Joanna Kingston filled the wash basin right to the top before she splashed her face with the cool water. Grabbing the towel, she wiped her face and was adjusting her her hair when she heard a knocking at the bathroom door.
"Excuse me," a voice said from the other side. "We'll be landing in ten minutes. Could you please return to your seat?"
"Oh, uh, sure. Sorry," she replied. "I'll be out in a minute."
"All right," she heard the owner of the voice walk away. Joanna resumed touching up and her hair, and once she was done, left the restroom and went back to her seat in the empty passenger cabin, buckling her seatbelt. She spent some time fidgeting with her seatbelt buckle and tapping her fingers on her seat's armrest, which came to an end when she caught sight of New Constantinople out of her window. She watched the city for several minutes concluding that seeing it for real was a lot better than the photos she saw. She soon felt the plane touch down, and as soon as it came to a stop, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stood up to stretch.
After making sure her pantyhose, of which her previous guardian had stated would help her look more professional and adult, was on straight and didn't have any runs, she grabbed her day bag from the overhead compartment, and made her way to the door. As the attendant was opening it, she took several quick breaths to calm down, yet she noticed that her right hand was still shaking in short tremors. She made a fist and put both her arms to her side, but she could still feel the nervous energy shooting through her arm. The door opened, letting in the outside light, which forced her to squint. She took a few more deep breaths before she took her first steps out.
"Here we go," she whispered to herself as she stepped out. As she made her way down the steps, she noticed three men at the bottom waiting for her. Two of them were wearing Wille jackets while one was in a suit, and all three were wearing sunglasses. As soon as she stepped off the bottom step, the one wearing the suit approached her.
"Joanna, is it?" the man said. "I'm Stanley Burke, Vice-Commander here." She thought his smile was warm, though the fact that he didn't shave that morning and the wind mussed up his reddish-brown hair took some of that warmth away.
Burke then pointed to one of the men in a Wille jacket. "This here is Colonel Kensuke Aida. He is the Chief of our Strategic Operations Department here at New Constantinople."
"How do you do?" he gave a slight bow. Burke then gestured to the third.
"And I am pleased to present to you Shinji Ikari. He will be your liaison officer." Shinji came toward her and stretched out his hand.
"Pleased to meet you," he said. Joanna shifted her eyes from his face. His smile was genuine, she could tell that right away, but there was something, not just with him but in just about everyone she met, that made her feel uncomfortable.
"Uh yeah, nice to meet you," she shook his hand for a brief second, keeping her eyes away from him.
"Okay, now that everyone has been introduced, shall we head over to where you'll be staying?" Burke said. "Your stuff should be coming over shortly."
"Yeah, sure," she answered.
"Awesome." Burke turned to Aida. "Colonel, we'll be going now."
"Very well," he said before turning to Joanna. "I look forward to working with you."
"Okay," she said in a quiet voice.
"Shall we?" Burke said to the other two as Aida walked off. Joanna spent the train trip staring out the window, taking in the sight of both the cityscape and forest areas as they moved from one ring of the walled city to the other. In short order, the three arrived at Burke's apartment building.
"You've been assigned quarters on the floor below ours," Burke said as he dug out two key cards and handed one to each of them. "Here is your key card," he said to Joanna. "Both Shinji and I will have copies, but I can assure you we'll be gentlemen and only use them in a dire emergency."
"Fine, that's, uh, fine." Joanna's face gave away a slight blush. She looked towards Shinji for a brief second, and saw that he had some red on his cheeks as well.
"I have something to take care of at headquarters, so Shinji will escort you there, so you can get settled, okay?" Burke added.
"Okay."
"Great. See you soon." Burke then walked off, leaving the two."
"Shall we get going?" Shinji said to her. Joanna nodded and they began to make their way to the floor. Shinji used his key card to open the door and they entered the empty apartment. The two wandered around for a few minutes seeing where all the rooms were.
"I'm supposed to tell you that if you want to change any of the house wares or the bedsheets or anything else, you can buy them on Wille's account. I'll be the first to admit that your bedroom looks more like a hospital room."
"Okay, thanks," Joanna replied as she was looking into some empty kitchen cupboards. Silence descended in the room for a few moments until Shinji spoke again.
"You know, you're lucky that you get to have your own private quarters."
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Well…first off, you do know about me, right?" Joanna nodded.
"I've been briefed about you," she added.
"You know that I lived for a short time with Mi-, uh, the captain of the Wunder."
"And with Captain Shinkinami," she said.
"Well, things were a lot different for me," Shinji replied. "I mean, one moment I was just a normal kid, the next moment I'm fighting some giant creature, then waking up in a hospital room, and then moving in with some woman you had only met a few hours before whose place could not be considered tidy by any stretch of the imagination. So compared to me, you are pretty lucky." Joanna took a minute to go through everything he said in silence, before she spoke again.
"So, I guess that your time as a pilot was a lot more difficult?"
"You have no idea," Shinji replied. They said nothing for a couple of minutes as they looked around the apartment in a silence that Joanna found uncomfortable. It wasn't uncomfortable because she didn't want to talk to Shinji, but because she felt she had to say something, anything. Even though she was told the very basics of his story, and there were some details that they refused to elaborate on, she didn't know what to make of him. To her, he appeared to be a nice person, but at the same time, there seemed to be a sense of…the best word she could think of was hesitation, between him and her. It could be that they had only met a couple of hours earlier, but she sensed something else. It was as if he was feeling everything out, that he didn't know what he was doing. This was Shinji Ikari, a legend in some circles according to various some people. He had to know what he was doing. Then… was it something about her then? Before she could dwell on that particular thought line, Shinji spoke to her.
"Are you hungry?"
"Hungry?" Come to think of it, outside of a few snacks on the plane, she did not have a proper meal since she left Pacifica. "Maybe a little."
"Why don't you come up to our place and have a bite?" Shinji replied. "I'll make us something."
"Oh, uh, sure," she said tugging at her skirt.
"Oh, if you want to change your clothes, that'll be fine," Shinji blurted out. "I…wouldn't mind getting out of these clothes myself." That sentence was said in a much softer tone, lowering his head out of what seemed to be to her out of embarrassment.
"Sure, I'll do that," she said.
"Okay then. I'll head up and start preparing. Burke and I are living in 504. See you there." After giving a slight bow, Shinji headed out of the apartment. Joanna watched him leave and then went to bedroom where she flopped on her bed staring up at the ceiling, reviewing everything that happened trying to see where she could have been nicer, and finding several instances where thing could have gone better, taking several deep breaths to calm herself and set her mind to preparing for her next encounter with Shinji. She then changed into a tee shirt and a pair of old, but comfortable jeans she had in her day bag, and headed over to Shinji's apartment expecting nothing more than a few crude sandwiches. When Shinji opened the door, a wave of unique smells assaulted her nose. She took several strong sniffs as she entered the apartment.
"It smells good," she said. She had to admit to herself that she was now more hungry than she was earlier.
"I didn't know the when was the last time you ate, so I thought that you would like something a little heavier," Shinji said as he returned to chopping an onion. "So, I was thinking that perhaps some curry would sound good. I don't know if you ever had it before, so I'm not sure if I'm taking a risk here."
"I-I've had Indian food," she stated.
"Lucky me," he replied, the look of relief apparent to her. "Have a seat, please." She took a seat on a stool where she could have a clear view of Shinji as he was cooking. After he was done with the onions and put them in the pot, he proceeded to check on the rice.
"It should be done in a few minutes," he said as he put the lid back on the pot, and did a taste test of the curry.
"I-" Joanna began before stopping.
"Huh?" Shinji looked towards her.
"I…never knew you could cook," she said at last.
"I can understand that," he said. "Some old friends of mine couldn't believe it either until the had some lunch I made for them one time."
"Ah," she nodded. "That must have been a happy time for you." She then saw that Shinji was staring past her. She wondered if she had said anything wrong, though she didn't know what it could be.
"Much of it was," he replied, his voice sounding distant. "Though I don't know how much of it involved the penguin."
"Penguin?" Joanna tilted her head in confusion. Before she could inquire any further on what he meant, the two of them heard the apartment door open and Burke walked in. As soon as he closed the door, he took several strong sniffs.
"I smell food," he said.
"Shinji was making me lunch, Joanna answered. "It's almost ready."
"I didn't expect that, but then I guess it's good timing on my part," Burke said. "I've gained from Shinji's cooking an appreciation of good quality food."
"You've also gained around ten pounds," Shinji half-muttered as he rolled his eyes.
"What was that?" Burke asked as he was taking off his coat.
"Nothing, it's nothing," Shinji replied as he rushed over to the stove to take another quick taste. "It's ready now. Let's eat." Shinji took out three plates and scooped rice onto each of them, followed by the curry. He set two of the plates in front of both Burke and Joanna. She could tell from the aroma that it was delicious. She wanted to dig in, but wasn't sure if it was appropriate to do so. She didn't know what Japanese etiquette entailed. There was a saying that was uttered before eating, ike-something or other, yet the Vice Commander wasn't Japanese, so he didn't have to do that. Though out of the corner of her eye, she could see that he hadn't taken a bite either. She didn't know what to do, and her stomach was suffering for it.
"Don't worry, help yourself," Shinji told her. She took a spoon and filled it with equal amounts of rice and stew. She took a bite, and thought it as good as anything you can find at a restaurant, at least in her experience.
"Wow," she muttered.
"Amazing, huh?" Burke said to her. "I heard the stories of his abilities in the kitchen, but when I tried his cooking for the first time, I was floored."
"It's not that amazing," Shinji countered. "It was the only way that I could eat well without relying on junk food for every meal."
"Now, this is one thing you don't have to be modest about," Burke declared. You have an exquisite talent, not based on anything that was required of you by other people. I wouldn't be surprised if you opened your own restaurant someday." Joanna saw Shinji blush, but before anything else could be said about it, Burke's phone rang, which he had out before the first ring was completed.
"Yeah," he said into the phone. "So it has arrived." He turned his head towards Joanna, who stopped in the middle of taking a bite. "I'll tell her. She's in my apartment having lunch with us. Thanks." He returned his phone to his inside pocket, and turned to her.
"Your stuff has arrived," he told her. "They should be at your apartment door."
"Oh, yeah, great," she said. "I'm almost done, so I'll head over there in a few minutes."
"Take your time, they're not going anywhere," Burke replied. "And later today, Shinji can take you to the store to get some more food for your pantry, though I have a feeling that that you'll be up here for meals pretty often."
"Oh, no, no, no, no." She was shaking her head with each uttering of the word. "I can't impose on you like that."
"It's okay," Shinji said. "I wouldn't mind feeding you once in a while."
"M-Maybe, I'll see." She finished what was on her plate, and stood up to go.
"Oh, I'll help you," Shinji got up off his chair, and the two went out. For a couple of minutes, neither of them said a word before she spoke.
"Thank you for having me over." While it was a above a whisper, it couldn't be said to be at full volume either.
"Sure," Shinji replied, "and I do mean it when I said that I wouldn't mind cooking for you either."
"I couldn't ask you for that," she said. "That's too much. I can get my own food. It's not a problem."
"Then…how about I teach you how to make some dishes?" Shinji asked.
"Are you serious?" she answered. "I-It sounds like a lot of work."
"No more than the other things you'll be learning," he remarked. "And I'll be happy to teach you."
"Thanks," she said as they approached her door, which was half blocked by several boxes. Together, the two hauled the boxes into both her bedroom and bathroom.
"That should be it," Shinji said when he laid the last box on the bedroom floor. "I'll leave you to unpack and find a place for everything, and I'll come back in a little while to show you where the convenience store is."
"Uh, yeah," she said. As Shinji was heading for the door, she took a few steps towards him.
"Shinji," she called out.
"Yes?"
"T-Tomorrow, can…can we go shopping for other things?" You did say I could get new things if I wanted to."
"Sure," Shinji replied. "We can figure out a time later. See you tonight." After the door was closed, Joanna stood there for a minute contemplating all that had happened today before beginning to unpack her things. She soon realized after starting that it was going to take a while to get everything in order, perhaps even days once she got used to living. True, she couldn't call this place home right now, but she had a feeling that she was already half way there, though she couldn't put her finger on why that was.
