That morning Patrick arrived in Kumamoto station welcomed by giant images of the city's well-known mascot, a friendly black cartoon bear with rosy red cheeks that seemed to be emblazoned on virtually everything in sight. He hadn't slept on the train much the night before, instead staying awake in his very narrow sleeper bed and running over and over in his mind every clue or lead he could think of regarding Rei's disappearance.

Once off the train Patrick moved at a quick pace, walking fast through the early morning work commuters and students. He didn't bring a proper suitcase but instead had a single, black backpack that included tactical equipment as well as a small amount of clothes. At the bottom of the pack was a snub-nosed MP-5 with several clips, and he wore his Sig-Sauer holstered under his grey business suit.

Kaji had deliberately sent Patrick without much support, mostly to avoid attracting attention by having a uniformed police escort or anyone else around him that could give away his mission. He did have what amounted to an unlimited expense account however, which certainly made travel easier for him. With time of the essence Patrick was at least welcome for the financial backing he had.

Patrick found a cab driver at the station's front entrance, again avoiding using anything like a mobile app to call a rideshare in order to avoid someone tracking his movements. The black retro-looking Toyota sedan pulled up to the edge of the street and Patrick promptly jumped in, tossing his bag on the seat next to him. In his by now very fluent Japanese Patrick showed the driver the address of the Istuki Food Company. The driver, an older Japanese man that was neatly dressed with black vest and necktie, promptly nodded and started on the road. On the thirty-minute journey through difficult traffic there was no small talk between Patrick and the driver.

The Toyota cab pulled up in front of a large building complex of multi-storied glass windows and immaculately neat landscaping. Thanking the driver, Patrick paid him in cash and then grabbed his shoulder bag to hustle to the entrance. Once at the foyer, he found two young female receptionists and quickly presented his business card. The card itself was not for his actual job, but instead for his cover, as today he was Mr. Patrick Dunnigan of Universal Imports, Cambridge Massachusetts USA.

Speaking in English, Patrick introduced himself finding that both receptionists also spoke English quite well, and asked him to wait for a moment. After two minutes a tall woman of about twenty-five approached. She had a dark mocha complexion with large brown eyes and luscious black hair and she was quite tall, even looking more so on five inch heels and a camel-colored business suit.

"Mister Dunnigan," the lady said in flawless English. "We've been expecting you! Welcome to Itsuki Foods, my name is Kyoto DeSantos."

DeSantos? There's a story behind that name I'm sure. "It's nice to meet you, Miss DeSantos," Patrick said while offering his hand. He didn't bow as one might do normally in Japan, and he wasn't sure if he really should in this case. However Kyoto instead bowed respectfully at first, treating him formally like any Japanese customer at the firm would have been. Patrick reciprocated with his own bow, and then again offered his hand which she took.

Miss Kyoto led him to an elevator, and once the car doors closed they spoke again. "Welcome to Isuki, Mr. Dunnigan," she said in Japanese. "Your employers contacted us yesterday and asked us to make sure we made you feel welcome."

"Well, you've certainly did that Miss De Santos," said Patrick. "I'm sorry, I can't help but ask: were you born here in Japan?"

The woman smiled. "I was. My family was here before Second Impact in fact. You speak Japanese quite well yourself."

"I lived in Hakone for a couple of years for school," Patrick told her, "so I guess I picked it up okay."

"Why are you here, Mr. Dunnigan?"

"Patrick, please," he told her, "Food quality investigation. There may be a fatality involved with one of your instant ramen products."

"Oh dear!" she said. "Never! Everything we make is of the highest quality! We have an excellent record here in Japan with all of our items."

"I have no doubt of it," said Patrick. "But I've been asked to investigate to make sure there hasn't been any foul play involved apart from your own manufacturing process. We're particularly concerned about distribution in this case."

"I see then. I'm sure our Chairman will be glad to assist you in any way he can."

"Time is of the essence in this matter so I sincerely hope that he can."

The elevator car doors opened and the two of them exited to the seventh floor, which was the top floor of the building. Kyoto lead Patrick through a very ornate hallway that flowed into another large office. Objects d'art such as paintings and sculptures were mounted on the walls, from a mix of both Japanese and foreign sources and while Patrick was no art critic to him they certainly looked expensive. You can sure make a lot of money selling instant ramen….

Kyoto opened up a set of large double doors to reveal the inner office of the chairman of the company, Mr. Tadeki Isuki, who was the grandson of the company's original founder. Aged in his late sixties, Isuki was short, heavy-set and balding but had a grandfather's kind face, and Patrick didn't get warning vibes from him at all on first glance. Isuki sat behind a simple desk, with a gigantic photo of children eating his instant ramen behind him, no doubt a reminder of his core business.

"Mr. Dunnigan, allow me to introduce you to Mr Isuki, the Chairman of Isuki Foods." This time Patrick started off with a respectful bow and a Japanese introduction, to which Isuki briefly bowed back and thrust his hand right towards Patrick. "It's very good to see you Mr. Dunningan!" he said. Isuki offered a seat to Patrick in front of his desk, which he noticed that there were several large three-ring binders all stacked on top. "Miss DeSantos, can you please excuse us? We have a matter of great importance to discuss."

"Of course, sir."

"And no more calls, thank you." With that his secretary left the room and the two men were alone.

"Thanks for seeing me on quick notice," Patrick said as Isuki reached behind his desk to grab two teacups.

"Your employers, your actual ones, were very clear this was an urgent matter," said the chairman while he prepared tea for him and Patrick. "Mr. Kaji also said he had the highest confidence in you, although I do have to admit I'm taken aback now that I've met you." Isuki gently placed a teacup in front of Patrick, and then for himself. "You seem considerably younger than I was expecting."

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Patrick said.

"No matter, we will approach this with all due diligence." Isuki took his own seat. "I've seen the photos of the ramen wrapper, but do you have it with you now?"

Patrick reached into his backpack and pulled out a large zip-lock evidence bag that contained several wrappers as well as unopened ramen packs. "We found about twelve in all, with sequential numbers," Patrick told him as he opened up the evidence bag and dumped the instant ramen on the chairman's desk. "The lab still has a few packs but this is most of it."

Mr. Isuki pulled out a set of bifocals from his desk and replaced his glasses with them, then carefully examined the packages and wrappers. "They're all made from the same product lot, that's easy to determine. Here," offered the chairman and Patrick leaned in closely to see where he was pointing.

"Each package has a manufacturing code, called a lot number. We make our ramen in lots of 50,000 each."

"Every day?" asked Patrick who was now quite curious.

"Three daily shifts since two years ago, and two shifts since ten years ago."

"That's a lot of ramen!"

"It is. It's a popular product, and Kumamoto Savory is the most popular flavor in Kyushu since it was introduced decades ago. You think the person you're searching for may have been local to the area?"

"We think so," said Patrick. "These days there's a lot of ramen varieties even in America, but not this kind. Whoever bought it got it from here and came from here."

"I understand. Now let's try to narrow down where this might have gone." The chairman looked carefully at the manufacturing code again, and then pulled out a binder. Flipping through, he found what he was searching for and then again pointed it out to Patrick.

"According to the manufacturing code, these particular packages were manufactured on August 28th, more precisely between 8:32 and 8:34 am."

"Wait, you know the exact moment you made it?"

"Of course! We have a very modern manufacturing system here. Now from that it should be academic to determine how it was distributed. So….here's the final sequence, a box code. Kumamoto Savory is packaged in twenty packs to a box, and from the sequence everything here came from just one single box."

"Oh, good. So then finding where this box went should be easy, then."

"We'd hope so. Ah, here it is," he said as he looked through another binder. "Box 3347-77 was loaded onto delivery truck 245 on August 29th of last year, at approximately 5:30am. The truck then went on it's regular rounds."

"So all we have to do now is find out where it went."

"Yes, so we now check our transport ledger and….oh."

"Oh?!"

"Yes, unfortunately that's trouble."

"Why? What happened."

"The shipping log says on that day Truck 245 was delivering on the liquor store route in downtown Kumamoto City."

"That should be easy to trace then."

"It is, except that the liquor store route consists primarily of small, proprietary shops within the older parts of Kumamoto. These are places such as traditional liquor stores, train station outlets, and small family-run convenience stores. Few of these are larger accounts such as 7-11 or Lawson that have tracking for incoming food items. Most of these stores are low volume, and usually marginal business who don't often record when and where they get inventory once it's delivered." The chairman looked up at him. "I'm afraid to find your box you'll have to investigate each store one by one."

"How many on that route?"

"Thirty…maybe forty."

"And it was six months ago," said Patrick with resignation. "How often does the truck run that route?"

"Every week. We're unable to track which store that the box actually went to."

"Oh, shit," said Patrick aloud and he looked at his watch, seeing the time he had left to find Rei. 75:30, only a little more than three days to go. He took a deep breath of frustration and let it out, knowing what he'd have to do next. "Thank you for all of your help, Mr. Chairman. May I have the delivery route list please?"

Not long after Patrick's meeting at Isuki Foods, Kaji walked alone onto the campus of the Horikoshi Institute in the city of Sendai, a few hundred kilometers north of Tokyo-III. Sendai was a city based on industry, and most of the urban sprawl of the area was covered with either factories of all types of machines and vehicles, or housing and services for those who worked in the factories. The inner part of Sendai had a cultural district however and this is where the relatively small Horikoshi Institute was based.

From the outside the Institute didn't appear to be much more than another corporate campus with multiple undistinctive glass-walled buildings. The Horikoshi Institute however was a new engineering school with an eye on advanced technologies, and had made strenuous efforts in the last couple of years to attract both students and faculty with unusual talents or aspirations. It was here that Kaji would find his next suspect, as they now taught on the campus.

Dressed in a cold weather parka and scarf over a sweater and slacks, Kaji didn't look that much different from any other faculty member at the institute as he casually walked through the small urban campus. As it was a new school, Horikoshi was less than a city block in size, but was at least comfortable with some interior wide open common spaces were students could be seen sitting and studying, on their phones, or eating in between classes.

Kaji made his way to one of the lecture halls, inside a non-distinctive multi-story building. As he found his destination, he saw several students rush out of the hall, their faces pale white with the stress of academic pressure clearly visible. Among the group was heard the phrase "God, Rokubungi-Sensei is a real bastard!" Smiling at the mention of the name of his subject, Kaji knew he was in the right place.

He entered the lecture hall and looked around, seeing a couple dozen students crouched at their countertops working on what appeared to be a quiz. Seated at the bottom of the sunken-in auditorium was a middle-aged man with short cut dark, greying hair styled with bangs in front. He wore a grey casual jacket over a black turtleneck sweater and grey slacks. His hands were clasped in front of his chin and he stared through his glasses at the students while they completed their exams. Doctor Gendo Rokubungi, Associate Professor of Advanced Physics at Horikoshi, hadn't appeared to change in the last two years despite losing his beard.

"G'Day, Director!" A voice was heard to Kaji's right and he turned around to see another familiar face. Moria Wellington, a former NERV agent with the UK side of the organization and an early supporter of the Alliance, was seating in a student's chair at the very top of the lecture hall. She wore a brown pants suit with high black heels and looked very much at ease, her hear worn long and about and her ornamental Maori tattoed chin clearly visible. "You're a pleasant surprise! I wasn't expecting you'd come yourself."

"Hello, Wellington," Kaji said, shaking hands and then taking the seat next to her. "So, how's he been doing?"

"Oh, Doctor Wonderful enjoys it here," she told him. "Just look at how his students get along with him."

"They look miserable."

"Exactly." Kaji grinned at that. "Well, then he's adjusted well, it seems."

"It would seem so," Moira agreed. "Downright boring, at least until you get a few sakes into him and then he finally loosens up."

"So he drinks now?"

"Oh, he even does karaoke now! How about that?"

Kaji was skeptical. "That has to be heard to be believed. Have I been the only visitor he's received regarding this matter?"

"You're the only visitor period," said Wellington. "No contact from anyone on the outside world, aside from the occasional letter from one of the children. In the two years we've been doing this there hasn't been any hint of a violation of the NDA or other agreements he's got with you. Good o'Gendo's been a pretty good boy, all told."

"Still, I need to speak to him about this."

"He's got a long lunch today and then a lecture later in the afternoon. That should give you plenty of time."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and anything from Lusty? I know she's in the field but have you heard anything from her?"

Kaji shrugged. "Koji said she's in deep cover but he's keeping tabs as best he can. If anything comes up at all I'll be sure to let you know."

"Brave girl, she is," Wellington commented. "But sometimes she forgets she's human too."

"But what can you do with children who refuse to grow up?" replied Kaji. "She may have her time but it's not now, and at least for the moment she's the better for it."

Waiting until the last of the students finished their exam and left the lecture hall, Kaji got up and then walked down the steps towards the bottom. At the lecturer's desk Gendo was putting away his notes and then watched as Kaji walked towards him.

"Long time, no see, Commander," said Kaji.

Gendo gave a slight smile. "I'm a long way from those days, Director Kaji."

"Do you have a moment?"

Gendo led Kaji to his own office, perhaps a two minute walk from the lecture hall in the same building. His private area was the size of a closet, but cozy and clean, and Gendo kept it very organized. He offered Kaji a chair in front of his desk and then went to prepare tea for the two of them after closing the door.

"How is the academic life?" Kaji asked him.

"Didn't think I'd do well at first," Gendo answered as he poured tea into two cups. "But it's grown on me." He sat down both teacups on his desk and then took the chair opposite Kaji. "My colleagues tell me I'm the most feared man on campus."

Kaji laughed. "I'm sure you find that gratifying."

"You won't learn if you don't suffer," replied Gendo. "Those children may sweat blood but they'll at least know the material when they're done here."

"Quite."

"Did you take physics in college," Gendo asked Kaji.

"No, I considered anything like that to be quite radioactive and pursued much 'softer' subjects. Looking back on it I probably could have used a class or two after all. And then maybe a few more in Theology and Ethics."

"We all could have," Gendo said and then sipped his tea. After taking a sip and after a long quiet moment he let Kaji know he was ready.

"You of course know why I'm here."

"Jet Alone," said Gendo. "You're wondering what I know."

"Wellington said you hadn't been contacted by anyone we'd have an interest in since you've been here, and I quite believe her. There are some that still suspect that you might be behind this."

"Given my reputation I suppose that's a rather natural presumption."

"The Japanese military is hapless to stop the unit," Kaji told him, "and the new government is reluctant to let NERV and the Alliance become involved. That means we will likely have to bail them out later when things get worse."

"Lessons still unlearned," Gendo quipped.

"What should we know about the unit that we don't already?"

"JHCI put in a large amount of money into the project," said Gendo, "and not all of that was their own. There was considerable outside financial and technical support."

"From where?"

"Several shell companies and investment firms, enough to where I suspected SEELE was behind JA from the very beginning."

"As a competitor to the EVA? Ritsuko told me once there were concerns that JA would bleed off funding for NERV."

"That was never the real issue," continued Gendo. "JA wasn't intended to fight the Angels, not without a functioning AT Field. What we were more concerned with was that JA would become a way to police NERV once the Angels war was finished."

"How would that happen? As you said if JA had no AT Field then encountering the EVAs would be a one-sided affair."

"If SEELE was behind it," Gendo answered, " then it's possible SEELE at least was interested if there was a way to give JA some of the abilities of an EVA. The Evangelion isn't simply a physical object, however, it's a meta-physical one, capable of working within both the physical and other dimensions. There may have been efforts to employ such a capability with JA. But," Gendo concluded, "if they did so it would have required extensive work beyond that initial prototype."

"And considering that when JHCI went bankrupt all that was left of the project was that prototype in Old Tokyo and the technical information for it only," said Kaji. "If there was a further effort, it wasn't discovered."

"Then that might explain what you're facing now," said Gendo. "But Ritsuko wasn't ever able to find anything further and at the time we had higher priorities anyway."

"I see." Kaji took another sip of his tea and so did Gendo. Then Gendo asked him "how are my children?"

"Well, Shinji's in Japan at the moment. Using his stage name he's giving a concert in New Kagoshima City."

"He's done well," Gendo said.

"Have you heard from him directly?" asked Kaji.

"He doesn't write, although I get the occasional postcard every few months. I think that's progress."

"All it will take is time."

"And about Rei?"

Kaji wanted to fish out if Gendo knew anything about her disappearance without appearing to do so. "Has she contacted you recently?"

"No, not recently," said Gendo. "I received one letter prior to Christmas and nothing further. She mentioned an operation."

"She had one at the end of last year," said Kaji. "Regarding her fertility."

Gendo didn't seemed either disturbed or alarmed by what Kaji told him, except that he didn't say anything at all, which Kaji took to be a possible tell. "Since then she's had some complications, but nothing too serious."

"I see," said Gendo, "then I hope she's successful despite how difficult the challenges are."

Kaji studied Gendo in that moment, trying to find anything in his face or in his mannerisms that would indicate that the man knew something of Rei's fate beyond what he was saying (which was nothing). The trouble with doing that was Gendo Rokubungi, who was once Gendo Ikari, was very well versed in how to wear a mask to the outside world. One could call him a master craftsman of such masks.

"I'll take care to keep you informed to her progress. In the meantime if you think of anything regarding JA or anything else, please do me the favor to contact me. Wellington has my direct line."

"Thank you, director. I'll keep that in mind."

As Kaji left Gendo in his office he walked down the hallway and then out of the building. Once outside and out of earshot he picked up his mobile phone and called one number.

Koji answered. "Yes, boss!"

"Did you find anything else regarding Shoji Tokiwa?"

"Bad news on that front. I met with the coroner's office of Tokyo-2 district today. They were supposed to have taken dental impressions to ID the body, but apparently after taking them the information was lost in the mail and a backup copy was also not made. The body was cremated not long after the found it."

"Rather convenient," said Kaji dryly.

"It's pretty sketchy in that coroners's office. I'm sure about fifty-thousand Yen or so found their way to a new home somewhere along the way."

"Considering the timing of his disappearance corresponds to the increase of activity of the cult, I think we may want to start considering linking the two cases."

"Seriously? That would be bad."

"Can you pursue the issue please?" Kaji asked. "This is something of a hunch but after the meeting I just had I believe there may be some substance to it."

"I'll get on it."
"Any word from Lusty?"

"She's been welcomed into the group, and managed to get set up on an outgoing operation. Hoping that fishing line catches us something."

"Please be sure the sharks don't get her. Thanks." Kaji then hung up the phone.

In his office Gendo stared at the back of the door that Kaji had just left through. He waited a few moments to assure himself that Kaji nor anyone else would return, then took a long sip of his tea.

After setting down his cup, Gendo pulled out his desk drawer to again pick up the letter. He had also kept the outside envelope, to make sure it wasn't accidentally discarded and then picked up and analyzed by Alliance Intellgence or anyone else who saw fit to go through his trash, which he suspected happened on a regular basis.

Adjusting his eyeglasses, he read the letter one more time silently to himself. Dear Commander, I need to write you now as I am about to embark on a course of action that will be very misunderstood…

Erin spent all morning with the Virtual EVA, working on how to control the system with her body movements as well as how to interface with it to conduct defensive and offensive electronic attacks. The system had a way of using biofeedback to make the sensations haptic, where she could feel the unit respond when she did something, and while it took some time for her to work out the best way to control the unit by the time she had a groove Erin was able to even do some flips and have the Virtual EVA respond with quick movements in coordination. To her it was a bit like being back in the gymnasium, and that was a feeling she liked.

Finally spent out by one in the afternoon, Erin turned the system off and put away the controllers. She was sweaty and had already gone through several bottles of water (conveniently provided by the system room itself), and was in need of a rest. She put on her windsuit pants and runners and walked out of the control room. Much to her surprise standing in front of the doorway was Toji.

"Hey," he said quietly, smiling at her.

Erin was quite startled by this. "Oh, hi!" she said with her face blushing red. "Didn't expect to see you down here."

"They told me you were trying out the Virtual EVA, so I figured I'd have a look."

Erin was a little confused. "Did you see me inside there?" Instead of answering, Toji motioned to the wall and a video screen popped out. When it switched back on the interior of the Virtual EVA control room could be seen on the screen. "Been watching you for the last hour."

Watching me in my leotard no doubt. "Didn't know I was putting on a show."

"You've still got it," he said with a grin.

Erin smiled back. "It felt good, actually. I think I needed something familiar after all this." The two of them just stood and looked at each other for a few seconds. They both had things they wanted to tell the other, and while the bond they once shared was now broken, it wasn't entirely severed.

"You got a few minutes?" Toji asked her. "I wanted to show you something."

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess I do. Was going to get some lunch, though."

"If you can hold off a bit there's something I think you're gonna want to see."

The walk from the Virtual EVA control room to the surface deck of the GeoFront took about twenty minutes, and both Erin and Toji caught up with each other along the way.

"So," Erin asked first, "how was it going back home to Osaka?"

"Eh," clucked Toji. "I was looking forward to it at first but I can't say it's gone all that great."

"Why? What happened?"

"For starters, we're transfer students going into our 2nd year of high school. Just Hikari and I, so we knew nobody at the school. For me it wasn't so bad, I got on the B-Ball team right away, but Hikari-chan had some trouble fitting in."

"I guess she wasn't class rep there anymore, was she?"

"No, and it took a while for her to find a groove. She started in the Home Econ club, sort of a natural in her case, but got bored of it quickly and so she transferred to another club."

"Which one?"

"Junior business. She does much better there, in fact I think she's got a real knack for it. But in any case we're not going to stick around. We take this test next week and if we pass then we can skip the final year and then straight onto college. How 'bout you? Did you like your new school?"

"Oh, TNI is great!" said Erin. "Beautiful campus, lots of neat stuff. They have a MAGI system there and because of my experience at NERV-2 they've let me work with it."
"Cool! Did you steal any EVAs while you were there?"

Erin laughed. "Oh, no. No chance. Also I went with the ballet thing along with Rei and that went well."

"Oh, I would have liked to see that. Not gymnastics?"

"TNI doesn't have sports yet, it's too new. They do have performing arts, and everyone's required to have at least one so it was a good fit."

Toji then asked the big question. "Find any new boys?"

"Oh, jeez," said Erin. "That didn't go so well."

"Really? I would think you wouldn't have any trouble finding a guy there."

"Finding a guy was not the problem. Getting screwed over by a guy was."

The boy looked at Erin with great concern. "Seriously? Because knowing you that surprises me."

"Let's just say that if something feels too good to be true it probably is, and it was."

The two of them travelled through several more corridors, many of them poorly lit or some not at all, and then finally reached a steel staircase that took them two flights upward to the GeoFront's open interior.

"Surprised you still know your way around here," Erin quipped.

"I watched them build this so I know the way pretty well. Anyway, here we are."

After reaching the surface Erin saw what looked like an elaborate garden carefully laid out in the GeoFront's open interior space. The glade was not that large, perhaps fifty feet by fifty feet in dimension, but contained several fields of roses and other bright flowers, a large reflecting pool of water bordered by marble blocks, and in the center a round marble rotunda with several Greek-style columns holding up a polished white marble dome. Small birds flew through the glade, stopping briefly to drink from the reflecting pool and then fly on their way. Erin was quite amazed.

"What…what is this place?"

"Rei was the first to find it," explained Toji. "She had told Shinji about it when they were going up against the Angels. But it got trashed during whatever battles happened here. Rei mentioned it to Misato and she thought it might make a nice memorial if it was fixed up."

"Fixed up? This is a masterpiece!" Erin said as she twirled around the grounds. "Is this part of the Third Impact memorial?"

"No," Toji said. "No, this is just for us Pilots. Sort of a gift from NERV, you can say."

Erin explored the grounds, walking through the flower beds and seeing herself in the reflecting pool. She then walked over to the round temple, itself an exquisite work of white marble that looked perfectly shaped. As she felt the outer surface she saw steps and walked inside of the temple, and Toji followed her closely behind.

The interior was as beautiful as the exterior, and looking up Erin saw a fresco painting with classical angels (not the kind NERV had fought) all decorating the round dome. In the center were a smaller group of what looked like cherubim angels with little wings and cheery faces.

"It's beautiful," she said.

"Yeah," said Toji. "There's a bit more to it though." Erin wondered what he meant and he showed her what was carved into the inside walls of the temple.

I am hollow with loss and harrowed by pain,

yet here you stand, lightened of all strife,

at peace in the land of Paradise.

Erin read the inscription aloud, and then saw what else was carved not far from it.

MANA KIRISHIMA

She looked at Toji. "Wasn't that the girl that tried to infiltrate NERV in the beginning? Mari told me about her."

"Yeah," Toji said. "She was in the T-RIDEN-T unit when it was bombed. They never found a body."

Erin continued looking and noticed that there were three other names carved into the insides of the memorial.

KAWORU NAGISA

"Creepy Weird Angel boy," said Erin.

"They didn't mean that guy you ran into at SEELE-2. This was the first time around, 17th Angel."

"Why is he here? He wasn't one of us."

Toji tried to explain. "Well, yes and no. He was an EVA pilot, and he and Shinji had this rather…unusually deep relationship. In the end whatever he was, if he was an Angel or just a kid or both, he was just being used by those assholes. Just like Kirishima-chan was. So he belongs here."

Erin went along the interior further and found another name.

KENSUKE AIDA

This time Toji walked forward and put his palm next to the name, gently feeling the letters. "Hey," he said with familiarity, almost at a whisper. "How you doin?"

Erin took a deep breath and let it out slow. "I won't argue with this one."

"Yeah, no one will, "said Toji as he took his hand off the inscription. "He liked you, you know."

"What?!"

"At the end of everything I got his camera, and when I went through the photos your picture was there, right at the end of the image roll."

"How? I mean…"
"You don't remember? I guess I never told you. He bumped into you at the top of the GeoFront when you first showed up. He took photos on his way to get suited up, then just before he gets in the EVA he calls me from the cage and says 'met this really cute girl. I think she's Patrick's twin.' You were the last person on his mind."

"Great," Erin replied with resignation. "I finally meet a decent boy and I end up killing him."

"You didn't kill him."

"Didn't I? I just stood there and let it happen."

"You didn't do it," Toji admonished. "And the guys who did got what was comin' to them. End of story."

"I had my own part to play in that."

"And you've more than made up for that, Erin," said Toji.

"So what are you going to do now? Tell me to let it all go?"

"I'm not going to tell you. He is." Toji then pointed at the last name carved onto the memorial.

VANCE VINSON

Erin was shocked at the sight of the name. "But…but…why is his name here?"

"Same as all the others," Toji shrugged. "He's still a pilot after all."

"He tried to kill Rei! He tried to steal an S2!"

"Surprised you wouldn't stick up for him," said Toji. "I'd thought you'd be okay with him on a memorial like this."

"I…I…I don't know," Erin finally said with resignation. "I guess he belongs but…." Erin looked at the name carved into the marble. She had told herself that she could forget about Vance, that she could move on and give herself a new chance for happiness in a new life. But after months of trying to do exactly that she knew she still had a Vance-shaped hole in her heart, and it wasn't going away.

"Why did you date me?" Toji asked her.

"I thought you were pretty cute, kinda in a rugged sort of way," Erin told him. "And the timing was good."

"I admit you came along at just the right time. Hikari-chan and I were, well, she was still dealing with her turn piloting and all and got sort of too bossy there. And then you showed up."

"We were in the gym, basketball on one side…"

"and gymnastics on the other," Toji continued.

"And we had one heck of a summer," Erin finished, smiling at him. "But it couldn't last."

"I liked that summer. It was fun."

"You remember the first date?"

"I remember a girl who couldn't figure out why her soda bottle had a marble in it."

Erin laughed. "Oh, yes. That was so stupid and you just sat there and laughed at me."

"I think I made it up to you later that day. On the lake rowboat."

"Yes, you did. And I remember Tachibana too!"

"I remember you wearing a Yugata."

"You did, and I still have it! Tucked away somewhere. And you caught all those goldfish."

"I still have one of those…"
"Really?"

"Sakura-chan takes care of it. She's named it after you."

"But I made trouble for you and your family," said Erin in a more serious tone. "They clearly weren't happy we were seeing each other."

"Well, it's true they did prefer Hikari-chan. I mean, my dad and her dad do business together, and they were forming a company together. So we all hang out and stuff all the time and I guess that got all awkward. Then there was that even when we broke up she never stopped caring for my family. She'd still come over and bring lunch or something to dad and gramps and to Sakura-chan. She kept at it."

"And she kept at you, too."

"She did. Anyway, I guess we had a good run through. But why did you date me?"

"I just told you!"

"But there was one more reason why, wasn't there?"

"Like what?"

"Like I was the last guy in your old boyfriend's EVA unit."

"So?" Erin argued. "That doesn't make you him."

"But it brought you that much closer," Toji told her. "You didn't have to let him go if you could just pretend I was him for a while."

"You really thought so?"

"Don't you?" countered Toji. "Maybe it was just the way you looked at me, or how you'd drift if we started talking about what happened before. Kinda hoping he was still around."

"It is true," Erin said after a while. "If maybe the timing of things was different, he's still be around. He would have been twisted around like that."

"But he's not."

"No, he's not, is he?"

At this point with so memories flooding her mind Erin couldn't stand still anymore. She rushed towards Toji and embraced him. She didn't care that he was taken, she just wanted to be held by someone who she knew, who at least once loved her.

"I….I screwed up," she told him, fighting back tears. "I've made a mess of things! I always make a mess of things."

"Welcome to the club," Toji said as he put his arms around her and held her tight. "None of us get this stuff right."

"I want to go back to the way it was," Erin said. "I just want to go back."

"I know that feeling too. But…we can't do nothin' about it."

"What can I do?"

Toji took her and held her arms gently. "Maybe you're just doing too much. You're trying so hard to live all you can. Take a step back, take a breath. Be something for a change."

"Be something? But what am I?"

"You're beautiful," he told her. "Ain't that good enough for you?"

Erin couldn't reply, and instead pressed herself against Toji and buried her head in his chest and cried.

I recently saw Weathering with You, the latest Makoto Shinkai film and really loved it. Great story, great visuals, lots of heart and humor. Had such an impact on me that it made me want to be a better writer and that got me motivated. So off I went and banged out another chapter.

We get a couple of little scenes here that help color the background of the story. We see Gendo in his post-NERV career as a professor and find out he may still have some secrets of his own. And yes there's that twist with Erin and Toji. This wasn't something that I just threw in there, I had actually been working on a Erin/Toji paring for a while and playing with different scenarios. We only get a snapshot of what turned out to be a summer fling between them, but I thought it helped better develop both characters.

Next chapter is already in progress, hope to have it done soon. Things will definitely pick up as action is forthcoming. As always reviews are greatly appreciated.