Well, everyone, I have some exciting news. I finally have a beta reader! So, I'd like to thank kelmentine for helping check this chapter. I also want to apologize for many of my earlier chapters having awful spelling errors. But hopefully, there shouldn't be too many spelling errors this chapter. She did a great job cleaning up this chapter and caught a lot of spelling errors I probably wouldn't have caught for weeks/months. I'm so thankful. I may have still missed some things on account of me being colorblind and it being generally difficult for me to identify mistakes, even when they've been highlighted in colors I can see well. But, hopefully, this chapter should be much cleaner to read.
She's also kindly offered to help me clean up my earlier chapters as well. So I hope we can all be very grateful to her from here on out. I don't want to overwork her though, so the corrections on the earlier chapters may take some time. So I will ask for everyone's patience on that front.
Anyhow, I think we should get straight into review response as, once again, I think there will be some good things to talk that were brought up about the future of this story.
R-king 93: I'm happy you seemed to like last chapter. It was maybe a little bit of a downer with... you know... the torture stuff and everything. But, hopefully the Mari scene lightened it up a little.
RandomCraziness: Oh, we'll be going much further than just uncensored handholding in this chapter. LMAO. I'm glad you pointed out the thing about Mari 'winning' in Thrice Upon a Time though, as this is a good point to touch on. So, I guess to start off with Mari... First of all, Mari is currently going to remain, what I'm calling, a "Behind The Scenes" character for the time being. That is to say, for the foreseeable future (the rest of Act 2 and the mass majority of Act 3) she is going to be treated much like I've treated Kaworu so far. She's not really going to "be around" in the main scenes, but every now and then, I'll have something to catch everyone up on what she's been doing.
As for her relationship with Shinji and whether it will drastically change the direction of this story... I'm going to say no, it's not going to drastically change this story. See, a long time ago, probably... Oh, maybe 3 years ago or so, someone in my reviews asked me if I was going to include Mari. And, I think at the time, I responded to the review with something along the lines of "I don't currently plan to include her and am waiting for the final rebuild movie for further information on her."
That was... mostly true. At the time, I did not have a strict intention of including her. However, that doesn't mean that I wasn't thinking about including her at all. In fact, I actually wanted to include her if it was at all possible. But, I didn't want to write a character I didn't completely understand. And so, I actually wanted to have her in the whole time, and in fact, I did plan on her being in, but I wasn't going to put her in if Thrice Upon a Time didn't sufficiently explain who and what she was. And with Thrice Upon a Time out now, I can say that it's explained her enough for me to safely include her. And anything it didn't cover is fair game for me to touch up or expand on with the independent lore and history of this story, similarly to how I've very minorly changed Asuka, Shinji, and Misato's pasts.
And so I did end up including Mari. However, like I mentioned, it doesn't actually change the story that much because, despite her inclusion in this story being conditional earlier on, I had... mostly scripted the later stuff to include her. And, in fact, the story actually would have changed more without her inclusion. I already have her whole purpose in this story sorted out and have for a while actually. But, it's probably still going to be a very long time before we really start seeing a lot of Mari at the forefront and interacting with the other pilots.
TheHiddenAuthor5000: Ah, yeah. I guess you could say plot did get in the way with Misato a bit. Especially with Act 3 starting in the next few chapters and all the darkness that's gonna bring with it, I kinda needed things to go a specific way with Kaji and Misato's relationship to facilitate certain things here near the end of Act 2 and throughout Act 3. Um... for further specifics, I don't wanna get too spoilery, but to put it vaguely, Act 3 is probably going to be a lot darker than Act 1 and 2. It starts off being a little... uh.. well, lets just say lewd. But... nearer the midway point and onwards, like... shit really starts to match up more closely with the later bit of the anime. There's gonna be a lot of uh... well, a lot. I don't want to completely give away everything, but the tone is gonna be much more tense right from the onset of Act 3. Like, Act 2 was really right around the point where Asuka started to (very gradually) soften up on Shinji and Rei until we got to where we are now. Act 3 is gonna have a similar change in tone. And Kaji and Misato's relationship is gonna be one of many things that play into that. And, some of it is already seeping through here in the final bit of Act 2.
Also, for anyone wondering exactly how close we are to the end of Act 2... I was considering keeping this a secret. But, I think I'll actually go ahead and let everyone know. The Finale of Act 2 is going to be chapter 42. We're currently on chapter 39. So, that should give you a pretty decent idea of where we are. Act 2 will probably come to a close some time in 2022 and I'm hoping to at least get the first chapter of Act 3 out in 2022 also unless something extremely unfortunate happens... like the world ending or something. Or me somehow going braindead. And even then, I'd still be trying as hard as I can to get this story out.
calborghete: Hello to you too, friend. I've been doing well. This chapter was kicking my ass trying to get it out as I've been trying to work on some side things that tie into this story while also continuing to write. People will probably see what that tie in is as it will be mentioned further down. But other than that, I'm hyped and glad to see you're still enjoying my story.
Hellsink Bathhall: Ah, gosh. As always, there's so much I can touch on here. I guess to start off, I'll maybe cover a little more on Ahni and Amelia's naming conventions.
As many people have probably picked up on with my constant mentioning of it, Ahni is half Peruvian. However, I didn't go too much into Amelia's heritage, but Amelia is supposed to have Swedish ancestry. So, I tried to give her a last name that sounded like it would have come from the Germanic language family. However, I also wanted both her and Ahni to seem 'Definitively American' as I have written in my notes. So, I ultimately settled on Amelia's last name being Reinhardt before then Americanizing the name and changing it's spelling to Rineheart to indicate her family gradually changed the spelling of their name over time and adopted America upon immigrating there.
As for Ahni's name though, once again, I really can't explain it without throwing out some big symbolic spoilers. (Well, big relating to her anyways.) However, everyone will immediately notice that her name sounds neither Spanish or English despite her mother's side of the family being Peruvian and her father's side being British immigrants to who moved to America. I do have a reason for her name being the way it is. But, lmao, like I mentioned, I can't explain it yet other than just saying its part of the 'definitively American' part of my naming conventions for her and Amelia. As before, all I can really say is that her full name is both a reference to a piece of American literature and to a character in the bible as well. If I'm being honest, I'm expecting it will be a very long time before anyone works out what her name is a reference to. Though, I do think an event that happens to her later on will help people figure it out should anyone care to try to solve that particular mystery. Once that big moment has passed, if people still haven't figured it out, I may do another explanation on her naming conventions without the risk of spoiling any future events.
As for the next topic, how about those flashbacks, am I right? Yeah. I've basically had two flashback-esque/recaps type things in the two most recent chapters (the reports and the actual dialogue memory flashback at the beginning of last chapter). It's been more than five years since I started writing this and I just figured it was maybe about time to touch up on everything that's happened. In fact, even with the reports and flashbacks in the past two chapters, my beta reader actually told me they went back and reread some of the earlier chapters before beta reading this one. So maybe I need even more recaps. Haha, just kidding. I don't particularly plan to do another recap in the near future. Of course, when I say near future, I mean probably at least a couple years or even longer considering how long it takes for me to get chapters out.
Also, I am aware that the beginning of last chapter was hard to read at the beginning before I edited it. I originally had it set up so that you should have been able to know who was talking, but... fanfiction deleted it for some reason? I dunno. That have some weird 'anti-spam' type filter. The most obvious things they'll remove from a story entry is links. If the website detects a link, it just nukes it out of existence and it doesn't show up at all unless you've broken the link. But there plenty of other quirky stuff that it does as well. For example, it won't let me type two exclamation points in a row without removing the second one. Also, on the app version of fanfiction, it will not display the "|" character (any people using the app aren't even going to see what I just typed in the quotation marks), but on the mobile website and desktop versions, it does show up. Its just in the app that "|" doesn't show up. And there's literally plenty of other thing's it'll butcher too.
Anyhow, what happened was that the way I had originally formatted the way of identifying who was talking... fanfiction basically just decided it was spam, and the spam protection filter removed it. So, I had to go back (several times actually) and put a whole new way of identifying who was talking. And I think I finally found a way to get it to work a few days after you posted your review saying it was hard to tell who was talking.
Going back to Mari, though. I guess you could say yeah, she does have good intentions despite how mysterious and almost conspiratorially evil she might seem in some contexts. (Her showing up in the photograph with Yui in 3.33 was pretty creepy.) Anyhow, I was trying to show her playfulness and silliness. And how she always seems to be singing. Holy crap, lmao, I already have her "arrival" planned out for when she stops being a background character and I have her singing this song and... it's so fucked up in the moment and... it's just ridiculous. The situation she's singing in is... It's insane. You'll all recognize the scene despite how the story is going to diverge. You'll all definitely recognize it as it's a call back to something that happens in the source materiel. Its unmistakable and one of the most famous scenes in the franchise. But, Mari "arriving" in that scene puts such a different and surreal twist on it. It is so friken' wild. It's fucked up, but in a subtle way that's almost not going to seem fucked up unless you step back and look at the scene and realize, "Wow... this is so fucked up." And despite me saying the the famous "fucked up" line, no, it's not the Shinji masturbating over Asuka scene that Mari finally 'arrives' in.
And for the final bit of your review, I'd say you're right about me temporarily trying to lighten things up in this chapter. But, this is probably going to be the last time in act 2 things get really lighthearted in any way. Pretty much everything after this is the buildup to the finale of Act 2 and I'm trying to develop this sort of feeling of foreboding. There's still gonna be some sweeter moments, especially next chapter, I expect there will be a little bit of catharsis. But it's not going to be truly lighthearted or carefree again for the remainder of act 2.
kelmentine: I'm happy you enjoy the more fucked up elements of this story, as, especially once we get into act 3, there's gonna be a lot more fucked up things than we've been having, though I am trying not to be overly edgy with them. But everyone has their own idea on what to much edge is. So, hopefully, I'll be able to find an impactful balance of edge. Whether I succeed at that or not though, there should be plenty of more fucked up things to look forward to. I'm also beyond ecstatic that you seem to enjoy my reversals. Also, thanks again for Beta reading.
makoto88: Okay, I see your review is in Spanish. I hope that this response will be legible due to the automatic translations on browsers these days. But even so, please excuse me if its not, as I'm not super fluent in Spanish. Of course, this is ironic considering some of the dialogue later in the chapter. But, hey, I'm not fluent in German either when I try to make Asuka speak it. (I know, everyone. I'm a stupid American who isn't mandated to learn an additional language in school and I know many of my worldwide readers are probably bilingual.) Anyhow, I'm happy you seem to be enjoying the story so far. In fact I'm quite flattered you think it's one of the best (assuming the translation tool I used was correct). Personally, I'd hold off on making such lofty judgements until we've seen all the way through to the end. (I can't wait to show everyone! I'd say to expect an even happier ending than Thrice Upon a Time.) But I am humbled nonetheless that you think so highly of this story and I will continue to endeavor to try as hard as I can to actually earn the praise I've been given. And I hope that everyone will be able to enjoy the journey along the way.
SpecH82T: Okay, honestly, you're not the first person I've heard say that. And, especially because I tried to make all the characters problems even more problematic, I would not have blamed you for dropping the story earlier on if you disliked Shinji and Asuka. And in fact, if you'd read this a couple years ago, you probably would have quit reading since it took me quite a while to actually get Asuka to quit being so hostile to Shinji and Rei. Thankfully, you read it now instead of back then, and so you can see they have changed. Though, hopefully, they'll still be recognizable as themselves. Now, of course... this story is nowhere near over. And there's still a lot that's going to happen. And, you may still quit reading in the future. And once again, I won't blame you. But I'm happy you've given this story a chance and that I somehow managed to hook you despite your dislike of Asuka and Shinji. I hope I'll be able to keep you engaged and hopefully you won't have found this story a waste of time if you do decide to drop it in the future. I can't say too much more because I don't want to get too spoilery, but... there's still a lot of things the characters are going to go through.
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And, now for the music guide. We only have one song this time.
:Music Guide:
:Song One:
Mori no Miyako
It should be played at the titlecard-
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-A Day for Ourselves-
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Yes, its from Persona 5: The Phantom Strikers. I had another song planned, but this one sounded nice with the scene, so I went with it.
If you'd like to search it's I'd suggest searching either "Mori no Miyako extended" or "Forest Capital Extended" They should both get you the same results.
And, as always, if you'd like to download it, I'll have a download link posted with the song on this story's facebook page within a few minutes.
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Text Guide
Standard Wording
"Spoken Dialogue/Sign Language/Phone Texts"
'Internal Dialogue/Thoughts'
(Flashbacks)
/
[Slash denotes scene transition for the moment; this may be changed in the future so as to become more visible.]
Italicized text, however it is used, is nonstandard and is often used for, but not limited to, emphasized or stressed dialogue, phone texts, sign language, contextual references either through dialogue or narration or exposition, and extra-literary quotations among other things.
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Disclaimer: I do not own or profit off of Neon Genesis Evangelion, The 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 39
The Gear of Change
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Question not the why nor the how.
Instead, seek the answer to where now.
A strange new world I have entered into.
But I'll be okay so long as I remain with you.
"Departure, Leaving Home" by, Amelia Bree Rineheart
Somewhere, on a NERV Hierofalcon transport aircraft over the Pacific Ocean...
"Fuck!" Ahni cursed for seemingly no reason, almost causing Amelia to jump in fear due to her rather prominent anxiety.
Amelia timidly glanced at the girl sitting next to her before seeing she didn't seem to be mad at anything in particular. She then poked the girl in the cheek, as she normally did when she wished for her attention. Ahni then looked at Amelia, seemingly unaware she'd cursed aloud.
"What's wrong, darling girl?" Amelia signed towards her girlfriend in concern.
"Oh, shit! Did I say that out loud?"
"Yeah. You did. What's wrong?"
"Oh… It's nothing," Ahni said dismissively, despite the fact she obviously wasn't letting it go, "I just realized I wouldn't be able to visit the Stringer family's Lufkin Barbecue stop anymore… Not that I really got to visit all that often anyways being tied down at NERV-02 and all. But still! Now it'll be even harder to visit! They had my favorite smoked turkey in the world! Fuck! And I'm going to miss those fried yeast rolls so much!"
Amelia patted the girl's head before once more signing to her, "Don't worry, darling. I read the other night Japan has good barbecue too. Someone on this one forum said that Japan and the U.S. have the best barbecue in the world… I don't know if that's entirely true. But, it's probably not a lie either. I'm sure you'll find something you'll like. Maybe we can try to get a pork bun. Or if that doesn't work out, we can always get some sushi… or you can get sushi. I won't touch that raw fish stuff, but I'll buy it for you if you want it."
"Hmm, I dunno about that. The Latin American countries have some good barbecue too. Mmm, I would kill for some barbacoa right now! Oooh, I'm hurting inside! I'm already homesick and I've only been in the air a few hours! ...Getting some Osaka style sushi or some Yakisoba wouldn't be so bad though. …I guess if I can't have my southern barbecue and Cajun food, I'll just have to distract myself with the culinary wonders of the far east! Fuck! Now I can't wait to land! I want to get some authentic drunken noodles and cuttlefish ramen! Oooh, and some yuzu flavored sake! AH! IMAGINE! ALL THE RAMUNE I COULD POSSIBLY DRINK!"
"Geez, calm down, you absolute weeb. You're gonna give yourself an aneurysm. And don't even think about drinking sake! You're not old enough to drink and I don't want you getting thrown in jail first thing when we arrive," Amelia signed to the girl in exasperation,"Though, I'll admit… I'm kind of excited too."
"Aww, come on, cutie! Surely a couple shots wouldn't hurt! It's been forever since we've drunk! And I want to make the occasion just a little more special."
"Its only been like a week… and the last time we did get drunk, I seem to remember we almost got caught doing some deviant things!" Amelia signed as a blush spread over her cheeks, "Besides, where would we even get any alcohol? I don't think my fake ID is going to get me very far in Japan."
"I dunno! We're smart! Life has many doors, cutie-pie. We'll find a way!" Ahni said before giving Amelia a kiss on the cheek.
The blonde girl shivered in excitement and anticipation as Ahni's lips made contact with the blushing flesh of her cheek. As much as she might try to deny it, there was something romantic about going on a trip to a foreign country with her girlfriend and only her girlfriend. There was no chaperon to break the girls up if things got too heated in the bedroom. When she thought about it, it almost seemed like it could be a honeymoon and suddenly, a bit of alcohol didn't seem like the worst idea.
Despite her protesting against Ahni's suggestions, she didn't think she'd truly be able to deny the deaf girl if she became any more insistent. Ahni's charms were too powerful, almost to the point that her ability to infect someone's mind with an idea seemed to lie on the verge of being supernatural, which consequently matched up with her nickname of "Enchantress" all too well.
Oh yes, when Ahni came up with an idea, that idea was liable to spread to those around her, even if it was, admittedly, a terrible and irresponsible idea. She had a way of making even the worst ideas sound like a spark of genius that couldn't be passed up. Her powers of persuasion and her ability to tempt you were…. quite frightening at times. It was only a shame… or perhaps a blessing, depending on the situation, that you wouldn't realize it until you were in too deep with her schemes.
Amelia could feel a knot inside her stomach. But it wasn't an unpleasant feeling. It was the same kind of knot she'd get when she was about to go on a road trip. It was the call of adventure! A once in a lifetime experience! A chance to make memories and learn new things! And she'd get to do it all right alongside the love of her life.
"Hello!? Cunny department? I'd like to place an order! One Amelia Rineheart to go!" Ahni said, teasing Amelia and breaking her out of her thoughts.
Amelia's shoulder tensed and a blush streaked over her cheeks and nose.
"Get out, you pervert!" Amelia signed to the girl.
"Get out? We're in an airplane!"
"Go to horny jail!" Amelia signed again.
Ahni stuck her tongue out of her mouth and playfully bit it as a toothy smirk grew from her lips.
"Ooh, cutie-pie! I know you're thinking about it! After all, how often do people get to have sex thousands of feet in the air?" Ahni said mischievously.
"We can't! We'll get caught!"
Ahni got out of her cold metal seat before instead sitting in Amelia's lap and wrapping her arms around the girl's neck, pulling her closer to her. She then gave Amelia a quick kiss on her cheek before leaning over her shoulder and whispering in her ear, "When has that ever stopped us before?"
Ahni then kissed the girl's neck and Amelia let out what could vaguely be called a gasp.
Ahni leaned back out of the embrace before giggling and Amelia looked the girl dead in her wickedly blue eyes. Amelia's knees felt weak and she could feel Ahni's finger nails gently scraping against the back of her neck. Amelia then shivered before resting her forehead in what little cleavage Ahni had between her small breasts.
"Oh, poor cutie-pie. You always do that when you can't make up your mind," Ahni said in an endearingly affectionate tone.
Amelia looked back up at Ahni and gave her the best pouty expression she could muster. Despite her resistance, she already knew how this would end. Ahni's charms were to potent for Amelia to withstand.
"If it'll help you make up your mind," Ahni said with a sly smirk, "I'm pretty sure its just the pilot and co-pilot on the flight deck. You and me are the only ones here in the back cabin. And I don't think we'll have to worry about anyone hearing us."
Amelia blushed before looking to her side.
"So?! What do yah say!?" Ahni questioned slyly, knowing she'd already won as she flicked the strap of her black tank top off her shoulder.
Amelia suddenly looked back at the girl before pulling her back into the embrace, trying her best to kiss Ahni's throat and shoulders despite her lips not responding well to her desires.
"Oh, heheh, I knew you couldn't resist," Ahni said seductively as she stroked the girl's hair.
Ahni then lightly traced her finger's down the side of Amelia's chest before running them over her stomach and thigh before then reaching under Amelia's skirt and sticking her hands into her panties.
A small raspy squeaking sound came from somewhere in Amelia's throat, one of the few sounds she was able to make on occasion.
"Don't worry, cutie," Ahni whispered, "I'll make this worth it."
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-Inflorescence-
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Meanwhile, in a spatially anomalous conference room...
"And what of Ikari? He sees himself as the Demiurge," a stone monolith with a glowing red number four on it questioned from the darkness.
"Ah, yes, one ready to usher in humanity's new reality," another monolith, this time with the number six, responded.
"A brave new world."
"Yes, yes. And what are we going to do about him?" the fourth monolith questioned again.
"Hmm… even the most pointless of conflicts may alter a world's course. And now the plan may be set awry."
"And for us whose goal is this; to restore the world to what it once was, what it was always meant to be, this is not our desire. It goes against the word of God. This must be rectified."
"Keel?" yet another monolith said.
A glowing red one appeared in the darkness and, for a moment, there was silence.
"Have you no words for us?" one of the monoliths rasped out.
"The third child is our true concern," Keel finally said, "There's no telling how the ill-bred whelp might react."
"Ikari has influenced him…"
"Yes, and that will be of no moment once we send Kaworu," Keel asserted.
"Do not be so sure. We would be wise to have backup plans for our backup plans. The whims of fate were ever so capricious," a monolith with a glowing red two on it warned.
"Kaworu is a backup plan within a backup plan," Keel retorted.
"And what of the other children? The second child is still alive. And Ikari has apparently summoned the sixth and the seventh to the final seat."
"Then he grows desperate?" a stone with an eight on it said, "Bringing these children of another land to his doorstep. They who cannot speak the words spoken nor hear the words uttered on the lifeless air. They are an incomplete existence in an incomplete world. That he seeketh aid in them betrays his vulnerability. In being desirous to strengthen his hand in the game, he but weakens it."
"Yes. He seeks to guard himself against this most tempestuous of storms. Yet, inexperienced as they are, they will avail him naught."
"Once again, I must implore you not to be overconfident. The third child was also inexperienced, but look at him now!" the stone with a two on it once again cautioned, "The third now stands at a precipice that could erase our future as well as our past and present work. One wrong step, a misstep that would be all to easy to make, and the future we have so carefully designed could be unwritten and left in tatters."
"Hmmhmm, have faith brother. We are not so careless as that."
"Indeed, Ikari will not succeed," Keel spoke assuredly, "Kaworu is more than a match for all of them. Be it by the Evangelions or by Kaworu himself, he has ample means at his disposal to ensure our scenario continues unabated."
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-The Ordeal Is Only Just Beginning-
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:Japan
:Kanagawa Prefecture
:Tokyo-3
:The Katsuragi Residence
Rock of Ages,
We Cast The First Stone
In Our Cages,
We Know Not What We Do
Indecision,
Here At The Crossroads
Recognition,
Tomorrow's Come Too Soon
Follow Blindly,
Like Lambs To Slaughter
At The Mercy
Of Those Who Ply The Sword
As Our Song Wends,
Dead Underwater
We're Forgotten,
For Now and Evermore
Meanwhile, at the Katsuragi Residence…
"SHUT UP! YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT ME BEFORE! QUIT PRETENDING TO CARE ABOUT ME NOW!"
Shinji's eyes shot open hearing Asuka shouting. He looked over to his side to see Asuka wasn't in her usual place in his arms. On his other side, he heard Rei groan as she too began to awaken and slowly climb out of bed.
"Rei, do you know where Asuka is?" Shinji quietly questioned.
"Mmgh, I do not," Rei mumbled sleepily.
Shinji threw the covers off of him and began to put on some clothes before realizing he was apparently still clothed. He couldn't remember clearly, but he must've been tired enough to have fallen asleep with them still on.
Upon standing up and rushing towards the door, he felt a pain deep in the bones of his legs and was suddenly reminded of everything that had happened the day before.
After opening the door to his room, he rushed down the short hallway and into the living room just to see Asuka pacing about in the kitchen while apparently having a heated conversation over her phone.
"No! NO! I'M DONE WITH YOU! ALL YOU EVER DID WAS TREAT ME LIKE A NUISANCE! I used to put up with you. I wanted someone to be there for me, and I thought if I could appease you, maybe you'd like me. I thought maybe you'd treat me like a human, BUT ALL YOU EVER DID WAS TREAT ME LIKE I WAS THE DEVIL! So, no! I won't let you just worm your way back into my life so you can use me! I have a new family now, AND THEY'RE BETTER THAN YOU EVER WERE!" Asuka shouted into her phone before ending the call and reeling her hand back, preparing to throw the phone against the wall.
But, as Asuka was about to sling her hand forward to chuck her phone, she felt a hand wrap around her wrist.
"Don't throw your phone, Asuka," Shinji quietly begged.
The girl sighed and tried as calmly as she could to lower her arm and put her phone back in her pocket.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Shinji asked as he released the girl's arm.
"It… it was mutti."
"Mutti? That's… your stepmother, right?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah. I couldn't sleep and she kept calling me. I guess someone told her about what happened. Ruthless bitch. She never misses a chance to take advantage of a situation."
At that moment, Rei emerged from the hallway leading into Shinji's room and made her way into the kitchen. And, upon arriving, she slowly walked up to Asuka and hugged her before sleepily nuzzling her head into Asuka's neck. This seemed to help calm Asuka down further and she put one of her hands on the back of Rei's head to stroke her hair.
"We should go back to bed, Asuka," Shinji said, "You need to rest."
"It doesn't matter. I can't sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time. My head won't stop throbbing."
"Do you need more of your pain medicine? Your first dose has probably worn off by now. I can go get it if you want," Shinji offered.
"Yeah… Maybe… I don't know."
"I'll go get it then," Shinji said.
"No! I can get it," Rei suddenly interjected, "You must rest too, Shinji. I will get it."
Rei then pulled out of the hug she was giving Asuka and quietly made her way back to Shinji's room where she'd left the bag of pills. A few moments after Rei had pulled out of the embrace, Asuka leaned into Shinji's chest. He then gently began hugging the girl in Rei's place, hoping that what he offered her in comfort was enough.
"You said we'd run away…" Asuka whispered.
"I did," Shinji said as he stroked the girl's hair.
"Have you thought about where we'd go?"
"Not yet. We couldn't run away right now, even if we wanted."
"I know… I couldn't stop thinking about it while I was in bed though," Asuka sighed into Shinji's chest.
"Did you have any places in mind? We could go anywhere you wanted," Shinji asked the girl, gently trying to coax her thoughts from her.
"I dunno… I thought about Kyoto. I've heard its supposed to be really pretty. I also thought about New Sendai or what's left of Okinawa or Ube. Maybe Sarufutsu. But, I think I'll need to temper my expectations. We're probably only going to be scraping by. I also considered Odawara and Kashihara, but I really don't have a good idea of where we should go."
"Hmm… a small town might be good for hiding…. Or maybe it wouldn't. We might stand out. And I don't know about Okinawa and Sarufutsu. Sarufutsu's in Hokkaido, isn't it? We'd have to cross the water to get to it. That means either paying a ferry... or swimming," Shinji considered aloud.
"There was another place I saw while searching on my phone before mutter called. I think it was a pre-impact photo. But, it was really pretty. It was this one town called Jozankei, near Sapporo. It looked really nice. Like… maybe nice enough to settle down and start a family type of nice."
"A-Asuka," Shinji stuttered with a blush, "I- I mean, I'm sure it's a fine place. But… starting a family? You said so yourself, we'll only be scraping by. Unless we can get jobs or live off the land, we'll barely be able to support ourselves."
Asuka blushed and buried her face further into Shinji's shirt.
"I know. I'm sorry. It was stupid to bring that up," Asuka said into Shinji's chest, "But, it just got me thinking… Maybe I really don't want to live this life anymore. I've… always seen myself as a soldier. And, I thought I was prepared for that. I thought I was ready to die. And, maybe, at one point, I was."
Asuka then raised her head from Shinji's chest and looked at him with her one good eye. Shinji himself put his hand on the girl's cheek, careful not to press too hard on her so he wouldn't hurt her.
"But… But then, all of… this happened. Us. We happened," Asuka continued, "And… when I was sitting inside Unit-02, waiting for you to kill me… I know I told you to just do it. But… I didn't want to die. The only reason I told you to do it was because I couldn't stand thinking about it. I tried to ignore it and just disappeared into this little fantasy world so I wouldn't have to actually face dying. I ran away mentally and emotionally. And now…. I realize maybe I'm not cut out for this anymore."
Asuka could see a few tears welling up in the corners of Shinji's eyes despite the fact he tried to hide it.
"Maybe..." Asuka started again, "Maybe, its time to run away for real this time. And, when I thought about it like that… I kinda realized living a quiet life might not be so bad."
"You've changed, Asuka," Shinji said is a quiet raspy voice, still trying not to cry in front of Asuka when she needed him.
"No more fighting. No more pain. No more doing what everyone tells us to do. We just run away. Disappear. Hide in a forest. Build a little house. Find some place no one will come looking for us, and if they do, they won't be able to make us come back. We really will be able to start a little family once we iron everything out," Asuka said with a smile as she brushed Shinji's hair aside, "Where did you say you lived before you came to Tokyo-3? You mentioned it earlier on the train."
"Oh, yeah. New Atsugi. I don't know if that would really be the greatest place though. My Aunt and Uncle are there. They might be able to help us… but I don't know if I really want to get them involved in everything that's been going on between me and father."
"Yeah…" Asuka grumbled, "I guess that would be rude. And it might be too easy to guess for anyone who came after us too."
After a few more moments, Rei walked back into the kitchen with the bag of prescription painkillers and set it on the kitchen counter before unraveling the top of the bag before pulling out a pair of bottles.
"Um," Rei mumbled as she examined the bottles before finding one with Asuka's name on it and trying to open it.
Asuka sighed and pulled out of Shinji's embrace. She then reached for a glass that was sitting on the counter top, hoping to fill it with water so she could swallow her pill easier. Though, upon trying to grab it, she misjudged the distance of it due to her only having one eye now and lacking depth perception, which ultimately ended up in her accidentally knocking the glass off the counter and onto the kitchen floor.
She clenched her fists as the glass shattered on the floor. For a moment, she felt like she was going to blow up in a fury. But the infernal anger quickly transformed into a smoldering sadness and she instead collapsed onto the floor alongside the glass shards and began crying.
It hadn't been something many people would have been willing to say aloud to her, but she looked pathetic. She was no longer the confident volcanic warrior goddess she once had been. She was broken. The fire in her had finally been quenched. She was now nothing more than a cool autumn breeze that had been painted with the same red that could be found in leaves in the fall. The flames that threatened to consume her and everyone around her were no more and had been reduced to the dying embers found in an untended hearth
But, if they were to live a life of peace and quiet, perhaps she wouldn't need that fire anymore. Maybe the embers would be enough.
Or, mayhap, the embers would yet be rekindled.
Only time would tell. Either way, the change wouldn't be an easy one.
"Fuck!" Asuka sobbed as she slumped against the side of the counter, "I'm worthless!"
"Asuka, don't say that!" Shinji scolded the girl as he rushed to her side and put an arm around her, ignoring the aching in his bones.
"Shinji, you need to be careful!" Asuka sobbed as he arrived at her side.
"I'm fine, Asuka," Shinji assured her as he carefully pulled her head into his chest.
Rei soon arrived at Asuka's side as well.
"Everything will be well, Asuka," she said as she petted Asuka's head, trying to emulate how Asuka herself would pet Rei's head.
"It's okay, Asuka. You'll get used to it," Shinji added.
"I- I don't want to get used to it!" Asuka wailed into Shinji's shirt, "I WANT MY EYE BACK!"
Perhaps that wasn't the choicest thing for Shinji to say, but he'd never been very good at talking with or comforting people. And, while he'd gotten better at talking to Asuka, this wasn't the same girl he once knew. She hadn't been one to dwell on failures or shortcomings, instead seeking to overcome them.
Shinji sighed before rethinking his words.
"Asuka, listen, I am so sorry that this happened to you. And I'm sorry that I can't change what happened. But I'm going to make sure my father never hurts you like this again."
"Wha- What happened, Shinji?" Asuka sniffled into Shinji's tear-soaked shirt, "What happened to you?"
Shinji sighed and pondered how to respond. Despite everything that had happened, he somehow still felt some reluctance to sell his father out and tell Asuka he had practically been being tortured all throughout the previous day. Saying such a thing would likely erase all pretense and, in all honesty, only expedite the urgency with which they felt the need to flee. And, in Asuka's current state, as well as his own, Shinji didn't want to put that kind of pressure on her.
But Rei already knew, at least to an extent, what had occurred, and it had only been a few nights ago that they had agreed to not keep secrets any longer.
"I… Uh…" Shinji struggled to say.
"What, Shinji? What happened? How did you get these bruises and broken bones?" Asuka asked again.
Rei glanced at Shinji, seemingly offering to reveal what had happened in Shinji's place.
"Shinji…" Rei said sadly.
"After… After my father activated the dummy system in Unit-01, I… I just… I was so worried you were dead," Shinji started, unconsciously squeezing a lock of Asuka's red hair in his hand, "I was… furious. I don't think I've ever been so angry before in my life. I didn't really know what I was doing. It was just a split second of something inside me sparking. And I acted on it…"
"I… don't understand, Shinji. What are you saying?" Asuka sniffled as she managed to raise her head from the tearful splotch on Shinji's shirt and look him in the eye.
Even now, she could the boys brows were furrowed thinking back on what had happened.
"I… I attacked NERV while piloting Unit-01," the boy finally said.
"Shinji…" Asuka said in disbelief.
Rei made some kind of sad mumbling sound before hugging both Shinji and Asuka.
"Obviously, um… father didn't take too kindly to that. He had me detained. And… basically, he had someone torture me," Shinji said sheepishly.
"N… No…" Asuka stuttered as she shook her head in disbelief.
"It's okay, though. I'm fine now. And Rei managed to get me out."
Asuka looked at Rei, seeing that she too was tearing up a bit.
"Oh, Rei. How did you manage to do that, you brave girl?" Asuka said, trying to help cheer her up.
"It… wasn't anything that could be called brave," Rei said as she wiped a few tears from her eyes, "I simply... went to Commander Ikari and told him of my heart."
Asuka wrapped one of her arms around the girl's head and pulled Rei's head into her chest, where Rei proceeded to quietly sob into Asuka's shirt.
"I want to say I can't believe he'd do that," Asuka said in a spiteful voice, "You're his own son for fuck's sake. But… I know better than anyone that blood doesn't define family. I wouldn't put it past my own father to do something like that after what he did to my mom."
"Asuka…" Shinji said.
"We have to get out," Asuka said again, "We have to run away. He's going to kill us!"
"I know, Asuka. As soon as we're healed, we're going. I promise. We need to focus on getting better as fast as we can and then we'll go."
"Yeah… I guess we don't have much choice but to just wait for now."
"If we're going to get better, we're going to need sleep. So we should probably get you your medicine and go back to bed," Shinji said as he stood up and offered his hand to the girl.
"Fuck. Don't remind me," Asuka mumbled as she took Shinji's hand and stood up along with Rei.
After both of the girls were up from the floor, Shinji grabbed a new glass and filled it with some water from the tap while Rei went about pulling a pill or two from Asuka's bottle of prescription pain pills. Rei then tenderly handed the pill to Asuka while Shinji turned off the faucet. And, as Shinji was about to hand the girl the glass, Asuka noticed something about Shinji's hands.
They were bandaged. Surprisingly, she hadn't noticed it before on the train ride home or during the walk from the station to Misato's apartment, probably because of how muddled her mind had been at the time. She'd already taken her first dose of the painkillers shortly before and it had seemingly left her less observant.
"Shinji… your hands?" Asuka said.
Shinji blushed a little and recoiled after he'd handed the glass of water to Asuka.
"Uh… it's nothing," he said.
"What happened?" Asuka asked again.
"Um…" Shinji said before once more falling silent.
"He opened the hatch of your entry plug after Unit-02 was disabled," Rei stated with a sniffle, saying what Shinji wouldn't, "Doctor Akagi bandaged the burns."
Shinji bashfully refused to meet Asuka's eyes.
Asuka felt her heart drop and she started tearing up once again. She put the pill and the glass of water on the counter top before slowly taking a few steps towards Shinji and once more hugging him as she rested her head on his shoulder. She felt guilty about the fact she'd inadvertently caused him harm, but, at the same time, part of her felt secure that she had someone who would put themselves in harms way to save her. It felt good knowing she finally meant something to someone. She only hoped that, even if he was willing to suffer for her, he wouldn't be forced to do so again.
"Shinji, you foolish brave boy," Asuka sighed.
"It's nothing, really. I didn't even notice the pain. I was more concerned about you," Shinji said, seeming embarrassed for some reason.
"You're so stupid," Asuka chuckled as she finally pulled out of the hug and once more prepared to take her medicine.
As Asuka lifted the glass to her lips, Shinji felt someone poking him only to find Rei's hand outstretched before him. She unraveled her fingers to reveal yet another pill, seemingly a similar one to which Asuka had taken.
"Take it," Rei said plainly.
"Oh, no, Rei, I'm fine, really," Shinji said bashfully.
Rei furrowed her brow and said, "Take it," again, this time more forcefully than was usual of her.
Shinji sighed and did as he was told, taking the pill before grabbing another empty glass and filling it with water.
As Shinji swallowed the pill however, something occurred to him. Something he should have been aware of before now, but has somehow neglected to consider after the events of the past two days had been at the forefront of his mind. Something that could throw a wrench into all of his plans, hastily made as they were.
After Shinji put down the glass, he inhaled, trying to calm his nerves despite the sinking feeling in his chest.
"Rei…" he said.
"Hmm?" the girl questioned.
"...Your condition. The LCL," he continued.
Asuka's eye also widened before she also looked at Rei with a worried expression full of turmoil.
"How are we going to leave if you need LCL?" Shinji asked.
"Oh no…" Asuka said in a saddened voice.
Rei, despite the predicament, smiled at the both of them.
"I am not sure," Rei said, "But I intend to speak with Doctor Akagi about it. Maybe, there is something to be done."
"Damn it!" Asuka hissed, "We can't stay here. But… we can't leave either."
"If… you need to," Rei began, "You may leave without me."
"No way in hell are we leaving you behind!" Asuka stated defiantly.
"Yeah, we can't just leave you, Rei. There's no telling what father might do to you once he figured out we'd left," Shinji affirmed.
"Hmm… that may be so," Rei said depressingly, "Nonetheless, we should still plan on how to run away until I can ask Doctor Akagi for further clarification."
"Honestly… I agree," Asuka sighed, "Even if we don't end up running away, we should still have a course of action in mind just in case."
Asuka tiredly rubbed her eyes with her wrists before walking over to the kitchen table and pulling out a chair, sitting on it in reverse so she could prop her arms and head up on the backrest.
"Damn it, I don't know what to do," Shinji sighed as he too pulled a chair out and sat down.
"It is okay. We have time to consider," Rei said, trying to reassure the others as she walked over to small pantry and pulled out a broom to sweep up the glass shards strewn about the floor.
"Yeah, but how much? How long 'til the next angel shows up? How long before we have to pilot the Eva again? Even with this dummy system, they could still call on us. There's probably a reason they didn't use it before now," Asuka said as she scuffed her feet across the floor.
"Mmgh… I will endeavor to resolve this as soon as I am able," Rei said, eager to unburden her lovers.
"It's okay, Rei. Like Shinji said. We're not in any condition to run away or even pilot. It's you who should be more worried."
"Even so," Rei solemnly voiced, "There was something Commander Ikari told me. He told me that… I am to watch over you. Both of you. That is why I was made, and that is what I shall do."
Asuka sighed before glancing over at Shinji. She was about to ask him his thoughts on the voice that had yet again called them, but something distracted her and she quickly reshuffled her attention to some kind of thing that had been around Shinji's neck ever since she'd been reunited with him.
"Hey, Shinji?" she asked.
"Yeah?" Shinji questioned back tiredly.
"What's that thing around your neck? You've been wearing it ever since I was let out of the hospital."
"I have been wondering that as well," Rei said as she finished gathering up the pieces of glass.
Shinji seemed confused for a moment before remembering that, in his urgency to see Asuka, the men who had been torturing him had fitted something around his neck right before being dismissed by his father.
"Oh, this?" Shinji asked as he grabbed at the necklace, "I'm… not sure, honestly. They put it on me before letting me out of detainment. Father said it was… insurance."
"Insurance?" Asuka asked incredulously, "Like what? Like a GPS or something? Why? Because you attacked NERV?"
"Honestly, I have no idea. But, I imagine it is because of that," Shinji sighed.
"Well, if it's a GPS, we have to get rid of it before we run away… if we run away. Have you tried taking it off?"
"Ugh," Shinji said as he yanked at the collar a few times, "I have now. But, it doesn't feel like it's coming off."
"What?" Asuka asked, "Here, lemme see!"
Asuka leaned over towards Shinji before examining the thing around his neck. But, after going over its design for several seconds, she saw no way to undo the collar.
"What the hell? I don't see any latch or hook or anything. How the hell did they get it on you? I don't even see a way to loosen it."
"Honestly, I just got finished being punched in the face before they put it on me, so I don't really remember," Shinji said sheepishly.
"Hey, Rei, could you hand me those scissors," Asuka asked of the girl.
Rei grabbed a pair of scissors from the kitchen knife block and handed them to Asuka before returning her attention to the glass and dumping it into the garbage.
Ever so carefully, Asuka slid one of the scissor blades between Shinji's neck and the collar before attempting to snip the thing. But, she was entirely unsuccessful. Not even a nick or bite could be seen on the collar. There was no indication anyone had even tried to cut it.
"What the hell? Is this made of fucking Kevlar or Technora or some shit?" Asuka asked as she pulled the scissor blades away from Shinji's throat.
Shinji sighed.
"Geez, what the hell?" Asuka also said in a sigh before dropping the scissors on the kitchen table.
"Don't worry about it for now, Asuka," Shinji said, "We can figure it out tomorrow. We probably need to get back to bed soon."
Asuka pulled out her phone to check what time it was. Her digital clock read 3:02 A.M. and she was about to put her phone back up before she then saw a notification, probably a headline from some news site, scroll across her RSS feed. It read "Protests Break Out Internationally Over Violation of Vatican Treaty."
Asuka scowled before putting her phone back in her pocket.
"So, whatever happened to Unit-03 then?" Asuka asked.
"Uh… Unit-03… I think the angel abandoned it to take over Unit-02," Shinji said unsurely, "The Air Defense Force burned the angel up with firebombs, just like Misato said. But, I don't know where Unit-03 is right now."
Asuka frowned a little bit knowing what she already knew of the angel.
"It would seem an exchange of information is in order," Rei said as she too finally sat down at the kitchen table.
"So…. I guess to start from the beginning then," Asuka said as she glanced at Rei, "What happened after your eyes went purple, Wondergirl?"
Rei glanced down at the floor before speaking.
"The… voice spoke to me once more. However, the voice initially seemed to be that of Commander Ikari instead of the one we had originally heard. It… spoke to me of duty… and of disappointment. It then became that of the voice we had heard before. And… it told me to trust in Asuka and to sleep. After that… I awoke and was told by Miss Katsuragi and Doctor Akagi that the angel had been pacified but that… that you…"
Shinji inquisitively raised his eyebrow at Rei's words.
"It's okay, Rei. You don't need to say any more," Asuka said.
"What Rei said sounds a lot like what happened to me too," Shinji added, "I heard father's voice talking to me. And then it was someone else telling me to just leave everything to Asuka. I passed out after that and then when I woke up…"
Asuka closed her eye and sighed. She supposed that, being the only one who hadn't been totally incapacitated, it was now her turn to reveal the events that led them to where they were now.
"Well… after everything went purple, I… I heard my mother's voice… My biological mother, not my stepmother. And… she ridiculed me… a lot. She said no one loved me and that all I did was hurt people. And, after that, it was that same voice as before. It said… something about going through my memories or something. And… then… well, before I go any further, do you remember the other night? When I asked you about the triple seven protocol, Rei?"
"Hmm? Y-yes," Rei said.
"Yeah… well… I used it," Asuka said.
"You did?" Rei asked, seemingly curious over the whole thing.
"What… did it do?" Shinji asked, slightly shaken over the prospect.
"It did a lot more than just letting me sync over eighty percent..." Asuka trailed off, her thoughts seemingly drifting back to the visceral feeling of being inside Unit-02 after she initiated the procedure.
"What… What happened?" Shinji asked as Rei also intently leaned closer to Asuka, giving her her full attention.
"It… turned Unit-02 into a monster," Asuka said, the reality of what had happened only just now sinking in, "A demon… A beast."
"What do you mean?" Shinji once again asked, trying to get more than vague descriptions out of the girl.
Asuka glanced at Shinji and Rei, a haunted expression on her face.
"I mean… it really turned Unit-02 into an animal. It… turned me into an animal. The voice… it told me to use it. And I did. And then everything was just… red. It was like… my thoughts, all my feelings and my identity, everything that I was, just melted away and turned into anger and… rage. I didn't have any clear line of thought. It was just instincts. The only thing I knew was that… I had to protect both of you. I remember people saying things to me and I didn't understand what they were saying, but… at the same time, I did."
"And… that's what happened while we were unconscious?" Shinji asked.
"Yeah… the inside of my entry plug lit up with red lights and everything kinda just faded away except for Unit-03 and the angel. I think… I think I was winning but, then, the angel somehow got on Unit-02 and it took my control away from me. It possessed Unit-02 just like it had possessed Unit-03. It was around that time that you woke up, Shinji. I guess Rei woke up a few minutes later. And… then you know what happened from there… I lost my eye and then I don't remember much of anything until I woke up in the hospital."
"I was with Miss Katsuragi as you were being taken to the hospital," Rei said, "She was following behind the ambulance."
"And… while that was happening, I attacked NERV," Shinji finished.
Everyone remained silent for a moment, piecing everything together. Asuka ran one of her hands through her hair. It felt odd not wearing her neural connectors. With her decision to not wear them anymore, she almost felt like she was leaving a part of herself behind. But, perhaps that was for the best.
"So… there's a few more things," Asuka said.
"Hmm?" Shinji and Rei both questioned.
"A little while ago, when you were getting that x-ray done, Doctor Akagi spoke with me in private."
"What did she say?" Rei questioned.
"Uh…. Listen, try not to freak out, but… the angel… it's not... dead," Asuka said in an uncharacteristically timid manner.
"What do you mean!?" Shinji asked in shock, "I saw it! I saw it being burned alive. I saw the JSDF firebomb it with my own eyes!"
"I… don't doubt that you did," Asuka said as she cast her eye to the kitchen floor, "But, the truth of the matter is… the truth is, it corrupted me."
Both Shinji and Rei stared at Asuka in silent shock, not sure they were hearing her right.
"Part of it… um," Asuka continued, "it corrupted my eye socket. Doctor Akagi said that… it was probably trying to get further inside me through my wound. But, that the stress of being burned and separated left it in a temporarily weakened state."
"So… that's what that blue glow was when we pulled you out of the entry plug?" Shinji questioned.
"I… uh, obviously wasn't conscious during that, but I'd assume, yes, that was it."
"Are…. Are you okay!? You're not in danger, are you!?" Shinji frantically asked, almost ready to get out of his seat.
"Danger!? No… I don't think so. Doctor Akagi said…" Asuka tried to say before sighing, trying not to break down crying, "She said that she had the surgeons put some kind of… device in my head. Where… my eye used to be. She said it should keep the angel restrained."
"So… you…" Shinji trailed off.
"Yeah," Asuka confirmed, "I got a hunk of metal in my head now. Good luck getting through metal detectors at the airport without setting off all kinds of alarms.
Asuka gave a weak chuckle to try to lighten the mood but it didn't seem to do much to help ease the tension.
"Can't they get it out of you?" Shinji asked in disbelief.
"No. Doctor Akagi says the surgeons already tried. It's A.T. field is weak… but strong enough to resist a scalpel. And, anything with enough strength to get through it's A.T. field would also risk causing further harm to myself. So, all that they can do is just hope the restraining bolt is enough to keep it in place. Its… basically a part of me now. Guess you're not the only one who's part angel now, huh, Wondergirl? It's funny how things work out. Fate is full of irony."
Rei let out a sad moan at this and cast her eyes to the floor.
"That's not all though," Asuka continued, "Doctor Akagi was… I guess surprised is the easiest way to put it, that I knew about the Triple Seven Protocol. She asked how I learned about it. I lied… obviously. I told her the voice told me about it. I didn't want to get Kaji or Rei in trouble. But that's beside the point. She… sorta said that the Triple Seven Protocol wasn't actually fully enabled in Unit-02. And, that, what I actually activated was a… I guess a fallback mode. Or a prototype of it? I dunno. She said it was an incomplete version of the Triple Seven mode. She said what I actually engaged was something called a Triple Six Protocol."
"Triple… Six?" Rei questioned.
"Huh… so, you don't know about it?" Asuka asked, "Then I guess there's still some secrets to uncover. But… I guess that can wait. We… should probably get back to bed. The opiates will be making us drowsy in a bit."
"Um, I heard something yesterday," Rei suddenly blurted out just as Shinji and Asuka began to get up from their seats.
"Huh? What was it?" Asuka asked.
"Um… I heard from Mister Suzuhara and Mister Aida that… That, um… That the American Evangelion pilots were being assigned to Japan."
"What!?" Asuka exclaimed in utter surprise.
"The… American pilots?" Shinji asked unsurely.
"Mhmm," Rei confirmed, "Mister Aida speculated that it was because you might have been injured. But, in light of the dummy system, I am not entirely sure how likely that is"
"Hmm, it's been awhile since I've seen Blondie and that blue-eyed brat," Asuka huffed though a fond smirk.
"You know them?" Shinji curiously inquired.
"Nah. Not really. I only know them in passing," Asuka said with a shrug, "Saw them around a few times while visiting NERV-02. Didn't really talk much. They were on the sidelines and I wasn't much into having friends back then. So, I didn't see much reason to go outta my way to talk to them. And it's not like I was there on vacation. I had important meetings to get too and stuff."
"Meetings? How old were you back then?" Shinji asked in confusion.
"Hmmhmm, old enough to remember. Being an Eva pilot and getting citizenship in multiple countries usually means a fair amount of sorting through passports and other crap. That, and my dad also had his own meetings that he'd drag me to. Like I said, I didn't really know them. I just saw them around."
"So… what do you think all of this means then?" Shinji asked.
Asuka sighed, tiredly resting her cheek on her arms which where folded over the backrest of the chair.
"Honestly, I don't know. I don't know why they'd bring them here when NERV has the dummy system to do their bidding. But, what I do know… is that we should probably tell them to get out while they have the chance."
"How are we to do that?" Rei asked.
"I dunno yet. But, if they're really being assigned here... I'm sure it won't be too hard to figure out."
/
Meanwhile, at NERV HQ…
"So, you have even more work for me?" Ritsuko sighed as she stepped into Gendo's office.
Gendo made a confirmatory grunting sound.
"Ah, Commander," Fuyutsuki stammered, "Doctor Akagi has been working herself to the bone. Perhaps we should-"
"No, just give it to me," Ritsuko interrupted, "Putting it off only delays the inevitable and I've already railed a gram of caffeine. And that's on top of the painkillers for my headaches and the anti-emetics to keep all the other drugs down and my multivitamins. Even if I did manage to go home and catch some sleep, it would only be a fitful rest."
"Are you fit to work, Ritsuko?" Gendo asked.
"Yes… just tell me what you need done," the woman said.
"Good, because there is much to be done," Gendo said, "Tell me, Doctor Akagi, is the dummy system still unresponsive?"
"Yes," Ritsuko sighed, "Unit-00, Unit-01, and Unit-02 all refuse to respond to the system. I've tried all manner of workarounds over the past few days, but nothing has worked. They reject it every time."
"Noted," Gendo said absentmindedly as he picked up a pen and scratched a note on a stray piece of paper on his desk.
"I… haven't been able to work out a… mechanical or computational reason for the failure. Which, I suppose, leaves only one widely unexplored line of reason for why the dummy system would fail to activate," Ritsuko said, choosing her words carefully.
"That they refuse it of their own free will," Gendo stated, speaking the words Ritsuko wouldn't.
"I'm afraid so," Ritsuko sighed yet again, brushing her fingers through her hair, "It's possible they may change their minds in time. But, for now, they seem ill at ease to acquiesce to our requests."
"Why Unit-00 and Unit-02? The dummy system was only engaged in Unit-01," Gendo questioned, further pressing the woman for information.
"I can't answer that with any certainty. The soul is still an unknown frontier. I can only assume that, somehow, Unit-01 spoke with Unit-02 and Unit-00," Ritsuko said.
"Spoke?" Gendo asked as he pushed his glasses up his nose.
"I use that as a metaphor of course. It could be any form of higher communication. Even something we can't detect with our instruments. The Evangelions… the souls inside them live in a different mode of existence from us. Things that may seem alien and intangible to us might be as words on paper to them; unmistakable and fundamentally easy to understand."
"Are you suggesting something akin to telepathy?" Gendo inquired.
"Perhaps… or perhaps not. I really couldn't say for sure. Like I said, they likely don't perceive things the same way we do. For them, it might be as simple as how you and I are speaking right now. Where we use air to convey our words, they might use the mind… or the soul… or something else entirely."
"Hmm… I see," Gendo said before writing down another note.
Ritsuko timidly waited in silence while Gendo occupied himself. Her eyes were red and burning, probably from a combination of her lack of sleep as well as general irritants. She took her glass off for a moment and sleepily rubbed them with the sleeve of her lab coat. She could feel the beginning of a headache in the back of her head and she figured that, before long, she'd need another dose of Tylenol to curb the pain.
"Ritsuko, come here," Gendo abruptly ordered.
Ritsuko quickly put her glasses back on and stepped closer to Gendo's desk. The man had pulled open a drawer on his desk before then pulling out a small briefcase and opening it as well. As Ritsuko finished adjusting her glasses, Gendo spun the case around and in it sat some kind of metal and glass device that seemed to have some variety of unidentifiable fluid or essence inside it that glowed a dark blue.
"Is… Is that?" Ritsuko asked in awe as she beheld the curio.
"The soul of Mark.04 securely contained in an auracell. It arrived a few hours ago. I trust I'm placing it in good hands," Gendo said.
Ritsuko reached out one of her hands to pick up the device while her other hand rested over her mouth in disbelief. She delicately wrapped her fingers around the object, tenderly pulling it out of it's resting place before raising it up so she could get a closer look at it.
"It's… It's been years since I…" Ritsuko hesitantly spoke, her hand muffling her awestruck whispers.
"It's truly beautiful," Fuyutsuki said.
"Yes… Yes, it is," Ritsuko stuttered as she seemingly became lost in the color the object gave off.
It was like staring into a pristine blue ocean. Light rippled and glimmered inside of the advanced glass container. Sparks and barely visible strands of some kind of aura slowly danced about in the blue light. Ritsuko almost couldn't believe what she was seeing.
A soul. A human soul in the palm of her hand. She imagined holding it was probably how a god would feel when dictating the events of someone's dreary little life. That was, except, for the crushing weight of it's existence.
It wasn't simply something she could look at. She could feel it. The caustic hatred of a tortured spirit. The boundless love of a mother. The fear of death. The fate of destruction and the joy of rebirth. The presence was so intense that, for a moment, Ritsuko could swear she felt someone, an apparition, watching her out of the corner of her eye. But she dared not look at whatever spirit was there to meet her gaze.
"I… I feel her," Ritsuko choked as a single tear precariously hung in her eye, threatening to fall if she delved any deeper into that vast ocean of empathy.
Wincing, she placed the auracell back into the briefcase before falling to her knees. Despite the fact she'd taken anti-emetics earlier, she felt an almost uncontrollable urge to throw up.
"Doctor Akagi, are you alright!?" Fuyutsuki asked in alarm.
"I'm… I'm fine… I just need a moment," Ritsuko said between gasps, trying her best to ignore the feeling of illness rising up in her.
Ritsuko honestly didn't know what had come over her. Part of her felt guilt over that fact that, inside that hallowed object, was the soul of someone who had been murdered, and then had her spirit harvested. In a way, it wasn't any different from what was said to happen when the reaper came for someone.
But, somehow, this felt different from a just a simple guilt response. It was more like someone had been clutching at her psyche and letting their emotions bleed into her and infect her. And somehow that had overwhelmed her and caused her physical distress.
Ritsuko gasped once more before jerking her head to the side and looking at one of the walls of Commander Ikari's office. Though Ritsuko couldn't see anyone, she knew, deep in her heart, that someone was standing there. She couldn't explain how, but somehow she just knew someone else was in the room with them. And that that someone might not have been so constrained as one would have imagined.
"Doctor Akagi?" Fuyutsuki once again asked, seemingly worried for the woman who had yet to stand up.
Ritsuko's head suddenly snapped in the direction of Fuyutsuki before she quickly returned her gaze to the floor and began to stand back up.
"That… That's Rosa?" Ritsuko asked, trying not to gag as she got up from the floor.
"Correct," was all Gendo said.
"Why? Why Ikari? Why bring her to me? You want me to do something with her? What? Put her in an Evangelion or something?" Ritsuko asked as she tired to get over the feeling of someone watching her.
"Yes," Gendo confirmed, "There is a piece of technology that needs testing."
"Using the kids for testing again, Ikari? Doesn't this feel shitty using these kids to get what you want?" Ritsuko asked, trying to ignore the way she felt remembering the last time she was ordered to test a piece of technology on the Eva pilots.
"No."
Ritsuko sighed before saying, "Fine. What do you want me to do?"
"You are familiar with the dual soul entry plug system that our people at Golgotha just finalized?"
"Oh, I see now…" Ritsuko mumbled.
"It needs to be tested," Gendo continued, "Unit-03 is in one of the spare Eva cages. It needs to be modified so it can receive Mark.04's soul while still maintaining the housing for Unit-03's default soul. As well as that, it needs an additional entry plug receptor cavity as well as replacing the version two sync limiters with the version four ones. The engineers at Golgotha assure me the version four limiters should be compatible with the current docks on our Evangelions."
"That's a lot of modification to do!" Ritsuko almost shouted, "And, while the math from the anima equations should check out… no one's ever instilled two souls in the same entity before now. At least, not on record. They could curdle or annihilate each other if the math is off."
Gendo only furrowed his brow behind his glasses.
"But… I see that's not going to sway you…" Ritsuko said in a disheartened tone, "Could I at least let the magi run a few simulations before going ahead with the instillment procedure? This is a human life we're talking about."
"Do as you see fit. Just make sure it's done."
Ritsuko sighed and grabbed the briefcase off of Commander Ikari's desk. Despite being worked to the bone, it would appear her duties wouldn't be finished just yet.
"Also, Ikari. How should we designate this... Unit-03? Should we redesignate Unit-03? In the past, the numbering convention has been whichever soul was instilled in the Eva's core. But, if Unit-03 is to have two souls…"
"Unit-03+04 is acceptable if such a thing is necessary," Gendo said blandly.
"Right… I suppose… I'll get to work directing the engineers on reassembling Unit-03."
"One last thing, Ritsuko," Gendo said as the woman prepared to walk away.
"Hmm?"
"From now on, I want genome samples taken from every angel that you can feasibly extract any genetic materiel from. I may need them in the days to come…"
"Another back up plan, is it?" Ritsuko questioned tiredly.
"Something of the sort..."
/
The next morning, at the Katsuragi residence…
"Ugh, fuck… what time is it?" Asuka groaned.
The space next to her felt cool, the lack of body heat telling her Shinji and Rei had likely already woken up.
She tired to sit up but, as she did, her head began throbbing.
"Agh, fuck!" she whined as she put both of her hands over her eye.
After a few moments, the throbbing in her eye socket subsided, though the underlying pain still remained.
She blindly reached one of her hands out to her side and began feeling around on the floor for where Rei had set the bag of medicine next to their futon. And, after feeling the paper bag rumple in her hand, she pulled it onto her lap before reaching into it and fumbling about, searching for her medicine.
She first pulled out a bottle of antibiotics that had been prescribed to her by Ritsuko, but set them aside, hoping to find her opioid prescription instead. She reached back into the bag and then pulled out a bottle of painkillers that had been prescribed to Shinji. She dropped it back inside the bag before feeling around again.
Her finger then tightened around something once more and she pulled it out, only to see one of her red A-10 neural connectors resting in her palm. She'd almost forgotten she'd given them to Rei who then put them in the bag last night before leaving the hospital. She scowled at it before also dropping it back into the bag. And, finally, the next item she pulled out was her bottle of painkillers, much to her relief.
She opened the bottle after taking her hand off her eye. Dumping a few of the pills into her hand, she considered downing all three of them but remembered Doctor Akagi had told her not to do such a thing and to only take one every so often. After telling Shinji to listen to Doctor Akagi several times last night, she figured she should follow her own advice.
She threw two of the pills back in the bottle before then also popping open the bottle of antibiotics and retrieving one of the pills from it as well. She then threw both of the bottles onto the mattress, not bothering to put them back in the bag before attempting to get up and go to the kitchen.
Sliding open the door, she saw Misato pacing about in the living room, apparently on the phone with someone. She gave Asuka a welcoming wave of the hand and delicately smiled at her. Asuka gave her own tired gesture of greeting before Misato returned her attention to her phone conversation.
Asuka trudged down the hall into the living room, the only thing giving her strength being the smell of what would inevitably turn out to be Shinji's cooking.
She wondered how that would change if she ran away. Running away meant no kitchen. And no kitchen meant no warm meals. For a moment, she wondered if she would be reduced to eating cold moldy scraps out of the garbage, but she quickly pushed the revolting and rather humbling thought out of her head.
Even so, the lingering memory gave yet another dose of doubt to the idea of being able to successfully run away.
Upon rounding the corner, the kitchen came into sight and Shinji could be seen frying something in a skillet.
"Shinji, I thought I told you to leave the cooking to me and Rei so that we can you know what," Asuka said as she made her way to the kitchen.
"I'm fine, Asuka, really," Shinji said with a halfhearted chuckle.
"I'll trust you for now, but if it gets to be too much, tell us, okay?"
"I will, Asuka. Don't worry."
Rei sat at the kitchen table, seemingly keeping a sharp eye on Shinji while also casually sipping on a bottle of tea.
"Whatchya got there, Wondergirl?" Asuka asked as she stood next to Rei and lovingly pulled her head into her waist, squishing Rei's cheek into the side of her upper hip.
"Genmaicha," Rei casually replied before taking another sip of her drink.
"Blegh! Ain't that that tea that tastes like oily unsweetened peanut butter? I dunno how you Japanese can drink that!"
"Mmm-mmm-mmm," Rei said with a shrug.
"It actually has quite a history here," Shinji said.
"That may be, but I think I'll stick to coffee and milk-tea," Asuka said before heading over to the fridge and yanking the door open, which caused her to wince in pain as her head began hurting again from the effort.
She sighed and looked about in the fridge for something to help her down her pills before settling her eye on one of Misato's cans of Yebisu. She then pulled the can out of the fridge before setting it on the counter and cracking it open.
"Ah, Asuka! Doctor Akagi said not to be drinking alcohol with your medicine. Remember?" Shinji whispered.
"Right," Asuka said, sighing before going back to the fridge to look for something else.
Going over her options once more, she saw that there were yet more cans of beer, a few small cartons of orange juice, a half drunk bottle of Pepsi Caramel Punch that was probably flat by now, and an unopened bottle of lychee flavored Ramune. Asuka ended up grabbing the bottle of Ramune, setting it on the counter before pulling off the wrapping and pressing the cap down to free the marble sealing the bottle. She then tossed one of the pills in her mouth before taking a swig of the lychee soda and swallowing it with a cringe as the pill squeezed down her throat. She then dropped the other one on her tongue and repeated the process before grabbing the can of Yebisu to offer it to Misato, knowing that a can of open beer wouldn't go to waste on the woman's watch.
Asuka boredly walked up to Misato before touching the woman's arm with the cold beer can, grabbing her attention.
"You want this?" Asuka whispered.
"Oh, sure, thanks," Misato silently mouthed back before taking the can and returning to her phone conversation, "They should be easy to spot. One has blonde hair and the other has dark skin… How dark? I dunno. I've never seen her. Darker than your average Japanese person I guess? I don't think they'd have mentioned it otherwise. I'm just going off the reports, but I'm sure they'd be easy to spot in a crowd. ...Uh, yes, well, if you don't have anyone, Officer Kaji may be able to escort them. He has quite the discerning eye and I think he can speak a little English."
Asuka rolled her eye before heading back to the kitchen.
"So… what're we doing today? Nothing I guess, huh?" Asuka said as she sat down at the kitchen table and took a drink of her Ramune, "Its a school day. But, even if I'm outta the hospital, I'm not sure any of us are up for going to school today."
"Actually, I think Shinji has a plan for something," Rei said with a smile.
"A… plan? What kind of plan?" Asuka asked.
Shinji didn't say anything and continued preparing breakfast, though, if Asuka could have seen Shinji's face, she would have known he was smiling.
"It's a surprise," Rei yet again said, positively beaming at Asuka, by her standards at any rate.
/
-A Day For Ourselves-
/
Meanwhile, on a NERV Hierofalcon transport aircraft nearing Tokyo-3 International Airport...
"Oh, wow, Amelia, look at that!" Ahni excitedly uttered as she happened to look out the window of the aircraft before quickly glancing back at her friend.
Amelia just about had a heart attack from the girl unexpectedly giving voice to her excitement and she put her hand over her chest to still her heart.
"Yep. The pilot said a bit ago we're on short final," Amelia signed to Ahni after getting over being startled by her companion's sudden outburst, trying her best to give her a sweet smile.
"Aww, you shoulda told me!"
"You were sleeping. Didn't want to wake you up," Amelia signed with a lighthearted shrug.
"Sleep, shmeep! I don't need it. This is way cooler than sleeping!" Ahni said with enough enthusiastic energy to almost shred her seat belt as she squirmed around in her chair.
"You won't be saying that when you're older," Amelia signaled as she sighed, "Don't get too worked up now. We still have a lot to do before they let us go exploring. And remember, this isn't a vacation."
"Noted. I'll take extra care not to enjoy myself too much," the girl said with a sarcastic smirk before looking back out the window and across the skyline of Tokyo-3, "But wow! I've never seen anything like it before! I mean, I've seen pictures of New New York and Old New York. But this!? This isn't like the pictures at all! This- This- This is… real. A real city! It looks so alive. Look at the sun shining off all the cars!"
At this point, Ahni was practically talking to herself. Despite Amelia being born a small town girl, as far back as she could clearly remember, she'd lived in what remained of Seattle after second impact. Anything from her time back at San Juan Island was just vague flashes of grass, clouds, the salty breeze, and brackish water unceremoniously stained red. And after that was vaguer still. Platinum clouds, a cold sun, and rusted lightning. The screams of the suffering and the moans of the starved. She was thankful she didn't have many clear memories of surviving immediately after second impact. Though, the following years weren't particularly easy either.
Seattle hadn't turned out to be quite the haven Amelia's parents had thought it would be and she was thankful when she'd finally moved to a small town in Nevada. Away from the sounds of cars, the breaking of glass during robberies, riots over food, and the rush of blood and flames spewing forth into the street at night which once more turned the skies red. She had gone to Seattle to escape that crimson welkin but it had only followed her there as well.
She'd sworn to leave that life behind. The occasional dust storms of Nevada were much more preferable than the smoke and ashes of Washington and the stress of living in fear every sleepless night, though the heat in Nevada was on the verge of being insufferable due to its higher continentality than that of the coastal states along with the climatological effects of second impact. Even so, she enjoyed walking the desert nature trails in the evening before sunset and fishing when she could find a rare body of water. There were occasional bandits and gangs that had taken refuge in the deserts after second impact, the most notorious of which were probably the Hatchet Men and the Gunther Boys. But being close to NERV-02 did wonders to keep those marauders at bay. For who wouldn't fear the wrath of the Evangelion, Amelia's pride and joy, Unit-03.
The freeing feeling of the wind blowing through her hair as the helicopters arrived at and departed from the base. The stillness of the night and how she could see all the stars beyond counting, more than she'd ever seen in Seattle. The sunsets and sunrises over the crags and cliffs steeping the entire landscape in a warm burnt orange color. Truly, she'd never been happier after leaving the shadows of Seattle's skyscrapers behind.
And yet, here she was, back in the city. A lot had changed since she'd sought refuge in Seattle. Humanity had recovered to a degree. Things were better now. And, as she looked out the window of the aircraft, Amelia thought that maybe, this time… this time, the city wouldn't be so bad. Maybe she could enjoy it just as much as Ahni seemed to be.
"-And there's trains too! Oh my god! I've never been on a train! Ahyeeheehee! And the Geofront! How big do you think it'll be in person!? I heard its bigger than the Hoover Dam. It bet it'll feel like being in a snow globe! Uwwwoooaaaah! I can't wait! I have to find a sushi bar as soon we get settled in. And a maid cafe too!"
Amelia gently put her hand on top of Ahni's head which temporarily seemed to shut the girl up.
"Huh?" Ahni asked as she looked back at Amelia.
Amelia's soft grey eyes gazed at Ahni. Despite largely being unable to smile, Ahni could tell there was a sparkle in her friend's eyes.
"All in due time, darling," Amelia signed with her free hand.
/
Sometime later, at a train station near the Katsuragi residence…
"Seriously Shinji, you still haven't told me where you're taking us," Asuka huffed, though she didn't seem all that angry.
"Just enjoy it, Asuka," Shinji said as he waited patiently at the terminal for the train that had just arrived to come to a stop.
"It's not school since you told me not to wear my uniform…" Asuka deduced.
"That's true enough," Shinji said as he held Asuka's hand.
"We aren't running away right now, are we? We still haven't sorted things out with Rei. And neither of us are healed up. ...I'm considering dragging you back to the apartment."
"You are correct. We are not running away currently," Rei said as she came up behind Asuka and took her hand.
"You! You're in on this too!" Asuka declared as Rei smiled at her, "I never thought of you as being a schemer."
"This is South-West New Jiyugaoka Station. Passengers may now begin boarding or departing the train. This shuttle's next stop is the Seven Orioles Crossing Station," a voice said over the loudspeaker as the doors of the train slid open.
Shinji abruptly turned around and faced Asuka, giving her a smile as he also took her by the hand.
"Don't worry about it so much, Asuka," he said before giving her a quick kiss.
Asuka blushed some, but then blushed even harder when Rei also kissed her.
"H- Hey! You're embarrassing me!" Asuka mewled.
Both Shinji and Rei just smiled at the redhead.
"Asuka, did you not tell Shinji that he should not be so… uptight?" Rei asked.
"I… I did say that…"
"The train will be departing shortly. Anyone destined for Seven Orioles Crossing Station should ensure to board the train promptly. Thank you for using Tokyo-3 Loop Line," the loudspeaker once again sounded out across the terminal.
"Come on, Asuka! Or we'll miss our ride," Shinji said, seeming strangely excited.
Asuka suddenly found herself being dragged into the train car by Shinji and Rei.
"Agh! Okay," Asuka huffed, "But just make sure we aren't getting in over our heads."
/
Sometime later, at the Tokyo-3 International Airport…
"Uh… Aree- Um… Aree g- gato," Ahni said as a man grabbed her suitcase from a conveyor and handed it to her.
The man said something back to her, but Ahni had no idea what it was. Ahni noticed Amelia bow before the man and she attempted to copy her before both of the girls went on their way.
"This is kinda more intimidating than I thought. I think it's only just hitting me that I'm in a different country," Ahni said as she kept pace with Amelia while trying not to be too distracted by the sights.
"And you were so excited a little while ago," Amelia signed as she read some papers.
"Did I say it right?" Ahni asked, trying not to blush too hard.
"Your pronunciation was a little rough, but I think he understood," Amelia once again signed, still multitasking with reading the papers, checking texts on her phone, and navigating the airport.
"So, where now then?"
"Customs'll be next. Then we gotta pick up the truck. And after that, we're to meet a man who's supposed to take us to NERV HQ."
"So, we'll really get to see the Geofront soon!?"
"Yes, Ahni. We'll get to see the Geofront."
/
Sometime later, on the train destined for Seven Orioles Crossing…
"Damn… I never really realized how pretty it is out here," Asuka said as she gazed out the window of the train car.
The train was quickly approaching the city limits of Tokyo-3 and the sight of verdant foliage was overtaking that of concrete and towering steel.
"Yeah, it is nice," Shinji said, putting his arm around Asuka's shoulder.
Asuka blushed bit looking back at Shinji and Rei. She was still somewhat self conscious of being seen as a part of a threeway relationship in public. But, at the same time, she desired the closeness she'd been missing her entire life, and so, despite her embarrassment, she leaned into Shinji a little bit more.
She looked around at the passengers of the train. There's weren't many and that made Asuka and Rei presence all the more obvious, which also consequently made Shinji stand out as well. And that was to say nothing of Shinji's bruises and Asuka's bandages. And, though she could see that the few other people on the train were trying to mind their business, she could occasionally feel their eyes on her.
"We… we're drawing attention," Asuka whispered.
"Yeah, I know," Shinji said under his breath as Rei reached past him and petted Asuka's head.
"Rei and I might need to dye our hair if we're running away. The last thing I want is the media trailing behind us everywhere we go," Asuka suggested.
Shinji glanced at Asuka before seemingly pondering the course of action.
"Maybe… If I'm being honest, I've kind of gotten to where I really like your and Rei's hair. And hair dye… I dunno. We might need to look at our money. We'll need at least enough for some food in the near future. And maybe some for transport."
"Geez… yeah… NERV really doesn't pay us enough. I'm already dreading how much a cross country train trip would cost. I looked at some of the prices last night while you and Rei were asleep. A trip to Kyoto from Tokyo-3 costs like twenty thousand yen, and there's three of us. All of us are too old for the children's discount as well. The prices were supposedly lower before second impact… It was even more expensive the further south when I looked for trips to Ube or Saga."
"You're thinking about it too much," Shinji said, gently ruffling Asuka's hair, "If we need to, we can always walk."
"W- Walk!? But your legs! Are you sure!?" Asuka questioned in a worried voice.
"Like I said, Asuka, I'm fine. I really am. It's not as bad as it seems," Shinji said, trying his best to reassure the girl, "If it was that bad, we wouldn't be out here today."
"So… that's it then?" Asuka asked again, "We can go? Just like that?"
/
Meanwhile, at the Tokyo-3 International Airport…
"So, that's it then? We can go now? Right?" Ahni asked the man who'd been interviewing her and Amelia.
"Yeah, you're good to go," the man said before speaking into a radio, "Let him in."
A few seconds passed, during which time Amelia translated the man's words for Ahni, to which the girl let out a small cheer.
The door to the interview room then opened and a man with his hair tied back into a ponytail and rough stubble on his face entered, using his finger to pull his glasses down his nose to get a clearer look at the two girls waiting at the interview desk.
"Well, looks like I finally found my mark," the man said in what seemed to English to Amelia's ears.
Ahni also pulled her own sunglasses down in response, eyeing the man before both of the girls looked at each other curiously.
The interviewer got up before going to the door and exchanging a few words with the man before leaving.
"Well, you girls ready to go?" the man questioned, pushing his sunglasses back up his nose.
Once more, Amelia interpreted the mans words for Ahni so she could respond.
"Who're you, Mister? You don't look like airport security to my eyes. And us little girls aren't much into going places with mysterious old men," Ahni said
"Ah, how fabulously rude of me," the man said before pulling out a badge that identified him as being of NERV, "I'm Chief Inspection Officer Ryoji Kaji, part of NERV's International Bureau of Information Assurance. But, that title's too florid by half. You can just call me Kaji. And I assume you two are Amelia and Ahni? I'm here to take you to NERV HQ."
"I think he's the one we're supposed to meet. He says his name is Mister Ryoji Kaji," Amelia signed to Ahni.
"So, you're the one whose supposed to pick us up then? Amelia seems convinced, but I'm not. Not yet. Show your badge up close. Right here if it please you, Mister," Ahni said as she pointed at some arbitrary place on the desk.
Kaji chuckled a bit before stepping further into the room and setting his badge down on the interview desk for both the girls to see.
"Hmm… Looks legit," Ahni said.
"That's because it is legit. So, I'll ask again; you ready to go? There's still a lot to do before we can get you settled in," Kaji said, forgetting for a second that the girl was deaf.
Amelia poked her friend in the cheek, grabbing her attention before translating for her. And, after Amelia had finished interpreting, Ahni looked back at Kaji with a smirk.
"She's a cutie patootie and ready for duty. And as for me, I'm hyped to see humanity's final stronghold! Lead the way! Take us to the Geofront, Mister!" Ahni said in an almost inappropriately loud voice as she jumped out of her seat and began walking out the door without Kaji despite explicitly demanding for him to lead the way.
"She's certainly quick on her feet..."Kaji said in Japanese before glancing back at Amelia.
The blonde girl too got out of her chair, though she seemed a bit more restrained, bowing before holding her hand out for Kaji to shake.
The man did so before Amelia promptly also followed Ahni out the door.
"Mysterious I will accept. But old!? Sheesh, chicks these days…" Kaji grumbled to himself before grabbing his badge off the table and following after the girls.
Upon leaving the interview room, Kaji found the girls expectantly waiting for him, Ahni herself seeming especially impatient.
"Say, Mister, how is it you learned to speak English?" Ahni asked Kaji suspiciously.
"Ah, well, you see, I used to be stationed at NERV-03 in Berlin. And, while most of the people there spoke German obviously, there where quite a few English speakers too. French and Spanish as well with it being the only branch of NERV on European land."
Amelia started translating for Ahni and while she was, Kaji began leading the girls out of the airport.
"So, Spanish you say?" Ahni asked as she pranced up alongside Kaji, "Entiendes lo que estoy diciendo?"
"Easy there, chica. I'm not a polyglot and the Spanish we spoke at NERV-03 was European, not South American," Kaji said with a chuckle.
"He says they spoke Castilian at NERV-03 and not Latin American. He also says to go easy on the Spanish… chica," Amelia signed to Ahni with a wink.
"Chica, haha!"
"Hey, hey, don't forget to ask him about my truck!" Amelia begged.
"Hey, Mister. Where's this… chica's ride?" Ahni asked as she pointed over her shoulder at Amelia.
"Ah, that rust bucket? I already had it brought around. It's next to my car. You can follow behind me and I'll lead the way to the Geofront."
/
Sometime later, at NERV HQ…
"Well, I believe these fine people will be able to get your housing sorted out as well as inform you of your responsibilities here at NERV HQ and the Geofront. So, I'm about to head out," Kaji said with a farewell wave of the hand.
Amelia translated Kaji's words for Ahni before then waving her own hand back at him in response.
"Oh, alright. But… what if we can't find our way to our house by ourselves? Who's gonna show us the way?" Ahni asked.
Kaji sighed and scratched the back of his head.
"Geez, I really shouldn't be giving my phone number to a twelve year old… You, the one with the twintails," Kaji said before nodding at Amelia.
Amelia stood alert and raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"This is my phone number here," Kaji continued before holding his phone in front of the girl, "Tell Miss Spanish Speaker here she can call me later tonight if you need help getting home. But, also tell her to please delete my number if you end up not needing it after today. And, as a word of advice, I'd recommend getting use to using the loop line instead of the car."
Amelia nodded before translating for Ahni who then pulled out her own phone and added Kaji's number to her contacts list.
"Hmmhmm, so, Mister Chief Inspection Officer Ryoji Kaji," Ahni said with a sly chuckle, "Do you always give your number out to girls so easily when asked?"
Amelia shot Ahni some kind of glare before elbowing the girl in her ribs, trying to get her to behave.
"Only to the ones who don't annoy me," Kaji shot back to the girl sarcastically.
"He says he only gives it to girls who aren't little brats," Amelia translated before also adding, "And quit being such a deviant, you perv! You're going to get someone in trouble!"
"Oh, so that's how it is then? Guess that's why you told me to delete it. Well, see yah then... Mister Inspection Officer."
"See yah. I'll be around. Rest assured, we will meet again soon. Sooner than you might expect actually. Count on it," Kaji said before turning and leaving the girls with a man who was to sort out their current circumstances and a female interpreter to get over the language barriers.
"He said… we'll meet again. But, it didn't sound metaphorical. It sounded like he actually meant it… somehow," Amelia signed to her friend.
"Huh, strange…" Ahni said before looking back at the newly added contact on her phone screen.
"Well then, shall we begin getting you girls sorted?" the interpreter asked sweetly which earned her a confirmatory nod from Amelia.
Amelia then poked Ahni before gesturing for her to follow. Ahni nodded and was about to pick up her feet, but, before she did, she glanced back at Kaji, leisurely strolling away down the hall.
"I still can't believe he had a Rolls Royce. That thing was beyond wicked. That man will be stiff competition I sense. And to think I thought my Impala would be noteworthy…" Ahni said to herself, not sure if she was feeling insulted or infatuated.
"Quit getting aroused over cars, you motor-headed dork! Or if you won't stop, at least don't say it out loud!" Amelia frustratedly signed with an embarrassed blush.
"Hey! Who're you calling motor-headed!? Besides, I was into his car! Not him!"
"Ahni! We're in public! And in front of official personages at that! I just told you not to say that kind of stuff out loud!"
/
A little while ago, at Seven Orioles Crossing…
Asuka watched the train lurch before slowly wending its way back into the city proper. The breeze picked up for a moment, causing the girl's yellow dress to billow in between her legs.
"The train for Tsukiji-3 has now departed. The next trains arriving will be the intercity train to old Yokohama followed by the regional train to Saga. Please have a good day. Thank you for using the Tokyo-3 Loop Line," the intercom at the station announced.
"You still haven't told me why we're here," Asuka said, staring at the now empty train tracks.
"Well," Shinji started, walking up behind Asuka and putting a hand on her shoulder, "This crossing has a trail that leads to a shrine. So, I figured we could take the day off from school and pray for a safe journey with the blessings of the Kami."
Asuka gasped in surprise before whirling around to face Shinji.
"So… you… you, Shinji, out of everyone, are the one who decided to skip school today?" Asuka asked in disbelief.
Shinji bashfully scratched the back of his head while also casting his head to the side, trying to hide a proud but embarrassed smile.
"We decided together," Rei interjected.
"We?" Asuka asked in confusion, "When? I don't remember having any say in such a decision."
"Well, um… that is because we decided without you." Rei stammered as she brushed her hair out of her eyes, "We decided to go this morning while you were sleeping. It was… a surprise. ...It was mostly Shinji's idea, but I thought it sounded agreeable."
Asuka's jaw dropped some, gazing at Shinji who was obviously embarrassed some.
"So… you're taking us on a date? Like, a real date?" Asuka asked.
"Yeah… I guess you could say that," Shinji said as he timidly itched at his arm.
"Aww, Shinji, that's… that's so sweet!" Asuka said in a cutesy and appreciative voice.
Shinji gave the girl an earnest smile before she walked up to him and gave him a soft and drawn out kiss on the lips. And, after separating, Asuka leaned into Shinji as she traipsed her fingers up his chest.
"You know, it might not seem like it," Asuka quietly said as she nuzzled her head under Shinji's chin, "But I've never had a boy take me on a real date before. Kaji's taken me out sometimes… but it's never really been a proper date. And no one else at my school back in Germany ever approached me either. Heheh, if someone had told me a year ago that, out of every man in the world, you were going to be the first one to take me on a proper date… I want to say I'd have jumped at the idea knowing what I know now, but I get the feeling I'd have told them they were delusional."
"I… I hope you'll enjoy yourself today," Shinji said, trying not to show how flustered he actually felt.
"I think I will," Asuka said, considering giving Shinji a wink before she realized that doing such a thing would only like her closing her eye after everything that had happened.
Asuka then walked over to Rei before the putting one of her hands under her chin while putting her other hand around Rei's waist and pulling her closer to her. She then kissed Rei as well, their lips making subtle suckling sounds as the wind picked up and mixed the fabric of Asuka's yellow dress with the cloth of Rei's blue one. After a moment of surprised awkwardness, Rei closed her eyes and put her arms around Asuka's shoulders.
Shinji smiled seeing the girl's share their kiss. Once more, the wind blew, twirling their red and blue hair together like magnificent spun yarn of gold and silver in the sunlight.
"You still need some practice," Asuka said after breaking the kiss, "but you're getting better."
Asuka then took Rei by the hand before walking back to Shinji and offering her hand to him for him to hold. He reached for her hand and together they all began leaving the platform. A lot of the area surrounding the station was forested to a degree. Japanese Black Pines towered overhead while Ginkgo leaves gently twirled in the air, taking flight with the breeze.
Beyond the platform was a small plaza with a few small shops in the form of stalls selling various miscellaneous gewgaws, baubles, and other knickknacks along with food and minor clothing articles. And, from around the platform, several well worn dirt trails branched out, leading to vistas all along the mountain side that they found themselves on.
Shinji and the girls, spotting a sign with a map on it in the middle of the plaza, approached it in order to orient themselves.
"Hmm, okay, so it looks like the north-western trail should lead to the shrine," Shinji said.
"Oh, look at that!" Asuka exclaimed before she yanked herself free of Shinji and Rei's grasps.
"Hmm?" Rei questioned.
"A-Asuka! Where are you going!?" Shinji called out as the girl pranced over to one of the shopping stalls.
At the stall was a woman who appeared to be selling straw hats, one of which had apparently grabbed Asuka's attention.
"Aww, this one's so cute!" Shinji and Rei heard Asuka say as they followed after her, "Do you make these yourself, Miss?"
"Oh, yes. I do, at least in my free time at any rate," the woman politely replied.
"Asuka? Did you see something you wanted?" Shinji questioned after catching up with the girl.
"Oh, well, sorta. Its more for Rei though," Asuka said with a mild blush.
"Me?" Rei questioned.
"Yeah. See, look at it!" Asuka said before picking up one of the hats from the stall and showing it to Shinji and Rei.
It was a pretty standard traditional cone-shaped hat with a fine see-through blue fabric forming the chinstrap.
"The craftsmanship is certainly impressive," Asuka said in an enthralled voice, "This is what you call a Nón Lá, right?"
"Ah, well, here, we generally call them Kasa. This one in specific is a Sugegasa," Shinji explained as he examined the hat.
"Don't you think it would look good on Rei? It would look so cute! She could be a little farm girl working in the rice paddies."
"Farm… girl?" Rei whispered to herself, "That… may be pleasant."
"How much for the hat, Miss?" Asuka asked.
"Oh, that one is three thousand yen," the woman said.
Asuka looked a little taken aback for a moment. Shinji noticed this and he pulled out his wallet, seemingly ready to pay for the hat before Asuka could even consider the pricing.
"Here. Will this do?" Shinji said as he put down three banknotes on the stall counter, each worth a thousand yen.
"Oh, yes. Thank you. That will be fine. Would you like a receipt?"
"No, that's okay," Shinji said with a smile.
"Shin… ji," Asuka uttered in surprise.
Shinji gingerly took the hat out of Asuka's hands before placing it on Rei's head.
"You're right, Asuka. It does look nice on her."
Rei looked up at the hat, though her eyes were mostly obscured by how low the brim was.
"Um, Thank you, Asuka. Thank you, Shinji," Rei said, sounding almost as confused as she was grateful.
Shinji waved at the woman before taking Asuka and Rei by the hand and once more leading them towards their destination.
"Shinji, are you sure we should have bought that with us trying to save money and everything?" Asuka asked once they'd travelled out of earshot.
"It's… probably not a big deal," Shinji said, "And you looked like you wanted it. Haha, the longer we debated it, the more you'd have set your heart on it. And besides, it actually does look cute on Rei."
Asuka smiled some and shook her head in amusement.
"I know I said I wouldn't call you a doll anymore, Wondergirl, but it is fun playing dress up with you."
"Yes. It is… fun," Rei said ponderously.
The three children were just about to leave the plaza to begin their hike up the mountain trail, but just before they stepped off cobbles, Asuka stopped the group.
"Hey, wait!" Asuka blurted, "Um… I know we just spent money and we're supposed to be saving it… but I'm kinda hungry and I saw an ice cream stand. And it looked kinda… good."
Shinji and Rei both stopped and looked at the girl. She was blushing yet again, which was uncharacteristic of her. Though, this was still the first time all of them had gone out while all being romantically involved with each other.
"We can get some if you like," Shinji said to Asuka reassuringly.
"Heheh… thanks Shinji."
Once more, they made their way over to one of the stalls before purchasing some ice cream, and, after having done so, they all started to make their way up the narrow mountain trail leading up to the shrine.
Trying to curry the favor of the gods was always something humans had consistently fallen back on since ancient times. Unable to find solace in the world below or in their fellow man in times of strife, what was left but to beseech the divine when humanity was content to bring doom, hellfire, and damnation down upon their own heads. But, often times, humanity forgot, that being made in the image of the gods also meant that the gods could be just as cruel as man. Such was fate…
/
-Converging Fates | Among the Falling Leaves-
/
Sometime later, on the Seven Orioles Mountain Shrine trail…
It had been a long hike up the trail but they had all managed to reach the shrine and make an offering. Shinji and Asuka had both had to stop several times along the way to rest due to their injuries and this had been the primary factor slowing the trio down. It was rather late now and, while there was still a fair amount of time before sunset, the day trip to the shrine had taken longer than any of them had anticipated.
"I'm really grateful you took us out, Shinji," Asuka said as they made their way back down the mountain, "But I'm really starting to worry about this whole running away idea. You literally just left money in that box. Anyone could come along and steal it."
"Well, if they steal it, then maybe they need it more than us. And maybe the gods will forgive them," Shinji said with a shrug.
"So you really just leave the money there then? Geez, the honor system must work a lot better here than it does in Europe or America."
"Honestly, I don't really know. But we made our offering and did our part."
Having a moment of silence, Asuka looked around the trail, peering into the forest. A small yellow bird fluttered out of a bush and flew right past Rei's face which minorly startled the girl. The breeze occasionally blew through, plucking leaves from the branches of trees. And, down the slope of the mountain, through a break in the trees, the valley that cradled Tokyo-3 could be seen.
"The last time I was really out in a forest like this was back when I still lived in Germany, back at my mother's house outside Berlin," Asuka said absentmindedly as she gazed out into the boundless leaves.
"I used to go walking around New Atsugi. The outskirts of town weren't really out in the wilderness or anything, but there were a lot more trees and stuff. At least until the construction crews moved out there to expand the town. Then I'd wander around the building sites at night though I wasn't really supposed to be there," Shinji said, Asuka's words bringing his own memories back into clarity.
"What about you, Rei? What kinds of places did you hang out at when you were younger?" Asuka asked.
"Um… I stayed in my apartment. But, sometimes, I would go outside and think on the front balcony. I… did not really have any place to go."
"Your apartment? You mean that same dingy apartment you were in when I first moved here? That one? You've been living in that same apartment your whole life?" Asuka asked incredulously.
"Yes, that is correct," Rei confirmed.
"Geez, Wondergirl…" Asuka said, expressing her exasperation through a sigh.
Asuka glanced down at the dirt path they were walking on. It was disorienting without her eye. It was difficult to put into words, but the ground somehow seemed flatter than it had before losing her eye. It seemed simultaneously just as close and as far as the skyscrapers down in the valley that Tokyo-3 was nestled in.
Feeling sick at yet another realization of living without her eye, Asuka tried to think about something else before noticing that Shinji's steps seemed to be lighter and more strained than hers and Rei's and that he was starting to develop a limp, though he obviously tried to hide it.
"Hey, I think we should stop for a bit. I need to rest," Asuka said.
"Yeah, okay. That sounds fine," Shinji said while trying to avoid sounding too relieved.
"Where should we rest then?" Rei asked.
Asuka glanced around before finding a suitably circumferentially sized tree about twenty feet or so from the path.
"How 'bout there? By that tree!" Asuka said, pointing at the trunk of the rather large Japanese Black Pine.
"Yeah. That looks nice," Shinji said as he began trudging towards the tree, the girls both shortly in toe behind him.
After arriving at the tree, Shinji put his hand against it in an effort to steady himself as he tried to sit down, but he quickly found himself losing his energy and just let himself roughly fall to the ground, causing him to cough some as the impact with the dirt knocked the air from his lungs.
"Shinji, you need to be more careful! We shouldn't have come out here if this was going to be too much for you!" Asuka scolded him.
"I know, Asuka. But… after everything that happened yesterday, I just wanted to be out some. The guy who was down there with me said that I'd probably never see the light of day again. He might've just been trying to intimidate me, but, for awhile there, I almost believed him. I wasn't sure I was ever going to get out."
Rei too then sat down next to Shinji, resting against both the tree and his shoulder.
"Yeah… I guess I understand," Asuka said as she sat down next to Shinji as well.
Shinji reached over and put his hand in Rei's lap, grabbing her hand and giving her a reassuring squeeze before doing the same to Asuka.
"Geez, this almost reminds me too much of my mom," Asuka mumbled.
"How so?" Shinji asked.
"She… used to take me out to the field outside our cottage. It was supposed to be used for sheep, but we had no farm animals. But, I remember around the field, there were these… just beautiful trees. Firs and junipers and spruces. I remember, my mom used to take me out to the field at night and I would smell the evergreens in the nighttime air as we looked at the stars. And when the sun dipped below the horizon, you could see Jupiter and Mars in the sky before the stars appeared. And, being here under these pine trees… I dunno. It just reminded me of that."
Shinji and Rei both gazed at Asuka as she described her memories. And, as she did, a small smile grew on her face as she looked up at the sky through the pine needles.
"I thought you weren't too fond of your mom. But you almost seem happy when you talk about her," Shinji said.
"Do I?" Asuka asked as she glanced back at Shinji and Rei, her eye twinkling and a warm smile still adorning her lips.
"You're smiling right now," Shinji said with a small laugh.
"Yeah. I guess I am… She wasn't all bad… She wasn't bad at all most of the time. When she wasn't working, she was just your traditional hauswaif. Cooking. Cleaning. Brushing my hair and taking me on walks while father was in town late with his meetings at night. But something just broke inside her one day. The people at NERV-03 never told me what happened. They just said she'd had an accident. And, though she wasn't long for this world after that, she was never the same during the time she had left."
"I'm sorry, Asuka. I probably shouldn't have brought it up."
"Don't be sorry. I'm the one who started talking about it and, even if I could go back in time, it's not like I'd want to change anything. I stand where I am now because of the path I walked to get here and now I'm here with the two most important people in my life. Despite everything that's happened, I'm happier than I've ever been. Ours is a long road, and sometimes, there's days where I forget the faces and voices of the people I've met along the way. But, then I remember the joy we've experienced, the suffering we've endured, the prayers we've answered and lives we've saved. And I remember that is my life and thus have our deeds come to affirm our path. So," Asuka said with a smile, "Let us walk this path. All the way to the end. And, when all of this is over, I'll have a favor to ask."
"Asuka?" Shinji questioned.
"But don't worry about that for now. For now, just remember what I said about not leaving us. We're getting out of this together or not at all."
"Asuka… of course," Shinji said before the girl gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Hey, Rei. You still have our medicine? I think I'm gonna need another pill pretty quick here. My head is starting to kill me," Asuka asked, trying to keep her voice lighthearted.
"Oh, um, yes," Rei said as she started foraging through the paper bag she'd been dutifully carrying with her throughout the entire day.
Before long, she'd pulled out Asuka's bottles of pills and handed them to the girl before once more looking through the bag to retrieve Shinji's as well.
"Ugh… no water… I hope these aren't all bitter and chalky," Asuka said before tossing the antibiotic and the painkiller in her mouth and proceeding to cringe.
Seeing Asuka's reaction, Shinji considered not taking his pill. But remembering how insistent Rei had been the last time he thought to refuse the pill, he ultimately decided to choose the path of least resistance and get it over with.
After taking their medicine, Shinji and Asuka handed their bottles back to Rei who placed them back inside of the wrinkled paper bag. And they all then took a moment to rest in the dappled sunlight beneath the boughs.
"This is pretty romantic…" Asuka said as she nudged Shinji in the ribs, gently of course, making sure not to hurt his already bruised body.
"I'm happy you think so. Rei and I were really hoping it would cheer you up after last night."
"Hey, Shinji. Guess what?" Asuka whispered into the boy's ear.
"What?" the boy asked, trying to ignore the chill that had just run down his spine.
"I'm not wearing any panties," Asuka purred.
"Asuka! Wh- Why not?!"
"Because I thought something was up when you told me not to wear my school uniform before leaving the apartment earlier. So, I came prepared."
"A- Asuka! We're in public! We can't do that here! Anyone could walk by and see us!"
"And!? So what!? Maybe we can give them a show! They'll realize exactly how mundane their lives are when they see you fucking two pussies!"
"Asuka!" Shinji almost choked.
"Are we having sex again?" Rei asked rather bluntly which made Asuka laugh and even caused Shinji to smile a bit.
"Yes, baby girl, we are," Asuka said before pulling Rei into a kiss.
"Wait! No one agreed to this!" Shinji quietly rasped out in a worried voice.
"We just did," Asuka said after breaking her kiss with Rei.
Asuka then kissed Shinji while reaching down to unzip his pants. Shinji's will to resist quickly fizzled out as he felt Asuka's slender fingers feel around inside his pants. Asuka broke the kiss and then, in the next moment, pulled Shinji's cock out, which was quickly hardening in her grasp.
"Agh, Asuka! Are you sure this is okay?" Shinji whimpered as Asuka's finger slightly tightened around him.
"Of course it is! We don't even need to take our clothes off completely. Your pants are still up. Wondergirl and I can keep our dresses on. And you can just fuck us from under our skirts. It'll be fine," Asuka said before kissing Shinji yet again.
Despite his reservations, Shinji knew he wasn't about to say no. And with the pressure Asuka was applying to his dick, he wasn't going to go soft with her fingers wrapped around him. As Asuka kissed him, she slowly ran her hand up from the base of his cock to the tip before gently squeezing it in the palm of her hand, which she could feel made Shinji shiver with anticipation.
After once more breaking the kiss, Asuka glanced at Rei with a devilish look before asking her, "Hey, Wondergirl, you hungry?"
"Um… no?" Rei said hesitantly.
Asuka took her hand off of Shinji's cock and grabbed the brim of Rei's hat before tilting it back until it fell of her head and hung around her neck by its chinstrap. Rei blinked in confusion as Asuka stroked her cheek.
"Well, too bad, because I have a knackwurst here for you to eat," Asuka said before putting hand behind Rei's head and shoving Rei's mouth down on Shinji's cock.
Shinji immediately lurched forward, pleasure shooting through his body as his cock pierced straight through Rei's soft lips, slipped past her hot wet tongue, and quickly penetrated the back of Rei's tight throat. Rei gagged immediately thereafter which only further tightened her throat around him.
After a few moments, Asuka yanked Rei back up by her hair before letting go of the girl and putting her hand back on Shinji's cock, slowly twisting her hand as she stroked it.
"Hmmhmm, look at all this girl spit," Asuka seductively laughed as she squeezed Shinji's dick just below its head.
If Shinji hadn't been fully erect before, he was now. Asuka quickly ran her hand up Shinji's cock which made a slick sound as her hand raced off it. The sensation once more caused Shinji to gasp as the friction from Asuka's hand and Rei's spit caused an immense amount of pleasure to echo throughout his body.
In the next instant, Asuka once more grabbed Rei by the hair and shoved her head down on Shinji's cock. Shinji's eyes rolled back in his head for a split second as he entered Rei's throat again. Asuka then began slowly lifting Rei's head before pushing it back down, guiding the girl's motions. Saliva seeped from the corners of the girl's lips and dripped down Shinji's cock before eventually soaking into the fabric of his pants.
"How's it feel fucking this little schoolgirl's face again, Shinji?" Asuka asked before rapidly and forcefully shoving Rei's head up and down several times.
"It- It's too much!" Shinji choked out as Asuka shoved the girl's lips all the way down his cock and then some.
Rei's eyes rolled back in her head and the girl gagged yet again as a variety of lewd squelching sounds emanated from her throat. Asuka laughed as Shinji spastically squirmed when she shoved Rei's head down just a little harder than usual. And, after a few more tense moments, Asuka finally yanked the girl's head up by her hair so she could breath.
"Good girl, Wonderslut. I love seeing you drool over cock," Asuka said, praising Rei.
She then leaned forward and ferociously kissed the girl, getting Rei's spit all over her own face as a result. Upon breaking the kiss, several stands of saliva connected the girls' lips before breaking and falling onto Shinji's dick.
"You're so cute and lewd when you're out of breath," Asuka said as she stroked Rei's cheek.
Asuka then gave Shinji a quick kiss before she herself then lowered her head down to take Shinji's cock inside her mouth. His cock was still slick with Rei's spit and Asuka stuck her tongue out, licking up the side of Shinji's shaft while also taking Rei's saliva onto her tongue.
After reaching the top, Asuka then put the head in her mouth before ravenously shoving her mouth down the length of Shinji's dick.
"A- Asuka!" Shinji almost shouted as he felt himself penetrate the back of Asuka's throat.
Several lewd squelching sounds came out of Asuka's throat as she bobbed her head up and down a few times before coming up to breathe.
"So, how is it? Tight?" Asuka asked with a smirk as a bit of drool dripped down her chin.
"Y- Yes!" Shinji stuttered as he got caught up gazing at the lusty sparkle in Asuka's eye.
"Good," Asuka said in a satisfied tone.
Asuka then once more grabbed Rei by her hair and pulled the surprised girl's head down on Shinji's cock again.
"Hmm!?" Rei questioned before her lips parted and engulfed Shinji's cock once more.
"Oh, fuck yes, baby girl," Asuka moaned as she roughly pulled Rei's head down all the way to the base of Shinji's cock.
Asuka pulled the girls head up only a fraction of and an inch just so she could violently shove it back down again.
"Yeah, good girl, Wonderslut," Asuka said as she continued shoving the girl's head down.
"Rei!" Shinji choked out as he slowly felt his cock curve down Rei's throat.
Asuka had shoved Shinji's dick so far down Rei's throat that the girl couldn't even gag. The girl's esophagus spasmed and tightened which only sent more intense waves of pleasue into Shinji's body as he himself inadvertently convulsed. Asuka let out a devilish laugh as she watched the two of them writhe under her hands.
"Hey, Shinji. Remember that vanilla ice cream you got us earlier?" Asuka asked as she shoved Rei's head down even further.
"Y- Yes!" the boy barely managed to say.
"And remember how it started melting all over me and Rei's cute little lips?"
"God! Y- Yes!" Shinji once again choked out.
"I kinda wanna see that again," Asuka seductively whispered before yanking Rei's head off Shinji's cock.
"Fuck!" Shinji gasped.
Rei immediately began panting for air after Asuka pulled her head back up. She was dazed, her eyes were crossed, and drool trickled down her chin.
"Oh, Rei. You precious thing. Not even trying to come up for air," Asuka said in an adoring tone.
Rei only moaned dizzily in response and Asuka gave the girl a quick kiss on the cheek. Asuka then looked at Shinji with a mischievous smirk before beginning to lower her head down.
"Asuka, wait! If it's too much, if it's going to hurt you, you don't have to!" Shinji blurted out.
"Shh, Shinji. I'm fine," Asuka said with a smile before once more ducking her head down.
She used her fingers to push her hair aside before then gently putting her lips over the head of Shinji's cock. She then began soulfully suckling on the tip. This somewhat surprised Shinji, as he'd somewhat expected her to be more ravenous, though this wasn't bad either.
The girl tilted her head and prodded Shinji's cock into the side of her mouth, making her cheek bulge.
"Asuka…" Shinji sighed, finally able to catch his breath as he slowly ran his fingers though the girl's hair while she sucked on him.
Shinji tried his best to resist the urge to shiver in pleasure at Asuka's carefully measured ministrations. But he couldn't resist gasping as the girl tilted his cock along the inside of her cheek until it sprung out of her lips with a lewd popping sound.
"Rei, have you caught your breath yet?" Asuka asked before slapping Shinji's dick againt her tongue.
"Uh huh," Rei said, though she still seemed a little dazed.
"Then why don't you come down here and help me out?"
"Help?"
"Yeah! You suck one side of him while I suck the other."
"Suck?" Rei asked again.
"Yeah. It's just like when you're kissing me, except there's a cock between our lips. So just come down here and suck him off and pretend like you're kissing me. All you have to do is follow my lead. You'll get the hang of it in no time."
"Oh, okay," Rei said before lowering her head down to match Asuka.
"God, you're so innocent sometimes, but that's okay. I like corrupting you," Asuka said with a devious smile.
Shinji let out a stressed sigh as both of the girl's heads hovered over his lap.
"Aww, what's wrong, Shinji?" Asuka teased.
"I guess I'm just worried someone might see us," Shinji said.
"Don't worry about that, Shinji. Rei and I can cover up anything suspicious if someone comes poking around," Asuka said as she put her hand on Shinji's chest and pushed him against the tree, "So, just try to enjoy it, okay?"
Shinji once again let out a mildly stressed sigh before Asuka then once more kissed his dick, followed shortly by Rei beginning to suck on the opposite side of his shaft.
"A- Asuka! Rei!" Shinji moaned as the girls both pressed their lips to him and began sucking.
Despite not being as intense as Asuka's previous orchestrations, feeling the back and forth pull between each of the girls' lips was still incredibly arousing. Shinji couldn't help but let out a moan watching Asuka's tongue dart out of her lips and seeing Rei's spit seep out of the corners of her mouth. And besides just the physical stimulation, there was also the mental arousal and sounds.
The smacking and sucking sounds of the girls' lips was almost enough to make Shinji wince in pleasure. And the image of of his cock, now glistening in the golden sunlight with the girls' spit as it stood starkly between their faces, was truly beyond enrapturing.
He felt Asuka suck the side of his shaft a little harder before she then lustfully leaned forward, firmly pushing his cock against Rei's lips and into her face. Rei herself then raised her head a little higher, which caused the head of his cock to curve into the tip of Asuka's nose.
"Rei! Asuka!" Shinji gasped, "I- I ca- can't!"
Asuka detached her lips from Shinji's cock with a disgustingly lewd pop.
"You hear that, Rei? He's close!" Asuka giggled.
"Mmm-hmm," Rei agreed, sending vibrations through Shinji's cock.
Asuka wrapped her slender fingers around the head of Shinji's cock and rapidly stroked it a few times as Rei continued suckling on Shinji's shaft. Shinji hunched over and gasped as his body spasmed in pleasure from Asuka's unexpected hand motions. The redhead then lifted her hand above her head and wriggled her fingers as strands of spit clung to her hand.
"Hey, Rei, suck on his tip and kiss me," Asuka ordered through a giggle before she reattached her own lips to the head of Shinji's cock.
Rei only moaned in response as she raised her head the few inches required to meet Asuka's lips.
Shinji almost choked as both of the girl's then began sucking on the tip of his cock, their tongues flitting back and forth over him. He could barely stand the sensation of the girls pulling him in two different directions while also pressing their hot soft lips together, keeping him pinned in place between them.
Shinji balled his fists as he tried to keep himself from spasming, but he couldn't resist the urge to occasionally thrust, making Asuka giggle, which of course made even more vibrations travel down the length of Shinji's cock.
"Asuka! R- Rei! I'm… gonna…" Shinji barely managed to choke out.
Asuka, knowing Shinji was close, put her one of her hands behind Rei's head and pulled her deeper into the kiss while Asuka herself began sucking as hard as she could. And, in the next moments, she felt cum starting to erupt from Shinji's cock.
It quickly filled up both her and Rei's mouths before beginning to spew out of the corners of their lips. Asuka tried to lick up some of the liquid as it trickled down the length of Shinji's cock, though this ended up with some of the cum shooting into the air before landing on either Rei's nose or Asuka's own cheek.
"Holy fuck!" Asuka exclaimed as yet another strand of cum landed across the eyelid of her one good eye and drooped off her eyelashes.
Rei herself made a surprised moan as one last rope of cum landed on her right cheek before Shinji finally stopped orgasming.
"Ugh, s- sorry," Shinji panted.
"What're you saying sorry for, you idiot? You're acting like this isn't exactly what we wanted," Asuka chided the boy for apologizing.
"Um… it tickles. I… I am going to… to sneeze," Rei said before crossing her eyes and letting out a small high pitched sneeze, just like she said would.
"Jesus Christ, you're so fucking cute," Asuka laughed as she tried to stifle a chuckle, "Here. Let's get this off you."
Asuka then kissed the girl's nose and licked her cheek, cleaning the cum from Rei's face.
"There you go," Asuka said before gently petting Rei's head.
The redhead then turned to face Shinji, here eye sparkling with mischievous desire. The boy gasped as Asuka began crawling on top of him. Shinji's cock disappeared under Asuka's yellow dress and he then felt the girl sit down in his lap.
"You're okay, right? This is okay? It doesn't hurt. I know that they did a number on you," Asuka asked as she stroked Shinji's cheek.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Asuka," Shinji sighed as he gently rested his hands on Asuka's waist.
"Good," Asuka said with a smile before leaning forward and gently kissing Shinji.
Shinji put one of his hands on the side of her head and pulled her deeper into the kiss. Her hair felt notably different with her not wearing her neural connectors anymore. It was looser than it had once been.
Asuka could already feel Shinji beginning to harden again between her thighs. She broke the kiss before giggling. She knew that in a few more moments, she'd be able take him inside her.
"You can feel how much I want you, right Shinji? Can you feel how how wet I am?" Asuka purred as she grinded her hips in Shinji's lap.
"A- Asuka!" Shinji stuttered, which only caused the girl to giggle even more.
"Yeah, I thought so."
Asuka then deviantly reached one of her hands under her yellow sundress before slowly and torturously wrapping her fingers around Shinji's cock. The boy could be heard letting out a quick gasp as Asuka then began guiding Shinji's dick inside her. There was a split second of resistance before Shinji's dick slipped inside the girl, causing Asuka to let out a sharp moan.
"Oooh!"
"Asuka! Oh god!"
"Hmmhmm," Asuka chuckled satisfactorily as a hot blush spread across her cheeks.
She wiggled her hips left and right a few times as though she were trying to situate herself. This, of course, caused Shinji to inhale in pleasure as he felt his cock twist around and press against her tight insides. Asuka then mischievously ran her hand over her right shoulder, pulling the strap of her dress down her arm.
"You wanna see my cute little perky boobies, Shinji?" Asuka giggled as she then flicked the opposite strap of her dress off her other shoulder.
"Asuka!" Shinji gasped as the girl's dress barely clung to her chest, sliding down until it stopped just above Asuka's nipples.
"Heheh, that's what I thought," Asuka said before finally letting her dress fall past her breasts and down to her waist.
Shinji moved one of his hands from Asuka hips and placed it over her stomach before slowly feeling upwards toward the girl's breasts.
"Rei, come here," Asuka demanded.
"Hmm?" Rei questioned, drool still dripping of her chin.
"Suck my tits while I fuck Shinji!" Asuka once again ordered.
"Oh," Rei said as Asuka suddenly grabbed the girl by the back of her head and pulled her into her chest.
In the next moment, Rei began gently suckling on Asuka's nipple while Asuka stroked her hair.
"And you, Shinji" Asuka said before she also lovingly guided Shinji's lips to her other nipple.
Doing as he was told, Shinji too began suckling on the girl as a mildly embarrassed blush spread across his face. He could feel Rei's cheek pressing against his own. Her face was hot and flushed next to his.
"Mmm, fuck yeah!" Asuka moaned as she started grinding her hips back and forth.
She could feel Shinji's cock twitch inside of her as the boy let out a soft moan. As had been the case, her stomach had distended slightly just from fitting the boy in her and a feeling of euphoria began to rise up in her at the thought of yet again having Shinji cum inside of her. There was just something so thrilling about doing something so deviant, and Asuka could feel herself quaking with excitement.
"I can't wait for you to fucking cum inside me again, Shinji," Asuka whispered in his ear.
"Asuka! You know I can't control myself when you talk like that," groaned as he stopped sucking on Asuka's nipple.
"But I want you to lose control!" the girl seductively moaned as she slowly and intently grinded her hips around on top of Shinji's lap, "I want you to fill me up completely. I want you to spew every drop of cum inside my tight little pussy as I wring your soul out of you. I want to be absolutely leaking cum onto my thighs once I'm done with you!"
"Agh! Asuka!" Shinji groaned once again as he winced in pleasure and pressed his head into Asuka's chest.
He shivered at the sensation of Asuka's nails gently raking though the hair on the back of his head and he could feel her excited heartbeat in his forehead as he rested against her chest. Her pussy was leaking grool all over his dick as well. She was obviously working herself up just as much as she was him.
Shinji suddenly felt the girl clench down on him. He threw his head back and gasped as he spasmed and inadvertently thrust into her.
"Oh- Oh fuck!" Asuka whispered as her eyes temporarily crossed in pleasure.
Shinji almost couldn't control himself and, despite his bruises and injuries, he was about to thrust into Asuka again. But he then noticed a man and woman, in all likelihood a couple, walking down the trail, probably also on their way to offer their prayers at the shrine.
"Asuka! Someone's coming!" Shinji choked out in a whisper.
"Oh shit!" Asuka whispered.
Asuka lunged forward and tightly hugged Shinji which caused a small smacking sound to emanate from Rei's lips as the girl was forced to stop suckling on her breast.
"Asuka… we should probably-" Shinji started to say before he was cut off.
"No! If I get off, it'll look even more suspicion. Just try to play it off as us cuddling!"
Shinji could feel the girl's grinding slow down, though she didn't entirely stop moving her hips. Asuka buried her face into Shinji's neck, pressing her tits into his chest as she continued to needily hug him. She then went on to kiss his neck while trying to stifle a few giggles.
Despite Shinji watching the couple walk down the trail like a hawk, he found it difficult to actually focus on them. Asuka's hot breath and little moans by themselves were already too distracting. And that was to say nothing of the feeling of being inside her.
Shinji quietly groaned and the edges of his vision darkened some. He looked down at Asuka's red hair before once again turned his gaze back to the couple. Asuka let out a moan that was slightly louder than her others and Shinji thought he may have noticed the couple give him, Asuka, and Rei a quick sideways glance. But it was hard to tell with Asuka squeaking and moaning in his ear as she desperately clung to him.
"Fuck! Shinji! This is so hot! I'm getting close!" Asuka whimpered.
"Agh, Asuka," Shinji yet again groaned, "I- I know. Oh god!"
The girl once again clenched down on him before whimpering and shivering. This almost caused Shinji to spasm again as he tried to avoid moaning too loudly and drawing the attention of the couple. Luckily, they had almost passed by now and likely wouldn't be back for a while. Long enough for Asuka to finish having her way and likely enough time for Rei as well.
"Asuka, I think… I think they're almost gone," Shinji quietly groaned.
"R- Rei!" Asuka quietly yelped in pleasure, "C- Can you check? Oh fuck!"
Rei, doing as she was asked, leaned to the side, looking over Asuka's nude shoulders so she could get a good view of the trail. Sure enough, even if the couple had taken notice of their deviant and lewd show, they had apparently decided to mind their business and continued on down the dirt trail and further up the mountain.
"They appear… to be leaving," Rei said before relaxing, her back resting against the trunk of the tree.
Asuka suddenly leaned to her side and pressed her lips against Rei's, giving the girl a promiscuous kiss and earning a loud choked groan from Shinji as she caused his cock to shift around inside the hot constricted walls of her pussy. The boy then groaned again as Asuka recentered herself on top of Shinji, though it was cut short as she moved in and kissed him as well, throwing her arms around his head.
A strand of spit connected Asuka's lips to Shinji's after she broke the kiss. And she immediately thereafter dove her head to the side of Shinji's neck and began kissing him on the side of the throat just above his shoulder, giggling perversely all the while, her laughter only occasionally pierced by a lewd moan or a sharp girly gasp of pleasure.
Shinji threw his right arm around the girl's waist and put his left hand on the back of Asuka's head, pulling the girl closer to him and holding her just as tightly as she held him, forcing him even deeper inside her.
"Fuck! Shinji! I'm gonna cum! I'm so close!" Asuka quietly squeaked in Shinji's ear.
"Agh! Asuka! I know! I know, oh god!"
Shinji didn't know if it was the medicine, her injury, or just the fact they were in public, but Asuka had apparently worked herself up rather quickly. He could feel how aroused she was just by how much grool she was leaking onto him. She was also spasming ever more frequently with every jolt of the girl's hips also sending pleasure shooting through Shinji.
Shinji could also feel the girl's muscles beginning to tense up. She had a death grip around both his neck as she hugged him and his dick as she contracted around him. Every part of her was clinging to him. At this rate, it wouldn't be much longer before Shinji came as well.
"Fuck! FUCK! Shinji, fuck! I'm fucking cumming! Ffffu- fuck! FUCK! OH, FUCK!" Asuka squealed as she desperately hugged herself into Shinji as tightly as she could.
Shinji felt the girl's pussy clench as her entire body started quaking. Shinji wasn't able to withstand the welcoming embrace of the girl's vagina and in the next moment, he began shooting off inside her.
"A- Asuka! Gah!" Shinji groaned in a strangulated voice as he almost blacked out from orgasming inside Asuka.
Cum spewed out of the girl and clung to her thighs as she continued holding onto Shinji for dear life. She could feel every pulse as the boy unloaded inside her. She could feel the jets of cum splash against her walls before eventually overflowing and leaking out from inside her.
After a few moments of labored breathing, Asuka finally began to relinquish her hold on Shinji before just falling limp and resting on the boy's chest. Her head was yet again throbbing in pain despite her pain medication.
She closed her eyes and tried to ignore it, though it didn't help much. However, Shinji gently stroking her hair did somehow seem to make her feel a little better.
"Fuck… my head…" Asuka said in a pained sigh.
"Are you okay, Asuka!?" Shinji breathily asked the girl.
"Yeah… I just… I dunno. I guess maybe I pushed myself a bit too hard. I'm sure it'll stop hurting so bad in a few minutes."
"Doctor Akagi said not to take those pain pills too often… but tell me if you need help, okay?"
"I think I'm fine… What about you? I didn't… uh, hurt you or anything, did I?"
"No, not really. ...I mean, you might've hugged me a little tight there at the end, but I'm okay."
"Sorry… I wasn't thinking."
"It's okay, Asuka. Really. I said before I was fine."
Shinji kept stoking the girl's hair as she rested on him, occasionally feeling the bandage that had been tightly wrapped around her head.
After a few more moments of rest, Asuka tiredly began to drag herself off Shinji before glancing at Rei, giving her a halfhearted smirk.
"Your turn, Wonderslut. Time to get those panties off. Stand your little ass up and face the tree like a good girl."
Rei blinked and gave Asuka a surprised look before doing as she was told, standing up and brushing the leaves and dirt from her knees before standing with her body towards the trunk of the black pine. Before long, she felt Asuka's fingers wrap around her ankles and then travel up her calves and along her legs until reaching her thighs. She felt the redhead pinch her flesh before then suddenly realizing Asuka had stuck her head under her dress.
Rei made an inarticulate but surprised sound as she felt Asuka kiss one of her ass cheeks.
"Asuka!" Rei yelped.
"Heheh, You really are soft down here, Wonderwhore," Asuka said in a voice steeped in satisfaction.
Asuka then salaciously curled her fingers under the waistband of Rei's panties before dragging them down the girl's thighs. Asuka then kissed the girl's ass a few more times while chuckling evilly. After pulling her panties down far enough, Asuka lifted the girl's feet up one at a time, removing the panties from around her ankle before tossing them right in Shinji's lap.
"Oh, hell," Shinji gasped as he looked down at the garment that had been thrown across his dick.
"So, Wondergirl, what do we got up here?" Asuka said from under the skirt of Rei's blue dress.
Rei said nothing intelligible but did let out a whimper.
There was then a loud smacking sound, presumably from Asuka spanking the girl, though Shinji couldn't exactly see what was happening under Rei's skirt.
"Ooh, lookie what I found under here, Wondergirl," Asuka purred as slowly stroked her fingers across Rei's soft pussy, "A cute little fucktoy just waiting to be pounded."
Asuka then stuck both her middle and index finger inside Rei, causing the girl to gasp as she clung to the tree.
"Oh, what a good little girl. You're already dripping,"Asuka said as she smacked the girl's ass again, "Did watching me and Shinji get your little pussy excited?"
"Y- Yes!" Rei squeaked.
"Hmmhmmhmm, I can tell," Asuka purred yet again as she felt Rei's grool seeping between her fingers and down her palm.
She then slid her fingers out from inside Rei and emerged from beneath her skirt, holding her glistening fingers in the air for Shinji to see.
"Heheh, she's so wet," Asuka chuckled as Rei let out yet another whimpering moan.
"Oh, geez," Shinji sighed as he watched the grool on Asuka's fingers sparkle in the sunlight.
Asuka glanced back at Shinji, seeing the boy was quickly getting hard again.
"Well, Rei. I think it's time we satisfy that hungry little pussy of yours," Asuka said before grabbing the girl by the wrist, dragging her over to Shinji, and standing her over the boy's lap.
Shinji looked up at the girl, her legs parted over his hips and her feet on either side of him. With the girl still wearing the dress, he could only see part of the way up her legs, but he did notice a strand of grool drip from the girl and fall right onto his dick, causing him to shiver in anticipation. Asuka wasn't lying. The girl was wet.
"Get on your fucking knees, Wonderslut, and get ready to take that fucking cock inside you like the little schoolgirl whore you are," Asuka ordered.
"Y- Yes!" Rei whimpered in response before dropping to her knees and siting in Shinji's lap.
"Oh, shit!" Shinji yet again gasped as he felt the his cock disappear under Rei's skirt and press against her pussy lips.
Shinji looked into Rei's needy red eyes before he felt Asuka sit down next to him and cuddle into his side, resting her head on his shoulder as her dress still sagged, exposing her breasts. Shinji could feel the vibration's from Asuka's throat travel into his shoulder as the girl let out a girlish laugh.
"Oh, little Wonderslut," Asuka sighed adoringly as she placed her hand on Rei's chest and squeezed her boobs through her dress, "Don't be shy. Why don't you show Shinji and me your fat little schoolgirl titties?"
Rei shivered as she felt Asuka's fingers travel up her collarbone before stroking her shoulder and pulling the strap of her dress off her. She then navigated her hand to Rei's other shoulder before pulling that strap off her as well before finally grabbing Rei's dress by the cleavage and yanking it down her torso, causing the girl's boobs to jiggle some.
"Yeah, that's how a good little cumslut should look," Asuka said as she cupped her hand around Rei's breast and gave it a gentle squeeze, which caused Rei to let out a short moan.
Asuka then nuzzled her face into Shinji's neck and licked his throat lewdly before reaching under Rei's skirt and grabbing Shinji by the dick.
"You can feel how desperately she needs to be fucked, right Shinji?" Asuka seductively questioned as she stroked Shinji's cock, which was still slick with both his and her cum, "She's can't take it. Look at her. She needs cock so badly, she can't even stop shaking. She's a fucking cum addict. She needs cock every night or she'll go through withdrawals just like a slutty little schoolgirl cum dumpster."
Shinji looked the girl's fluttering red eyes as she hung her head low. She was shivering, just like Asuka said and Shinji could feel the girl's grool leaking all over his cock as Asuka continued to stroke him.
"Well, Shinji? Aren't you gonna ruin her tight little schoolslut cunt?"
"Fuck!" Shinji choked out, which caused a cheeky smile to spread across Asuka's lip.
Asuka could feel Shinji's dick was fully erect yet again and she could tell every time his heart beat as his cock throbbed in her fingers. She kissed Shinji on the side of his throat while also pausing her strokes to give Shinji's cock a firm squeeze right below its head.
"Well then," Asuka said after breaking the kiss, "I guess I better stop playing around so much. It wouldn't do for you to blow your load outside her."
Asuka let go of Shinji's cock before feeling around his lap for Rei's panties. And, after finding them, she pulled them out from under the folds of the girls dress before hanging them triumphantly above her head for a moment.
She then stood up and left Shinji's side, her yellow sundress almost slipping down her legs before she grabbed it and pulled it back up and put one of the straps back over her shoulder while leaving the other hanging loosely at her side so one of her small perky breasts could still be seen.
Asuka then wadded Rei's panties up in her fist and stepped over to the girl so she was standing next to her.
"Open your fucking drooling slut mouth, you pathetic tavern cum wench," Asuka ordered as she puffed out her chest and looked down at the girl.
Rei let out what could almost be described as a shocked gasped before doing as she was told and opening her mouth.
"Now stick your hot little tongue out, you fucking little school slut."
"Oh, Jesus," Shinji gasped under his breath as Rei obediently shot her tongue out of her mouth.
Asuka, using her free hand, lovingly put her finger under Rei's chin while pressing her thumb against Rei's tongue. Asuka then wrenched the girl's head up so she was looking up at her instead of submissively looking at the ground.
"Yes, that's good little girl," Asuka seductively praised Rei which caused her to shiver yet again, "Yeah, you like being told you're a good girl, don't you Wonderslut?"
Asuka, using her hand that currently held Rei's panties, slowing stroked Rei's delightful soft blue hair with the back of her hand. Rei apparently tried to answer Asuka's question, but all that really came out of her mouth was a pathetic garbled moan which caused Asuka to smile and lick her own lips as she watched drool continue to leak out of Rei's.
"And that's why you'll do anything and everything I order you to do. Because you like being an obedient little slut. Because you like it when I tell you what a good little girl you are and what a good job you've done servicing Shinji's cock with your soaking wet little baby girl cunt and your hot tight little throat."
It was apparent Asuka was yet again working herself up as Shinji would occasionally notice a few strands of grool fall from between her legs and land on the forest floor, making the fallen leaves between her feet glitter when the dappled sunlight shone on them just right.
Asuka nastily spat down Rei's mouth, her saliva splattering off of her thumb and landing on the roof of Rei's mouth and the edges of her lips.
"God, I can see why Shinji loses control when I make him fuck your little schoolgirl face," Asuka said lewdly as she looked down Rei's throat, "If I had a cock, I'd be shoving it down your throat right now, you fucking little slutty school bitch."
Asuka then gave Rei a soft kiss on her forehead before stroking her hair with the back of her hand once again.
"But I don't. So this'll just have to do," Asuka said before rudely shoving the panties down Rei's open and waiting mouth.
"Ooh, yes. What a good little baby girl slut!" Asuka said as Rei let out a muffled moan, "Now keep that in your mouth, you precious little slut. Don't spit it out until I tell you you're allowed to. You were pretty loud that last times we fucked, so you have to chew on those cute little panties of yours."
Rei tried her best to nod and Asuka finally removed her hand from the girl's drooling lips, leaving part of the waistband of the panties sticking out the corner of Rei's mouth. Afterward, Asuka then pulled Rei's straw hat up her neck and past her head, relieving her of it and hanging it on a nearby tree branch by it's blue chinstrap.
Asuka then stepped behind Rei, standing between Shinji's legs as she knelt down on the ground. She let out a little giggle before lifting Rei's skirt so she could see the girl's ass. She then smacked it, causing Rei to jump in surprise.
"Yeah, I think that'll do," Asuka said in a pleased tone.
Asuka then grabbed Rei by her hair and wrenched her back so she fell into her chest. Asuka then used her other hand to reach around to the front of the girl, stroking Rei's pussy a few times and getting yet more of the girl's grool on her fingers.
Asuka then raised her hand back up so it was in front of Rei's eyes, showing her all of the sticky girl cum that had coated her fingers and palm.
"Look at how wet you are, baby girl," Asuka said as she flexed her palm and touched her thumb to each of her fingertips, leaving strands of grool between each one she touched, "You look like you're just desperate to have Shinji's cock inside your starving slutty little slit. But I'm only going to let him put it in you if you say please like a good little sex starved cum addict."
"Jesus, Asuka," Shinji could be heard saying under his breath.
"P- Please!" Rei begged through a muffled murmur.
A satisfied smile sparked across Asuka's face. The hand she'd previously been holding in front of Rei's face shot back behind the girl, out of Rei's field of vision. Rei then let out a muffled yelp of surprise when she felt Asuka's fingers being shoved inside her from behind her back. Before the sensation even registered in her brain however, Rei felt her world spin as Asuka viciously shoved her forward and down into Shinji's chest head first.
Rei looked up out of the corner of her eye, seeing Asuka standing over both her and Shinji. Rei felt a warm wet sensation of Asuka's grool drip onto her lower back.
"Oh, you fucking little slut. If I had some rope or zip-ties right now, I'd tie you up like a fucking lamb roast," Asuka spat as she lustily shook Rei's head by her hair.
"Jesus Christ, Asuka," Shinji almost choked in disbelief.
It was at that moment that Asuka of course remembered Shinji's belt and yet again a perverted and lusty smile crept across Asuka's face.
"Shinji, give me your belt!" Asuka ordered as she held her hand out expectantly.
"Asuka!? My- My what!? But-"
"Give it to me now!" Asuka demanded, her breath ragged and hungry.
Shinji attempted to pulls his belt from his pants, but before he could remove it himself, Asuka's hand was already around it and tearing it free from the belt loops of Shinji's pants. Shinji almost lost his breath just staring at Asuka's shear lustful ferocity as she held the belt over her head, sweat starting to permeate on her shoulders and in her cleavage, making the girl's skin glitter in the sunlight.
"Oh, fuck yes," Asuka said as she examined the belt before looking down at Rei, who she still had pinned to Shinji's chest.
"Put your hands behind your back, right now you fucking pathetic little after-school street-side slut," Asuka yet again ordered.
With a needy whimper, Rei did as she was told. Asuka finally let go of Rei's hair and a depraved and wicked smile contorted her lips as she grabbed Rei by her forearms and started wrapping the belt around the girl's wrists.
And just like that, after running the belt around her arms a few times and fastening it, Rei's hands were tied behind her back.
Asuka stood up straight, standing over Rei as as her pussy juices continued to drip onto Rei's back and the blue dress that loosely clung to her waist. Asuka's eyebrow switched and her smile grew even more sickening as she stared down at Rei, breathless and with her hair messily covering her eyes.
Asuka ran one of her hands through her hair, not caring that it was completely covered in Rei's juices. She then backed away from Shinji and Rei, pacing back and forth a few times to admire her work before quickly leaning over and once again loudly smacking Rei's ass.
Again, the girl let out a muffled yelp as she nuzzled her cheek into the drool stain she'd created on Shinji's shirt. She also felt Shinji's cock excitedly throb underneath her stomach.
"Alright, you worthless sexed up fuckdoll. It's time to spread your little schoolgirl pussy. Lift your fucking ass up so I can shove Shinji's cock inside your tiny little slut slit."
Rei, as always, did exactly as she was told. It was difficult with her hands tied behind her back, but eager to please Asuka, she managed to raise her hips, allowing Asuka to reach under her.
Asuka knelt down behind the girl. She put her hands on both of the girl's ass cheeks before squeezing them and jiggling them. She then looked under the girl's hips, seeing that several thick strands of Rei's grool clung to her thighs and pussy lips before eventually trailing their way down to the base of Shinji's cock.
"God, you're so disgustingly wet. Fuck! It's so hot," Asuka said before sticking her tongue out and slowly licking all the way up the girl's pussy.
Rei's eyes rolled back in her head and she let out a long and pathetic moan.
"Rei!" Shinji gasped as he threw his arms around the girl's shoulders and head.
Asuka reached under Rei's hips and wrapped her fingers around Shinji's cock, manipulating it so that it stood poised to enter Rei. Asuka teasingly brushed the tip across Rei's pussy lips, causing both Shinji and Rei to let out sounds of pleasure. Asuka bit her lips before using her other hand to push Rei down on Shinji's cock.
More juices seeped out of Rei and down Shinji's dick before flowing over Asuka's fingers. Seeing the girl's abundant juices caused a wild and manic look to flash in Asuka's eye and she let out a dark absentminded chuckle.
Once Rei was about halfway down Shinji's cock, Asuka released the boy from her grasp before quickly grabbing Rei by her hips and shoving her the rest of the way down.
Rei let out a squeak of pleasure and Shinji choked out a groaning sound as he spasmed under Rei.
"Oh, fuck yes," Asuka said through grit teeth as she moved Rei's hips back and forth, grinding the girl against Shinji, "You're just a little fuckdoll now, you perfect little slut."
Asuka stepped over to the girl's side before wrapped one of her hands around the girl's throat and using the other one to grab the girl by her hair. She then wrenched her up so she was sitting straight up instead of leaning into Shinji. Shinji winced in pleasure as Asuka manhandled Rei.
Asuka looked down at Rei. Some of the fabric of her panties was still poking out of her lips and drool coated her her chin and throat, making it slick beneath Asuka's fingers. Her deep red eyes shimmered and betrayed a sense of vulnerability and her breasts puffed out every time she excitedly inhaled.
Asuka eased up on the girl a bit, trailing her finger that were around Rei's throat up to her cheeks and using her other hand to stroke the girl's hair.
"Ugh, you are just a little fucking cock sleeve, aren't you, Wonderslut?" Asuka hungrily exhaled as she shook the girl's head back and forth, "Since we aren't piloting the Evas anymore, that's all you're good for. Would you like that, you little slut? You'd like running away and having cock stuffed inside you every day and every night for the rest of your life?"
Rei made a muffled sound and pathetically attempted to nod her head.
Asuka trailed her fingers back down the girl's neck before reaching for her breast. Like her throat, the girl's cleavage was sparkling in the sunlight due to how much she was drooling. Asuka then gave the girl's breast a small squeeze before slapping her tit and returning her hand to the girl's drool coated cheeks.
"Yeah, I bet you'd like being a fucking cum dumpster for the rest of your life," Asuka said in a sweet but dominant voice as she stroked Rei's cheek, "I could tie you up to the bed. Or a chair. Or anything I felt like. And then I'd fucking blindfold you. And then I could have Shinji fuck your little whore pussy whenever I wanted. I'd make you suck cock for breakfast. If you wanted any of Shinji's cooking, you'd have to make him cum first. And then I'd feed you while you still had cum and drool dripping off your face."
Rei let out another whimper.
Asuka bent over and whispered in the girl's ear, "Keep grinding on Shinji's cock, you little slut. Otherwise, you won't get dinner tonight."
Rei let out a few gasps before doing as she was bid and slowly moving her hips back and forth on top of Shinji. Shinji yet again groaned and writhed under Rei, causing Asuka to smirk devilishly.
"Yeah, that's a good little cock sleeve," Asuka praised the girl as she intently stroked Rei's short blue hair, "After breakfast, it would be my turn to play with you. I would tie you up so tight, you wouldn't even be able to move. And I'd gag you. And you wouldn't be able to see anything or say anything to anyone. And then I'd shove a vibrator right on your little schoolgirl clit. And I'd make you cum over and over and over again. You wouldn't even be a person anymore. You'd just a be a soul trapped in a body. And I'd be masturbating to you, fingering my little pussy as I watched you struggle and writhe in your own filthy sticky girl cum. And after I was finished, I'd take off your gag and make you eat my pussy before you could have lunch. And you'd have my girl juices all over your face while I fed you. And I'd keep the vibrator tied to your worthless little cunt so you'd have to eat at the same time you're cumming nonstop."
"Jesus Christ, Asuka," Shinji choked as he tried not to grab Rei's hips too hard.
Asuka glanced back at Shinji, her sick smile still present on her face.
"Oh, I know you'd love it too, Shinji," Asuka said before she mischievously bit her lip.
Asuka then once more lovingly stroked Rei's hair before hugging the girl's face into her stomach. Immediately, she could feel Rei's drool start seeping into the yellow fabric of her sundress. But she didn't care and she hugged the girl's head even tighter as her body trembled in pleasure.
"Oh, Rei, is it too much for you, my precious little Wonderslut?" Asuka teased as she reassuring hugged the girl's head and stroked her hair.
Rei spasmed before loudly moaning a confirmation into Asuka's stomach.
"Oh, my darling little cumslut," Asuka adoringly said as she continued petting the girl, "After lunch, it would be Shinji's turn to fuck you again. I'd tie you down on our bed and take your blindfold off. And then I'd fuck Shinji right in front of you. Can you imagine it, Rei? I can. I'd be screaming his name as he came inside me again and again and again! And you'd be watching the whole time. And then Shinji and I would have a romantic candlelight dinner in front of you. And then, after we we're finished, we'd both play with you. And after you were wet, I'd make Shinji stuff his cock inside you, and then I'd sit on your face and make you eat all of his cum out of my pussy. And all the while, I'd hold that little vibrator to your little pussy and you'd be cumming over and over. And Shinji would cum inside you too! And you'd be leaking cum like a fucking cum dumpster. Ooh, would you like that, you little slut? Would you like being my sex slave and having your body ravaged every fucking day?"
Rei could barely speak and all she could manage to with was a wretched little muffled squeal as Asuka continued to hug the girl's head into her stomach.
"Yes, you could be our little sex slave all day. And when the sun finally set and we were finished using you like the little fuck toy you are, you could finally have dinner. And I'd untie you and we'd have a make out session in bed before finally falling asleep," Asuka said as Rei continued to cry and yelp into her dress.
"A- Asuka! Rei," Shinji choked out, "I- I'm gonna- Gah!"
Asuka chuckled before returning her attention to Rei.
"And you know the best part, Wonderslut?" Asuka said as the entire girl's body began to quake, "The next day, when you woke up, we'd get to fuck you all over again and cream your little slutty pussy."
Right as Asuka finished spitting out her words, Shinji thrust into the girl harder than usual, and in the next moment, cum started to shoot out of Rei's pussy before dripping down his cock. Rei let out yet another squeal and cried into Asuka's dress. Asuka psychotic smile became even more twisted as she felt Rei spasm in her arms and heard her scream into her stomach.
"Ooh, what a good little baby girl. Your slutty little fuckdoll pussy is cumming so hard for mommy," Asuka once more adoringly praised the girl as she lovingly hugged her and ran her finger through Rei's short blue hair.
After Rei and Shinji both stopped spasming, Asuka leaned back and pulled the girl's head out of her dress. Looking down at her, Rei's eyes seemed to be in a trance and she had tears streaming down her cheeks now on top of her drool.
"Oh, baby darling," Asuka said as she brushed the girl's hair out of her face, "Did you cum so hard you started crying? Aww, you're so precious."
Shinji himself tiredly glanced up at Asuka. He was honestly about to pass out. The pain of his wounds, the medicine, and cumming three times in a row had left him on the edge of consciousness.
"So, how was she? Did I get her excited enough for you?" Asuka asked as she beamed at Shinji.
"Y- ...Yes," was all Shinji could say before temporarily closing his eyes.
Asuka looked back at Rei and stroked her hair a few more times before holding her hand in front of her mouth.
"Spit it out, baby girl!" Asuka said.
Rei opened her mouth and gasped a few times. Asuka then grabbed the girl's spit soaked panties and yanked them out of her mouth. She then knelt down and pulled Shinji's cock out of Rei's cunt, which caused him to let out a sharp groan. Asuka then wadded Rei's panties up and dabbed them on the girl's pussy lips, causing the juices and cum that were leaking out of her to be absorbed into the already saturated fabric. And, after she felt she'd collected enough, she stood back up and shoved the panties back into Rei's still open mouth.
"Eat that cum, little slut," Asuka ordered before stepping behind the girl and beginning to undo the belt around her wrists.
After the belt had been undone, Asuka whispered in Rei's ear, "Good job, little girl."
Rei then tiredly cuddled into Shinji's chest and Asuka hung Shinji's belt on a branch next to Rei's straw hat. She then glanced back at her lovers. She wasn't sure they were quite asleep yet, but both of them had their eyes closed and didn't seem intent on stirring any time soon.
Asuka let out a tired sigh and shrugged. She then hooked her finger under the strap of her dress that was still loosely hanging off her shoulder and pulled it back into place, concealing her breast.
She then walked back over to Shinji's side and sat down next to him, careful not to move too fast lest she cause her eye to start throbbing again. And, after situating herself, she the rested her head on Shinji's shoulder, losing consciousness before she realized she was even tired.
/
Sometime later, at the NERV HQ rec room…
It was well past lunchtime, in fact, it could almost be called dinnertime, and Kaji eagerly awaited the ding of the microwave that was heating his instant yakisoba. The man was starved as he'd skipped out on breakfast this morning, as well as lunch apparently, in order to accommodate the newly arrived American Evangelion pilots. And now, it would only be a few more moments until he could finally have something hot and savory in his belly.
He counted down the seconds on the microwave as it neared zero.
'Five… four… three…'
But then he was distracted by his phone vibrating in his pocket.
Without complaint, he reached into his pocket and pulled the phone out right as the microwave went off. Looking at his notifications, he'd apparently gotten a text and quickly unlocked his phone to read it.
It read, "Pilots Rubikard and Rineheart have had their housing arrangement finalized. They will be staying at-"
"Oh, now that is an interesting development. Hmm… I guess I'd better hurry up and finish eating. It wouldn't due to be caught skulking around the property of young ladies," Kaji mumbled to himself.
/
Meanwhile, at the Seven Orioles Mountain Shrine trail…
Asuka groaned as she finally began to return to consciousness. The pain in her eye had begun to resurge and it was likely hopeless to try to return to that great cradle of comfort and darkness she called sleep.
She finally opened her eye and, though it took a moment for her vision to adjust, she was eventually able to make out her surroundings.
The sky was a dark orange. The sun must've been setting right at this very moment, though she couldn't tell for sure because of the trees. Trees… There were pine needles in the canopy above her. Though, it was difficult for her to tell how far they were.
"Ugh, fuck. Shinji!" Asuka groaned again.
"Oh, hey, Asuka. I didn't notice you were awake," the boy said before kissing her cheek.
"I just woke up," Asuka yet again groaned as she put her hand over her bandaged eye.
"Rei's still asleep," Shinji said as he stroked the girl's blue hair.
"How long were we out?" Asuka asked.
"Awhile… the sun's about to go down. I guess we needed more rest than we though.
Asuka finally glanced over to Shinji and Rei. Rei was still resting on Shinji's chest, drool still seeping out of her lips and the straps of her dress still pulled down her shoulders.
"Hey, wake up, Wondergirl," Asuka said as she poked the girl in her cheek.
Rei started to stir, but she moaned and nuzzled her head into Shinji's chest to retreat from Asuka's prodding finger.
"Come on, Rei. We need to get up. It's going to be dark soon," Shinji said as he gently shook the girl.
"Wondergirl, get up! Your ass and titties are still hanging out of your dress!" Asuka also added.
Rei finally turned her head to face Asuka and opened her eyes before blinking a few times.
Asuka couldn't help but laugh a little bit seeing the girl's panties were still hanging out of her lips.
"Come on, fuckbrain," Asuka said with a smile as she hooked her finger around the waistband of Rei's blue panties and slowly pulled them out of her mouth, "It's time to get your panties back on and go home."
/
-An American Evangelion Pilot in Tokyo-3-
/
Sometime later, in the apartment parking lot of the Katsuragi residence…
"Geez, I can't believe I unironically called myself mommy earlier. Oh god, I'm gonna die from cringe!" Asuka whined as she, Rei, and Shinji rounded a building and set foot on the parking lot.
The sun had set a while ago and it was now dark out. The trio of pilots had slept for quite a bit longer than they had intended and could only hope Misato wouldn't be too upset with them staying out so late even if the night was still young.
"Imagine what Toji would say," Shinji chuckled.
"You better not ever tell him I said that! I don't think he even knows we're dating yet."
"Hmm?" Rei questioned.
"Huh? What is it Rei?" Asuka asked the girl before following her gaze to some place in the center of the parking lot.
It was then that Asuka and Shinji noticed a severely rusted truck sitting in the middle of the parking lot. It stuck out like a sore thumb not just on account of how unmaintained the paint job was, but also due to the fact that everyone in the apartment complex was intimately aware of which cars did and didn't belong as only a handful of people actually resided in the apartment.
"Uh… I don't remember that being there," Shinji said in confusion.
"I… guess it belongs to a new tenet?" Asuka suggested as she and the others approached the truck.
"A reasonable assumption," Rei confirmed.
It was then that, out of the corner of her good eye, Asuka saw a door open on the fifth floor. And sure enough, it was the door to Misato's apartment. Light from the foyer flooded out onto the balcony and Asuka could see Misato standing in the doorway along with two smaller figures silhouetted by the light whom she couldn't identify.
"What the fuck? That's Misato's apartment," Asuka blurted out.
Both Shinji and Rei looked up to the door of Misato's apartment, seeing the same sight Asuka saw.
"Visitors?" Shinji asked.
"No way… It couldn't be…" Asuka said under her breath before suddenly dashing off towards the stairwell.
"Agh! Asuka, wait!" Shinji said, though the redhead didn't seem like to listen to him.
"Do not worry, Shinji. I will help," Rei affirmed as she stayed by his side.
"I'm fine, Rei. Really," Shinji yet again assured the girl.
Before Asuka had even realized it, she'd clambered up the stairwell and was at the fifth floor. Her head was throbbing and she'd started to lightly gasp for air as she rounded the corner and the door to Misato's apartment came into view.
'What the fuck? What's going on? Who're they?' Asuka questioned to herself as she saw what she could finally identify as two girls, one with blonde hair and the other with black, standing outside Misato's door.
The blonde girl; her hair was tied into twintails held up by a pair of pink ribbons. She wore a neat yellow blouse and a pink skirt. Asuka had seen that style before. And the black haired girl with her torn jeans, dark grey tank top, and brown riding boots. And the sunglasses and a grey baseball cap to top it all off. Even if it had been years, there was no mistaking it. Asuka knew those girls.
Asuka paused in her tracks, her shoes making a loud plodding sound before coming to a stop. The two girls looked at her and Misato leaned past the door frame to see what was causing so much racket.
"Uh, Asuka!?" Misato asked.
The blonde girl sharply inhaled through her nose.
"Oh, Asuka, it is you," Misato continued, "Hey, you speak some English right?"
"Y… Yeah, a bit..." Asuka exhaled absentmindedly as she focused on the two girls standing in front of her.
Asuka's eye had once again began to throb in pain despite her pain meds she'd taken just awhile ago. Her vision seemed to narrow in on the two girls, taking in every detail.
"Ah, haha, that's great. Because we have a couple Americans here and I'm having a tough time communicating with them," Misato said bashfully.
"I know who they are Misato…" Asuka said.
The girl with black hair slowly reached for her grey baseball cap and pulled it from her head followed by her also shakily removing her sunglasses with her other hand, revealing her stripe of white hair on her head and her blue eyes that shone like glistening tropical ocean water.
"Asuka… Sohryu…" the black haired girl said in shock, her jaw agape and her eyes widened in awe, "The Asuka Langley Sohryu…"
"You- You're… Ahni? Amelia? Oh geez, you were just a tiny ass little girls the last time I saw you!" Asuka exclaimed, obviously just as astounded by what she was seeing, "I- I- I heard you were coming but I didn't expect you to… Are you staying here!? With- With us!?"
Ahni, seeing Amelia was translating for her, finally broke out of her stupor so she could read Amelia's hands. And, after Amelia was finished, Ahni rigidly put her hands at her side and humbly bowed.
"No- Uh, um. We- We're staying on the floor below you. But when they told us we'd be staying in the same apartment complex as you, we- uh… just thought it would be polite to stop by and introduce ourselves," Ahni barely managed to stutter out.
"Wh- Why're you bowing?" Asuka asked in surreal confusion as she took a few steps towards the girls.
Amelia gently poked Ahni in her ribs, prompting the girl to stop her show of excess humility.
Asuka then glanced at Amelia.
"Oh, shit," Asuka said as she rubbed her arm in embarrassment, "Uh, I am so sorry about fucking up Unit-03, Amelia. I… kinda didn't have a choice, but I guess you already heard about that…"
Amelia raised her eyebrows and gave Asuka a shrug, seemingly trying to tell her it was water under the bridge.
"So… uh… do you know why you're here?" Asuka asked, "HQ's been kinda short on the details."
Amelia once more translated for Ahni so she could respond.
"Uh, no, not really," Ahni started, "They haven't told us much either. They just said that we were being reassigned here. They… sorta mentioned you and the pilot of Unit-01 might be outta commission for a while because of… what happened with Unit-02 and Unit-03. They said you were injured… so, they sent us as reserves I guess… We're… really sorry about that… We heard you… um… lost your eye because of Unit-03."
Asuka scowled for a moment but quickly tried to hide it.
"Don't worry about it. It's not your fault. It... wasn't Unit-03 that did this to me. It was… someone else. I already had Unit-03 under control when I lost my eye. So, it wasn't your fault. Even if it was Unit-03, it still wouldn't have been your fault. So let's not start out with any bad blood, alright?"
Amelia nodded before translating for Ahni.
"Asuka!?" Shinji groaned from the stairwell.
Asuka whirled around, seeing Rei helping to walk Shinji to Misato's door from the stairs
"Oh, shit! Shinji! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to leave you behind!" Asuka said before rushing to the boy's side.
"Huh!? That must be…" Ahni whispered to herself as she cast her eyes to the pair of people Asuka had just gone after.
"Hey, are you okay?" Asuka asked as she took Shinji by his hand and helped him walk to Misato's door.
"Yeah, I'm fine, but what's going on? Who're they?" Shinji questioned as he eyed the girls.
"They are…" Rei mumbled to herself as her red eyes locked with Ahni's blue ones.
"The American Evangelion pilots. Ahni Rubikard, Pilot of Mark.04 and Amelia Rineheart, the pilot of Unit-03," Asuka said before looking back at the girls and smiling.
"You- You must be Rei Ayanami!" Ahni shouted before Ahni elbowed her in the ribs and signed for her to lower her voice.
Rei blinked her eyes in confusion before glancing at Asuka.
"That girl. She said my name," Rei stated as though that were something to be surprised by.
"Yeah, she did. In case you've forgotten, Wondergirl, we're all famous here," Asuka said in amused tone.
After taking a few more steps, Shinji, Rei, and Asuka all arrived at Misato's door.
"You all look like you've gone through a gauntlet…" Ahni stated.
"Its… a long story," Asuka sighed, "You shouldn't worry about it."
"She says its a lot to explain," Amelia signed to Ahni.
"Oh…" Ahni mumbled as she glanced at Amelia and then back to the trio of Evangelion pilots standing in front of her, "So… If you're Asuka… And you're Rei… Then, that must mean… You're Shinji?"
Ahni saw Asuka nod and speak a few words, though she obviously couldn't hear them. But the nod was more than enough for Ahni.
"Wait! You're seriously Shinji!? Shinji Ikari!? But... But… You're so short!"
Amelia angrily elbowed Ahni in her ribs before signing to her, "Mind your mouth, you idiot! I know talking is new and exciting for you. But it's not like your thoughts where you can just think anything you want without consequences!"
Ahni looked embarrassed for a second before realizing Asuka seemed to be laughing.
"Holy shit!" Asuka cackled as she gasped for air, "That's really the first thing you say to him!?"
After another moment, Ahni began laughing as well.
"What… Asuka, what's going on!? She said my name and now she's laughing? What's wrong. Did I do something stupid!?"
"Oh! Oh, Shinji. Poor, poor Shinji," Asuka squealed as she keeled over, "No, no, no, no! It's okay. You didn't do anything."
"What!? But then why're you laughing!?" Shinji asked again.
"She said you're shorter than she expected," Asuka said, trying not to fall over from how dizzy she'd become.
"What!?" Shinji exclaimed in a disappointed and whiny voice, "But! I- She- She's shorter than me!"
At this point, even Amelia had begun to chuckle some, though her laughter was much more subdued due to her muteness.
"Hola, cómo estás, Shorty!" Ahni squeaked out in a breathless laugh.
"Shinji Ikari! The great and short pilot of Evangelion Unit-01!" Asuka howled in laughter.
"Asuka!? What's she saying!?" Shinji whined again.
Asuka simply hysterically shook her head no before barely managing to say "I don't know," in Japanese.
The girls laughed for a few more moments before managing to catch their breath and compose themselves.
"So, you can be Bundt Cake!" Ahni suddenly blurt out as she pointed at Asuka.
"Huh!? Wha- What? Bundt… cake? What do you mean?"
"She seems unsure of that name," Amelia signed to Ahni, giving her a curious tilt of the head in place of a shrug.
"Yeah, you're Bundt cake," Ahni explained, "You know… because you're German. Like bundküchen. That's how you say it, right? Bundt cake; that's your nickname now!"
"Uh… right?" Asuka said, still obviously confused.
"And miss blue hair over there!" Ahni said as she pointed at Rei.
"Hmm?" Rei questioned, though Ahni didn't give her much time to say anything.
"Your hair looks like blueberries! So you can be Fruitcake!" Ahni exclaimed yet again.
"Um, excuse me!? I don't understand," Rei said, still very confused as a small smirk started to cross Asuka's face again.
"And you!" Ahni said as she marched up to Shinji, invading his personal space as she studied him.
"Uhh!? Me!?" Shinji asked, cringing away from the girl as she looked him up and down.
"Hmmm…. Hmm… Yes, since you're so short, you can be Shortcake," Ahni said after doing a thorough examination of the boy's stature.
Asuka let out a shrill and strangled laugh.
"Hahahahaaaaa!" the girl snickered, "She called you shortcake! Hahahah!"
"What!? Why'd she call me that!? That- That's not funny! Why're you laughing!?"
"I'm sorry, Shinji. I'm sorry! I am!" Asuka giggled.
Shinji furrowed his brow and let out a frustrated groan.
"Aww, Shinji, I'm sorry," Asuka said again, "Here, why don't you go inside and get started on dinner? I'll get those two settled in."
Asuka felt the urge to kiss him, but with Misato around, she settled for just stroking his arm reassuringly.
"You said your room was on the floor below ours?" Asuka asked Amelia.
Amelia nodded and Shinji and Rei stepped past her and slid by Misato to enter the apartment.
"Are you hungry? I can bring you something to hold you over until Shinji has dinner cooked. When was the last time you ate?"
Amelia translated for Ahni before also giving her own thoughts on the matter and adding, "We should be polite. It would be rude to take their food when we don't know how they're getting on."
"Oh, that's okay. We don't want to mooch off you. We'll be okay without food," Ahni said with a smile.
"Are… you sure?" Asuka asked, "I mean… seriously. When was the last time you ate? I guess on the airplane here? And I highly doubt there's any food just waiting for you in your apartment."
"Don't accept her offer, Ahni! It would be rude! We can get something ourselves," Amelia yet again signed to the girl after translating.
"But, Amelia," Ahni signed back, "Asuka's right. We don't have any food. And we don't know our way around. And the last time we ate was back in Nevada!"
"No, Ahni! We shouldn't impose on them. I'll find something for us," Amelia declared again.
Ahni sighed before making an executive decision to defy Amelia's orders.
"Actually, Miss Asuka, some food wouldn't go amiss," Ahni said bashfully as Amelia elbowed her again, "Amelia's still trying to decline. But we haven't eaten in over sixteen hours. And it's really important to me that Amelia eats because of her condition. If you don't have enough for me, that's okay. But it would mean a lot if you could spare some for Amelia."
"Hey, seriously! It's no problem at all," Asuka assured, "You can go on down. I'll get you a snack."
Amelia rolled her eyes at Ahni before translating for her.
"Thank you so much, Miss Asuka!" Ahni said with a bow before Amelia also bowed.
Asuka smiled at both of the girls before they then grabbed their suitcases and took their leave.
Asuka herself then stepped inside Misato's apartment, almost tripping on PenPen as she passed Misato.
"Hey, watch where you're going, bird!" Asuka hissed.
PenPen gave her a look that said maybe she should watch where she was going before he stepped out of the apartment and started walking toward the stairwell, quietly plodding along behind Ahni and Amelia.
"PenPen, where're you going!?" Misato worriedly asked the bird under her breath.
He payed her no mind and simply went on his way.
Misato let out a frustrated groan before closing the door to the apartment.
"So, that was them. The three legendary Evangelion pilots of Japan," Amelia signed as she started hauling her luggage down the stairs.
"Yeah," Ahni signed back, "I know they said Rei had red eyes, but I didn't really know what to expect until I saw her. I wonder if she uses contacts. And Shinji? He doesn't look anything like what I thought he'd look like. I thought he'd be some like... Hollywood action movie star. I thought he'd be swole as fuck."
Amelia almost managed to giggle despite her muteness.
"What the heck made you think that?" Amelia signed as she and Ahni reached the bottom of the flight of stairs and arrived at the fourth floor.
"Well, they say he jumped into a volcano to save Asuka for one. That sorta paints a picture in my head of him being a valiant superhero. I just didn't expect him to be such a shortcake. That's all," Ahni signed back.
"You're a shortcake. Look how tiny you are!" Amelia signed, still attempting to laugh despite her muteness.
"You're calling me short!?" Ahni asked, verbally displaying how appalled she was at Amelia's assessment, "Look at you! You're sixteen and he's still taller than you. If anything, you're the fuckin' small fry…"
"I mean, yeah. But you're still the shortest of us all," Amelia signed before pulling the keys to the apartment out of the pocket of her pink skirt.
"Hmph, well, anyways," Ahni said dismissively, "I heard Shinji and Rei were together. Shortcake and Fruitcake sitting in the oven. F. U. C. K. I. N. G. Hmmhmm, I wonder what kind of cake will come out of the oven once it's done cooking."
Amelia gave Ahni a suspicious look as they gradually approached their room, signing to her, "Quit being a perv. I'm certain they haven't done anything like that."
"Oh, really!? What makes you so sure?" Ahni asked snidely.
"I'm not sure. But its none of our business either way," Amelia signed.
"Whatever you say, Cutie-pie."
"I think our room should be-" Amelia signed before she abruptly stopped spelling and pointed at one of the doors a few paces down.
The girl suddenly stopped in her tracks, still pointing at the door.
"Hmm?" Ahni asked before she too stopped and looked at where Amelia was pointing.
Lodged under the handle of the door Amelia was pointing at was a rather tall and narrow cardboard box.
"A package? For us? When we just moved in? Curiouser and curiouser… What do you think it is?" Ahni asked.
"No idea," Amelia signed.
Ahni then let go of her briefcase before stepping forward and examining the box. On it was a small white sticker with some words scrawled in black marker.
"Courtesy of one Ryoji Kaji," the note said.
"Courtesy of one… Ryoji Kaji? Huh!? What the fuck? It's from that Inspection Officer guy with the Rolls Royce!" Ahni said before she dislodged the box from under the door handle.
"Hey, gimme the keys," Ahni said as she held out her hand.
Amelia tossed the keys to the girl and she caught them quite expertly.
"And can you get my suitcase?" Ahni also added as she unlocked the door.
After unlocking the door, Ahni stepped in followed shortly by Amelia. The apartment was, as expected, rather empty. And, as there was no table to set the box down on, Ahni found a suitable place on the floor of the kitchen before stuffing the keys under the tape keeping the box sealed and beginning to cut it open.
Amelia brought the suitcases a little further into the kitchen before releasing them from her grasp and signing to Ahni that she was going to go shut the door. Walking back across the kitchen and down the foyer, Amelia arrived at the front door. She reached for the door handle and was about to shut it before noticing a few small black things on the ground just outside the door frame.
She picked up one of the things, finding it was soft and could barely be felt as she rolled it between her fingers.
'Hmm. I wonder what that is,' she thought to herself before shaking her hand back and forth to rid herself of the little downy fluff.
"Yo! Amelia, you should come check this shit out!" Ahni suddenly called from the kitchen.
Amelia almost had a heart attack from the girl's unexpected shout and she put her hand over her chest before pulling the door shut. She then headed back to the kitchen to see what Ahni had uncovered only to find the girl holding an all too familiar object.
Upon seeing Amelia return, Ahni held out what appeared to be a sword; a katana with a wooden sheathe with a grey wood-wash finish, purple wrapping, and golden tassels with a white sash tied around the sheathe.
"Its… my Midnight Sparrow. But… I left it back in Nevada."
Amelia tilted her head in confusion before Ahni shoved the sword into her hands.
"But, that's not all," Ahni said as she turned her attention back to the box and reached into it pulling out a rather large revolver, "Agh! And my Smith and Wesson! What the hell!? How did this get here!? And look. Amelia, your P226 is in here too."
Ahni then pulled out Amelia's gun before handing it to the girl.
Amelia gave her a look that seemed to convey that she wasn't able to speak while her hands were full and immediately handed the girl her sword back.
"Put all of this away and don't let anyone see this!" Amelia sternly signed to the girl.
"Alright, alright. I just thought you should know," Ahni shrugged.
There was then a knock on the door.
"That's probably Asuka. Hurry and get this stuff hidden! I'll get the door," Amelia signed to the girl before purposely taking a little longer than she needed to arrive at and open the door.
Upon peeking through the door, Amelia could see Asuka waiting outside with a package of food, though she couldn't quite identify what it was.
"Uh, hey… I uh… brought ice cream. I had some earlier today and figured you might like some to," Asuka said bashfully as Amelia slowly opened the door a bit wider, "It's Japanese style though. Its sorta wrapped in like mochi… Its mango flavored. I hope that's okay."
Amelia appreciatively nodded before gesturing for Asuka to come inside.
"Geez. The layout's pretty similar but it's so empty in here…" Asuka said as she glanced around the apartment, "Are you sure you wanna stay down here tonight? I mean… uh… we have a free bed up in our apartment if you need it."
Amelia politely shook her head no before leading Asuka further into the apartment. Apparently, Ahni had only just finished hiding the weapons back in the box before sliding it over next to their luggage. The girl gave Asuka a timid smile as she and Amelia stepped into the kitchen.
"Uh… welcome!" Ahni said as she expressively held her arms out.
"Um… shouldn't I be the one saying that?" Asuka questioned.
"Act natural, you little dork! Asuka brought food. Why don't you say thank you?" Amelia signed as she gave the girl a subtle glare.
"Uh, forgive my impropriety, but… is that food?" Ahni asked.
"Oh, uh, yeah. It's mango ice cream," Asuka said before opening the package and pulling out a few of the mochi coated scoops of ice cream, offering them to Ahni and then to Amelia, each of whom took one.
"So, what's your deal then?" Asuka asked.
Amelia, as was characteristic of her, tilted her head in confusion, not understanding Asuka's inquiry.
"Uh, I mean, you two," Asuka said, rephrasing her question, "Like… are you… I mean, you're sharing an apartment. You're obviously close I take it… Is she your…"
A blush suddenly spread across Amelia's face as she tried her best to swallow her ice cream.
"Oh, um, I mean… if it's private, you don't need to tell me. I was just… trying to get to know you and all."
Asuka watched the blonde girl seemingly become more flustered before she poked Ahni in the arm and started spelling out something to her.
Asuka waited for a moment for the girls to finished communicating and bit down on a ball of her own ice cream while biding her time. And, by the time the girls had finished, a blush had colored Ahni's face several shades of red deeper.
"Uh… you mean… like, are we… together?" Ahni stuttered.
Asuka consciously nodded as opposed to responding with a verbal yes.
"Uuuhhhhh… Um… Y- Yes? We… um…. are a thing. If that's what you mean," Ahni yet again stuttered out.
Asuka raised her eyebrows in thought. On one hand, she didn't explicitly want to say that she was dating Shinji and Rei as she had no idea how the girls would react. But, on the other hand, they were like to find out sooner or later and Asuka knew she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from them forever. But, yet again, Ahni and Amelia's relationship didn't seem like the most conventional either, and maybe they would be understanding of Asuka's romantic situation.
"Hmm… interesting," was all Asuka said, visibly putting Amelia at ease before she translated for Ahni.
"So… you don't think we're weird?" Ahni timidly asked after Amelia had translated for her.
"I didn't say that," Asuka corrected the girl despite her deafness, "Each of us Eva pilots is… a bit weird. And I think you'll come to find that's why I'm not going to judge you. Heheh, you should see how weird I am."
Amelia yet again translated for Ahni and her eyes widened some upon receiving Asuka's words.
"Well…" Ahni said before swallowing her last bit of ice cream, "I feel like I could say the same to you."
Asuka smirked. Somehow, she was already feeling a connection with these girls. And, despite not knowing any better, Asuka was willing to bet that there was at least a bit more to them than met the eye. But, of course, as Ahni had said, the same could be said about Asuka herself.
"Here, Amelia. Take my keys," Asuka said as she reached into her pocket before pulling out her keys and dropping them in the girl's hand, "You can come up to our apartment whenever. Shinji should have dinner done soon. You should come eat with us. In fact, feel free to stop by whenever you want. You can give them back to me later. I'll have Misato get you and Ahni your own set tomorrow."
Amelia starred down at the dull and tarnished metal now resting in her palm before looking back up to Asuka and nodding.
"Well, I'll see yah later. You can help yourselves to the rest of the ice cream. I'm gonna go help Shinji fix dinner. He kinda took a beating the other day. So I've been tryna keep an eye on him," Asuka nonchalantly said before waving goodbye and leaving the girls in their empty kitchen.
"Well, there she goes," Amelia signed, "She said we could come up for dinner in a bit… We should probably freshen ourselves up before then."
"She's more welcoming than I thought she'd be. I heard she was pretty ferocious. But she almost seemed like a cute little housewife."
"You don't hear anything," Amelia signed as she eyed Ahni curiously.
"Agh! You know what I mean!" Ahni huffed before reaching into the pocket of her jeans and pulling out a pack of cigarettes, "Well, whatever. I'm gonna go have a smoke. I haven't had once since back at NERV-02. You can go get the water running if you want. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"Oh, no you don't, you little brat!" Amelia signed as the girl was about to walk off.
"Blegh!"Ahni let out as she felt Amelia grab her by the back of her shirt and yank her back, inadvertently choking the girl by her collar.
"Hey, what's the big idea!?" Ahni asked after rubbing her throat.
"I told you I didn't want you to turn that into a habit," Amelia signed as she stamped her foot in frustration, "Please stay here and don't cause any trouble. I'll get the bath started."
"Fine," Ahni signed back with a sigh, stuffing her cigarettes back in her pocket.
Amelia gently pressed her lips against Ahni's before petting her head. She then left and went to the restroom to start the water to the bath.
However, while Amelia was occupied, a smirk crossed Ahni's face. She leaned over and undid the zipper of her suitcase before flipping it open and rummaging around in her clothes, which she hadn't bothered to fold before packing them.
It didn't take long for her find what she was looking for, and after tossing aside a shirt and some panties, she found a bottle of blue Listerine that she'd brought with her.
'Yeah, baby! It's time to get fucked up,' the girl thought to herself before unscrewing the cap, closing her eyes, and starting to chug the bottle of Listerine, 'So what if our fake ID's don't work here!? Who's gonna stop me from drinking mouthwash!? Haha! I'm above the law!'
A few moments later, and the girl felt someone, Amelia in all likelihood, smack her across the back of her head before yanking the bottle of Listerine out of her hands.
"Hey! That's denatured, you retard. Don't drink that! What the hell are you thinking!?" Amelia frantically signed before bopping the girl on top of her head a few more times.
"I know its denatured! I just wanted to feel something! And besides, you're the one who told me to freshen up," Ahni retorted.
Amelia let out an exasperated sigh through her nose before signing, "I meant by taking a bath. Not by drinking Listerine, you weirdo. You worry me sometimes."
"Taste how minty my spit is now!" Ahni said before kissing the girl.
Amelia gasped and almost submitted to the kiss for a moment, feeling her eyes fluttering shut and recognizing she had an urge to throw her arms around the girl. But she then remembered she was holding a half empty bottle of Listerine that had been full just a few seconds ago and came to her senses, conking Ahni over her head with the plastic bottle.
Ahni let out a groan as she broke the kiss and rubbed her head.
"Stop misbehaving. You're going to make everyone think we're weirdos and we're going to get in trouble," Amelia disciplinarily signed to the girl.
"Yeah, whatever," Ahni shrugged, "Is the water on?"
"It is," Amelia confirmed.
"Great," Ahni said before pulling her tank top off and tossing it in Amelia's face.
Amelia was paralyzed for a moment and a blush came across her cheeks as the shirt fell into her arms. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see Ahni unfasten her bra and watch it fall to the floor as she headed to the bathroom. Amelia cupped her free hand over her mouth as she looked at the girl's shapely shoulder blades flex under her skin as the girl reached her arms in the air and stretched.
'Holy shit! I shouldn't be lusting over her like this,' Amelia thought to herself despite the fact she couldn't convince herself to stop starring at the girl's skin.
Ahni then rounded the corner and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Amelia alone and in shock in the kitchen. Amelia gasped a few times before hearing the curtains rustle in the bathroom.
There was then a moment of silence followed by a scream.
"AAYYYYEEEEEE! WHY IS THERE A BIRD IN MY BATH!?" Ahni shrieked.
Amelia's eyes widened in surprise before Ahni came running back into the kitchen. Amelia dropped the bottle of Listerine as Ahni dove straight into her arms.
Amelia frantically tried to put the girl back on the floor so she could communicate with her but she desperately tried to clamber back into her arms.
"Wha- What is going on?" Amelia tried to asked the girl.
"There's a thing! There's a really big fluffy bird in the bath! My bath! Our bath! How did it get there!? Where did it come from!?"
There was a sound of claws clicking on the tile floor and Amelia paused to look where it was coming from, which also caused Ahni to still herself and follow her gaze.
And there it was, the notorious warm water penguin, PenPen, his clawed feet clacking with every step as he walked out of the bathroom at an agonizingly slow pace, leaving a trail of water dripping behind him.
"See? See!? There it is! There it is!" Ahni said as her panic began to wind up again.
The bird tilted his head and glared at the girls with his beady bird eyes.
"Amelia! It's looking at us," Ahni quietly murmured as she tried to climb back into the safety of Amelia's arms.
Amelia only stood there, paralyzed in fear as the bird starred into her soul.
"Brrbrrbrrbrr," the bird hummed before metal claws suddenly extended out of his wings.
"OH, SHIT! OH, FUCK! AMELIA! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!? THAT'S NOT A BIRD! MOTHERFUCKER, THAT'S A WOLVERINE! THAT'S A GODDAMN WOLVERINE!"
Amelia would have screamed if she could have. But it seemed as though Ahni was already screaming loud enough for the both of them.
/
Meanwhile, at the Katsuragi residence…
Shinji meandered around the kitchen grabbing the various pots and pans he would need for preparing dinner.
Oddly enough, Misato seemed to be hovering around the kitchen when she usually would have been sitting on the couch drinking her Yebisu. Shinji glanced over to the couch, seeing Rei was sitting alone on the couch, intently watching the television. And Asuka still seemed to be out delivering the snacks to Ahni and Amelia.
"Misato? Is something wrong?" Shinji asked the woman, sensing she had something she wanted to talk.
"It's that obvious, huh?" Misato said under her breath before sighing.
"Yeah. What is it?"
Misato brushed her hand through Shinji's hair before running her fingers across one of the bruises on his cheek.
Shinji was surprised but didn't recoil from the woman's touch.
"These bruises, Shinji. I asked you last night what happened and you said you'd tell me later. And, well… now it's later."
"It's nothing, Misato. I just got in a fight with the security team," Shinji quietly responded.
"Shinji, you know… if there's anything you want to talk about, you can tell me."
Shinji furrowed his brow and his eyes darkened for a moment.
"There's nothing to really say, Misato," Shinji mumbled as he went back to trying to prepare dinner.
"Uh, Shinji… you should know… Ritsuko told me about what happened with you and Asuka... and Rei," Misato said, trying her best to smile at him.
Shinji glanced back at Misato, a slight blush on his cheeks.
"She did? …What did she say?" Shinji quietly muttered before pulling a knife out of the knife block and setting it on the counter so he could cut Rei's vegetables in a few minutes.
"She said enough. Enough for me to understand…" Misato said, casting her eyes to her side and staring at the gleaming metal of the knife blade, "I was really shocked when Asuka said she loved you the other day. I felt like something had been off with her… and you… and even Rei. But it all makes sense now."
"Yeah… I guess it does," Shinji said as he opened the fridge and pulled out some peppers and onions for Rei.
"I see why now Asuka was in the kitchen helping Rei cook breakfast the other morning. And why Rei has all those cuts on her fingers," she said as she watched Shinji pull out a cutting board and start chopping the vegetables.
"Asuka's been trying to keep it all a secret. But I think she knows that it's not going to last. So, I guess it's good you know."
Misato let out a little chuckle.
"Yeah, that's just like her. She's almost always so guarded… Almost… The other day, when she said she loved you over the radio… I think that's probably the most vulnerable I've ever seen her. Everyone on the command bridge heard her… But I think I was maybe the only one who was so taken aback to hear her say she loved you. Maybe Ritsuko too."
"I guess there's not much point keeping it secret now if that many people know…" Shinji said as he smiled and shook his head in amusement, "I guess I'll try to let her know that she should come clean."
"Uh, Shinji, one more thing… It's really special what you have with them. With Rei and Asuka. And, I know it's probably embarrassing for you to hear me say this… but you did a really beautiful thing with them, okay?"
Shinji gasped and looked back at Misato as his blush grew a little deeper. Misato then put her hand on the boy's head and ruffled his hair some.
"I'm back! Can someone get the door for me? I left my keys with Amelia," Asuka shouted from outside the apartment before knocking on the door rather loudly.
"Well, she's back just in time. I'll let her in," Misato said before heading to the door.
"Welcome back, Asuka," Misato said with a smile as she opened the door, "How'd our new friends like the ice cream."
Asuka's face went blank for a second, remembering she hadn't actually asked them their opinion on it considering how slow communication was with them.
"Uh… I actually didn't ask them. But I'm sure they'll like it. I did at any rate."
"Alright then. Well, come on in," Misato said before gently putting her hand on the girl's head and guiding her back inside.
Asuka almost felt like hiding from the woman's touch. But somehow, she actually found it pleasant, which she had to admit was odd. And, as she walked past Misato and into the kitchen, a small smile grew on her face.
"Hey, Shinji. What're you cooking.?" Asuka asked as she stepped into the kitchen.
"Uh, I thought I'd at least fix some miso soup for Rei. And I thought some nigiri might be good too. I'm kinda in the mood for drunken noodles. But, I'm not sure if we actually have all the spices I'd need to make it," Shinji called back.
Asuka quickly came up behind Shinji and kissed him on the cheek before pulling away from him right before Misato came around the corner.
"Ah, Asuka," Shinji pleasantly sighed as he looked over his shoulder and blushed at the sight of the girl.
He noticed Misato wink at him as she too stepped into the kitchen before pretending like she hadn't seen anything.
"Hmm, drunken noodles sounds good," Asuka hummed as she closed her eyes and imagined the flavor, "We should probably make sure we have something more westerly fixed too though. Ahni and Amelia are gonna have dinner with us. And I'm not sure how much they're gonna be into far eastern food."
"Uh, I think we have some pork chops I could fix," Shinji suggested.
"No, that's okay. Leave it to me and Rei. You focus on the drunken noodles. Oh, and, make a little extra, would you? Just in case," Asuka said as she lightheartedly hugged the boy from behind.
"Will do," Shinji said, letting out a joyful laugh.
"Hey, Rei! Come help me cook!" Asuka shouted into the living room.
"Coming."
/
-Life Will Change-
/
Later, at dinner…
"Oh god! They're eating raw fish! They're just like you, Ahni!" Amelia signed with a disgusted expression.
"I thought you're the one who told me not to be rude!" Ahni said to the girl.
Ah, yes. Dinnertime in Misato's apartment was always a lively affair. Even when it had just been Misato, Asuka, and Shinji, Asuka by herself was enough to make any occasion a rowdy one. And, despite how quiet Rei usually was, once she'd moved in, the kitchen table had at least gotten more populous if not louder, though even she had a few choice words of her own every now and then. But now, with the American pilots sitting at the table as well and PenPen waddling around beneath the table looking for scraps, it was more rambunctious than it had ever been, and crowded as well.
Not that Shinji minded. It actually brought a smile to his face. This was a far cry from the life he'd known back when he still lived with his aunt and uncle back in New Atsugi.
Asuka, seeing that Amelia seemed to be preoccupied, pulled out her phone and typed out, "What's she freaking out about?" before tapping Ahni on the shoulder and showing her the phone.
After reading Asuka's text, Ahni looked up at Asuka and chuckled, "Oh, she's just not a big fan of raw fish."
Asuka raised her eyebrow in understanding before nodding and typing out, "Ah, makes sense. I wasn't either at one point. Are you okay with sushi? I can have Shinji get you something else."
"Oh, are you kidding me!? I love raw fish!" Ahni exclaimed just a bit too loudly, "My mother was Peruvian! She used to make Nikkei cuisine like tiradito de pescado! It was one of my favorite things in the whole world! Oh, also, Nikkei is a mixture of Japanese and Peruvian food cultures just so yah know. So, I guess I'm a little closer to you all than I thought, teehee!"
'Her mother was Peruvian?' Asuka thought to herself with a scowl before quickly coming back to her senses and smiling at the girl, 'Did I just hear that wrong or is her mother dead too?'
"Uh, just hold on, Amelia. I'll have Shinji get something else for you," Asuka said to the girl before glancing at Shinji and giving him a quick nod, "Uh, Shinji, this chick's not into raw fish. Can we get her some like pork and miso soup or something?"
"Yeah, no problem," Shinji said as he passed a bowl of miso soup down the table to Amelia, "Uh, it's a little light. But it's really flavorful. I hope you don't mind."
Despite the girl not understanding a single thing Shinji said to her, she politely nodded and gratefully accepted the soup.
If only she could have smiled…
"Let me know when you're ready for some of those pork chops. Or would that be too much for you with your mouth not… not uh… working... uh… sorry, that's kinda rude," Asuka asked awkwardly.
Amelia nudged Ahni to get her attention before signing some stuff to the girl, which she eagerly relayed to Asuka.
"Pork chops should be fine. It's a little difficult for her to chew. But she'll get it down," Ahni assured.
"That's great then. Rei and I cooked them, so I'd love to heart your thoughts," Asuka said with a warm smile.
Asuka then looked down and noticed her reflection rippling in her own bowl of soup before it eventually stilled. She gently blew on the soup to cool it down some, causing her reflection to begin shimmering again.
'Reflections…' Asuka realized as she watched the little waves in the savory liquid come to rest yet again.
She then glanced at Shinji. He was bringing another bowl of drunken noodles to the table with Misato clamoring for the next serving. She then cast her eyes to Amelia. The girl was quiet, not unlike Rei, who sat across from her, but for totally different reasons. She seemed shy and her face was red with embarrassment. No doubt self conscious over how she looked while attempting to eat with her disability. And finally, Asuka set her eyes upon Ahni. The girl, despite how piercing and attentive her eyes appeared, seemed almost oblivious to the events playing out around her. Asuka had a sneaking suspicion that the girl's jovial and carefree attitude hid a darker past, just like how she'd once hid her own traumas from Shinji.
'...are we all just reflections? I wonder.'
/
Sometime later, outside Lunar Base Tabgha, on the moon...
"Ahni... and Amelia… I don't remember this…" Kaworu mumbled as he closed a leather book and threw it into the fine white dust.
He rested his chin on his fist in thought.
"Either way, this turn of events seems to have caused a stir in the forum."
The boy sighed into the airless void before gazing up at the stars.
"From Endless Dreams do I awake to once more reprise my role on the stage. How many years have I waited for this moment? For you… Shinji Ikari? Dare I hope you will walk a path of lesser pain. Or will it be greater than even before? Heh… It's true what they say. The beginning and the end truly are one in the same. I suppose, like always, I shall just have to play my part to find out."
/
Meanwhile, at the Katsuragi residence…
"Are you sure you want to go back down to that empty ass apartment?" Asuka asked, almost sounding like she was pleading the two girls to stay, "We really don't mind. Like I said, we have a free bed. As long as Misato's snoring won't keep you up, it would probably be better than sleeping on the floor."
Shinji and Rei stood beside Asuka in the doorway as she prepared to bid the girls goodnight. And Amelia, as expected, conveyed Asuka's words to Ahni.
"Mmm… It's okay, Asuka," Ahni shrugged, "We're already really grateful for the food. We don't want to impose upon you any more than we already have. We'll be okay downstairs."
"Well, alright then," Asuka said with a smile, "Amelia has my key. So, if you need anything, you can-"
"What the hell is with her eyes!?" Ahni suddenly blurted out, cutting Asuka off.
"Hmm?" Asuka questioned as she looked over her should at Rei only to see the girl's face plastered with a blank expression and her eyes yet again glowing purple.
"Shit!" Asuka gasped, "MISATO! IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN!"
But before Asuka could say anything else, her vision became tinged purple and she heard a splitting scream from somewhere far away.
"Asuka! Rei!" Shinji shouted in a panic as he grabbed both of the girls and tried to help keep them standing.
"What the fuck is going on!?" Ahni shouted.
"Asuka? Rei!? Shinji!?" Misato called from the living room.
Shinji had barely managed to safely lower both of the girls to the ground before Misato stepped into the foyer. Hearing the woman's footsteps, he looked up at her before everything went purple and he fell to the floor.
"Shinji!? No! Fuck! Asuka, Rei!?" Misato shouted as she bounded towards them before collapsing on the floor and sliding a few inches on her knees as her skirt cushioned the impact.
"What... the fuck!? What the hell is that!?" Ahni shouted in total disbelief.
Then, out of the corner of her eyes, Ahni saw Amelia fall forward and collapse as well.
"AMELIA!" Ahni shrieked before dropping to her knees and turning the girl over to see her once grey eyes were now a burning purple color.
"Rei! Shinji!? Asuka, stay with me! I'm going to call Ritsuko," Misato frantically begged as she tried to pull out her phone with trembling hands.
"Amelia!? AMELIA!? WHAT'S WRONG!?"Ahni screamed in pure unbridled terror.
But then, there was a sensation. Something Ahni usually wasn't usually familiar with. There was a scream. And soon enough, Ahni's vision quickly became tainted with purple as though someone had poured ink in her eyes.
The girl's eyes rolled back in her head and she whispered, "A- Ame… Amelia," before collapsing on top of the girl she called her lover.
"D- DAMN IT!" Asuka yelled as she clutched at her eye and hips.
"R- Rei!? Asuka!?" Shinji groaned.
Rei made a shrill unintelligible squeal of pain and Amelia, being unable to talk, was only able to produce a sickening gurgle in her throat while Ahni began to hysterically cry in total fear.
And then, for all of them, the howling in their minds grew silent and a voice spoke to them.
"I'm sure you're all keen to discover why I've summoned you here today," the voice said.
"Sh- Shut up! I'm sick of hearing you," Asuka growled.
"Get… Get out! Stop it!" Shinji managed to say through clenched teeth.
"I will leave you be momentarily. But for now, I thought I would let you all know that I am eager to work together with all of you so that we may attain a brighter future," the voice continued.
"Go to hell!" Asuka spat.
"Who… Who are you? Someone… Someone's in my head! How!? How can I hear you?" Ahni wept as she weakly lay across Amelia.
"I sincerely hope each and every one of you will be ready to do your part," the voice still went on, "Ahni, Amelia, Asuka, Rei, and Shinji. Nearly all of you are in attendance. But, you may rest assured that those who were not able to join us today are carrying on the fight in their own way. And it is my heartfelt wish, that when the time comes, you all shall also be ready and willing to do the same in order to bring about a new world; a world free of sorrow. It was yours once before and it will be yours again."
"ENOUGH, DAMN YOU!" Asuka screamed.
"The stage is set and the curtains drawn. Let each and every one of you find the strength to define the future and face the final chapter in the pages of humanity's triumphs. And with that, I bid you farewell…
...fated children."
And then it was gone.
The purple, the agony, the voice, all of it gone.
One by one, each of the children's eyes ceased glowing and they gradually came to their senses.
"Asuka!? Rei!? Are.. Are you alright?" Shinji gasped as he held his head in pain.
"Yes…" Rei moaned.
"You… You heard it too?" Asuka asked.
"Yeah…" Shinji sighed.
"Are you okay!?" Misato whimpered.
"What... the fuck… WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!?" Ahni screamed before clutching her head in her hands.
Amelia sat up as fast as she could and pulled the crying girl into her embrace.
"Hey, hey, its okay. Everything's okay," Asuka said to Amelia before gasping, "This has… been a normal occurrence for us recently. I know it's scary, but it's nothing to worry about… I hope."
There was a fear in Amelia's eyes like Asuka had never seen before. But even so, the girl somehow managed to keep her composure. She timidly put a finger under Ahni's chin and lifted the girl's gaze so she could be sure the girl would see her words.
"I'm… I'm going to call Ritsuko," Misato stammered.
"Don't bother, Misato," Asuka said in a deflated tone, "There's nothing anyone can do about it."
Misato looked down at her phone. Her hands where still shaking in fear. She squeezed her phone so hard that she almost swore she was about to break it.
She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself.
"I'm still going to call her," Misato said resolutely.
"Fine..." Asuka sighed.
"This- This is normal for you?" Ahni finally asked.
Asuka glanced down at the girl. Tears still streaked down her cheeks.
"Yeah… it has been. This time, it actually wasn't as bad as it's been in the past."
Yet again, with trembling hands, Amelia translated Asuka's words for Ahni before nodding at her.
"So," Ahni asked as she finally stood up from the floor, "What're you going to do now then?"
.
Whispers
In The Stars Above Our Heads
Shimmers
In The Flames That Light Our Dread
No More Time For Our
Love And Care In Chains
Everywhere We Look
So Much Blood Along The Way
Dark Processions Birth
Tales Of Pain, The Pyre In Flames
.
*Eva credits roll and Fly Me to the Moon plays*
.
"Well, well, well. How about that? You guessed it, everyone. It's me, Misato, with the chapter preview. And today, I have a special guest with me. Everyone, please give a welcome round of applause to Shinji Ikari! I understand being in chapter previews isn't normal for him. So, be nice okay?"
*Spotlight turns on and illuminates Shinji*
*Misato winks*
*Shinji blushes*
"Uh... heheh, thanks, Misato."
"So, what did you think about this chapter, huh? Asuka got pretty feisty there tying Rei up with your belt and all. It sorta reminds me of the script I read for that one scene near the beginning of Act 3. Except that one had a rope or something I think. Whatever it was, it was something Ahni brought with her. Speaking of which, I wonder where she got all those naughty things in her suitcase. But then again, she is a naughty girl"
*Shinji's eyes widen in concern*
"Misato! You can't talk about that yet! That's a spoiler!"
"Oh, don't worry so much, Shinji. From what I saw, that was just a tiny little bit of that scene. Based off what I read, there's gonna be a whole fuckton of raunchy things happening. Some of them even happen several chapters in a row! And many of them involve you, Shinji."
"Misato, we're all under a non-disclosure agreement! You can't talk about that!"
"Oh yeah? Are you sure there aren't any other reasons you don't want me talking about those lewd things?"
*Awkward silence ensues*
*A new voice erupts from the darkness*
"Did someone say... lewd things!?"
*Spotlight turns on and illuminates Ahni and Amelia*
*Shinji is taken aback by the excessive female presences*
"You- You told her!?"
*Amelia shrugs curiously*
"I know you told her! You had to have! She's deaf!"
*Amelia shrugs again*
*Misato is confused*
"How did you get in here? I don't remember letting you in."
*Amelia translates for Ahni*
"Yeah, and we don't remember letting your bird into our apartment. But yet there he was, right in our bathwater. So here we are too! Seriously, you should learn to keep a better eye on that animal."
*Shinji is even more confused than Misato*
"Wait, how're you even speaking Japanese?"
*Yet again, Amelia translates*
"We can speak Japanese, silly Little Shadow! We're just not allowed to in the story for plot reasons! The author said it adds a unique form of wordless sexual tension in some of the upcoming chapters or something like that."
*Shinji ponders Ahni's words*
*Shinji finds Ahni's answer reasonable but unsettling*
"Right... Maybe we should just get on with the chapter preview. Misato?"
"Of course, allow me. So, in the next chapter, things start off with everyone feeling quite shaken up from hearing the mysterious voice and seeing purple yet again. But, right as everyone is about to get settled in, Kaji texts our favorite Eva pilots asking to meet with them. So, everyone goes and sees him at his house. Ahni finds out he likes watermelons and goes on a tangent about farming, Asuka finally comes clean and expresses her long harbored thoughts to Kaji, and Kaji finally has a short talk with Shinji before, oh my god, who would have guessed? An Angel attacks! Resolved not to or otherwise forbidden from piloting anymore after the incident with the dummy system, Shinji, Asuka, and Rei watch from afar as Ahni and Amelia are the only ones left to confront the angel. Inexperienced as they are and fighting against a strange and unknowable enemy, their efforts prove completely ineffective as the angel slowly gains the upper hand in the heat of battle. How will our pilots overcome and break the odds that have been stacked against them? Well, you'll just have to read the next chapter of Neon Genesis Evangelion: A Journey of Hate, Power, and Love to find out. Next time in-"
*Ahni interrupts Misato*
"Oh, I know! I know! Misato's said this about a billion times! Amelia just translated the script for me! The next chapter is As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness!"
"H- Hey! That's my line, you brat!"
*Amelia blushes in embarrassment*
*Amelia signs*
"I didn't tell her to say it!"
*Everyone fails to understand Amelia's gestures*
*Ahni proudly flaunts herself, oblivious to her surroundings*
"And as Misato would say, make sure to tune in next time for more sexy spicy fanser-"
*Misato puts her hand over Ahni's mouth, silencing her*
*A murderous glint flashes in Misato's eyes*
"No, you're not stealing that line too, you little punk! That one really is my line! Its my most recognizable and classic tagline! And if you even think about stealing it, I will show everyone what fanservice really means for naughty little girls like you!"
*Ahni speaks into Misato's hand in a muffled voice*
"This is kinky. Holding my mouth shut like this. Pulling me into you. Not letting me go. A girl could get used to this."
*Ahni chuckles seductively*
*Shinji sighs*
"She sounds like she's going to be just as much trouble as Asuka..."
