Creation began on 05-12-22

Creation ended on 10-27-22

Neon Genesis Evangelion

Aquarium Date

The travel between Tokyo-3 and the aquarium was not as long as Shinji initially thought it would be, and Asuka was right about it being a nice one, too. He felt at ease, surrounded by the large tunnel of water that had various animals swimming around him as he walked down it with Asuka. It was like there was nothing wrong elsewhere. The sharks, the seahorses, the turtles, even the starfish and coral were calming when viewed through the glass.

"…I take it you've never been to an aquarium before?" Asuka asked him.

"Not as often as I could've in my childhood," he explained. "I didn't have any passion or ambitions. Even playing the cello wasn't something I took any joy in."

Of course, Asuka would have known about this from observing his past. Ever since his mother got consumed by the Eva, exacerbated by his father leaving him alone, Shinji was just a little kid whose life has gone downhill with no sense of hope or any belief in others wanting to be around him without any agenda. It was a nightmare without end for him…until he ended up in Lyvsheria and obtained the means to escape his undesired rut. Now, he seemed more alive and able to see hope wherever he went.

"See anything you like?" She asked him as they wandered into the shark section.

"Yes," he responded, pointing to a small whale shark. "The whale shark over there. Probably the only type of shark that doesn't get a bad rep from people. A creature so big that it is intimidating, but is not a threat to anyone that takes a swim in the ocean. The hammerhead sharks, though, they give me the creeps; the way their heads are shaped, it's just…bizarre."

"Yeah, they are like that," she agreed, and then pointed to a glass screen that showed a small dolphin in it. "What about whales and dolphins? Mother Nature's gentlest swimmers."

"They're smart and beautiful. Dolphins, you can play with, and whales, they're both awesome and mysterious."

"Mysterious?"

"I look at an orca, and I can't tell what they're thinking, and their faces are both scary and mystifying in a sense. The eye-like patterns that deceive you because you can't tell if they're truly looking at you. It's a little terrifying if you met one up close and were unable to flee."

"You probably shouldn't see this one movie about one such whale that was beautiful and depressing. You're better off with Free Willy."

"You mean Orca? I saw that film, and it was a little sad. Actually, it was very sad. The whale wasn't really bad, just upset because that shark hunter killed his mate and unborn child. The guy did have some sympathy for the whale, but there is a difference between sympathy and agony. They're both related to a sense of suffering, but one leads to negative consequences for others."

"Anyone or anything with the ability to think and feel demonstrating concepts like revenge?"

"Of most thoughts and desires, revenge is the one that tarnishes the soul and leaves those affected by whoever desires it at all costs scarred by the aftermath of the desire. And even if revenge was achieved, what then? Nothing will ever be like it was before. Those gone can't come back like they were never gone to begin with. And those hurt can't look at those that hurt them the same way again."

"Very true," she agreed with him, and led him to where some starfish and coral were being displayed to be touched. "Care to touch the coral?"

"Sure," he replied, and raised his left hand up to touch the pinkish coral. "It feels different."

"How different?"

"It's like touching marble, only it's alive."

The way Shinji looked as he looked at the coral and starfish… It was like he was a little kid again, re-experiencing his childhood the way it should've been before the Eva became a terrible weight wrapped around his neck. If this had been a field trip, Asuka would have most likely been the teacher or chaperone. She had to make sure that he was learning about the ocean life while making sure that he got home safely.

"Hey, Asuka?" She heard him say.

"Hmm?"

"Thank for inviting me."

"You're welcome."

-x-

Gendo found that the shopkeeper was a stickler for protecting the privacy of his customers. Not only did he refuse to say what was bought by Shinji, but he told him to look around the shop for himself, that it was packed with various items used in martial arts, ranging from wooden bo staffs to throwing stars. Even if he did wander around the store, there was no way to know for sure what the boy bought, not without asking him or going to Major Katsuragi's apartment and demanding to know from her what he had acquired. So, as he left the shop in fury, he had to figure out another avenue of how to best manipulate his son.

First, he disappears, then he returns from some alternate dimension where he received aid, resigns upon discovering that Unit-03 was compromised and the pilot was nearly sacrificed to defeat the latest Angel, and now some pathetic shopkeeper refuses to divulge information on the basis of costumer privacy? He thought as he returned to his car. What are you up to, boy? What are you doing when our future is at stake? Where are your responsibilities at a time like this?

-x-

When it came to smaller, more bizarre aquatic creatures, Shinji was both creeped out and amazed by manta rays and octopi. Creatures that could glide in the oceans and possessed multiple appendages were a sight to fear and behold.

Asuka confessed that she found flatfish to be the most bizarre, mainly due to the fact that the Angel they found in the volcano that one time felt like it could've been a relative of theirs.

"…Right, and the second Angel I fought after coming to Tokyo-3 wasn't related to a squid?" Shinji asked her, pointing to a small squid swimming in a tank.

"Gross," she responded. "What next, they take the shape of dragons?"

"That would be an insult to dragons everything."

"What if it was a specific type of dragon?"

"It wouldn't matter; it'd still be an insult."

This was probably because of his time spent around Grup.

They then visited the habitat that housed a more recent exhibit: An albino alligator, laying lazily under a large rock near the water.

"You never think that there's an animal out in the world that has a coloration different from what is already understood," said Asuka; this was her first time seeing an albino animal that wasn't depicted in a photograph or film. "Have you seen an albino animal before, Shinji?"

"No," he answered her, "and the only albino person we know of is Ayanami."

Grumble. Shinji heard his stomach growl; it had been a while since he last ate anything and the handful of snacks he had earlier were not helping.

"Maybe we should look for a fast food joint," he suggested to Asuka.

"Yeah," she replied.

-x-

It was moot, as Ritsuko discovered during the third attempt to see if the First Child could sync with Unit-01. No matter how many variations in synchronization she tried, even with the prototype of the Dummy System, Unit-01 refused to sync with the girl, like it despised her for some reason. Even without Gendo breathing down her neck, Ritsuko found herself pressured by the lack of results in getting the Evas to function as intended.

Shinji really picked the worst time to call it quits, she thought as she told Rei to hit the showers and go home for the rest of the day.

Within the test plug, the albino girl exhales air bubbles as the synchronization test ceased. Despite Commander Ikari having assigned her to pilot Unit-01, the purple Eva refused to connect with her. It was as though there was a wall between them and she couldn't breach it to get to the Eva. Her last attempt had only resulted in her seeing one thing new that seemed to relate to what happened to Shinji when he was gone…and further back: She saw him…with some other woman with an accent, wielding a sword that seemed to be shaped like a tomato, and he was sketching her as she posed for him.

Who was she to him? She wondered.

-x-

"…Be honest, Shinji," Asuka spoke as she sipped her soda at the burger and ramen joint they found. "You don't worry much about anything now that you've resigned from NERV, do you? I mean, you don't seem tense, you don't feel like you have a schedule to follow any longer, and you have more time to pick up where you left off in your life before you joined NERV. You don't worry about anything."

"Oh, that's where you'd be wrong, Asuka," Shinji told her as he set his chopsticks down. "Even after resigning, I worry about many things I have no control over. I still have fears that are no different from those of other people from other parts of the world. I can't swim, so I worry about ending up in the water and I end up sinking because I weigh enough to go under. I am related to a man that gives people bad vibes every time he speaks, so I worry that someone out there will try to come at me just to get to him, even though that is unlikely to affect him. I worry about Misato, you, Pen-Pen, Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, practically anyone that lives in that city that isn't so much a safe haven as it was claimed to be. There's no such place anywhere on the planet. Maybe once upon a time, but not anymore. Very dismal."

"What about your personal life? Anything there that is…getting to you?"

"My personal life is anything but personal these days. It's hard to have that when you feel like your entire life has been dissected by someone else and there isn't much of anything left that can be thought of wanting to pursue for yourself. What about you? How are things with you? Do you have any goals you wish to pursue when you're done with NERV?"

"What will there be left to pursue?"

"Someone of your status, you could probably be a model."

"Well, you could probably be a chef; you have good culinary skills."

"Thank you."

Suddenly, Shinji felt like someone was watching them, and he looked up to observe the restaurant they were in, seeing only a few people dressed in casual clothing. There were no signs of anyone dressed in business attire or near them. And then, he looked up at the ceilings and walls, seeing only two cameras, both not even pointing in their direction.

"Shinji?" Asuka asked him.

"Do you ever… Do you ever feel like you're being watched? Even when you shouldn't?"

"No, why?"

"I suddenly feel like that, like someone's watching me."

Asuka looked around and didn't see anything out of the ordinary around them…but that didn't undo the feeling that it did feel like they were being watched by someone.

"There…wasn't much of any of this feeling is Lyvsheria, was there?" She asked him.

"No," he answered. "It was mundane and simple. Everyone has only technology that is mostly primitive. Wagons, wheelbarrows, torches, swords and shields. The only reasonable technology that wasn't even tech is the Magi Mobile, and even that was a rarity, but nobody was really trespassing on other people's personal space."

When they had finished eating and left the place, Asuka pondered asking Shinji something else that was related to his time in Lyvsheria on the bus ride back to Tokyo-3. However, the expression on his face seemed to indicate that he was deep in thought over something. Whatever he was thinking about must've been something personal. Or at least something that bothered him when it shouldn't have.

"Are you okay, Shinji?" She asked him as she sat on the opposite side of the bus from him.

"Uh, yeah," he uttered. "I just, uh…was wondering about what career to pursue when I turn eighteen in another four years."

"Honestly? Run a diner or join a restaurant franchise. Not many chefs out there that can make a good meal like you can."

"Thanks."

-x-

"…So…he's really quit NERV?" Kaji asked Misato as they were drinking at a bar this evening; he had invited her over, hoping to find out something new on her end, but somehow changed the conversation to what Shinji was doing with his free time.

"He turned away…and I can't fault him for doing so," Misato told him, having barely finished her second beer. "He does have a life that he can't have split between piloting the Eva and…pursuing his future goals. It doesn't work for anyone if there's no middle ground to work on, and the middle ground with NERV wasn't exactly stable."

Kaji knew this was true; when the pilots were, more or less, obligated to go to NERV and participate in synchronization tests with the Evas, at random hours in the day, any day of the week, it left little time for trying to decide what they would want in the future. And NERV was supposed to be in the business of making sure there was a future for the whole world.

"What about you and your search for what you want?" Misato asked him. "Any clue on that mysterious mecha or anything?"

"No, nothing. Nobody's taking credit for its performance against the Angels or making NERV look bad. It's unlike anything the world has ever seen. It's…more advanced than the Evas are. It crosses the line between mortals and gods."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah."

Misato wasn't drunk enough to lose her coherency yet, but Kaji seemed to be wasted enough to say anything.

"Hey, this is the craziest idea ever," her ex says. "What if Shinji's the pilot of the mysterious pilot? What if he's the one that's been making NERV look incompetent?"

"You're wasted," she told him, taking his fifth can of beer away from him. "You're wasted and your brain cells are degrading."

"Oh, come on, you know it'd be funny if he was, right? I mean, he makes a wish or stumbles upon something he wasn't supposed to, like a secret organization, and he joins or is drafted into the mix and gets to operate something way cooler than the Eva. He gets his father fired from NERV, creating a bigger rift between them, and now his old man has a vendetta against him. What are the chances of there being a feud between them?"

Even if he was drunk, Misato couldn't deny that he was speaking bits of the truth; Gendo had lost his command of NERV and was likely upset at Shinji over it. But no matter how much Gendo hated Shinji for costing him everything, the boy had every right to hide his own secrets from a man that had nothing but secrets and lied all the time. And Shinji's lies, no matter how upsetting they might've been to some people that felt crossed by him, were a lesser evil because his actions were to ensure that nobody got hurt or worse because of the arrogance and depravity of twisted behavior.

"The forbidden union between Adam and Lilith would result in the entire world of mankind, from humans to the last shred of bacteria, being reduced back the the primordial stage before any measure of life ever began, devolving the planet," Shinji had told her after the night he disposed of Lilith. "There'd be no way to undo any of it, either. We'd all be smashed together with no privacy, no free will, no voices or even opinions. There would be no entrance to the afterlife, either. No Heaven or Hell. The concepts of existence we understand, undone and forever gone. It's a nightmare to know that some people are actually pursuing this, knowing that it's a one-way trip…and want it because they think it's the right thing to do. Nobody deserves that. Nobody should have to experience that. And now…they won't have to."

Even if we're at a so-called evolutionary dead-end, she thought as she helped Kaji out of the bar to her car, it's nobody's place to decide what we should accept as our fate. We just have to keep moving forward and admit to our faults if we're to survive in this messed-up world. We can't sweep our mistakes up and put under a rug and ignore them until the end of time.

She sighs as she realizes that even if she hadn't drank as much alcohol as her ex had tonight, she was still inebriated and couldn't drive without being pulled over by the police. Instead, she just sat in the driver's seat and waited for the alcohol to pass through her system.

-x-

When Shinji and Asuka returned to the apartment, it was empty, with the sole exception of Pen-Pen; they had to assume that Misato was likely out somewhere and wouldn't be back until the next morning.

"I'll get started on dinner," Shinji told Asuka as he walked into the kitchen.

"Thanks, Shinji," she praised him.

As she retired to her room for a while, she slumped onto her futon. For an aquarium date, it was actually the most fun she ever had with someone outside of the city and had nothing to do with their affiliation with NERV. Or in Shinji's case, a former affiliation. Not even that date Hikari's sister set her up on compared to today.

I really had fun out there with him today, she admitted to herself.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Shinji was cooking when he got that feeling from before earlier. It was that sense that someone was watching him. But even as he looked around the room, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Then again, he wouldn't have seen anything out of the ordinary if all he saw was…what was in front of him all the time. He lowered the burner's temperature down and moved away from the stove to look at whatever was in the room, looking for anything that was not supposed to be there.

Then again, I wouldn't put it past NERV to install hidden cameras around the place when we're not around, he thought, admitting to himself that he was likely a little paranoid at having his privacy trespassed upon by the paramilitary agency he had resigned from, looking at a digital clock mounted on the wall. Surveillance technology has improved over the years, making cameras and listening devices smaller and wireless, even disguised as things you wouldn't expect to find a camera in, like a television or a radio. Hell, even cell phones and key alarms.

"Aah!" He heard Asuka scream.

"What is it?" He asked her as she came out of her room, holding something in his left hand.

"I noticed a crack in the wall by the window and saw this poking out," she explained, handing over the object. "I thought it was a spider, so I hit it with my shoe."

It looked like a spy camera, but it was busted up so bad that you couldn't tell what it was now. Black, small bits of metal and plastic, with small wires sticking out.

"Surveillance," Shinji expressed. "If this wasn't a camera, it was probably a listening device."

"Is there any way to know for sure?" Asuka asked him.

"Yeah."

He went into his room and came back out with his Legendary Knowledge Magisword.

"Reveal…your secrets," he uttered, pointing the sword at the damaged device.

Within three seconds, he had obtained the information this device had to offer…and learned that it had been installed in Misato's apartment…a full month after she had moved in. But it was one of four listening devices hidden in the place.

"It's a listening device. There are three others in the apartment; in the bathroom, the laundry room and living room."

"NERV?"

"Yeah, but Misato didn't know about these. My father had these installed in order to keep tabs on anyone talking about NERV-related things to civilians."

"But…we've been talking about things like that all the time!"

"But have you said anything about any of it to anyone that you weren't supposed to?"

Asuka reflected upon her past…and couldn't recall ever saying anything NERV-related to anyone she wasn't supposed to.

"Why would your father have the place bugged if we didn't say anything to anyone we weren't supposed to?" She asked him.

"Blackmail, manipulation, anything that goes through his head," he responded. "Let's get the other three devices and dispose of them."

-x-

The next morning, as Misato, sober from the night before, returned to her apartment after dumping Kaji at his place.

"Ugh," she groaned as she stepped inside, seeing a cup of coffee on the table, steaming. "Thank the kami."

She grabbed the cup and drank its contents, feeling rejuvenated.

"Welcome back," she heard Shinji say to her as he came out of the living room.

"Yeah, thank you," she praised him, holding her cup up. "And thank you for the coffee. This is what I needed."

She then noticed something else on the table: Four small objects that were dark and looked as though they had been through trauma.

"What are those?" She asked him.

"Listening devices," he revealed. "They don't work now, but Asuka and I learned that they were installed here a month after you moved in by my father."

"What?!"

"We checked around for any other devices, and these four were the only ones that were here. That man has been likely listening in on whatever anyone here has been saying."

"That bastard."

"Yeah, that's the common designation he seems to draw out of anyone."

"So, what now?"

"Now? Now, I'm thinking of paying my old man a visit after school."

"You think that's a good idea?"

"If I'm wrong…then I back off him."

"And if he tries something?"

"Then I at least know where to kick him with enough force that he backs off."

Misato looked back down at the destroyed devices, unable to believe that NERV bugged her place to keep tabs on her. Even if Ritsuko didn't know anything about this, she wouldn't have put it past her to know nothing about this. As of the revelation of Second Angel, Lilith, the Twelfth Angel, it was hard to trust her to tell her anything. The mere thought of asking her even just felt like a letdown.

"Be careful if you see him," she told Shinji. "If he was listening in on everything we've ever said here, then…he probably knows about your Magiswords."

"I'm gonna take a stab at the likelihood that he doesn't know about them; if he had anything to say about them, he would've brought them up at any point before I resigned or during that meeting with those men. Why say nothing about them and risk losing his job?"

Misato knew Shinji was right about that; if Gendo had known something about the Magiswords, he would've brought them up before he was let go of. Even before Shinji quit. The fact that only a handful of people knew about the existence of these magical objects that were a trend where he ended up and were sworn to secrecy about them, it just meant that there was no way that someone like his father could ascertain their existence unless he had actually seen them.

To be continued…

A/N: I think the next chapter will be negative in the beginning, but it progresses toward a positive outcome when things get uglier. This was meant to be a relaxation chapter, something to get a chill and feel good vibe on. What did you think of it?