The conference went much like the last one had, only this time I was in front of that crowd of people for the whole thing rather than just a part of it.
The expected questions came up. 'How is it that Evangelion needs a human pilot' was practically the first question asked. Next was 'how do the human pilot and the Unit react together', etc., etc. Around lunch time the questioners got to the questions that really mattered: What was that thing that had attacked the city.
I answered them as best as I could. It was an Angel, the Angels were creatures that came from beyond our planet, I didn't know what they were made of, I didn't know how it was defeated, I was unconscious, I was told that Eva was dug out of the side of a hill...
One of the last questions surprised me. One reporter, a young man with dark hair and startlingly pale eyes, held his microphone up and asked, "I hear that there is a new Unit ready. Have you chosen the pilot yet?"
I blinked a few times as the words sunk in. I thought quick. I smiled at him. "Yes. We will be notifying the chosen person in a few days." I wouldn't tell them the name, because I didn't even know myself. I still had another stack of papers to go through.
Shortly after that, the conference was closed. I escaped as soon as I could, making myself unavailable for private questioning. The nice thing about having security around, they kept away people you didn't want to see. I only wished they could do that for me against Carson.
Late that night, we were going through the last of the stacks of letters that kept piling in daily. My reading of them had improved a lot; they all said more or less the same thing.
"Who asked these kids to do this?" I asked, disgusted. I was going over the application of a 14-year-old boy from America. All of them had been organized the same way: Name, age, family, school, location, country, personal interests and then a section written by someone else about their good and bad qualities. He would have been accepted, but in the "bad qualities" section, it said that he was showing sadistic tendencies which may or may not come into full bearing. I had to ask Tashi what "sadistic" meant, he told me, and I tossed the application into the box that was almost overflowing with rejected candidates.
"I think Carson put out an ad or something," Tashi answered absently. Risa was catching up on some sleep in her room. She had been staying up late for that past four days trying to get the papers sorted into piles. I had ordered her to bed, finally. Tashi and I were the only ones in C&C. The other scientists had gone home already.
I rolled my eyes. "Figures," I muttered.
After many more hours of eye-straining, neck-hurting reading, I finally got throught the last of the stack. With a sigh, I stood up and stretched, then wandered out to get something to drink.
NERV was silent. It seemed unnatural, now that there were so many people wandering around. I thought absently that I had come to take everything I had now for granted...there had been a time when Tashi, Risa and I would have had to move the entry plug from Unit-01 to Unit-02 on an elaborate pulley system. Of course, that would have been assuming we'd been able to fix it up in the first place.
I passed by the huge glass wall that looked into the Eva bay. There they were...purple Unit-01, blue Unit-00, red Unit-02, all lined in a row in cages with catwalks stretching across their necks, connecting each cage to the one next to it. Further down, away from the finished ones, two of the five white ones were undergoing their repairs. The other three were just slouched in their cages, either waiting contemplation of repairs or waiting to be disposed of. The one with the side of it's head crushed in would be disposed of first. It wasn't even worth trying to save,
I paused there, cup of water in hand, and stared at them. They really were ugly creations. One eye, two eyes, four eyes...Unit-01's eyes glowed ever-so-slightly in the dim light of the bay. Unit-00 stared ahead with its cycloptic vision, seemingly unalive. Unit-02's head was down, awaiting the arrival of the child to pilot it.
Had I any right to chose the pilot? Probably not. I was nearly 16 years old now. I didn't even deserve to pilot Unit-01. I was too old, according to Tashi's explanation. How could I possibly make the decision that would change someone's life? It was different for me and Risa. We had had time to get used to Eva, get them to recognize us as a part of themselves. This new kid, whoever it would be, would have next to no time. Shinji was sure that the Angels would come again. I believed him. If Risa or I was put out action, temporarily or...permanently...the new kid would be forced to take our place, ready or not. I didn't know if I could handle the responsibility of that decision.
I watched the silent Eva's for a few seconds more, and then went back to C&C, feeling inexplicably cold.
I threw the sheet down on Carson's desk. "There. That one." I suppressed a yawn. I had been up all night, going through the very last of the applications, the ones I'd set aside because they'd looked the most promising.
Carson didn't even glance up at me. He calmly set aside whatever he was working on and picked up the application, reading it over calmly.
"Kaori Tetsukawa?" he asked, finally looking up at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes," I answered, hoping I didn't sound as tired as I felt. "She lives in the city already, and her uncle is a member of the reconstruction committee. Her father is currently in America working with some sort of business over there, and her mother died when she was quite young." I was reciting everything from what I'd remembered on her sheet. All the details were there; he could read them for himself. "I want her."
He looked at me again. I returned his gaze with an icy stare that challenged him to argue with me.
"Very well," he agreed, setting the sheet aside. "How would you like her picked up? I can go, I can assign some people to go, you could go...any way, I'll have transportation and accompaniment arranged for."
Wow. He was being nice? "I'd like to go," I said, hiding everything I was feeling at the moment. I was feeling almost...grateful..."I'd like Tashi to come with me too."
His eyes narrowed marginally, almost imperceptibly. "Alright. I'll call her father, and have a time set up this evening. Agreed?"
"Agreed." Without another word, I turned around and walked out of the office. Tashi was waiting for me.
"So?" he asked, falling in step with me.
"We can go this evening to pick her up," I said wearily. "He's having someone assigned to drive us there, or something. 'Transportation' he said. I don't know. I want to go to bed right now."
"You should. I've rescheduled today's test for tomorrow, so you can go sleep until we leave." He smiled at me. "Sleep well, Mei." Then he turned and walked back the way we had come.
I stared at his back. He seemed different now...
I knocked on the door of the small house, hoping that someone was home.
I stepped back, waiting for an answer. I glanced at Tashi again, who stood just behind me. He looked very attractive, dressed in dark pants, white shirt, and a long dark jacket like the one Carson favoured. His hair had been carefully combed into a style that looked messy, even though anyone could tell it wasn't.
Carson had insisted that we look "presentable" when we went that evening to pick Kaori Tetsukawa. He had brought in several people that had kept us occupied for several hours before we had left. That was Tashi's end result. I liked it. I wasn't so sure about my own.
I was now dressed in a long skirt and long-sleeved shirt with a light, shaped jacket over top. One lady had cut my hair again and styled it. Tashi claimed to like it. I wasn't sure. I still looked like me, only....different. The weather was cloudy, so we had an umbrella too, in case it started raining.
The door was opened by a middle-aged woman in a severe black dress and white cap. "May I help you?" she asked somberly.
"We're here to speak with Mr. Yuji Tetsukawa and Miss Kaori Tetsukawa," I said. I felt so wierd, visiting a stranger's house. How often had I done that when I was young, looking for shelter or food?
"We're from NERV," Tashi added.
"Please follow me," the lady said, opening the door wider. I went in, followed by Tashi. The lady closed the door behind us and then stepped around us, leading the way down the hall.
I was impressed. The house was small, but well-kept, and well-furnished. Painting's hung on the walls, and a fine carpet covered the floor. The lady took us to a room with large, comfortable chairs and a low, dark, handsome wood table in the center. Many plants stood in pots all around the room.
"Please wait here. I will bring the mister and miss to you," she said, closing the double doors partway.
Tashi walked slowly around the room, carefully studying the paintings or the plants. He even bent over to study the table. "Come see this, Mei," he said, leaning closer to the surface of the table.
I stood beside him, bending a little to see what he was looking at. "I don't get it," I said.
"You have to look at the grain of the wood." He placed his hand on the table and traced out one of the patterns of wood. "See this one? What does it remind you of?"
I stared it a moment longer, and then started to laugh. "It looks like -- "
"I know!" he agreed, straightening and turning to me. His laughter quietly died away. "I want to tell you something, Mei," he started.
The doors opened. The lady in the black dress held them open as a man with greying hair and a young girl walked in. I recognized the girl from her picture on the application.
"Thank you, Linna, that will be all for now," the man said. The lady bowed slightly and closed the door. "How may I help you...people?" he asked then, almost coldly.
"We're from NERV," I said. "Did Adam Carson call you today?"
"Yes," he admitted cautiously. "Does this have something to do with that call?"
"Yes it does," I said. "Were you aware that your daughter had put in an application for the pilot of the newly-restored Evangelion Unit-02?"
He looked down at the wide-eyed girl beside him. "No, I was not," he said stiffly. "I think we should sit down and talk about this. Please, have a seat." He indicated two of the chairs side by side, took one of the ones opposite those two, and his daughter sat down in the one next to his.
"Introductions are in order, I believe," he said, reaching his hand across the table. "I am Yuji Tetsukawa," he introduced, shaking first my hand, then Tashi's. "This is my daughter, Kaori." He waved his hand at the girl next to him.
She smiled shyly at us. "Hi," she said.
"I'm Tashi, and this is Mei," Tashi supplied.
Mr. Tetsukawa looked somewhat surprised. "Mei?" he said, startled. "From NERV? That means you're the pilot of that big robot!"
I felt heat rise in my cheeks. "Yes, that's me," I admitted.
"Alright. So what's this business about Kaori being chosen as a pilot?"
"Well, as you probably know," Tashi said when I hesitated, "there's another Evangelion Unit finished repairs and ready to go. Without our knowledge, Adam Carson put out an ad or called schools around the world or something and had students fill out applications of a sorts for the pilot position. We spent quite some time going through them, and Kaori was the one chosen."
He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "So what does this entail, exactly?" he asked.
"We'll taking Kaori back to NERV and over the next week we'll run a number of tests to make sure that she is compatible with the Unit," Tashi explained. "If not, she'll be returned to you, and we'll search for a new pilot."
Real smooth, Tashi, I thought. Like she's a toy or something.
"What, you mean she can't live here with me?" He seemed profoundly shocked.
"I'm afraid not," I answered. "While it does help that you live in the city, we absolutely must have her live at NERV for extensive testing and synchronization."
"I'll be okay, Daddy," the girl finally spoke up. "Really! I knew what I was getting into when Sensei asked us to write the forms up."
"But Kaori, it's so dangerous!" her father protested, ignoring Tashi and I and turning to her. "Remember that attack last month? Remember how scary that was? Remember the damage done?"
I turned red again. Tashi leaned over; "It's not your fault," he whispered, for my ears only.
"I know that," I whispered back, "but if I had been better prepared -- "
"Shhh. Don't worry about it. If the city thinks that they can fend off those creatures better than we can, I'd sure like to see them try."
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Mr. Tetsukawa was saying to Kaori now. His eyes were filled with tears. I wished fleetingly that my parents had cared so much about me. Then I wished even more fleetingly that I even knew my parents.
"Of course, Daddy," she assured him. I could tell she was trying not to cry. "I'm sure they'll take real good care of me." She looked over at us, her eyes begging for reassurance. Her father also turned to us, hopeful.
I smiled as best as I could and hoped it looked convincing. "Of course," I said.
He sighed. "All right, you can go," he said mournfully. "But please write me letters or something and let me know how you are, alright?"
"Of course, Daddy," Kaori said, jumping up from her chair and hugging him fiercely. "I'll go pack right now!" she cried happily. "What do I need?"
The truth was, I had no idea. Luckily, Tashi filled in for me. "Just enough regular clothes to keep you dressed for quite a while," he said. "We provide everything else." Kaori ran off to get ready.
Mr. Tetsukawa turned to us again, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. "So you're sure she'll be alright?" he asked us. "Nothing bad will happen to her?"
"She'll be fine," Tashi said, his voice carefully comforting. "Mei has been a pilot for almost two years and the worst that's happened to her is a twisted ankle." He didn't say how I had gotten the twisted ankle, and he didn't mention Kyle at all.
"You will keep me informed of her progress, won't you?" Mr. Tetsukawa asked, moments before Kaori came pelting back into the room.
"Weekly," I assured him.
"I'm ready!" Kaori said, sliding to a stop on the polished floor as she ran into the room. She had a large, ovular bag slung over her shoulder that looked hastily stuffed with clothing, and assuredly was.
Tashi and I rose. "Thank you for your understanding," Tashi said formally, bowing to Mr. Tetsukawa as we left the house. "We will keep you updated." He turned and walked back down the pathway with Kaori following behind.
I bowed as well. "She'll be safe," I promised. "I'll keep her that way." I ran after Tashi and Kaori.
"Parent's are such a pain," I muttered to myself before getting back into the car. "I'm glad I never knew mine."
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Characters & concept: © 1997-2002 Katsura /\ Evangelion © Gainax