Train Of Thoughts
Chapter 9
Standard Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned and copyrighted by Gainax, all characters used from that series are theirs. All names are (TM) and (C) by their respective owners.
I've never written long texts in English, and this is my first try to write a fan fiction.
Feel free to send any comment, suggestion, flame, job opportunity etc. etc.
About the crap I write.. even if EBJ ( the evafiction's Space Black God ) helps me a lot, starting from the pile of trash that is my draft, some errors could escape, so you are advised...
Just now, I'm happy to add to the active roster of pre-readers Tsu. He will help me pointing to conflicts in my stories and making suggestions. The poor EBJ will still deal with my errors, so be nice and write to him, will ya? :)
In the end, if you like ToT, thank them as well, so I can continue writing...
In reality, there should be another pre-reader, but unfortunately I lost your e-mail, Emilio!
Please contact me again! I am very ashamed..
And, a newcomer is welcome!
Major Misato Katsuragi! She is a teenager who loves EVA and anime, and she has written the one-shot "Rain". Okay, reading it you could understand her ideas about the Shinji-Rei-Asuka triangle. What? You want to know my ideas as well?
I think you have to wait for a looooong time! L
Standard Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is owned and copyrighted by Gainax, all characters used from that series are theirs. All names are (TM) and (C) by their respective owners.
Well, Take a seat, and enjoy yourselves.
Notice:
Do you know the old Infocom's textual adventures? Corruption, Fish? Well, I am trying to learn how to build an evangelion adventure using the inform compiler. About this, I'd like to say that I have put the verbose option of this chapter to a rather high value. I hope this would only improve my story. Let me know.
Prologue:
Misato stood, and moved to leave the room. Before opening the door, she stood there, her right hand on the door-knob, the door open just a little, just the space necessary for a blade of light to penetrate the darkness of the room, cutting, for a joke of fate, Shinji's face in half. His eyes were troubled by that light, and he had difficulties to adjust his vision, already accustomed to the darkness of the room, not being able to distinguish clearly the shape of the objects in that condition of half shadows and half lights. He looked at the shape of Misato Katsuragi, the person who, in his hearth, was one the firmest thing he had in that world, if not the only second beside Rei. That woman was his guardian, his room-mate, his friend, his lover in a way, but, most of all, she was close to the figure he needed the most. Actually, in the last hours, he was aware that he was starting to regard her like his mother. Step-mother, indeed. But.. But.. using this world, step-mother.. was making him uncomfortable. Not that he wanted to loose respect to his mother.. How could he? But, sometimes, a little lie could make another person happy, so, who really cares? So, his mother, a young and crazy mother, to be realistic, was trying to dissuade him from his current course of action. If there was something he had learnt from his former sensei and guardian, and more or less confirmed by the contacts with the people working in the Nerv organization, was that adults had the experience he lacked.
He recognized that experience was something fundamental. Not only because adults had already been in such a number of situations that they could extrapolate the right course of action in not too dissimilar contexts, but also because they had to deal with the same kind of situations more than once.
Indeed, if you have to deal with something, and you have already approached the problem in a certain way, the second time you deal with that problem you could use the approach you used before. But who told you the previous one was the best?
You have to rent a house. You have to work in an office just outside the city, in a small suburb. The logical choice would be to rent a house in that suburb. So you go around and start looking.
You realize that there are no shops, if not a very expensive one, there are no cinemas, there are no
Press-shops, there are no food-stores, there are no gyms. You realize that your office is located in the paradise of the retired employee (with a cospicuous bank account), but it is the hell of the young employee in the middle of his morning glory *.
So you start searching the news-papers, the internet, looking for a better place, in the city, close to the centre, maybe in a district with all the stuff a young person would like. It's though! You visit different places, but you see all of them like holes in the ground. Yes, because up to that moment you have lived in your parent's house. Your father has worked a lot to give to his family a wonderful house, and he has spent all of his life to make it better and better. A small cupboard today, an antique table the year after.. and the apartments you visit make you claustrophobic and disgusted.
It's not like you haven't lived outside before, but you were in a different condition: you were basically a student, maybe in a rented-room, so you didn't care about the house.
But now.. now you need a house! You need to breath! You cannot live in a two-piece, a bathroom
2x2 and a room with American kitchen! Jesus Christ! You have your dignity!
And finally, finally.. finally you find the place. Okay, its strange because the WC is a separate ambient, in a 2x2 mq room, well, maybe is 0.5x1.5 mq.. without any window.. the shower and the basin is an other room basically to the other end of the house, but at least you have two rooms, the kitchen, and a living-room. The price is high, okay, but it's so nice! Maybe you can persuade one of your friends to come there to spare the rent, especially because it is nicer to be in company and not alone..
Then your father asks you: "How far is it?".
Far! It's very close! You take the outer ring, you take the Chausee d'Alsemberg, after the Avenue de la foret de Soignes, you take right at the last traffic light, and that's it!
Well.. it's thirty minutes by car, going at an average velocity of 100 km/h…
Okay, but doing the Chausee the Stalle and the Avenue De Fre you take a short-cut trough the city! Let's see.. it took one hour! How is it possible? Of course! It was the first time you took that street, with the map in one hand and driving with the other and you took the wrong way a couple of time, not to mention the two missed accidents with the car an the black cat spread over the asphalt. If you go back for the same way you will see that it will take only fifteen, ten minutes.
No.
It took forty-five minutes? How is it possible? You made a mistake, okay, but is it worth of such a delay?
It must be the wrong way. Taking the Avenue de Ninove you'll go the inner ring and after Chausee de Waterloo, and you hit home.
No, worse than worse.
Which is the best way?
Is there a way able to lead you to your destination in a reasonable amount of time, and not requiring an insane amount of fuel? Fuel.. Nowadays it's more expensive filling the tank rather than buying a Bvlgari collier.
Was your experience sufficient in the end?
And, more important, why didn't you listen to the advice of your father? Now you have to search for a new house, and there is no time! You have to start working! You have to print this document and respect that dead-line!
Mis: "Shinji."
And now? How could you do? There is no time!
Mis: "Shinji!"
Shi: "Uh?"
And now he was again Shinji Ikari, lying on a hospital bed holding Ayanami Rei's corpse, former pilot of Evangelion unit 00, one of the last hopes of mankind in the fight against the angels.
Tiredly, he finally replied: "Tell me."
Misato stood by the door's frame, maybe looking back at him, with her eyes, but he couldn't say. He was thinking, and in the meanwhile his eyes were focusing on the blade of light darting from the open door. He was seeing spots of light and dark, spots of different colours, and was barely able to identify the shape of his.. mother..
Mis: "Shinji.. nobody can defeat his own death. How could Rei manage to escape from her fate? Even angels die.."
But now.. now she was wrong. She didn't know. She couldn't know. Her experience, her knowledge was not sufficient, and he wondered if there was someone able to understand his trust in the person he was holding, not even his father, that, apparently, was the most informed person on the planet for that kind of matter. The thought of his father made him shiver, but he threw away the dark images simply putting that discussion to an end.
Shi: "She will come back. I'm sure of it."
Misato stood there, looking back at him, her face gently turned back over her right shoulder, looking back into the darkness, into that pit of desperation, into that face she could barely recognize like the shy boy that fate had thrown into her life, and that she had started to regard as a younger brother, perhaps more like a son..
A silent tear left her right eye, and in the same quiet way she turned her head, opened completely the door shutting it quietly behind her shoulders.
Outside, her shoulder resting on the just closed door, she raised her eyes to the ceiling, looking beyond it, in the skies above looking for.. Comfort? Explanations?
Mis: "How? How could it ever happen?"
"Why? Why has he to suffer like this? What are his sins, to get such a hard punishment?"
She finally turned her face to stare at Asuka.. "Asuka."
Nothing..
Mis: "Asuka."
The young girl standing against the wall of the corridor of the hospital didn't give any sign of life. Finally, she looked at Misato for a brief moment, turning afterwards her attention to staring again at her feet.
Mis: "Asuka.. Try to dissuade him.. He'll become insane if he'll stay there.."
Asu: "..."
Mis: "Please.. maybe he'll listen to you.."
Asu: "I don't think so."
Mis: "Why? Maybe yo"
Asu: "He'll never listen to me again. It could be said that I killed Ayanami."
__________________________Tears/Why did you leave me alone?_________________________
Asu: "....Don't be ridiculous! How do you expect I can believe you, the Commander's favourite, his doll, his toy? Maybe you are doing what he ordered you to! Maybe this is a plan of his! May"
Rei: "No. I disobeyed to the commander. I'll never follow again his orders, if I don't want to do them. I betrayed him. I left his orbit. Now I am choosing my path. I'm building my life. Even if he'll haunt me, even if he'll kill me, I won't regret my choices. Cogito, ergo sum. I am free now."
Asuka looked at her, not trusting what her ears were transmitting to her brain.. but she tried never the less to reply: "Don't make me laugh! Where is that doll that would obey Commander Ikari even if he had ordered her to kill herself ?"
Rei: "I'm different from that Rei. You could say I'm another Rei, and that's the truth. I devoted my life to protect Shinji, to love him, to stay near him."
Asuka didn't pay any attention to those strange things Rei was saying, like she should have. Instead, she found herself focused on that 'Shinji'.. Her head started spinning around, her rage growing in intensity..
Asu: "And from how much time you call him by name, uh? Because you slept with him? Well, I've always slept with him almost in the same room! I have lived with him! How could you come here and simply call him by his name?"
Kensuke wanted to say: "Are you jealous?" But he thought that, just now, even without being in possession of her physical force at 100 percent, Asuka would have been probably able to throw him outside the window, so he decided to stay quiet and watch the show..
Rei: "Why aren't you honest with yourself? Why do you lie to yourself? I can see things more clearly.. even if I haven't a direct experience, I can understand things better now, things like my own and other feelings.. I've had a lot of time to think. Why don't you admit you need him, you love him ?"
This time Asuka couldn't help herself.. She slapped Rei's face with her right hand, hard. Hikari, after that exchange of darts between the red-head and the pale-girl, during which she had been breathless, finally recovered and looked very angry towards her friend Asuka, and was about to scold her or even to slap her, when the hell broke down.
Asuka was in front of Rei, the former standing in front of the middle of the bed, Shinji still dazed sitting on a chair to her left, while Rei was sitting cross-legged on the bed.
When Asuka slapped her, Rei returned to her natural, or old, stance. Once she had recovered from the slap, her expression didn't change the least, not even to dry the small river of blood flowing from her upper lip, the cut caused by her own inferior teeth due to Asuka's slap. She stood there, only staring at her, with a different gaze. Before, Asuka could feel sparks of life in that girl that was more and more growing to become an enigma for her, while now Rei was giving her a cold glare, as if looking at a stranger...as if to punish her...as if she was a stranger to her, and she didn't know her..
Asuka would probably remember those eyes in her mind for all her life... those eyes she hated so much, eyes showing no emotion, no sparks of life.. Now she was seeing those eyes.. she was seeing them alarmed, she was seeing them looking at her, looking into her, scanning her very being..
She was seeing them turning into an immense sadness, turning to face Shinji..
Then Rei used her left harm to push Asuka to her right side, causing her to collide with Hikari and causing them to fall on the ground.. Never would Asuka have imagined Rei Ayanami able to throw her to the ground so easily, like opening the curtains of a window, like she was weightless paper.. While she was stunned looking at Rei, she saw everything happen as in slow motion.. that trick they use in the movies to dramatize the situation, the way they say it happens to you when you are going to die, or you believe you are going to die..
It had happened to her once before. She was riding her first bicycle. As always, her over-confident self couldn't stand the idea of the auxiliary wheels to help her to learn how to ride a bike, and she asked and obtained to be left with the normal bike.
She rode it, and for the first moments it was okay: she was barely able to go straight, but for the first time she was riding a bike it was okay. She gained speed, and with that her excitement rose.
She was then going to turn, the speed was high. She heard the screams of her guardian, but she didn't care. She was going to turn around that fountain in the middle of the park and to come back, in all her glory, to show them she didn't need any other wheel. Beside, how could she, designed pilot of Evangelion unit 2, need those stupid and ugly wheels?
She approached the fountain, now only five meters, she bent on one side, more because she had always seen others doing like this rather than by reasoning or intuition. She took the turn, but she was too fast, and the turn was too wide, she was going to collide against that bench..
She felt the hearth in her throat, she gritted her teeth and bent even more on one side. She heard the noise of the earth escaping from the back of her wheels, and the occasional pebble darting from under the tires to hit the bench.
Finally it happened, she completed the turn and she was safe and sound. She was happy, happy because, once again, she had proved she was good at what she was doing. She could see far her guardian, and she could see the pride in her face. Pride of her, of her being alive, able to do as and better the other children. Only twenty meters and she would collect the words of prise she longed for.
She saw something red on the ground, like a long snake. With the corner of her eyes she saw that was a tube the gardener was currently using to water the plants of the park. She didn't care: what could a small tube do to her? Could it harm her? So she approached the tube, but started looking at it in a sort of worried way.
It was not that small, actually, it could be more than three inches of diameter. She looked down at her tires. Her bicycle was not a mountain-bike, but rather a classic one, more of a race bike than anything; as a consequence, her tires were very thin and narrow. She looked at the tube coming closer and closer, and in her hearth she knew that something would be wrong. She slowed down but it was not sufficient: the tire impacted against the tube, which was wet and slippery. Since the angle of impact was not at ninety degrees, the tire followed the shape of the tube, turning the bike accordingly. While she was falling down, the time slowed down for Asuka: she closed her eyes, and with eyes wide shut she started thinking. She thought about her guardian. The pride she thought she was going to receive within moments being replaced by worry. She'd be lifted from the ground and the dust be removed from her hair and clothes, like she was a small child. The next time she could have wanted to ride a bike, her tutor would have probably wanted her to use the bike with the auxiliary wheels, and would have been watching her in apprehension. This was not possible. This couldn't be allowed to happen.
And while she was falling down, while she was hitting with her right temple the ground, bruising her fore-head and her hands, with the bike falling over her, she took her decision.
Never, never again she would expose herself to the ridicule like in that occasion. Never.
And this is the reason why you have never seen Asuka riding a bicycle.
In that same way, time seemed to stop during that occasion, her head was now spinning around trying to make some sense of what was going on. While she was falling she could see Rei's face. Rei turned to face Shinji at the same time she had pushed her aside. Asuka could see Rei as she continued falling, first over her lifted arm, then from underneath it as she came close to hitting the ground. It was so slow, like when you're on a slow ship and passing by the former Statue of Liberty. You are far away, and you observe the small limb of earth connecting the statue to the coast. While you go straight to the harbor, you notice how the perspective changes that small limb as you pass by. In that same way, she was looking at Rei's face, and she could see how Rei's features were slowly changing: from the sadness she showed before, when she hit Asuka, her face was turning in some mask of.. joy? Sadness? Pride? Love?
It looked like she was regarding Shinji like the only thing in the world she attributed some value..
Then.. her hair, her hair in the back of her head was moved by something..
After an instant, something erupted from her fore-head, bringing with it.. bringing with it a stream..
What was it? Asuka asked herself finally hitting hard on the ground, looking that strange stream flowing from Rei's forehead like a fountain.. When she finally bounced the second time on the tiled floor of that hospital room, she heard the noise and she understood.
A single noise.
And Ayanami was dead.
...
Asu: "He'll never listen to me again. It could be said that I killed Ayanami."
Misato looked her in disbelief. The other children didn't make a move.
Mis: "Wha.. What are you saying?"
Asu: "She knew it. In some way, she knew it. She could have moved her head away.
She would've had the time to. But I was straight in front of her. If she had moved her head, I would've been hit. So, she decided to save me, instead of saving herself. She didn't have enough time to move away. She had started moving towards him, when the bullet hit her head.
Kensuke was still sitting on the floor, close to the door, still not giving signs of being still alive. Hikari and Toji were looking down, while the others were looking at Asuka, Maya with a hand on her mouth, in tears.
Asu: "So it could be said that I killed her. Shinji will never forgive me. Even if he liked me before, even if he cared about me, now he'll hate me."
Misato looked at her in horror, not knowing what to do.
Finally Asuka made her move.
Asu: "But I'll speak to him. Only to know what he thinks about me now."
So she opened the door, was engulfed by the darkness ruling in the room, and closed the door behind her shoulders.
Shi: "Go away."
Asu: "Shinji.. It's me."
Shi: ".."
Asu: "Shinji.."
Shinji remained silent on the bed, without acknowledging her further.
Minutes passed, and the desperation slowly rose in Asuka; finally, all the sorrow, all the sadness, all the desperate need for help won her pride and she exploded: "Shinji! I'm here! Speak to me! Tell me anything, just don't ignore me!"
But it was not her usual arrogant tone, it was not her distasteful tone of voice. Desperation and pleading were clearly present in her cry, and Shinji, as much as his poor hearth had grown hard and desert couldn't ignore that voice that pierced his soul. Asuka asking, begging for help, distracted him for just a moment from the pit of despair over which he was hovering. He turned to face her, his eyes regaining focus, but it lasted only for a moment. Immediately after, he was a shadow again.
Shi: "What do you want?"
Relieved that at least he was listening to her, Asuka pressed on with the question that was strangling her hearth.
Asu: "I.. I want to know.. if you think I'm responsible for Rei's.. accident."
She chose the words carefully, remembering what he said to them before Misato and the others arrived, throwing them outside the room: she avoided the only word could currently entirely describe Rei's accident: death.
Shi: ".."
Waiting for the reply, she pressed further on, trying to soften her tone of voice, and, to her surprise, it was a sincere question, it was far away from the faked tone she was used to use with Shinji or Kaji, when she was trying to convince them to do something. And she found herself surprised as well: it was not dripping honey or a special hearth melting attack whatsoever, but even her hearth skipped a beat hearing that question. It was like she was discovering some part of herself she had lost long, long ago.. her true self, a caring one.
Asu: "I want to know.. if you blame me."
She braced herself, bending her head over her chest. Silent shudders travelled over her spine. That atmosphere, death grasping the room in her claws put sheer terror in her heart. The fact Shinji wasn't answering to her question only made her more and more anxious.
Resting her shoulders against the door, and sliding slowly against the floor, she ended sitting on the floor, her knees to her chest, fighting back the tears..
Asu: "Pl.. Please.. Shinji.. Answer me.."
But more time needed to pass before finally Shinji spoke to her.
Shi: "No. Asuka. You may have many faults, but you've no responsibilities, here. I could tell you 'Are you happy, now? She's dead. What you wanted the most, has become reality. She's no longer here.' But I won't. First, because she'll come back. Second, because I don't want to hurt you. Asuka, I didn't betray you. I didn't want you to suffer, but I couldn't help: I was unconscious, I couldn't do anything. I guess Kensuke, Hikari and Misato took care of you."
In hearing that some portion of the old Asuka awakened she rose from the floor clenching her fists, and rather upset: "You know what? They made me think I was Kensuke's sister!"
But as soon as the flame lit up it it died off, Asuka herself feeling the gravity of the situation overriding, and while Shinji spoke again, she sat on the floor.
Shi: ".. I don't understand.. What do you mean?"
Hiding her face against her knees, Asuka answered: "Well.. after.. after..", she was shivering, " you got shot, I think I had a sort of shock.. and I got an amnesia.. Hikari told me I was Kensuke's sister.. Even Misato played the game.. We slept yesterday night at Hikari's.."
Shinji felt the need to nod: ".. I can only think they've done it for helping you, not to make fun of you."
Asuka breathed slowly, and after replied: ".. Maybe.. Maybe you're right.. I can recall he was very
nice to me, Hikari, as always, was very friendly to me.. Sometimes, I wonder why she keeps on staying near me.."
Shi: "She cares about you."
Pressing stronger her face against her legs, and holding her breath, she asked again: "Maybe... and.. you? Do you still care about me?"
A long silence passed, and Asuka was going to miss air, when finally Shinji spoke.
Shi: "Yes, Asuka. I do care about you, but now, I must help Rei. She needs more help then you, just now."
Despite all, Asuka frowned: "What kind of help could you give her in her condition?"
Shinji got a little upset, but he didn't show it.
Shi: "I'm sharing with her my body heat. I'm talking quietly to her in her ear. I'm caressing her hands. I'm asking her to come back. I am exciting her. And, finally, I want to be the first who she'll see when she'll awake."
Asuka rose her face to look at him in the darkness.
Asu: "But.. Shinji.. No one comes back from the death.."
Shi: "Rules can be broken."
This time she rose to her feet, making wide circle with her arms and hands to give more weight to her words, like an Italian would do**.
Asu: "It's not a matter of rules! We are speaking about death! Do you understand?"
Shinji didn't reply immediately, but when he answered, venom was clearly dripping from his words.
Shi: "If you are here to repeat the very same thing Misato told me a little ago, you may as well leave now. Besides, you know very little about her."
Asuka stood there, in silence, sorry about her outburst, but convinced in her hearth of the truth of her words: 'And what does it matter if I don't know her well? She's dead. It's over.'
A chair caught her attention. In the very dim light of the room, she could barely distinguish what was over it: "You didn't eat."
Shi: "I'll eat when she'll be back."
Asuka couldn't stand anymore, and shouted: "Then you're gonna die! Why ca"
Shi: "SHUT UP!"
His tone of voice was so angry that she froze in fear..
Then, he continued, calmly this time "Please, Asuka, go away. I thought you could trust her. She saved your life. I thought you cold treat her like a friend, and that you would wait her with me. Now I can see I'm the only one trusting her. But it's not your fault. At the party I'll give you less cake than to her."
Asuka blinked: "Party? Cake?"
Shi: "A welcome-back party."
Asuka looked down bending her chin over her chest before answering: "I see I'm useless, here. At least, I know you don't hate me.."
Shinji spoke gently: "No, Asuka. I could never hate a person like you..",'Not after I heard about you and your childhood..', "I'll promise we'll go out for a walk very soon, all the three of us, no.. We and Kensuke, Toji and Hikari.. We could tease the class rep and Toji! It would be real fun!"
Asuka looked in his direction, sadness in her face. His words were true, coming from his hearth. He was truly believing in what he was saying.. Asuka turned to exit: "I'm leaving. When they'll bring you your next dinner, eat it."
Shi: "It won't be necessary. I won't have to wait much."
Asuka left silently.
Outside, the others were hanging from her lips. She simply said "He's waiting." before closing herself in a noiseless contemplation of her shoes.
……
It was about 23:00, Maya, Shingeru and Hyuga were at their home, Kensuke and Hikari were sleeping at Misato's, while the latter was resting outside the hospital's door. Asuka was still standing by the door. Misato was at her side.
They couldn't hear any noise coming from the room.
Asuka finally spoke: "Maybe, when it'll be deep night, he'll be asleep.."
Misato nodded, knowing in her hearth, whatever she could say and do afterwards, that Shinji wouldn't never
forgive her for what she was about to do.
Mis: 'Please.. Please forgive me, Shinji.'
...
'Light. Too much light. A ceiling. Where am I?'
Shinji bolted upright. He was in another hospital room, lying on a bed with fresh and clean sheets. The worse thing was that Rei was nowhere to be seen. He looked down at himself. He was wearing a clean hospital gown, while his old clothes were on a chair. A wall-clock displayed 9:20.
His first instinct was to shout, to cry in pain, in frustration, to curse himself at the top of his lungs for falling asleep.
His instinct was to destroy every single thing in that room, but he made nothing of it.
He behaved as if nothing had happened. He got off the bed, took a shower, got dressed. He slowly
opened the door looking for possible sentinels. There was nobody except a person sleeping softly on a small chair close to the door. It was Asuka. He stood in front of her for a minute. It was evident it wasn't the most comfortable position to sleep, and the red signs on her skin showed it. It was difficult to find the right way to sleep over that small chair.
Shinji was tempted to bring her inside, but the fear of awakening her won over his kindness, so he
silently left.
...
A woman was running at full speed through an hospital corridor, until she reached the lift and savagely hit the call button. Then, she turned in rage towards the other person who was half walking, half running, panting heavily, towards the lift, the sound of footsteps echoing in the almost empty hall.
Mis: "How could you let him escape! Weren't you supposed to watch over him?"
Asuka, who finally catch up Misato by the lift, held her breath before answering upset: "Oh, shut up! I'm still a bit dazed! I couldn't help myself!"
Misato kicked in rage the lift's doors, denting one of them. When the lift finally arrived, they got in.
Only then she realized that all her run was comically useless. She had to go to the HQ, by order of the very commander Ikari. Telling him or the Nerv security about Shinji was out of question, so she regained some control of herself and spoke again to Asuka.
Mis: "Okay, listen. I can't come right now. I'm expected at HQ. I will be free to search for him only after lunch. Call Kensuke and Hikari, and look for him. Check the school, the gamecenters, every place!"
Asu: "Do.. Do you think.. he.."
Mis: "No! No, I am sure of it."
When the bell rang and the doors slid open she pushed Asuka out of the lift.
Mis: "Now go!"
…
Half an hour later, she was in her office, papers everywhere, evidences of her fight with Hyuga of the day before.
She stood there, sat on her chair, hands on her temples, elbows on her table, when a thought bolted in her mind..
She looked at the watch.. it was only 11:20..
She had to wait until 15:00 before she could leave, and besides.. now that it was all over.. what could she do?
...
In the Neo-Tokyo 3 cemetery, a strange scene was taking place. A young boy, 14-15 years old, was digging on the ground. He was digging in the middle of the cemetery. On a grave. It looked like it was a recent grave, because no grass had grown on it yet, the brown earth looking freshly moved.
The most disturbing thing in all what was happening was that the boy wasn't showing emotion whatsoever about what he was doing. It looked like digging graves in the morning was for him the most natural thing of this world, just like passing the vacuum-cleaner in the living-room.
Another strange thing was the fact the boy was practically using only his left arm, this causing him a lot of difficulties..
It looked like he was a bit annoyed.. after a bit, he hit something hard, and, tossed aside the shovel, he started using his bare left hand. Finally, he pulled off the coffin from the ground, with great effort, pulling it on the fresh grass.
He fell on his back, completely drenched by his own sweat. The sun was high, and it was particularly hot that morning. The cicadas were performing most likely the best performance ever in the last twenty years. It could be reminiscent of some biblical plague, at least for the acoustic pollution.
The boy didn't really care. When he was sufficiently rested, he stood up and examined the coffin. When he spotted what he was looking for, he grinned. Near him there were two bags. From one of them, he took a screwdriver, it was a motorized model, maybe to help him since he didn't seem to be able to use his right hand.. He was very lucky that in his old pants there were still his documents and wallet.
He rapidly unscrewed all the screws, and lifted the cover. What he found, he didn't like a bit. There was a metal box inside. To prevent any contamination or bad smell..
He went back to his bags, and rummaged a bit. In the end, he picked up a hammer and a normal screwdriver. He started making little holes in the box, along the welded joints.
Finally, he finished the third edge end open the cover using the forth long edge like a hinge. He opened the coffin, with growing excitement, cutting himself with its sharp edges, to reveal a pale figure. A girl, dressed with a white and long dress, was resting inside. Her head was circled by a white bandage.
He managed to pick her up, carrying her with only his good arm, and trailed towards the nearby park, bringing with him the second bag he had brought with him.
...
When Misato finally got there, it was 15:47. She watched in horror at the view.
A shovel lying on the ground, an opened grave, a profaned coffin.
Mis: "Shinji.."
...
Not really far away, at the feet of a giant oak, sat a boy and a girl. The boy was sitting on the ground, half hidden to the view by the roots of the huge plant, this one a survivor of the second impact and heavens know how many fatalities and years. The air around it smelled of centuries. The boy was resting his shoulders against the tree, circling the girl with his arms. A blanket with flowers and floral fantasies was spread over them.
"..."
"Come on."
"..."
" If they find us now, I won't be able to rescue you again."
"..."
"What if you awakened in that coffin? It would had been a bad experience."
"..."
"Rei."
"It's time."
"..."
"Please, open your eyes."
"..."
Unaware of it at first, then consciously, he started crying...Digging his face in her hair, he started a long, endless crying.
Suddenly, he could feel there was something wrong.. He threw away the blanket, and looked in horror to her body. It was.. like melting..
He tried to stop it, to grab it, but he could do nothing: he tried desperately to stand up with her, only succeeding in stretching her body like an elastic.
Like a flow of honey, her body melted away and was absorbed by the ground.
He started digging desperately in the ground bruising and scratching his fingers, tearing away a nail, trying to reach the white substance, but all his efforts were in vain.
He arched his back, throwing violently his head back, crying a cry that never left his throat, because he passed out before he could emit that scream of pain and desperation.
That's how Misato found him.
A boy, a bag.
A girl's dress.
End chapter 9
*) Rene Thygesen made me laugh for almost an hour when he spoke about us young students in the middle of our morning glory being frustrated by professors and supervisors.. Way to go, Rene!
**) You know, very often many people think that the Italians speak even with their body. Even if the body language is used all over the world, it seems that Americans, Greeks, English find particularly funny the way the Italians speak. How strange..
X-Ray: I love using pink miniskirt and Chinese top during the summer!
Ebj: I love to save some money now that I've stopped smoking. (this was a socially useful message).(I hope no smoke major heard you.. NdX-Ray)
X-Ray: Why the hell did I say that?