+++++ Tokyo-3 High. (Wednesday, September 1st, +11, Waning Crescent 2/4)

"There are sixty-eight 'Ota' in the JSSDF Marines. There are fifteen 'Corporal Ota'. There are three female 'Corporal Ota'." Chiaki sat atop Shinji's desk, looking through the tables sent to her by the local JSSDF unit after everything had settled back down. "Two of which are currently assigned to Okinawa, the third of which is assigned to Hokkaido." Responding to the Major that was helping her find data through a JWICS connection, she spoke as she typed, "Are they all accounted for this morning slash afternoon, question mark."

Standing in the doorway, Shiori Miyashiro finished briefing those that needed to know of the event. "Right…right," she made a 'wrap it up' motion with the hand not holding the phone, "I'm on it. Roger. Out." Hanging up, she spun back into the room and held up the other end of her bargain with Shinji, "RADAR, LiDAR, and visual observation all report nobody entered the area. No balloons, no overflight, nothing. Kirijo-sama sends her love, Ikari-san sends her apologies and love, Minister Saeki sends her affection and regrets."

As for himself, Shinji had a hard time being embarrassed about something like this. In his eyes, he'd be embarrassed if he'd seen the woman belonging inside of the clothes, had she not wished him to see her in such a state of dress. Mostly, he was concerned about the potential breach of security. "When can we find out what's in the document carrier?"

"EOD gave the all-clear, waiting on HAZMAT," she double checked her phone for messages, "which reported three minutes ago that the rapid tests all came back negative for contact poisons, Geiger shows zero radiation as well. Probably another half hour, then, for the big machine tests. Virial, bacterial, stuff of that type."

"Right…thank you, Shiori-san." He gave her a weak smile when she grinned and tapped her forehead with her knuckle in a mock salute. "You likely have a million other things to do, I'm serious, thank you for personally coming to help me calm down."

Her teasing grin faded to a solemn demeanor. "In the spirit of being serious, I am quite serious when I say that right now you are the most important being alive. I do not, and will not, trust anyone else with your safety if you let me take control of it."

"It would conflict rather seriously with your current employment, I would feel." Mitsuru, who had yet to relinquish the spot to Shinji's right side where she could both keep in physical contact with him and read what Chiaki was reading, briefly eyed the woman her mother had hired because she was the best in her field.

"Kirijo-sama has enough security, and I have capable subordinates that I have trained well. As far as priority targets go, she ranks below him by several notches." Shiori gestured calmly to Mitsuru. "You, for example, are a higher value target than your mother is. Nobody expects your mother to be the first to carry a child he'll be near constantly, the sportsbooks currently show you tied with Kujikawa-chan as the most likely to 'win the jackpot'."

A variety of reactions ranging from disbelief to surprise washed through the classroom, but it was Rise who spoke loudest, "Stupid blinking vultures!" Stamping one foot, she glared at the blackboard at the head of the class. "Do they have pictures yet?"

"Yeah," she flicked a finger against her phone, "but the MAGI have been erasing them every time something or someone attempts an upload. We've already detained six different paparazza independently of one another, and it doesn't seem to be a networked group. A bunch of freelance jackals with no chance of selling their goods shouldn't be able to get the amount of information out that we've found. I'm thinking the PM's office has a leak, but I haven't received clearance to go hunting in those woods yet."

The offer inherent in the statement was obvious even to Shinji. "I would find it hard to trust someone employed by the woman who lied to me about Meroko-sama." He felt Mitsuru squeeze his shoulder briefly. "I'm sorry…about her. Anyway, you're a mercenary for hire, how do I know that you would have any true loyalty to me?"

"An excellent point. Let's look at this from your standpoint, then. Kirijo-sama hid the existence of a woman you wanted erased from reality inside the structure you desperately wanted to believe was 'home'. She ordered her subordinates," she gestured towards herself, "to keep that information from you. When you found out that you had once again shared a 'home' with the woman that isn't worthy of whatever hole her carcass now occupies, you began to question allegiances far deeper. I, now, am offering to leave my current employment to take up the job of keeping you and your…clan, we'll go with clan, safe. Suspect as all get out, right?" Her same hand lifted to hold up one finger. "Except I'll also throw in an offer to go through this bonding thing. If I'm tied to you by my soul, any of the ladies with you will know if I start playing both teams for some idiotic reason."

He blinked, surprised that she would do such a thing. "But…we…."

"Just because I'm tied to your soul doesn't mean we have to rush the rest. I'm fine to take a number well at the end of the line, seeing as it would be massively inconvenient to be pregnant and potentially having to go out into the field and slap people around." Her phone chirped, interrupting the conversation for the moment. Looking at the message, she nodded slowly. "Ok. Current plan is to send the princesses to the Blue House, purchased and renovated for use and expansion by NERV's Engineering Department. Shinji-kun, you'll be coming with me to the Red House."

Mitsuru frowned slightly. "I'm guessing you don't mean the Korean Presidential Manor?"

"Ah, no. 'Blue' meaning 'friendly'."

"Then if 'Red' means 'unfriendly', I think at least three of us should be going with him," Chie asserted firmly.

"No," Shinji responded. When a general disbelief metastasized into outright disagreement, he shook his head and repeated himself, "No 'princesses', as they've taken to calling you. None of you are going anywhere near that house. I don't care if I'm on fire and the only way to put it out is by you personally using a fire extinguisher made from your crystalized tears, no." Standing up from his desk, displacing several of his classmates in the process, he moved to the exit and left them staring after him incredulously. Once he was several meters down the hall, with Shiori Miyashiro at his side, he noticed that he also had another person following along quietly. "Chiaki, this-"

"Chiaki is not a princess, she is Chiaki." The slender maid gave him a calm, dispassionate look that neither challenged him nor compelled him. "Shinji-sama will require assistance, and Chiaki cannot let other women do an inferior job of assisting him."

He paused, then nodded. "Ok," he breathed out, "just…ok."

+++++ The Red House. (Wednesday, September 1st, +11, Waning Crescent 2/4)

Shinji's first thought as the vehicle he was riding within came in sight of the house he'd be expected to have sex with strange women in was, 'That's huge'. The second thought was the realization that the house he'd be returning to later would, if they followed the letter of their agreement, be just as big. "So…uhm…."

Shiori's eyes remained on her phone and the barrage of information coming to her from other agents and agencies. "Yeah, it's pretty big. First floor is dedicated to administration, security, and logistics. Second floor is lodging and entertainment. Third floor is the hospital. Fourth floor is the bulwark. You, my good sir, will be working on the top floor. It allows us the flexibility to bring you in via VTOL or helo, if we need to, and allows us to extract you using the same." She rolled one finger around to indicate the surrounding area. "Also has a fantastic view at any time of day, from any of the four rooms."

"…four?"

"Yeah, I know there's enough room for closer to twenty-four, but the business partners all agreed that four rooms reduced 'wasted space' and none of us wanted to have it feel cramped for you. You're already going to be uncomfortable, which from a purely logical standpoint isn't going to entice you towards achieving the goal of this exercise, so anything we can do to reduce that discomfort is going to be a net gain for yourself and humanity at large."

Chiaki had leaned forward enough to be able to see through the same window as Shinji, and nodded her approval. "Excellent. I will be supplying a list of necessary improvements for appropriate security review, do we have a specific budget?"

"As far as I know, it's between 'sure' and 'yes'. I wouldn't worry about dollar values, from what I hear if the Kirijo Group can't provide it, the government will procure it from whoever can."

A wave of anxiety struck him, quickly suppressed and shove aside. Shinji looked around at the sheer volume of armed guards keeping a larger volume of women dressed in casual clothing away from the entrance. "I can perform anywhere, don't worry about me."

"Shinji-sama is a great man, being willing to sacrifice in the name of fiscal responsibility. He will not need to be bothered with any financial or accounting documentation. I believe I have his full faith and trust to handle those matters," Chiaki spoke as if Shinji hadn't said anything.

"Message received," Shiori replied with a tight grin. "Shinji-kun, I need you to be a superhero for me and keep Chiaki in the car for a moment while I check a few things."

"Oh, uh, sure?" Shinji quickly scooted over to rest a hand on Chiaki's leg in an effort to restrain her from possible motion.

With a hint of a smile ghosting about her lips, Chiaki kept up the illusion that she was being prohibited from anything. Alone now in the back of the armored limo, she brought forward a point that she felt needed emphasis, "I am your servant. That is not a 'when it is convenient' task, nor is it a 'except when' task. My life is dedicated to you, and whatever it is that you need becomes a priority for me. I serve you because you are worthy of that service, and for so long as you remain worthy of that service, I will serve you." At that, she looked at him with a stern mien. "You made the correct decision to spare the others what will happen here. Do not believe that means you must then suffer alone…I am with you."

"…How much would I-"

"My annual salary is set at around twelve point five million Yen. I would be willing to waive that particular component of my compensation package in exchange for a more…permanent position under you." She shook her head slightly. "That does not mean I would give up my duties, nor would it imply you have greater authority to order me to ignore my duties to you. It simply means that in exchange for not requiring an annual salary, I would gain the knowledge of how you are feeling or what you are thinking so that I might better provide for you."

His mouth opened, an immediate and reflexive denial of any worth he might have forming, and just as quick his fingers began to hurt where Yuka had pulled them at an odd angle the night before, closing his mouth. A more measured response came from the hesitation, "Would you be willing to tell me what you need, as well?"

"If I cannot acquire it for myself, or if it can only come from you, then yes." The sense of joining with Shinji produced a brief frown of concentration, her serenity returning slowly enough that its loss was pronounced. "I see…yes, that makes sense." Pulling out her notepad, she began to make clear, concise notes in a laconic shorthand that flowed elegantly from the ballpoint pen she had to hand. "I wish you had told me this, but I can understand why you did not."

"Told you what?"

The conversation was put on hold as Shiori opened the door and waved them out. "I'm sure there are still some cameras among the crowd, so be mindful of that." Her voice lowered to not be heard beyond the three of them, "Don't wait for Chiaki-chan. If they see you treat her special, you'll be making her job harder."

That angered him. The fact that he'd dare show…affection? That he'd demonstrate to someone, in public, that he liked having her around? The scowl etched upon his face as he looked out at the crowd of women created the perception of a hero driven by duty, of a warrior determined to protect them all, but more damning at that particular moment…of a young man on the cusp of bourgeoning into a full heartthrob. Without a word, and ignorant of what he'd just done, Shinji walked towards the Red House with a purposeful stride. To him, the sooner he was inside the sooner he could recognize the importance of the people around him. To them, he was wasting no time doing what they'd all heard rumors regarding.

+++++ The Blue House. (Wednesday, September 1st, +11, Waning Crescent 2/4)

The arrangement of rooms was resolved far faster than any of the ladies choosing believed possible. The decision to put Shinji in the 'largest' bedroom, which would require any of the ladies wishing to visit him to walk through either the family room or the parlor-slash-study area, added to Chie, Yukiko, Mitsuru, Sumire, and Eriko not really having any emotional stake in which room they were placed within, meant that the room assignments were settled and everyone was lounging in the family room trying to determine when it was that Shinji had developed enough of a backbone to actually tell them all 'No'.

"I'm glad Chiaki went with him," Eriko eventually broke the silence after more than an hour of introspection on all parts. "What I think we should do is let it go. He's being…."

"Manipulated," Chie offered.

"Pressured," Sumire added.

"Forced," Rise growled.

"He is doing what he can in an effort to avoid the death of humanity," Yukiko changed the phrasing. "We need to not drag that negativity into our new home. I agree that we should let it go, but I would add that we need to start doing something to distract ourselves. Watch the re-runs the stations have been broadcasting, play games, do homework, workout, anything." Standing up, she was determined to haul people along by sheer presence. "When he comes back from work, he's going to need us to not be stalking around angry for him. He'll confuse it with anger at him, which will just make all of this ten times worse."

Yuka popped up, stretching cutely. "I totally dig that," she agreed happily. "I've wanted to practice some new makeup techniques I read about, would you mind being my doll?"

"I'll come along," Eriko stood with a nod, "so we can all take turns doing, watching, and having done."

Chie blew out a sigh, accepting that her best friend was right. "I'm going to go hit the gym, then. I need to practice my moves."

"Mind if I come along?" Sumire stood up to follow Chie. "I need to start studying self-defense, and you're close to my height. C'mon, Rise-chan. It'll be good to work off some frustrations, right?"

When the room emptied, save for Mitsuru and Ulala, the student body president and consensus leader of the group looked at the troubled boxing prodigy. "How are you holding up?"

"Angry. Sad." Ulala was busily watching her own hands. "Angry."

"An understandable sentiment." Moving from where she'd been to where Ulala was sitting, she continued her campaign of building a rapport with the mercurial woman. "It's…curious, after a fashion, how quickly he moved into our hearts."

"Yeah, a real mystery," she snorted out a laugh. "Curious, attentive, talented, attractive, and willing. Who'd've thought he'd have a whole bunch of women trying for his attention?"

The topic wasn't important, just that the two of them could talk. "One wonders how this would have turned out, were it not for the deaths of every other potential alternative. Would I have been married off to some up and coming CEO? Would we have found other men willing to brave Tartarus with us?"

"Can you imagine Shinji having to deal with Inaba-san?"

"If ever there were two more different people, I doubt I have seen them." Mitsuru's lips curled with both amusement and remorse. "He was a good-hearted young man, when he wanted to be, but he was also somewhat creepily fixated on a series of young women."

"All sick, frail, or introverted, yeah." She made a sour face. "If it weren't for Toudou-san slapping him around from time to time when his 'fixation' became 'stalking' I probably would have had to take him aside and had a conversation with him myself about it." Her eyes grew distant. "I'm scared."

"Understandable."

"What if he's right? What if something, or someone, is…pushing us on him?"

"Or him on us."

"No, no…no." Ulala shook her head, her eyes returning to the present. "It wouldn't take a huge push for me to be interested in him. Like, no push at all is required. He's…flawed perfection. He could so easily fit with any of us. Chie would want to protect him, Rise would want to hide behind him, Eriko would want to drag all of his secrets out. He's everything…and nothing."

"He is a mystery."

"He's an open book!"

"Which has far too much text, subtext, and context to conveniently read, analyze, and react to." Mitsuru shrugged slightly. "He's a phenomenal musician, he hates playing instruments despite how calm it makes him, and he loves to listen to a wide variety of genres. He's openly mysterious, and mysteriously open. He's…uncanny."

"…Let's pretend I know what that word means."

"If something is uncanny, it is familiar to you without explanation as to how or why. You know it, but you can't explain how you know it. You've seen it with your own eyes, but you can't explain what you've seen."

"So…what do we do?"

"Make every opportunity we receive meaningful." Mitsuru stood, stretching. "We cannot control fate, but that does not mean we can't use it to better our situation."

+++++ The Red House. (Wednesday, September 1st, +11, Waning Crescent 2/4)

Shinji reached the top floor of the building via a VIP elevator, walking out into the main hallway separating the four rooms to see Maya directing traffic. His mood instantly improved, which was noticeable to the two women with him to different degrees. "Maya!"

Chiaki had known that Shinji enjoyed Maya's company, and when she had bonded herself to him had been given a greater understanding of how constantly he wished she was around. When the wave of pure joy hit him at seeing the bantam brunette, she determined that it would be absolutely essential to find a way to have Maya around him more often.

"Hey, Shinji-kun." Maya's smile was a subtle mixture of happiness and fatigue. She was clearly glad to see him, but just as clearly also in need of coffee or sleep. Accepting and reciprocating his hug when he reached her side, she leaned into him for strength to keep pressing on. "Thanks for coming over today, we wanted to get a sense of how you felt about where you'll be performing."

Looking around the hall, noting the artwork and security fixtures, Shinji shook his head slowly. "I could 'perform' in a closet. All of this is…worrying."

"I'm not saying you should be worried," Shiori patted him on the back as she walked past the duo to gesture at various objects, "but all of this is here to protect you. We're going to vet every candidate, even those we've worked with for years or decades. That doesn't mean that we're not also going to take the safety of the sole remaining man extremely seriously. One idiot with a wild hair, some magical creature with a vendetta, a starstruck woman that becomes unmoored, and we're all fucking doomed. I can't stop Tartarus from grabbing you at random, and nobody else can pilot Unit-01, but I sure as shit can make sure that any woman who comes near you understands that keeping their hands to themselves is the only way they keep their hands at all."

After several seconds of Shinji's jaw twitching, Chiaki spoke for him, "Shinji-sama appreciates that such precautions are a necessary evil in a world that has changed so radically. He strongly desires for everything to return back to some semblance of 'normal', even though he hates himself for feeling that way."

"Normal, for you, was being assaulted by that animal." The Chief of Security blew out a heavy breath, nodding. "This is all, and I hope you'll forgive me for saying so, fucked up."

Shinji barked out a harsh laugh. "I can't forgive you for saying something true." With a slight shrug, he looked down to Maya. "What do I need to do?"

"We…." Maya hated herself; both for not being able to keep up a cheerful disposition for someone who needed support and for being responsible for what was to come. "We need to perform a 'stress test', of sorts. Determine…volume, recovery, things like that."

He nodded, understanding the nature of the test based solely on the factors involved. "Right. Then I guess we'd better get started."

+++++ The Blue House. (Wednesday, September 1st, +11, Waning Crescent 2/4)

The ride home was quiet. Shinji sat inside the armored limousine, his eyes closed, his body swaying slightly with the twists and turns of the journey. He could feel Chiaki working across from him, aware in a vague way that she was speaking with someone important to her. He could also feel Shiori's frustration, hanging from her like a palpable ill. While he himself was calm about the continuance of his fortunes, he could appreciate that she was anything but. It was her job to keep him safe, and what was happening to him was anything but. After they pulled up in front of the blue house, he asked for a moment alone with her, "Chiaki, I'd like to speak with Shiori-san for a moment. I'm sure whatever you're planning to feed me is fine, I trust you."

"Of course." Without embellishment or delay, the slender maid left the vehicle and closed the door again.

The seconds drifted by, the silence stretching out as the Security Chief and Pilot each gave the other the option of starting the conversation. Eventually, Shiori felt that waiting longer would be more detrimental than simply speaking bluntly, "What do I need to offer you to get you to agree?"

"They come first." His eyes were still closed, his body relaxed. He would not deviate from his position, and he had to get her to understand that suffering for him was inevitable. "If there is ever a choice between my safety and theirs, you prioritize them."

"I will have people who prioritize them," she countered. "My job will always be your safety. I don't hire idiots, and I don't give morons access to my Principal. I can't put someone else on you, not…with what I just saw. The fewer people that have any idea what you go through, the better."

One eye slid open, taking note of how serious she was. "…Why?"

"Because if the wrong people get hold of you, this is going to end in a bloodbath." She leaned closer to him, turning her phone around to show him what she'd been reading. "Fifty-six attempts to break through the cordon. Three hundred and two independent acts of disobedience. All of that within six hours. If we follow the basic formula for determining motivators, we're looking at no less than four different groups that want to interact with you in some fashion. I know of three, and we're keeping an eye on them, but this is far more serious than even I projected."

His eye shut again, the new information finding its place in his thoughts. "Is there a shower attached to my room?"

"Yes, but I don't follow."

"I want you to come to my room, take a shower, and then sit down and talk with me again."

She blinked. "Before I pull out my pistol and question you aggressively as to the whereabouts of Shinji Ikari, I'm going to give you a chance to talk me down off that ledge."

"Yuka-chan smells of pine, Eriko smells of persimmons, Yukiko smells of cherries. These aren't chemicals, or soaps, or whatever…it's them. You smell like nicotine, coffee, gun oil, and alcohol. I'm guessing that's because you have been working around smokers, coffee drinkers, firearms, and drunks. I can't tell if you have a smell through all of that, and I need to know whether you smell like anything before I can trust that you're being sincere with me." Shifting towards the door and leaving the vehicle, he left her with, "I know that it doesn't make sense right now, but it's all I have to work with so it's my attempt at compromise."

The walkway up to the enormous house caused a tremor of despondent anger in the young pilot. The sheer volume of what he believed would be 'wasted space' could have housed people from outside the Children of Nature's safety cordon. That, of course, would lead to security issues, which would lead to conflict, which would lead to casualties. By his very existence, he represented humanity's last hope and the catalyst of its destruction. He hoped the house had a gym.

A pair of guards opened the doors for him, revealing Chiaki standing just inside waiting to greet him. "Welcome home, Shinji-sama. I will have your dinner delivered up to your room. If you would please follow me, I will make sure everything is to your liking."

On the walk to their destination, he saw several familiar women from the Kirijo Manor. Maids, guards, or craftsmen, the Blue House was not lacking for life despite not one of his classmates appearing. Eventually reaching his room, he looked around and saw that it was far more ostentatious than he would have preferred. "It's fine, Shiori-san will-"

"I will have the room refurnished with more subdued items. I believe the designer was attempting to demonstrate your importance to the world, and was simply unacquainted with your personal ethos." More notes in her little book, she then looked at him without outward emotions. "I have set out the entirety of the documentation found within the canvas envelope from your school on your desk. Will Miyashiro-san be joining you for your dinner?" She nodded, hearing his response before he could find the right words to use. "Of course." She paused. "Might I ask what scent you've identified me with?"

He would have to get used to her simply knowing what he was thinking and acting on it without waiting for him. "Edelweiß."

At that, she let a ghost of a smile grow on her lips. "Acceptable." Dropping into a curtsey, she spun about and left to do those things that she did when not around him.

Entering just as Chiaki left, Shiori walked into Shinji's room with a frown that served as the inverse of the maid's smile. Barely there, but present enough to be noticed. "I do not stink."

"That is not what I said." Shinji moved over to sit at his desk, beginning to read the top sheet on the stack of papers. "I said you smell like nicotine et alia, not that you stink of nicotine et alia." The cover sheet mentioned that the papers were blank, save for some smudging or stray non-paper things. He could see rather easily that the next page in the stack was not blank. "You want my trust, you take a shower."

"And why can't I do that in the security offices here?"

"Because I know what soaps are in my shower, so I know what to ignore. If you used their soaps, you might smell like something else."

"You are a confounding young man, sometimes."

"A decade and a half without significant external stimuli will do that, I hear."

"Why are you sitting there with a stack of blank papers?"

The first line of the second sheet of paper read, 'To Shinji Ikari, from his brothers The Wanderer and The Silent One.'

Without taking his eyes off of what he was reading and largely ignoring what she'd said, he attempted to urge her to move forward, "Would you rather I climb in the shower with you?"

She paused. "Was that a come on?"

"Would you like it to be?"

'We realize this will be something of a shock, though knowing you as we do there is no doubt in our mind that you're going to continue rolling with the punches. Corporal Ota is delivering this to you at our behest, as we cannot risk our lives attempting to enter a dimension where it appears that the male half of the population is not welcomed.'

"…Confounding," her complaint repeated, she moved into the bathroom to take a shower, leaving the door open.

'We cannot intervene directly in your affairs. Sink or swim, the result must come about due to your own capabilities. You are stronger than you know, and you have surrounded yourself with those who can help guide that strength. The intent of this letter is to inform you of the existence of other realities. Other places among a vast multiverse, each including a Shinji Ikari facing some form of trial.'

The door opened again, Chiaki wheeling in a cart with two covered trays.

'Far too many have failed, or are failing. Far too few show any chance of overcoming our…collective weakness. We are certain you know of what we speak, and we continue to hold out hope that those of you yet to finish your trials will prove that those of us who have reached where we stand can overcome anything.'

A meal was set next to him, then uncovered quietly.

'The following pages will detail the stakes we face, and our plea for you to strive to overcome everything arrayed against you. We have been where you now are, and it was only through faith in ourselves and trust in those closest to us that we now stand where we do. Fight, my brother. Earn victory alongside your allies.'

"Thank you," he murmured to Chiaki, setting aside the salutation to focus on the other papers. What he could tell was a highly condensed retelling of events had been painstakingly presented in a manner that was tailored to him…and him alone. The documents were written by someone who knew him in a way that only he himself could, or someone that was bound to him.

Some long minutes later, Shiori's voice came from just behind him, "No, seriously…why are you staring at blank pages?"

"Blank?" Turning to look at her, he saw her standing in a soft dressing robe with damp hair and a look of concern on her face. The scent of violets causing him to lean in slightly. "…That's always been confusing to me."

Noting that his eyes were focused on a point past her right hip, and not on the curves displayed by the robe, Shiori reached down and lifted his chin to make eye contact with him. "What. Are. You. Doing."

Freeing his head, he raised a chiding eyebrow. "Violets have a chemical in them that desensitizes a vast majority of people who inhale it. I'm immune to it, but Meroko-sama was not. She beat me when I insisted that there was a smell to violets, and I saw Sumire sniffing some at school the other day which confirmed to me that I was right. I looked up the rest of the details in class. You smell like violets." His body shifted back to the front so he could continue reading. "Chiaki brought up a tray for you on the cart."

Shiori picked up her meal and settled in the chair alongside his desk where she could see him clearly. Crossing her left leg over her right, displaying a well-muscled limb up to her mid-thigh she began to eat. "Ok, so I smell like violets. What does that mean?"

He did not believe he would believe even a quarter of what he'd been reading if it weren't for what had been happening to him. "I think it means I should trust you, and that you are a good person to create a bond with. Kashiwagi-sensei smelled…wrong. Most people smell wrong. The few who don't are either women I like or are women I trust."

She took a bite and smiled hopefully. "Ok…so that means you're willing to accept my offer?"

He flipped the page. "Are you going to avoid me?"

"Probably closer to the opposite."

"Do you understand that I refuse to bond anyone that I'm not attracted to?" He made note of how the Angels in The Wanderer's reality became close allies, and how they killed almost everyone in The Silent One's.

Letting her chopsticks linger on her lips, she asked thoughtfully, "Could you give me a little more to go on? How am I attractive to you?"

The first Angel he'd seen matched the description of what the other two Shinji's called the 'Third Angel', "Because when I look at you my mind conjures up images of you holding me while I'm crying. Of you telling me that everything will be ok. Of my head between your legs and your fingers in my hair. Things like that."

Sectioning off another portion of her meal, she allowed herself to imagine the same as him for a moment. "One of these things is most definitely not like the others."

"Everyone seems to think that I'm a good person, despite me being rather expressly not a good person." He moved to the next page. "Good people don't look at someone other than their partner and think things like that."

"Hard disagree. I was pretty clear with my boyfriend that I still had eyes and rights to an opinion. If someone's attractive, they're attractive. I'm not the type of woman to cheat, because I don't want to be cheated on and I despise hypocrites. If you want to view what you're doing as cheating, I can't stop you. I can tell you that it can't be cheating if everyone knows what you're doing and doesn't hold it against you."

Lifting his eyes from the pages, his gaze lost focus. "What would you do, in my position?"

"Probably die a lot faster. One woman and several million men? Not a good recipe for humanity."

"…Yeah, I guess it would be hard to ask you to think like a male. You are most definitely not male." His eyes refocused on her face. "You have a very cute nose."

"Thank you," she gave him a quick grin, popping another morsel into her mouth, "surgically reconstructed. Took a left jab to the face when trying to subdue a lady that wanted to stab Kirijo-san. She broke my nose in three places. Kirijo-san paid a really good doctor to fix it, and now I have a cute nose." When he looked back to the papers, she asked for the third time, "Why are you staring at blank pages?"

"They're not blank," he had pieced together that he was the only one likely to be able to read the documents, to protect his 'brothers', "they're a message from…a different version of myself from a different dimension adjacent to this one." Picking a section he doubted could be used to harm anyone, he read, "Any attempts to define specific rules is impossible without lengthy analysis of the reality one resides within, what is possible in one dimension is not always possible in another. Your ability to enter the space between realms, as an example, is unlikely to be shared broadly across all of the different versions of Shinji Ikari." Sitting back and looking at Shiori, he smiled sadly. "I think Corporal Ota might have died, in an attempt to bring information from another version of our reality to us. Her clothes survived, as did these documents…she did not."

"…Damn." Shiori had a swell of respect for the supposed dead, taking the risk she had to try and help them. "Any idea why I can't read anything on that?"

"Because it's not meant for you," he replied without rancor. "There's…private matters in here. It's me talking to myself, from a different point of view." He glanced back at the document, realized that he wasn't even a third of the way done with the first of over three dozen segments, then dogeared a page and set the lot aside. Pulling his own tray over, he ate rapidly. Between bites, he changed the subject back to what he'd been speaking of, "What if I told you that I wanted to sleep with you?"

"I'd caution you that I would be in charge of your security and it's a terrible idea for a Principal and their security to become intimate." She caught him frowning, sensing the discordance between her answers in the car and here in his room. "I'd still insist on being on top, I'd just make it clear that what we'd be doing is something professionals frown intensely upon."

"On top?"

"I like the control it gives me."

"…Fair enough, I guess."

Nibbling on one stick, she took a risk, "How'd she generally do it?"

"With me tied painfully to something. Towards the end, she preferred using the strap-on for an hour or so, then bend me the other way and straddle me."

It was his emotionless delivery that caused her to shudder. "And after…everything…."

"When I'm making someone happy, I feel happy. When I'm making someone I like happy, I feel amazing."

"I can understand that." Setting aside what remained of her meal, she stood up and looked at him with her head tilted slightly. "You bond me, I work for you, we fuck from time to time to make each other feel amazing, and I have authorization to kill whoever needs killing to keep you safe."

"I don't know how much I can pay you."

Shiori laughed warmly. "I believe I am supposed to take any and all financial concerns to Chiaki-chan. You don't worry about my paycheck, ok? I'm certain we can find a way to get me enough money to carry my weight."

Gaining his feet, Shinji looked in her eyes for an answer to a question he couldn't put words to. Her emotions all read that she was being honest. Her posture had never once shied away from having hard discussions. She wasn't treating him like a child, nor was she making a fuss about the blunt nature of his queries. "Why go this far?"

"Because this is a mountain that I feel needs climbing, and that means paying out what needs to be paid out to make it to the mountaintop." She shrugged, tugging on the belt that cinched her robe so that it opened and exposed her nude form. "You like the pleasure sex brings, you're honest about that fact, and I like both of those facts. If climbing in your bed gets me the position of keeping you safe, then I'll have a new 'best hiring bonus of all time'."

Her body was a monument to death. She had scars that decorated lean musculature, a figure that leaned harder towards 'weapon' than 'woman', and supreme confidence in herself for and despite both of those truths. Shinji nodded, agreeing to her terms. "What was the previous best hiring bonus?"

"Someone paid me ten million Yen to guard a child that was the heir to a fishing company for two days, just to get me to agree to deal with a five-year-old for that long. That was on top of my normal fees. I paid each of the people I sent out a one million Yen bonus, which bought me a lot of leeway with them for future contracts." She loved the way his eyes hadn't hesitated on the scars, the way his interest hadn't waned as he saw her muscles. "So how does this bond work? I'd really like to earn that bonus."

He reached out two fingers to run them down her sternum, nodding to something in his mind. "I'd like to try bonding you when you climax. To see what happens."

"Threaten me with a good time," she quipped, stepping up against him and hauling him into a kiss.

+++++ Author's Notes:

Thank you, everyone, for your kind wishes. I am recovering, physically, and spending a lot more time going over my finances to ensure that I can maintain my responsibilities. Life's just not meant to be easy for most of us, eh?