While Shinji was dealing with the two Manas, Asuka and Rei were in their Evas arguing about how best to bring Shinji back. Between them floated the big puffy zebra-colored shadow of Leliel.
"If I spread my AT-field according to the inverse Sine-wave-" Asuka continued babbling and immediately lost everyone except Ritsuko, who began to get a dangerous gleam in her eye.
"Why don't we just drop all-of-our-N2-bombs-in-there-and-see-what-happens??" Misato's face nearly cracked from the size of the smile she wore.
"Are you crazy?!" Asuka screeched.
"I-get-asked-that-alot-actually..." Misato muttered turning to look at Gendo, who shrugged. The man knew better than to touch this conversation with a ten foot pole. Speaking of ten foot poles, while Asuka and Misato were arguing, Unit-00 had pulled an Eva-sized hat-pin from God knows where, walked up to Leliel's shadow, and popped it like a balloon. She made sure to catch Shinji and the two Manas before they could fall to the ground. Nobody noticed, but as the pool of inky blackness that was Leliel slowly contracted and faded away, it coalesced into a small female form which stumbled over and collapsed against a weapons building.
"I... see." Mana said, looking down at the ground. "He said he'd wait for me..."
"And he did!" Fate exclaimed, putting her hand on the girl's shoulder. "The Shinji from your reality waited for you, for over a year, even. Then he got a call from Misato in Germany saying that Asuka had gone into a depression and had even tried to commit suicide. You know how Shinji is, he went over there immediately, and, well, it's not like they have the most romantic relationship in the world, but they're happy."
"Hah," Mana swiped at her eyes a little, preemptively combating the wetness building up. "...and I guess it doesn't matter anyway. If you sent me back there, Section Two would eventually find me and put me in jail if I tried to contact him."
"Yeah," Fate smiled, happy that the girl had come to such a conclusion without her having to make something up. "I could try to find another reality for you, one in which there's a Shinji waiting for you..."
Mana shook her head, hearing the doubt in Fate's voice. "Don't try to cheer me up. Didn't you tell me how hard it is to find something like that? For all you know, you'll send me to a worse reality than this one..."
Fate coughed delicately. I don't think there's a more screwed up reality than this one, but whatever you say...
"Besides, this reality's Shinji seems nice..." she gestured over to where the boy was standing, surrounded by his entourage. "Atleast those girls think so. They can't all be wrong..." She put on a gentle smile, smoothed her white sun-hat, and walked over to join the heated group discussion.
Good luck... Fate thought with a sigh, then shook her head slightly. Wait, what am I saying? She's one of my rivals now! She adjusted her guitar case on her back and followed after her look-a-like.
Shinji-and-friends were currently standing around outside a rather upscale beef-bowl-joint (if such a place exists), and the mood was festive (if you play with the definition of 'festive' just a tad).
"If Shinji has learned how to control his Charm, why are we all still here?" Hikari asked, her arms crossed. In fact, they all knew the answer to that question already, but none were willing to voice it. Rei (who liked the boy even without his Charm) was standing beside him, and the girl somehow managed to convey the happiness she felt without actually smiling or making any facial expressions (Rei is just like that, but I digress). Asuka (who by this point had become addicted to the feelings she got when his Charm was turned on) was standing to his other side, looking side-long at Rei with not a little jealousy. Hikari was standing off to one side trying to sort out her true feelings, and was wishing she and Shinji were alone so it would be easier.
Shinji noticed Mana and Fate approaching, and he smiled and waved, relieved at the interruption they provided. "Hi Mana! ...and... Fate...!" Two jealous heads turned, and Rei watched with curiosity. Mana blushed, and Fate smirked.
"Hey!" Asuka exclaimed, ever alert, "where did you two go when you were sucked into that Angel?"
"Ah," suddenly Shinji was not so happy for the new arrivals. "...t-to the post-Third-Impact reality!" he said in a most unconvincing manner. In truth he was not sure himself where he had gone.
"You're just making stuff up!" Asuka ranted. As the two of them got into a rousing argument, a black-haired female peeked her head around the corner of a building some distance away. Rei felt a tingle in her Angelic heart of hearts and went to investigate.
Rei eventually found the girl.
"You are an Angel," Rei said, surprise in her voice. The girl was dressed in a simple gray blouse with a yellow pullover sweater, wore round-framed glasses, and had long black hair which hung over her shoulders. "...and you like Ikari," she continued, following the girl's gaze. The girl nodded, pushing her two index fingers together in an embarrassed way.
How odd, thought Rei.
"I want the truth!" Asuka shrieked. "You two went 'somewhere' and did 'something' didn't you??"
"What!?" Shinji exclaimed.
Mana stepped forward and slapped Asuka across the face, and the redhead fell back a few paces, her hand on her cheek, the other shaking finger pointing at the brown-haired girl. "...whuh, guh... If you didn't look so helpless, I'd teach you a lesson!" Actually Asuka was unsure if this Mana even knew any martial arts.
"Asuka, I think it's kind of hypocritical of you to be accusing her of doing 'something,'" Hikari said rather crossly. "After all, you and Shinji have already..."
"Don't you dare say it!" Asuka yelled desperately, waving her arms up and down.
"I can tell you where they went," a quiet voice spoke into the sudden lull in the conversation.
All eyes turned to the black-haired new-comer Rei had brought.
"Who are you?" Hikari asked, curious.
"Mayumi Yamagishi," the girl answered shyly.