Chapter #8
"This is not supposed to be happening. According to the Dead Sea scrolls, we should have encountered at least two more Angels by now. And we should have already received the fourth child." Fuyutsuki complained.
"The future can not always be predicted so accurately. There are an infinite number of possibilities stretched out before us. We just must make sure that our path is the one chosen, not the path of SEELE." Gendo replied to no question in particular.
"Keel will not go along with this. He has his own agenda and one that conflicts with our own at that. If we hope to succeed, we will need the support of SEELE. They are not as easily manipulated as everyone else. I doubt that either of our paths will be taken."
"Then we will have to force mankind to take our path, with or without SEELE's approval."
"Don't you have to meet with the pilots and Katsuragi?" Fuyutsuki asked to avoid any more confrontations with Gendo. Gendo got up silently and left without a word.
'You may be so sure, but will they go along with it without knowing? More importantly, will she go along with this? And what about her? I don't think either will be very ignorant of our plans for very much longer. What will happen then? Will they go along with it, or will they change the path to suit themselves?' Fuyutsuki thought as he left, trying to keep those thoughts out of his head, but with very little success.
"So, Shinji, how far were you when Misato interrupted you?" Asuka asked Shinji. They were in a meeting room waiting for Misato to come get them. For some reason Rei was with them, but was sitting a fair distance from Asuka and Shinji. Asuka just figured she would ask Misato for a ride home.
"Well, we hadn't started studying yet, Misato called pretty soon after we arrived."
"I didn't mean that, and I know that you two got to her apartment a lot earlier than you make it out to be. I saw you two leave the park. So, I'll ask again. How far did you two get?"
"We didn't do anything! We just put up the stuff we used at the park and were getting ready to start studying when Misato called."
"Hey, Rei! Come over here." Asuka said. Rei looked up and walked over to them before sitting down next to Shinji.
"So, were you really getting ready to study when Misato called? Or is Shinji lying?" Asuka asked Rei.
"We were planning on studying, but we decided that we were going to go shopping before we started. Shinji said that studying was just an excuse for him to get out of his apartment." Rei replied. Shinji stared at Rei in disbelief.
"Oh…" Asuka said with a smirk, "So, what happened to studying, Shinji?"
"Well, we were going to study, but I noticed that she didn't have any casual clothes."
"And how did you find this out? Going through her clothes now?"
"I just asked her if she had any other clothes, and I thought it would be a nice thing to do."
"Rei, what did you do other than that?"
"Well, Shinji asked me about my glasses, and… do you want to hear about before we went to the park?" Rei said innocently.
"Oh…um… sure, why not. It doesn't look like Misato is going to be coming any time soon."
"Okay, Shinji came over and asked me if I wanted to go to the park with him. I said 'yes' and we began making the sandwiches. Then, he asked me if I was offended whenever he hugged me, after he hugged me. Then I asked him why he would ask that question. I had always thought that 'boyfriends' always did that with their 'girlfriends'. Then I asked him why we had not kissed. I had thought that this was another thing that was done to show affection. It seemed to me that Shinji was showing a large amount of affection towards me, so I thought this would be the natural step. However, I was having trouble expressing my feelings. I had never felt something like that so intensely. We finished the sandwiches and were about to leave when Shinji kissed me. After that, we left to the park."
Shinji and Asuka were both staring at Rei. Shinji was staring in disbelief and embarrassment. Asuka was just in disbelief. Both the fact that Shinji had actually done that and that Rei had said so much. Rei saying this like it was an everyday occurrence and what she had done aided.
"So, Shinji, does this mean that Rei is your girlfriend now?" Asuka asked, still in shock over what Rei had said.
Shinji, still in shock as well, wasn't thinking just right and answered, "Yea, um… I guess."
Normally Asuka would have come up with something witty, but the effects of what would have been a speech by Rei were still lingering. Then, Rei spoke again.
"When we got back to my apartment, Shinji asked me about the glasses case on my nightstand. I told him…" But Rei was cut off.
"Hello, Children." Gendo said.
"Hello, father." Shinji said bitterly.
"Hello, Commander Ikari" Asuka and Rei said almost simultaneously.
"I am sure that you have realized the fact that it took this Angel a longer time to attack than the other two. From now until you are told otherwise, you must be constantly prepared for another Angel attack. We do not think that they will plan or even attack together, so this means that even if you defeat one more they will not stop coming, and you will have to constantly be on guard. For the time being, however, I congratulate you all on defeating the Angel. Please go outside and down the hall, Major Katsuragi will be waiting for all of you." Gendo said as he left, "Oh… and Shinji," Gendo said to Shinji, so no one else could hear, who was now next to him, "be good to her. You know what and who I mean." Gendo then walked off ahead of them and off the opposite direction the children were headed. They walked down the hall and saw Misato.
"Well," Asuka said with a mock salute, "Please Major, could you take us to our homes?"
"Ha, ha, Asuka. Hey, isn't it Asuka's turn to do the dishes tonight, Shinji?"
"Yea, I think it is." Shinji said with a smile.
"No!"
This continued until they got to Misato's car, when Shinji tried to block Rei from getting to the front door. Asuka saw her chance and took it. Normally Rei got to sit there, but Asuka liked it because it showed that she beat both the other pilots and the air conditioner was better in the front. She bolted to the door and sat down just as Rei got there. Rei looked in the window, and then sat in the back. Shinji went in after her as Misato started up the car. Shinji raised his arm to put it around Rei when Asuka turned around and caught him in the act. Shinji could tell that this was going to be a long ride.
"Now, you see. You said that I would never be able to even talk to all of the Children, especially Shinji. But I'm sure you were watching the cameras. I talked to all of them and made sure I talked to Shinji in particular."
"Well, um…Here are the reports the MAGI have made over the last battle…"
"Hey, Misato," Shinji asked, "Can Rei come over with us? She always seems so lonely and I think it would be good if we get closer together. The pilots, I mean!" Shinji added hastily.
"Well…Weren't you going to take Rei shopping?"
"How did you…" But Shinji's question was answered when a lock of red hair blew into his face. He knew immediately.
"Okay…well, can you let us off at the mall?"
"Um…no."
"What!?"
"That's right, but I do like the idea of letting Rei come over. Once we get home, you can either take her from there or let her stay there, but I'm not taking anyone anywhere. I'm too tired."
"Okay, okay." 'Well, at least the mall is closer than it would be at Rei's.' Shinji thought, 'but do I want to go there, or do I want to do something at home with Rei?' This problem plagued Shinji all the way to his room. He snapped out of his trance when he heard his door closing. He turned around to see Rei staring quizzically at the door.
"Um, Rei? Did you close the door?"
"No, Shinji, I did not. Asuka closed it while it seemed like she was about to burst out laughing."
"Of, course, it would be her."
"Will we be staying here, or will we be leaving?"
"Well, um, how about we leave now, and come back later. Asuka is cooking, and I'm sure after dinner all of us could play something."
"Okay, then we should go as soon as possible." Rei said. 'We're going to have to work on your casual speech, Rei,' Shinji thought.
Rei turned around and opened the door as Shinji searched for his money. Rei began walking to the front door when Asuka attacked. It wasn't really an attack; Rei didn't need very much persuasion. Basically, Asuka just stood in front of Rei. She took out some lipstick and put it on Rei before Rei could say anything. Then, before Shinji got out and even realized that something had happened, Asuka bolted into her room, trying to keep her giggling down.
"So, Shinji, going out now?" Misato said as she opened her door.
"Uh, yea, but we'll be back before dinner. Okay?"
"I didn't know you wanted Rei to stay that long."
"Well, why not?"
"Oh, I don't know. Just that it's kind of cramped as is. I hope you aren't thinking she can stay the night."
"There's plenty of space in my room!"
"Oh," then, louder and longer, "OOOOHHHHH, okay, I get ya Shinji. Just try not to get to loud, okay. Other people do want to sleep."
"Alright," then Shinji grasped what Misato was implying, "Hey! That's not what I meant!"
"Right, right, Shinji," Misato said, "just don't spend too much time out there, got it?"
"Yes!" Shinji said with a mock salute.
Misato shook her head and smiled. She began to go back to her room when she noticed that Rei had lipstick on. 'Shinji's fault, no doubt,' Misato thought, 'but that is a pretty shade of blue. I wonder where Shinji got it.' She just shrugged and went to the T.V.; there was nothing better to do. Shinji walked over to the door and opened it, letting Rei go ahead, just before taking Rei's arm with his own. Shinji led her down to the street and they were off to the mall. Shinji hoped that no one he knew would be at the mall this time. He didn't have to worry about Asuka or Misato, but the rest of his class was a different story. The last time when Touji was there was a little too close for Shinji. But, then again, now Shinji was sure Rei had at least similar feelings toward him, if not as strong as his for her; that and the fact that she had been making references to them being boyfriend and girlfriend. Shinji wasn't quite sure what he would say if he encountered one of his class mates, but he figured that they would figure it out sooner or later. For Shinji, however, later was better. Shinji became aware that they wouldn't have that much time before it got dark, so he quickened his pace, which Rei met. They finally got to the mall and they entered. There were several large crowds moving throughout the mall, so Shinji took comfort in thinking that even if one or more of his classmates were there, they probably wouldn't be able to pick Rei and himself out of the crowd. Shinji was still oblivious of the lipstick on Rei's lips. Of course, most of the trip he was worrying, so he wasn't paying much attention to Rei. They stopped in front of the store that Shinji had bought the blue dress at and they entered. Shinji looked nervously around for any sign of anyone he knew other than Rei. He didn't see anyone and finally let his guard down once they arrived at the 'women's' section and tried to enjoy himself.
"So, Rei, do you see anything you like?"
"No, I do not."
"Oh, okay. Well, I guess we can just look around a bit. I'm sure there must be something around here that will look good on you."
Rei blushed and began searching while Shinji did the same. Shinji found something for Rei and began searching for her in the sea of racks of clothes. He found her looking through several different T-Shirt designs and a small pile of shirts and shorts behind her on a table.
"Wow, I like that one," Shinji said as Rei held up a T-Shirt to examine it. It was a light sky blue T-Shirt with no logo. She jumped a little when Shinji said this; she hadn't noticed him there until he spoke.
"Sorry, um, here," Shinji said as he held out his selection, "I found this and thought you might like it."
"Okay, Shinji. I have found several other things that I like and I have placed them behind me."
"Really? Well, let me see." Shinji said as he began looking through the stack Rei had accumulated. Most of the shirts were some shade of blue, and none of them had any writing on them. 'I guess she isn't one for flashy things,' Shinji thought.
"Well, I like all the light blue shirts, but I think there may be a few too many."
"I am sorry, Shinji"
"Oh, it's not a problem! I just think you might want to narrow it down to two or three shirts and two or three pairs of shorts."
"Okay, Shinji, I will do that." Rei said as she began sifting through her stack. Shinji was looking around again and then saw something he hadn't before. On display was a beautiful blue and green kimono with lily pad and crane designs. Shinji left Rei to her sorting as he went over to get one of the kimonos for Rei. Shinji found one that he believed to fit Rei and went back, but Rei wasn't there. He began searching around franticly.
'Did she leave? Did someone take her? Is an Angel attacking? No, that can't be, otherwise my phone would have gone off. Maybe Misato called Rei knowing that I'm with her. Where could she be?'
Then, Shinji caught sight of her. She was coming out of the dressing rooms wearing one of the shirts and a pair of shorts that were a little too short. Shinji let out a sigh of relief as he walked over to Rei and hugged her. Rei was just standing in shock, trying to figure out what was happening. Shinji let go and took a step back to look at Rei.
"Well, I like the shirt, but those shorts are a little, um, short, don't you think?"
"You are right, Shinji." Rei said before returning to the dressing room. She came back out wearing a shirt with a different shade of blue and longer shorts.
"What about these, Shinji? Are they too short?"
"No, no. They are just fine. Um, here, I found this and thought you might like it."
Rei took the kimono from Shinji and once more retreated into the dressing room. Shinji waited outside for a minute and began to grow worried.
"Rei? Are you alright? Do you need any help?" Shinji walked over to the door and was about to knock when it swung open and hit Shinji right on the head. Shinji fell backwards and onto the floor while holding his head. Rei looked around the door to see what she hit and saw Shinji sitting on the floor holding his head.
"Shinji, are you alright? I'm sorry. I did not know you were there."
"It's alright; I'll just treat it when I get home. You look really nice in that kimono, Rei," Shinji said as he got up, "Well, if you've picked out the stuff you want, we can pay for it and leave, I don't want to spend too much time here."
"Okay, I have chosen them."
Shinji nodded and they brought the clothes to the register.
Shinji and Rei returned holding three bags full of clothes and Asuka was the first to greet them. It wasn't so much of a greeting as much as her examining Shinji's face for any sign of blue lipstick. She took one more look over, sighed, and left back to the kitchen. Shinji could smell the aroma of whatever Asuka was cooking, and it didn't smell half bad. Shinji led Rei to his room where they put the bags. Then Shinji began searching for something for Rei to sleep on; it was already too dark for Shinji to feel safe walking all the way to Rei's apartment with Rei to get her sleeping things. Rei just sat on the floor and watched Shinji as he looked throughout his room. Asuka leaned her head in Shinji's room to see what was going on and said, "Hey, Shinji, Rei, dinner's ready, if you want some, you'd better hurry up."
"Okay," Shinji replied, "Asuka? What did you make?"
"I made beef stroganoff. And if you don't like it, then you can just go hungry. Pen-Pen seems to like it, and what's good for the penguin is good for the Shinji."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, nothing, but you'd better hurry before it gets cold. Well, at least Rei has a brain. She didn't spend any time arguing with me over what I made."
"I was not arguing!"
"Yes you were!"
"Hey, hey, you two," Misato interrupted, "stop arguing and get your dinner."
Shinji looked at Misato insulted, "We were not arguing!" But no one was listening. Shinji sighed and sat down at the table where everyone began eating in silence.
"So, Shinji, you seem to have lots of good ideas today. What do you think we should do after dinner?" Asuka asked.
"Well, I guess we could play a board game or something."
"Really Shinji, do you have any board games?" Asuka asked rhetorically.
"Um... no."
"Just as I thought; so, any other ideas?"
"We could play cards. I think I have a deck or two of playing cards."
"Hey! That reminds me," Misato interrupted, "I have it somewhere…" Misato left into her room and came back a few minutes later with a pack of cards.
"I was out the other day and I picked this up. I thought you guys might think it was funny." Misato opened up the pack and spread the cards out. They hadn't been played with yet and they were still placed in numerical order. The number cards were still the same with the numbers on opposite sides and the number in the suit on the center, but it was the face cards that Misato was talking about. Instead of the normal king, queen, and jack face, they had the pilots and their EVAs on them. The spades and clubs had the pilots' faces and the diamonds and hearts had the pilots' EVAs.
"Where did you get these?" Asuka asked
"They were on display at the grocery store when I went there to get more instant noodles. I thought you would get a kick out of them."
"That's pretty, um, interesting," Shinji said, "but how did they get these pictures?"
"Probably some picture happy reporter, or something." Misato said
"What do you think of these cards, Rei?" Shinji asked.
"They appear to be the same as any other cards, except for the face cards. I am finished. When will we begin playing?" Rei asked.
Everyone else stared at Rei and then at each other, before finishing their dinners.
"Hey, whose turn is it to wash the dishes?" Asuka asked Misato.
"I think it is Shinji's turn."
"No it isn't! It's Asuka's turn! I have the chart to prove it!"
Misato examined the chart and then agreed with Shinji.
"He's right, Asuka, it's your turn to wash the dishes."
"That's not fair! I had to cook dinner!"
"The sooner you stop complaining and start washing, the sooner you can join us." Misato replied.
"So, Misato, what game should we play?"
"I know! How about poker? You know how to play poker, right?"
"Uh, yea a little bit."
"Great! How about you Rei?"
"I have never played the game."
"Don't worry, Rei," Shinji said, even though she didn't have the slightest hint of worry showing, "I'll help you."
Rei nodded, and then stood up from the table while everyone else did the same.
"Misato, what room will we be playing in?" Shinji asked
"Well, I guess your room."
"Why mine?"
"You have enough room in there to accommodate Rei, right? Then you should be able to have all four of us sitting in there."
"Well…okay."
Shinji went in first to try and clear any clutter on the floor and Rei and Misato sat down in the center of the room. Misato began shuffling the cards, and was quite good at it. Shinji had never expected Misato to be so dexterous with her hands, but he was proven wrong. Shinji finished cleaning up his room and then he sat down next to Rei.
"Okay, Rei. The way the game works is like this. (For those of you who know how to play poker, you can skip the next paragraph.) The dealer, I guess that'll be Misato, will deal out five cards. Once you look at your cards, make sure no one else sees them, select which ones you want to keep, and place the rest in the center. Misato will then give you that many cards from the deck. The object is to get the best set of cards, or at least better than everyone else's. Oh, yea, I forgot. Before you get the original cards, we must all place an ante in the center. That's just the original money that goes in the center. Then, before you get your cards from the dealer, you can raise the ante if you think that you have a better hand than everyone else. Well, the hands go up like this, first there is just one pair, then two pair, then three of a kind, then straight, then four of a kind, then full house, then flush, then straight flush, and then a royal flush. In order to get a pair, you must have two of the same number or face value. The same goes for three of a kind and four of a kind, except with three or four of the same value. A straight is when you have five numbers or numbers with face cards that go in order. Like if I had a two, three, four, five, and six, then it would be a straight. It doesn't matter what suit. A flush is when you have five cards that all have the same suit. A straight flush is, of course, a straight with the five cards all being the same suit. And a royal flush is when you get a ten, jack, queen, king, and ace that are the same suit. Nothing can beat that. So, do you understand?"
"Yes, Shinji, I understand."
Then, Asuka came in.
"Well, I'm finished. Did you guys start already?"
"No, we were waiting, well; I was waiting for Shinji to finish his explanation to Rei."
"Good, um…what are we going to use for money?"
"Well," Misato answered, "I have my own money, and I know you two have your money, but I don't know about Rei."
"I did not bring my money with me."
"Okay, well," Asuka said, "Shinji, you can loan her some money. She is your girlfriend, and all."
Misato rubbed her eyes and then her ears to make sure she wasn't just hearing something.
"Wh…What did you just say, Asuka?" Misato asked.
"I said that Shinji could loan her some of his money."
"No, after that."
"That she is his girlfriend?" Asuka said, hoping she wasn't going to get in trouble for it.
"Oh… okay, you just said…what!?" Misato looked across at Shinji who was now huddled next to Rei after Misato's outburst.
"Well, I guess that I was right after all." Misato said, and then she yelled out the door, "See, Pen-Pen! I was right!"
"So, um," Shinji said in an effort to get Misato and Asuka off the subject, "are we going to play now?"
"Yea, okay."
Things weren't going very well for Shinji, Misato, and Asuka. Pen-Pen had joined in and it seemed that when he wasn't winning, Rei was. Shinji had lost all his money already and was now forced to try and pawn things he owned. Shinji was afraid that soon he might not even have the clothes on his back. Asuka was in the same boat. She had plenty more things than Shinji, but she refused to part with most of them. She was glad that Shinji was more absorbed with Rei than anything else, and that this wasn't her favorite outfit. Misato wasn't quite to that point; she had more money than anyone else. Soon after Asuka and Shinji began losing their socks, however, Misato had to put a stop to the game. If she had been drunk, like she wanted to be, she probably would be like Shinji and Asuka but, under Shinji and Asuka's protests, she didn't have a single drink. Misato was gathering up her meager winnings and Shinji was attempting to replace the things he had lost when Rei fell over the pile of Shinji's things that she had collected. Shinji ran over and caught her just before she made contact. Misato had never seen Rei wearing that blue dress before, and she wondered where she got it. Shinji was now helping her over her near mountain of winnings. Misato shook her head and left, wondering how long they'd been 'going out' without her knowing about it. From the way Shinji was holding her, she had to think it had been a while. She wondered what new surprises would be waiting for her tomorrow. Asuka was back in her room and Pen-Pen was trying to figure out how he was going to fit everything in his refrigerator. Misato laughed a little at this and went into her room to sleep.
End Chapter #8