dhamadren slinked forward, drawing himself up to tower over the two women. "Well, hello." he said as he looked intently at Asuka. "I believe you're the daughter of my current patient, are you not?"
"Yeah." Asuka said matter-of-factly. "I'm checking in on her. May I see her?"
"Yes, yes, of course, young madam." Dhamadren said as he stepped aside, sweeping two arms dramatically towards the table on the right side of the hollow. The glow which they had both seen before stepping in resolved itself to be a human body, wreathed in a warm, shifting glow, almost like a sunrise. Patches of darker colors flowed in and out of existence from time to time.
"I must say, young madam," Dhamadren began, "your dreams have proven to be perhaps my favorite material to work with. Daniel's nightmares only make up a small portion of the foundation for this body. I must thank you."
"You're welcome… I guess." Asuka said slowly. She looked over at her mother's luminous form. "Can I... talk to her?" she asked quietly.
"Give me a moment to temporarily manifest a head, and you shall be able to." Dhamadren replied, walking over to stop at the head of the body, placing the lower pair of his arms to either side of it.
The patterns on Dhamadren's skin glowed brighter as they shifted and writhed for a moment, and the glow around Kyoko Zeppelin-Soryu's head parted like fog, revealing a sharp, defined face, blonde hair fanning around her head as she looked around the space with wide, bright blue eyes.
Asuka stared silently for a moment until Kyoko's gaze found her. "Liebling?" she said aloud, barely more than a whisper.
"Mama…" Asuka replied, stepping forward. "I've missed seeing you." she said simply after a moment's silence.
"And I've missed seeing you too." Kyoko said. "Oh, I just wish I could hug you. But I guess I'm not there quite yet."
She glanced over at Rin, and smiled slightly. "And who might your workout partner be, Asuka?"
Rin stepped forward as she waved somewhat awkwardly. "Hi. I'm Rin Emiya. I'm from… out of town." she settled on.
"Oh?" Kyoko replied as she arched an eyebrow. "What, exactly, does out of town mean, in this case? Out of the country? Or out of the universe?"
"The latter." Rin admitted. "How, uh, have you kept up with that sort of news?"
"Well, I've just finished my tenure as the resident soul of a giant biomechanical war machine that my dear daughter piloted by linking with my soul. It makes getting news on things very easy."
After a second's thought, she blinked. "Come to think of it," she said, "how am I breathing?"
"I wouldn't worry too much about the specifics right now, madam." Dhamadren replied. "I'm simply making sure you can visit with your daughter."
Rin shook her head slightly. "Man, and I thought the Holy Grail was weird…" she muttered.
"The Holy Grail?" Asuka said, looking over at Rin with an arched eyebrow. "Like, the actual Holy Grail?"
"Oh, no." Rin replied. "It's… more complicated than that. It's still a wish-granting device, but it taps into the old magic of the world to rewrite reality. Like giving our three Sabers new bodies."
Asuka and Kyoko blinked. "Huh. Interesting." Asuka said after a moment.
"Well, mama," Asuka continued as she looked back over at Kyoko, "I'm about to spar with Rin, then Shinji and Rin's husband are going to cook us dinner."
"Oh, good!" Kyoko replied. "I wish I could join you for dinner, but I'm afraid it looks like I might still have a ways to go." she glanced up at Dhamadren. "Doctor, what's my prognosis so far?"
"Well, your daughter's dreams are… frankly somewhat miraculous." Dhamadren replied as it put a hand from its upper pair of arms onto its chin thoughtfully. "I knew that a connection between the dreamer and the work was important, especially when the work consisted of a biological body. But I'll have to look deeper into such a connection and its implications on my speed."
"And that means?" Asuka said somewhat impatiently.
"I am ahead of schedule." Dhamadren said, almost triumphantly, as he drew himself up. "If I do enough work tonight, I may yet finish Mrs. Soryu's body by late tomorrow."
Asuka and Kyoko's eyes both widened, and tears began to well up in Asuka's. "Thank you." she said softly.
"A chance at working my skills is thanks enough." Dhamadren said. "Now, you are free to return to your exercise. I've been in some need of diversion recently."
"Care to prop me up so I can watch?" Kyoko asked as Rin and Asuka moved out into the wider Infinity Box. "It's been a while since I've watched any sort of martial arts, period."
"One moment." Dhamadren said, stretching out a hand and concentrating as the luminous portion of Kyoko's body assumed a sitting position.
As Rin and Asuka settled onto the floor, minding to keep in view of the cave entrance, Rin nodded at Asuka. "Alright. No frills. No boosts. Just a nice, clean, back to basics fight. Nothing much harder than that, right?"
"Alright." Asuka replied as she settled into a stance, an almost hungry gleam in her eyes. "It's a little boring, but I'll take that over nothing."
Rin grinned as she settled into a stance of her own. "Oh, don't worry. If we're able to keep going, we might be able to spice things up."
"Oh, music to my ears." Asuka chuckled.
It was still for a moment, then Asuka and Rin moved, and the match began.
. . .
The Sonne, High Earth Orbit
Ritsuko and Maya stepped off of the teleportation platform of the Tellan vessel's embarkation room with wide eyes that looked around them as if they were children in a toy store.
The metaphor was not far off the mark. The vessel was packed full of science equipment, mechanical and Pneumaic manufacturing, and some of the most cutting-edge medical equipment the pair had laid eyes on. It took them a little longer than they perhaps first anticipated as they made their way to Izalith's personal lab on the ship.
As they entered the clean, orderly space, Izalith looked over from behind a table with a console and stood. "Welcome, ladies," she said with a slight smile, "to my humble abode. How goes the day so far?"
"Well, about as good as one can ask." Ritsuko replied. "We've finished logging the data on the flight over the Corite area, and we're getting everything prepped for the retrieval operation tomorrow morning."
"That's good." Izalith said as she nodded. "Now, shall we begin?"
"Certainly." Ritsuko replied as she looked over to Maya. "The sample, dear?"
Maya nodded as she produced a container of LCL, a clear tube with two metal caps that showcased the dully gleaming orange liquid. "Fresh from our reserves in Matsushiro." she said as she stepped forward.
"Excellent." Izalith said as she walked over and took the container in one large hand, studying it intently in the light. "Fascinating." she muttered after a moment, then shook her head slightly as she walked over to a bank of machines. "Is there a way to extract this from the container?"
As Ritsuko helped her extract a sample and feed it into one of the machines, Maya ogled at the sight. "What do all of these do?" she said in wide-eyed wonderment.
"They're all mostly for analysis and Frame copying." Izalith replied as she activated the machines, all spinning up with barely a whisper. "It took a little convincing to get them onto here, but I never leave for anywhere without my setup. Or at least the mobile version. It makes copying things…" she paused for a moment, an odd look crossing her face. "Easier." she continued, a little more quietly.
As the machines went to work, Ritsuko looked up at Izalith. "Did something go wrong at some point?" she asked quietly.
Izalith blinked, then shook her head slightly. "Oh. Something from my old life. An old mistake made by a younger, far more prideful woman."
Izalith looked at a display on one of the machines before turning to look at Ritsuko and Maya. "We have the time while the analyzer works its magic. Pull up a chair. I have a quick story to tell."
Two chairs were found, and Ritsuko and Maya sat in front of Izalith's desk as she began her story. "Where I come from, my strength, before I found myself properly Interfaced, came from a Pneumaic source known as the First Flame. I was part of a group of gods that shaped the world after we had won it from the everlasting dragons. The kingdoms that we established lasted for millennia."
She paused, then sighed quietly. "But the First Flame began to fade, and the Darkness began to grow in its stead. Many of us gods grew desperate. I was the first to offer a solution. I wished to try and create a copy of the First Flame. I felt confident in the abilities of myself and my daughters."
"But our hubris was to be our downfall." she continued. "The Flame which we created grew out of control. And the Flame we made, the Chaos Flame, mutated our bodies and made us into what would be known as the Demons."
Ritsuko and Maya listened attentively as Izalith paused again, then continued. "And that was our lot, or so we thought. Maligned and hunted for our hubris. For my hubris. Some of my daughters escaped, and I thought I would never see them again. Until Daniel came and freed as many of us as he could."
"Now, I am far more… exacting in my work. Far more cautious." Izalith said quietly. Before she could continue, a tone sounded from the bank of machines, drawing the attention of the group as Izalith stood.
"And now…" Izalith said, an undertone of excitement in her voice as she walked over to the machines, pulling up a display and tapping in a few windows. "We can begin." she continued as she beckoned Ritsuko and Maya over.
Ritsuko and Maya observed a window with graphs and charts surrounding a roughly oval-shaped clump of Frames, some areas shaded in different colors. "Quite a remarkable substance. A hyper-perfluorocarbonate, with substantial mutability and Pneumaic amplification properties. This is going to be quite the interesting little puzzle to replicate."
"Then let's get to it, shall we?" Ritsuko said, her eyes gleaming in hunger for the scientific endeavor that lay before them.
. . .
The next several hours were one of discovery, hypothesis, and on-the-job learning; that was the sort of thing Ritsuko and Maya had only dreamed about. The specialized tools to break down the sample of LCL, create new iterations of the precious liquid, then learn from their mistakes and begin again were laid bare to the scientists, and in time, they managed them like conductors of an orchestra of scientific inquiry.
And now, several cups of coffee later, the trio gathered around a singular machine, the miniature Frame Extruder that had been fitted to produce the synthetic LCL in a suspensor field, and waited with bated breath as their latest iteration was processed by the machine.
The atmosphere was alive with barely contained excitement as the Frame Extruder stirred, its nozzle dipping slightly as it whirred softly. Then, a bright blue, almost teal, viscous slime began to drip from it, coalescing into a slightly wobbling sphere about the size of a baseball.
Almost before the process had finished, Ritsuko's pad was only inches away, the sensor suite packed into the device linked to the diagnostic machines of the lab. It showed the synthetic LCL as a Frame outline, side by side with the outline of the natural LCL's Frame for comparison.
"I think this is the closest we're going to get to the 'real thing'." Ritsuko said as she straightened up, an unmistakable air of satisfaction in her voice.
"Yeah." Maya replied eagerly, her eyes gleaming at the sight. "We've extended the half-life by 50%, and we've boosted the Pneumaic amplification by a factor of 2. Forget the real thing, this is the future of the Frame Titans, or really anything we do with LCL."
Ritsuko nodded as she looked up at Izalith. "Thank you for your assistance and tutelage, Izalith. We couldn't have done this without you."
"One question remains, however." she continued before Izalith could reply. "How are we going to manufacture this Synthetic LCL, and how long would it take to manufacture a Frame Titan?"
Izalith cupped her chin. "Well, let's see. From what I recall of the Frame Titan schematics, we needed about… 850 million gallons of LCL to provide the necessary material for the Frame Plug to transform into the Titan in question. With the industrial scale Frame Extruders that we're capable of putting together, one Extruder should be able to produce about 20 gallons every minute."
Maya whistled silently. "Wow. That's a lot of liquid. And that would leave us able to actually produce a new Frame Titan in…"
"About two and a half to three weeks. On one Extruder." Ritsuko finished, a slow smile spreading across her face. "We just need a place to store it all in, then."
"Unless we pump it directly into the Frame Plug." Maya retorted. "That would save us space and time in the manufacturing process."
"Perfect, Maya." Ritsuko said, sparing a light touch to her lover's arm before looking back up at Izalith. "So, how many Extruders can you get us?"
"About…" Izalith began. "Three we can spare now of the same size that you used for the Frame Plug's manufacture, and at least two more every week or so that we can put together and send you."
"That's perfect. Again, thank you, Izalith." Ritsuko said.
"You are quite welcome, Ritsuko." Izalith replied. "Now, I believe you mentioned having some business you needed to attend to, in the next few minutes now, before you came aboard?"
Ritsuko nodded. "That I do. I have a deal I need to uphold to Ms. Katsuragi."
As Izalith nodded in understanding, Ritsuko turned to face Maya. "Would you like to come with me, or would you like to continue exploring the ship?" she asked with a slight, wry smile.
"I'll be here for the next little while exploring, I think." Maya replied. "Go help Misato, and I'll meet you back home."
"It's a deal." Ritsuko said. "See you at home." she finished with a quick kiss.
As Ritsuko walked back from whence they came, Maya looked up to Izalith, who had a patient smile on her face. "Alright," Maya said, voice brimming with excitement, "I'm ready for my tour."