Episode: 2
"(R)evolving Door"
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With a yawn and a stretch, Shinji Ikari greets a new morning. For a change, he slept peacefully, free from the nightmares. But he still doesn't feel well-rested. He untangles himself from mussed sheets and inches across the mattress to his bedside table. Reaching to shut off his alarm clock, he discovers that it's 3am, and it wasn't the alarm that woke him. It was the noise that still reverberates throughout the room.
The room is dark, and Shinji's eyes still hold some sleep residue, so he can't immediately determine its source. The sound itself is something akin to the sound of a penguin dry-heaving. And Shinji would know, because of the time that Pen-pen had eaten some long-forgotten leftovers from the back of the fridge.
Groggily, Shinji stumbles out of bed to investigate. He takes two steps before slamming his foot into something soft. Shinji grunts in pain as the noise gets louder, then stops abruptly. Another grunt of pain soon follows.
"Ow," says Kaagi, equally groggy. "What was that for?" Shinji stares down at the dim outline of the Sixth Child, wrapped in his sleeping bag on the floor.
"You were snoring," he says.
"And you kicked me because I was snoring?" Kaagi asks. He's so angry that he's nearly yelling.
"No!" Shinji says defensively. "The noise woke me up, and I got up to see what it was. I just forgot you were down there."
"Well why didn't you say that in the first place? Are you trying to piss me off, or what?"
"No," says Shinji.
But I was, he realizes. I wanted you to get mad, then feel bad about it after I explained myself... but you didn't.
"What time is it anyway?" Kaagi continues hurriedly. He is angry at himself for snapping at Shinji, but is also in no mood to apologize. Instead, he tries to change the subject.
"It's, uh… 3," says Shinji. "3am." He slowly lowers himself back into his bed.
I still don't know how to act around other people, he thinks.
"First day of school tomorrow," says Kaagi, yawning. "We'd better try to get some more sleep. So… g'night, okay?"
"Yeah," Shinji says as he closes his eyes.
Four hours later, Asuka is using her first waking minutes trying to find a clean, unworn school uniform. She'd inadvertently spent the whole evening in the one she'd laid out for today. After answering the door when Kaagi and Rei had come calling, she'd never gone back and gotten changed. For reasons she can't articulate, she didn't want to leave the two of them alone. Then, when more students had arrived, she'd been teased about having the same fashion sense as Rei. After that, she painted herself into a corner with an off-the-cuff lie about Shinji messing up the laundry.
Once she locates a change of clothes, Asuka makes her way down the hall to the bathroom. Shinji's door is closed. She knows his alarm wouldn't have gone off yet. Misato's door is also closed, but the Major is already well into her morning routine. Asuka would guess that she's hit the "snooze" feature on her alarm clock about three times by now. Upon reaching the bathroom door, Asuka is surprised to find it closed as well.
"Pen-pen?" she asks quietly. She can tell that the light is on, but she can also hear a sound from within. Putting her ear to the door, she can hear it better. It's slightly melodious, and, to her, completely incomprehensible.
"There's a sign on the wall, but she wants to be sure, 'cause you know sometimes words have two meanings," sings Kaagi in English. "In a tree by the brook, there's a songbird who sings, sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven…."
"Is he singing?" says a voice from behind her. Asuka shrieks in surprise, turning to find only a bleary-eyed Shinji. Somewhere else in the apartment, an alarm goes off briefly, then is silenced.
"And it makes me wonder…," continues Kaagi.
"What are you doing up?" growls Asuka at Shinji. "I know you set your alarm for 7:30." Before his tired brain can construct an answer, she continues, "Oh, well. It doesn't matter. I was here first, so I'm using the bathroom next."
"Hey, guys," calls Kaagi, hearing them through the door, "I got up early and made our lunches. They're in the kitchen. The recipe was for four, so there's an extra one for Rei."
"I've been up since 3," says Shinji, answering Asuka late. She just rolls her eyes at him, and goes to the kitchen to retrieve her food. Upon her return, she runs into Kaagi in his bathrobe.
"So much for the "lazy American" stereotype, huh?" he asks her, pointing to the lunch in her hands. Over his shoulder, she sees the bathroom door close behind Shinji. To Kaagi's bewilderment, Asuka just shoots him an angry look, then pushes past him to stand facing the door, quietly fuming.
By 8 o'clock, the three of them have left on their way to school. Somewhere in the apartment, an alarm goes off briefly, then is silenced. This time, it's followed by a faint slapping sound, as if someone were grabbing for an alarm clock, perhaps to pull it closer for a better look. An all too brief moment of silence follows.
"Oh… damn it."
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Later, at NERV headquarters in the Geo-front, an elevator door opens and Major Misato Katsuragi steps unsteadily out. She's not wearing her red jacket, having spilled one of her two cups of coffee down the front of it. She'd bought that cup after the first one had toppled during a particularly fast turn. Misato is also sporting a large pair of mirrored sunglasses, hoping to block the harsh, artificial light of the test-lab and to hide the puffy redness of her eyes.
This is great, she thinks sarcastically. I'm late, I'm hung-over, and I'm supposed to meet Ritsuko's replacement today. When did I turn into an old person? I only had about four… maybe five beers. And I didn't even throw up…. Of course, given how I'm feeling, it might have been better if I had. Ow… hurts to think… better stop.
Like a tightrope walker, she uses her arms for balance as she walks carefully forward on her high heels. Just ahead, a bearded man with his back to her studies a clipboard intently. Beyond him, Misato can see one of the new Evangelions through the observation window. The focus of her vision wobbles between the foreground and background, making her dizzy, but she manages to stay upright. She tries to ignore the pounding in her head as she forces her mouth into a half-hearted smile.
"Hello," she says, approaching the bearded man. "You must be Dr. Kaiu, the new Head of the Technology Department." He eyes her skeptically as she nearly falls, trying to stop walking while bowing to him at the same time.
"Major Katsuragi," he acknowledges, bowing as well. He pauses for a moment as he considers his response. "Actually, Major, I'm not Dr. Kaiu. I am Dr. Nishizono and I've been employed by NERV since it was Gehirn. I've worked with both Dr. Akagi and her mother. You and I actually spoke once, on the phone, about three months ago. It's a pleasure to meet you… in person."
"Oh!" laughs Misato as she turns bright red. "I'm so sorry." Nishizono nods politely, without smiling, and then returns to his work.
Slowly, so as not to exacerbate her headache, Misato surveys the rest of the lab. After a fair amount of searching, she spies a familiar face coming toward her. It's Yoshi, holding two mugs of coffee. He offers her one, and she quickly accepts.
"Great party last night," he says. All she can do is nod as she gulps down her coffee. He stands there, smiling at her, before continuing.
"Dr. Nishizono said you were looking for me," he tells her. Misato turns an even brighter shade of red as she peers over her sunglasses at Yoshi's I.D. badge.
Dr. Yoshi Kaiu, she reads to herself. Oh…damn it!
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In room 2-A at Tokyo-3 Junior High, class is proceeding more or less as usual. The teacher drones on about the environmental repercussions of Second Impact. The students all do their best to listen. But, after being gone for seven weeks, most are finding it to be a harder task than before.
Even Rei is having uncharacteristic difficulty paying attention. What troubles her, however, goes far deeper than prolonged absence. It's the encounter of the previous evening that weighs so heavily upon her. She'd prefer to forget that event, but it keeps replaying in her mind….
"I do not understand why it is that you fear me," Kaworu said to her. He stood partially in the moonlight that shone through her window, looking exactly as he had the first and last times she'd seen him, down in the bowels of NERV. He had the same wise, sad eyes and the same knowing grin. It was dark in her bedroom, but she had no doubt it was him.
Once the initial shock of seeing him in her apartment had worn off, Rei stood more resolute. Still, a feeling lingered within her that she could only assume was fear. And, despite her defiant stance, she knew Kaworu could tell.
"I saw you die," she stated. It was as much an explanation of her feeling as it was a challenge to his presence. But Kaworu, ever non-combative, only took it as the former.
"No, that isn't it," he said thoughtfully. He closed his eyes for a moment, and Rei thought of running away. Then, they snapped open once more, boring into her and rooting her to the spot. "Yes… I see it now. You fear me because we are the same."
"We are not the same," she whispered. His ensuing laughter was light and friendly, but it made Rei shiver.
"You love the Lilim, and that is good. But you love them so well that you deny what you are. You are not one of them."
"I'm not like you," she said, daring to raise her voice. In response, he only cocked his head.
"You love Shinji, as I do," he said. Kaworu's naked honesty shook her.
"I love…?" she started. She wondered how he could be so sure, when she herself didn't even know what that emotion felt like.
"When the light of your soul touched mine," he explained, without her asking.
"The light of my soul?" Rei asked. She knew the words held meaning, but she couldn't grasp it.
"What the Lilim call the "A.T. Field". In the chamber where Lilith sleeps, mine burned brighter than ever before. But then yours, just as bright, touched mine."
"I… don't… remember," she gasped. But she did remember, the shimmering octagons of Kaworu's A.T. Field, pushing back everything. Light, sound, space, and time were cast aside. She had felt it, just like she used to feel it in her Eva. But she didn't have an Eva then, and she still managed to push back.
"No, you remember… we are the same."
"I am not an Angel!" she yelled at him in her quiet apartment. She'd never yelled before. It scared her to think that she needed to yell, to try to assert the truth of what she'd said.
"You are not ready," he said sadly, backing away from her into the shadows. "Neither is Shinji. But I am preparing him for his destiny, just as I'd hoped to prepare you."
"You've visited Shinji?" Rei asked.
"No, not like this," Kaworu admitted. "It would be too… painful. But as he sleeps, I have shown him a vision of the future. The day foretold is come and gone, but what should have come to pass may still. My former masters think the prophecies have failed them, but it was they who failed the prophecies."
Rei fell against her dresser as Kaworu finished speaking. She couldn't balance, and felt as though the room was spinning. Eventually, she lowered herself to the floor and her equilibrium slowly returned. By then, Kaworu was gone….
The dismissal bell sounds for lunch, and Rei's attention is jarringly returned to the present. Over at Kaagi's desk, Shinji and Asuka collect their food from him. Kaagi sees Rei looking in their direction and smiles, but she doesn't notice. She's only looking at Shinji.
"Well…," says Kaagi with careful timing as Rei begins to approach, "I seem… to have an extra meal here."
"I'll take it," says Toji with unabashed lust.
"No!" Kaagi and Hikari exclaim in unison.
"Shinji, may I speak with you?" asks Rei. Her interruption supersedes further protests from Kaagi or Hikari. Toji only hesitates a moment before taking the lunch anyway.
"Um… sure," Shinji replies. He feels Kaagi staring fiercely at him as he follows Rei out of the classroom. Hikari, likewise, stares fiercely at Rei as she leads him. Both Kaagi and Hikari catch each other glaring at the departing pair and quickly look at the floor in embarrassment. The other students disperse shortly after, until only the two of them remain.
"Hey, Hikari," says Kaagi, rising from his seat. "I'd like to ask you something."
"That's what I'm here for," she says as cheerily as she can, while throwing a brightly wrapped meal into the garbage.
"Well, it's not really that kind of…," he trails off as he sees her face start to fall. "Look, I just want to know if there's anything going on between Shinji and Rei. If you know, that is."
"You really like her, don't you?" she asks. She seems slightly sad, which does not encourage him. Kaagi doesn't even respond, but she can see the answer in his eyes. She chooses her next words carefully.
"No," she says. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing between Rei and Shinji, or Rei and anyone. But… I'm also pretty sure that she's got her eye on Toji. I'm sorry."
"Suzuhara?" says Kaagi. "Okay… now I'm really confused."
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"I've got it all figured out, you know," says Toji confidently. He and Kensuke sit eating by the railing overlooking the schoolyard. From their vantage point, they can see most of their classmates, including Rei and Shinji, sharing a bench but not yet speaking.
"Mmm-hmm," says Kensuke, only half-listening.
"I mean, nothing's changed since I've been gone," continues Toji undeterred, "except for the new kid showing up. But he's more obvious than anyone."
"So you figured out what exactly?" asks Kensuke, slowly catching up, but gaining little interest.
"Well, like I said, the new kid obviously likes Rei."
"Obviously."
"And I feel bad for him. Because Rei's always had kind of a thing for Shinji." Toji points them out, still sitting, still not talking.
"Uh-huh," says Kensuke, still more intent on eating.
"And then there's Shinji and Asuka. They've still got it bad for each other. You know how mad they get when we call them "The Newlyweds"? It wouldn't bug 'em so much if there weren't some feelings there."
"So, are you saying there's no chance for that "thing" Rei's got for Shinji, then?"
"Hey, I dunno. Ikari's got his head in the sand when it comes to girls. There're two out there that really like him. But he's gotta figure it all out, first."
"Like you?"
"Yeah."
"So… what about Hikari?"
"What about her?" asks Toji, truly mystified. Kensuke just rolls his eyes.
"Never mind," he says. He looks down again at Rei and Shinji's bench, wondering how blissful it must be to sit next to someone who isn't talking. Shinji, on the other hand, is being torn in two by discomfort and curiosity as he endures Rei's silence.
"I… apologize," she says at last. "I had thought it would be easier than this to talk to you. Like it is…."
"Like it is with my father?" Shinji guesses.
"Yes," she admits. Then she frowns, a pained look crossing her face. "And yet… I can't talk to him. Not about this."
"What is it?" asks Shinji. But he's not sure he wants to know. He's already heard too much, and seen too much, about Rei. Just by being around her, his mind takes him unwillingly back to his visit to the Room of Gaf. He can barely look at her without remembering bodies, live bodies, dismembered before his eyes… bodies that were all Rei.
"I saw Kaworu," she tells him.
"What?" he says, almost choking on the word.
"Last night," she continues, "in my apartment…"
"What are you talking about?" Shinji yells. He's gone in a heartbeat from shocked to furious. Rei, of all people, has just torn into his freshest, deepest wound. He can't hold back the anguish and guilt as they come pouring out.
"He told me-"
"Stop it!" Shinji interrupts, still yelling. He's standing now, too. Rei looks up at him with only an inkling of what her words must be making him feel. But she can't truly understand. Not like Kaworu would have.
"Please," she says. "It's true."
"No! Kaworu's dead!" His yelling falters as his voice cracks. Tears come with the memories of Kaworu's love, and betrayal, and death. The only thing that can overcome Shinji's sadness is an even greater anger, which he directs at Rei.
"Why are you doing this to me?" he screams at her. With his frustration vented, he stumbles away, still reeling from the flood of emotion.
"I saw it all," says Kaagi, seconds later, as he runs up to Rei. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," she answers. Her gaze doesn't meet his, making her appear untruthful. She's actually just distracted, busy wondering if there was anything she could have done differently to prevent Shinji's reaction. But whether he believes her or not, Kaagi's already made up his mind about what to do. Rei feels his glasses being placed carefully in her hand.
"Can you hold these? I don't want them getting broken," he says. Then, he stalks purposefully off after Shinji.
Broken? she thinks. Is he going to fight Shinji?
"Kaagi, please wait," she calls to him. It's the second time she's pled in a very few seconds. She can't remember ever having used the word before, and it gives her an uncomfortable feeling of helplessness. But her words do reach him. The sound of her voice crumbles his resolve, and he stops.
What am I doing? he asks himself. Sure, I've had a couple of reasons to want to fight Shinji. But they're just selfish, jealous ones. Him blowing up at Rei is no good reason; it's just a handy excuse. And besides, beating him up wouldn't impress her… at least, I hope it wouldn't. I couldn't like a girl that would be impressed by something like that.
Kaagi turns to look at her. He walks back, and sits down beside her. She's turning his glasses over and over again in her hands.
No, he thinks. I know that wouldn't impress her.
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That night, Shinji and Kaagi share the room for the second time. They've just lied down, and the lights are off. Shinji is wishing he'd remembered to bring his Walkman into bed with him, because, once again, he's fairly certain that Kaagi is about to say something. Soon, there is a deep draw of breath from the vicinity of the floor.
"Look, Shinji," Kaagi begins, "I'm sure we've both rubbed each other the wrong way over the last couple of days. But if we're going to live and work together, I think we should try to be friends. So… how about you, me, Toji, and Kensuke all eat together at lunch tomorrow?"
"We can't tomorrow," Shinji reminds him, showing no disappointment. "Misato said we'll be at NERV all day, running tests. At least, Rei, Toji, and I will be. You and Asuka are going to Matsushiro."
"I know that," Kaagi says with a sigh. "I said "tomorrow," but I meant our next day at school."
"Sure… whatever," Shinji says, noncommittal.
Why can't Kaagi just find his own friends? he thinks. What does he need mine for? I don't even know if Toji is still my friend or not. Either way, I don't have that many.
"Do you know that you've got a good friend in Rei?" Kaagi asks him, as if reading his thoughts. Shinji wonders if he's so transparent that Kaagi really can tell what he's thinking. With an increasingly resentful edge to his voice, Kaagi continues.
"I saw the two of you talking today. After you stormed off, I sat down with her. And do you know what she said to me? "Don't be angry with Shinji," she said. "It's my fault that he yelled. I said something to him that I shouldn't have." I just thought you should know that."
It would be so easy to hate him, they both think.
"Well, I know that you want to be more than friends with Rei," says Shinji, trying to put Kaagi on the defensive for a change.
"Yeah, like you don't feel that way about, oh, I don't know… Asuka?" teases Kaagi. Walking by in the hall, Asuka overhears her name and stops to listen in.
"What makes you think I want Asuka?" asks Shinji, on the defensive despite his efforts.
"Well, she's a bold, intelligent, independent young woman," Kaagi begins with exaggerated seriousness. "She's got strong opinions that she's not afraid to share. And, since you have no white cane, I can assume you've noticed that she's incredibly hot. Come on, Shinji! You should have heard how jealous you sounded when you reminded me I was going to Matsushiro with her. I used to think you liked Rei, but I guess I was wrong!"
"I used to think you did, too," says Shinji, perplexed by Kaagi's glowing compliments for Asuka.
"Shinji Ikari!" he says, laughing. "Was that your very first joke?"
Kaagi laughs a while longer. Shinji just lies there, confused. But Asuka, in the hall, begins to wonder if she shouldn't re-evaluate her opinion of Kaagi.
"Seriously, though," says Kaagi, "I really do like Rei." Asuka decides to stop listening at this turn of the conversation, but she doesn't stop wondering.
"You see, Shinji," Kaagi continues, "most of what I just said about Asuka is true about Rei, too. Intelligent, independent… sure, she's a lot shier. But once you get her talking, her opinions are just as brutally honest as Asuka's. And I'm dying to see Rei in a plug-suit!" Kaagi bites his lower lip, grinning at the thought of it.
"I don't understand you," Shinji admits. What he won't admit is that he still isn't sure which girl he likes, if either, and he's very curious how Kaagi settled so quickly on Rei. He waits a long time for Kaagi to say more. Eventually, the sound of snoring fills the room.
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The next morning, Asuka sits next to Kaagi in the back of Misato's car, drying her hair with a towel. Minutes ago, they'd dropped Shinji off at a ground-level entrance to NERV HQ. Now, the three of them are speeding down the road toward the Secondary Test Facility at Matsushiro. Kaagi is lying back in his seat with his eyes closed and his glasses in his shirt pocket, singing "Only the Good Die Young".
"Can you get him to stop that, Misato?" asks Asuka, with extra bitterness over being last in the bathroom again today.
"Well," interjects Misato politely, "I would like to know a little more about you, Kaagi. I've been really busy the last couple of days, and I haven't had time to read your file."
"Oh, I've seen it," he tells her. "It's blank, except for my birth date and current vitals."
That's odd, thinks Misato. Only Rei and Kaworu's files were like that…
"Pretty boring life story, though," he adds, stymieing further contemplation. "I was born in Japan, but moved to America. I was raised in Cleveland, Ohio, to be specific, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I only found out I was the Sixth Child about a month ago. They had me at First Branch, running activation tests and combat simulations with Units 05, 06, and 07, right up until I got shipped over here."
It's weird, thinks Asuka, but he doesn't seem like such a dork when he's not singing or wearing his glasses.
"So which Eva is yours?" she asks him.
"Well, I've only got three more payments to go on Unit-06."
Or when he's making dumb jokes, she adds to herself.
"You know what I mean," she says. Her reply comes out sounding more coy than she'd meant it to. She doesn't want him to think that she's flirting, so she tries to think of a way to defuse the situation.
"I have gotten my best synch ratios with Unit-06," he begins, "so-"
"By the way," Asuka interrupts rudely, "I heard you and Shinji talking last night. Just so you know, I'd never even think of going out with either one of you."
"Okay," says Kaagi, smiling but not opening his eyes. "You and I wouldn't work, anyway. That's for sure."
"Oh yeah? Why not?" Asuka asks, though she's not sure why she cares.
"We're too similar," he says nonchalantly. "Strong personalities. You deserve someone with a lot more patience than I've got."
Asuka doesn't know if she should feel insulted by the implication that she's hard to deal with or flattered that he'd admit she deserves better than him. Regardless, she chooses to end their verbal sparring match and begins drying her hair more vigorously to convey her frustration.
"I'm not sure why you're bothering," Kaagi adds. "We're going to be doused in LCL shortly." Immediately, he is hit in the face by a damp towel, thrown from point-blank range. Watching them in the rear-view mirror, Misato finds herself smiling sincerely, for the first time in a while.
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In the center of a seemingly bare room, Gendo Ikari sits, waiting. He stares straight ahead through his orange-tinted glasses. Time passes, but he never lets his gaze waver in the slightest. He knows he's being watched.
Slowly, black monoliths appear in the air around him until he is surrounded. Each bears a different number, but they all have the same text. SEELE, Sound Only. SEELE 01 floats directly across from him. The monoliths silently await Ikari's words. It was he, not they, who called for this meeting.
"I know what the boy is," he says finally. "Why did you send him to me?"
"Don't you know that as well?" asks 04 sarcastically.
"He is accustomed to having all the answers," says 02.
"Have you possessed him this whole time?" asks Ikari flatly, ignoring their taunts.
"No," says 01. "He was quite well hidden."
"But your former associate, Ritsuko Akagi, knew where he was," says 03.
"It was she who revealed his location, when you sent her to us instead of Rei Ayanami," confirms 01.
"Does it upset you that she would keep such a thing from you?" asks 05.
"Even before she began to hate you?" continues 04.
"How she hated you, at the end," finishes 01, almost sadly.
"And you used that hate against me, to your advantage," says Ikari, betraying no emotion.
"We did," admits 01.
"But that is in the past," says 08.
"We give you the boy, now, as a peace offering," continues 01. "No longer should you be at odds with this committee. The prophecies have failed us, and the Dead Sea Scrolls are useless. The day of Reckoning is past, but we know that the threat continues."
"The 18th Angel approaches," says 04.
"And what do you expect of me?" Ikari asks.
"Continue to defend humanity from the Angels, as you have always done," says 01. "But, now that you have the boy, we would like a boon from you… as a show of good faith on your part…"
Of course, thinks Ikari.
"We will require Unit-07, and two pilots of your choosing, for a special mission," says 06.
"To retrieve the Lance of Longinus," finishes 01.
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Episode Midpoint