+++++ Tokyo-3 High School. (Wednesday, August 25th, +4, Waning Gibbous 3/4)

Isako Toriumi had authorized extending the lunch period through the next class in order for Shinji to be given a chance at eating without risking hurting himself by doing so too fast. Shinji himself had discovered that 'eating too fast' was not going to be an issue, considering his hands were wrapped in bandages that prevented him from easily operating the utensils necessary to eat at all. Seated as he was, however, the problem had no shortage of volunteers offering to remediate it.

The solution, crafted by Mitsuru in an effort to avoid any semblance of favoritism and to limit the number of 'hurt feelings', was a quick lottery which chose two out of the seven volunteers. Rise and Eriko won the rights to handle his cutlery and beverage, which she could see served to make Shinji incredibly uncomfortable as it involved allowing someone to do something for him that he would typically do himself. The Student Body President, however, would not allow him to continue hurting himself.

"Hey, Shinji-kun?" Ulala had been far more subdued than was typical after they had been allowed to return to the classroom, and the way she looked at him was a far cry from the typical lust she radiated towards any man that caught her eye. "…You don't have to…you know, answer…." Fiddling with her own lunchbox, she hesitated before spitting it out, "Did someone hurt you?"

Mitsuru made to cut off the topic, "Serizawa-san, I-"

Motioning with his hand, Shinji shook his head as well to stop her. "No," he swallowed the bite in his mouth, "I should at least tell them why." The mixture of emotions in the room were causing something of a headache for him, which fed the irritation he felt when cutting her off again. "No. I crushed the desk with my bare hands. What happens if someone tries to hold my hand like Rise-san or Yuka-san likes to? What happens if Chie-san or Sumire-san are holding onto my sleeve to balance themselves while they show me moves or poses? They at least deserve the truth, if I'm asking them to trust me at all."

"You are not a danger to them, nor will you be." At this point, a part of her was proud of Shinji for putting the safety of others over his own personal traumas. Another part of her was irritated that he'd chosen this hill to die on. A third part of her was, and would forever be, determined to help him live a far better life than he thought he deserved. "May I at least speak for you on this? I promise I will not hide anything, but I feel I might do better at explaining the particulars in a way that prevents harm."

He could not, and would not, argue that point. "…Please." Another morsel of food was pressed against his lips by Rise, which he accepted with a slight smile and nod of gratitude, leaving the point where it lie.

"We're not as fragile as you might think," Rise stated with a teasing grin and a wink.

Eriko nodded amicably. "Should we, at some point, get our turn in the pool I'd be glad to show you a few of my scars from when I was younger and just learning fencing and aikido." Tapping a spot just beside her groin on her quad, she stuck her tongue out playfully. "It's socially inappropriate to show if I'm not already wearing a swimsuit."

"Ahem." Mitsuru's cough was accompanied by a light clap. Considering the nature of what she was about to reveal, the last thing she wanted was for that particular line of discussion to continue. "What I am about to say will not be pleasant. Should, at some point, I find out that any of you have spoken to, near, or around anyone that is not in this room about this I assure you that regret will not be the only thing which you feel. Am I understood?" Six of seven heads nodded quickly in agreement, the lone outlier receiving the totality of her attention. "Amagi-san?"

"I already agreed not to divulge specifics, senpai," the holdout responded, her eyebrow quirking in irritation. "I do not see the need to repeat that agreement, as I have already given my word to protect Shinji-kun from further abuse."

"…Fair enough." Taking a deep breath, she laced her hands together to force herself not to fidget. She owed Shinji her calm, and she needed to set the tone for her classmates. "After his father died, Yui Ikari sent Shinji-kun to live with…his aunt." The explanation was delivered in a cold, clinical tone of voice that was pitched low enough to be heard only as far as the close-knit circle of students near the center of the room. The specifics, unimportant to the general theme of Shinji's childhood of suffering, were left to the imaginations of those listening while the broad strokes filled in the 'why' of someone regressing mentally to a specific point in their life might be driven by a sound, a sight, or even a smell. The entire explanation took only a few minutes, though the time felt as if it stretched on for days. "It might have been the scent of the marker, the squeak it made on the board, or even a combination of words used. Regardless, between that potentiality and his…special qualities, he is now nervous that he might harm one of us unintentionally."

Ulala exploded, "That's bullshit!" Pointing to the ruins of the desk he'd broken, now sitting in the trashcan waiting for the end of the day, she looked at the others with fire roaring in her veins. "Every one of us heard what he said, and every one of us saw what he did!"

This being a wrinkle Shinji had remained ignorant of, he prevented Eriko from putting more food in his mouth for a moment to ask, "What…uhm, what happened? I don't really remember anything."

"You said, 'You won't hurt them. I won't let you'." Sumire was scowling, grinding the thumb of one hand into the palm of the other. "You just kept repeating that. Sensei stopped us from trying to stop you from breaking your desk, and Mitsuru-senpai hurried us out of the room at her instruction. Whatever it was you were seeing, Shinji…you were protecting us, not hurting us."

Eriko shoved the food in his mouth as he went to speak, holding it there until he bit down. "No. You met Rise-chan, and you didn't hesitate to help her. You didn't take advantage of that help to make her feel 'obligated' to you. You pushed yourself to the fore of our formation, standing side-by-side with me to defend everyone. You nearly killed yourself stopping that metal monstrosity from reaching us. The only thing I fear involving you is that we might lose you through some act of bravery."

"So, I'm just kinda asking for a friend here, but can we maybe find a picture of this lady?" Chie had her hands behind her head, her fingers webbed together and crushing each other to hide her anger. "I mean, I'd like to know her on sight so that I can…ask her a few things."

"Totally." Yuka moved over behind Shinji, wrapping her arms around him just above his shoulders and setting her chin atop his head. "We could ask her, like, 'does it hurt when I do this', or, like, 'which is your favorite kidney?'" Pressing her lips against the crown of his skull, she whispered, "I'm sorry, Shinji. Nobody deserves to have this happen, and I won't let it happen again." The switch from 'typical kogal' to her true voice might have been jarring, were it not for how she held him firmly. "We can't change your history, but we can improve your present…if you let us."

Being who he was, and what he was, Shinji was forced to adapt to the constantly shifting landscape around him far too often. There were social cues that he had begun to pick up on, though he mostly relied on the prevailing winds around him to send him in the least-offensive direction on anything he did. This, however, was something he was becoming leery of allowing to continue without challenging it, "…Why?" The question clearly took everyone by surprise, and despite his inner monologue screaming against it, he pressed on the point, "Is this just what people are supposed to do? Was everyone else's life so much better that I'm…that much of an oddity?"

"We're all odd, Shinji," Ulala snorted out with a laugh. "But the reason everyone's so keen on helping you out is because you're cute," she lifted one finger, "kind," another finger, "talented," a third finger, "intriguing," a fourth finger, "and in need of serious positive affection. You're not perfect, but may I be struck blind if you're not working your incredibly delightful ass off trying to be."

There was a mixture of giggles and chuckles playing against a combination of chiding and groans. Through it all, Shinji frowned in thought as he tried to piece together what he was supposed to say, or feel. "I…uhm," the room quieted again as he spoke, "I don't think it's a good idea to…uhm…." His eyes drifted towards the window, needing to look anywhere else than at the group of young women that seemingly dropped out of his wildest fantasies. "I don't know how to…act. I've never had friends. What…uhm, what do I do? How do I not hurt any of you? What happens when…when everyone returns?"

"By being yourself," Mitsuru stated firmly. She looked around the room at the other ladies, holding their attention long enough to drive the point home. "You don't know what you want. We can't know what you want until you do. I've seen small glimpses of the you that exists without any masks or filters, and I've seen enough to say with confidence that you need to be given the chance to find out what you do and do not like."

"It wouldn't matter if you weren't the only guy around," Rise added, taking his hand and squeezing it until he looked down at her. "We like you, because we like you. If you come to like us, as friends or…something else, then that's great!"

His face was hollow, the affectation he typically utilized to protect himself gone for the moment. "But it's not." His mind was slowly puzzling towards something he couldn't yet understand. "How am I supposed to be there to help Ayase-san, if I'm out somewhere with Amagi-san? How can I protect Yoshizawa-san if I'm…receiving 'positive affection' from Satonaka-san?"

Chie's cheeks reddened, surprised that she was the one he'd chosen to tie to the 'affection' but not necessarily displeased at being seen as feminine despite her obvious interest in more masculine pursuits. "Those are the things we all wonder, Shin-kun. 'Do I have a chance with them?' or 'If I show him I have interest, am I going to hurt my friends?' or 'If I confess, is he going to turn me down?' We all take a risk each time we…offer affection, just like we all take a risk when we accept it."

"But I don't want to put you at risk." Concern manifested inside the hollow, combining with an urgent need to be clear. "I don't want to put any of you at risk."

"You aren't," Sumire disagreed. "We have the right to choose what risks to take, just like you do. We can choose to take a chance, show interest, risk being told someone's not interested."

"But I'm supposed-" A heavy thump outside the school building silenced the conversation for the time being. Freeing himself from Yuka, Shinji made it to the windows first in an effort to see if the facility was under attack. What he saw, instead, was a piece of construction equipment preparing to begin necessary activities for some sort of heavy project. "What are they-"

"Attention, attention," the school's intercom cut over Shinji's question, "the Principal will be addressing the school. Attention, attention, the Principal will be addressing the school."

All but two people in the classroom were focused on looking out the window at the oddity beginning to take form. Mitsuru, who had her eyes on Shinji, and Shinji, who silently answered a question that he'd already put some words to. His presence was causing further changes to the student body, and he was becoming annoyed at that fact.

+++++ Tokyo-3 High School. (Wednesday, August 25th, +4, Waning Gibbous 3/4)

With the freedoms he'd been granted the past several days, Shinji was finding himself unable to compensate for a particular facet of his emotional spectrum that he'd previously repressed. Standing outside of the main school building, glaring at the ongoing parade of construction vehicles. The change in his demeanor, which he was unaware of both the existence of and effects on the ladies of, was enough that Akane and Mikoto had moved from 'hovering within striking distance' to 'standing within six feet of'.

"This is, like, totally weird." Yuka gestured towards the same area Shinji was attempting to render into dust through sheer volume of hatred. "Like, all our moms? Without talking to each other?"

Chie was bouncing the toes of one foot off the ground, eager to be about whatever it was that they needed to do. "If she found out about 'you know what', I'm a dead woman."

"Yeah, kind of doubt that's the issue here," Ulala murmured. "My mom doesn't care what I do, so long as I don't get pregnant. She told me flat out that she'd disown me completely if I didn't wait here. Whatever this is about, it isn't about sleep deprivation."

Mitsuru stood calmly by Shinji, accepting that she was at least partially responsible for what was about to happen. She hadn't warned anyone, but most importantly she hadn't warned Shinji. Her own mother had said that she would arrive before long, and gave instructions to have everyone hold off on going over anything until she arrived. Three times she'd tried to say something to calm Shinji's wrath, and each time she'd been flatly ignored. Or so she thought.

"What I don't understand," Shinji spoke with just enough volume to be heard by Mitsuru, "is why they would put everyone in one place, in what has to be a massive target." He looked over to Mitsuru, with a far different cast to his features than she anticipated. "Your mother is making a tactical error. If I was going to target anywhere, it would be a location that the person hunting me frequents. Piling students atop one another, here, is just asking for the casualty rate to skyrocket." Turning away from the sight of what was angering him, he set his forehead against the brick wall that lined the school's property. "I don't like this idea, Mitsuru. I can't protect all of these buildings at once."

The shameful wash of relief that flowed over and through her was akin to biting down on the sweetest chocolate. "The buildings will be able to retract, below the surface. It's just like the safety shelters, only with better accommodations for the students." She placed one hand on his back, between his shoulder blades, patting him gently in gratitude for his persistent determination to save lives. "Living near the school, they won't have to walk through the streets in the early morning, or late afternoon. If things start to become dangerous, the shelters here might become overcrowded. Each of the local schools will be receiving these, all to provide better safety. We can't choose where the enemy will target, but we can at least make the damage they cause easier to manage."

"I'm the one inside Unit-01," he breathed out painfully. "I'm the one that has to try and 'manage' the damage."

Miyuki's voice carried over the sounds of construction equipment, her tone demonstrating that whether or not anyone wished to argue the point, she was in control of the situation from start to finish, "Good afternoon, ladies. Thank you so much for waiting here."

"I'm not going to say anything." He glanced over to see Mitsuru looking at him, and no one else. "Please…?"

"We're a team," Mitsuru whispered with a tight grin. "We stand together, come what may."

"I have asked your families to gather at my home, so that we could go over a few matters together." Fully aware of the side-dialogue, Miyuki continued controlling the main conversation. "If you would all be so kind as to accompany me, I'd like to provide a brief outline of what I hope to accomplish."

Shinji's brow knit together, the expected happening not matching with the actual.

"Agents, if you would be so kind as to give Chiaki-chan, Yuko-chan, and Shinji-kun a ride to and from NERV? I'm given to understand that he will be heavily involved in training today, despite my request that he be given a 'mental health day'." Her eyes caught his, and she smiled gently. "Our hero never seems to have time to rest."

The fact that his two 'assistants' would be travelling with him added further confusion upon an already unsteady brow. He'd been dismissed, though, and had to respond to that dismissal appropriately regardless of how angry he was. "I'm no hero, Kirijo-san. I'm just Shinji." Pushing off the wall, he walked beside Mikoto just behind Akane towards the heavy sedan that would carry him to NERV. He nodded a curt greeting to Yuko and Chiaki, who fell in behind him, and focused on getting into the car before he said or did anything that would harm or undermine the woman that had offered him shelter.

Once he was inside with the doors closed, flanked by his two assistants, it was Yuko that broke the silence, "This was in response to a series of incidents on the outskirts of Gotemba. The plan had been to take more time to craft the idea into something that wouldn't be so sudden, but it became evident that we needed to move faster to protect the students here."

"A group of unfamiliar demons attacked farmers living in the area," Chiaki expounded. "They were able to be beaten back, thanks to a quick and coordinated reaction between the local citizens and the few remaining police forces."

"The Prime Minister has ordered that walls be constructed, where possible, to provide defensible positions for everyone. Tokyo-3's boundary wall will be activated once we finish urging the outlying citizens to accept new accommodations inside the perimeter." Akane was clearly just as irritated as Shinji, but was more nervous that he might be about to try something 'foolish'. "This all happened a couple of hours ago, right about the time you had your medical issue."

Mikoto turned in her seat enough to face him. "Are you feeling ok?"

Shinji took a few moments to consider the question, trying to place all of the new information he'd been given into the context of the larger situation. "The monsters are human-sized?"

"The pictures I saw showed them to be about the size and shape of a horse, though their rear legs were obscured in a thick cloud," Yuko answered. "Unit-01 will likely not be of much assistance. Akin to attempting to swat a flea with a skyscraper, you'd just end up making a larger mess of everything around the flea while not killing it."

Closing his eyes and resting his head back against the seat, Shinji could feel the tension spreading out from his neck. "Then no…no I'm not feeling ok."

+++++ NERV. (Wednesday, August 25th, +4, Waning Gibbous 3/4)

The tension in his body seemed to have been replicated in the firing range Shinji was escorted to. Standing in the room clustered in small groups, was a number of women that he hadn't anticipated seeing in such a place. Misato, his instructor, was glaring past his shoulder at Yuko. There was a growing hatred in her, aimed directly at a woman that had done nothing to deserve it in Shinji's opinion. Ritsuko and Maya were going over something on a tablet, the love they shared for one another glowing brightly, only growing to include him as they both caught sight of his entrance and greeted him silently. Kyoko was speaking animatedly, though quietly, to his mother. It was clear that Kyoko was worried, and just as clear that she remained in control of herself despite her fears. His mother, once more surprising him, radiated with love and pride as she looked at him, not that her face showed an ounce of it.

Unfamiliar with the appropriate order of greeting such a vast array of people, he chose to go with who he knew was the 'higher ranking' to avoid causing a scene. "Hello, mother."

"Good afternoon, Shinji-kun. Thank you for being willing to spend your valuable afterschool time learning how to better save lives. I've agreed with a firm limit on this training time, so we do not 'silo' you into only being proficient as a warrior. Your mind remains your greatest weapon, and if we do not refine it even as we build your body, we will only set us all up for a greater fall." Yui gestured towards Misato, once more radiating with a form of jealousy that he couldn't understand. "Captain Katsuragi will be your main instructor for these lessons. While I expect you to pay appropriate respect to her for both her rank and position, I also expect that you will be given the opportunity to voice any discomfort you might have while interacting with her in this capacity. If you do not feel comfortable coming to me with any such complaints, Doctor Zeppelin, Doctor Akagi, or Lieutenant Ibuki all have my permission to take appropriate measures to remediate the issue."

"…Thank you." Everything she had just said to him screamed, even with his limited understanding of human interactions, of someone having to balance a dozen plates of various sizes that were spinning on needles atop a skyscraper. He hated her, he knew that in his soul, but he was coming to respect the way in which she interacted with him. "I haven't yet seen the copies of those letters I asked for."

"They were delivered this afternoon, sir," Chiaki announced calmly. "The tablet they were saved to was required to clear not only NERV's I.T. Department and Classifications Bureau, but also the Kirijo Group's Network Security before we received it officially."

Kyoko approached, offering him a folded piece of paper along with a warm smile. "The password to the files in question. Nobody else has seen them, as the security checks were only to ensure that there wasn't any information that might speak to our security posture, but I thought you might wish to have them safe where only you can access them for now."

He accepted the note with a slight bow of gratitude. "Thank you, Zeppelin-sensei."

Tapping his nose with a playful grin, she shook her head. "Just Kyoko, Shinji-kun. You don't work for me, and I'd rather you feel like you can approach me with anything you need than to use an empty title bestowed on me because I'm monomaniacal about proving the truth to people."

Whatever it was that Kyoko felt for him, it was 'positive'. He couldn't identify the particulars with a gun to his head, but he knew he liked the feel of it. "O-ok. Thank you, Kyoko-san."

"Closer." Patting his cheek, she looked straight at Misato. "I expect a full report on today's findings later tonight."

"Of course, Sub-Commander." Misato's focus shifted to Shinji, to whom she motioned for him to approach her with a warm and welcoming smile. "C'mere. I wanted to start today with some basic firearms training. Nothing too physically taxing, kind of warm you up."

"Yes ma'am." Moving with the type of alacrity that was expected of him whenever his aunt told him to move, he reached her side and waited for further instructions.

Placing her arm about his waist, as she only stood around chest-high on the much taller teenager, she guided him over to the stall where a series of weapons were secured and waiting explanation. "So, as you can see here, I have asked that the armory and engineering department cooperate to create scaled down replicas of the firearms Unit-01 will be using." Once she had him in position, she patted his back but remained close enough to him that she was always brushing up against him as they moved to increase his comfort levels with her physical presence. "We are, of course, developing different weapons even as we speak but these are the armaments we have right now."

Instinctively keeping his hands clasped in front of him, Shinji tipped his head towards the battle rifle. "That's what I used against Kushiel-san." He frowned, remembering the fight with perfect clarity. "It…was more useful as a club."

"We are working on that too," Ritsuko announced from next to the stall where she was leaning against the partition to watch him work. "The enemy didn't manifest the defenses we anticipated, and you're quite correct in your analysis."

"And whatever solutions the eggheads come up with will still require you to understand proper marksmanship." Misato stuck her tongue out at Ritsuko playfully. Patting Shinji's side, she gestured to the target silhouette at the other end of the range. "There's also the fact that you buried several rounds in the Sea of Japan when you missed the enemy. Each miss with one of those rounds threatens the people you're trying to protect." When his face went flat, she nodded in understanding. "Yeah, that's the problem. You don't shoot, you aren't stopping the enemy. You do shoot, you're risking whatever's behind the target when it moves in an unanticipated direction. Knowing when to shoot, and how to vector your shots, is just as important as knowing how to operate the rifle at all."

Shinji's eyes grew distant. "Standing inside of a sphere…there's no way I don't hit something when I fire." Instinctively his hand trailed towards where the dagger he'd been given tended to appear while in Tartarus. "I…I need to use weapons that don't fire. I can't protect people if I'm threatening them every time I fight."

"And when the enemy stays out of range?" She reached up and tilted his head so that he was again looking at her. "When they use a ranged weapon? We're not always going to have the ability to put you in melee range. You're not going to be able to get your hands around vital parts of the enemy. This is why we train. Nobody here is going to be angry if you do everything right and someone still dies. When you're engaged in combat, saving everyone isn't always possible."

His jaw flexed, his teeth pressing hard against one another. "…I'm going to make it possible. Too many have died already." Tipping his head towards the weapons again, he kept his eyes on his instructor. "Let's get started, we're wasting time."

+++++ NERV. (Wednesday, August 25th, +4, Waning Gibbous 3/4)

Yui found it hard to look away from the monitor displaying Shinji demonstrate an amazing grasp of ballistic trajectories. Enough of her mind was listening to the reports regarding how his presence in the facility was impacting her staff to make rational decisions regarding how to mitigate the issues, as unimportant as she considered them, which annoyed her two sub-commanders. "He will have people around him at all times to stop any unwanted advances. If he takes an interest in someone in particular, we will review their records for suitability before they're allowed more intimate contact. At this point, stopping him from seeking out whatever comforts he may is ultimately counterproductive to our purposes. He is…experienced, physically. Our task will remain ensuring that whichever woman he may choose has benevolent intentions."

Kyoko was also observing Shinji's progress, and had to admit that it was heartening to see that he was putting his entire focus into an art that he had to master rapidly. "And if he seeks comfort from more than one woman?"

"So long as he does not act in an unbecoming manner, it remains unimportant." Yui looked over to Kyoko with a scowl. "If everyone involved is aware of the situation, then it remains unimportant. If the projections are accurate, your proposed scenario might even become necessary."

"Do you have someone in mind, then?" Her interest became piqued, at the potential for the mother to start acting like one.

"I believe that Lieutenant Ibuki would be best suited to helping him navigate the life ahead of him," she gestured towards the screen, "which necessitates that Ritsuko-chan also be encouraged to seek out his favor. I wouldn't split them up, it's far too adorable the way they think they're hiding anything from us, but I do not want some starry-eyed young waif thinking to tether herself to him as a way of achieving some sort of perceived 'easy life'."

Naoko clicked her tongue in exasperation. "We are looking at a situation where the entire facility might begin to become enamored with him, and you're focusing on my daughter's love? She might not even be the best choice in her department!"

"BNST activity is only tangentially related to potential mating behaviors and you well know that."

"And if he is walking around acting as a calming influence on everyone's anxieties, then the ladies are going to seek out his company once they correlate those two data points," Kyoko had to support the truth despite her agreement with Yui. "An attractive, attentive, young man that seems to calm their fears and quiet their mind? That has been a recipe for more than one relationship over the long years of human history."

Yui looked between the two women, a tinge of irritation in her tone, "Then shall we perform a controlled test? During his training, we will expose him to several women who can be trusted to carry his best interests. We will monitor their reactions to his presence, compare them against the counterintelligence reports in their files, and discern if there is a noteworthy difference in their behavior. If there is not, as I posit there will not be, then we will stop focusing on far-fetched scenarios and instead pay attention to setting him up with those women that provide the best opportunity for the betterment of mankind."

+++++ NERV. (Wednesday, August 25th, +4, Waning Gibbous 3/4)

The next stop after an hour of personal training on the firing range was one of the many gyms inside the GeoFront. Shinji was handed a set of NERV-issued workout clothes, consisting of a t-shirt, cloth shorts, sweatpants, sweatshirt, and supportive athletic shoes, and told 'to change'. Following instructions, he moved out of the walkway while Misato turned to chat with Maya and Ritsuko about their thoughts on his activity on the range, and began to strip down to change into the provided clothing.

Yuko smirked, then coughed and gestured to what Shinji was doing to draw attention to it. When Misato went to tease him about following her instructions so literally, she found Ritsuko's hand over her mouth and Maya standing in front of her shaking her head firmly. Chiaki, ignoring everything else, moved to provide a form of human barrier between anyone that might try to enter the gym and the mostly nude pilot while he changed.

"Ah, Shinji!" A familiar voice called from one of the far corners of the room, "It is good to see you, yes it is."

With only his shorts and socks on, a bright smile grew on Shinji's face as he recognized the voice and woman approaching, "Andreja! I haven't had a chance to thank you." Stepping into his shoes before lacing them up tight quickly, he was back on his feet when she reached him in time to be lifted up into a bearhug by the powerful engineer. Returning the embrace, he chuckled with genuine mirth. "I think they've brought me here to make it harder for you to lift me like this."

"Bah." Setting him back on his feet, she ran her knuckles along his ribs with an approving nod. "Only a fool would think you needed to be all muscle. You are not a bear, to go around crushing whatever you fight. You are like a wolf, yes you are. Agile, lean, and lethal."

Having been freed, and warned to not draw attention to Shinji's nonchalant attitude towards public nudity, Misato approached the conversation to restore her control over the situation. "I agree, for the most part, Sergeant. I'd rather add some muscle to his frame though, in order to protect him against the strain he'll feel in the cockpit."

"Captain," she stiffened, standing at attention for her superior officer, "I apologize that I did not see you there."

Misato saw Shinji frown, recognizing that he clearly favored the woman beside him. "At ease, Sergeant. The gym isn't the place for us to be all stiff-backed." When Andreja shifted to the 'parade rest' position, she made an offer she felt would increase her stock in Shinji's eyes, "Would you like to help me improve his workout regimen? You've won the last two competitions in your weight class for lifting, so you clearly know a thing or two that he could use."

"That'd be great," Shinji agreed with an eager smile before hesitating. "I-if, you know, you're not busy."

Andreja clapped him on the shoulder with a smile of her own. "I am never too busy to offer you my help, no I am not." When he went to put on his shirt, she waved him off. "No, no. Your shirt will only get tangled in the motions. Come," shifting her hand to his back, she urged him towards the wall lined with dumbbells, "let's see what your failure weight is."

Back at the entrance to the room, Yuko murmured so only the three women by her would hear, "That is a very large woman."

"Sergeant Andreja Valatok," Maya responded with similar quiet. "Veteran of the Slovakian Wars, survived the attempted genocides…lost her entire family. She signed up with us as an engineer to get away from combat."

Chiaki nodded slowly. "I could understand someone who'd seen that much death would want to be away from any more of it."

"Caused, not seen," Ritsuko corrected the misperception. "She has an official kill count of three hundred and sixty-six, and her superiors confirmed that her actual total was much higher. Shinji's first time meeting her, he got in her face to protect Maya-kun's reputation. He couldn't have known who he was challenging, and couldn't have handled it better with coaching."

The four ladies looked over to where Shinji was actively listening and following the instructions given to him. Yuko and Chiaki both made mental notes to bring up Andreja's existence to Miyuki later on, while Maya and Ritsuko made notes of their own to discuss how Shinji seemed to come alive in her presence. Whatever it was the woman was doing, it was clearly something good if it managed to get the kind of smile he had upon noticing her.

+++++ NERV. (Wednesday, August 25th, +4, Waning Gibbous 3/4)

The last half hour of Shinji's time was taken up by a series of stretches that involved Maya gently positioning his body with soft touches and reassurances. To his surprise, Andreja proved far more flexible than he would have anticipated as she demonstrated the stretches for him to allow Maya to be 'hands on'. Both women 'politely ignored' Misato's presence, their focus entirely upon him during his time in their care. Standing up from the mat he'd been using, he ducked his head in a quick bow to the two ladies. "Thank you, I'm sorry that you had to deal with my sweat. I can try and clean your clothes, if you'd prefer."

Andreja snorted out a laugh. "If you are not sweating, you are not working hard enough. Next time, I will wait for you to arrive and we will push each other harder, that we will." She beamed with joy at the smile he showed at that thought, and spoke next to Yuko, "You are responsible for his feeding, yes?"

"I am." Yuko's voice carried a level of respect that seemed odd to Shinji's ear, "You have advice?"

"Do not increase his protein intake too much. Men like him should not resemble a body builder, and 'show muscle' will only harm him in combat." She touched Shinji's abs, demonstrating the mere hint of definition they had. "We want to condition this, not refine it. Too much, in the wrong spots, and he will be slowed down."

Misato frowned, disliking the continued inference that Shinji didn't need stronger muscles to protect him. "He's a pilot, Sergeant, not a hand-to-hand combatant. Those are different requirements."

"Mass is mass, Misato," Ritsuko stated blandly. "The density of the muscle is more important than the size, for our purposes. Let's get him home so he can do his homework and get something to eat. We've got enough data to build a good routine off of, and you've got your own homework to give Sensei."

Shinji had only toweled himself off, and he was well aware that he desperately needed a shower. "Is there a…uhm, locker room around here somewhere?"

"We'll have you shower at the manor, sir," Yuko asserted before anyone else could say anything. "The car will be cleaned, but we are not to remain past the time allotted per Commander Ikari."

"She's right," Ritsuko agreed with a quick nod. "It isn't that we don't want you around, Shinji, but there's something odd about the way you react to Unit-01 that we need to work out. Limiting your time near it is for the best, for the moment."

The explanation, while incomplete, was enough for Shinji to both accept as reasonable and become eager to cooperate with. "Oh! Ok. Yeah, uhm…no, we should go then." Turning first to Misato, he bowed as he would to any of his teachers. "Thank you for your instruction today, sensei."

"Thank you for paying attention, Pilot." Misato wanted to kick Yuko's head off, but couldn't argue with her boss' orders. "Make sure you spend time on the mental exercises we discussed. Focus in combat is something you can practice anywhere you are."

"I will." Shifting his attention to Andreja, he gave her a bow that was far more friendly than the one given to Misato. "I look forward to next time, Andreja."

"So do I, my friend." Stepping up against him, she pulled him into another hug and whispered, "Be careful. I hear that there is danger out and about, and I would hurt to hear you came to harm, yes I would."

Tentatively returning the hug, aware that he likely wasn't the best-smelling person, he agreed to do as requested, to a point, "I'll do what I have to, to keep everyone safe…but I'll try not to put myself in danger while I do it." His hair received a firm scrub from her fingers, the compromise accepted. Turning finally to Maya and Ritsuko he let his mouth bunch off to the side. "I…kinda wish I could see you more often. I always feel better when you're around," he looked between them, "both of you."

"We'll eventually manage it," Ritsuko replied with a confident shrug. "Maya-kun keeps whining that we haven't seen you, and here I find out she managed to sneak into your school today."

"Senpai!" Maya protested, somehow still caught off-guard by Ritsuko's sarcastic wit.

Shinji, however, was growing comfortable with how Ritsuko acted. "I was lucky to have her there." Chiaki bouncing his clothes to settle them in her arms reminded him that time was a limited quantity. "Thank you, again." Bowing to everyone that would not be travelling with him, he bid them farewell and then turned to follow Akane once more towards the vehicle that would take them home. When they were well on their way towards the garages, he asked quietly to Mikoto, "Why is Captain Katsuragi so angry? The entire time she was teaching me, she was angry about something."

That he had noticed, despite the lack of physical indicators, simply reinforced Mikoto's view that Shinji knew who to trust and who not to. "That is a complicated question, Shin-tan. Miki-chan knows that she was not angry at you, which is enough."

It probably was enough, but he had a hard time letting it go when someone he was working with was so clearly bothered by something. "Is there something I can do?"

"No," Yuko stated with far more force than she normally might have. In a gentler tone, she continued, "Nothing more than what you are already doing. Remain attentive during your lessons, give your best effort in their execution. It is not your place to address someone else's troubles when they themselves have not yet announced them."

"…That makes sense." He saw her point clearly. Invading Misato's privacy to try and help her, if he was even able to, would not be something he would want to do. If she was dealing with something personally, and wanted to tell him, she'd tell him. "Thank you, Yuko-san." Exiting out into the open air without his shirt on, Shinji felt the cool 'evening' air flow across his skin. Knowing that he was safe, that he was needed, that the women around him wanted to keep him from harm, added to the feeling of freedom that pulled him to a halt near the waiting car. "Is this real?" The question was as much to his own mind as it was to those near him. "Am I just…dreaming as I die in a train wreck? Have I finally snapped, and lost myself entirely back in Nagano?"

Akane had her door open, with one foot in the vehicle itself. "If you're going to dream, kid, could you at least dream me up an ice cream cone? I'm not picky on the flavors, I just spent too long out in the sun today and want some ice cream."

If I'm dreaming, please never let me wake up. He shrugged helplessly. "I can't even dream myself into something sane. Ice cream is well out of my reach."

"But not ours," Yuko urged him towards the car. "I will make some available when we arrive, Agent, as thanks for your continuing service to a good man."

"Ha! I get ice cream," Akane cheered playfully. "Get in the car, kid. We're ignoring speed limits."