The following weeks passed quickly for the Children—all of them. For Shinji, every day was basically the same: school in the mornings, sync tests or weapons training in the evening, two hours of self-defense training with Naota and Rei—who would sit in and watch until her injuries healed, and finally homework. Besides school, observing Shinji's training from the command center, and self-defense training Naota wound up spending about two nights of the week with Shigeru learning to play Haruko's bass. He and Rei had the most free time out of the three of them, but as he became familiar with the girl, he began to doubt that she used much of her free time for recreation. At least, that was until she made good upon her statement that day in NERV and showed up on his doorstep one Sunday afternoon.

Hearing the doorbell ring, Naota stood up from his seat on a bean-bag chair beside his couch, waving for Canti to sit back down. "I'll get it," he said, watching as his mechanized roommate and the warm-water penguin went back to playing the game the three of them had been working on for most of the day. Opening the door, he was surprised to see Rei standing there, bandages still visible over her eye and her arm still in a sling. "At least her ribs aren't broken still," he thought, standing aside and waving her inside.

Rei stepped into the apartment, following Naota back into his living room and taking a seat in the recliner on the opposite side of the couch from Naota's beanbag chair. "Rei, why are you here? Shouldn't you be at home, resting or something?" he asked, sitting down and pushing his controller aside, giving the girl his full attention.

Taking her good eye off of the robot and penguin—who were still hunched over their controllers and deeply involved in their game—she regarded the boy. "I wished to continue our conversation," she stated simply. They both knew which conversation she was referring to.

"Uhh…" Naota's mind seemed to slow to a crawl. "Why didn't you just ask me at school?"

Frowning, Rei thought about this for a moment. Truthfully, she didn't know why she hadn't simply brought up the subject during one of their lunch periods. "You said I should get out more and suggested that a visit to your apartment would be welcomed. Am I inconveniencing you?" she asked, finally coming up with what sounded to her like a plausible excuse for her pervious oversight.

"No, no! Not at all," he said, quickly trying to dissuade any doubts she may have about being welcome. "It's a miracle that she's here." He started to speak again when a loud explosion issued forth from the tv, and Pen-pen warked angrily at Canti, probably accusing the robot of cheating. He grabbed the remote and turned the volume down, much to their dismay. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Anyway…"

The next few minutes were flustering for Naota, as Rei would interrupt him every few seconds to pose a new question. Finally though, he managed to get across some of the basic concepts of relationships and human interaction that he himself barely understood—or so he hoped. "I'm no good at this stuff," he lamented, standing from his seat and going into the kitchen. "Want anything to drink?"

Rei's eyes wandered to the television screen, where digital representations of the oddities sitting on the couch ran around gathering advanced weapons and shot at each other. "No, thank you."

Naota returned with a canned drink and saw the direction of her gaze. "You've never played video games before, huh?"

"No. What would be the point?" she asked, shaking her head.

Shrugging, Naota studied the controller at his side. "I don't know. They're good for blowing off steam, I guess. I suppose they can sharpen your reaction time, reflexes, and hand-eye coordination as well, but no one plays them for that. It's just an escape from this reality."

"Why would one wish to escape reality?"

"Because," Naota paused, thinking back to his own past experiences. "Because sometimes reality can seem so unreal. Things don't always seem right, or fair, or sometimes the lines between what is real and what isn't just…blur and you don't know or care what's real and what isn't any more. In a way, I suppose they help us keep things in perspective, along with giving people a chance to live the lives they can't live normally."

"You're referring to liminality, the blurring of distinction between the real and imagined?"

Naota shrugged. He hadn't known there was a term for it. "I suppose so."

"Humans seek to shape reality to their will and become frustrated when it is made apparent that this is not possible, so seek release in another reality of someone else's design," Rei surmised, frowning because part of that statement seemed contradictory, so she said so.

"Heh. We do a lot of that huh? Contradicting ourselves, I mean," Naota laughed quietly, seeing the idea more clearly. "But some of us don't only use games as a means of seeking it—only kids, usually. Adults have stupider and more perverted methods of coping. Most of them drink themselves into a stupor every now and then, or have a different woman—or man—for every day of the week. Disgusting," he mumbled, thinking of the large refrigerator next door and the woman it belonged to.

They sat in silence after that, interrupted only by the occasional sound from the television or the couch. After several minutes, Rei spoke up again. "I think I would like to try them."

Naota started, looking up. "What? Games?" Seeing her nod of affirmation, he shrugged, glancing at the screen. "I could teach you after your arm heals, if you'd like."

Standing, Rei made her way to the front door. "I would," she said, stepping out and closing it behind her.

"Suddenly, I don't feel like playing these games any more," he thought, standing and picking up Haruko's guitar from the corner, then taking it out onto the patio outside. There, he sat for the next few hours strumming out whatever tune came to mind. "This place is starting to get depressing. I wish something would happen."

That Monday, Shinji and Naota found their way to the back of the class a few seats away from Kensuke, as usual. Kensuke didn't notice their arrival however, as he was being accosted by the class rep. Hikari had her fingers wrapped around his right ear and was currently pulling very hard. "Kensuke?" she asked, deceptively calm.

"Yeah?"

"Didn't I ask you to deliver those papers to Suzuhara's place?"

Kensuke's eyes darted to the corner of the papers protruding from his desk. He'd completely forgotten about them. "Geeze, I'm sorry class rep! Touji hasn't been home any of the times I've gone over to his place to give them to him, honest," he pleaded, sighing in relief as she released his ear.

"You're Suzuhara's friend, why hasn't he called you or something?" she asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"I don't know," Kensuke started, but paused as he glanced at the door. There, clad in his black tracksuit, stood the boy in question. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Hikari turned around, spotting Touji. "Suzuhara, where've you been? You've had us all worried. Did you get involved in the war?" she asked, and then regretted it when he frowned at her.

"No, but my sister did," he said, plopping into his desk.

Kensuke pointed his camera at Touji. "What do you mean?"

Sighing, Touji related his story. "My sister was crushed by some debris during the conflict a couple of weeks ago and she's been in the hospital ever since. Grandpa and Dad are both at work all the time and since mom passed away, we're the only ones she really has. And if I'm not there, she's all alone…" Suddenly, he slammed his fist into the top of his desk, causing everyone in the class to jump. "Man! That robot's pilot is really dumb!"

Hikari frowned. "I'm sorry to hear about your sister, Touji. You shouldn't be too harsh on the pilot though, I'm sure if he hadn't been there, the whole city would have been destroyed."

"I don't care."

Sighing, Hikari gave up. "Kensuke has your homework," she said and then returned to her seat to wait for the teacher.

Touji, on the other hand, had other plans. He turned to Kensuke, regarding his friend for a moment, and then asked the question that had been bugging him for the past week. "You know who it is, don't you?" he asked quietly, hoping not to be overheard. He knew his friend was a military nut—add that to the fact that the boy could do things with a computer that could blow Touji's mind and it was a pretty safe bet that Kensuke knew more than anyone else in their school what was going on.

Kensuke shrugged, panning his camera around and pretending to film the class while making sure no one was paying attention. "Not for sure, but I have my suspicions. I haven't had a chance to ask yet."

"Ask who?"

Kensuke pointed across to Shinji, who was currently taking notes with his school issued laptop. Class had started without him noticing, it seemed. "Ikari and the other kid—Namdaba—transferred in the day after the attack. From what I could dig up on their records I'd say it's most likely Shinji, Ikari that is." Touji nodded, turning to his own computer and Kensuke wondered if maybe he had said the wrong thing. Suddenly, the class erupted in commotion and he knew that despite his attempts not to be heard, he had been. He caught Touji's glare and cringed. "Shit. This isn't good. And I kind of liked Shinji too," he thought, already planning what he'd say at the boy's funeral, which would probably take place the next day.

…

Yawning, Naota glanced down at his computer as it chimed. "Incoming message?" he read, watching as a small private chat dialogue came onto the screen. 'ARE YOU THE PILOT? Y/N?' "What the hell?" Glancing back, he saw two girls sharing a computer. Both waved and smiled at him. "Shit. This isn't good. Maybe I should ignore them." Two seconds later though, the message came back and he sighed. 'No. What pilot?' he responded, feigning ignorance. "And who types in all caps anyway?"

Naota heard a second chime, from directly behind this time, and cringed. "Great, they're asking Shinji too. I wonder whose bright idea it was to go blabbing this off around class," he thought, glancing back at Kensuke, who was currently observing the guy that had been missing since Naota had arrived. "Who else?"

…

'ARE YOU THE PILOT? Y/N?'

Shinji stared at the message a moment before taking a quick look around. Spotting the two girls behind and a few seats to his left, Shinji inwardly groaned. "What do I say? If I lie, they won't believe me anyway. Naota and I are the only people to move into this city since the incident. I'm surprised it's taken them this long though," he thought before sending his response.

'YES'

The class erupted into a flurry of motion and noise and Shinji found himself surrounded on all sides. People threw questions at him faster than he could answer them, and the class rep yelled for them to return to their seats. She was ignored, and Shinji just knew she'd say this was all his fault later and assign him a month of cleaning duty. His last thought before the bell rang and the crowd finally started to disperse was "Maybe I should have told them it was Naota…"

…

Naota watched in silence as Touji once again rammed his fist into the side of Shinji's face. "This isn't my fight," he tried to tell himself, but he still had to concentrate to keep his hands from straying to either the handle of his bat or the neck of the Rickenbacker. As Touji and Kensuke walked by, Naota glared at the taller boy. "You didn't have to do that. It wasn't his fault, you ass. If Shinji hadn't been there, you would all be dead now," he said quietly, the shoulder carrying Haruko's bass twitching slightly in anticipation.

The jock paused, turning to regard Naota. "Tell that to my sister when she wakes up. If she wakes up," Touji responded, equally quiet, then turned and left.

Kensuke, his camera amazingly out of sight, shrugged. "It just slipped out, you know?" Not getting the response he'd half hoped for, Kensuke followed after Touji.

Naota shook his head and turned to find Shinji still flat on his back. Rei was approaching quickly, slightly winded. She stopped above Shinji, waiting until he turned to look at her before speaking. "There's an emergency. I'll report in to headquarters first."

The look she gave Naota before turning to run the direction of the nearest NERV entrance had him worried. Since when was Rei Ayanami ever afraid of anything? Shrugging it off, Naota helped Shinji stand and the two of them hurried off in the direction Rei had gone. "Come on, I know a shortcut."

Despite the weight of the Rickenbacker on his back, Naota took the lead, cutting through side streets and leaping into traffic. "Are you sure you know where you're going?" Shinji called from behind, panting as hard as Naota.

"Yeah! I didn't have much to do our first couple of days here, so I spent a lot of time memorizing maps of the city and NERV, and walking around. Ayanami's the only one who knows it better than I do," Naota tossed back as they came to the entrance he'd hoped for. This entrance was closer to the school, but took a less direct route through the NERV complex than the one Rei had chosen.

…

After splitting up with Shinji at the locker rooms, Naota dashed to the elevators and from there made his way up to the command center. When he burst through the entrance, the place was in chaos. Standing in the middle of it all, Misato—no, Captain Katsuragi—was outwardly calm. This was her element. She turned to regard Naota as he stood beside Rei, who was observing the activities going on around her. "Naota," she snapped, making sure she got his attention. "From now on, both during drills and attacks, you will be expected to report to the command center in your plug suit, preferably before Shinji reaches the Eva cages. Is that understood?"

Her tone would allow for no response other than an affirmative. "Yes ma'am!" he replied hastily, trying to catch his breath.

Misato nodded, turning back to the main display. "Good."

"How far behind was I?" Naota asked, turning to Rei.

"Perhaps two minutes," she replied, not taking her eyes—err, eye—off the activity around her.

Satisfied, Naota nodded. Not bad for their first run. Hopefully though, he wouldn't be forced to stand here and simply observe for very long before his Eva came in. He felt completely useless, just standing there in the command center while Shinji went out to face down another foe. "At least it didn't come from my forehead," he thought, smirking wryly.

…

Shinji was not having a good day at all. Not only had he been beaten up at school, now he was being thoroughly thrashed by the Angel. His umbilical cable had been severed and he was down to three minutes of power. "What do I do?" he thought wildly, ignoring the yells to grab a rifle from nearby. Suddenly, the Angel lashed out with its whips, wrapping one around Unit-01's ankle and hurling it into the air. He seemed to hang in the air forever before finally crashing back to earth, stunned.

He tried to stand from his position in the hillside, but the Eva wouldn't move—it seemed dazed, punch-drunk even. Something moved in his peripheral vision, and his head turned. There, between two of Unit-01's massive fingers, crouched Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara. Looking back up, he saw the Angel was right on top of them. It tossed out its whips and he did the only thing he could—he caught them, crying out as they burned into his hands. "Not my hands, the Eva's!" he tried to tell himself.

"Shinji! Hold Eva on your current commands and eject the entry plug!"

"Misato!" he yelled, doing as she asked. Seconds later, there were two splashes, and the plug locked back into place. Shinji knew the two boys had gotten into the plug with him. He strained, fighting for control of the giant machine, trying to stay focused. With a grunt and a yell, he managed to throw the Angel off, satisfied as it crashed to the bottom of the hill.

"Shinji, retreat!"

Retreat? It was right down there. If he retreated now, it would destroy the city. No, he had to hit it while it was just getting back up. Glancing at the battery countdown, Shinji engaged the progressive knife as he'd been taught in the weeks of training between his first battle and now. The next thing he knew, the weapon was in his hand and he was charging down the side of the hill—the boys behind him screaming for him to retreat.

At the bottom of the hill, the Angel stood, slamming its tentacle whips into Shinji's midsection. Grunting at the pain, he forced himself forward, thrusting the progressive knife into the glowing red sphere at the Angel's center. Putting both hands on the weapon's hilt, Shinji pushed with everything he had. After what seemed like an eternity, the entry plug's lights dimmed to nothing—but not before the Angel stopped moving.

Breathing hard, Shinji clutched his stomach, sure that he was still impaled. Behind him, the other two were quiet in awe. He didn't care. It was over, he had won. He thumbed the button to eject the entry plug, coughing the LCL out of his lungs as it finally drained from around them. "I really hate this stuff."

…

The week following the attack was probably worse for Naota than it was for Shinji. Sure, Shinji had been confined to his apartment unless he was at school or NERV, but he didn't even bother going to school—which meant Naota had to deal with all the questions about the attack.

Naota arrived home late one Friday evening from NERV to find Misato sitting at his kitchen table. "Hi Misato," he greeted the woman, wondering why she was here. She answered his unasked question almost immediately with one of her own.

"Naota, have you seen Shinji?"

He almost missed the hint of panic in her voice. "No, I haven't seen him all day. Didn't he have sync tests today?"

Misato stood, walking to the door separating their apartments. "He did, but he didn't show up."

"So you think he's run away?"

"I checked his room… some of his things are missing—clothes, a bag, and his S-DAT. I think so," she said, sighing heavily. "I guess Ritsu was right."

Naota wanted to ask what she meant by that last part, but she'd already closed the door. "Damn. Can this day get any worse?" As if in answer to his question, there was a knock on his door. Dropping his stuff, he made his way back across the kitchen and opened it.

"Naota. You never called."

"Ninamori?"

Shinji got off a bus and walked down the streets of Tokyo-3, no particular destination in mind. He'd been roaming the city for the past several hours, and had hopefully thrown off Section Two by now. Ignoring the people around him as they ignored him, he made his way through one crowd after another. Finally, the streets began to clear as the sun began to fall. He spotted a bus stop up ahead and idly wondered if he should take another across-town bus before finding somewhere to settle for the night.

Still several meters from the stop, he heard it: the whine of an engine coming from behind… and the apparent chaos it was causing with the traffic. Pulling his ear buds from his ears, he turned around, curious as to what could cause such a ruckus. He cringed as a loud crash issued from the other side of the small rise he stood at the bottom of. Then, to his amazement, a small car came flying over the hill—sideways, as if it had been kicked by something very large. Shinji wondered if he was in the middle of another Angel attack as the car sailed overhead before crashing down into the bus stop behind him. "I guess I won't be taking the bus."

Seconds after the car hit where he would have been standing had he kept walking, a scooter came barreling over the top of the hill. Spotting him, it swerved his direction. Shinji didn't move as the driver slammed on its brakes and skidded to a stop in front of him. Cutting the engine, the driver pulled off her helmet and goggles and regarded him with an almost predatory grin. "Need a lift?" she asked, glancing at the bus stop.

The girl was tall—she would probably stand as tall as Misato, were she not seated—and had pinkish-red hair. But what stood out most of all were the guitar case strapped to the back of the Vespa scooter and the large cherry-red guitar currently sitting in the spot between her feet. "Do I know you?"

"Nope!"

Shinji took a closer look at the car sitting where the bus stop had once been. Upon closer inspection, there was a large, guitar-shaped dent in its side. He shook his head. "No, that isn't possible," he thought, watching as she put the guitar back in its case.

"Hop on, I'll give you a ride," she said, once again flashing him that grin.

Deciding that doing as she suggested would be better than winding up like that car, Shinji stepped closer. "Uh… where do I ride?"

Pointing between her knees, the girl snickered. "Right here."

Nodding, Shinji sat between her legs, clutching his bag to his stomach. "So where are we going?"

"Anywhere the will takes us," she called, kicking her foot down onto the starter and revving the engine. "Oh, you might want to hold on…"

That was the only warning Shinji got as she floored the Vespa and they took off, darting through traffic and around corners at impossible speeds. Poor Shinji had never been so frightened in his life. "And I thought Misato was a bad driver!"

…

The two of them spent the rest of the evening, and late into the night riding around Tokyo-3. After the initial panic of riding with yet another maniac, Shinji calmed down and began to enjoy the scenery. Above him, the odd girl's hair blew in the wind—she had given him the helmet but kept the goggles for herself—and every now and then she'd glance down and smile at him. It wasn't the manic, predatory grin she had used earlier, but a genuine smile—as if she were remembering someone every time she looked at him.

Finally, she pulled over in a small park overlooking the city and the two spent the night on a park bench. Oddly enough, Shinji was too tired to care that he was sleeping with a strange, beautiful girl. The girl, for her part, was asleep before she hit the bench completely.

The following morning, Shinji awoke to soft warmth covering his body. Blearily, he tried to roll over and get the sun out of his eyes, but whatever was on top of him would have none of that. "Awe Takkun, I didn't know you cared," a voice purred near his neck, before something wet and warm wriggled its way into his ear. He squeaked, sitting bolt upright and throwing off whatever—whoever—had been holding him down. Looking down, he found the girl from last night glaring back up at him. "What a way to wake someone from a good dream. Ungrateful snot," she mumbled, standing and dusting herself off.

Shinji stood as well, blushing fiercely. "Sorry."

He didn't see her grin, but he could hear it. "Don't sweat it kid. Come on, let's go get breakfast."

"But I don't have any money."

There was that grin again. "Neither do I."

…

An hour later, Shinji was running for his life. Frantically, he jumped onto the Vespa, followed shortly by the pink-haired girl. "That was entertaining!" she yelled, kick starting the Vespa and taking off for the hills.

He couldn't believe they'd just done that. After ordering and eating their fill, the girl told him to go back to the Vespa and wait. He didn't see all of what happened, but he was pretty sure it involved destroying the register with that guitar, since he'd seen her take it off her shoulder before he'd left the building. He had to admit though, she was right. It had been entertaining.

"So, what's your name kid?" she called over the roar of the wind in their ears.

"Shinji Ikari!" he yelled back.

"Ikari huh? Shinji's a nice name, Mr. Ikari."

The rode in silence for a few more minutes before she pulled over and killed the Vespa's motor. "Well Shinji, this is where I let you off," she said, taking her helmet back from him.

Shinji nodded, getting off the Vespa and looking around. Oddly enough, they'd ended up near his apartment complex—he could see it just a few streets down. "Thanks for the lift… uh—hey, I never did get your name," he pointed out.

She smiled, putting the helmet back over her already wild hair. "You're welcome. And no, Shinji, I never did give you my name, did I?"

Shaking his head, Shinji asked "Will you now?"

"Sure Shinji, on one condition."

"What's that?"

"I want you to deliver a message for me."

"A message?" Shinji asked, confused. "To who?"

"Whom. I want you to tell Naota that Haruko—that's me—is back in town, and give him these," she said, handing him her goggles and pulling a spare pair from her pocket. "Think you can do that, Shinji?" Seeing him nod, she grinned. "Great. I have some business to take care of out of town for a few days, but I'll be dropping back by soon. Don't tell him that part though."

Shinji nodded, pocketing the goggles. "Sure, I can do that Haruko. But why don't you just stop by and see him yourself?" he asked, pointing over his shoulder. "He lives over there, right beside me actually."

"I know," she replied, thumping something dangling from a small bracelet on her wrist. "It's complicated though. One more thing?"

"What?"

"Tell him his is still the only head that works," Haruko said, starting the Vespa. "See you soon Shinji. It's been fun."

Shinji watched as she spun the Vespa around, taking off in the direction opposite the apartment complex. "Strange girl," he thought, starting off for the complex. "I wonder what she meant…"

"Naota. You never called."

"Ninamori?" Naota asked, shocked that she was standing on his doorstep. "What are you doing here?"

"You don't sound happy to see me. Are you?"

"Well yeah, but why are you here?" he asked again, wondering just what was going on.

Ninamori shrugged. "It's a long story. Can I come in?"

Nodding, Naota waved her in. That was when he noticed the bags. "Uh, 'Mori, what's with all the bags?" he asked, picking up the last two and bringing them inside. He found her sitting on his couch—Canti and Pen-pen were strangely absent.

"I—I decided it'd be best if I left Mabase too," she answered quietly, not looking up as he approached and sat beside her.

"Why?"

"It's complicated."

"Don't give me that. It's your dad, isn't it?" he guessed.

Ninamori nodded. "Yeah, mostly. Him and that bitch girlfriend of his. I couldn't get any sleep at nights because people kept calling; reporters mainly, but not always."

"I see. Do you want to sleep here tonight?" Naota asked, thinking of the two empty rooms in his new apartment, and the silent roommate who didn't need to sleep, so wouldn't use either of them.

Shaking her head, Ninamori stood, pacing the room. "I shouldn't. I have enough money to get a motel or something for a few days, long enough to find a job. I don't want to run up your rent and expenses any more than they already are. I mean, look at this place!" she exclaimed, turning a full circle to take in the entire room. "It's huge, for a place in a city like this. It must cost a fortune. How do you manage it?"

Naota started to answer, but paused. He hadn't really given it much thought, but now that he did think about it, he never seemed to get any bills or anything addressed to him. Standing, he opened the door separating the apartments and spotted Canti sitting on the couch, watching soaps with Pen-pen and a depressed Misato. "Hey, Canti!" he called, getting his roommate's attention. "Have we gotten any mail lately? Specifically, any bills?" Seeing the robot shake its head, he frowned.

Misato looked up from her place on the couch. "Your apartment and Rei's are free. Everything is taken care of by NERV. I get a large discount for being a NERV employee and having Shinji here, but with a captain's salary, we don't really have the money to splurge on things we don't need."

Nodding, Naota thanked Misato and closed the door, leaving the trio to their daytime television. Turning back to Ninamori, he smiled. "Just stay here. There are two extra rooms I'm not using—and the place is too quiet. Canti doesn't talk much, you know?"

"But what about your bills?"

"Don't have any," Naota said, plopping back down on the couch. "Misato says NERV pays for us to live here, and I make enough money as a Pilot Trainee that we don't have any problem buying food and stuff. Canti does most of the shopping anyway, so that's always taken care of."

Sighing, Ninamori sat back down beside him. "Are you sure it's ok?" she asked again.

"Sure, I don't mind, and I'm sure he won't," Naota shrugged, and then grinned. "There are two rules though."

"Oh?" Ninamori asked, catching the playful tone in his voice. "Since when is Naota ever this upbeat?"

"Yeah. Rule number one: no sad faces. No angsting over the small stuff."

Smiling, Ninamori nodded. "Sure, I can do that. And the second rule?"

"There is no second rule."

The two laughed and spent the rest of the evening watching tv. After a while though, Ninamori grinned. "You know Naota, 'angsting' isn't really a word," she pointed out.

"Shut up! New rule, no making fun of Naota."

"Too late Takkun, you said there were no rules other than the first rule and that one doesn't even count."

"Damn! And I hate that name."

"My poor, poor little delinquent," Ninamori said, pouting and throwing her arm around him.

…

The next morning, Naota didn't wake up until noon. Thankfully, it was a Sunday anyway, so he wouldn't have to go to school. Strangely mirroring his fellow pilot's awakening that morning across town, Naota found his bed not quite as empty as it'd been when he'd first got in it last night. His eyes snapped open and he suddenly had the strangest sensation that he was back in Mabase and Haruko had once again snuck into his bed the previous night, but a look around convinced him otherwise.

Glancing to his side he saw Ninamori snoring softly, her head resting against his shoulder. Wondering why he'd woken up in the first place, Naota figured it out when the knock came at his apartment door again. Disentangling himself from the girl and getting out of bed as quickly as he could without waking her—he'd had enough practice in the past to perfect that technique to an art—he threw on a pair of shorts and rushed to the front door. Opening it, he found one of the people he least expected to find on his doorstep at this time on a Sunday. Besides Shinji Ikari, the list entitled 'People Naota Wouldn't Expect to Drop By on a Sunday at Noon' included only Mamimi, grandpa, Mon-chan, and Haruko.

"Hi Shinji. Didn't expect to see you here," he said, waving the other boy in and offering him a seat at his kitchen table. "Misato said you ran."

Shinji nodded, sitting. "I had thought about it."

"Juice? Coke?" Naota offered, taking a can from his refrigerator.

"No thanks. I've had breakfast already," he said, grinning suddenly about something as Naota sat down across from him.

Taking a sip from his can, Naota decided to ask what was on his mind. "What made you decide to come back?" he asked, remembering his own aborted attempt at running away. It seemed like years since that'd happened.

Shinji dug around in his pocket before tossing something across the table to Naota. "I met someone," he said, looking down at the table. "Haruko said to tell you she's back in town."

Naota choked on his drink, ducking reflexively at the mention of the alien's name. Coughing, he sat up when he didn't spot any guitars careening towards his head. He took a deep breath and picked up the goggles. "She's here? In the city? Why didn't she come see me?" he asked, putting his drink down.

"She was—I don't know if she is now. She said she had something she had to do out of town first though, but I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Any idea why?"

"Yeah, she wanted me good and jumpy when she came back. It's not like I wouldn't have been even if you didn't tell me though. Did she say anything else?"

Shinji nodded, remembering her parting comment. "She did, but I don't think I understood it. She said that your head is still the only one that works. What'd she mean?"

Frowning, Naota glanced at the bass Rickenbacker in the corner. "It means he's back. Atomsk is back and she needs me to find him for her."

Shinji was about to ask exactly what he meant when the door to Naota's bedroom opened and a girl stepped out, wearing a tee-shirt and not much else. "Takkun," she yawned, stumbling into the kitchen. "Why'd you leave me?"

Naota knew he was blushing, probably all the way to the damn roots of his hair. "Ninamori," he growled, throwing a glare at the girl. "Why aren't you dressed?"

The girl—Ninamori—looked down at her shirt, shrugging. "I am. All the important parts are covered. Who's your friend?" she asked, noticing Shinji for the first time.

Shinji, Naota noticed, was also blushing. "It's not how it looks," he mumbled to Shinji. "This is Shinji, he lives next door."

"Pleased to meet you Shinji, I'm Ninamori," she said, offering her hand.

"H—hi," Shinji stuttered, shaking the proffered hand.

"So, what are you going to fix me for breakfast?" Ninamori asked of Naota, smirking.

"What do you mean? I'm not fixing your breakfast. There are leftovers in the 'fridge," he grumbled.

Pouting, Ninamori opened the refrigerator. "Awe—but aren't lovers supposed to do that kind of thing for each other?"

Naota and Shinji both froze, looking from the girl to each other. Finally, Naota spoke up. "I swear she's lying."

Shaking his head, Shinji stood and walked to the room separating their apartments. "Maybe I'd better just go tell Misato I'm home and leave the two of you alone," he said quietly, ducking through the door without looking back.

"Really! She's lying!"

Taking Shinji's spot at the table, Ninamori grinned. "You shouldn't be ashamed Naota; it's a perfectly normal thing for two people to want to be together…"

Naota glared. "Shut. Up."

"So, what are we doing today?"