Chapter Five: Of Rei's Reconnaissance Mission, and Other Interesting
and Amusing Events
The cashier gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything as she bought the dark brown hair dye. The man in the shop that sold eyeglasses gave her a similar look.
-Confusion-
-
Rei looked at herself in the mirror, coldly verifying that her hair had changed from light blue to an unremarkable brownish color. She then placed the contact lenses on her eyes, coldly verifying that her eyes had changed from red to brown.
-Metamorphosis-
-
Rei walked past the front gate like a ghost. The guard, not quite asleep, didn't look up from his newspaper.
The main doors were locked with a combination keypad, so she hid behind a bush located conveniently next to the doors. She waited quietly for someone to open it, and simply followed them in.
It seemed almost ridiculously easy. Asuka had told her that people would be on guard and alert. Asuka had told her to be extremely careful, as many of them were likely to be armed. They didn't seem to even notice her at all. It was disappointing.
She pressed the button to call the elevator and waited. She walked into the elevator and had immediate access to every floor. She pressed the button with the highest number and was taken to the fourteenth floor. She stepped out into a short hallway and glanced to the left. She saw it was a dead end she turned right and made her way to the adjoining corridor.
-Intrusion-
-
Her eyes took in the details and she attempted to commit them to memory, not wanting them to become lost in the future. She walked past many doors, some of which had names on them. She was looking for a specific name. Ikari Gendou. Walking past a door with a plaque that read "Conference Room" she took note of it's location, placing a star next to it on her mental map.
The place was almost empty, except for the few people who had come in early. A few of these people walked past her, but no one questioned her presence. She didn't seem out of place, despite her age. She made herself inconspicuous by following Asuka's instructions, which were easy for her.
-Walk at a normal pace, and try to look bored and confident. If anyone questions you, ask for directions to the bathroom or something. If you look like you're supposed to be there, no one will bother you.-
If Asuka had said, "Act nervous, run around, and try to look interested," that would have presented a problem.
-I'm guessing there will only be a problem will be if someone recognizes you.-
The only person that might recognize her was Mr. Ikari, but he had apparently left the previous day on a business trip of some kind.
She came to a dead end that also happened to be her destination. The door blocking her way lead to the office of Ikari Gendou. Assuming that the people working nearest to him would have the most information, she walked through the nearest door. The room she entered contained several desks, and was empty. She examined the desks more closely, assuming that there would be some sort of supervisor.
-Confidence-
Upon closer examination, none of the desks were labeled. Seeing this, she simply crawled under the largest one, making sure that she wouldn't be seen by a person sitting at the desk. She stretched out along the wall behind her, assuming a semi comfortable position that would keep her hidden from anyone who didn't look directly underneath the desk. She waited for the first employees to arrive. She fell asleep.
-Patience-
She woke up to the sound of coughing.
-Sickness-
She heard a voice female voice to the left. "What are you working on?"
-Encouragement-
The man sitting at the desk responded. "Oh, nothing. These are just some sketches and designs I'm supposed to show to Fuyutsuki when he comes in. Turns out everything that deals with 'Project E' is supposed to go through him. He must be working at least 12 hours a day. I don't envy that job."
Designs? Sketches? She wondered if they could be important. In any case, she had a name. Fuyutsuki. She continued listening to the two of them talk, waiting for the man to leave the desk. She would go to Fuyutsuki's office after stealing the designs.
-Purpose-
The two people continued to talk. "And he's not in yet? I'd come in early if I had that much work to do."
-Exasperation-
"I'm not sure what he's doing this morning. He should be here within the hour though, I think."
-Explanation-
"He'll probably stay 'til midnight."
-Condemnation-
"The man works like a beast. Hardly human, you know what I mean?"
-Yes.-
-
"Can't you just act like a normal human being?"
She didn't respond.
"What's wrong with you? Just smile! You have no reason to be sad!"
She tried to ignore him.
-
"I'm just glad I don't have that thankless job. It must be terrible to do all the work and get none of the credit."
"I don't know, it probably pays pretty well."
"Yeah, I guess... say, you want to go get some coffee? I want to wake up a bit before I deal with Fuyutsuki."
"Sure." He stood up from his desk, and took the sketches with him.
-
-The man took the sketches with him.-
She left the room and walked directly to Fuyutsuki's office, intending to break and enter.
The door was locked, as had been predicted. She would have to pick it, as Asuka had taught her.
-Anyone can pick a lock, if it's a simple one. It just takes time and practice. Practice on your own door first. It's easy; just apply force to the door and lift the pins up one at a time. Watch carefully...-
Ayanami had learned the skill relatively quickly. If she possessed anything in spades, it was patience.
The lock wasn't exactly the same, and it took longer than she hoped. She had no excuse to give if someone caught her in the act of breaking into the room. Fortunately, no one saw her, and ten minutes later she entered the office, wisely locking the door behind her.
She started searching through the desk drawers and heard the sound of a key being inserted into a lock. She immediately closed the drawer she was searching through and hid under the desk.
-
Fuyutsuki walked into his office, dragging his feet. The days seemed to get longer every year, and his work would begin in less than a minute, no matter how exhausted he was. When he sat down, there was already someone standing in front of his desk.
"These are some basic sketches, to give you an idea of what we have in mind."
Fuyutsuki examined a few of the sketches critically and lazily. "Isn't this a bit old-fashioned? I thought we were going to do something 'different'."
The man, whose name Fuyutsuki wished he could remember, spoke defensively, "Well, it's sort of a subtle satire."
Fuyutsuki shrugged. He didn't really care much about the art style. "Very well. What does Hamasaki think of these character designs?"
"He drew most of them himself, actually. He wants to rework a few, but he said he was pretty satisfied."
Fuyutsuki nodded. "Very well. Leave them here for now."
"Sir?"
"I want to call in Katsuragi. I'm going to take charge of the whole pre-development phase. This is too important to delegate to someone else. I'll take care of it."
The man was visibly shocked. "Should I tell Ms. Akagi, sir?"
Fuyutsuki waved him off, "No, no. I said I'll take care of it."
"Yes sir."
-
Fuyutsuki didn't dial until the door had closed completely, not wanting anyone to overhear the unpleasant conversation.
"Technical Branch, Ms. Ibuki speaking."
"Ms. Ibuki? Is Mrs. Akagi around?" he asked, half hoping for a negative answer.
"One moment, sir."
He heard Ritsuko's voice a moment later. "Fuyutsuki? What is it?"
"It's about the new project. I'm taking charge of the pre-development phase." Here it comes.
"What? Why? Who's idea was this!? Are you saying I'm not qualified!?"
Although Fuyutsuki was completely qualified for the task, it was definitely outside his normal sphere of influence. His was more of a supervisory role, in theory.
"It will just be for this initial phase. I'll pass it back to you once we've laid the foundation."
"But that still doesn't answer-"
"Mrs. Akagi, there is no room for error on this project. I will do as I see fit."
It was a slap in the face, but a necessary one. Akagi just couldn't be trusted with certain things anymore.
"But sir..."
-
Fuyutsuki sighed and dialed in a second number. They needed Katsuragi, as always.
"You've reached the Katsuragi residence. You can reach me at the following number…"
Fuyutsuki frowned. Had she taken another job? It was certainly possible, but it was a little hard to believe. Steps had been taken to prevent that sort of thing, after all.
Shrugging, he dialed in the number the machine had indicated.
"Katsuragi speaking."
"This is Fuyutsuki. I'd like you to come in today."
"Today? So soon? I thought that…"
"It's best not to speak of this over the phone. You are free today, yes?"
-
"Understood. I'll be there in an hour."
-The old men don't know about this, do they?- They were going to be taking some serious risks. Despite what had been said at the meeting, this was something enormous. It looked like it really could make or break the studio after all.
-
Fuyutsuki stared at the spot on his desk where the sketches had been. How strange. Hopefully, someone had remembered to make copy or two.
-
Ayanami smiled very slightly, a smile too small to be seen by anyone besides herself, the sheaf of papers held safely in her arms. Her mission had been accomplished. She left the building as she had entered, like a ghost.
Chapter Six: In Which Asuka Strikes
Shinji had wanted to keep the whole mess a secret from his two friends. Unfortunately, he was badly in need of advice from someone his own age. He should have been more specific and sought advice from someone his own maturity level.
"Second base at least, right?"
Shinji sighed, resigned. "I'm serious about this you guys..."
Touji took an offended tone, "I'm serious too! Tell me you at least kissed her. If a girl moves in with you, takes over your space, annoys the hell out of you, and still won't even kiss you... you should just end it all, you know?"
Kensuke nodded, "I'd have to agree. It's pretty pathetic when a man loses his manhood and gets nothing in return. Death is the only way out in that situation..."
"I come to you guys for advice and you tell me to kill myself?" Shinji said, shocked.
Kensuke was shocked as well. "You came to us for advice?"
"I guess it was pretty stupid," Shinji admitted.
"Why? You think we can't take anything seriously?" asked Touji, indignant.
"Not when it comes to girls."
"Hey, we've given you plenty of advice about Rei," Kensuke pointed out. The had indeed given him a lot of advice on the girl, none of it useful in the end.
Shinji nodded grudgingly. "So, do you think you guys can help me out?"
Touji was thoughtful for a second. "So what's the situation? She's psycho, sure, but what do you think of her?"
Shinji looked at his feet, unsure of himself. "I don't know. I'm kind of flattered that she picked me, out of everybody. And she is kind of fun to be around…"
He was cut off as the fire alarm sounded.
-
The three of them walked towards the grassy field that was just outside the school and arrived there before any of the other students, having been close to the school's edge.
"Did you hear something?" said Touji, looking in all directions.
"I can hear the fire alarm," said Kensuke helpfully.
"That sounds like Asuka..." said Shinji, who suddenlyfelt a feeling of deep foreboding.
Then, surely enough, Shinji saw Asuka running toward them, having been on the other side of school where she had told Shinji to meet her. From the way she was running, Shinji was sure she was going to do more than just scold him for breaking their arrangement.
"Shinji…!" Asuka came running towards them, her voice high-pitched with excitement. "Shinji, watch out! That thing's dangerous!"
"Huh?" Shinji said blankly, as Asuka barreled into Touji. She caught the large boy off guard and knocked him to the ground.
Touji was surprised by the attack and hadn't braced himself. He fell badly, bending one of his arms to an unnatural angle.
"Ow! Damn! What the hell!?" .
"Asuka, what are you doing!?" cried Shinji.
"Come on Shinji, stop standing there like an idiot!" shouted Asuka as she grabbed the nearest weapon she could find, a small and thick stick. "He's Sachiel, the third angel!"
Touji, who had just climbed to his feet, took off running through the grass, heading towards the school, and. Asuka pursued him. He didn't run out of fear, of course. He wasn't a wimp. He just didn't know how to deal with being attacked by a female.
And, he had to admit, the girl was pretty frightening. Touji suddenly felt a dose of sympathy for Shinji as the girl gained ground on him.
"Eat hot prog knife you monster!" shouted Asuka as she chased after him. "Come on Shinji, it's getting away!"
Shinji ran after her, hoping to be able to talk some sense into her. "That's not an angel Asuka! That's my friend, Touji!"
"I don't have any time for your babbling Shinji! Just help me kill it!" she shouted angrily.
"Ow!" yelped Touji, as Asuka stabbed him in the shoulder. "Okay, that's it! I don't care if you're a girl!" He turned around and grabbed her right hand as she tried to stab him again, easily overpowering her.
-
-I didn't think it would be this huge!-
Asuka growled as the huge black beast forced her to drop her progressive knife by squeezing her unit's wrist tightly, breaking the joint with a *crack*.
-I need to penetrate the core somehow.-
"Are you finished?" the beast asked her, speaking in an accent.
"NO!" she shouted. "I'd rather die than surrender!" She hooked her right foot behind it's knee as she rammed her shoulder into it's torso with her all the force she could muster. Caught off guard, the beast collapsed backwards, with Unit-02 on top of it. She grinned maniacally as her hand gripped the fallen progressive knife. With all her speed and strength, she drove the knife towards the angel's core, the taste of victory already on her lips.
"Oh my God!" shouted the beast, a final plea to it's master. It's hands were gripped around hers now, trying to force the knife back away from itself.
"UUUWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" she shouted. There was no way she was going to give up when she was so close. The knife inched closer.
-
"UUUWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Shinji heard, coming from inside the library.
He ran inside to see that Touji had pinned Asuka to the ground, holding her firmly by her shoulders.
"Shinji, help me out here!" She shouted at him furiously. "Don't just stand there!"
"Asuka, that's not an angel," he explained calmly. He walked towards the pair, thinking that Asuka might break free and attack Touji again.
"Of course it is! You're supposed to be helping me you idiot! You're a disgrace to the profession!"
"But... I really don't think that's an angel Asuka. It looks just like Touji. I can't attack my own friend," Shinji protested.
"Shut up! Just do as I say or I'll strip you of your title and your plugsuit!" Touji had to struggle to hold her down as she thrashed around, furious at Shinji's words.
Suddenly, Shinji realized the fatal and obvious flaw in her logic. "Didn't you say we'd need those robots to fight the angels?"
"Yeah, so what? Stop wasting time! Do you want me to die!?"
"We're not inside robots, Asuka."
She blinked, and considered this, looking up at Shinji and down at herself. She seemed to finally come to her senses. Seeing that she had calmed down, Touji let her go free. She stood up, dusting herself off.
She patiently explained her actions, saying, "Seele somehow transformed this boy into an angel temporarily. Those Seele bastards won't stop messing with my head."
"You're a psycho bitch. There's no such thing as 'Seele'," Touji hypothesized.
Asuka growled. "Just because you know nothing of Pilot Errantry is no reason to insult me, moron. You'd better shut your mouth or I'll finish what I started, whether you're an angel or not."
"Pilot Errantry? There's no such thing! They'd only make a kid like you a pilot of something in an anime!"
Asuka's face erupted in fury as she snarled at him. "HOW DARE YOU!? Only an idiot would dare say to an actual Pilot Errant that Pilot Errantry doesn't exist! If you don't shut up right now I'm gonna teach you a lesson."
"You've pushed me far enough, bitch. Don't think I'll go easy on you 'cause you're a girl."
"Asuka kick!" shouted Asuka as she launched a flying side-kick at the surprised boy. Not expecting an attack so soon, Touji was knocked off his feet by the flashy kick, which hit him directly on the chest. He quickly regained his feet, deciding that he'd had enough.
"No more messing around, psycho girl," he said, cracking his knuckles.
"Asuka punch!" She shouted, telegraphing her attack. He easily dodged, having had plenty of advance warning. She wasn't a threat, as long as she kept on shouting out what she was going to do. His anger diminished slightly, and he realized that he simply couldn't hit her. She was technically a defenseless female in his eyes, no matter how aggressive her behavior.
Shinji watched hopelessly as the two continued their ridiculous fight. Touji seemed unwilling to hit her, and Asuka seemed unwilling to fight without shouting out her moves. "Asuka… THUNDER!" shouted the girl, unleashing a barrage of hammer fists on Touji as he blocked with both arms.
"Stop! Stop! I give up already!" he yelled.
Asuka nodded, and ceased her attack. "Finally showing some respect, I see." She turned to Shinji and smirked. "What did you think of that, Shinji?"
"Um." He seemed hesitant to speak. "That was really... good, Asuka." He tried his best to sound sincere.
"It WAS good!" she said, not fooled by his attempt. "I know that you're shy and everything, but we can't let ourselves be insulted like that. I am interfering with Seele's plans and so they have targeted me. Because of that I was forced to do something that turned out to be a mistake, but that didn't give that boy a reason to insult me. I can't let an insult like that stand. Understand, Shinji?"
Naturally, he didn't understand at all. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Okay, good. Now let's go back to class."
Touji spoke. "They're gonna be looking for us. The fire alarm, you know."
"Quiet, you!" she demanded.
"Yes, ma'am!" said Touji, managing to make his tone sarcastic.
-
"Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki!" yelled the Class Representative.
Rei was back, and Asuka was pleasantly surprised see her return so soon. Unless, that is, she had been kicked out of the building. Or hadn't been able to find it, despite the fact that Asuka had given her perfect directions.
Rei's dyed hair raised quite a lot of whispers. One girl even loudly proclaimed, "I knew it!" when Rei first entered the room. Asuka shook her head in disgust. Even though she had just met the girl, she knew that Rei would never dye her hair blue to attract attention. She just wasn't that shallow. Asuka recognized that Rei was the only one besides herself who seemed to understand the importance and responsibility of being a pilot.
-
-"What are you doing?"
She remained silent for a long time, not wanting to answer. Finally, she whispered, so quietly that he almost couldn't hear, "Nothing."
"I can see that! Why don't you go outside and play, Rei? Make some friends? I'll tell you what, go outside for an hour. I don't care what you do, but do it outside."
She stood up and left without a word, knowing it was useless to argue. She spent the hour sitting on a bench, shivering, before she returned. She slept.
-
Turning her attention to the current lesson, Asuka noticed that the teacher was currently teaching physics. She glared him angrily. He hadn't mentioned Second Impact or anything dealing with Angels even once. The most important event of the century, and none of the children seemed to know anything about it. She raised her hand.
"Yes, Asuka?"
"I was wondering if you could tell us about Second Impact, Sensei."
"Sekundo... Inpakuto?"
Asuka ground her teeth together and counted to ten. "Never mind, sensei."
-
Ayanami received a message on her computer screen. The first in a long time.
Asuka: Do you have anything to report?
She had thought that Asuka would want to hear the details in person. Asuka was impatient? She typed in a message, a little awkwardly. She hadn't had much use for her keyboard in the past.
Ayanami: I have drawings, designs.
A reply came back almost immediately. Asuka was obviously more familiar with a keyboard than she was.
Asuka: Is that all? What about names? Plans? A schedule?
Ayanami: I know who will be in charge of the 'pre-development phase'. I know names of two other people.
Asuka: And they are...?
Ayanami: Fuyutsuki, Akagi, Hamasaki.
Asuka: Anything else?
Ayanami: That is all.
Asuka: I'll contact you later and tell you what happened today. We have to be on our guard against Seele. They have more power than I thought.
-
"Okay First, I had an encounter with Seele today. They somehow messed with my mind and made me think that some kid was an angel," Asuka explained. "I attacked him, and he wasn't really the enemy, but obviously I can't hold myself responsible for something like that, right?"
"You killed him?" asked Rei, no concern apparent.
"No. But I did give him a demonstration of my skill. Anyway, my point is that we have to constantly be on guard. Seele can play weird mind games with you. And there's one more thing; if anyone insults you, don't stand for it. Just beat the crap out of them, or, this one'll be easier for you, just stare 'em down. Pilots demand respect at all times."
"I… see."
Asuka considered her hesitation disapprovingly for a moment, then shrugged it off. "Good. Now show me those drawings. What are they?"
Ayanami handed the sketches to Asuka, assuming them to be self-explanatory.
Asuka inspected the sketches closely. She frowned. The mecha designs didn't look that much like Eva at all. They looked to be about the same height, but twice as large in girth. Their features were much less humanoid, also. An Eva with an extra 500 megatons of armor maybe? That seemed like pretty ridiculous and unworkable concept. -Pre-development, huh?-
Seeing the sketches, everything suddenly made sense to Asuka. The 'all or nothing venture' they had been talking about was surely the construction of the monstrosities they had designed. But why pay so much for materials when the important thing was the AT field? And surely the maneuverability would suffer as well.
Still, she felt threatened by the unwieldy looking monstrosities. If they were only in the pre-development stages, it could mean that Asuka would end up facing them along with the Mass Production units. On top of that, they would draw funding away from the primary Eva units. Seele did want to kill the angels, right?
Asuka flipped through to the character sketches and gasped. They know what the pilots will look like ahead of time? It could only mean one thing. Pilots were genetically engineered to fit into a very specific pattern. And now Nerv was planning on harvesting a batch of new pilots.
"Sohryu?"
Asuka looked up at Ayanami, annoyed. "What? I was thinking."
"Do you have any further orders?"
Asuka thought for a moment. "See if you can get an estimated production date for these... things. Anything having to do with new pilots would be good too."
"I keep the lock pick?"
"Yes, of course," Asuka said, in a distracted tone.
End Chapter Six
The cashier gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything as she bought the dark brown hair dye. The man in the shop that sold eyeglasses gave her a similar look.
-Confusion-
-
Rei looked at herself in the mirror, coldly verifying that her hair had changed from light blue to an unremarkable brownish color. She then placed the contact lenses on her eyes, coldly verifying that her eyes had changed from red to brown.
-Metamorphosis-
-
Rei walked past the front gate like a ghost. The guard, not quite asleep, didn't look up from his newspaper.
The main doors were locked with a combination keypad, so she hid behind a bush located conveniently next to the doors. She waited quietly for someone to open it, and simply followed them in.
It seemed almost ridiculously easy. Asuka had told her that people would be on guard and alert. Asuka had told her to be extremely careful, as many of them were likely to be armed. They didn't seem to even notice her at all. It was disappointing.
She pressed the button to call the elevator and waited. She walked into the elevator and had immediate access to every floor. She pressed the button with the highest number and was taken to the fourteenth floor. She stepped out into a short hallway and glanced to the left. She saw it was a dead end she turned right and made her way to the adjoining corridor.
-Intrusion-
-
Her eyes took in the details and she attempted to commit them to memory, not wanting them to become lost in the future. She walked past many doors, some of which had names on them. She was looking for a specific name. Ikari Gendou. Walking past a door with a plaque that read "Conference Room" she took note of it's location, placing a star next to it on her mental map.
The place was almost empty, except for the few people who had come in early. A few of these people walked past her, but no one questioned her presence. She didn't seem out of place, despite her age. She made herself inconspicuous by following Asuka's instructions, which were easy for her.
-Walk at a normal pace, and try to look bored and confident. If anyone questions you, ask for directions to the bathroom or something. If you look like you're supposed to be there, no one will bother you.-
If Asuka had said, "Act nervous, run around, and try to look interested," that would have presented a problem.
-I'm guessing there will only be a problem will be if someone recognizes you.-
The only person that might recognize her was Mr. Ikari, but he had apparently left the previous day on a business trip of some kind.
She came to a dead end that also happened to be her destination. The door blocking her way lead to the office of Ikari Gendou. Assuming that the people working nearest to him would have the most information, she walked through the nearest door. The room she entered contained several desks, and was empty. She examined the desks more closely, assuming that there would be some sort of supervisor.
-Confidence-
Upon closer examination, none of the desks were labeled. Seeing this, she simply crawled under the largest one, making sure that she wouldn't be seen by a person sitting at the desk. She stretched out along the wall behind her, assuming a semi comfortable position that would keep her hidden from anyone who didn't look directly underneath the desk. She waited for the first employees to arrive. She fell asleep.
-Patience-
She woke up to the sound of coughing.
-Sickness-
She heard a voice female voice to the left. "What are you working on?"
-Encouragement-
The man sitting at the desk responded. "Oh, nothing. These are just some sketches and designs I'm supposed to show to Fuyutsuki when he comes in. Turns out everything that deals with 'Project E' is supposed to go through him. He must be working at least 12 hours a day. I don't envy that job."
Designs? Sketches? She wondered if they could be important. In any case, she had a name. Fuyutsuki. She continued listening to the two of them talk, waiting for the man to leave the desk. She would go to Fuyutsuki's office after stealing the designs.
-Purpose-
The two people continued to talk. "And he's not in yet? I'd come in early if I had that much work to do."
-Exasperation-
"I'm not sure what he's doing this morning. He should be here within the hour though, I think."
-Explanation-
"He'll probably stay 'til midnight."
-Condemnation-
"The man works like a beast. Hardly human, you know what I mean?"
-Yes.-
-
"Can't you just act like a normal human being?"
She didn't respond.
"What's wrong with you? Just smile! You have no reason to be sad!"
She tried to ignore him.
-
"I'm just glad I don't have that thankless job. It must be terrible to do all the work and get none of the credit."
"I don't know, it probably pays pretty well."
"Yeah, I guess... say, you want to go get some coffee? I want to wake up a bit before I deal with Fuyutsuki."
"Sure." He stood up from his desk, and took the sketches with him.
-
-The man took the sketches with him.-
She left the room and walked directly to Fuyutsuki's office, intending to break and enter.
The door was locked, as had been predicted. She would have to pick it, as Asuka had taught her.
-Anyone can pick a lock, if it's a simple one. It just takes time and practice. Practice on your own door first. It's easy; just apply force to the door and lift the pins up one at a time. Watch carefully...-
Ayanami had learned the skill relatively quickly. If she possessed anything in spades, it was patience.
The lock wasn't exactly the same, and it took longer than she hoped. She had no excuse to give if someone caught her in the act of breaking into the room. Fortunately, no one saw her, and ten minutes later she entered the office, wisely locking the door behind her.
She started searching through the desk drawers and heard the sound of a key being inserted into a lock. She immediately closed the drawer she was searching through and hid under the desk.
-
Fuyutsuki walked into his office, dragging his feet. The days seemed to get longer every year, and his work would begin in less than a minute, no matter how exhausted he was. When he sat down, there was already someone standing in front of his desk.
"These are some basic sketches, to give you an idea of what we have in mind."
Fuyutsuki examined a few of the sketches critically and lazily. "Isn't this a bit old-fashioned? I thought we were going to do something 'different'."
The man, whose name Fuyutsuki wished he could remember, spoke defensively, "Well, it's sort of a subtle satire."
Fuyutsuki shrugged. He didn't really care much about the art style. "Very well. What does Hamasaki think of these character designs?"
"He drew most of them himself, actually. He wants to rework a few, but he said he was pretty satisfied."
Fuyutsuki nodded. "Very well. Leave them here for now."
"Sir?"
"I want to call in Katsuragi. I'm going to take charge of the whole pre-development phase. This is too important to delegate to someone else. I'll take care of it."
The man was visibly shocked. "Should I tell Ms. Akagi, sir?"
Fuyutsuki waved him off, "No, no. I said I'll take care of it."
"Yes sir."
-
Fuyutsuki didn't dial until the door had closed completely, not wanting anyone to overhear the unpleasant conversation.
"Technical Branch, Ms. Ibuki speaking."
"Ms. Ibuki? Is Mrs. Akagi around?" he asked, half hoping for a negative answer.
"One moment, sir."
He heard Ritsuko's voice a moment later. "Fuyutsuki? What is it?"
"It's about the new project. I'm taking charge of the pre-development phase." Here it comes.
"What? Why? Who's idea was this!? Are you saying I'm not qualified!?"
Although Fuyutsuki was completely qualified for the task, it was definitely outside his normal sphere of influence. His was more of a supervisory role, in theory.
"It will just be for this initial phase. I'll pass it back to you once we've laid the foundation."
"But that still doesn't answer-"
"Mrs. Akagi, there is no room for error on this project. I will do as I see fit."
It was a slap in the face, but a necessary one. Akagi just couldn't be trusted with certain things anymore.
"But sir..."
-
Fuyutsuki sighed and dialed in a second number. They needed Katsuragi, as always.
"You've reached the Katsuragi residence. You can reach me at the following number…"
Fuyutsuki frowned. Had she taken another job? It was certainly possible, but it was a little hard to believe. Steps had been taken to prevent that sort of thing, after all.
Shrugging, he dialed in the number the machine had indicated.
"Katsuragi speaking."
"This is Fuyutsuki. I'd like you to come in today."
"Today? So soon? I thought that…"
"It's best not to speak of this over the phone. You are free today, yes?"
-
"Understood. I'll be there in an hour."
-The old men don't know about this, do they?- They were going to be taking some serious risks. Despite what had been said at the meeting, this was something enormous. It looked like it really could make or break the studio after all.
-
Fuyutsuki stared at the spot on his desk where the sketches had been. How strange. Hopefully, someone had remembered to make copy or two.
-
Ayanami smiled very slightly, a smile too small to be seen by anyone besides herself, the sheaf of papers held safely in her arms. Her mission had been accomplished. She left the building as she had entered, like a ghost.
Chapter Six: In Which Asuka Strikes
Shinji had wanted to keep the whole mess a secret from his two friends. Unfortunately, he was badly in need of advice from someone his own age. He should have been more specific and sought advice from someone his own maturity level.
"Second base at least, right?"
Shinji sighed, resigned. "I'm serious about this you guys..."
Touji took an offended tone, "I'm serious too! Tell me you at least kissed her. If a girl moves in with you, takes over your space, annoys the hell out of you, and still won't even kiss you... you should just end it all, you know?"
Kensuke nodded, "I'd have to agree. It's pretty pathetic when a man loses his manhood and gets nothing in return. Death is the only way out in that situation..."
"I come to you guys for advice and you tell me to kill myself?" Shinji said, shocked.
Kensuke was shocked as well. "You came to us for advice?"
"I guess it was pretty stupid," Shinji admitted.
"Why? You think we can't take anything seriously?" asked Touji, indignant.
"Not when it comes to girls."
"Hey, we've given you plenty of advice about Rei," Kensuke pointed out. The had indeed given him a lot of advice on the girl, none of it useful in the end.
Shinji nodded grudgingly. "So, do you think you guys can help me out?"
Touji was thoughtful for a second. "So what's the situation? She's psycho, sure, but what do you think of her?"
Shinji looked at his feet, unsure of himself. "I don't know. I'm kind of flattered that she picked me, out of everybody. And she is kind of fun to be around…"
He was cut off as the fire alarm sounded.
-
The three of them walked towards the grassy field that was just outside the school and arrived there before any of the other students, having been close to the school's edge.
"Did you hear something?" said Touji, looking in all directions.
"I can hear the fire alarm," said Kensuke helpfully.
"That sounds like Asuka..." said Shinji, who suddenlyfelt a feeling of deep foreboding.
Then, surely enough, Shinji saw Asuka running toward them, having been on the other side of school where she had told Shinji to meet her. From the way she was running, Shinji was sure she was going to do more than just scold him for breaking their arrangement.
"Shinji…!" Asuka came running towards them, her voice high-pitched with excitement. "Shinji, watch out! That thing's dangerous!"
"Huh?" Shinji said blankly, as Asuka barreled into Touji. She caught the large boy off guard and knocked him to the ground.
Touji was surprised by the attack and hadn't braced himself. He fell badly, bending one of his arms to an unnatural angle.
"Ow! Damn! What the hell!?" .
"Asuka, what are you doing!?" cried Shinji.
"Come on Shinji, stop standing there like an idiot!" shouted Asuka as she grabbed the nearest weapon she could find, a small and thick stick. "He's Sachiel, the third angel!"
Touji, who had just climbed to his feet, took off running through the grass, heading towards the school, and. Asuka pursued him. He didn't run out of fear, of course. He wasn't a wimp. He just didn't know how to deal with being attacked by a female.
And, he had to admit, the girl was pretty frightening. Touji suddenly felt a dose of sympathy for Shinji as the girl gained ground on him.
"Eat hot prog knife you monster!" shouted Asuka as she chased after him. "Come on Shinji, it's getting away!"
Shinji ran after her, hoping to be able to talk some sense into her. "That's not an angel Asuka! That's my friend, Touji!"
"I don't have any time for your babbling Shinji! Just help me kill it!" she shouted angrily.
"Ow!" yelped Touji, as Asuka stabbed him in the shoulder. "Okay, that's it! I don't care if you're a girl!" He turned around and grabbed her right hand as she tried to stab him again, easily overpowering her.
-
-I didn't think it would be this huge!-
Asuka growled as the huge black beast forced her to drop her progressive knife by squeezing her unit's wrist tightly, breaking the joint with a *crack*.
-I need to penetrate the core somehow.-
"Are you finished?" the beast asked her, speaking in an accent.
"NO!" she shouted. "I'd rather die than surrender!" She hooked her right foot behind it's knee as she rammed her shoulder into it's torso with her all the force she could muster. Caught off guard, the beast collapsed backwards, with Unit-02 on top of it. She grinned maniacally as her hand gripped the fallen progressive knife. With all her speed and strength, she drove the knife towards the angel's core, the taste of victory already on her lips.
"Oh my God!" shouted the beast, a final plea to it's master. It's hands were gripped around hers now, trying to force the knife back away from itself.
"UUUWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" she shouted. There was no way she was going to give up when she was so close. The knife inched closer.
-
"UUUWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Shinji heard, coming from inside the library.
He ran inside to see that Touji had pinned Asuka to the ground, holding her firmly by her shoulders.
"Shinji, help me out here!" She shouted at him furiously. "Don't just stand there!"
"Asuka, that's not an angel," he explained calmly. He walked towards the pair, thinking that Asuka might break free and attack Touji again.
"Of course it is! You're supposed to be helping me you idiot! You're a disgrace to the profession!"
"But... I really don't think that's an angel Asuka. It looks just like Touji. I can't attack my own friend," Shinji protested.
"Shut up! Just do as I say or I'll strip you of your title and your plugsuit!" Touji had to struggle to hold her down as she thrashed around, furious at Shinji's words.
Suddenly, Shinji realized the fatal and obvious flaw in her logic. "Didn't you say we'd need those robots to fight the angels?"
"Yeah, so what? Stop wasting time! Do you want me to die!?"
"We're not inside robots, Asuka."
She blinked, and considered this, looking up at Shinji and down at herself. She seemed to finally come to her senses. Seeing that she had calmed down, Touji let her go free. She stood up, dusting herself off.
She patiently explained her actions, saying, "Seele somehow transformed this boy into an angel temporarily. Those Seele bastards won't stop messing with my head."
"You're a psycho bitch. There's no such thing as 'Seele'," Touji hypothesized.
Asuka growled. "Just because you know nothing of Pilot Errantry is no reason to insult me, moron. You'd better shut your mouth or I'll finish what I started, whether you're an angel or not."
"Pilot Errantry? There's no such thing! They'd only make a kid like you a pilot of something in an anime!"
Asuka's face erupted in fury as she snarled at him. "HOW DARE YOU!? Only an idiot would dare say to an actual Pilot Errant that Pilot Errantry doesn't exist! If you don't shut up right now I'm gonna teach you a lesson."
"You've pushed me far enough, bitch. Don't think I'll go easy on you 'cause you're a girl."
"Asuka kick!" shouted Asuka as she launched a flying side-kick at the surprised boy. Not expecting an attack so soon, Touji was knocked off his feet by the flashy kick, which hit him directly on the chest. He quickly regained his feet, deciding that he'd had enough.
"No more messing around, psycho girl," he said, cracking his knuckles.
"Asuka punch!" She shouted, telegraphing her attack. He easily dodged, having had plenty of advance warning. She wasn't a threat, as long as she kept on shouting out what she was going to do. His anger diminished slightly, and he realized that he simply couldn't hit her. She was technically a defenseless female in his eyes, no matter how aggressive her behavior.
Shinji watched hopelessly as the two continued their ridiculous fight. Touji seemed unwilling to hit her, and Asuka seemed unwilling to fight without shouting out her moves. "Asuka… THUNDER!" shouted the girl, unleashing a barrage of hammer fists on Touji as he blocked with both arms.
"Stop! Stop! I give up already!" he yelled.
Asuka nodded, and ceased her attack. "Finally showing some respect, I see." She turned to Shinji and smirked. "What did you think of that, Shinji?"
"Um." He seemed hesitant to speak. "That was really... good, Asuka." He tried his best to sound sincere.
"It WAS good!" she said, not fooled by his attempt. "I know that you're shy and everything, but we can't let ourselves be insulted like that. I am interfering with Seele's plans and so they have targeted me. Because of that I was forced to do something that turned out to be a mistake, but that didn't give that boy a reason to insult me. I can't let an insult like that stand. Understand, Shinji?"
Naturally, he didn't understand at all. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Okay, good. Now let's go back to class."
Touji spoke. "They're gonna be looking for us. The fire alarm, you know."
"Quiet, you!" she demanded.
"Yes, ma'am!" said Touji, managing to make his tone sarcastic.
-
"Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki!" yelled the Class Representative.
Rei was back, and Asuka was pleasantly surprised see her return so soon. Unless, that is, she had been kicked out of the building. Or hadn't been able to find it, despite the fact that Asuka had given her perfect directions.
Rei's dyed hair raised quite a lot of whispers. One girl even loudly proclaimed, "I knew it!" when Rei first entered the room. Asuka shook her head in disgust. Even though she had just met the girl, she knew that Rei would never dye her hair blue to attract attention. She just wasn't that shallow. Asuka recognized that Rei was the only one besides herself who seemed to understand the importance and responsibility of being a pilot.
-
-"What are you doing?"
She remained silent for a long time, not wanting to answer. Finally, she whispered, so quietly that he almost couldn't hear, "Nothing."
"I can see that! Why don't you go outside and play, Rei? Make some friends? I'll tell you what, go outside for an hour. I don't care what you do, but do it outside."
She stood up and left without a word, knowing it was useless to argue. She spent the hour sitting on a bench, shivering, before she returned. She slept.
-
Turning her attention to the current lesson, Asuka noticed that the teacher was currently teaching physics. She glared him angrily. He hadn't mentioned Second Impact or anything dealing with Angels even once. The most important event of the century, and none of the children seemed to know anything about it. She raised her hand.
"Yes, Asuka?"
"I was wondering if you could tell us about Second Impact, Sensei."
"Sekundo... Inpakuto?"
Asuka ground her teeth together and counted to ten. "Never mind, sensei."
-
Ayanami received a message on her computer screen. The first in a long time.
Asuka: Do you have anything to report?
She had thought that Asuka would want to hear the details in person. Asuka was impatient? She typed in a message, a little awkwardly. She hadn't had much use for her keyboard in the past.
Ayanami: I have drawings, designs.
A reply came back almost immediately. Asuka was obviously more familiar with a keyboard than she was.
Asuka: Is that all? What about names? Plans? A schedule?
Ayanami: I know who will be in charge of the 'pre-development phase'. I know names of two other people.
Asuka: And they are...?
Ayanami: Fuyutsuki, Akagi, Hamasaki.
Asuka: Anything else?
Ayanami: That is all.
Asuka: I'll contact you later and tell you what happened today. We have to be on our guard against Seele. They have more power than I thought.
-
"Okay First, I had an encounter with Seele today. They somehow messed with my mind and made me think that some kid was an angel," Asuka explained. "I attacked him, and he wasn't really the enemy, but obviously I can't hold myself responsible for something like that, right?"
"You killed him?" asked Rei, no concern apparent.
"No. But I did give him a demonstration of my skill. Anyway, my point is that we have to constantly be on guard. Seele can play weird mind games with you. And there's one more thing; if anyone insults you, don't stand for it. Just beat the crap out of them, or, this one'll be easier for you, just stare 'em down. Pilots demand respect at all times."
"I… see."
Asuka considered her hesitation disapprovingly for a moment, then shrugged it off. "Good. Now show me those drawings. What are they?"
Ayanami handed the sketches to Asuka, assuming them to be self-explanatory.
Asuka inspected the sketches closely. She frowned. The mecha designs didn't look that much like Eva at all. They looked to be about the same height, but twice as large in girth. Their features were much less humanoid, also. An Eva with an extra 500 megatons of armor maybe? That seemed like pretty ridiculous and unworkable concept. -Pre-development, huh?-
Seeing the sketches, everything suddenly made sense to Asuka. The 'all or nothing venture' they had been talking about was surely the construction of the monstrosities they had designed. But why pay so much for materials when the important thing was the AT field? And surely the maneuverability would suffer as well.
Still, she felt threatened by the unwieldy looking monstrosities. If they were only in the pre-development stages, it could mean that Asuka would end up facing them along with the Mass Production units. On top of that, they would draw funding away from the primary Eva units. Seele did want to kill the angels, right?
Asuka flipped through to the character sketches and gasped. They know what the pilots will look like ahead of time? It could only mean one thing. Pilots were genetically engineered to fit into a very specific pattern. And now Nerv was planning on harvesting a batch of new pilots.
"Sohryu?"
Asuka looked up at Ayanami, annoyed. "What? I was thinking."
"Do you have any further orders?"
Asuka thought for a moment. "See if you can get an estimated production date for these... things. Anything having to do with new pilots would be good too."
"I keep the lock pick?"
"Yes, of course," Asuka said, in a distracted tone.
End Chapter Six
