I would be glad:)
**************
Souls Conspiracy
Chapter 2
Okaerinasai, Shinji!
"Ugh...what an awful day today..."Shinji Ikari snorted, annoyed, while
he
walked along a long, lonely road on the outskirts which would quickly
lead
him to the home of his guardian.
.
The sun was setting and with it also another extremely boring day at
school.
From the lolling gait of the boy you could see that he had used up
all his
energy that day, even if the hands of his watch only showed five
o'clock
and the cicadas continue to croak non-stop.
In short, that day seemed to want never to finish.
The boy kicked a pebble that was on the pavement and stopped a second
to
take a deep breath. The teachers' voices still resounded in his mind
like a
jack hammer, thanks to the sky at least that day no Eva01 synchronisation
test had been planned, otherwise he would really have had to be scooped
up
with a spoon at the end of the day. He was really at his limit.
His efforts were, however, rewarded when he realised he had finally
reached
his destination: Major Misato Katsuragi's house. The woman who since
the
first day he had arrived in Tokyo had taken him into her home together
with
Asuka Soryuu Langley, a German girl, also an Evangelion pilot, who
some
months ago had returned to her own country for a short while.
A smile appeared on Shinji's face while he slowly climbed the stairs.
He
felt that atmosphere, which until recently had made him feel ill at
ease,
more familiar than ever. He had arrived home. Yes, because that was
his home
now and he knew for sure that even if she was not his mother or his
father,
when she had taken him in, he knew he had found somebody who really
loved
him. And he was happy about that. He had succeeded in his intention,
i.e. to
get himself loved.
Basically it had not been as difficult as it had seemed initially.
After opening the automatic lock of the door with his smart card, the
exhausted Third Children entered the house but obviously not without
first
taking off his shoes as was the rule.
A rule which his guardian did not normally seem to respect, judging
from the
footprints on the hall floor.
"Aaaagh!! I'd washed the floor before going to school!" he murmured
to
himself, seeing the pitiful condition to which the floor had been reduced
and which got worse as he gradually walked along the passage
"OKAERINASAIIII*!!! "The happy cheerful voice of Misato hit the boy's
back unexpectedly like a flash of lightning in a peaceful sky, causing
the
boy's heart to miss a beat from the shock.
"Mi..Mi..MISATO-SAN! I nearly had a heart attack!!" Shinji shouted confused
while he instinctively rested his hand on his heart, which, because
of the
shock, had started to beat at a thousand an hour. But anyway, there
was
nothing to be surprised about; anything could be expected from his
guardian.
and he had understood this from the first day he had gone to live with
her
^^;
" And..*hic*..why ever, Shinchan?..*hic*...Are you frightened...*hic*...of
your
Mithato?...*hic*" From the strangled sobs which interrupted the
girl's
unusual dialogue, from her purple expression, but above all, from the
open
can of beer she held in one hand, Shinji guessed that for the nth time,
Misato had raised her elbow a little too much, as was her wont.
The boy hardly had time to give a disconsolate sigh when suddenly for
an
unknown reason his guardian had the 'splendid' idea of pulling him
to her
and hugging him as if he was her favourite toy.
"Shinji-kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun...*hic* Come here!! *hic* I am tho happy
that
you..*hic*.. have finally come home*hic*!!" These were her confused
words
before she put an arm round Shinji's neck and ruffled his hair with
the
other.
"Arghh..Miss Misato, stop it. Pleeeease!! "
Major Katsuragi probably did not even realise, but Shinji could not
fail to
notice the very embarrassing position in he had finally ended up. His
face
was almost completely buried between the girl's breasts and this detail
particularly agitated him. Misata was not a beautiful, but an extremely
beautiful, woman. Her body was, to say the least, outstanding and its
fascination would have proved irresistible to any man who had been
in his
position.
"Don't be like so ..*hic*...offhand, Shin-chaaaaaaan..*hic*...I love
you a
lot thee !!" Misato hugged the poor Shinji, who for the nth time that
day
was blushing furiously in the face of such a provocation, even more
to her
breasts.
If Touji or Kensuke just knew about such a thing they would have
gone mad
with rage and envy with him, but for him . well, it was nothing
to boast
about, as Misato had always appeared in his life as a point of reference
which somehow managed to fill the gap left by his parents.
Notwithstanding all the many attempts by Shinji, who continued to wriggle,
trying to free himself from the hug that held him prisoner, Misato
continued
to ruffle his hair, guffawing and weeping.
The woman took another gulp of beer from the can "UUUUUUUuuuuuugh...*hic*
In
short! Alwayth..*hic*..the uthual..*hic* thpoilthport!!..*hic*...
I show
you my affection..*hic*tho, I give you tho many cuddleth and
you don't know
how to appreciate them...bathtard!bathtard!bathtard!!"
Yes...for poor Shinji this was really a VERY hard day.
Seeing her efforts to succeed in continuing with the situation, Shinji
decided to use a different method, hoping that at least this would
manage to
get some lucidity for the girl.
A large bead of sweat appeared on Shinji's head, whereas from the expression
which appeared on his face it was clear that he was doing his utmost
to put
up with his drunken guardian "Uuuhm...Miss Misato...It's almost time
for
supper now, and I really am rather hungry.."
Shinji's words were not just an excuse to get free of Misato's
attentions,
it was the truth. Now it was he who was hungry! But anyway, the situation
seemed to return to normal when Misato stopped laughing loudly and
weeping;
acting confused she looked at the clock on the wall.
"Ugh? Hungry?? But...it's hardly five in the evening!" The girl seemed
surprised at first, but at least this surprise helped her regain her
lost
lucidity "It's strange for you to be hungry at this time...today
I had
prepared you a bentou filled with good things! There were also
spring
roulades which you like so much! Even Ritsuko helped me make them!"
The mental image of Misato and Ritsuko preparing the dinner appeared
in the
boy's mind, blocking any ability at imagination.
The Third Children was really in trouble: What would he do to explain
that
in the end he had made Misato's dinner?
"Um...I wasn't really hungry and so ...well...here I am..." Shinji
did not
know whether to tell the truth: If Misato knew that he had given his
bentou
to Rei, Misato would not only have started to make her usual
ironic
comments but in a short time her voice would have spread all over the
Nerv.
Shinji laughed loudly trying not to show his difficulty in replying.
"Eheheeh...here I am..." the boy just did not know what to think up
to be
able to solve the matter . He had never been good at lying, but this
time he
did not even manage to invent a decent excuse which would have succeeded
in
keeping the situation under control.
"Yes?..." Misato however seemed anything but bent on closing an eye
to the
matter. Not just because of the dinner but more than anything out of
curiosity; She knew that when Shinji assumed this attitude there was
something strange and even funny too behind it.
"Well... I...did not...."
The telephone suddenly rang and to Shinji's good fortune this succeeded
in
distracting Misato's attention away from him.
"The telephone's ringing!! COMING !!!" Misato ran to the telephone with
the
enthusiasm of a child, even reluctantly throwing the still half-full
can of
beer into the air which emptied itself onto the floor completely.
"SQUEAK!! SQUEAK!! SQUEAK!!!" It was PenPen, Misato's tame penguin
who
completed the scene. As soon as he saw the beer stains left on the
floor by
his mistress he pounced on them flapping his wings and licking them
up as if
they were the most delicious thing in the world.
Seeing the scene, , Shinji initially remained quiet, but suddenly
after
gaining his composure and squotendo la testa he bent down
to the penguin
with the heat sources.
"Now I understand why you and Misato get on so well, PenPen!", he exclaimed
jokingly stroking the penguin's scaly feathers. A scene like this was
everyday to him.
"Helloooooo?? Who is it'??" Misato asked in a mellifluous voice raising
the
telephone receiver to her ear. Immediately afterwards, however, her
expression became dry as if the caller was not whom she had expected.
"Sgrunt! But it's you, Ritsuuuuuuuko?!?!"
At the base the scientist smiled as soon as she sensed this change in
her
friend's tone of voice "Are you upset? Who did you expect it to be?"
the
woman jokingly retorted.
"But what do I know about it??...I thought it was some secret admirer
of
mine!!" Misato continued disappointedly, resting one hand under her
chin and
snorting.
"A secret admirer???" Ritsuko almost felt like laughing "You've
gone over
the top with the beer again today, haven't you? "
"Uuuuhm...but today's my day off! So every now and again I can allow
myself
this little diversion, can't I?" Major Katsuragi justified
herself, while
a bead of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Ritsuko sighed; To be truthful she would have been surprised if she
had
found
Misato sober on her day off.
"Ok, Ok...I'll stop the small talk. I haven't rung you up to talk about
that..." Ritsuko's voice suddenly took on a serious tone and this sigh
was
enough for the girl with the black streaked hair to understand that
what Dr.
Akagi was about to tell her was not nice.
"....what's it about?" Even Misato's tone changed radically and this
change
even distracted Shinji, who suddenly stopped drying the spilt
beer from the
floor and almost without warning began to listen to Misato's telephone
conversation.
"What??..Rei?... What do you mean, she still hasn't arrived?"
Misato's agitation on the telephone was clear. Notwithstanding that
she knew
how to maintain an incredible sang froid during battles, the girl easily
allowed herself to be dragged along by anxiety and worry in her private
life; but notwithstanding the alarming news, she tried to keep calm
and not
rush to conclusions.
"...I understand...well, probably she's still at school....but Shinji
has
also just arrived..."
Shinji moved closer to the door which separated the kitchen from the
passage
to listen better to Misato's discussion which somehow was also
affecting
him.
He did not know why he was doing it, moreover it was not his style to
eavesdrop on other people's conversations.
But somehow he felt that that discussion was of interest to him.
Misato continued with the conversation almost without a halt,
her tone
becoming ever more hard and authoritarian, but hers was an apparent
calm.
"Whatever, make sure that the situation is reported to Commander Ikari.
O.K..... In case there's any news, let me know, O.K.? We'll be in touch.
Bye, Ritsuko."
Major Katsuragi thus finished the discussion. She put back the receiver
but
could not remove her hand because she was immediately overwhelmed by
an
avalanche of thoughts and concerns.
*It's very strange...a simple delay isn't like her...* This thought
flew
through the Major's mind as silence again took control of her...
Of course, perhaps it was a little early to think the worst... but faced
with a situation like this, she really did not know how to react.
"Has something happened to Rei?!" Shinji's sudden question quickly reached
Major Katsuragi's ears. She had been so engrossed in Ritsuko's telephone
that she did not even realise Shinji had been behind her the whole
time.
She slowly turned round trying to erase the signs of worry from
her face so
as not to influence Shinji too, so, trying to assume a happy
expression she
turned to the boy "Hey! Since when did you start eavesdropping?"
But Misato's words did not convince Shinji at all. Having listened
to most
of the call, he was well aware that there was very little to joke about.
"Miss Misato...has something happened to Rei?" Without changing
expression,
Shinji again turned to his guardian repeating the same question as
before.
*Damn it...* Misato put an end to her feigned ironic behaviour and looked
reality in the face; Shinji had already understood the situation.
"...it's a bit early to think the worst, basically it's a slight delay
but..." The girl seemed to be measuring out each individual word which
issued from her lips..Damnn, how would she manage to explain the truth
to
Shinji without influencing him too much with the individual words??.
It was
really hard.
She knew how apprehensive Shinji was and she also knew that news like
this
would worry him for days on end.
"Well..." Misato cut short and attempted to smile to ease the weight
of the
truth. "It would appear that Rei has still not turned up at the base,
but
basically no."
"WHAAAAAT!!!!" But Misato's forced smile was not enough to reassure
Shinji:
So he abruptly interrupted his guardian's forced sentence because her
last
words had the completely opposite result to the one she had hoped for.
But,
anyway, the girl had more than anticipated this reaction. So, without
her
answer giving ground, the Major put her hands out and continued her
sentence
"But look, there is nothing to worry about! You have only just
come hack,
haven't you?...even if she has had an accident..." Misato would have
liked
to have reinsured even herself with these words, but she did not know
that
the words which Shinji was about to say would completely dash her hopes
from
one moment to the other.
"Rei left school today after playtime to go to the base!!"
Shinji's panic-filled exclamation spread throughout the room, hitting
Major
Katsuragi full-on, who remained motionless in the face of such truth.
Playtime was three hours ago.
Just this thought was enough to cause the anxiety between the two to
increas
e.
"Wh, what.??" Misato could hardly speak. It was clear to her too that
if Rei
was that late, something must have happened to her and it was to big
a delay
to think of something unimportant.
"But...but are you sure, Shinji???"
The boy nodded with difficulty, the muscles of his body seemed paralysed.
Millions of bad thoughts crowded his mind.
Rei was very weak that day...and if she had felt bad again in the street ?
He decided to save this detail from his guardian for the time being
at
least; she was already fairly worked up and more news to complicate
the
current situation would seem like an arrow.
In the end, Misato was responsible for the Children.
"Accident!" With a sudden jolt the girl managed to recover from the
initial
shock and with a very quick gesture she picked up the telephone receiver
and
dialled the number of the base. "Come on!! Answer!!" The wait on the
telephone which rang in the void made her even more nervous. She was
almost
about to hurl a torrent of bad language at it when finally somebody
answered
the telephone.
"Major Misato Katsuragi! Mobilise all the Nerv's search teams to rescue
the
First Children! DO IT IMMEDIATELY!!"
*
Some minutes later inside the base, Dr. Akagi, followed by some operators
ran hurriedly and angrily towards the oval room of Gendo Ikari. In
her last
telephone call Misato had been too upset to explain the details as
things
were exactly, but the fact was that if she had given such an
order, there
must be a very serious reason, and further in-depth explanations were
not
essential get the order carried out.
Ritsuko knocked on the door and after waiting for permission to enter
from
Commander Ikari, went in, making the other operators go in too.
Gendo was there, at his usual seat in the classic pose behind the main
writing desk of the immense glass room. His expression did not change
even
when faced with the agitated state of the scientist and the three operators.
Rather, to tell the truth, he was almost annoyed.
"Could I know the reason for so much agitation?" Gendo's words, bereft
of
any emotion, crossed the room with a calm which would have caused anybody
to
be anxious. It was really incredible how he did not manage to lose
his
composure in front of anybody.
Ritsuko was the first to regain her breath and explain the problem to
the
man.
"Commander Ikari, there is a problem..."Despite her efforts, the scientist
was unable to imitate the incredible coldness and disinterest which
Gendo
showed at her behaviour. Whoever worked at the Nerv would have
to show
incredible sang froid, but Gendo went beyond the limits of the surreal.
"A problem is never greater than an attack by an Angel. . And
from what it
appears now there is none of that. Therefore, I can't understand the
reason
for all this agitation."
Gendo's arrogance did not pass unnoticed by anybody. The three operators
were offended at the scene and irritated and started to whisper comments
among themselves, causing a thick veil of murmurs, fortunately nearly
all
imperceptible to the Commander. But Ritsuko when talking could not
allow
such an attitude, so she tried to put up with it all and continued
to
explain the situation, notwithstanding his incredible indifference.
"The First Children did not arrive at the base at 17.00 hours
today as she
should have done. The security men have no information on the matter."
If, faced with such news, Gendo had changed attitude and shown a lot
more
interest, Ritsuko would have been ready to put her hand in the fire.
Up till
then, at least, Gendo had shown almost human" sentiments" only for
that girl
who looked like his wife.
But if he had really done so, then she would have burnt. To her immense
surprise and that of Maya, Shigeru and even Makoto, the cold commander
did
not rouse himself from his position, not even in the face of that.
He did not answer.
Perhaps his expression behind his dark glasses had changed.
"The reasons?" He restricted himself to just asking this question, almost
without moving his lips.
Ritsuko drew an imperceptible breath. The concern made itself felt even
in
her.
"Not known. Currently not known..."
Ritsuko had hardly finished her sentence when a sudden silent pause
fell
upon the room.
An almost impossible silence.
Nobody would ever have predicted such a reaction from Gendo. So much
so that
the blonde scientist even thought that the only possibility for this
silence
came from fact that Gendo had not properly understood her last words.
"Commander Ikari?... Did you understand what I said?" Ritsuko was surprised
at having to recall his attention. Usually in their work discussions
jut a
few words of explanation were enough. Indeed ... it was almost
like that in
private life and she knew it well. "Rei Ayanami has still not reported."
"Mobilise the Nerv's search teams immediately, from now on all military
activities will be suspended: Absolute priority to recovering the First
Children..."After the long silence, during which he was locked in a
long
period of reflection, Gendo sliced through the doctor's words with
his rigid
and authoritarian sentence.
Ritsuko was not so surprised at that: it was obviously a well thought
out
reply before speaking.
Therefore, the girl cleared her voice to continue "We also received
the same
orders from Major Katsuragi a short while ago. Only your agreement
was
missing"
"Well, now you have it. Get a move on!" Gendo's cold words, together
with
the expression covered by the impenetrable dark lenses of his glasses
were
enough to bring to submission the whole group, which hurriedly
stood to
attention and replied with a formal "YES SIR!" shouted in unison. After
that, they turned on their heels and quickly left the room. Almost
running.
The only exception was Ritsuko, who in contrast to the
three operators
sought to maintain a detached composure until the end, so she was the
last
to leave the oval room, in perfect silence.
End of Chapter 2
* Okaerinasai is the reply given to TADAIMA, or, "Welcome back (home)
!"
~*~Many thanks to Ian for this translation^_^
~*~If you wanna send me comments or critiques, here's my email address:
reichan@inwind.it
and DO NOT FORGET TO REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love reading your reviews!^-^
well..the third chapter's translation is almost finished, and I'm going
to post it soon:) Anyway, I hope you'll like this chapter. As you're seeing,
the plot is involving also others characters.
Please, send me your opinions:)
bye!
Rei-chan
http://members.tripod.it/aoitears