Chapter 02 - The Game
When Shinji entered the classroom in the company of the two girls, Touji and Kensuke started
whistling.
"Hey, Ikari, is one not enough for you anymore?"
"Are you cheating on Asuka? How´s she reacting?"
Shinji tried to ignore them while walking to his seat.
Asuka was quite successful in ignoring Shinji as well as Rei when she joined Hikari and the
other girls who are standing next to the door and talked.
Of course Misato-sensei was late, by her own words she was late on purpose to give her pupils
the chance to arrive before she did - alas her pupils didn´t believe this.
Shinji placed his bag at his place and joined his two friends at the window.
At once the teasing started again.
"As wild as Asuka is I´d look for a change myself", Touji grinned.
Shinji threw him an icecold look - the patented Ikari-gaze - and whispered: "Do you think
Hikari would appreciate of you talking this way?"
Touji dropped his jaw, one could nearly hear his brain turning into overdrive.
"Öh..."
Kensuke looked at them with bright eyes.
"Do you know, what I read this morning in the newspaper?"
"You are reading the newspaper?" the other two stooges asked.
"Don´t you read the newspaper too?" Kensuke asked surprised and pushed his glasses a bit
up.
"Well, the sportssection, sometimes", Touji mumbled as if admitting to be able to read and
write would destroy the picture he had of himself.
Shinji yawned.
"I´ve no time in the morning, and my father takes it to work with him."
Kensuke only shook his head. On the other hand he didn´t want to admit that he read the
newspaper to get the news about wars. There was no better way for him to begin the morning
then looking at pictures of tanks or soldier while having a large breakfast.
"This afternoon they will open the EVA-center at Tokio, the VR-game, I told you about last
week."
Touji grinned broadly.
"Yes, great! Havoc in 3-D!"
Kensuke sighed.
"Way better. First hand mecha-action. The EVA-center at Osaka has been a great success, and
the one here at Tokio will be way better!"
"Uhm, so there will be lots of people", Shinji said.
EVA-center... EVA... Somebody told me about it... what who? Father...?
"Probably."
"Well, I hate standing in a queue." Touji said and made a face.
Kensuke laughed.
"I haven´t told you the best - my uncle is working there as one of the programmers and
supervisors, I already spoke with him, he´ll bring us in so we won´t have to wait."
"Is this okay?" Shinji asked doubtfully.
"Eh, don´t care."
"Ah, Kensuke..."
"Yes, Touji?"
"This uncle of you... is this the mad scientist you´ve told us several times before?"
"Uhm..."
Kensuke lowered his eyes and blushed.
At this moment the teacher´s red sports car entered the school´s parking lot with such
a speed, that one feared the teacher was planning to drive straight into the classroom.
At the last moment she hit the brakes and brought her car into the place between two
other cars in a physically impossible way without even touching the other cars.
"Ui, ui, ui, that´s just great!"
Kensuke was short before slavering, alas, his admiration´s target wasn´t the driver but
the car.
On the other hand his two friends did their best to do his part while waving at the teacher
broadly grinning.
Misato Katsuragi, the teacher of class 2B returned the greeting while removing her sun-glasses
and climbing out of her car, showing quite a lot of leg before walking into the building.
At the door Hikari Horaki turned red with anger and shame about Touji Suzuhara´s behavior.
"Ah, take it easy, he´s a neandertaler", Asuka explained. Her anger was directed at the fact
that the teacher had told Rei Akagi the day before to take the free seat next to Shinji.
"Yes..." Hikari sighed. "But a cute one." she whispered that lowly that only Asuka was able
to hear it.
The redhead made a face like being hit into the stomach forcefully.
"You can´t be serious! Are you ill? Next time you´ll start to think that the other stooges
were nice, too."
"Shinji´s quite alright. And Kensuke, okay, he´s a bit weird with his camera, but at least
he´s never tried looking under my skirt."
"Ah... hm..."
"Misato-sensei´s coming!" another girl shouted.
At once the children by the door started moving, as did the three by the window.
Shinji hesitated for a moment when he found himself the target of Asuka´s dark gaze.
What have I done now?
Than he noticed that the next hours he would be sitting between Asuka and Rei - and obviously
Asuka had also noticed it.
Why doesn´t she like Rei?
Just when Shinji Ikari had sat down Misato entered the room, placing her bag on her desk
and sitting down on the table. Suddenly all the boys in the class - and one girl - were more
than awake.
She hid a grin and started teaching.
***
"Yui-san, what´s that?"
Yui Ikari looked up from her work.
"What do you mean, Ritsuko?"
She walked to her new colleague.
"I mean this here."
Doctor Akagi opened several files about a certain string of DNA.
"Oh, just a private project of mine."
Ritsuko hurried to close the files.
"I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to..."
"No, no, it´s no problem, or I would have locked the files. Look..."
Yui opened the files again.
"Human DNA... no, not completely..."
"Exactly. Familiarity is about 99,98%, so it´s neither the DNA of an ape or another of our
animal relatives. But it still isn´t human DNA."
"That´s no simulation of genetic manipulation?"
"No. I got the tissue we´d extracted the string from about eight years ago, it was quite
mysterious, I have to say."
"Yes? Would you tell me, please?"
Yui nodded and got a chair for herself.
"I wasn´t Fuyutsuki-sensei´s deputy that time, but I was already working at the genom-project,
alas it all was just in the beginning. One morning when I came to work, I found a small box and
a note on my desk, telling me to analyze what was inside of the box."
"And, what was it?"
"Now comes the part macabre - it was a human finger, still very fresh."
"Uh..."
Yui grinned.
"Well, that was my reaction, too. I showed it Fuyutsuki-sensei at once who called the police.
But nothing happened, they just told us to keep the finger. By now I had it examined closer,
the tissue was completely fresh even after three days, and it was missing die pattern of
fingerimprints. I guess that was the reason for Fuyutsuki-sensei to order me examining it
furtherly. And these are the results."
"But what kind of being´s finger is it? It looked human, you said. Maybe a mutation?"
"The tissue had a natural ability to regenate, keeping it still fresh even halve a year later.
I can show you how it looks now in the freezing chamber."
"Well, thanks, I think I´ll decline."
"It has become some kind of hobby of mine over the years. And the examinations of the DNA-
string gave me some new insight. Meanwhile I am thinking, that it is the result of pre-birth
genetical manipulations."
"Eight years ago..."
"Yes, and it was the finger of a full grown human, a male, what sets back the time even more."
"But they weren´t able to pull off something like this..."
"Yes, exactly. It´s quite an interesting enigma. If you like you can browse my files, maybe
you´ll find something."
"During work?"
"Well, yes, as I said, I gained some insight from studying it, look, for example this sequence
here..."
***
Rei looked aside to Asuka, noticed her doing the same, watching her from the corner of the eye.
At once both girls looked straight forward, ignoring the other one.
Hm... Asuka and Shinji are childhoodfriends, but why does she behave in such a way? I need
a distraction... but how...?
While Rei was thinking a message apeared on Shinji´s laptop-screen:
@Touji, @Shinji: So, do you come to the EVA-center? - Kensuke
Shinji cast a look at the teacher.
Misato-sensei sat sleeping on her chair while the class was reading in silence.
@Kensuke: I´m still interested, what about the costs? - Shinji
@Shinji: Entry´s free for the first week, it´s ameasure of advertisement. But there´s a
problem. - Kensuke
@Kensuke: What? - Shinji
@Shinji: An EVA-team consists of six pilots, but we are only three. - Kensuke
@Kensuke: Where can we find three other persons? - Touji
I´m interested.
Shinji looked at Kensuke who just shrugged and looked around as disturbed as Shinji was.
Somebody had not only hacked into the secure chat-mode, but there wasn´t a signature.
Touji scratched his head, while he felt something was wrong he wasn´t interested in computers
enough to notice the reason of the disturbance.
Well? - Rei
The three stared at Rei.
She smiled.
This was noticed by Asuka who gave a low growling like a slowly growing thunderstorm.
@Rei: Great! - Touji
Now Kensuke and Shinji looked at Touji who had greeted without talking to them first.
Touji pretented innocence.
Shinji shrugged and nodded.
@Kensuke, @Touji, @Rei: So we are four. What about the other two? - Shinji
"What...?" Asuka hissed, just before she started writing like a berserker.
Rei behaved in a similiar, but very calmer way.
Again the three stooges exchanged nervous looks.
@Shinji, @Kensuke, @Touji: Okay, I´ll be there. - Asuka
@Kensuke: Häh? Touji
@Kensuke: What´s up? Shinji
@Shinji, @Kensuke, @Touji: Don´t be afraid. Rei
Somewhen class was over, exact half a minute before Misato raised her head and gave out the
homework before getting up, smoothering her skirt and leaving the room.
Most of the boys - and one girl - looked at her until she had turned the next corner.
Suddenly Kensuke stood next to Rei.
"Say, how did you this? The chat-mode´s normally secure, except..."
"Except?" Touji repeated.
"With the exception of her using the passwords of a teacher."
Kensuke stared at Rei who preferred keeping her silence but smiled.
Asuka joined them.
"So, you are making plans for the afternoon and I don´t know about it? Shame on you, Baka-
Shinji, trying to cheat on your best friend!"
"Ah, Asuka, we... I thought you don´t like mecha..."
"I do not, but saying I wouldn´t dare is the last!"
Again the three stooges looked at Rei, slowly realizing the topic the girls had talked about
within the chat.
Rei pretented her innocence.
"But we still need a sixth person", she explained.
"We?" Asuka shouted. "She´ll be there, too? That´s not funny! Forget it, with Wondergirl..."
"So, you do not dare?" Rei asked calmly.
"Not daring? I? I, Asuka Soryu Langley, descandant of generals, kings and warlords? I do dare!
I do not know what you are talking about, but it´s sure that I am way better than you at
everything you do!"
"So... and why?" Touji asked somehow feeling hurt in his male pride.
"First: I am a woman, so I am superior to you neandertals. Second: I´m the best in everything
I do..."
"... except reading Kanji..." Shinji mumbled.
"Shut up! And third: the game I´m losing in still has to be invented!"
"Oh, oh, Asuka... it´s just a game, not World War 3" Kensuke said full of panic.
Did I really just say this?
"Yes, exactly, a game! And you´ll see that I´m the best mecha-pilot of the whole town! I don´t
care if it´s named EVA, VOLTRON, RAMROD or whatever!"
"Hm, are you talking about the new EVA-center?" a new voice asked.
Four heads turned in the speaker´s direction with the exception of Rei who already had noticed
Hikari approaching.
Kensuke put the elbow into Touji´s rips.
"That´s your big moment!"
"Eh, yes... Yes, we... uhm... we were talking about it, yes, this was the topic" Touji stuttered
and blushed deeply.
Hikari smiled shyly.
"A few months ago, while visiting my aunt at Osaka, I was at the EVA-center there. May I
accompany you? I´ll like to try the team-mode."
"Hikari, you are interested in mecha?" Asuka panted unbelieving.
"Yes, what´s wrong with it?"
"Well, you are a girl, and..."
Her gaze fast moved from one to the next when she recognized that she was talking completly
nonsense that might hunt her one day.
"... and so we have to stand together! Lets show those bakas!"
Suddenly she was even able to identify with Rei...
***
When Misato left the school after classes were over and went to her red sports car, she
notices a man sitting on the other side of the street inside of his car, looking at the
building.
His hair was of a dark brown and she thought him to be quite attravite.
Ah, that would be exactly my kind of guy she sighed silently. When she reached her car,
she noticed, that he was still looking.
Does he wait for somebody? With my kind of luck he´s waiting for one of his children,
a married man living in a nice house at the edge of town...
Again she sighed, got into her car, started the engine and left.
For a moment Ryoji Kaji turned his gaze from the school to look after the red car.
"Hm, nice legs", he grinned before turning back to his mission.
*********************************************************************************************
Preview: It´s just a game, isn´t it?! And a secret meeting is held...
When Shinji entered the classroom in the company of the two girls, Touji and Kensuke started
whistling.
"Hey, Ikari, is one not enough for you anymore?"
"Are you cheating on Asuka? How´s she reacting?"
Shinji tried to ignore them while walking to his seat.
Asuka was quite successful in ignoring Shinji as well as Rei when she joined Hikari and the
other girls who are standing next to the door and talked.
Of course Misato-sensei was late, by her own words she was late on purpose to give her pupils
the chance to arrive before she did - alas her pupils didn´t believe this.
Shinji placed his bag at his place and joined his two friends at the window.
At once the teasing started again.
"As wild as Asuka is I´d look for a change myself", Touji grinned.
Shinji threw him an icecold look - the patented Ikari-gaze - and whispered: "Do you think
Hikari would appreciate of you talking this way?"
Touji dropped his jaw, one could nearly hear his brain turning into overdrive.
"Öh..."
Kensuke looked at them with bright eyes.
"Do you know, what I read this morning in the newspaper?"
"You are reading the newspaper?" the other two stooges asked.
"Don´t you read the newspaper too?" Kensuke asked surprised and pushed his glasses a bit
up.
"Well, the sportssection, sometimes", Touji mumbled as if admitting to be able to read and
write would destroy the picture he had of himself.
Shinji yawned.
"I´ve no time in the morning, and my father takes it to work with him."
Kensuke only shook his head. On the other hand he didn´t want to admit that he read the
newspaper to get the news about wars. There was no better way for him to begin the morning
then looking at pictures of tanks or soldier while having a large breakfast.
"This afternoon they will open the EVA-center at Tokio, the VR-game, I told you about last
week."
Touji grinned broadly.
"Yes, great! Havoc in 3-D!"
Kensuke sighed.
"Way better. First hand mecha-action. The EVA-center at Osaka has been a great success, and
the one here at Tokio will be way better!"
"Uhm, so there will be lots of people", Shinji said.
EVA-center... EVA... Somebody told me about it... what who? Father...?
"Probably."
"Well, I hate standing in a queue." Touji said and made a face.
Kensuke laughed.
"I haven´t told you the best - my uncle is working there as one of the programmers and
supervisors, I already spoke with him, he´ll bring us in so we won´t have to wait."
"Is this okay?" Shinji asked doubtfully.
"Eh, don´t care."
"Ah, Kensuke..."
"Yes, Touji?"
"This uncle of you... is this the mad scientist you´ve told us several times before?"
"Uhm..."
Kensuke lowered his eyes and blushed.
At this moment the teacher´s red sports car entered the school´s parking lot with such
a speed, that one feared the teacher was planning to drive straight into the classroom.
At the last moment she hit the brakes and brought her car into the place between two
other cars in a physically impossible way without even touching the other cars.
"Ui, ui, ui, that´s just great!"
Kensuke was short before slavering, alas, his admiration´s target wasn´t the driver but
the car.
On the other hand his two friends did their best to do his part while waving at the teacher
broadly grinning.
Misato Katsuragi, the teacher of class 2B returned the greeting while removing her sun-glasses
and climbing out of her car, showing quite a lot of leg before walking into the building.
At the door Hikari Horaki turned red with anger and shame about Touji Suzuhara´s behavior.
"Ah, take it easy, he´s a neandertaler", Asuka explained. Her anger was directed at the fact
that the teacher had told Rei Akagi the day before to take the free seat next to Shinji.
"Yes..." Hikari sighed. "But a cute one." she whispered that lowly that only Asuka was able
to hear it.
The redhead made a face like being hit into the stomach forcefully.
"You can´t be serious! Are you ill? Next time you´ll start to think that the other stooges
were nice, too."
"Shinji´s quite alright. And Kensuke, okay, he´s a bit weird with his camera, but at least
he´s never tried looking under my skirt."
"Ah... hm..."
"Misato-sensei´s coming!" another girl shouted.
At once the children by the door started moving, as did the three by the window.
Shinji hesitated for a moment when he found himself the target of Asuka´s dark gaze.
What have I done now?
Than he noticed that the next hours he would be sitting between Asuka and Rei - and obviously
Asuka had also noticed it.
Why doesn´t she like Rei?
Just when Shinji Ikari had sat down Misato entered the room, placing her bag on her desk
and sitting down on the table. Suddenly all the boys in the class - and one girl - were more
than awake.
She hid a grin and started teaching.
***
"Yui-san, what´s that?"
Yui Ikari looked up from her work.
"What do you mean, Ritsuko?"
She walked to her new colleague.
"I mean this here."
Doctor Akagi opened several files about a certain string of DNA.
"Oh, just a private project of mine."
Ritsuko hurried to close the files.
"I´m sorry, I didn´t mean to..."
"No, no, it´s no problem, or I would have locked the files. Look..."
Yui opened the files again.
"Human DNA... no, not completely..."
"Exactly. Familiarity is about 99,98%, so it´s neither the DNA of an ape or another of our
animal relatives. But it still isn´t human DNA."
"That´s no simulation of genetic manipulation?"
"No. I got the tissue we´d extracted the string from about eight years ago, it was quite
mysterious, I have to say."
"Yes? Would you tell me, please?"
Yui nodded and got a chair for herself.
"I wasn´t Fuyutsuki-sensei´s deputy that time, but I was already working at the genom-project,
alas it all was just in the beginning. One morning when I came to work, I found a small box and
a note on my desk, telling me to analyze what was inside of the box."
"And, what was it?"
"Now comes the part macabre - it was a human finger, still very fresh."
"Uh..."
Yui grinned.
"Well, that was my reaction, too. I showed it Fuyutsuki-sensei at once who called the police.
But nothing happened, they just told us to keep the finger. By now I had it examined closer,
the tissue was completely fresh even after three days, and it was missing die pattern of
fingerimprints. I guess that was the reason for Fuyutsuki-sensei to order me examining it
furtherly. And these are the results."
"But what kind of being´s finger is it? It looked human, you said. Maybe a mutation?"
"The tissue had a natural ability to regenate, keeping it still fresh even halve a year later.
I can show you how it looks now in the freezing chamber."
"Well, thanks, I think I´ll decline."
"It has become some kind of hobby of mine over the years. And the examinations of the DNA-
string gave me some new insight. Meanwhile I am thinking, that it is the result of pre-birth
genetical manipulations."
"Eight years ago..."
"Yes, and it was the finger of a full grown human, a male, what sets back the time even more."
"But they weren´t able to pull off something like this..."
"Yes, exactly. It´s quite an interesting enigma. If you like you can browse my files, maybe
you´ll find something."
"During work?"
"Well, yes, as I said, I gained some insight from studying it, look, for example this sequence
here..."
***
Rei looked aside to Asuka, noticed her doing the same, watching her from the corner of the eye.
At once both girls looked straight forward, ignoring the other one.
Hm... Asuka and Shinji are childhoodfriends, but why does she behave in such a way? I need
a distraction... but how...?
While Rei was thinking a message apeared on Shinji´s laptop-screen:
@Touji, @Shinji: So, do you come to the EVA-center? - Kensuke
Shinji cast a look at the teacher.
Misato-sensei sat sleeping on her chair while the class was reading in silence.
@Kensuke: I´m still interested, what about the costs? - Shinji
@Shinji: Entry´s free for the first week, it´s ameasure of advertisement. But there´s a
problem. - Kensuke
@Kensuke: What? - Shinji
@Shinji: An EVA-team consists of six pilots, but we are only three. - Kensuke
@Kensuke: Where can we find three other persons? - Touji
I´m interested.
Shinji looked at Kensuke who just shrugged and looked around as disturbed as Shinji was.
Somebody had not only hacked into the secure chat-mode, but there wasn´t a signature.
Touji scratched his head, while he felt something was wrong he wasn´t interested in computers
enough to notice the reason of the disturbance.
Well? - Rei
The three stared at Rei.
She smiled.
This was noticed by Asuka who gave a low growling like a slowly growing thunderstorm.
@Rei: Great! - Touji
Now Kensuke and Shinji looked at Touji who had greeted without talking to them first.
Touji pretented innocence.
Shinji shrugged and nodded.
@Kensuke, @Touji, @Rei: So we are four. What about the other two? - Shinji
"What...?" Asuka hissed, just before she started writing like a berserker.
Rei behaved in a similiar, but very calmer way.
Again the three stooges exchanged nervous looks.
@Shinji, @Kensuke, @Touji: Okay, I´ll be there. - Asuka
@Kensuke: Häh? Touji
@Kensuke: What´s up? Shinji
@Shinji, @Kensuke, @Touji: Don´t be afraid. Rei
Somewhen class was over, exact half a minute before Misato raised her head and gave out the
homework before getting up, smoothering her skirt and leaving the room.
Most of the boys - and one girl - looked at her until she had turned the next corner.
Suddenly Kensuke stood next to Rei.
"Say, how did you this? The chat-mode´s normally secure, except..."
"Except?" Touji repeated.
"With the exception of her using the passwords of a teacher."
Kensuke stared at Rei who preferred keeping her silence but smiled.
Asuka joined them.
"So, you are making plans for the afternoon and I don´t know about it? Shame on you, Baka-
Shinji, trying to cheat on your best friend!"
"Ah, Asuka, we... I thought you don´t like mecha..."
"I do not, but saying I wouldn´t dare is the last!"
Again the three stooges looked at Rei, slowly realizing the topic the girls had talked about
within the chat.
Rei pretented her innocence.
"But we still need a sixth person", she explained.
"We?" Asuka shouted. "She´ll be there, too? That´s not funny! Forget it, with Wondergirl..."
"So, you do not dare?" Rei asked calmly.
"Not daring? I? I, Asuka Soryu Langley, descandant of generals, kings and warlords? I do dare!
I do not know what you are talking about, but it´s sure that I am way better than you at
everything you do!"
"So... and why?" Touji asked somehow feeling hurt in his male pride.
"First: I am a woman, so I am superior to you neandertals. Second: I´m the best in everything
I do..."
"... except reading Kanji..." Shinji mumbled.
"Shut up! And third: the game I´m losing in still has to be invented!"
"Oh, oh, Asuka... it´s just a game, not World War 3" Kensuke said full of panic.
Did I really just say this?
"Yes, exactly, a game! And you´ll see that I´m the best mecha-pilot of the whole town! I don´t
care if it´s named EVA, VOLTRON, RAMROD or whatever!"
"Hm, are you talking about the new EVA-center?" a new voice asked.
Four heads turned in the speaker´s direction with the exception of Rei who already had noticed
Hikari approaching.
Kensuke put the elbow into Touji´s rips.
"That´s your big moment!"
"Eh, yes... Yes, we... uhm... we were talking about it, yes, this was the topic" Touji stuttered
and blushed deeply.
Hikari smiled shyly.
"A few months ago, while visiting my aunt at Osaka, I was at the EVA-center there. May I
accompany you? I´ll like to try the team-mode."
"Hikari, you are interested in mecha?" Asuka panted unbelieving.
"Yes, what´s wrong with it?"
"Well, you are a girl, and..."
Her gaze fast moved from one to the next when she recognized that she was talking completly
nonsense that might hunt her one day.
"... and so we have to stand together! Lets show those bakas!"
Suddenly she was even able to identify with Rei...
***
When Misato left the school after classes were over and went to her red sports car, she
notices a man sitting on the other side of the street inside of his car, looking at the
building.
His hair was of a dark brown and she thought him to be quite attravite.
Ah, that would be exactly my kind of guy she sighed silently. When she reached her car,
she noticed, that he was still looking.
Does he wait for somebody? With my kind of luck he´s waiting for one of his children,
a married man living in a nice house at the edge of town...
Again she sighed, got into her car, started the engine and left.
For a moment Ryoji Kaji turned his gaze from the school to look after the red car.
"Hm, nice legs", he grinned before turning back to his mission.
*********************************************************************************************
Preview: It´s just a game, isn´t it?! And a secret meeting is held...