+++++ Tokyo-3 High School. (Monday + 2)

The first several periods came and went in a flash. Sitting in the center of the square of desks, Shinji was spared from dwelling on his position by both of his teachers being extremely engaging to listen to. Sadayo Kawakami was not the world's foremost mathematician, but she had a teaching style that encouraged participation without making it awkward when the participant spoke. She called on her students randomly, but still in equal amounts. When he gave a correct answer to a question, her praise was short, but heartfelt. She enjoyed watching her students succeed, and as she traded off for her partner she gave him additional praise for being able to enter a new situation and overcome the challenges it presented.

Isako Toriumi was a much different teacher, but no less worth having. She had a tendency to focus on those students who needed the extra attention, while allowing those students that had a stronger grasp of the material to read ahead and prepare for the next wave of information. She was impressed that Shinji had already studied several foreign languages, and surprised that none of those languages had been English. That led to assurances that the discrepancy would be addressed, and one enthusiastic volunteer to spend 'extra time working on oral exercises' being smacked down hard.

When lunch came around, everyone dragged him over to the now empty back half of the classroom to sit on the floor and chat with them. Kyoko had made him a lunch, which he was taking his time enjoying as he listened to everyone sharing stories of their neighbors having disappeared along with the rest of the males. Not once had he heard any of them mention their own fathers, or brothers, or uncles.

After the sixth such story, Yuka Ayase, the kogal that had drawn attention to the metal in his neck, looked at him and asked, "So, like, Shinji, do you know why you're still here?"

He pre-empted Mitsuru's chastisement with a shrug and a shake of his head. "No idea. I got on the train in Nagano, the train crashed when the world deformed, and I woke up in Tartarus. When they found me, after I…was really stupid and tackled a huge metal monster made of spikes, they couldn't explain it either."

"That wasn't stupid…well, not jumping back off was kind of dumb," Chie declared encouragingly, "but you managed to stop it from reaching us. Whatever that thing is, it took an arrow and an agi without even getting scratched."

Sumire Yoshizawa, another of the students with a lithe, dancer's, build agreed with an eager nod. "I was really scared that you'd died, Shinji. I mean, you show up out of nowhere, save Rise-chan without hesitating despite never seeing a Jack Frost before, then put yourself between that thing and us! You're the kind of person we want around, and suddenly you're falling into a void!"

"She wasn't the only one worried, to be honest." Yukiko Amagi, seemingly the emotional opposite of Sumire, had taken the position opposite him in the circle. Her refined elegance hid a sense of amusement begging to be unleashed. "The nine of us can't be too careful, if there are monsters like that around. No more silly heroism, Shinji. Work with us to accomplish the mission."

"I'll try." He wouldn't promise, because he had been told that he had to protect them. At least, he thought it was them he needed to protect. "I'm…sorry if this seems blunt…."

"Go ahead," Ulala encouraged him. She'd been waiting for him to speak, so that she could get to know him better. "If Yuka-chan hasn't convinced you that we're pretty open by now, I don't know what will."

"…None of you have mentioned your fathers disappearing."

When several of the women present hesitated themselves, Mitsuru stepped into the silence to address the issue herself. "Our fathers have all died, perhaps not in the same way as your own, but no less dead." She saw his face fall, and motioned for him to be patient. "They all passed when we were young. Much like you, we've all moved on."

Eriko's head tilted to the side a bit. "You don't know who Mitsuru-senpai is, do you?"

"He hasn't once, like, flinched at her last name, so I'm gonna say he doesn't," Yuka added. "It's kinda weird, because, like, everyone knows who the Kirijo Group is."

Rise, sitting right next to Shinji, came to his defense quickly. "Not everyone spends all their time obsessing over international trends, Yuka."

"I…uh," Shinji began to quail, fidgeting as he tried to dredge up any memories regarding business news.

"No, he does not know who I am. To be quite blunt, I am grateful that he does not." Mitsuru's voice bordered on anger, quieting the circle of women down quickly. "Despite his lack of knowledge, I have watched him accept my leadership without comment or complaint. I have felt him place his trust in my decisions, in my thoughts, and in my actions. He has gifted me with greater awareness of my actual personality, based solely on these few hours of interactions, than most have in years of knowing me." The bell ringing a reminder of lunch time coming to an end forced a pause in her statements. When it subsided, she stood up and offered her hand to Shinji with the same smile she'd given him earlier. "You are a good man, Shinji. Good men should not fear asking honest questions of those they would call 'friend'."

+++++ Tokyo-3 High School. (Monday + 2)

"That's…going to be a problem." Toriumi looked at Kawakami as the latter came into the room with the front office's sudden realization. "Well, one of us could stand out on the track while he runs? Just, you know, make sure he doesn't die of dehydration."

"Yes, but the ladies had the pool last week. They really do need strength training as well," Kawakami countered. "I mean, I have no problem teaching him to swim. I was a lifeguard in college, and I renewed my SCUBA certification a month ago."

Her lips bunched off to one side. "Well, there's a missing voice in this discussion, I think." Looking to Shinji, Toriumi gestured towards him. "You need to learn to swim, there's no questioning that. But, there's nothing saying that it has to be one of us teaching you. Do you feel comfortable with Kawakami-sensei teaching you? Would you prefer me? Do you want me to contact NERV and have them send over someone from there? You have options, and the first sound I hear from any of the ladies present is going to make this next period…memorable."

Shinji loathed the very idea of making a decision. He also wasn't a huge fan of having them contact NERV and creating an even larger scene than was already about to hit him. He even more so was ashamed of never having been taught to swim, which had now created a sense of fear about the entire exercise. Despite all of that, the women in his class still needed him to be ready for anything. That meant sucking it up and learning. "I-I'm…more worried, uhm…about Kawakami-sensei. I d-don't want her to be…punished."

"For teaching you to swim?" The teacher in question laughed politely. "Ikari-kun, they're welcome to take the issue up with what remains of the school board if they want. We have no male teachers right now, and we have a student with unique needs. If you're ok with me working with you in a swimsuit, I'm perfectly comfortable teaching you to not die in one of the rivers around here."

"N-no, it's not that…." He opened his mouth, thought better of it, then looked back down.

Kawakami approached him and cupped his shoulder. "Let's go out in the hall. You let me know what's going on, and I'll see what I can do to address your concerns."

"Better idea, since it doesn't seem that he's opposed to you working with him." Toriumi pointed to the door. "Get ready and hit the field, ladies." After the students had filed out, sharing looks of confusion and concern, she too approached Shinji and placed her hand on his other shoulder. "We don't know what's happened in your past, Shinji-kun." Her use of his given name drew his eyes up to hers. "But we'd like to be involved in your future. I get the feeling you haven't had the support we'd have anticipated you having, and until we get to know one another better, we'll let you open up about things in your own time."

"Exactly," Kawakami added with a grin. "The last thing we want to do is fail one of our students, and for as long as we have left, you're our student."

The display of trust, and the honesty of the women before him, helped him relax. Nothing he saw in them spoke of deceit, their spirits nearly screaming of a need to help the future of their nation become ever brighter. Swallowing, he looked down to his hands. "I…uhm…I don't know what to wear when I swim. I could just not wear anything, but I think that would get Kawakami-sensei in trouble."

+++++ Tokyo-3 High School. (Monday + 2)

"That's not what I'm saying," Rise insisted while she partnered with Sumire to stretch. "You know as well as I do that there are certain professions where the adults that work with the not-adults can sometimes get…inappropriate."

Sumire groaned in disgust. "Yeah, I've talked to more than one other gymnast that's had something like that happen, men and women." Her head tilted slightly, confused. "But isn't Shinji-kun here to pilot some sort of new weapon? When would he have been involved with a handsy manager or a bad coach?"

"You're forgetting that whoever raised him may not have been acting properly." Changing positions, and matching her friend stretch for stretch, she saw her eyes widen in shock. "Tell me he doesn't have a lot of the hallmarks of someone who's not been treated right."

"…Gross. Ok. I see where you're coming from." Her mouth puckered in thought. "That sucks, I was going to ask him if he wanted to…whoa."

Stopping herself from snapping that she'd met Shinji first and had already broached the topic of possibly getting to know one another better, Rise followed Sumire's gaze and saw what had prompted the reaction. She had felt that Shinji had more mass than he appeared to at first glance when she helped lift him off the ground. Now exposed to the world in a pair of competitive men's swimming briefs, she saw the truth of his form. He wasn't the sculpted perfection of the male models she'd met, the fake muscles that were for show and not for use combined with the practiced posture intended to show them off. He wasn't the athletic monster that had certain focused muscle groups that showed which sport they were engaged in. Walking with absolutely no sense of self-consciousness and yet somehow appearing as if he was shaming the world by simply existing, Shinji Ikari was whipcord lean and had a body that could only be gained by years upon years of hard manual labor. "…Wow."

"Hey Shinji-kun!" Yuka bounced and waved, drawing his attention to her. "Blue is so totally your color!" Shinji's meek grin and half-hearted wave was all the reply she'd receive, but it did prompt several of the other women to make similar comments about how impressed they were at what was hidden beneath the restrained apparel he preferred.

"Oh, hey…look at the time," Toriumi said with angry sweetness, "time to climb that mountain, ladies. Drop!"

Rise joined her fellow students in beginning what would be a very painful afternoon, and spied similar blushes to what she sported herself on every single one of them. I need to talk to him, she thought to herself, before any of them sneak him out from under me. He seems like he understands how I feel, and he's clearly not a lecher. A few rough edges, maybe, and some trauma to work through…but don't we all have that? She wondered if he danced, and then blushed harder imagining the type of dance she'd be interested in doing with him.

+++++ Tokyo-3 High School. (Monday + 2)

"I'm very sorry about that, Shinji-kun." Kawakami stood on the edge of the pool, her hands pressed together in apology and a look of embarrassment on her face. "I promise, we'll have a talk with Ayase, Serizawa, and Kirishima-chan." She then grew confused as she saw him grow confused. "Err…for embarrassing you?"

He shook his head. "I wasn't embarrassed. It's just meat and bone, there's nothing here worth being upset over to me."

The fact that his eyes had never once drifted lower than her own created more confusion. She'd had more than one young man in the school sneak a peek at her, and while she wasn't nearly as young as she used to be she also wasn't old enough yet to believe that he would be disgusted by her figure. "Well…that could be a healthy attitude, so long as you aren't developing any body image issues." Gesturing towards her own swimsuit, she plucked at it and let it thwap back into place. "It took me several years in middle school to become comfortable with being 'woman shaped' instead of 'child shaped'. My first year in high school I wore bulky clothing all the time to cover everything over because I thought I was a freak."

With his mind pre-occupied attempting to imagine what middle school would have been like, his mouth escaped lockdown. "I would think any man would feel fortunate to see you as you are right now, intelligent, confident, and beautiful." As usual, his mind realized what his mouth had done, and he made to bow deeply in apology for what he'd said. His body, caught unawares and forced to stand on the slickened surface of the edge of the pool, decided that 'bowing' would be best performed by rolling ass-over-teakettle into the pool.

Water, by its nature, doesn't care much about intentions. That Shinji hadn't intended to enter the water was simply not something that it cared about, and so it accepted him into its embrace eagerly. In the much deeper end of the pool, with five meters between surface and floor, he had nothing to abate his descent and only half a lung full of air to use to address the situation. Halfway down, he wondered if he'd be able to push off the bottom and jump up to the surface. He then realized that if he was standing on flat ground in open air he'd be having a great day if he could clear a half of a meter straight up without preparation. The worry that he might soon be dying would typically cause another human simply never registered with him.

It was at that point that Kawakami arrived behind him, wrapping her arms around his chest under his arms and propelling them both to the surface with powerful scissor kicks. Once they both crested into open air, she asked in more than a small amount of distress, "Are you ok?"

"I'm sorry." He could feel her heart pounding, her breasts smushed against his back, and the strength in her arms. He could hear, in her voice and in her soul, the fear that she'd allowed him to come to harm. He could feel genuine care, genuine anxiety, and genuine warmth. "I'm…sorry."

Getting them over to the wall, she showed Shinji how to hook his arm into the overflow gutter to keep himself aloft, and then placed her hands on his face to get a feel for how he was doing. "You should be," she laughed. "I think you just scared a year off my life!" Seeing that his eyes were evenly dilated, and that he wasn't paler than he usually was, she patted his cheeks and scooted back slightly to give him space to work. Lowering her voice, she addressed the elephant in the room, "I'm not going to chastise you for the compliment. One, because I'm flattered. Two, because you've never been in a school to know that you probably shouldn't say something like that here. And three…." She looked around, then leaned in and whispered, "Because I really am flattered. I wish more men were honest like you are." When his face went flat, then thoughtful, then worried, she set her hand on his bicep. "Remember, when you're ready. I'm not going to be upset if you take your time to discuss what has happened to you, and I'm not going to be upset if you tell me something right now. I'm your teacher, Shinji-kun…but right now I'd like to believe that I'm also your friend."

He swallowed, not ready at all for what he was feeling from her. "I…was…uhm…." He looked away from her calm smile, screwing down his confidence to spit it out. "I was told that if I ever complimented someone…else…."

The last word he spoke was enough for her to draw a clearer picture. She knew what she'd have to report, and she prayed he'd understand. "Well, you don't live there anymore." Pushing off the wall, she moved to where she could help him learn to float. "You live here, where stupid rules like that aren't listened to." Offering her hands to him, she promised herself that she'd not fail him as others so clearly had. "So whenever you feel like giving me, or anyone else, a compliment you go right ahead. Everyone needs their day brightened, from time to time."

A feeling of confidence began to grow inside of him. Maybe this place was different. Maybe, here, there were good people that wanted nothing more than to help him understand who and what he was. Reaching out with one hand, he took one of hers and timidly smiled. "So…what do I do to not sink?"

+++++ Operations Bridge, NERV. (Monday, August 23rd, +2)

Misato had one monitor on her station dedicated to the drone feed of Shinji's day in High School. Every once in a while she'd look over and see how he was doing, or what he was doing, attempting to build a profile that would see her through the awkward phase of 'getting to know' him. She'd laughed quietly when his fellow students arrived and re-enacted a scene from several comedy shows she'd seen in her youth. She'd grimaced when those same students had repositioned the desks, forcing him to be at the center of a ring of young women. Her mood had raised when he sat down with them for lunch, seeming to relax enough to talk from time to time. Her mood then crashed when she put together that he had no idea how to swim, and she grew a touch angry when she saw him opening up to the teacher. Misato needed him to bond with her, to get along with her, and to look to her for advice and direction. She didn't want to monopolize his time, but she also didn't want him getting accustomed to 'outsiders' right now. Picking up her phone, she started making moves to increase the amount of time they would spend together.

+++++ Tokyo-3 High School. (Monday, August 23rd, +2)

The final class of the day had come and gone without much of note happening. Both of Shinji's teachers continued displaying their excellence, and his fellow students were, for the most part, too tired to really cause much of a ruckus. He felt strange, having spent so long in the water floating and laughing with his teacher reminiscing about her first time learning to do so. The class had been broken into trios to work on analyzing news media for inherent biases in phraseology and reporting. Chie Satonaka had surprised him, as she still had plenty of energy to burn as well as a keen eye for turns of phrase that would lead a reader towards a slanted view of the matter at hand. He was less surprised that Mitsuru was still quite ready to go for as long as was needed, or that she encouraged him to speak up from time to time when he didn't see something the same way.

When the final bell rung, he found himself unprepared to stop for the day. There had been no tedium, no long periods of boredom, nothing negative that wouldn't be more of a 'one off' event. Packing things back in his bag, he noted that both teachers were now in the classroom, as was his Section Two escort, Akane. His fellow students had all remained in the room as well, taking up strategic positions around his seat and scowling towards the door. Standing up, he looked to Rise and then to the door, then back to her.

She sidled closer, and leaned in to whisper, "Who's that other woman? I don't recognize her."

Shinji didn't mind her proximity in the slightest. "Akane. At least, that's her given name. She's one of the people from NERV that brought me here this morning."

"Odd," Mitsuru murmured from his other side, where she'd remained to be of more direct support. Slipping her phone back in her satchel, she turned to face Shinji and Rise with a shrug. "My mother has requested that I remain here for the moment, and that I ask you to stay behind as well. I hadn't spoken to her about you."

Rise's initial reaction was to get irritated that her plan to ask him if he wanted to walk her home had hit another snag. She swallowed that reaction, and instead pivoted towards ingratiating herself with him instead. "Weird. I'll wait here with you, Shinji-kun. I thought you might like to walk home with me, get a feel for the neighborhood."

Before Shinji could respond, his future plans were decided for him by the people in charge of his safety and security. "Kid, stand fast. Kirijo-san, if you would also please stay here. Everyone else, hit the bricks." Urging the teachers to move aside, Akane motioned for everyone not mentioned to leave the room. Outside the room was now more than a few Section Two staff, impassively keeping the area around his classroom from being invaded by anyone at all. When all of the students hesitated, she emphasized the non-democratic nature of her request, "I'm not opposed to polishing my boot with your skirts, ladies." Firmly pointing at the door, she barked, "Move out!"

"…Maybe tomorrow," Rise sighed, walking towards the door.

After the room had been emptied, the leather handle on Shinji's school bag creaked as he clenched his fist tight. "Was that really necessary? I'm trying to make friends, and now my mother sends you here to make it clear that I'm not supposed to do that either?"

"Not my idea, kid." Akane set her hands out slowly, palms towards the floor. "Someone back at HQ noticed a crowd gathering to see 'the survivor' and ordered a quick lockdown. I don't get to countermand those decisions, and I don't have the personnel here to ensure your safety. We have one of you to pilot that beast, remember?"

He swallowed his ire enough to look away towards the window. In a more neutral tone of voice, he asked, "Why are you keeping everyone else here?"

"Because the Kirijo Group isn't someone we just blow off. Word apparently made its way to them as well, somehow, and they asked us to include your Student Body President in the protection order. Your teachers are here because I wanted to personally thank them for being understanding, and because I'd rather they not get mobbed on their way home." Pulling a deck of cards out of her pocket, she tossed them over to him. "I'm not going to risk your safety, and if things go sideways I need as few possible 'friendly casualties' to deal with."

The cards were unopened, and were a standard playing deck. Turning them around in his hands, he worried his thumbs at the plastic. "Why am I going here then? I don't want to risk them, or anyone…but especially them. They've welcomed me here, they've spent more time talking to me than anyone else ever has, and they're trying to help me not…."

"Which is why you are going here," Mitsuru interrupted. "There will always be those who, through ignorance or malice, attempt to harm those who have done nothing wrong. None of us can go it alone, Ikari-kun. 'Two in Harmony Surpasses One in Perfection'."

"Prettier words than I'd use," Akane laughed out. "Show Kirijo-san some magic. We've got eyes on the situation, and we'll let you know when we're ready to shove off."

Shinji broke the plastic wrapper with his nail, and blew out a sigh of frustration. "I'm sorry, Kirijo-san." Pulling the deck out, he put the jokers and the flag card back inside before loosening up the cards with a series of alternating shuffles. Forcing himself to make eye contact, he kept his hands busy and his mouth under control. "You shouldn't have to be caught up in my nonsense."

A small smile decorated Mitsuru's lips. "If I am to be honest, I'm grateful for the opportunity to spend some extra time with you." She indicated the cards with one finger. "I wouldn't have guessed you to be someone who tends to gamble."

"I don't," he demurred. "Learning sleight of hand gave me something to do during 'quiet time'."

The smile turned towards a frown, and then she tilted her head and listened to his movements. "…That is truly impressive. You are making nearly no sound."

"I'm nervous, or I'd be making no sound at all." His statement wasn't a boast, it was simply a truth. To him, what he was doing wasn't anything special or abnormal. Fanning the cards out, now that he knew where they all were, he set up his first trick. "Why would you want to spend extra time with me?"

Spying and drawing the Queen of Diamonds, she kept it facing towards her as she held it up for him to do with what he would. "At first, because as your Student Body President, and Class President, it is my responsibility to know what challenges might present themselves to you. Then, because you have no idea who I am or who my family is. Now…because I recognize a kindred spirit and believe it would be fun."

Shinji spun both hands to fan the cards together in alternating directions, then split the deck in the center and held it open for her to slide the card in. "I don't mean to be offensive, but I don't think we're alike at all. You're popular, responsible, and…uhm…." Working the deck so that he could pull her card out from her hair, he shifted his shoulders uncomfortably.

"Oh?" She let a genuine smile show through. "Odd that you would hesitate on the one compliment so many have given before without their having bothered to temper it with the first two." Placing one elbow in her other hand, she tapped her cheek in faux thought. "Or, maybe, I'm simply being vain and thinking that you had intended to compliment my looks. Perhaps you had meant to tell me how you enjoy my voice, or my presence, or even simply my posture."

"…Those…are, uhm…all true." With less jitters than he'd thought he'd manage, he reached up to her hair slowly, and then withdrew the Queen of Diamonds from next to her hair. Spinning it in his fingers, he showed it to her for the verification. "Yours?"

Enthusiastic, but subdued, applause for the trick. "I didn't see you even draw the card out of the deck! That's fantastic!"

He felt the genuine praise wash over him again, and blushed slightly as he began shuffling again. "It's…pretty simple, really. I'm sure you could figure it out if I did it again."

Akane slid the door open, then gestured for the teachers to follow her. "Kirijo-san, please don't kill my Shinji. I only have the one, and they're a bitch to replace."

"I shall endeavor to restrain the impulse, ma'am," Mitsuru replied with a polite inclination of her head. When the door closed again, she looked back to Shinji with a grin. "I like your guards better than my own."

Shinji once more offered the cards to her to choose. "You have guards?"

"I am the only daughter of the head of the Kirijo Group," this time she selected the Ace of Hearts, "a multinational company that provides products and solutions for nearly every facet of human existence. I have never walked outside of my home without at least two guards. The last time I checked, I would be worth more than nine trillion Yen if I were held for ransom." She saw the way his face scrunched up in thought and giggled. "This, Shinji, this is why I wished to spend time with you. You can't conceive of a world in which the woman standing before you is anything but a woman. I've never once met someone who acts around me like you do, and it is both fascinating and refreshing."

A series of quick breaks in the deck, and then a final shuffle, he presented her the deck to flip over the cards herself. "Five cards down." He tried to think of a reason to react differently, but she wasn't acting like someone who was upset that he'd been doing what he was doing. That meant doing something different would possibly hurt her, and that wasn't what he wanted to have happen.

Mitsuru eagerly drew the top five cards, and found that not only had he placed the Ace where he'd stated, but that he'd given her a Royal Flush at the same time. "This is wonderful! How many tricks do you know?"

She was, quite possibly, almost as sheltered as he was. That both infuriated and amazed him. That people would force her to live in a cage, no matter how gilded, instead of allowing her to choose her own path through life was despicable. "A lot?" He accepted the cards back, starting to shuffle them again without looking. "I…really don't know a number." His hands became a blur, sorting the deck back into order. "None of this makes sense."

While not the topic she'd wished to focus on at the moment, she accepted that it was important to discuss. "I agree. Why is the school turning into a labyrinth? Why can some of us enter through televisions, and others through certain doors? Why are you the only male to still be here, and what is the device in your neck? We have a great many questions, and due to our position we can't go about finding answers easily." When his eyebrow hitched, she mimicked the motion. "Are you free to walk around wherever you will at any point you so choose?"

"…Oh."

"You and I do not have the freedoms that the others possess. That is simply how it is. We, you and I, must find ways around those strictures." Carefully placing her hands against his, stopping the cards from moving, she drew his eyes to hers by force of presence. "Help me protect them. When we find out how you enter Tartarus, stand with me to stop that machine from killing them."

You must protect them. How could he say no? The door slid open unexpectedly, and Shinji was surprised and slightly concerned when Mitsuru didn't remove her hands from his as she turned to look towards the portal. Like much of what he'd seen recently, the emotions she radiated seemed to be pure and honest. She wasn't upset that someone might see her holding his hands, or concerned that they would disapprove. Her life had not been controlled by jealousy.

Walking in, alone, was a woman that could be none other than Mitsuru's mother. The door closed behind her, and her steady approach was accompanied by a brilliant smile and a warm tone that did not match what he saw within her, "Oh, wonderful! I'm so pleased that the two of you are getting along." She reached their side, and set her hands both atop and under theirs, encapsulating their grasp and urging them to continue to hold onto one another. "Once I heard that Yui-chan's son had somehow survived, I knew that I absolutely had to introduce him to you, Mitsuru."

"We are becoming fast friends, mother." Mitsuru's exterior also did not reflect her interior irritation. "While I certainly appreciate more time with Ikari-san, why did you insist I stay here? I have faith that my minders could see me home safely."

"Because we are going to be offering Ikari-san," she added a slight mocking tone to the implied distance of the formality, "a ride back to NERV. The Kirijo Group will be assisting them in attempting to locate our missing men, and in researching the phenomenon that has warped our beloved country. Plans are already in motion for a number of changes, and I get along famously with Ikari-san's mother." Releasing their hands and wrapping her arm around Shinji's shoulders, she urged them towards the door. "Come, come. Your bags will be delivered home for you. The sooner we can dispense with the formal meetings, the sooner we can see about a nice welcoming dinner."

A wonderful day appeared to be heading into a nosedive, quickly.