Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1.
Chapter 22: Samuel I
"All right, you guys-- you're done for the day. Come out now."
Misato's voice came over the intercom in the four Entry Plugs to signal the end of the syncronization test. Shinji opened his eyes, roused from his half-meditative state, and taking a breath, waited for the LCL in his Plug to drain out.
The Major walked up to Maya, who was busy printing out the results.
"...So how are they doing?" At Misato's words, the short-haired girl turned to her superior and smiled.
"Well, Shinji's ratio's gone up a bit...Same for Rei. Actually, hers is the best I think I've ever seen it at." Misato nodded appraisingly, then her expression became serious.
"...And Asuka?"
"See for yourself," Maya said as she handed the printout to Misato. She took it and saw that Asuka's was the highest of the three. She breathed a sigh of relief at this discovery.
"That's a good thing. I was afraid that it might still be affected by the 10th Angel, but it doesn't look like there were any residual effects at all."
"Major...I don't want to sound rude, but why isn't the Fifth Child here?"
Misato's smile disappeared instantly at the mention of Kaworu. She grimaced as she looked out the observation window and saw the blue-eyed girl on the catwalk, waiting impatiently for her fellow pilots.
"Because I don't know what will happen... if Asuka finds out she's been replaced."
The three children walked towards NERV's main exit, Asuka humming gleefully to herself in front while Shinji and Rei brought up the rear.
"...Well, as usual, I'm the one on top, losers!" Asuka said proudly. Shinji sighed, knowing that it was better to say nothing than anything that would give her an excuse to wail on him, and Rei wisely chose to follow suit. As they crossed a street on their way back to the house, the girl in front headed the opposite direction of her two companions.
"Hey, where are you going Asuka?" Shinji asked curiously. In response he got the girl's angry glare again.
"Are you my mother, idiot? I'm going shopping." She then prepared to continue on her way, but stopped mid-stride and turned around. "Hey, come on, you," she said in a would-be casual voice. Shinji arched an eyebrow, then tentatively moved in her direction when Asuka spoke again. "Not you, you pervert! I meant HER!" She pointed in Rei's direction, much to the pale girl's surprise.
"...Me?..." Asuka sighed as though she were talking to a very slow preschooler.
"YES,YOU! ...Come on, it'll be fun." Asuka's sudden shift from agitated yelling to friendly demeanor made Rei hesitant, not sure that the half-German girl was the safest person to be around. She turned to Shinji, as though asking for his permission, but he only blushed and muttered something about "you should do what you want to." After much consideration, Rei walked up to her roommate and the two girls headed down the street. Shinji frowned a little as he continued to walk back to the apartment (as he had hoped for some more time alone with Rei), but smiled at the thought of the two of them shopping together.
Well, I can't force her to be around me all the time. And besides, it'll be nice for her to spend some time with another girl.
It had happened again. Asuka wasn't entirely sure, but she noticed the odd sort of energy that had passed between Shinji and Rei. She'd never tell either of them, but she got a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach when she saw them together--especially now, when they were all living in the same house. She'd felt it the most when she walked in on them making breakfast the day after she had gotten back from the hospital. He seemed so content, and Rei actually looked like she was...
No. There's no way. He's got no spine and she's got about as much emotion as an alarm clock. Those two would never...
"...Asuka?"
She jumped as she fell out of her trance and noticed Rei's face about half a foot from her own.
"Ahh! Don't scare me like that!"
"I apologize. But you said you would decide where we will be going." Asuka looked in front of her and noticed she was standing in front of the mall directory map. She observed the map like a child in a candy store.
"Hmm...Well, this place has good clothes...and so does this one," Asuka indicated a few locations on directory with her finger. "Those are good places as any to start at." She then headed down the atrium, with Rei following close behind.
"So..." Asuka broke the silence in the changing room from her cubicle, "...How long were you at the apartment before I got back?"
"...Approximately four days. Misato invited me," Rei answered from her own space nearby.
"Oh really?" The blue-eyed Caucasian grinned to herself. It seemed like Misato just had a thing for 'adopting' people-- and animals, if Pen-Pen was included.
Rei was trying on a white blouse Asuka had recommended to her. It felt odd, looking at clothes in the mirror to see which ones looked best-- she really did feel like a doll right now. She was a little surprised when Asuka spoke again.
"Well, I for one feel sorry that you to have to live with that idiot too."
"...Who do you mean?"
"Who do I mean? Shinji, of course!" the other girl said indignantly, as though it should have been the most obvious thing in the world.
"Oh...I see." The nonconfrontational tone of Rei's voice made Asuka suspicious. No way she would just let the matter drop.
"You mean you couldn't tell?"
"...No. He has his faults, as all people do, but he is actually a very nice person."
Asuka only huffed skeptically in response.
"...In fact, I have seen nothing in his demeanor, save for a lack of assertiveness, to affirm that your claims of his poor character are in any way validated."
"W-well, then you obviously haven't spent enough time living under the same house with him! He's a total pervert and--"
"...'A spineless wimp,' correct?" Asuka stopped in mid-rant as Rei finished her sentence for her. "...For a person who graduated from university-level education the the age of fourteen, your arguments are repetitive and unconvincing."
An uncomfortable silence followed Rei's statement. The pale girl took off the blouse and put it on its hangar, having decided to purchase it. She waited outside the changing rooms as Asuka finished, then the two went to the register to pay.
They found their way from the mall to a little cafe that sat a half-block from the train station that would bring them home. Since they still had time before they needed to get back, Asuka decided to stop inside and get a piece of cake and coffee. Rei agreed, although she felt certain the strong-willed Eva pilot would have gone in regardless of her companion's opinion. After Asuka had ordered a slice of cheesecake and coerced Rei into a piece of apple pie, the two sat down at a small table. Even though they had never gotten along before, any casual observer would have thought they were old friends. After they finished their desserts, the two girls focused on their coffee.
"...Asuka?"
"Mmm?" the redhead lowered the cup of coffee from her lips (black, like this morning, Rei noted) and mumbled in response to Rei's effort to gain her attention.
"...Is there a reason you hate Shinji so much?"
Asuka's eyes widened slightly at Rei's offhand question, and she only barely managed to hide the slight redness on her cheeks with her cup.
"Well...Not really, I guess. It's more that..." She was quiet as she looked off to the side, as though she was trying to think of what to say but couldn't put it properly into words. Rei silently observed her roommate with interest. It was strange to see Asuka this reserved; she was normally so boisterous that it was nearly intolerable.
She's acting almost like me, Rei thought wryly to herself as she sipped from her own cup, which she had filled with creamer and sugar, still unused to the acrid taste of the beans.
"...Anyway, why are you so interested, Rei?" Asuka had returned to her normal demeanor, and she was grinning mischeviously at the red-eyed girl sitting across from her. Asuka's question, as well as her sudden reversal of control of the conversation, took Rei by surprise, and she had to collect her thoughts before she could answer.
"...I was simply expressing curiosity--"
"Whatever." Asuka's grin slackened inperceptibly when she half-whispered the next question.
"...Do you like him?"
Rei silently considered her friend's query. She was about to respond positively when Asuka suddenly broke out into laughter.
"W-who am I kidding? No way that would ever happen!" the redhead managed to say between spasms of laughter. She didn't notice Rei's face drop slightly at her words, but Asuka still thought that Rei was incapable of changing facial expressions, so she wouldn't have noticed it anyway. "...C'mon, we'd better get going," she said as she drained her cup and got out of her seat, leaving a handful of change for the tip.
"...Yes." Rei followed her quietly, Asuka's comment still ringing in her ears.
Why does Asuka find it so difficult to believe that Shinji and I could be together?
Rei's thoughts were wandering as they rode the train back home, both standing with their purchases due to a packed train. She knew that this was just the way Asuka was (she had gotten the sense that the girl's actions towards others did not necessarily reflect her true opinions of them), but for someone to all but say to her face that she shouldn't be with Shinji hurt. She looked over at the redhead standing a few feet from her, her hand hanging onto the support handles dangling from the roof of the monorail. She remembered the way Asuka had not answered her when she asked about why she acted so hostile toward Shinji, as well as the strange expression on her face when Shinji wasn't looking. It bothered her, but why she couldn't quite understand.
Could Asuka...
She tried to shake the possibility from her head, but somehow an image of Asuka hand intertwined with Shinji's entered her mind. She tried to ignore it, she knew she was being paranoid, but every time she did, it came back stronger than before.
No. I...I don't want...
As she tried to ignore the painful feeling that was growing from thinking about Shinji leaving her, she didn't notice the silver-haired Kaworu watching them from behind a crowd of people, safely out of the girl's line of sight.
A/N: Yes, there's a bit of a love triangle here--And yes, it actually has an impact on the story; ) Anyway, I can't believe I'm already at 22 chapters! I didn't really mean for it to get this long, but this thing just seems to have taken on a life of its own. I just keep running into more things and relationships that I want to develop and it just keeps getting longer!At this rateI'll run out of Bible books to name chapters after... : ) The end's still a ways away, so please don't lose patience with me! See you next chapter!