Chapter 7: Does she feel the same way? Part 1 (A Creation of Man)

Friday, August 21, 2015

After our short talk about why we piloted, Rei and I sortied in our Evas to take down Ramiel. The operation was a success, but we didn't quite get through unscathed. I missed the first shot with the energy rifle, and it would take a second to finish the job. The Angel counterattacked while I was prepping the second shot, and Rei had to protect me with her shield to buy me more time. By the time this shot hit and killed the Angel, Unit-00's armor was already starting to melt and it couldn't move. Rei was going to overheat in there, so I had to get her out of the Eva as soon as I was able. I pulled out her entry plug with my own Eva, then forced open the plug door after exiting it. I didn't even care how hot it was; in those moments, her survival was all that mattered to me.

Surely enough, I managed to save her before she could be hurt any worse. Seeing her open her eyes again after she'd been knocked unconscious… I could feel a huge weight lifting off of my shoulders, and it felt so good I could cry. Actually, I did cry, and I told her in no uncertain terms the joy I felt in getting to continue living knowing she'd be there too. I also told her I liked her, but there I wasn't being as truthful as I could've. I wanted to tell her I loved her, but something compelled me to hold back. I guess I was afraid of how she might respond. At least she said she liked me too, and now we're fully on first-name basis.

After some time, Misato and Dr. Akagi came with some other Nerv personnel to get us and take us back to HQ. It was hard for Rei to move as we took her out of the plug; Dr. Akagi told us she'd be fine again the next day, but would have to spend today resting, and added that I should do the same. She'd see to it that our absences from school today would be excused.

At HQ, we gave the debriefing of the battle like with Shamshel before returning home. The whole time, I couldn't stop thinking about Rei; Misato must've caught on, because as soon as we were alone and driving back to the apartment she commented on my expression. I recounted to her what I told Rei after the battle, and my regrets at not being fully transparent with my feelings. Surprisingly, she told me I'd done the right thing in that situation. She explained that the both of us still don't really know each other as well as we could, and that we shouldn't rush into something we're not ready for. Besides, we'll be seeing her at her apartment after she's recovered. We still have to convince her to get onboard with moving out of the Cemetery. I'll get my chance to tell her how I really feel soon enough.

I think it was around 1:30 AM when we got back home, and around 2 AM when we finally got to sleep. Misato didn't even get the luxury of sleeping in like I did; when we woke up, I got to spend the day staying home, taking care of chores, catching up on school stuff, and entertaining myself while she still had to go to work like normal. She does so much for me, and sometimes I wonder whether I'm showing my gratitude well enough.

It gave me some ideas. When Misato returned home, I told her exactly what I had in mind as we ate dinner and refined our plans. At school tomorrow, I'm going to tell Rei that I want to come over to her place again with Misato the next time it's convenient for her. It might be the same day, it might be another. Once I get confirmation she's available and we're done at HQ for the day, we'll drive to her apartment to talk to her. I'm going to invite her to our place for dinner and maybe a movie some time. We can resolve the other details later, but what's important is that I show Rei she can live somewhere better than her current place and do something for Misato to thank her for everything she's done for us.

I think this is it for today's writing. Who knew spending the day relaxing at home could be so tiring? Certainly doesn't help that I had a ton of catching up to do on this journal…

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Today at school I had a career guidance meeting to attend, with Misato showing up at school later to accompany me for it. I'm amazed she was able to come to it looking as well as she did, considering how exhausting the past day was for her, and especially considering her tendency towards beer instead of coffee to get her morning buzz (such as this morning). I just wish she didn't have to make such a scene coming in. Hearing your other male classmates (including your two guy friends) go gaga over someone who's effectively your mom is weird no matter who you are. Besides that, there isn't a whole lot I can say about how the career meeting itself went. Assuming I don't end up being an Eva pilot for the rest of my life, I'd love to play the cello professionally, probably in an orchestra. Besides, it's not like I'm especially skilled in or even interested in other subjects. I just wish I actually had the time to participate in an extracurricular club. Being a pilot takes a lot out of you.

Before heading to Nerv HQ, I told Rei that Misato and I wanted to drop by her place, because Misato wanted to see it for herself. She told me we could do so any time that afternoon; there currently wasn't anything for her to do at Nerv HQ since Unit-00 was still being repaired and Dr. Akagi had yet to get the VR trainer set up for it. She said this also meant I wouldn't have to do training either until the setup for Unit-00 was finished, though I still had a sync test in Unit-01 that day.

During the sync test, I found myself pondering the nature of the Evas. That morning, Touji and Kensuke had told me to leave protecting Misato to them while I protected the Earth in Unit-01. They weren't acting that serious, but their words legitimately made me wonder. Just what are the Evas? They can't possibly be like any ordinary robots if they're all like Unit-01. And the LCL I immerse myself in every time I get in smells and tastes like blood of all things… I shouldn't feel as relaxed in the entry plug as I do, but it happens. Whatever's up with them, they must hold some kind of secret I don't know about. But at the moment, that's the least of my concerns.

I finished the test with a sync rate of 50.1%. Almost five whole points up from last time. As I left the testing lab with Misato, Dr. Akagi, Mr. Hyuga, and Miss Ibuki, the four began discussing the continuing repairs on Unit-00, and the conversation inevitably drifted to the Angels. It was then that Dr. Akagi took the opportunity to inform me of the truth about Second Impact and why Nerv exists. All those boring lectures we get from Mr. Saeki about it? Even more useless than I thought, because they're spreading a cover-up. The textbooks say it was caused by a meteorite, but that's a complete lie. It happened when the first Angel was discovered in Antarctica and it set off some kind of explosion. And Nerv's purpose, really the Evas' purpose too, is to stop the Angels emerging now from causing a Third Impact and killing everyone. I should feel surprised by learning all this, but not unlike when I get in the entry plug, I feel the opposite of how I expect.

When we were finished at HQ, Misato and I drove to the Cemetery, then walked to Rei's building to see her. Surely enough, Misato was every bit as creeped out by it all as I was, maybe even more so. The smell of blood in the apartment wasn't as bad as it was last time, but the place was still a travesty. As we spoke with Rei, Misato stated quite adamantly to her that her living conditions were completely unacceptable for anyone, but especially for a pilot like her. One highlight from the conversation was how Rei kept herself fed with a kitchen that had to have violated at least one health code somewhere; we learned she doesn't like eating meat and doesn't know how to cook at all. We also got to look inside her mini-fridge, which was full of nothing but vegetarian bento, water, and canned coffee from the nearby convenience store. Rei still didn't quite understand the problem, though. Clearly Father never told her there was much more to a home than simply providing shelter. It was at that point when I suggested to her that she visit our place for dinner and a movie so she could get a better idea of how Misato and I lived. We wouldn't be able to do it that night, because we still had to tidy up, nor would we be able to do so tomorrow because Misato had to go to Old Tokyo on business that day and probably wouldn't be back home until late, but we would be able to do it on Monday. The meal would be stir fry, with beef for Misato and I and without it for Rei. As for the movie, we could decide on that later. Rei was delighted enough at the prospect of hanging out with me that she agreed. To say that makes me feel hopeful would be an understatement.

As we left the Cemetery and drove back home, Misato couldn't even begin to contain her anger at Father for making Rei live the way she did. Something very suspicious had to be going on behind the scenes for this to have persisted for so long. Still, she told me she'd do everything in her power to help her if it meant keeping her safe and better maintained. Now, more than ever, we need to make sure we hit this dinner date(?) thing out of the ballpark.

That's it for noteworthy events today. Monday can't come soon enough. The more I see Rei smile, the more I can't get enough of it…

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Today started a lot like yesterday as I made myself toast for breakfast. However, the Misato I was greeted with coming out of her room was much different. Rather than the messy 'pleasure' Misato I usually saw waking up in the morning, this was the more intense 'business' Misato I often heard and saw during serious moments like Angel fights. It was kinda surreal to see her like this so early in the day, but nonetheless expected considering what she mentioned at Rei's place. Before leaving, she told me to have something delivered so we could eat in time for her returning home. From there, the day was looking to become a repeat of Friday after Ramiel, filled mainly with chores, homework, video games, and cello practice. This went on until about 2 PM when I suddenly heard Miss Ibuki of all people yelling for me and banging on the door. There was an emergency going on in Old Tokyo and my assistance in Unit-01 was desperately needed. I immediately gathered that something terrible must've been going on and readily left to accompany her.

As we drove to the plane carrying Unit-01, she got me up to speed on the current situation. Japan Heavy Chemical Industries was holding a demonstration of a new fighting robot called Jet Alone intended to supplant the Evas in the role of Angel defense. However, something had caused it to go out of control, and it was moving towards the city of Atsugi as we spoke. In addition, its nuclear reactor was going to melt down and cause an explosion if it was left unchecked.

Misato was already waiting for me on the plane, wearing a nuclear hazmat suit. She explained to me the plan; I would be carrying her to Jet Alone directly using Unit-01. After having her board it to delete its programming, I would then need to restrain it until she finished the job. It was a dangerous and frankly insane plan, but the thing had to be stopped somehow, and there was no way in hell I was going to let Misato's blood stain my hands again. Hurting her once was more than enough for me.

When the time came, Unit-01 was dropped from the plane and we carried out the plan exactly as we discussed. The whole thing only lasted about five minutes, but as I held the robot back, every second felt like an eternity. As the timer drew closer and closer to expiring, I thought it was going to be the end when suddenly, at the last second, it finally quit moving. We did it. After a thorough decontamination followed by the routine debriefing, we returned home for the day. Naturally, we ordered out for dinner because we were both too drained to cook anything ourselves.

Tomorrow's the big day. We need to make it count.

AUTHOR NOTES:

Very, very sorry for the abnormally long wait for friggin' Jet Alone of all things. This and the next chapter that'll be uploaded were originally part of the same draft, but I felt the need to split it in half for length reasons. I also somehow thought it would be a good idea to have my pre-readers look at both chapters before publishing either. Note to self: don't do that again.

The way things are turning out now, it has become necessary to write more chapters of the fic than there are episodes of the original NGE anime plus EoE. Therefore, you may see some chapters with unusual numbering going forward. The next chapter, for instance, will be Chapter 7.5, taking place between Jet Alone and Gaghiel. Also, I hope you like WAFF, because said chapter will contain a fair helping of it. Make of that what you will, and expect it within the next few days after people have had time to let this one sink in.

Special thanks to Evageeks for help with canon fact-checking (including timeline planning), and to my pre-readers for examining the chapters released so far. Thanks especially to Argent-of-Cintria (Lord-Argent-fourth-of-his-name), whose consulting will prove to be highly useful for the coming chapters, and to the good people over at AsuShincord's fanfic workshop for their advice on making Shinji's writing more believable. If you like AsuShin, please do me a favor and give Argent's fic "A Strange Duet" a look here if you can find the time.