Author's Notes: Gomen on the lateness of this chapter. I wanted to get it out earlier, but I wanted to go back and reread all my favorite fanfics over again ^_^. Well I don't own EVA, it's characters... etc... well on with the show!
The Word
Side Story Ch 3: The Amazing Quests Of Touji and Kensuke
A brisk, cool wind blew past Touji Suzuhara as he overlooked the scenery. He could have sworn it was just a bit ago that Rei had joined THEIR quest to find bojangles, but she was suddenly calling the shots. This was only supposed to be up and maybe down Japan, then head back home. So how it was Touji ended up being dragged to Tibet was beyond him. Kensuke was recording the area with his camcorder, spouting nonsense about martial arts movies, despite the fact that this was a place for monks to pray. Rei was over with one of the monks, using her knowledge of other languages to speak to the old, kindly monk, Rei's monotone face contrasting greatly with the elderly grin of the monk.
"How can I help you, child?"
"We have been seeking your advice. We search for the meaning of... a word."
"Oh? Well we are scholarly monks. You may ask anyone in the grand library if you wish."
Rei simply nodded before turning to the duo before her. Kensuke was still recording, but Touji had sat down and was apparently writing something.
"Suzuhara, Aida, we should head to the library."
Touji stood up after a while and trailed after Rei and Kensuke. When he entered the grand library, one thing caught Touji's attention. The Grand Library wasn't all that Grand. There were only a couple of books, a table, and a couple of other monks in the back. Rei approached the monks while Kensuke went up and down the aisles.
"We need the meaning of a word."
"Well... there are countless words in this world... what word do you search for?"
"It is called Bojangles."
A gasp came from the monks in back of him, and the monk before her was beginning to sweat.
"W..we know not of such a word.."
Rei leaned forward and stared into the man's eyes. Her gaze seemed to pierce straight through his lies.
"I understand.. you do not wish to tell me.. why?"
The man looked as though Rei had just picked apart his soul and found every dark secret.
"Well... no one is supposed to know about... THAT word..."
"We simply want a meaning.."
Kensuke popped his head out from behind one of the shelves.
"Yeah then we'll leave!"
The monk looked back to his friends, who discussed the matter for a moment before turning back to him and nodding.
"Okay... the definition you seek is in here."
The monk made a gesture to follow and Rei walked after him as he walked down a narrow and dark hallway. They reached a door, the second on the right hand side, when he pulled out a key from his robe and unlocked the large wooden door before them. He pushed the door open, revealing an old room, which looked as though it hadn't been used in years. Inside, on a small, yet dusty pedestal, was a book. It had a red cover, with a small insignia on the front of it. What puzzled Rei the most was the size of the book. In thickness alone it was equal to the height of an aquarium. Finally, the monk spoke.
"This book was found outside. After one of our monks read it's pages, he passed away. Ever since then, we have kept it in here, refusing to ever grace it's pa... Hey wait!"
Rei had approached and flipped open the book. She was skimming through the pages.
"Do you recall which page the meaning was on?"
"No... the only one that knew was that one brother that read it's pages.."
"I understand.. I shall be taking this book with me."
"No! We cannot allow it to leave the grounds! It was entrusted by us to make sure that book never left."
"I simply wish to examine it. I shall return it shortly."
"Not acceptable.. I'm sorry but the only way you'd even be allowed to read the book is if you were a to stay here... but I doubt-"
Rei's thoughts began to echo in her head.
'If the meaning of bojangles is truly in this book, then we can reveal it.. and this will end.'
'Yes, it is agreeable..'
"It is acceptable. I shall stay then."
"R...really?"
"Hai."
Rei lifted the book and headed out to the library where she placed the book on the desk and sat down. Touji and Kensuke looked over at her.
"Rei... we leavin or what?"
"......."
The monks returned out to the library and called to Touji and Kensuke.
"Your female friend is quite courageous. I've never seen someone try to read that book."
"Why? What's in that book?"
"The meaning of... that word. But she will be there for quite a while. The last reader died upon finishing."
"....how long did it take the guy to read it?"
"About 3 years."
Touji and Kensuke paled visibly. They looked back over at Rei, who was intently reading the old pages, occasionally turning it's pages. Finally, the duo walked over to the albino and spoke.
"Rei... we don't want to stay here for some 3 years.."
"....it will not take me 3 years.. it approximates out to 1 year.."
"Still Rei.. we don't want to-"
Rei reached out with her hand, which held the keys to the Otaku Mobile v2.0 as well as her NERV ID.
"Take these and go back to Tokyo-3. I shall remain."
Kensuke and Touji looked at each other before taking the keys and the card. Rei then looked back down at her book and continued her reading. Finally, after a brief moment of silence, Touji spoke.
"Well... bye Ayanami... come back soon.."
With that, the trio became a duo once again, and they left the library. Kensuke was looking down at the ground, while Touji simply looked down the long stairs which led to the Otaku Mobile.
"I don't know why... but I think I'm going to miss Rei..."
"Yeah... remember when she got us onto the flight to get over here?"
Touji chuckled to himself at the memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Touji could only stare in disbelief at the screen before him. Ticket prices for airlines had skyrocketed! How were they ever going to afford this?
"How are we going to afford that?!"
Rei looked over at duo in puzzlement as they pulled what cash they had together, then sighing when they realized it wasn't enough for a bag of airline peanuts. Rei turned back to the smiling lady at the desk and briskly walked over to her.
"I require 3 tickets to Tibet."
"3 tickets to Tibet..,
The lady typed at her keyboard for a moment, then looked back up.
..and your total is about-"
"I do not need to pay."
"Umm... well of course you do. Airlines aren't fre-"
Rei pulled her NERV ID from her pocket and showed it to the woman.
"No. This flight is crucial to NERV. If you wish to further argue, then you may take it up with Commander Ikari."
The woman was now sweating. The last thing she needed was to anger the commander of NERV, especially when she could be fired just because of some tickets.
"Here you are, you're booked on the flight to Tibet, leaving in 15 minutes."
Rei grabbed the tickets and walked back to Touji and Kensuke, who blinked in shock.
"Shall we go then?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Touji chuckled again. Rei seemed to just get them out of most bad situations. Upon re evaluating the touching flashback scene, Touji came to a shocking revelation.
"How the hell are we going to pay for our ride back?!"
***
Author's Notes: Well that'll be all we see of T & K for a while. They'll be back later but until then, it'll mostly be nothing but Bojangles based fun in Tokyo-3 with some warm scenes mixed in. Until the next chapter, Ja ne!
The Word
Side Story Ch 3: The Amazing Quests Of Touji and Kensuke
A brisk, cool wind blew past Touji Suzuhara as he overlooked the scenery. He could have sworn it was just a bit ago that Rei had joined THEIR quest to find bojangles, but she was suddenly calling the shots. This was only supposed to be up and maybe down Japan, then head back home. So how it was Touji ended up being dragged to Tibet was beyond him. Kensuke was recording the area with his camcorder, spouting nonsense about martial arts movies, despite the fact that this was a place for monks to pray. Rei was over with one of the monks, using her knowledge of other languages to speak to the old, kindly monk, Rei's monotone face contrasting greatly with the elderly grin of the monk.
"How can I help you, child?"
"We have been seeking your advice. We search for the meaning of... a word."
"Oh? Well we are scholarly monks. You may ask anyone in the grand library if you wish."
Rei simply nodded before turning to the duo before her. Kensuke was still recording, but Touji had sat down and was apparently writing something.
"Suzuhara, Aida, we should head to the library."
Touji stood up after a while and trailed after Rei and Kensuke. When he entered the grand library, one thing caught Touji's attention. The Grand Library wasn't all that Grand. There were only a couple of books, a table, and a couple of other monks in the back. Rei approached the monks while Kensuke went up and down the aisles.
"We need the meaning of a word."
"Well... there are countless words in this world... what word do you search for?"
"It is called Bojangles."
A gasp came from the monks in back of him, and the monk before her was beginning to sweat.
"W..we know not of such a word.."
Rei leaned forward and stared into the man's eyes. Her gaze seemed to pierce straight through his lies.
"I understand.. you do not wish to tell me.. why?"
The man looked as though Rei had just picked apart his soul and found every dark secret.
"Well... no one is supposed to know about... THAT word..."
"We simply want a meaning.."
Kensuke popped his head out from behind one of the shelves.
"Yeah then we'll leave!"
The monk looked back to his friends, who discussed the matter for a moment before turning back to him and nodding.
"Okay... the definition you seek is in here."
The monk made a gesture to follow and Rei walked after him as he walked down a narrow and dark hallway. They reached a door, the second on the right hand side, when he pulled out a key from his robe and unlocked the large wooden door before them. He pushed the door open, revealing an old room, which looked as though it hadn't been used in years. Inside, on a small, yet dusty pedestal, was a book. It had a red cover, with a small insignia on the front of it. What puzzled Rei the most was the size of the book. In thickness alone it was equal to the height of an aquarium. Finally, the monk spoke.
"This book was found outside. After one of our monks read it's pages, he passed away. Ever since then, we have kept it in here, refusing to ever grace it's pa... Hey wait!"
Rei had approached and flipped open the book. She was skimming through the pages.
"Do you recall which page the meaning was on?"
"No... the only one that knew was that one brother that read it's pages.."
"I understand.. I shall be taking this book with me."
"No! We cannot allow it to leave the grounds! It was entrusted by us to make sure that book never left."
"I simply wish to examine it. I shall return it shortly."
"Not acceptable.. I'm sorry but the only way you'd even be allowed to read the book is if you were a to stay here... but I doubt-"
Rei's thoughts began to echo in her head.
'If the meaning of bojangles is truly in this book, then we can reveal it.. and this will end.'
'Yes, it is agreeable..'
"It is acceptable. I shall stay then."
"R...really?"
"Hai."
Rei lifted the book and headed out to the library where she placed the book on the desk and sat down. Touji and Kensuke looked over at her.
"Rei... we leavin or what?"
"......."
The monks returned out to the library and called to Touji and Kensuke.
"Your female friend is quite courageous. I've never seen someone try to read that book."
"Why? What's in that book?"
"The meaning of... that word. But she will be there for quite a while. The last reader died upon finishing."
"....how long did it take the guy to read it?"
"About 3 years."
Touji and Kensuke paled visibly. They looked back over at Rei, who was intently reading the old pages, occasionally turning it's pages. Finally, the duo walked over to the albino and spoke.
"Rei... we don't want to stay here for some 3 years.."
"....it will not take me 3 years.. it approximates out to 1 year.."
"Still Rei.. we don't want to-"
Rei reached out with her hand, which held the keys to the Otaku Mobile v2.0 as well as her NERV ID.
"Take these and go back to Tokyo-3. I shall remain."
Kensuke and Touji looked at each other before taking the keys and the card. Rei then looked back down at her book and continued her reading. Finally, after a brief moment of silence, Touji spoke.
"Well... bye Ayanami... come back soon.."
With that, the trio became a duo once again, and they left the library. Kensuke was looking down at the ground, while Touji simply looked down the long stairs which led to the Otaku Mobile.
"I don't know why... but I think I'm going to miss Rei..."
"Yeah... remember when she got us onto the flight to get over here?"
Touji chuckled to himself at the memory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Touji could only stare in disbelief at the screen before him. Ticket prices for airlines had skyrocketed! How were they ever going to afford this?
"How are we going to afford that?!"
Rei looked over at duo in puzzlement as they pulled what cash they had together, then sighing when they realized it wasn't enough for a bag of airline peanuts. Rei turned back to the smiling lady at the desk and briskly walked over to her.
"I require 3 tickets to Tibet."
"3 tickets to Tibet..,
The lady typed at her keyboard for a moment, then looked back up.
..and your total is about-"
"I do not need to pay."
"Umm... well of course you do. Airlines aren't fre-"
Rei pulled her NERV ID from her pocket and showed it to the woman.
"No. This flight is crucial to NERV. If you wish to further argue, then you may take it up with Commander Ikari."
The woman was now sweating. The last thing she needed was to anger the commander of NERV, especially when she could be fired just because of some tickets.
"Here you are, you're booked on the flight to Tibet, leaving in 15 minutes."
Rei grabbed the tickets and walked back to Touji and Kensuke, who blinked in shock.
"Shall we go then?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Touji chuckled again. Rei seemed to just get them out of most bad situations. Upon re evaluating the touching flashback scene, Touji came to a shocking revelation.
"How the hell are we going to pay for our ride back?!"
***
Author's Notes: Well that'll be all we see of T & K for a while. They'll be back later but until then, it'll mostly be nothing but Bojangles based fun in Tokyo-3 with some warm scenes mixed in. Until the next chapter, Ja ne!