The rain slowly became heavier and heavier during the few seconds in which Shinji Ikari's attention was captured by the other occupant of the open field. His eyes never leaving the gargantuan weapon it held for more than an instant at a time, the Third Child was still able to confirm that he was looking at the same suit of armour he had already met once before prior to his instincts taking over and Shinji stumbling to his feet. A small part of him noted that his hasty actions were making a mess out of his clothes, but it was quickly ignored in favour of standing up and preparing to run away as soon as humanly possible. Just as he was about to bolt away, though, Shinji stopped himself short of rushing into a full on sprint, the memory of how reliant on sound the rusty knight had previously been keeping him from making what could have been a fatal mistake.
Instead, Shinji forced himself to remain in place and took a second, long look at the sitting giant. Much to his surprise, quite some time had already passed and the armour hadn't turned around to look his way or appeared to react to his presence in any manner, the Third Child briefly entertaining the idea that his arrival might actually not have been heard. That thought, however, remained with the young man for the single second that it took him to recall that his landing after Asuka had spit him out of the strange room had been anything but silent.
Maybe the armour didn't care for going after him anymore? Such a theory sounded possible looking at the circumstances, but Shinji wasn't going to put it to the test any further than absolutely necessary. And so, he observed from a distance some more: the rhythmic way in which the armour moved slightly up and down just as if it were breathing, fingers idly tapping on the hilt of its weapon and eyes never leaving the blade's rusty steel and needlessly wide surface.
It looked sort of human-like now, like someone about to take a nap after a hard day of work. Shinji suspected that its eyes were open, however, and with the way the head was tilted down and fixated in one place the armour almost looked as if it were...
'...Sad?'
Shinji snapped back to attention when the metallic husk suddenly began to stand, the slab of steel that it had been hugging up until that point now held in a loose right-handed reverse grip that dragged the heavy-looking blade along the ground. Lumbering steps carried it closer towards Shinji's general direction, but much to the young man's relief it still didn't give any indication that it was aware of his presence.
'I should probably leave before it actually realises I'm here, anyway…' Shinji decided, turning around on the wet grass as quietly as he could.
But just as he was about to silently slip away, Shinji saw a flash of red pass in front of his eyes. A loud crash followed and a sudden gust of wind almost knocked him flat on his butt. Shinji covered his face and valiantly fought against what felt like a small tornado for all of three seconds, then almost fell a second time in the opposite direction when the buffeting wind disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.
Shinji's stumbled back to attention and snapped his head forward to where the knight had last been, but only a fairly sizable puff of smoke remained with no other signs of the threat anywhere in sight. He still wasn't alone, though, for a familiar redhead in a plugsuit now stood about three or so metres ahead of him with her right arm outstretched forward, the plumes of rising smoke making it look for a moment as if she had sprouted a pair of greyish wings.
The Third Child didn't let the pretty thought distract him from the fact that Ace, the very same Ace who had already shown she could summon a one-to-one copy of Unit-02 at will, had also just punched one of the scariest beings Shinji had ever met into non-existence.
Effortlessly.
Shinji Ikari was really glad to know that Ace was on his side.
"…T-Thanks, Ace," Shinji thanked her, letting out a sigh of relief. "I don't think it saw me, but I was a bit afraid it was going to-"
"Oh, don't worry, Third. It wasn't going to do anything to you, right now you're not anywhere you're not supposed to be, after all," Ace cut him off, suddenly sending a narrowed-eye stare over her shoulder. "Me, on the other hand..."
It was then Shinji realised, Ace was mad. More than usual. More importantly, she was clearly angry at him.
Suddenly, Shinji Ikari didn't feel nearly as safe anymore. It didn't get any better when Ace finished what the knight had started and stomped all the distance between them until they were face to face, grabbing his shirt in a vice grip from which there was no escape.
"What did you say to her, you complete and absolute moron?!" the enraged Aspect snarled.
"Bwha?! Hey-!" the Third Child exclaimed, his head shooting backward and forward and backward again. "Ace! Blargh! Stop i-! That's not-!"
All the time Ace kept on repeating the same question over and over again, a question that Shinji had no answer for. Not that knowing would have mattered, because the way Ace was shaking him like a ragdoll wouldn't have allowed for a single word longer than two syllables to leave his mouth. But it was when most of Shinji's thoughts and ideas had begun to turn into mush that the shaking suddenly stopped, a throaty and angry sound on Ace's behalf letting the Third Child know that the pause hadn't been intended. Somewhat dizzy, Shinji looked to his right and saw that another Asuka was there, the nice one, this time. She was holding onto Ace's arm and fixing her with the meanest glare Shinji had seen her throw at anyone.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Are you blind? I'm giving this idiot a piece of my mind!" Ace bit back. "We freaking had it! The only thing he needed to do was shut his big mouth about anything that wasn't trying to get Asuka to spill the beans to Akagi, and then that fake-blonde bint could have found some way of fixing this whole mess! And he somehow found a way to fuck that up!"
"I'm already aware something happened," Asuka evenly replied, motioning at the rain all around for emphasis. "But you being violent is going to fix your problem, how?"
"Maybe it won't fix it," Ace grumbled, batting Asuka's hand away. "But it sure as hell will make me feel a lot better!"
A hand that clamped back on its previous position with at least twice the force, if Ace's sudden yelp was any indication.
"…Do I have to beat some sense into you again~?" Asuka sweetly admonished, bringing Ace's attention to her fake smile.
The sunny grin made the Pilot Aspect let go of her prey as if Shinji had become a branding iron with yet another, more subdued, yelp. She was halfway through protectively raising her arms when Ace caught herself, and forced herself back into casualness with a convenient cough and a glare.
"H-Ha! The last time you just cheated and got lucky. But I've got more important problems to worry about than teaching you a lesson," Ace shot back, turning her back to the pair with a huff. "...Fine, we'll do this your way, brat. But make it quick."
With her back turned, Ace failed to notice Asuka sticking her tongue out behind her. A scene that would have probably made the Third Child chuckle had his head not been spinning still.
"Don't listen to that meanie, Shinji," Trouble averted, Asuka quickly focused back on the dazed young man. "First of all, are you all right?"
"Y-Yeah," Shinji muttered, steadily finding his own balance again. "I'm a bit confused, but-"
"Of course he's fine, it's the Invincible Shinji Ikari we're talking about!" Ace gruffly cut into their conversation. "Will you stop wasting time, already?!"
A second glare flew in Ace's direction at the interruption and, for a moment, it looked as if Ace would actually follow up with another quip, but she decided to limit herself to her usual ill-humoured grumblings with a roll of her eyes. Nevertheless, Asuka decided to wait until she was a few steps away to continue their talk.
"Again, don't listen to her. She's been cranky for a while now and is just looking for something to vent at, and..."
"...Because I did something stupid, right?" Shinji finished for her with a weary sigh.
"I... Well, maybe.
"But why don't you tell me about what happened first, Shinji?" Asuka continued, putting the conversation back on track. "Our hot-headed friend said that you managed to speak to Asuka?"
"...Yeah," Shinji replied with a small grimace. "But she wasn't happy about it."
"Of course she wasn't! You peeped on her while she was undressing, you pervert!" Ace suddenly stomped her way back into the group.
"N-No I didn't! That was an accident!"
"Yeah, right! Sure is convenient to have a random screen that's always glued to your face as an explanation!"
"But I'm telling the truth!"
"Sure you are," Ace shot the rebuttal down, making to grab Shinji by his shirt a second time. "What do you think I am, four?!"
Only to have Asuka step between the two of them.
"Calm down, you two. Especially you," Asuka demanded of her other for the third time that day and, as had been the trend so far, Ace grumbled some more and backed down. This time, however, she stood her ground, much to Asuka's disquiet. "Okay, now that's taken care of... Was that everything that happened, Shinji?"
"...No," Shinji replied after a second, looking around for a place to sit down. He found it in the form of an adequately sized rock a few steps away. "...Asuka had some synch-tests to attend and... this girl that's been around for some time now came to look for her. After that..."
The Third Child recounted everything that happened that day for Asuka's benefit, since by the way that she had been reacting up until then, he figured that Ace was already aware of most of the stuff that had happened. Shinji told Asuka about Misato, about the results of the synch-test and how happy the 'real' Asuka had been, about the disastrous simulation battle right after and the way Asuka's mood had then taken a dive into the negatives...
"...Then Unit-00 took a blast to the chest and I said I was glad that it was only a simulation. Ayanami could have been hurt really bad by that if it had been a real battle," Shinji finished with another sigh. "And then Asuka muttered something and yelled that she didn't want to listen to me. I landed here just a second later."
His explanation finished, Shinji raised his head from the slump it had been during the whole process and checked for a reaction from Asuka. The girl's face had a knowing look to it, but whatever the redhead had realised from his words was probably not good judging by how troubled her expression looked.
"That was... a very silly thing to say, Shinji," Asuka eventually confirmed, much to the young man's confusion.
"'Silly'? Ha! Even for you, Third, that was so stupid," Ace harped from the background immediately after.
"What an exceedingly foolish claim, indeed, Ikari."
Shinji blinked in surprise, not having expected a third voice to comment on his most recent failure. Just before he turned to look at the source, he noticed Asuka and Ace reacting with as much shock as him, even if the latter's surprise quickly turned to disdain when she laid eyes on the new arrival.
"Hey!" Ace exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger forward. "What are you doing here?!"
"The same thing you are, just double-checking some facts," Maisie calmly countered with a dismissing wave of her fabric hand. "By all means, continue on as if I weren't here."
"Ignore you? Sure. But why don't you do as you say and actually-"
"Argh!" Shinji cut the Pilot off, jumping to his feet as he did. "Stop it already!"
The still erupting argument came to a screeching halt. Two pairs of startled blue eyes quickly found their marks on the angry-looking Third Child, and even the usually unflappable Maisie looked a bit stunned at the sudden outburst.
"...Third?" Ace cautiously began after a moment's silence. "Everything all-?"
"I just don't get it!" Shinji ignored her, motioning wildly at the three Aspects. "I only said that Ayanami could have been hurt if it had been a real battle! Will any of you tell me why that was wrong?!"
The Third Child received no immediate answer to his demands. The three girls before him shared a long, meaningful and somewhat uncomfortable look, but otherwise remained silent for several seconds.
Maisie was the first to smirk and back away, clearly unconcerned with giving any sort of explanation but interested in the events about to unfold. The other two girls watched her retreat, words of objection rising up to Ace's mouth until the redheaded pilot saw a golden opportunity for herself: stomping towards the Doll, Ace made sure to express each and every one of her complaints away from the Third Child.
Asuka then felt the entire force of Shinji's eyes on her, even if, oblivious to the Aspect, the Third Child's attention had at no point veered from her in the slightest. It was clear who Shinji believed would be the one to give him a straight answer.
"Uh..." Asuka floundered, suddenly finding her hands of supreme interest. "W-What you said wasn't wrong, actually. It's kind of... a little more complicated than that."
"'Complicated', how?"
"I-I mean... From what you said, Asuka probably wasn't feeling too great at the time, and... bringing up the F-First like that exactly then would have... Um... Ehm..." Asuka stuttered her way through the words, clearly not enjoying being put on the spot. The redhead then went silent for a second and stopped intertwining her fingers in a million different shapes, before motioning with her hands around her and sending a sunny smile Shinji's way. "N-Nice weather we're having, huh?"
The sound of the droplets of water striking the ground became the backdrop for the ensuing awkward silence between the four members of the group. At the same time, Shinji heard what sounded like someone palming their face, but paid it no heed in favour of taking a look at the downpour around him. A second or two of seeing, feeling and hearing the rain, and Shinji turned to stare at Asuka like she had grown a second head.
"...What."
"What the brat's trying and failing to say is that you have a gift for choosing the wrong words at the worst of times, Third." Ace walked back to the both of them with a sigh and ended her other's plight, but not before lightly flicking Asuka in the forehead with a finger.
"Tell me something I don't know," Shinji grumbled just before he went on the offensive again. "But again, why is it wrong to say that I was glad Ayanami wasn't actually hurt by that attack, that it could have been bad if it was a real battle? I'd have said the exact same thing if Asuka had been the one getting hit during the simulation! She knows that!"
"...Does she, now?" Ace asked back, crossing her arms.
"Why wouldn't she?! We've been piloting together for months!"
"Did you ever tell her?"
"Tell her...? I... I guess not," the Third Child deflated slightly at the obvious question, sitting on the rock once more. "But look at me and where I am! I'm stuck inside Asuka's head because I was worried and wanted to help her when that Angel attacked! Isn't that enough proof for her?"
"Fair point, Third," Ace admitted with a weary sigh. "I guess you could put blame on both sides of the argument but, look, just... think about what I just said, alright? A little more in depth? I know boys are dense and stupid on principle and that you run laps around most of them as far as that goes, but I'm sure you can figure things out if you think them through for a while."
"'Think about it?'" Maisie scoffed at Ace's reassuring words, bringing the group's attention back to her. "I see that you still keep your farfetched opinion about this sad excuse for a man being able to amount to much of anything."
"Shut your trap. I may be very pissed at him right now, but credit where credit's due: the guy's trying," Ace shot back, her support bringing a small, cheerful smile to Shinji's face. It was wiped out completely when the Pilot continued. "He absolutely, positively, and categorically sucks at it, but even I've got to admit that his idiotic babbling is more than most people have ever tried to do."
"Is that so? How quaint," the Doll continued, unimpressed. "But if your belief is so strong, why not back your words with some actual action, for once?"
"What do you mean?"
"Headquarters, you fool. There has been a vacant seat in our section since the departure of our most simpleminded colleague, remember?" Maisie answered with a wave in Asuka's direction. Asuka sat down next to Shinji and slumped forward at the reminder.
Ace, in turn, stared back at the dejected pair with a raised eyebrow.
"And you want... the Third to sit on it?"
"I don't want anything, I'm merely stating the obvious. If you truly believe that this foolish fool of a man can be the change to advance your respective agendas, there is simply no better place in this realm from which to be of influence."
Maisie then turned and walked away from the group, but not before noticing how Asuka had visibly perked up at her words. The Doll's shoulders rising in the most dramatic of shrugs, she continued in a tone of voice every bit as fake.
"But, alas, the matter of access remains an important issue. If only there was some way he could..."
"My access card!" Asuka happily jumped to her feet, brandishing a reddish plastic square from out of nowhere. "He can use it! Shinji can go in my place and-!"
"Cool your heels, numbskull," Ace firmly sat Asuka back on the stone before she sent a glare in Maisie's direction. "Why don't you tell us what your angle is, first? You're being awfully helpful today."
"An angle?" the Doll giggled, waving the accusation away. "My, my... Perish the thought."
"Cut the crap. You seriously expect me to believe that you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart?"
"And why would I need to scheme in the shadows?" Maisie shot back, turning back around to face the group with an amused look. "In case your bellicose mind has already forgotten, the achievement of my wants is a foregone conclusion."
"'Foregone', my ass," Ace scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Fine. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll take your word for it. Why are you helping us, then?"
"Entertainment, mostly. Our views may be different, but our origins are still the same. I also find it dreadfully boring if the challenge is lacking, hence, the bone," Maisie explained with a careless shrug. "Of course, you could also ignore my advice and continue to fail at your most basic of functions. It's all the same to me, and it wouldn't be the first time you did so today, either. So much for that vaunted influence of yours..."
With the almost disinterested manner in which Maisie's words were delivered, Shinji could already tell that a storm would soon brew in what he wished were the proverbial horizon. Unfortunately for him, though, the first sounds of thunder quickly made themselves apparent far closer to home than he would have liked, in the form of Ace simmering with rage.
"Listen up, Third: I'm going to explain what you're going to be doing next in three simple steps," the Pilot growled, rounding on the now very uncomfortable Third Child. "You are going to grab that access card. You are going to follow us to HQ and continue this idiot's work. And most important of all, you're not going to fuck it up. Understood?"
"Y-Yeah...?"
"Cool," Ace acknowledged, before grabbing his wrist and forcing him back up. "Let's get rolling, then."
The Pilot then thanklessly grabbed the plastic square from Asuka and rudely brushed past her, and while the redhead easily regained her balance Shinji found himself briefly locking eyes with the first friendly person he had met in this strange prison. Asuka answered his stare with a small smile, although one that lacked her usual cheer.
It didn't take Shinji long to figure out why. They were all going to a place where Asuka couldn't follow, and at that point it was fairly likely they would remain there for what was left of his stay. Asuka, in turn, would probably go back to her farm and stay there. Alone.
It was obvious that the Aspect didn't enjoy being on her own. Her sunny disposition whenever he or her 'sisters' were around shone through whatever arguments she usually had with the latter, and the manner in which her expression had darkened each time he had needed (or been forced) to go away left little room for doubt. If that wasn't enough, Shinji also realised that this could be the very last time he ever saw this Asuka again…
…and more quickly than he ever thought himself capable of, Shinji Ikari made a decision.
"Wait!" the Third Child planted his feet firmly into the ground, managing to wrest his hand free in the process. "I have a demand to make before I go!"
"What? A demand?" Ace echoed, her question caught between sheer shock and impatient exasperation. "Fine, what is it?"
"I..." Shinji took a deep breath, squaring himself in place. "I want Asuka to come with me."
A collective silence fell around the group at his words, the girls' reactions ranging from Asuka's muted shock to Maisie's aloof interest. It was Ace's thinly-veiled indignation that took centre spot, however.
"...Excuse me?"
"I said that I want Asuka to go there with me, so she can help me learn the job!"
"You can't be serious. She was expelled, Third!" Ace protested. "There is no way she can get back into HQ until her ban is lifted!"
"Then you work on making that happen or I won't help you!" Shinji argued back, putting a hand to his chest. "Besides, she won't be in the same position she was before, she will just be my assistant! Any decisions will be mine and mine alone. That should be fine, right?"
"No, it won't! You just don't get it, stupid! I can't just make a petition and have her reinstated! It doesn't work like-!"
"It's done."
"Wha...?"
"I said that the request was granted. Your naïve friend will be allowed back into HQ for operational assistance, and that purpose only," Maisie elaborated, taunting Ace with a superior smirk. "Are you going to flap your mouth like a fish for much longer, or should we be on our way back?"
If Ace had been simmering before, now she was making an erupting volcano look like a safe place to be. Steam almost shooting out of her nostrils, the girl pinned Shinji with a pointed glare.
"...Any. Other. Requests, Third?"
"W-Well, I also wanted to-"
"Denied! But I'm sure glad we had this conversation," Ace cut him off, grabbing the Third Child by the neck of his shirt and pointing her other arm forward. A swirly vortex appeared in front of Shinji's startled eyes. "I'm looking forward to working with you and all that Japanese crap, now move it!"
With a mighty shove the Third Child was pushed into the portal and disappeared within, likely to reappear near their destination in a way that would once again put the toughness of his bones to the test. Maisie walked into the vortex right after, looking pensive but caring very little for the group's shenanigans. Finally, Ace turned to enter the opened way herself when a hand on her shoulder stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Hey!" Asuka called her out. "You didn't have to do that!"
"Bite me, Miss Secretary." Ace scoffed back, pushing the offending hand off her body.
But instead of falling by the wayside like the Pilot had expected, she soon found that very same hand taking hold of her right and pinning it behind her back, before Ace's head was forced down into a textbook hold.
"…Since you asked so nicely."
And with a firm kick to her bottom, Ace went spiralling into her own creation head first, screaming bloody murder all the way. Finally, Asuka herself entered the portal when the awful sound disappeared, her wide smile no longer a forced one.
She was looking forward to her new job.
-O]|[O-
"Until the three of you learn to work as a unified team, you will be living together in the same apartment. You will sleep, train, eat, bathe and carry out all other elements of your daily routine together, and since there are no boys in the arrangement to be mindful of this time, there will be no exceptions to the above." Misato complemented her ominous explanation to the three girls with a smirk and a gesture towards the redheaded pilot of Unit-02. "As some of you are aware of, Asuka is already familiar with parts of the regime. She'll walk you through the hoops."
Standing side by side in front of the entrance of what would soon become their new abode, the three active members of the Evangelion Pilot corps received their new orders with varied degrees of enthusiasm: on the far left, Mari Makinami kept her usual and nonchalant smile on, apparently not at all bothered by the words that reached her ears. Right beside her, Rei Ayanami maintained an unflappable expression throughout the entire explanation, only blinking twice in quick succession in what perhaps could have been taken as an uncharacteristic show of surprise.
Meanwhile, on the far right, the Second Child responded to the mention of her name with a very distinctive scalding glare that could have pierced through an AT-Field…
"…I hate you."
…but that had little to no effect on Misato Katsuragi.
"There, there," Misato shooed Asuka's words away before falling back on her military professionalism. "The inspiration for this initiative aimed to achieve a complete synchronisation in both thought and actions between two people, but we have no need to go that far in this iteration. As such, you'll be happy to know that you won't be required to wear matching outfits during your stay together…"
"Thank God."
"…Initially."
"What?!"
"Should the results of your cohabitation prove lacking, we will take whatever measures are considered appropriate to improve on them, sticking to tried and true methods first, like the ones used against the Seventh Angel," Misato continued, her military discipline unfaltering even in the face of the now quickly paling Second Child. "After all, and while we don't want to enforce any changes that would result in undue stress for the three of you, we also don't want the next Angel to defeat you, either. You get one pick to figure out which one of those two options is more important."
"B-B-But Misato! Don't you remember those... things?!" Asuka quickly protested, loudly stomping her foot against the floor. "They were horrible! A nuclear attack against fashion! There has to be some sort of law against making anyone wear something that humiliating!"
"…The costumes were rather tasteless," the First Child agreed with a hint of disapproval, much to the surprise of most present.
Not that the shock stopped Asuka from trying to make the most out of the unexpected situation.
"See?" the redhead quickly motioned towards Rei. "Even Wondergirl agrees with me!"
"Eh, I thought they were kinda cool."
Three pairs of eyes promptly homed in on the one person who had just spoken, ranging from curious to outright aghast. To no one's surprise, much less Asuka's, Mari had been the last one to voice her opinion, although the Second Child wasn't certain on what was more disappointing about the scene before her: the fact that Mari had just killed her momentum flat, or the fact that the Fifth Child truly seemed to find the... thing that Asuka had been forced to wear a few months ago appealing.
"…Wow, you've got some shit taste," Asuka brought a hand to the bridge of her nose after a fair few seconds of silent contemplation. And a moment later, something occurred to her. "…Wait, how would you even know how they looked? You weren't here for that!"
"I read the reports," Mari explained with a shrug, sending a look the Major's way. "There were a few pictures of you and the Third in matching outfits, there. I think you were playing Twister?"
Like a raging hurricane, Asuka turned her fury back towards her former roommate.
"You saved those?!"
"Yes, I did. That's the sort of detail that goes into after-action reports, Asuka, and you're fully aware of it," the Major responded, not managing to resist the urge to roll her eyes. "You also know that no one without the proper clearance can access those files, so can you stop throwing a fit already?"
"…I don't know," the Second Child angrily pouted, narrowing her eyes. "Do I get an actual choice this time?"
"Not really. You're doing this whether you like it or not, so you better get used to the idea," Misato replied, parrying Asuka's heated gaze with a meaningful look of her own. "You should try hard and get along if you don't want to end up wearing the worst case scenario."
Misato then walked past the three girls and produced a single keycard, which she used to open the room's door and push it open. Turning back around, the Major motioned to the First Child next and handed the keycard to her.
"I'm designating Rei as your apartment's gatekeeper. She will hold the key and, like everything else, the three of you will share it whenever you need to leave your quarters. There are several other copies to be used in case of emergency, but the ones you should be aware of are with me, with Doctor Akagi, and with the Section-2 detachment that will be keeping guard outside your door."
"And why does Wondergirl get to keep the key?" Asuka quickly protested.
"Because she's the one I can completely trust not to bend the rules, at the moment," Misato offhandedly shot the redhead down, entering the apartment and motioning for the three girls to follow. "But for now, let's go inside. I'll give you three a tour of the place and let you know where your personal possessions are."
With a quiet nod, Rei pocketed the keycard within her uniform and followed the Major in, Mari going in second after taking a moment to send a bright smile Asuka's way. A gesture that went largely ignored and that was answered with a glare that could have melted mountains.
One that proved just as ineffective as the first of its kind had been.
"'It would be counterproductive', my ass..." the Second Child quietly fumed as everyone else passed over the threshold, resignedly starting to put one foot in front of the other. "And just when I was getting used to the idea of living on my own, too…"
The tour itself was short and to the point, just a few minutes long, which was a somewhat surprising achievement considering that the apartment could have easily been two or three times larger than the one Asuka had been using until then. It had all the necessary essentials, with a spacious and well-furnished living room, a fully functional kitchen and a big bathroom with a trio of side-by-side showers, set up similarly to those in the locker rooms.
It was in that last area of the apartment where Asuka noticed the First Child briefly stop the surreptitious glances that she had been throwing in her direction all day long, to look at the lined up showers with something that could have been taken as disappointment. Apparently, Ayanami was a fan of soaking in the bath.
Not that Asuka could call her out on that. The Second Child would also miss one of the only things she genuinely liked about Japan, herself.
The tour continued with their guide showing them to three separate and more private rooms that each Pilot could use to store their things, although Misato had been quick to remind them of how they would all be sleeping together in the living room. To hammer the point home, the rooms themselves were completely bereft of beds, making them look oddly desolate and leaving only a few futons to be carried to the main room when night-time came.
'Goodbye, my dearest bed, how I'll miss you,' Asuka grimly thought at the prospect of sleeping on the floor again. 'I can't wait to use those stupid portable mats the Japanese like so much...'
A few reminders of conduct, obligations and incoming tests later, and Misato left the trio to their own devices for the rest of the day; hinting at, but not outright stating, that their special brand of training had already begun.
And so did the Second Child rue her situation for the umpteenth time that hour, stuck in permanent close proximity to two of the people she wanted to see the least of, at the time.
"So… what now?" Mari asked, when the three girls had spent a few seconds staring at the closed door without a word. "We've still got some time until dinner, so do you girls want to do something?"
Mari's question was met with complete silence, Rei's blank look clearly stating that she intended to be reactive, rather than lead the pack. Asuka, on the other hand, dove into her room with an irritated sigh and came out with the trusty Famicom a few moments later, plugging it into the TV under the watchful eye of her two newly appointed roommates. Making short work of the setup, the redhead then looked into the bag of games and picked up Dragon Quest once again, meaning to relieve her pent up stress and frustration by annihilating the pixel armies of the evil Dragonlord with magic and sword both.
Asuka had grabbed a cushion to sit on and was reaching for the power button when she felt a second cushion being placed next to her.
"Wait," Mari interrupted, grabbing a controller for herself and fishing for a different game. "We gotta do this together, right?"
For a brief moment, Asuka considered answering Mari's rhetorical question with a resounding 'NO!', but the impulse died in her mouth when she felt Rei step closer to them both. Misato had already dictated the rules and the goody-two-shoes First Child was going to be constantly looking over her shoulder, ready to report at the smallest sign of misconduct. Trying to waive the rules in any way, shape or form was going to be impossible.
"…Fine. Whatever." Asuka relented, moodily resting her chin on her hand and throwing the cartridge back in the bag with a fair bit more force than entirely necessary. "Just make sure it's something good."
"By your command! Let's see here…" Mari redoubled her efforts after a brief and goofy military salute, digging through the plastic squares like a dog searching for a buried bone. In a similarly canine manner, the Fifth Child was overly excited when she finally found something that caught her interest. "Oh! Double Dragon! Does that title sound cool or what?!"
"Who cares about the stupid title? Just plug the damn thing so we can start playing, already."
"Yes, yes, I'm on it," Mari replied in her ever-present good cheer, annoying Asuka some more. "Our Princess is so demanding…"
But true to her words, Mari inserted the cartridge and powered up the console in two fluid motions, sitting in her cushion and offering a third one to Rei. The bluenette accepted it with a grateful nod, although since the Famicom lacked the option to plug in a third controller, Rei opted for sitting a little bit further back from the other two, looking at the proceedings with an air of intrigue.
Without much fanfare, Asuka breezed through the game's starting sequence with only a brief pause to select the two player mode, and a second one to raise an eyebrow at the game's effort to designate the bad guys.
'Did that guy just sucker punch her in the stomach…?' the Second Child wondered, before a stray thought soured her mood when the two player characters made their appearance. 'Oh well, gotta save the girl, I guess. Tch, talk about a game Invincible Shinji would just LOVE to play...'
Asuka's final thought resonated well with how simple Double Dragon's entire premise was: punching and kicking waves and waves of enemies as the leading pair made their way through a dilapidated town. It was a cooperative effort, too, which meant that Asuka didn't have the chance of venting her frustrations on Mari's character, frustrations that only mounted when the Fifth Child took to humming in tune to the game's repetitive (albeit surprisingly catchy) soundtrack. Nevertheless, it wasn't long before said grievances took a backseat to the Second Child's competitive spirit burning brighter than she initially meant, Asuka's controller never leaving her hands as Makinami and Wondergirl swapped the other one whenever one of the two bit the dust.
Despite her clear superiority on display, however, Asuka's bad mood was still apparent. She followed every controller swap with witty and disparaging remarks, and a fair bit of punishment was visited upon her own controller each and every time that Asuka's own actions weren't rewarded with perfection.
In the end, the three sided clash came to a stop when Mari pressed the PAUSE button in her controller, turning to Asuka with a serious look.
"Okay, Princess: what are you so angry about?"
The Second Child gripped her controller tighter and scowled back at the one who had dared to interrupt her 'fun'. "What do you think?" she added when her stare alone proved lacking.
"You're still hung up on that?" Mari sighed in response, gingerly placing her own controller on the floor. "I mean, I'll admit that maybe I did take the last joke during the synch-tests a bit too far. But even then, it's just that: a joke. Whatever happened to learning to take those?"
"Your one 'joke' stops being funny when it's always about trying to link me to that idiot!"
Asuka stressed her protest by slamming her controller against the floor, her glare evolving into a full-blown snarl. Mari simply raised an eyebrow back, unfazed.
"Try to? I don't have to try to. Here's a bit of a newsflash, Princess: if you were any more obvious about your crush, there would be neon signs advertising it all over town," Mari shot back with a chuckle, shaking her head in amusement. A gesture that left her blind to the way Asuka recoiled at her words. "Not that there's anything wrong with that at all, you know? It's perfectly human to be attracted to someone else. I mean, you even got the first confirmation about which side you-"
The next thing Mari Makinami knew, she was pinned to the floor and barely managing to grab hold of the Beast's hands before they arrived at whatever soft part of her body the Second Child had intended to crush.
"Oh, come on!" Mari groaned, struggling to keep the angered redhead at bay from a disadvantageous position. "Are we seriously doing this again?!"
"Whatever it takes for you to SHUT. YOUR. MOUTH!"
Asuka pushed forward with each of her enraged words and managed to gain a little bit of ground before the struggle grinded into a deadlock, neither side proving capable of overpowering the other for a few, long moments.
And from the side, Rei Ayanami watched quietly. To her credit, the First Child had not backed away even the slightest bit at the onset of hostilities, even more remarkable considering that the heated clash was taking place less than an arm's length away from her.
"Why are you fighting?" she asked instead, her cool and logical demeanour as unbreakable as ever.
"Oh, nothing much!" Mari chirped back. "Just about how Princess here has the hots for Sleeping Beauty and can't bring herself to admit it!"
"I… see?"
"Don't just believe everything the stupid four-eyes says!" Asuka angrily denied, taking a split-second to glare in Rei's direction.
"...I have heard that expression used by some of the female students at school, before. Judging by the context of their conversation, am I correct in assuming that they, and therefore, you, were speaking about a third person's romantic prospects?"
"You got that one absolutely right, Bluebird!"
"I see," Rei nodded with barely discernible satisfaction, before turning towards the struggling redhead with a confused look. "Then why shouldn't the Fifth Child's words be trusted? They fall in line with my own observations."
With just a few well-placed words, the bloodlust in Asuka's eyes faded and turned into shocked disbelief.
"W-Wha…t?"
"Okaay," Mari blinked, mirroring Asuka's surprise to a lesser degree and taking advantage of the sudden lack of force against her hands and arms to rise back up to a more comfortable position. "I know that I talked about neon signs and all, but I didn't really expect for you of all people to have caught on to this, Bluebird."
"Why wouldn't I?" Rei replied back, her eyelids milimetrically drawing together. "I am always aware of my surroundings."
"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to be rude. Just caught me a bit off-guard, although I guess it makes sense for the quiet ones to be more attentive," the Fifth Child apologised with a shrug, before she turned towards Asuka and tentatively let go of one of her hands. "...I fear you might have broken the Princess, though...
"Hello, Princess?" Mari called out, waving her free hand in front of the Second Child's face. "Anybody home~?"
That same hand quickly went to shield her own face when Asuka suddenly stood up without a word. The gesture soon proved pointless, however, because the Second Child apparently had had enough violence for the moment and decided to cut a blazing trail out of the living room, instead. Mari and Rei, for their part, slowly moved to follow at a safe distance.
"Princess? Where are you going? You know you can't just go away on your..." Mari began, quickly thinking of things she could say to calm the enraged redhead down. Her appeasing efforts quickly ceased when she noticed the door that Asuka had chosen to leave through, however. "Princess, wait!"
"Shut up, I don't want to hear it!" Asuka shouted back, opening the door and rushing inside. "Forget about Misato's stupid training! If either of you come in here, I swear I'll make mincemeat out of you!"
"But Princess, that's-!"
A myriad crashing sounds interrupted Mari's words, the twin-tailed girl and the First Child beside her wincing (one far more noticeably than the other) at the unmistakable sound of valuable items breaking on hard contact with the floor.
"…a storage closet." Mari belatedly finished when things finally seemed to settle down, opening one eye to inspect the aftermath.
Asuka's usually pristine clothes were now soiled with dust, grime and a few spots of paint, and the same was true of her exposed skin and flaming hair. The Second Child's face had not fared any better, either, or so it seemed from the parts of it that weren't obscured by the girl's bangs.
'At least there wasn't anything sharp or dangerous in there, apparently.' Mari thought with a mental sigh of relief.
"The people who worked on this place said that they didn't have time to move all that stuff, and that they would get on with it tomorrow morning," the Fifth Child explained, trying her hardest not to make direct eye contact with her new German roommate, lest the Beast awaken once again. "You... weren't paying attention when the Major...?"
"Not. Another. Word," Asuka growled with pressed fists into her sides, heavy steps almost shaking the ground as she made her way out of her useless haven and towards the showers.
The two other Children watched her go, Rei making a short attempt to follow Asuka before Mari caught her wrist with a very meaningful shake of her head. Understanding the Fifth Child's appeal to common sense, the bluenette seemed to decide that the enforcement of rules could wait for one or two hours.
For their own safety, if nothing else.
"...Well, that went about as terribly as humanly possible," Mari eventually grumbled when Asuka had disappeared from sight, throwing a small and somewhat weary smile in Rei's direction. "So… which colour would you like your costume?"