The morning turned to noon as all units still awaited orders. At this point, almost everyone was tired. Most of the unit were either sitting or laying down now, some of them even leaning on each other for warmth.

Toji groaned as he woke up, his back hurting from sleeping on the uncomfortable floor. "Fuck, man... today really bites." He said, dreading the fact that he was still waiting like everyone else.

Kensuke turned his head, not having noticed that Toji had woken up. "Yeah. These emergency gatherings don't usually last this long, most of the time we're just sent home. I wonder if this is a real one..."

"I hope so. It'd suck to have waited this long just to be sent home." Toji had a look around, noticing almost everyone was bored out of their minds. His gaze fell upon Shinji, who was seemingly just hanging out with Rei.

"Well-y well, look who's returned!" He said as he sat up and cracked his back. Kensuke scoffed. "He's been here a while now, Toji. You've been out the whole time."

Toji rubbed his eyes, realizing he had been out much longer than he expected. "Oh shit... what time is it, then?" He asked before checking his own wristwatch; 12:07pm.

"Fuckin' hell! How long are we gonna just sit around for?" He exclaimed, louder than even he expected. "Beats me... I'm just awaiting my orders like everyone else."

Toji felt that as long as he could distract himself, he wouldn't feel so bored. He stood up and tapped Kensuke on the shoulder. "Yo, let's go join Shinji."

Kensuke raised an eyebrow. "Uuh, you sure you don't wanna just leave him be? He's talking to a girl..." Toji scoffed. "Ah, who gives? He keeps sayin' it ain't like that anyway! Imma go on ahead-"

As Toji headed Shinji's direction, Kensuke almost reluctantly tagged along. "Hey Shin, mind if we join ya guys?" Asked Toji. "Not at all, you guys can hang with us."

Rei remained unfazed by any of this, though she couldn't help but feel a little weird inside. She usually didn't give these kinds of gatherings any thought unless there were tasks that needed to be taken care of.

Suddenly, she not only had someone she was talking to more often, but a whole friend group now. She didn't recognize that what she was feeling was a very faint shyness.

Though, it was barely visible. Toji and Kensuke constantly looked over at her just to make sure she was okay with them joining her and Shinji, but as usual it wasn't easy to tell what she was thinking. "Sooo, whatcha guys doin'?"

"Nothing, really. I came here to show Ayanami my new helmet tags. I've mostly been doodling to pass the time." He replied as he showed them his helmet.

Aside from the phrase he had written on the front, he added more doodles to the sides and back. The right side of the helmet had a phrase from another old song he had heard;

'Can you picture what will be?
so limitless and free-
desperately in need-
of some stranger's hand-
in a desperate land'

"Well then, I didn't know ya were such a fuckin' dork." Replied Toji with a grin on his face. Shinji chuckled. "Fuck off, I like those lyrics. I think it correlates well with the war."

"Speak for yourself, man. I'm a soldier, not a poet." He said as he showed Shinji the back of his helmet. It read;

'No skinjob will stand in my way'

Shinji frowned, not knowing what that term had actually meant.

"What's a skinjob?" He asked. "It's a little name we here at NERV have for the Angels." Toji replied coldly. Kensuke barged in, as he often did in the middle of Toji trying to explain something to Shinji.

"That term's considered a slur, by the way. So keep it in the battlefield... don't let anyone who isn't with NERV hear you say it." He added. Toji sighed. "God- I was gettin' to that, man! I can explain things to 'im myself!"

"Hehe, sorry man. Just making sure."

Not too long after that, two security escorts entered the room and stood tall. "Unit-01, on your feet! The Commander is here!" Very quickly, everyone stood up, some of them stumbling after waking from their nap.

Everyone stood in their place, watching as the Commander slowly entered the room. "Attention, Unit-01. So far, there is nothing we can do to intervene the Angel attack on Matsuyama. There have been no traces of Angel activity near Tokyo-3, so you are all free to return home."

Everyone groaned, hating the fact that they all just waited hours and hours for nothing. "We are aiding Matsuyama with our air support for now. We have an invasion planned two days from now. Be ready."

Gendo's glance turned to Rei. "Private Ayanami, you have a medical checkup scheduled with Dr. Akagi. Go change and put away your gear. Head to her office when you're done." He ordered.

"Yes sir." She replied as she began to pick her gear up. "As for the rest of you, at ease." He added. Shinji felt slightly annoyed at that moment as he stared his own father down.

As Rei went to leave, the two guards followed her. Gendo was to do the same, but before he did he noticed Shinji staring at him. He had a look of anger in his eyes.

Gendo didn't react, but stared back for a bit before leaving. Without realizing it, Shinji had clenched his fists tightly. Kensuke noticed Shinji's unease, and was surprised to see such a reaction from him.

"Shinji, you okay man? You look like you're about to kill someone." Shinji snapped out of it, realizing he was being probably showing too much emotion. "Uh, it's nothing."

Kensuke sighed, feeling really bad for his friend. "You hate your dad that much, huh?" Shinji nodded, not wanting to say much. "Bein' angry is okay, just don't do anythin' harsh, man." Added Toji.

Kensuke saw that none of what they were saying really changed his mood, so he tried to change the subject. "C'mon man, let's change and go home. We get to chill out for the rest of the day!"

"Sounds bitchin' to me." Said Toji. "Yeah, alright. Let's go." Said Shinji, still sounding a little bothered. The three waited for most of the unit to exit the room before leaving themselves.

On the bus, the three were making their way back to each of their homes. Pretty soon, Toji and Kensuke would have to go their separate routes. Toji's leg was jumpy, he was upset that the whole day had been wasted.

An idea brewed up in his head. And since they had very little time to think about it, he decided he'd propose the idea. "Guys, listen up. Ya wanna take this bus to another part of town?"

Shinji and Kensuke both didn't look too convinced at first. But the more they thought about it, the idea became more appealing. Kensuke crossed his arms, thinking about a possible hangout. "Hmm, y'know that actually sounds kinda fun."

"Yeah, I'd have to phone Misato first. But I'd wanna go!" Said Shinji as he whipped out his phone. "Yeah, we oughta get permission first." Now they were all pulling out their phones.

"What's up Shinji?" Asked Misato as she picked up the phone. "Hey, my friends and I want to hang somewhere around the city. Can I go? I'll be back some time tonight."

"Yeah sure Shinji. Just update me as to where you are and we're all good! Have fun." She said. "Thanks Misato, I'll see you later tonight." He hung up and put his phone back into his pocket.

"I got a yes from Misato." He said to Kensuke, who had just gotten off the phone with his dad. "It's a yes from my dad!" Kensuke cheerfully said. Toji was still on the phone with his dad. By the look on Toji's face, things didn't seem to be going well.

Defeated, he said bye to his dad and hung up the phone. He took a deep breath and slouched on the bus seat. "Are you not allowed to go, Toji?" Asked a worried Kensuke.

"I'm goin' anyway!" Said Toji, not wanting to be left out of the hang. Kensuke gave Toji and high-five and patted him on his back. "Nice!" Shinji, though happy to hear Toji was indeed coming along, looked somewhat concerned.

"Won't you get in trouble, Toji?" He asked naively. "Pff, probably. But I don't care, I ain't about to waste my day like this." He said as he reached over to grab a map listing the many bus routes of Tokyo-3.

"So... where we headed?"

NERV SCIENCE & RESEARCH FACILITIES:

Ritsuko sat down on her office chair, letting out an exhausted sigh. She had just sent Rei home after her checkup, and as usual she barely took any breaks. She just kept herself busy with her work.

She booted up her computer and entered a password, enabling her to pick up from where she had left off. She quickly immersed herself into her work, running on coffee and her sharp mind.

The sound of her keyboard tapping grew louder, overshadowing the footsteps that approached her. Without a warning, Ritsuko was hugged from behind, catching her completely off-guard.

"Burying yourself in your work as usual." Said Kaji as he looked down at her. Ritsuko giggled. "Hello to you too, Kaji. What are you doing here?" She asked.

"The Commander called me over, but I'm not on duty at the moment. Just wanted to check in on some old friends." He replied as he leaned his head closer to hers.

Ritsuko blushed a little, but kept her cool. "Mind telling me why you're so... up close?" She asked nonchalantly. "Just admiring the lone pearl that resides in this very room."

As Kaji continued to get closer to her, she looked up at the window and the two of them were facing and grinned. "You sure that's a good idea?" She asked. Kaji could see her eyes were focused on something, or rather, someone. He turned his head to take a look himself.

On the glass lay Misato's heated face, staring the two down with a haunting aura. "Ha... whoops." He said, now also grinning. Misato grunted as she stormed her way into the room.

As she entered, her eyes had become more intimidating than it had ever been, her frown even twitching every now and then. "Don't distract Ritsuko with your piggish antics, Kaji!"

"Oh, I wasn't bothering her... Just saying hi to my good friend. Besides, why do you care?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. Misato rolled her eyes and tried to ignore his question.

"Ritsuko, I need to ask you something..." She asked, sounding very serious. Ritsuko quickly picked up on Misato's rapid change of tone, she could tell something was up. "What is it?"

"Do you know anything about Matsuyama's current status? I just don't understand why we're not being sent out yet." Ritsuko shook her head in response.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I have nothing. I'm a scientist, not a general." Misato leaned against the wall in disappointment. "Yeah, I guess you're right." She then looked over at Kaji.

He had been working with Gendo first-hand for the past few days, so to her it made sense that he would know at least something. "And you, Kaji? Has the Commander told you anything?" She asked.

Kaji was in the middle of lighting a cigarette when she had asked him. "I haven't been told anything. And knowing the Commander, even if he would've told me, it wouldn't be my place to discuss any of it with anyone but him."

"Ugh, of course..." She said, now rubbing her forehead out of frustration. Ritsuko and Kaji both stood silent, neither of them knowing what to say to her. "I just... don't understand. His actions lately, as a commander of war... they've been strange."

Kaji and Ritsuko still said nothing. At this point, Misato was almost rambling to herself. It didn't take long for her to notice that she was the only one doing any talking. She was quickly embarrassed.

"Haha... sorry guys. I guess I'm just on edge." Her tone changed rather quickly again, this time to a much lighter and playful mood in an attempt to hide her embarrassment.

"It's okay, we all have our problems with the top boss. I'm sure he's on top of it." Assured Ritsuko. "Yeah, the man is where he is now strictly because he knows what he's doing." Added Kaji.

Misato's watch went off, notifying her that someone had summoned her from upstairs. "Ah, looks like I'm needed. Probably a meeting or something..." She said as she made her way out the door.

"I'll see you around!" She said loudly before going down the hall. Kaji and Ritsuko unanimously said bye to her. "Not you Kaji!" Her voice was heard saying from one end of the hallway.

Kaji chuckled and continued to smoke his cancer stick. The two were alone again, remaining quiet for a few minutes. The two were deep in thought, and about the exact same thing.

After a short while, Kaji's cigarette butt was tossed into the ashtray next to Ritsuko. She heard him light another one, making her body itch for one of her own.

"Right, I'm taking a little smoke break myself." She said as she pulled her pack out. Kaji wasn't usually one to chainsmoke, even Ritsuko smoked more than him. She could tell he was keeping something in, something that was bothering him.

Thinking she knew what was wrong, she grinned. "Don't take it personally, Kaji. She's just not used to seeing you again." Kaji looked at Ritsuko with a confused expression.

"Pardon?" He asked, looking completely lost. "Oh, is that not what upset you? Sorry, I figured it was her harsh attitude towards you that got you down." She explained.

Kaji took another drag. "Ha, nope. I've dealt with uglier rejections before." He replied with his usual smirk. Ritsuko chuckled. 'Taking every opportunity to look good as always, Kaji...' She mused, giggling at how little he had changed.

"Well, then what is it that's bothering you?" Kaji sighed, hating that he let his guard down, even if it was to the slightest degree. "Shit... I really must show it then, huh?" Ritsuko shrugged in response.

"I'm good at reading people. In fact, I might be so good at reading people that I might already know what's bothering you." She stated. Kaji looked over at her, as if she was challenging him.

"Take your shot, then." He said as he took a long drag from his cigarette. "You hate that you lied to her." She said. Though he didn't show it, he was a little bothered by this. "What do you think I lied to her about?"

"What you've heard from the Commander." Kaji felt a shiver go down his spine, yet managed to keep his composure. "I say this as someone who also works directly with the Commander; I just know he's given you plenty of classified information to lose sleep over."

"Yup, that's right on the mark." Kaji didn't look too happy, which was a rare sight. Ritsuko noticed how uncomfortable he looked. She was not only surprised, but she immediately felt bad about it.

"Sorry... I guess I felt relieved that I wasn't the only one feeling that way." She admitted. The room went silent again, the two going deep into their thoughts once again.

The two were obviously very different; different tasks, different associates, there were a lot of differences between what the two did and how they did it.

But without even saying much, even when they were passively listening to Misato's rant about Gendo's strange behavior, the two quickly picked up on how the other felt. They knew they had their secrets, and that they weren't going to let Misato in on any of it.

Ritsuko put her cigarette out in the ash tray and and scooted her office chair back up to her computer monitor. "I gotta get back to work." She said as she resumed her rapid-fire tapping of the keypad.

"Oh, and sorry again for reading into you like that. I didn't mean to bother you." She apologized once more. "Don't worry about it. I just keep these things to myself, it's on me."

Kaji headed for the door, and pondered where he should go. He didn't have anywhere to be yet, so he still had a lot of time to kill. He figured he'd just wander around for a bit.

"I'll be seeing you around, Rits." He said before departing.

TOKYO-3, 5TH DISTRICT:

2:04pm:

Shinji sat beside Kensuke on the curb, waiting for Toji to come back. He had told the both of them to wait for him because he had a surprise. Kensuke figured he knew what Toji was up to, and was somewhat excited.

Shinji had no idea what Toji was going to bring, but he waited as he as he was told to. "What do you suppose Toji's bringing?" Shinji asked Kensuke.

"I think I know what he's up to, but I don't know for sure." He said. Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Well, what do you think it is?" Kensuke grinned. "I think he's copping some lunch for us."

That was all it took to set off Shinji's anxiety. "Hold up, we're stealing?" Shinji asked, perplexed that they would do such a thing. "Yeah man, don't worry about it. Toji's done this before, he's a pro!"

Seeing Kensuke act so nonchalantly about it made Shinji worry less about it, though it was only because he wanted to keep his composure. "Ugh... I hope we're not caught, man..."

Kensuke heard running footsteps headed their way, making him look over to see who it could be. He saw Toji running with a bag in his right hand, behind him a security guard making chase.

"Oh we won't be..." He said as he prepared for a run. "When I say 'go' you go, alright?" Shinji immediately stood and braced for the run, his heartbeat accelerating again.

"Go!" The two ran down the alleyway as Toji began to catch up with them. The guard was further away, but was steadily keeping up. Shinji felt a slight adrenaline rush, reminding him of the night he saved Rei.

All of a sudden, it was as if he was on auto-pilot again. He felt a sort of adrenal pleasure as they all kept running from the guard. "Yo! I got us three meals! We don't gotta split any of 'em!" Toji yelled as he continued running.

"How about we discuss this once we've gotten this guy off our tail?" Kensuke replied. The end of the alleyway lead the three through a crowded farmer's market, located in a narrow street.

It was the most claustrophobic street Shinji had seen; each stand set up tarps and tents to protect from the rain, people walked through a crammed middle isle, said isle was clogged because of people sitting and loitering on the pavement, etc.

At first, the three were almost stopped cold in their tracks by the sea of people in the market. The three of them, all being young and slim, didn't have a hard time squeezing in between the crowd.

They kept an eye on each other to make sure they didn't accidentally split up. It didn't take long for the guard to lose sight of them, forcing him to give up. Shinji, Kensuke and Toji weren't aware, though. They just kept running to make sure they actually did get away.

They found another alleyway and finally squeezed their way out of the market, the three now sweating profusely. After catching his breath, Toji looked up at the two. "Let's go munch on these!" He proudly said.

They had found an abandoned mechanic shop that had been completely cleared of its contents. The place had little to no supervision, making sneaking in an easy task.

Eventually they came across a corner with no windows nearby. This was the perfect place to loiter in, as they didn't want any security guards to spot them from the outside.

The three sat down and took out their meals, each of them having already been very hungry on the bus ride. Toji had gone to a little pub he had known about that served delicious little meals of grilled food.

He had gotten them all the same meal, and they all were quick to start chowing down. Shinji was eating the fastest out of all of them, as he had skipped breakfast that day, which had turned out to be a bad call on his part.

In a matter of 8 minutes, they had all basically cleaned the plastic containers that once held their delicious food. Once they finished, they sat around for a little while, having conversations that trailed from one topic to another.

At first, they had a chat about their favorite TV shows that were on at the time. Eventually, Toji and Kensuke somehow got to talking about Misato and her 'naughty parts'. Shinji was mostly quiet during that topic.

"Hehe, she's a hottie man! Wonder how ya haven't tried to score with 'er yet!" Said Toji, his face blushing at the thought of sharing an apartment with her. "How'd you end up living with her, Shinji?" Asked Kensuke.

"Oh, well originally I had arrangements to live by myself. But, it seems she felt bad about having me live alone in the city so she got authorization to keep watch of me."

"What?! She toootally wants to bang you, man! She's basically askin' for it!" Exclaimed Toji. Shinji rolled his eyes, ignoring his silly comments. Kensuke looked curious. "You don't have any family around Neo-Tokyo?"

"No, I lived with my aunt and uncle down south. Not too far from Matsuyama, actually..." He said, beginning to fear for their well-being suddenly. "What about yer mom?" Asked Toji.

Shinji felt a sinking feeling in his heart. "She's dead. Died when I was young." He coldly replied. Toji and Kensuke looked at each other. "Well uh... welcome to the club, I guess." Added Kensuke.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "You guys lost your mothers too?" The two of them nodded. "Yup... reason I asked is 'cuz a lotta people in our class have lost theirs too..." Explained Toji.

"Yeah, we find it kind of weird. And since you live with Misato, nor had we never heard of a 'Mrs. Ikari' we figured you lost her, just like a lot of us in Unit-01 have with at least one of our parents."

Shinji couldn't believe what he was hearing. It made him look at everyone from his class differently. 'Asuka... she's lost a parent too? And Rei? I guess that would explain a lot...'

"I don't even know what to say..." He uttered. Kensuke patted his back. "It's okay, man. None of us know how to feel about it, we're just wondering if the Commander did it on purpose, or it's just a big coincidence."

The mention of the Commander got Shinji thinking about his interaction with his father earlier that day. They didn't say a word to each other, but he made his message pretty clear when he stared him down.

As usual, any time his father was brought up Shinji was in a visibly fowl mood. As usual, his friends were quick to pick up on his state of anger. "By the way, what was up between you and your dad earlier today?"

Shinji didn't really know what to say to him. Though he was very upset with his father, he knew he wasn't angry about last night. He felt that anger when his father had ordered Rei to leave.

Inside his head, he imagined that the Commander did that specifically to get to him. Even though it definitely wasn't true, it really affected Shinji at that moment.

"I don't really wanna talk about it, sorry." He replied. Kensuke nodded. "It's cool man, just wanna make sure everything's okay." Shinji realized that they had been there for quite some time. It was a quarter to 5.

"I'm gonna see about heading out soon, I don't wanna get home too late." In response to this, Toji playfully booed him. "Leavin' already? C'mon man, we got a whole night ahead of us!"

"Sorry, I'm getting a little tired. Didn't sleep very well last night, and I'm probably gonna crash pretty early today." He said as he rubbed his eyes to emphasize his point.

"Heh, I'm just kiddin' man. Go get some rest."

Shinji clicked the rewind button on his SDAT player once more, needing to hear his favorite part of the song once more. After departing from the mechanic shop Toji and Kensuke were in, he walked around the 5th District in search of a bus that would take him back to the 3rd.

He eventually found a route he could take to get to Misato's apartment and began making his way home. He wasn't lying when he said he was tired, but he also felt like he needed to be alone for the time being.

Once his bus arrived he sat himself all the way in the back, his favorite seat on the ride. As the ride ensued, he watched the tiny raindrops make their way down the exterior side of the window.

It was drizzling lightly, and the clouds weren't as dark as they usually were. All he could think of was getting back home and heading to bed. His eyes began to weigh down, forcing him to fight to stay awake.

Some time later, he was arriving at his stop at the 3rd District. The stop was right in front of Misato's place across the street. After having crossed said street, Shinji unlocked the lobby door and made his way up.

Finally, he opened Misato's door and entered. He yawned as he dropped his backpack on the floor, then he sat to untie his shoes. Once he stood back up, he made his way to bed, forgetting his backpack on the floor of the living room as a result of being so tired.

He probably had some chores he forgot to do just then, but it didn't faze him a bit.