Okay, holy crap. I'm really busy today. So, I'm probably gonna be skipping review responses again. Sorry! I'm just tryna do some things, and today is the last day to do those things and I probably shouldn't have put them off until today. But, omg, I was playing Persona 5 for the first time (had it for years but never actually played it)! Can you blame me!? I'm having a lot of fun with it right now, even though I had to put it on hold to writing and work. But, I'm definitely smitten with it so far. And, that's probably why I pushed so many things to the side for it!
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Text Guide
Standard Wording
"Spoken Dialogue/Speech"
'Internal Dialogue/Thoughts'
(Flashbacks)
/
[Slash denotes scene transition for the moment; this may be changed in the future so as to become more visible.]
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Disclaimer: I do not own or profit off of Neon Genesis Evangelion, End Of Evangelion, or the Rebuilds of Evangelion. I do not own Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Asuka Langley Sohryu, or any of the other characters/ideas from the Evangelion intellectual property collective. All licenses remain with the proper license holders. If asked to, I will formally remove this story from the hosting website.
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*Cruel Angel's Thesis and Eva intro starts playing*
Neon Genesis Evangelion
A Journey of Hate, Power, and Love
Chapter 31
Memories of Yesterday
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"Hey, Shinji! What's Doctor Akagi's number?!" Asuka asked from the couch in the living room as Shinji cooked breakfast.
"I uh, I don't remember exactly," the boy responded as he cracked an egg over a skillet.
"0460-555-9784," Rei stated brusquely, patiently waiting at the kitchen table.
"Woah, woah, woah! Wait, what!? Slow down," Asuka said, barely able to comprehend the numbers Rei spat out.
"0460."
"Huh, so they still use Hakone's old pre-impact area code. I'd figured they'd have restructured it after second impact," Asuka mumbled to herself before leaning back in her seat and entering the numbers.
"555."
"Well, that's easy."
"9784," Rei finished.
"Heh, are you some kind of human phone book, Ayanami?"
"Perhaps," Rei joked, her odd sense of humor still catching Asuka off guard even now, "That is her personal number. I assume this is what she will be using at this time. I can give you her work number if she doesn't pick up though."
"Alright, everyone! Be quiet! It's ringing," Asuka shushed everyone, even though, besides the sizzling eggs Shinji was cooking, she was about the only one making any noise this early in the morning.
The door to Misato's room slid open and the woman herself came out stretching.
"Uwugh. Morning. Do I smell food?" Misato yawned.
"You're up earlier than usual," Shinji said, glancing over his shoulder.
"Hey, Misato! I need to talk to you in a minute!" Asuka stated just before Ritsuko picked up, "Oh, uh, hey, Doctor Akagi! ...I actually needed to talk to you about yesterday. ...Yeah, about that. ...Huh!? No! I didn't leave anything out on purpose! I just didn't think it was relevant at the time!"
"Why's Asuka calling Ritsu?" Misato asked as she finished stretching.
"We'll tell you in a bit. Breakfast is pretty much ready. The toast just came outta the toaster and this egg looks done now," Shinji said as he scooped the egg out of the skillet.
'We'll tell you? What's that supposed to mean?' Misato wondered.
"Is that what she meant by she wanted to talk to me?" Misato asked as she walked to the counter and grabbed a piece of toast and put an egg over the top of it.
"Oh, no. She has something else she wants to ask," Shinji said, cracking another egg in the skillet.
Misato was thoroughly confused now, but her dreariness inhibited her reasoning and her hunger was piquing her interest more right now. She walked over to what used to be an empty cabinet before Shinji arrived in Tokyo-3, and opened it finding a cave of spices.
"Curry's on the top left." Shinji said.
"Yeah, thanks," Misato mumbled sleepily as she opened the bottle of curry powder and sprinkled some over the egg before returning it to the cabinet.
"Oh, and I already cut some limes," Shinji said without taking his eyes off the currently frying egg.
"Thanks again," Misato said as she grabbed a lime half and squeezed it over the egg as well before she sat down at the kitchen table.
"Hey, Ayanami! Get over here! Doctor Akagi wants to ask you some crap," Asuka snapped as she wiggled her phone in front of her face.
Asuka walked to the kitchen and halfway there, she handed her phone off to Rei before heading over to the counter and coming up behind Shinji. She rested her chin on his left shoulder and looked down at the egg he was cooking while holding her hands behind her back innocently.
If Misato hadn't already seen them sleeping together, she'd have been profoundly surprised to see Asuka pressing herself on Shinji's back so casually.
"The egg done, Shinji?"
"Just about."
"Toast still warm?"
"Should be."
"And your secret peppers you still won't tell me about?"
"I'll get them as soon as you quit looking over my shoulder."
"Alright, then. Keep your secrets."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Asuka smirk before she turned around and headed to the table.
Even knowing what she did, Misato found this whole exchange odd. They seemed closer somehow. Almost like a couple. It reminded Misato of when she was still dating Kaji and how she used to come up behind him in the morning, wrapping her arms around his waist and absorbing the warmth of his body heat from his back as he drunk his coffee.
But, there was something off about it. Despite how touchy and feely she'd just been, there was still a distance she maintained, like Asuka somehow wasn't entirely comfortable putting her arms around him, which Misato found strange considering it wouldn't have been the first time she'd flung her arms around Shinji, even in public.
Maybe there was a lack of intimacy in the previous embraces though. In the past when she'd hugged him, it was usually because Asuka was in some state of exaggerated excitement, like it was a part of an act. But, this just now seemed more genuine, even if she hadn't had her arms around the boy.
Why could that be Misato wondered? Was it just because she was in the room and Asuka didn't want Misato to know she'd been sleeping in the same bed as the boy? But, even then, it's not like a hug necessarily would have been a dead giveaway she'd slept with him.
Or maybe Misato was overthinking it. She couldn't know for sure, and there was no point speculating any further.
Even so, she still couldn't help teasing Asuka over it.
"You seem pretty… happy today," Misato pointed out jokingly.
"That so?" Asuka said with her smirk still on her face, "Probably because I'm not going to school today."
Misato almost rolled her eyes. Almost.
"Okay," Misato sighed, "I'll call you out of school."
"Make sure you excuse Shinji and Rei too. They aren't going either."
"Huh!? Why's that?"
"Oh, and, you might wanna take a sick day off yourself too… if you have any left that is."
"Asuka, what're you talking about? What's going on?"
"We're going to the zoo!"
"The… zoo?"
"Yeah! The Tokyo-3 Sanctuary Zoo."
"No, no! I know which one but… why the zoo?"
"Because it's a better use of time than going to school. They don't teach us anything anyways," Asuka said as Shinji brought the redhead her toast and egg.
"And you agreed to this?" Misato asked as she eyed Shinji suspiciously.
"She didn't give me much of a choice. She sounded like she really wanted to go," Shinji said with a smile before returning to the stove to cook another egg.
"Okay, but why do you need me to call outta work?" Misato asked.
"Well, who the hell is supposed to drive us there!?" Asuka said with her mouth full of egg.
"Oh, right. It is a bit outta town, isn't it..."
"Come on, Misato! I know you don't wanna go to work!"
"Yeah, true… But, I don't really wanna go out in the sweltering sun either. And it's not like I'd be able to drink..."
"Ah, to hell with that! Don't you wanna go see animals!?"
Misato scratched the back of her head and groaned.
At that moment, Pen Pen waddled into the room, obviously looking for his own breakfast.
"Wark!" the bird squawked.
"Pen Pen!" Misato squeaked affectionately.
Shinji quickly opened a cabinet and reached for a can of sardines. He opened the can and saw on the labeling it was sea salt and olive oil flavored. He wondered if birds would actually like olive oil or salt for that matter, or if it was even safe for them to eat it. Though, he didn't think on it for too long as this was hardly the first time the bird had eaten canned sardines. And he wasn't a normal bird anyways.
He set the can of fish down for the penguin and the bird picked up one of the fish before shaking it side to side rapidly, slinging olive oil droplets all over the floor.
"Brr brr brr brr!" the bird hummed before swallowing the fish.
"Er, guess I'll have to clean that up later..." Misato mumbled.
Rei came into the kitchen with Asuka's phone. Seeing Shinji's hands were full, Rei walked up to the boy and somewhat awkwardly held the phone up to Shinji's ear for him without saying anything. The boy was slightly surprised, but wasn't really bothered by Rei's awkwardness and began speaking with Ritsuko.
"Ugh, why do birds have to be so messy? Why couldn't you just have a cat or a dog like a normal person, Misato?" Asuka groaned as she wiped some olive oil off her leg with a paper napkin.
"Aww, don't be mean to him, Asuka. Ritsuko has two cats, Blake and Morgana I think. And, I'm pretty sure Kaji also got a cat once he moved here. Why can't I have a penguin?"
"Because he's rude and weird."
The bird squawked and he snapped at Asuka's heel.
"Ow! What the fuck is your problem, asshole!?" Asuka shouted as she twisted in her seat and glared back at the bird.
As she looked down, she saw the genetically modified bird sticking its middle retractable claw out of his wing with the back of his wing toward the redhead.
"Is your bird flipping me off?" Asuka cringed in an offended way.
"Probably," Misato said inconclusively as she shrugged and finished her toast.
"What a strange animal..." Asuka mumbled before she too finished her breakfast.
"What's wrong, Asuka? I thought you wanted to go see some animals," Misato giggled as she held her fingers in front of her lips, stifling her laugh demurely.
"I do!" Asuka huffed.
"Okay, Doctor Akagi I guess I'll-" Shinji said as he was about to hang up the phone.
Asuka suddenly glanced at Shinji before jumping out of her seat and snatching the phone out of Rei's hand as she held it next to the boy's ear.
"Actually, Doctor Akagi, one last thing," Asuka said sweetly, "Misato isn't gonna be at work today because she has to help us with some stuff."
"Asuka! Stop it! Shut up! Don't say that!" Misato whispered harshly.
"Oh, uh, well.. it's just stuff. Private stuff," Asuka mumbled as she ignored Misato.
"Lying! She's lying Ritsuko! I'll be at work!" Misato shouted, though she wasn't sure the woman had heard.
"Okay, great! I'm sure she'd be happy to come in next weekend. ...Oh, okay, I'll tell her."
Asuka then hung up the phone with a delighted smirk.
"Ritsuko says you need to pick up the slack."
"Oh god, what've you gotten me into?"
"I've gotten you out of something actually. I'm doing you a favor. So, act like it."
"Ah, jeez… Anyways, what were you talking to Ritsuko about?"
"Oh, that? We'll tell you later. I don't wanna ruin the mood right now."
/
-Artificial Nature-
/
The pilots and their guardian had just passed through the gates of the zoo. On the way in, Misato had picked up a brochure displaying a map of the zoo, naming several of the areas as well as advertising special events, sponsors, memberships, and the season pass and everything it entailed.
"The hell?" Misato asked as she looked at the brochure.
"What's up?" Asuka questioned boredly.
"They have an exhibit for… chickens?"
"Well of course they do! Chickens can be endangered too! And farms all over the world were devastated after second impact."
"Well, it just seems weird is all. Chickens weren't in any zoos I went to as a kid. And after second impact, I didn't exactly have the luxury of going to zoos very often."
"Just think about it though, Misato!" Asuka started, "There's fungi that used to exist in Antarctica and nowhere else, and now they're extinct. Doesn't it only make sense to preserve animals, even if they're chickens? Here, lemme see that!"
Asuka snatched the brochure out of Misato's hand.
"H- hey!" Misato exclaimed as the girl snatched the paper from her hand.
"See, look, they have a breeding program for Sebright chickens! They were endangered even before second impact! Aww, they're sooooo cute!" Asuka exclaimed as she scratched the picture of the Sebright hen lovingly with the tip of her finger.
"I thought you were saying birds were messy just a little while ago!" Misato pointed out.
"Misato, your bird is messy."
"Wark!" cried Pen Pen, who was hiding in Misato's backpack.
A blush grew across Misto's face, and she puffed up her cheeks as an anxiety response.
"Pen Pen, you have to be quiet! You're probably not supposed to be here!" Misato said pleadingly.
A claw poked out of the zipper of Misato's backpack and it unzipped it.
"Eeep!" Misato squealed as she frantically swung the backpack around to the front of her body, trying to hide the penguin by placing her hands over his head.
"Look at what you did, Asuka! You made him angry! I'm so sorry, boy. She didn't mean it!" Misato whispered to the penguin in an attempt to ease the bird's anger.
"Grrrrrrrr brr brr brr brr!" the bird hummed before snorting indignantly and diving back into the backpack, which Misato had dumped a bunch of ice packs into.
"So, where should we go first?" Asuka asked.
"How about we just start right here!" Shinji said as he pointed at the nearest enclosure, which was filled with large lizards that he was unfamiliar with.
Rei looked at the lizards with wide eyes. She'd read about them and knew what they were, but had never seen them in person before.
"Oh, it's been awhile since I seen one of those," Misato said as she looked up from her backpack.
"A komodo dragon!" Asuka exclaimed as she pranced up to the exhibit.
"Don't those guys have poisonous spit?"
"Venomous actually."
"What's the difference?" Shinji asked.
"If you eat it and die, it's poisonous. If it eats you and you die, it's venomous!" Asuka said.
"Lions are venomous?" Shinji asked, disbelief written all over his face.
"What!? No! Where the hell did you get that from, Stupid Shinji!?"
"You said if you die and it eats you-"
"It's a figure of speech!" Asuka said in exasperation, "It just means that if you bite it and your organs start failing, its poisonous! But, if it bites or stings you and you get sick, then its venomous. Like, a berry might be poisonous. It might have toxic compounds in it, but it's not gonna attack you or anything where a cobra or a spider would bite you to envenom you."
"Huh? Isn't that basically the same as being poisoned?" Shinji asked.
"No! No, no, no! That's wrong! All wrong! Being poisoned and being envenomed are different! Totally different!"
"Well, if you say so."
"Ugh! This is why I hate public school systems! They do such a terrible job teaching everyone even basic things. I heard that they still teach people that protons, neutrons, and electrons are the building blocks of matter. But, that's not really true at all."
"Isn't it kinda superficial at the end of the day though?"
"Mmgh!" Asuka groaned, scuffing her heel across the ground.
'I'm already starting to sound like am impatient know-it-all. I should just relax. I'll just try to teach them more patiently. And if they don't get it, I'll just leave it at that. I didn't come here to have a huge school lesson on toxicology and quantum chromodynamics… I came here to have fun… or maybe it was a bit of both… I came here to be better than Wondergirl at any rate... but… do I really even care about that anymore?' Asuka pondered to herself.
Asuka folded her arms over the enclosure fence and rested her chin on them as she gazed at the giant monitor lizards over the moat.
"You know what? Just forget about it Shinji. You're right. It doesn't matter. Not right here at least. And not to us."
Shinji looked at Asuka with a slightly confused expression, but didn't question her anymore.
"They're extinct in the wild. That is unfortunate," Rei chimed in as she read an info panel next to the exhibit.
"Yep… second impact really fucked up everything," Asuka sighed," I think you'll find lots of the animals here are extinct in the wild because of it. I guess that's why they call it the sanctuary zoo. Though, their gene pools are generally so stagnated that most of them will probably never recover in our lifetime without severe inbreeding."
"That's kinda sad," Shinji said depressingly as he leaned against the fence alongside Asuka.
"It's tragic, really. But, at least the conservation efforts really created a boom in the genetics industry. Pen Pen is a product of that. Everyone's looking for ways to synthesize animals cheaply and effectively now so that hopefully they can avoid inbreeding the animals and keep the gene pools fresh so they can reintroduce them into the wild one day. Though, I think in Pen Pen's case, his genes might be a bit too fresh."
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?" Misato asked as though she was emotionally hurt by Asuka's statement, "Pen Pen is a good and normal boy. You better not be making fun of him, Asuka."
Pen Pen squawked from inside Misato's backpack again, seemingly also challenging Asuka's assertion.
"What the hell kind of normal penguin has retractable claws in his wings, Misato!? And why the hell didn't they give him something more useful, like the ability to live in this god awful heat without turning into a rude bird if he doesn't have ice packs!"
"It's just his way of communicating!" Misato said defensively.
Pen Pen unzipped Misato's backpack again, glaring at Asuka and giving her his meanest squawk.
"Hey! Shut up! Rude bird!" Asuka spat.
Rei gazed at the lizards while Misato and Asuka bickered.
"Genetics… yes. I believe NERV has contributed to that quite significantly," the blue haired girl said softly.
""Hmm, Rei? What do you mean by that?" Shinji asked as he scooched closer to the girl.
"Oh…" Rei mumbled, trying to think carefully about what she said, "Doctor Akagi's mother… she used to work for NERV… though, they were not called NERV back then. She was a prodigy, like Doctor Akagi is."
"Ooh, I didn't know that," Shinji said, genuinely interested in what Rei had to say.
Shinji's interest in Rei's words slightly upset Asuka, but she tried not to let it get to her.
"Huh. Like mother like daughter, I guess," Asuka said boredly.
"Yes, I suppose. Though, someone ended up… stealing some of her research and using it for their own ends. She then decided to… perhaps leave, is the best word," Rei said, though she almost sounded unsure of her own words.
"Is everything okay, Rei?" Shinji asked, slightly concerned over the girl's tone and expression.
"Yes. I am fine."
"Say, why do you know so much more about NERV than us? And why would you even need to know something like that?" Asuka asked, perhaps slightly irritated at Rei.
"I have been here longer, that is all," Rei said as she pressed her hand to her heart.
"Right… Well, onto the next exhibit! Looks like its Hyenas! Spotted Hyenas!" Asuka said as she danced and spun over to the next gallery.
"Hy-what-sas!?" Shinji asked, never having heard of the creatures.
"Hyenas! They're one of the only large-ish carnivorous mammals that still exist in the wild."
Misato, Rei, and Shinji all followed the girl over to the next enclosure. Upon seeing the creatures, Shinji gulped.
"Uh… they look sorta like bears… or dogs… or werewolves," Shinji said, unable to take his eyes off the bizarre and slightly frightening creatures.
"None of the above," Asuka winked with a finger pointed in the air astutely, "They aren't ursine, canine, or feline. Though, they are in the feliformia suborder, making them more related to cats than to dogs or bears, which are in the caniformia suborder."
"They sure do make some weird noises," Shinji cringed as one of the hyenas almost made what could be called a howl.
"They're one of the more successful African predators after second impact. I don't think lions are considered extinct in the wild yet, but supposedly no one has reported a verifiable sighting of one in over ten years now. Luck of the draw on who lives and who dies, I guess. Even if lions aren't extinct in the wild, Hyenas pretty much ended up taking over the role of top predator in Africa. It's actually sorta strange considering female spotted hyenas have lots of reproductive problems," Asuka said with a shrug.
"Hmm… reproductive problems?" Misato wondered to herself as she eyed one of the creatures, examining certain parts of its body.
"Yeah. What? You don't believe me?"
"Eh, I dunno. Look at that big boy right there!" Misato said as she pointed to one of the creatures, "I mean, surely he could get any girl pregnant with something that big.
"Huh? Th- that's a girl!" Asuka said with very light blush across her face.
"Hmm… she sure looks pretty hung to be a girl," Misato said with a shrug.
Asuka blushed even harder now. And so did Shinji now that he was catching onto what Misato and Asuka were debating.
"Th- that's just how it is for them!" Asuka stuttered.
"I dunno Asuka. It does look a little… uh…" Shinji trailed off.
"Oh, what!? You too!?" Asuka huffed as she stomped on the ground and glared at Shinji!
"I mean, it is a little hard to believe," Misato shrugged with a smirk, trying not to go too hard on the lewd jokes.
"You're really gonna make me explain it, huh!?" Asuka whined as she crossed her arms shyly.
The girl's cheeks were as red as cherries and she found it hard to say anything without stuttering. Rei, noticing this, decided to step in on the other girl's behalf.
"Female spotted hyenas generally have very large clitorises because of their testosterone levels," Rei said as though it were the most normal thing in the world.
"Gaaaaah!" Asuka shrieked in embarrassment, "What she said! They have huge, just massive, clits! And they have to give birth through them since their labia are fused. Which is why it's so gosh darn hard for Hyenas to have babies! Infant and first time mother mortality rates are really high! Now please don't ask me anymore!" Asuka said as fast as she could!
"Huh… that's pretty cool I guess," Misato said nonchalantly.
"Not any cooler than any other animal getting p-pregnant! Honestly! Why would you ask me something like that!?"
"Wait, but if female Hyenas have those… then what do males have?" Misato said half jokingly and half seriously as she put a finger to her chin.
"Enough, woman! I said don't ask me anymore!" Asuka said, trying not to shriek, "We're going to the next exhibit! I wish I never even brought up going to the zoo now..."
Asuka led the group further down the zoo path, arriving at the next enclosure… which was one housing African elephants.
"So, Asuka..." Misato said teasingly.
"Don't ask..."
"You don't even know what I was gonna ask!"
"Don't ask! Wait for Shinji and Rei and I'll tell you everything you need to know and nothing you don't."
The couple caught up with Misato and Asuka.
"Oh! One I actually know! An elephant!" Shinji exclaimed.
"Yep. African bush elephant. All elephants, including the African bush, African forest, and Asian elephants are considered extinct in the wild as of Second Impact. They're very intelligent. They live in matriarchal societies… same as… hyenas. There used to be more than three hundred fifty species of elephants, but in modern times, only three remain, with various subspecies dividing them of course. And before Misato says anything, yes, they're big. Yes, they're complicated. And no, I'm not getting into it!"
The woman snickered at Asuka as the little redhead girl once again trying to hide her blush.
/
Eventually, after journeying further into the zoo, the group came across an indoor aquarium. On the way there, they'd already been through a butterfly garden, a reptile house, and an indoors nocturnal creatures building, all the while, Asuka explaining thinks like convergent and divergent evolution, the types of biological mimicry, and how many animals could see beyond the spectrum of light that humans can. Though, even with her lessons, she tried to keep things at least mildly fun.
Despite her initial reasoning for dragging Shinji to the zoo, which was to prove to herself and Shinji that she was better than Rei in both intelligence and personality, she'd found the blue haired girl's presence quite helpful and had perhaps even begun to enjoy her time with what she was beginning to think might be a fellow intellectual.
Though she didn't always look it, and certainly didn't show it often, Asuka had found Rei to be more intelligent than she'd let on. Of course, Rei let Asuka do most of the speaking, content to sit passively and listen just as she did most days in class. But when the redhead needed help explaining something, Rei was almost always able to help and supplement Asuka's explanations.
Upon entering the aquarium, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka were all immediately reminded of their trip to the Tokyo-3 Marine Restoration Facility.
Looking around, they saw the ripples of water casting waves of light across the floor and ceiling of the aquarium.
"It's so beautiful," Rei said as she watched the blue lights dance across the walls and crude carpet of the building's interior.
"Ooh! Look! A Nurse shark! They have a nurse shark!" Asuka said excitedly as she pointed at the slow moving brown shark.
"Asuka sure knows about lots of wild animal for someone who wasn't alive when they were still around in the wild," Shinji mused to himself as he watched the girl start trying to wave him, Misato, and Rei over.
"Yeah. She's got me beat. And I was actually alive before second impact," Misato sighed, her legs and back starting to ache from carrying Pen Pen around in her backpack all day.
"So, for my next lesson," Asuka said as the others finally joined up with her, "I will be talking about sharks. As you most likely know, humans are endothermic, meaning they create their own body heat and can internally regulate their own temperature. But, most fish, reptiles, and amphibians are ectotherms, meaning they can't regulate their body temperature and have to rely on their environment."
"Do you mean exothermic?" Shinji asked, swearing that's head heard the word in school and that Asuka had mispronounced the word.
"No, no, no! Exothermic is for reagents that release heat in chemical reactions. Ectothermic is for animals that can't maintain their body temperature on their own! It's not the same at all!"
"Oh…" Shinji said, still not sure if he really understood the difference with how quickly Asuka spat out her words.
"But see, look! It's so cool because, while most sharks are ectothermic, some are actually endothermic. Like the great white! Because, see, movement from just about anything will create energy. And lots of time, that energy is in the form of heat! That's why your body temperature rises when you run around the school track. And it's no different for sharks. But, some sharks can't capture the heat they create very well. But, great whites can because their blood vessels trade off heat to each other in a counter-currrent flow, which basically means that the hot blood going to the outside of the shark's body that was warmed by its muscle movement then trades its heat off to the blood going deeper inside the shark. So, the heat pretty much goes right back into it! Pretty cool, huh?"
"I don't really know what that means, but I guess it is pretty neat," Shinji said as he watch some fish swim by.
"You know what else is cool? Some sharks, like the Greenland Shark can live a really really long time! Their metabolism is really slow and so they grow for a long time. Before second impact, some people estimated some Greenland sharks to be almost five hundred years old, or even older! If that's true, that would make some of them almost two times as old as the United States of America!"
"Pretty crazy to think that any single animal could be as old as a country that's been around for over two hundred years," Misato said absentmindedly as she watched some piranhas flutter around in a nearby fish tank.
Pen Pen unzipped Misato's backpack again and stared in awe at the refracting lights that he found himself surrounded by before he also noticed the abundance of fish around him.
"Brr brr brr brrrrrrrr!" the penguin crowed as he tried to clamber out of Misato's backpack to get to the fish.
"No, boy! No! You have to stay in there!" Misato whispered as she desperately tried to shove the bird back in her backpack.
A little girl who happened to be passing by Misato pointed at her and said, "Momma! Look! That woman's stealing a penguin!"
For the second time that day, Misato nervously puffed up her cheeks and anxiously tried the shield the penguin from view with her arms.
"Now now, darling. It's probably just a stuffed animal. We shouldn't point at other people. It's rude," the girl's mother said as she took her daughter by the hand and led her out of the aquarium.
"Hey, everyone, I think Pen Pen is getting hungry. We should probably stop to find some place to get some food soon. Don't they have a cafe here somewhere? We should look for it," Misato said as she pulled her map out.
Unable to see it very well, she held it up closer to her face. But, still couldn't really make it out.
"Here, gimme that!" Asuka said as she snatched the map out of Misato's hand, "Looks like there some place to the south part of the zoo we can go to. Ooh, I hope they have cheesecake!"
"You know, you can read pretty well in the dark," Misato said as she took the map back from Asuka.
"Yeah, I think it just comes from spending long hours in the test plugs when Doctor Akagi runs those sync tests on us. I wish I could bring a book, but the LCL would probably stain the pages."
/
Everyone sat in the jungle themed restaurant, just about having finished their meals. Misato had gotten both a bowl of udon and a cheeseburger with a side of fries, some of which she'd periodically been slipping into her backpack to give to Pen Pen.
Shinji and Rei had decided to share a plate of fried vegetables, mostly squash and potatoes, to try to cut down on the cost of the meal considering Misato had ordered two dishes. And, Asuka was content eating her classic confectionery cheese cake, which also included strawberries and freshly squeezed key lime juice with a dark chocolate drizzle over the top to finish it off.
"Hmm, I wonder if I should have gotten the raspberry and dark chocolate one instead," Asuka wondered aloud to herself.
"Poor Pen Pen. I think the pen pack might be starting to warm up too much for him," Misato whined as she slipped him another french fry.
"I'd be surprised if it was still cool at all. Just how many ice packs do you have in there" Asuka mumbled through a mouthful of cheesecake.
"Like twelve or something."
"Twelve? Isn't that a bit much?"
"Not when I only use it for bringing Pen Pen with me. I don't call it the pen pack for no reason. I don't have to fit anything else in here except for him. So, I can stuff as many ice packs as I can in it.
"Hmph, well, I guess if everyone's finished, we should get going. We still got lots to see before the sun goes down!" Asuka said as she started getting out of her chair.
"Tired!" Shinji groaned while stretching.
"Aching!" Misato also groaned as she hefted up her penguin bag back over her shoulders.
/
-Easterly Winds-
/
Misato and the kids had finally arrived back at the apartment. On the way back home, Pen Pen was finally allowed out of Misato's back pack and had stuck his head out the window of the car for most of the trip back. Rei was currently carrying him, keeping her pressed against her chest, but as soon as she got back in Misato's apartment, the bird started struggling for freedom and Rei gently set him down as he slapped the back of her hands with his flapping wings.
"Ba ba ba! Brbrbrbrbrbrbrrrrrrrrrr!" the penguin sung as he excitedly waddled across the kitchen and into the dark corner of the living room where his freezer was.
"Yeah, I know boy. It's hot!" Misato panted as she dropped her backpack in the living room, practically forgetting about it.
The woman plopped down on one of the chairs in the kitchen after grabbing two beer bottles out of the fridge. Though, she was so tired, she didn't immediately open them and instead rested her face on her arm.
"Ugh, Ritsuko's gonna kill me. Speaking of which, why were you all calling her this morning?"
Asuka flushed slightly, knowing she probably should tell Misato about the dreams, but not exactly wanting to disclose the details of them too her given how prone the woman was to making lewd jokes.
Asuka looked at Shinji, seeing he also looked a bit embarrassed. She next looked to Rei who obviously looked nowhere near as insecure. But, she was worried that Rei might not spare any detail.
After a few more seconds of thought, Asuka figured it may just be best if she told Misato.
She sat down at the table and sighed.
"So… after getting back from the hospital the other day… we, that is to say, Shinji, Rei, and I were all… talking about our psychotic episodes or whatever you wanna call them I guess. And, I sorta brought up that… I had a dream. I guess it happened while I was out of it."
"Oh? What kind of dream?" Misato asked as she cracked open one of the cans of beer.
Shinji and Rei joined Asuka at the table, perhaps trying to offer her support.
"Uh… just a dream. I'd rather not get into it. But..." Asuka trailed off as she tried to hide her blush.
As had been happening regularly today, Rei was the one to pick up where Asuka left off.
"Each of us had a dream. And they all shared similarities."
"What!? Why didn't you say anything when Ritsuko asked you about what happened!?" Misato asked, sounding worried.
"We didn't know, alright, Misato!? We didn't know it meant anything until we all figured out we had similar dreams!"
"What do you mean by similar!? How were they similar?!"
"I told you I didn't want to get into it, Misato! It was bad enough having to retell it to Doctor Akagi this morning," Asuka said, trying to hide her embarrassment with her frustration.
"Oh… I see then… I can't imagine what you must've gone through, but it must've been traumatic," Misato mumbled, trying not to frown too hard.
"It was weird though," Shinji said, "They were so clear… and easy to remember. It's almost like it wasn't a dream. Maybe it was more like a vision?"
"Who knows? I just hope Doctor Akagi finds a way to stop it from happening," Asuka groaned in annoyance as she leaned back in the chair.
"Agreed," Rei said as she nodded solemnly.
/
Ritsuko was looking over her notes she'd taken earlier. Her mind had been in a rush all day as she'd been racking it non-stop since she'd received the call from Asuka that morning. The cup of coffee she had resting on her desk was half empty and cold and there was a torn pack of variety chocolates with the contents of the candy pieces strewn over the left side of her desk.
"Damn it, what could this mean? I feel like a fortune teller would have better luck finding meaning in this than me. Every one of them was nude and transformed in their dream. It could be a coincidence but… it doesn't seem like one. Hmm… I may need them to give me a more detailed account of what happened. I'm not sure how much it would really help, but I have almost nothing to go off of right now. Maybe I should reschedule their next sync test..."
Ritsuko grabbed her cup of coffee and almost gagged on account of the fact it had gone cold.
"Ugh… I might need a break from work too. Maybe I should call the pilots out of school tomorrow and ask them about this in more detail… that is, if Misato decides to show up."
/
It was finally getting to be rather late at night and the three kids were watching television on Misato's couch. Asuka had convinced them to stay up long enough to wait for Misato to pass out before going to bed so that she could effectively sneak into their room without raising any suspicion. And so, while they were waiting, they'd mostly been making small talk about what had happened through out the day.
"Oh, hey, Asuka, thanks for taking us to the zoo today. I guess you were right. It was more informative than school. I had no idea that some snakes could detect infrared stuff. In fact, I didn't even know half the animals you showed me," Shinji said with a smile.
Asuka casually leaned back into the couch cushion, glancing over at Rei as she rested her head on Shinji's shoulder.
"Yeah, no problem. It was just a bunch of worthless facts that don't matter anyways. It's not like you needed to know any of it unless you planned on working with animals or something."
"Well, you never know! I might wanna be a veterinarian one day because of what you told me today," Shinji said, trying to lift Asuka's words out of the way she downplayed her contribution.
Asuka yawned.
"Yeah, I guess. Maybe. You can think that if you want. We're probably not gonna need jobs after this is all over though. We'll probably be famous war heroes. People will just give us money to let them plaster out faces on stuff. I heard some companies were already tryna do that, but NERV keeps shutting them down. Guess they don't want the fame going to our heads before we actually win the war against the angels. Hmm… I wonder how much my likeness could be worth right now if I could actually sell it to people. Imagine if they made a video game out of us! How cool would that be!?"
"Heheh, I think you're thinking too much before bed again. We're going to school tomorrow, right? We should probably get some rest," Shinji said.
"I concur," Rei mumbled sleepily.
"I guess you're right. It seems like Misato is in bed. I guess we could go to sleep now," Asuka said as she gazed at the door to Misato's room.
Asuka got up from the couch and stretched, while Rei sleepily tried to keep holding hands with Shinji as he got up.
"Come on, Wondergirl! Up, up, up! Can't sleep on the couch or your back will hurt in the morning!" Asuka said, trying to get the girl up successfully.
Rei used her free hand to rub her eyes and got up, almost loosing her balance due to her drowsiness, though Shinji was quick to stabilize her.
"Aww, Rei, you seem so tired," Shinji said as he squeezed her hand a little tighter.
"We walked overmuch today," she groggily replied.
"Yeah, my legs are kinda hurting," Shinji said to Rei reassuringly.
"You two need to get outta school more. Sitting in the classroom all day every day is the reason your legs are aching so much. You should try skipping school like me and going for jogs in the morning before the sun gets too high in the sky."
"Yeah, maybe that's a good idea."
"Eh, I know both of you are too obedient to take me seriously. Anyway, lets just get to bed. It's cold out here. I need to warm up under your covers."
.
*Eva credits roll and Fly Me to the Moon plays*
.
"Well, well, looks like everyone is getting along pretty nicely, don't you think? Maybe there truly is some hope for the pilots to get together!
Next time! The kids all end up going to school! Yes, even Asuka! They all figure it's gonna be a pretty normal day, until they mysteriously get called out of class! Just kidding, it's not that mysterious. They get a nice firm talking too. There's embarrassment! There's fear! There's... uh... secrets revealed that... weren't really secrets. Or maybe they're secret, but, only... You know what, I'll just say it straight up. Asuka finds out I know about her sleeping with Shinji and Rei. How that'll turn out is anyone guess! If you wanna find out, stay tuned for the next chapter of Neon Genesis Evangelion: A Journey of Hate, Power, and Love; The Liberating Force.
Oh, and remember! There might be fanservice!"
