"Ahh! ECCHI! What was he doing?! Taking pictures of girls in the changing
room!"
Misato laughed at Asuka's shocked reaction. "Boys are boys. They never change." She sipped her tea—a weak substitute for beer, no matter how much she tried to adjust—and leaned forward again. "This one was taken right by the track outside your school—and this one by the pool."
Asuka nodded as she flipped through the album of pictures, the majority of which featured a younger redhead. "Who took these?"
Misato leaned back again, a thoughtful expression coming over her face. "Well, he was one of your classmates, and his name was Kensuke Aida. He was obsessed with his camera and took pictures of everything he could, especially you."
Asuka snorted, and Misato half-expected a vicious comment from her. Instead her expression softened gently and she turned the last page. There were no more.
"Why are they here?"
"Hmm?"
"The pictures."
"He and Shinji left together—by that time you were gone already. Kensuke was often here in the last few days before their departure, and he left this book here. I haven't seen him since."
"Oh." Her fingers returned to the left half of the book and turned a page. "Who was this?"
Misato glanced at the album. A fierce-looking Japanese boy, with his hands crossed sternly over his chest, glared at her. A wave of sadness washed over her.
"That's Toji Suzuhara, Kensuke's best friend."
Asuka nodded. Misato wondered if she remembered the incident in Germany, in which Toji had earned himself a slap on either cheek after pulling his pants down in front of the indomitable redhead.
"You said Kensuke left with Shinji. What happened to Toji?"
"He was injured in an accident during some testing with the Evas and died a few months later."
Misato had gradually overcome her fear of frightening Asuka with the blunt truth. The girl had spent the last week craving the truth, searching every nook and cranny of Kaji's house for answers. The former Nerv commander was beginning to regret moving away from her old apartment.
"There are no pictures of me with Eva, Misato."
"Well, Kensuke wasn't an Eva pilot, so he was never allowed into headquarters. He loved all sorts of war and weapons, so he always wanted to be one...he was very disappointed when all his friends became pilots and he never had the chance."
Asuka leafed through the book some more, trying to understand what this boy must have been like. Fortunately she was clothed in the vast majority of the pictures, so this Kensuke Aida must not have been too much of a pervert. She came back to the picture of Toji, wondering what it would take to destroy someone as strong as he must have been.
He looks like a mountain of stone, she thought. Perfectly preserved in the photographic paper, Toji's dark brown eyes glowered at her. Asuka felt almost intimidated, until she noticed someone else in the background.
Her hair was blue and cut short, but it was the expression that surprised Asuka. The girl was looking directly at the camera, but she was not smiling or appearing enthusiastic—the look on her face was one of pure indifference. Almost as if she could see through Toji and past the camera.
"Rei."
Misato jumped at the short word. "What about her?"
"She's in this picture."
Her fatigued muscles complained as she positioned her hand on the armrest and pushed herself up, but Misato said nothing as she got back up and looked at the head Asuka was pointing to. "I never noticed that."
Asuka held the picture up to her face so closely that she appeared cross- eyed. "She looks so...sad."
Rei? Sad? When was that girl ever capable of feeling emotion?
But Asuka continued. "Not the kind of sad that you feel when you can't find something, or anything like that. It's the sort of sad that—" and suddenly she realized why she understood; it was because she had recently experienced the same emotions—"—that your purpose in this world isn't significant; that you're not important to anyone."
That was a horrible way to put it, she thought.
But when Asuka looked up at Misato, her face was contorted with shock.
Misato's mind was whirring. How...how incredibly accurate Asuka had been. She chanced a glance at the redhead's innocently curious face. Had anyone, with the exception of Ikari Gendo, ever given a thought to Rei's feelings twelve years ago?
"If I die, there are replacements."
How much it must have hurt for her to acknowledge that.
"Misato?"
"Yes."
"Where's Rei now?"
Which one? There are dozens of Reis that you don't know about.
"I don't know," Misato said truthfully. "I last saw her twelve years ago, the last time you and Shinji came home with me from Nerv Headquarters. I expect Dr. Akagi and Commander Ikari took care of her."
"You still talk to Ritsuko, right?"
"Yes, occasionally. She was the one who told me you were back in Japan."
The redhead waved aside that last piece of information. "I'd like to meet her sometime."
It actually might be interesting to invite Ritsuko over. I'll make a proper meal.
"I'll tell her that," Misato promised.
= = = = = = =
Unknown to Misato and Asuka, hidden deep in the depths of the forest within Kaji's house, unusual circumstances brought together two other former Nerv personnel.
Dr. Akagi was not one to be aggravated by traffic. She left promptly at seven in the morning every day, breezed her way through the streets, and arrived by eight. She labored long hours over new patents and paperwork alike, then went to lunch. A similar afternoon shift would follow, but at seven she would be off, and another hour later she'd be walking up the steps to her apartment.
But she had never seen the usually-quiet streets of Kyoto in such a mess, and even the calm and dignified doctor felt that her fake blonde hair would stand on end if she didn't get out of here soon. Ritsuko tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, a composed expression on her aging face—her forty- second birthday had just passed last week—and applied gentle pressure to the accelerator. The car slid forward just an inch, and the engine whined in impatience.
The next traffic light was so far ahead of her that Ritsuko could barely see it, but she heaved a heavy sigh of relief when the car in front of her slowly began moving again. She glanced at her watch. Already she was forty minutes late. She increased pressure on the accelerator and with some effort, managed to hold it there.
There were only three cars in front of her now, so she'd certainly pass this light. One car hurried across the intersection while the light flicked to a warning yellow. Another car passed, the third following closely on its tail.
Ritsuko made the mistake of flooring the accelerator just as the light flashed red.
Her windowpane shattered instantly in the impact of the crash, showering Ritsuko in broken glass. She hung onto the steering wheel, thankful that she had put on a seatbelt—and attempted to stay in place while her car performed several cartwheels and came to a stop.
Before she knew it, sirens were wailing, but she wasn't sure if those were in her head or outside her car.
What she did know what that the sound of tearing metal scared her.
I've become so soft, she thought, annoyed with herself. Such a little thing would never have unnerved the Dr. Akagi Ritsuko of Nerv.
"Madam? Are you all right?"
Ritsuko waved feebly.
"She's alive!" the police officer yelled over his shoulder.
Twenty minutes later Ritsuko was freed from her totaled car and laid on a stretcher, although she kept trying to get off. Finally the paramedics laid her flat on her back and held her in place with two wide black strips of Velcro.
"I have to go to work," she called out helplessly.
"Ritsuko?!"
"Hey." A burly police officer interfered, holding back the speaker. "She's injured. You can contact her when she's in better condition."
Nevertheless, the young man ran over to Ritsuko's side and asked for the paramedics to wait. His head was only a dark silhouette to the doctor, as she was looking up into the sun when she faced him.
"Ritsuko, is that you?" He was bent over, both hands on his knees, panting heavily.
"Who are you?" Ritsuko asked quietly, closing her eyes to protect them against the sun. Unfortunately this sent the paramedics into a frenzy, thinking that she was weakening. Whoever had been speaking was quickly shunned and pushed aside, and Ritsuko was carried up and into the ambulance.
"I really have to go to work," she mumbled.
Through her closed eyelids she detected a darkening in her surroundings, and when she opened her eyes again she was staring at a blank metal ceiling. People in white robes were bustling around her. Slowly, with immense effort the blonde lifted her wrist high enough that she could see the hands of her watch.
It was nine o'clock. She felt a gentle prick in her left arm.
"I have to go...to work."
The words were hard to pronounce. Ritsuko wondered what was happening, until slowly, she drifted off to sleep.
= = = = = = =
She woke to a nurse working on her arm. Instinctively Ritsuko drew her arm away and in doing so, felt a sharp twinge of pain.
"Hold still." The voice was cool and female. "We're not done with you yet."
Obligingly Ritsuko held out her arm and waited until the nurse finished applying the cast, then sat up when the woman backed away. "How long have I been here?"
A glance at the clock. "Almost three hours."
Ritsuko thought of her boss and shuddered as she imagined what he would say when she finally showed up. The sun was nearly overhead by now, shining brightly down on the inhabitants of Kyoto.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, being careful to use only her right arm, but no sooner had she stood up than the nurse whirled around and ordered that she get back into bed.
"If you're well already, there's an officer waiting outside," she said coldly.
"Well then, show him in," Ritsuko replied in the same tone.
The nurse shrugged indifferently and strode out, her heels clicking rhythmically on the tiled floor. Ritsuko leaned back against the pillows and wondered what she had done to deserve this woman as her nurse. She glanced down at the flesh-colored cast on her arm and wished that she had asked what was wrong with it. On second thought, maybe she would prefer to avoid contact with that woman as much as possible.
The door slid open again and the same police officer who had held the young man back entered. "Dr. Akagi Ritsuko?"
"Yes," she replied.
He pulled over a chair and let the metal legs scrape the tiles as he did so. "You were involved in an accident, at 9:45 this morning?"
"Yes."
He pulled out a notepad and a pen. The walkie-talkie on his waist crackled noisily. "Please describe what happened."
Ritsuko got it over with as quickly as she could, omitting nothing. The crash had been obviously her fault, she added, and turned over the name of her insurance company.
"How's your arm?" He gestured to the useless limb resting on her lap.
"I don't know. The nurse didn't tell me."
His lips formed a thin line as he got up, roughly pushing the chair backwards with a screeching noise. "Nurse!"
The harried-looking nurse reappeared. "What is it, officer?"
He pointed a thick finger at Ritsuko. "What's wrong with her arm?"
"It broke...?"
Ritsuko could hardly believe the behavior exhibited by this woman, obviously younger than the police officer—perhaps even younger than she was. The nurse had her eyebrows raised, as if to ask him why he hadn't realized the obvious. The police officer, however, denied her the pleasure of pouncing on his response as he scribbled on his pad.
"That'll be all, Dr. Akagi. However, the young man whose car collided with yours this morning is outside waiting. I believe he'd like to meet with you."
"Officer—" the nurse began, but Ritsuko cut her off.
"Of course, please show him in," she requested. The nurse huffed and exited, almost knocking someone over as he tried to enter.
"Ritsuko."
Ritsuko blinked a few times. Perhaps the effects of the medication were still affecting her. "Shinji?"
Shinji acknowledged her with a nod of his head.
There was an uncomfortable pause, after which Ritsuko added, "Well, don't stand there by the door, come over here and sit down."
Shinji did so, taking the chair previously occupied by the police officer.
"I, uh..." He seemed to be having trouble meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry for uh, hitting you."
"That's not necessary." His eyes flew back to her face, still pretty despite the years. "It was my mistake."
Shinji still felt the need to apologize and Ritsuko sensed it.
"You haven't changed at all, have you?" she asked bluntly. "Forget about it, Shinji, the crash was my fault and I'm covering it. Or rather, my insurance will be," she added as an afterthought.
Shinji considered this and nodded. "How's your arm?"
Ritsuko waved it feebly. "Well, it's broken," she said, trying to make that sound as light as possible. "I've dealt with worse injuries before, though, so not much of a problem."
Shinji's face darkened and Ritsuko knew she had erred. Instead of making him feel better about the crash she had driven him to think of the past, of the injuries she had sustained while working at Nerv.
The loudening clicking of spike heels announced the arrival of the nurse long before she showed up in person.
"That's quite enough," she said to Shinji. "Dr. Akagi, you'll have to fill out some forms, and then you'll be free to leave."
Flustered, Shinji stood up to leave. "I'm... I'm sorry."
"Shinji." Ritsuko's voice was firm. "Wait there." To the nurse, "Where are the forms?" She caught the clipboard and pen thrust roughly at her and scribbled her signature on each page. No one spoke as she got out of the bed and tossed the clipboard back to the nurse. "Let's go."
While Shinji, who was feeling lost and guilty, made it to the door without stumbling, Ritsuko took two steps and landed on the hard floor.
"Uh, are you okay?" Shinji hurried back over.
"I'm fine." She took his outstretched hand with her right and got back to her feet. "I guess I'm still a little dizzy from medication." The doctor glanced at the nurse behind her, who was now muttering feverishly as she inspected the forms. Apparently she had noticed nothing.
"Let's go," she muttered again, keeping a shoulder on Shinji's shoulder for support. As they entered the elevators, she remembered something for the umpteenth time that day. She groaned and lowered her head as she spoke the words again.
"I have to go to work."
Author's Notes: Sorry, this chapter is really rushed and messy since it's Sunday night and I haven't finished homework...anyway, a bit of what's going on for Ritsuko, and Shinji has finally entered the picture...there will be a lot more of him in the future, I promise.
Drop me a review! Thanks so much!
Misato laughed at Asuka's shocked reaction. "Boys are boys. They never change." She sipped her tea—a weak substitute for beer, no matter how much she tried to adjust—and leaned forward again. "This one was taken right by the track outside your school—and this one by the pool."
Asuka nodded as she flipped through the album of pictures, the majority of which featured a younger redhead. "Who took these?"
Misato leaned back again, a thoughtful expression coming over her face. "Well, he was one of your classmates, and his name was Kensuke Aida. He was obsessed with his camera and took pictures of everything he could, especially you."
Asuka snorted, and Misato half-expected a vicious comment from her. Instead her expression softened gently and she turned the last page. There were no more.
"Why are they here?"
"Hmm?"
"The pictures."
"He and Shinji left together—by that time you were gone already. Kensuke was often here in the last few days before their departure, and he left this book here. I haven't seen him since."
"Oh." Her fingers returned to the left half of the book and turned a page. "Who was this?"
Misato glanced at the album. A fierce-looking Japanese boy, with his hands crossed sternly over his chest, glared at her. A wave of sadness washed over her.
"That's Toji Suzuhara, Kensuke's best friend."
Asuka nodded. Misato wondered if she remembered the incident in Germany, in which Toji had earned himself a slap on either cheek after pulling his pants down in front of the indomitable redhead.
"You said Kensuke left with Shinji. What happened to Toji?"
"He was injured in an accident during some testing with the Evas and died a few months later."
Misato had gradually overcome her fear of frightening Asuka with the blunt truth. The girl had spent the last week craving the truth, searching every nook and cranny of Kaji's house for answers. The former Nerv commander was beginning to regret moving away from her old apartment.
"There are no pictures of me with Eva, Misato."
"Well, Kensuke wasn't an Eva pilot, so he was never allowed into headquarters. He loved all sorts of war and weapons, so he always wanted to be one...he was very disappointed when all his friends became pilots and he never had the chance."
Asuka leafed through the book some more, trying to understand what this boy must have been like. Fortunately she was clothed in the vast majority of the pictures, so this Kensuke Aida must not have been too much of a pervert. She came back to the picture of Toji, wondering what it would take to destroy someone as strong as he must have been.
He looks like a mountain of stone, she thought. Perfectly preserved in the photographic paper, Toji's dark brown eyes glowered at her. Asuka felt almost intimidated, until she noticed someone else in the background.
Her hair was blue and cut short, but it was the expression that surprised Asuka. The girl was looking directly at the camera, but she was not smiling or appearing enthusiastic—the look on her face was one of pure indifference. Almost as if she could see through Toji and past the camera.
"Rei."
Misato jumped at the short word. "What about her?"
"She's in this picture."
Her fatigued muscles complained as she positioned her hand on the armrest and pushed herself up, but Misato said nothing as she got back up and looked at the head Asuka was pointing to. "I never noticed that."
Asuka held the picture up to her face so closely that she appeared cross- eyed. "She looks so...sad."
Rei? Sad? When was that girl ever capable of feeling emotion?
But Asuka continued. "Not the kind of sad that you feel when you can't find something, or anything like that. It's the sort of sad that—" and suddenly she realized why she understood; it was because she had recently experienced the same emotions—"—that your purpose in this world isn't significant; that you're not important to anyone."
That was a horrible way to put it, she thought.
But when Asuka looked up at Misato, her face was contorted with shock.
Misato's mind was whirring. How...how incredibly accurate Asuka had been. She chanced a glance at the redhead's innocently curious face. Had anyone, with the exception of Ikari Gendo, ever given a thought to Rei's feelings twelve years ago?
"If I die, there are replacements."
How much it must have hurt for her to acknowledge that.
"Misato?"
"Yes."
"Where's Rei now?"
Which one? There are dozens of Reis that you don't know about.
"I don't know," Misato said truthfully. "I last saw her twelve years ago, the last time you and Shinji came home with me from Nerv Headquarters. I expect Dr. Akagi and Commander Ikari took care of her."
"You still talk to Ritsuko, right?"
"Yes, occasionally. She was the one who told me you were back in Japan."
The redhead waved aside that last piece of information. "I'd like to meet her sometime."
It actually might be interesting to invite Ritsuko over. I'll make a proper meal.
"I'll tell her that," Misato promised.
= = = = = = =
Unknown to Misato and Asuka, hidden deep in the depths of the forest within Kaji's house, unusual circumstances brought together two other former Nerv personnel.
Dr. Akagi was not one to be aggravated by traffic. She left promptly at seven in the morning every day, breezed her way through the streets, and arrived by eight. She labored long hours over new patents and paperwork alike, then went to lunch. A similar afternoon shift would follow, but at seven she would be off, and another hour later she'd be walking up the steps to her apartment.
But she had never seen the usually-quiet streets of Kyoto in such a mess, and even the calm and dignified doctor felt that her fake blonde hair would stand on end if she didn't get out of here soon. Ritsuko tapped her fingers on the steering wheel, a composed expression on her aging face—her forty- second birthday had just passed last week—and applied gentle pressure to the accelerator. The car slid forward just an inch, and the engine whined in impatience.
The next traffic light was so far ahead of her that Ritsuko could barely see it, but she heaved a heavy sigh of relief when the car in front of her slowly began moving again. She glanced at her watch. Already she was forty minutes late. She increased pressure on the accelerator and with some effort, managed to hold it there.
There were only three cars in front of her now, so she'd certainly pass this light. One car hurried across the intersection while the light flicked to a warning yellow. Another car passed, the third following closely on its tail.
Ritsuko made the mistake of flooring the accelerator just as the light flashed red.
Her windowpane shattered instantly in the impact of the crash, showering Ritsuko in broken glass. She hung onto the steering wheel, thankful that she had put on a seatbelt—and attempted to stay in place while her car performed several cartwheels and came to a stop.
Before she knew it, sirens were wailing, but she wasn't sure if those were in her head or outside her car.
What she did know what that the sound of tearing metal scared her.
I've become so soft, she thought, annoyed with herself. Such a little thing would never have unnerved the Dr. Akagi Ritsuko of Nerv.
"Madam? Are you all right?"
Ritsuko waved feebly.
"She's alive!" the police officer yelled over his shoulder.
Twenty minutes later Ritsuko was freed from her totaled car and laid on a stretcher, although she kept trying to get off. Finally the paramedics laid her flat on her back and held her in place with two wide black strips of Velcro.
"I have to go to work," she called out helplessly.
"Ritsuko?!"
"Hey." A burly police officer interfered, holding back the speaker. "She's injured. You can contact her when she's in better condition."
Nevertheless, the young man ran over to Ritsuko's side and asked for the paramedics to wait. His head was only a dark silhouette to the doctor, as she was looking up into the sun when she faced him.
"Ritsuko, is that you?" He was bent over, both hands on his knees, panting heavily.
"Who are you?" Ritsuko asked quietly, closing her eyes to protect them against the sun. Unfortunately this sent the paramedics into a frenzy, thinking that she was weakening. Whoever had been speaking was quickly shunned and pushed aside, and Ritsuko was carried up and into the ambulance.
"I really have to go to work," she mumbled.
Through her closed eyelids she detected a darkening in her surroundings, and when she opened her eyes again she was staring at a blank metal ceiling. People in white robes were bustling around her. Slowly, with immense effort the blonde lifted her wrist high enough that she could see the hands of her watch.
It was nine o'clock. She felt a gentle prick in her left arm.
"I have to go...to work."
The words were hard to pronounce. Ritsuko wondered what was happening, until slowly, she drifted off to sleep.
= = = = = = =
She woke to a nurse working on her arm. Instinctively Ritsuko drew her arm away and in doing so, felt a sharp twinge of pain.
"Hold still." The voice was cool and female. "We're not done with you yet."
Obligingly Ritsuko held out her arm and waited until the nurse finished applying the cast, then sat up when the woman backed away. "How long have I been here?"
A glance at the clock. "Almost three hours."
Ritsuko thought of her boss and shuddered as she imagined what he would say when she finally showed up. The sun was nearly overhead by now, shining brightly down on the inhabitants of Kyoto.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, being careful to use only her right arm, but no sooner had she stood up than the nurse whirled around and ordered that she get back into bed.
"If you're well already, there's an officer waiting outside," she said coldly.
"Well then, show him in," Ritsuko replied in the same tone.
The nurse shrugged indifferently and strode out, her heels clicking rhythmically on the tiled floor. Ritsuko leaned back against the pillows and wondered what she had done to deserve this woman as her nurse. She glanced down at the flesh-colored cast on her arm and wished that she had asked what was wrong with it. On second thought, maybe she would prefer to avoid contact with that woman as much as possible.
The door slid open again and the same police officer who had held the young man back entered. "Dr. Akagi Ritsuko?"
"Yes," she replied.
He pulled over a chair and let the metal legs scrape the tiles as he did so. "You were involved in an accident, at 9:45 this morning?"
"Yes."
He pulled out a notepad and a pen. The walkie-talkie on his waist crackled noisily. "Please describe what happened."
Ritsuko got it over with as quickly as she could, omitting nothing. The crash had been obviously her fault, she added, and turned over the name of her insurance company.
"How's your arm?" He gestured to the useless limb resting on her lap.
"I don't know. The nurse didn't tell me."
His lips formed a thin line as he got up, roughly pushing the chair backwards with a screeching noise. "Nurse!"
The harried-looking nurse reappeared. "What is it, officer?"
He pointed a thick finger at Ritsuko. "What's wrong with her arm?"
"It broke...?"
Ritsuko could hardly believe the behavior exhibited by this woman, obviously younger than the police officer—perhaps even younger than she was. The nurse had her eyebrows raised, as if to ask him why he hadn't realized the obvious. The police officer, however, denied her the pleasure of pouncing on his response as he scribbled on his pad.
"That'll be all, Dr. Akagi. However, the young man whose car collided with yours this morning is outside waiting. I believe he'd like to meet with you."
"Officer—" the nurse began, but Ritsuko cut her off.
"Of course, please show him in," she requested. The nurse huffed and exited, almost knocking someone over as he tried to enter.
"Ritsuko."
Ritsuko blinked a few times. Perhaps the effects of the medication were still affecting her. "Shinji?"
Shinji acknowledged her with a nod of his head.
There was an uncomfortable pause, after which Ritsuko added, "Well, don't stand there by the door, come over here and sit down."
Shinji did so, taking the chair previously occupied by the police officer.
"I, uh..." He seemed to be having trouble meeting her eyes. "I'm sorry for uh, hitting you."
"That's not necessary." His eyes flew back to her face, still pretty despite the years. "It was my mistake."
Shinji still felt the need to apologize and Ritsuko sensed it.
"You haven't changed at all, have you?" she asked bluntly. "Forget about it, Shinji, the crash was my fault and I'm covering it. Or rather, my insurance will be," she added as an afterthought.
Shinji considered this and nodded. "How's your arm?"
Ritsuko waved it feebly. "Well, it's broken," she said, trying to make that sound as light as possible. "I've dealt with worse injuries before, though, so not much of a problem."
Shinji's face darkened and Ritsuko knew she had erred. Instead of making him feel better about the crash she had driven him to think of the past, of the injuries she had sustained while working at Nerv.
The loudening clicking of spike heels announced the arrival of the nurse long before she showed up in person.
"That's quite enough," she said to Shinji. "Dr. Akagi, you'll have to fill out some forms, and then you'll be free to leave."
Flustered, Shinji stood up to leave. "I'm... I'm sorry."
"Shinji." Ritsuko's voice was firm. "Wait there." To the nurse, "Where are the forms?" She caught the clipboard and pen thrust roughly at her and scribbled her signature on each page. No one spoke as she got out of the bed and tossed the clipboard back to the nurse. "Let's go."
While Shinji, who was feeling lost and guilty, made it to the door without stumbling, Ritsuko took two steps and landed on the hard floor.
"Uh, are you okay?" Shinji hurried back over.
"I'm fine." She took his outstretched hand with her right and got back to her feet. "I guess I'm still a little dizzy from medication." The doctor glanced at the nurse behind her, who was now muttering feverishly as she inspected the forms. Apparently she had noticed nothing.
"Let's go," she muttered again, keeping a shoulder on Shinji's shoulder for support. As they entered the elevators, she remembered something for the umpteenth time that day. She groaned and lowered her head as she spoke the words again.
"I have to go to work."
Author's Notes: Sorry, this chapter is really rushed and messy since it's Sunday night and I haven't finished homework...anyway, a bit of what's going on for Ritsuko, and Shinji has finally entered the picture...there will be a lot more of him in the future, I promise.
Drop me a review! Thanks so much!