Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Chapter Seven
Hikari's heart hammered as she waited outside the nurse's office for her turn to get her blood drawn. She had hoped that the near disaster of the Jet Alone exhibition would have caused the "random" blood tests to be cancelled or at least delayed, but in all honestly she couldn't really give a reason why it should have.
It had just been such a miserable experience for her that felt she deserved something in return, even though she had long ago learned the world didn't work that way. She had had to sit in the shelter, not feeling so much as a twitch from her sixth sense for the Angels, having no idea what was going on and thus being unable to help. Nozomi's excited whispers urging her to put on her costume anyway hadn't helped the situation, either.
"Horaki Hikari!" the school nurse called.
Hikari walked inside the nurse's office, doing her best not to look visibly nervous. She didn't succeed, judging from the sympathetic look the elderly nurse gave her, probably thinking she was afraid of needles.
"This will just take a minute," the nurse said, picking up a long, thin piece of rubber. "Roll up your sleeve, please."
Hikari obediently did so, and the nurse tied the rubber strip tightly around her arm, causing blue veins to become clearly visible beneath her pale, freckled skin. Hikari watched intently as the nurse pierced the soft inside of her elbow, the little glass vial attached to the needle filling up with the ruby liquid that could identify her as Spirit.
Such a little thing, Hikari mused, to expose such a huge secret.
If someone managed to catch her changing into her costume before a battle, she would have been very distraught but not terribly shocked. Hikari had always deemed that the greatest risk, the mostly likely way for her to be exposed. But that her very DNA could betray her secret identity…she had never given it so much as a thought the first time she put on her mask.
"Ow!" Hikari shouted, jerking violently and sending the needle and vial clattering to the tiled floor, along with various other medical paraphernalia from a tray that was located on a table near her.
"Gomen!" Hikari said quickly, rushing to kneel down to pick up all the things she'd knocked over.
"Not your fault," the nurse said. "I must have jiggled the needle or something. My hands aren't as steady as they used to be, and I have been doing this for hours already. Your whole arm is probably going to be bruised, I'm afraid."
"I'll survive," Hikari said, handing her the things she'd picked up.
"Arigato," the nurse said, then studied the vial intently for a moment. "Fortunately, it looks like I managed to get enough before I hurt you. You can go, Horaki-san."
Hikari bowed respectfully and then departed the office, noting how nervous several of her fellow students now looked thanks to her cry of pain. She ignored them and headed back to class.
On the way back, she passed a garbage can. After taking a quick look around to make sure no one was around, Hikari tossed away the vial with her blood in it, smiling triumphantly.
Earlier that morning…
Hikari sighed heavily as she went about the task of making breakfast, all too aware that this was the day Rei had said the blood tests would be occurring. Despite spending long hours trying to come up with a way out of it that wouldn't arouse suspicion, she'd thought of absolutely nothing.
It was ironic; she had escaped from the elaborate trap NERV had lain for her on the rooftop, only to see no way out of a much more mundane means of capture.
She had even asked her sisters for advice on how to avoid or fool the test. Nozomi had had plenty of ideas, but, unfortunately, all of them involved either kung-fu or Spirit blowing up every school in Tokyo-3. Kodama had simply said that she'd see what she could do, and then never brought it up again. Hikari suspected that her older sister felt like she was getting what she deserved for recklessly playing superhero.
As if summonsed by the thought of her, Kodama entered the kitchen, carrying a small box which probably contained some of her lab equipment.
"Nee-chan," Hikari said, "Dad's already left. Could you please call me in sick today?"
"Why?" Kodama asked. "Are you feeling ill?"
Hikari gave her an incredulous look. "Today's the day of the blood test, remember?" she said. "If they take my blood, they'll learn that I'm Spirit."
Kodama grinned. "Well then, we'll just have to prevent them from getting your blood, won't we, Hikari-chan?"
"Nee-chan?" Hikari asked.
Kodama placed the box she'd carried into the kitchen with her on the table and opened it, revealing some medical equipment. The eldest Horaki girl rolled up her sleeve and tied a strip of rubber around her arm, pulling the knot taut with her teeth while Hikari just watched, confused.
"Tokyo-3 Junior High will be getting my blood instead of yours," Kodama said, wetting a cotton ball with some hydrogen peroxide and then rubbing a small circle of it on her forearm.
"Nee-chan…won't they know?" Hikari asked, starting to feel cautiously optimistic despite herself. "That it's your blood and not mine?"
"Nope," Kodama answered with a grin as she carefully inserted the needle and watched the vial begin to fill. "The Japanese DNA database doesn't hold whole genomic sequences, just certain select groupings. Saves money, but it means they can't track DNA beyond the family bloodline. Government can't tell my blood apart from your blood—or at least, what your blood's supposed to be like—without more tests than they've already done."
"How do you know all this?" Hikari asked. "I mean, I know you're smart, but you study chemistry, and not even organic chemistry. This isn't exactly your field."
"A friend of mine who's a criminology major owed me a favor," Kodama explained.
Hikari's brow twitched. "Did you tell her…?"
"Of course not," Kodama scoffed. "I didn't really tell her much of anything. She probably assumes that me or someone I know…"
Kodama grabbed a pen that she had behind her ear and held the end without the point to her lips like it was a cigarette…or something a bit more illegal.
"…and is trying to avoid getting caught by a blood test," she finished. "Which actually isn't that far off, I guess. It's just what we're trying to conceal that she's probably got the wrong idea about."
Kodama, apparently judging that enough blood was inside the vial, pulled the needle out of her arm and affixed a band-aid to the small puncture in her flesh. She then handed Hikari the vial.
"There. Now, if you can manage to pull off the old switcheroo today, you'll be in the clear, at least for the moment," Kodama said.
Hikari swallowed, feeling her eyes suddenly become liquid. She was hit by a surge of gratitude and adoration for her older sister, accompanied by a wave of shame for the less than positive way she'd been thinking about Kodama ever since her sisters had found out that she was Spirit.
"You're the best older sister a girl could ever ask for, nee-chan," Hikari said softly.
Kodama smiled sadly. "We both know that's not true, Hikari-chan," she said. "But I do try and help you whenever I can, which isn't often enough."
Hikari looked at the glass tube of her sister's blood. "It is enough, nee-chan," she said. "Arigato."
The Present…
Feeling more relieved than she had since she managed to shield Toji and Mari from flaming debris just in time, Hikari cheerfully walked back to her classroom. Having students constantly going in and out had disrupted class to the point that Sensei had ceased trying to give his morning Second Impact lecture and simply allowed the students who were present free time.
Most of the students were chatting away in small groups, which the class rep in Hikari couldn't help but find extremely irksome. She didn't even bother trying to restore order, however, and instead walked straight toward someone she usually avoided.
"Hello, Yuki," Hikari greeted the sycophant as cheerfully as she could.
"Hello, Hikari-san!" Yuki responded enthusiastically. "Are we still on for the anime convention this weekend?"
"Hai," Hikari replied. "But, I have a small problem. I was hoping to cosplay at this convention, but I can't run to the costume shop and get what I wanted. Today's the only day when I would have had time, but a…family's issue's come up."
Hikari saw Yuki's eyes light up; clearly the girl saw the opportunity to get the class rep indebted to her. "Oh, that's no problem at all, Hikari-san!" she said. "I was planning on running down to a costume shop myself right after school. I can pick up something for you."
"Arigato," Hikari said with a small bow. "I'll give you some money to buy my costume with."
"It's no trouble at all," Yuki said. "So, who do you want to go as?"
"Spirit," Hikari answered.
Yuki grinned. "You like her, too, huh?" she asked. "I was thinking about going as her myself, but I'd already settled on Lina Inverse. Anyway, I'll buy it this afternoon and I can give it to you tomorrow at school."
Hikari thanked Yuki again, then went over to the back of the room, where Shinji and Rei were sitting quietly.
It had been Nozomi who had suggested that NERV might be keeping track of who was buying Spirit costumes. Hikari had believed the idea was absurd at first; Spirit had become almost mind bogglingly popular with the cosplayers of Tokyo-3. Surely, she'd thought, keeping track of all those costumes would be impossible.
Then she remembered that NERV had the MAGI at its disposal. Kodama had told Hikari that the sixth generation supercomputer her university had could easily keep track of all those purchases and raise a red flag if someone bought an unusually large number of costumes. To the MAGI, a seventh generation supercomputer, the task would doubtlessly be child's play.
So when Yuki had invited her to an anime convention, Hikari had decided to seize the opportunity.
She still wasn't quite sure whether or not she was going to make up some excuse to get out of going, though. She had absolutely no desire to go to the convention with Yuki, but making the girl buy her a costume and then bailing on her would just be mean.
It's not like I hate the idea of going to a convention and cosplaying, Hikari thought. Really, I've always wanted to give it a try. But being alone with Yuki for hours on end…
She smiled as inspiration suddenly struck her. "Shinji, Rei, are you two doing anything this weekend?"
The First and Third Children shared a quick glance before they both turned to her with a questioning look.
"Nothing? The tests failed to turn up anything?" Gendo asked from behind his entwined hands.
Even Kozo Fuyutski couldn't help but feel the urge to squirm beneath the force of Ikari's amber tinted glare, but unlike most, he was able to control said urge. Barely.
"Well, not nothing," Fuyutski said. "They did find a number of students who were using drugs."
Gendo all but rolled his eyes at that statement. "We are not interested in that, Sensei. The tests completely failed to identify Spirit?"
Fuyutski nodded. "I'm afraid so. A few children were absent and will be tested later, but there's no real chance that one of them is Spirit. I had Section Two do a little digging on the girls. All of them were accounted for during at least one of Spirit's appearances."
"Which leaves us with very few possibilities," Gendo said. "Either the girl isn't in the public school system, or her blood shows no sign of her Angelic traits when she's not using her powers."
"I doubt it's the latter," Fuyutski said. "Shall I start compiling a list of all girls of the right age that are being homeschooled in the city?"
Gendo considered for a long moment. "No," he said at last. "We will continue to keep an eye out for her through the MAGI and Section Two, but there will be no more active attempts to find her for the moment. She's been quiet for a long time now. It's likely that her confrontation with Ramiel and misadventure on Yoshimata Tower has dissuaded her from pursuing her foolish games any longer."
Fuyutski nodded with approval, glad that Gendo wasn't planning on any further drastic measures to capture the winged girl. The failed trap for Spirit had cost so much money to set up that the repairs on Unit Zero's armor would be delayed for at least a week or two.
"But…what if she makes another appearance?" Fuyutski had to ask.
"Then we will just have to seize any opportunities as they come," Gendo said.
Shinji Ikari tried very hard to never offend anyone, and that meant always being as punctual as possible. His habits of preparing for every appointment early—neurotically early, one might argue—had mostly served him well in his short life.
At the moment, though, he really wished that he was a bit more lax about these things and had waited to put on his costume.
"Are you sure the character you're going as is a guy?" Misato asked for what felt like the hundredth time, grinning wickedly.
"Yes!" Shinji exclaimed. "Stop teasing me!"
Misato giggled, silently wondering if her charge would be willing to let her take a picture of him. He looked hilarious in the white hakama, purple gi, and long red wig. The plastic sword at his hip and the crossed shaped "scar" he'd drawn on his face were somehow the icing on the cake.
"Gomen, Shinji-kun," Misato said. "But you do look a little silly."
Shinji sighed and decided to let that one go. Partially because he felt a little silly, and partially because he had come to view Misato in a slightly different light since the Jet Alone incident. He'd begun to believe that his guardian was nothing more than a drunken party animal who just happened to have a talent for coming up with insane but effective tactics to use against the Angels. But, her incredibly courageous actions in the face of the Jet Alone disaster had shattered those beliefs.
He looked up to tell her that it was no big deal, caught sight of her loading a roll of film into a camera, and promptly decided it wasn't too early for him to head for the bus stop.
"I'm heading out! Bye, Misato!" he said, dashing out of the apartment before she could respond.
He was out of the building in moments, and soon heading down the street for the bus stop where he and the two girls were supposed to meet. Shinji felt quite absurd walking down the street in the getup he had on, but he didn't dare wait until arriving at the convention hall to change.
The Third Child tended to underestimate his own importance and how shocked and awed most people would be of him for piloting EVA. However, even he knew that it would be a bad idea to let a building full of anime fans discover that the pilot of a giant robot walked among them. Hence, the "disguise."
He arrived at the bus stop, and was unsurprised to see that neither Hikari nor Rei was present; he was almost twenty-five minutes early, after all.
An old lady holding a grocery bag was in the glass booth, however. She gave the costumed teenager a long, disapproving look before she turned her eyes back toward the street.
Shinji let out a soft sigh. He really wished Hikari hadn't asked them to do this, but he'd felt like he couldn't say no. After all, Hikari had been his only friend for a good while, and she was directly responsible for him getting closer to Rei as well. And if Yuki was as bad as Hikari claimed, Shinji could understand why the class rep didn't want to go with just her.
Of course, why Hikari had even agreed to go with Yuki at all if she didn't like her mystified Shinji. But the Third Child just assumed it was one of those things that the opposite sex did which he would never be able to understand.
He waited silently, wishing his crazy costume had enough pockets for him to have brought his SDAT with him. Finally, after what felt like hours, he spotted Hikari approaching, dressed as Spirit.
Shinji winced as he took in her costume; the resemblance between her and Spirit was terrible. Hikari had obviously done some quick and dirty alterations to her costume, adding fabric to raise the bust line and lower the hem of the skirt, showing her usual modesty. She had dyed her hair silver, but it was a metallic silver, quite unlike Spirit's actual hair color. The fact that she was still wearing her usual pigtails didn't help the illusion, either. The fake wings Hikari was wearing were made from metal wire and some kind of white, mesh-like fabric. They were far too small and too round, looking like they'd go better with a fairy princess costume than a Spirit outfit.
"Hello, Shinji," Hikari greeted as she drew near. "What do you think of my costume?"
"It's, uh, nice, Hikari," Shinji replied.
Hikari beamed as though his obviously rather insincere compliment was more than she'd hoped for. Shinji just shook his head, confused.
"I'm glad you think so," Hikari said. "After all, you're one of the few people that's ever actually seen her."
"I never got a good look at her, really," Shinji said.
Hikari shrugged. "Still, you've at least gotten a look at her, unlike most people."
"Oh, look, there's Rei," Shinji said, gesturing toward the approaching First Child.
Rei had obviously put far less effort into her cosplaying than either Hikari or Shinji. In fact, all she seemed to have done was bought the costume Hikari had suggested and put it on. Yet despite this, Rei still looked more like the character she was imitating than either of her friends.
The fact that she had already somewhat resembled KOS-MOS probably helped.
"Hello, Rei-san," Shinji greeted with a polite bow.
"Hi, Rei," Hikari said.
Rei nodded to both of them, hesitated a moment, and then said, "I still do not see the point of this activity."
She said it in her usual toneless voice, but the First Child had a slightly sheepish expression that nearly made Hikari laugh out loud. There was just something cute and endearing about it. Even Shinji grinned.
"It's supposed to be fun, Rei," Hikari said. "But if you still don't get it by the time we leave, it probably means that this sort of thing isn't for you."
"Understood," Rei said.
The bus to the convention center arrived a moment later, and the trio got on. Shinji was relieved to see that a few other cosplayers were already on the bus. They found seats near the back, with Hikari having to lean forward to avoid crushing her wings.
"So," Hikari spoke after the silence dragged on. She was usually the one in their little group to break the quiet. "Anything new going on?"
Shinji glanced around to see if anyone was watching them. When he determined that the coast was clear, he whispered, "I've heard that EVA Unit Two is supposed to be arriving from Germany with its pilot in a couple of weeks."
He knew Hikari always liked to hear about EVA, and he was only too happy to share what little he knew with her.
"Really? Who's the pilot?" Hikari asked.
Shinji shrugged. "Some girl named Soryu. They won't tell me anything beyond that or even let me see a picture of her."
They reached the convention center a few minutes later, finding Yuki waiting for them in an elaborate Lina Inverse costume. "Hello, Hikari-san," she said cheerfully.
Her smile turned a bit brittle when she turned to Shinji and Rei, however. Obviously, she had wanted to get the class rep alone for a while. "Ikari. Ayanami. How nice to see you," she said. "The more the merrier."
The group went inside, where hundreds of anime fans, many of them also in costume, were going from booth to booth. Shinji was amazed at the number of fans cosplaying as Spirit; easily a third of the girls present were dressed as the mysterious heroine.
"Ikari, what do people do at these functions?" Rei asked while Yuki was talking animatedly to Hikari.
He shrugged. "Walk around, talk with other fans, buy anime, commission the artists to make a quick sketch for you, that sort of thing."
"But I do not watch anime," Rei said.
Shinji just shrugged, realizing he was more or less in the same boat. He had used to watch the occasional show, but they had almost all been giant robot anime. Ever since he had been introduced EVA, such shows had lost their appeal to him.
The group proceeded a little deeper into the mass of fandom, not stopping until Yuki spied a certain area that had been devoted to one thing.
"Hey, look! There's an Evangelion section!" Yuki said, pointing.
Indeed there was. A sizable bit of floor space had been roped off just for EVA related things, with man-sized models of Units Zero and One standing at either side of the entrance. Shinji was impressed and disbelieving at the same time as he looked at them. Whoever had made them had done a good job; they were actually fairly accurate to the real EVA Units, which was no small feat, considering that NERV did everything in its power to keep people from ever so much as laying an eye on the things. Yet part of him couldn't believe someone would go to so much effort over EVA, terrible, frightening things that they were.
Yuki laughed. "Let's check it out!"
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Hikari said warily. "Aida might well be in there. He's a huge fan of EVA. He might expose Shinji and Rei if he sees them."
"I don't see him there," Yuki said, squinting as she peered into the EVA section.
Hikari looked at Shinji and Rei. Shinji just shrugged. Rei made no reply.
"All right, let's go," Hikari said.
They walked into the EVA section, taking in everything there. Unlike all the other stuff present, there was no such thing as Evangelion merchandise, so everything there was hand made by fans. Still, there were numerous small figurines of the EVA Units fighting the Angels on several tabletops. A number of pictures of the EVA Units taken by people that were crazy or stupid enough to leave the shelters were also present.
Yuki laughed as she saw a table where someone was selling EVA key chains. She picked up one with a chibi Unit One and showed it to Shinji. "What do you think? You want one?"
Shinji made a face. "Um, no, thank you."
He almost added, "I get more of EVA than I want already," but stopped himself just in time.
They eventually left the EVA section, but they didn't roam around aimlessly for very long after that. Instead, they soon found the Spirit section.
Much like the EVA section, a pair of statues stood at the entrance, both of Spirit. However, whoever had made these was clearly under the impression that Spirit was about 25 years old, and far more well endowed than she actually was. Shinji snickered softly as they drew near. Unnoticed by everyone, Hikari blushed at the sight.
The pickings in this section were much slimmer, probably due to the fact that it was much harder to get a good picture of a flying girl than a giant robot. There were a few blurry photos here and there, along with doll versions of Spirit fighting more Angel figurines.
The Spirit section did have one thing that the EVA section didn't though.
"'Exclusive, close-up video of the beautiful and powerful Spirit, up for auction at three o'clock,'" Yuki read off a nearby sign. "'Bidding starts at 5,000 yen.'"
Exclusive close-up video of Spirit? Hikari thought with a frown. But who could possibly have such a…uh-oh!
She figured it out a second too late.
"Oh my god!" Kensuke shouted.
The otaku was sitting behind one of the tables, dressed as Jean from Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water, a part he was even better suited for than Rei was for KOS-MOS.
Shinji made a rather frantic gesture for him to keep quiet, but Kensuke didn't seem to notice. "It's the EVA pilots!" he shouted, pointing.
"Oro?" Shinji blinked.
"Aida!" Hikari barked in her best class rep voice, causing Kensuke to wince.
But it was impossible for him to take back his exclamation, and already, everyone within at least twenty meters was looking at Shinji and Rei. Shinji swallowed; this was exactly what he was hoping wouldn't happen.
"Just deny it," Hikari whispered to Shinji. "They're probably incredulous enough as it is. If you say you're not the pilots—"
"RUN!" Yuki shouted.
The crowd of fans immediately began to converge upon the four teenagers, but they were just a bit too quick for the fans. Shinji, Rei, Hikari, and Yuki all broke out into a spirit, vaulted over some of the ropes that separated the Spirit section from everything else, and were making a break for the doors with over a hundred screaming fans behind them.
"Section Two must be outside," Shinji panted as they ran. "If we can just get out of here, they'll help us escape."
"Then let's get out of here!" Yuki exclaimed.
"I believe that will be easier said than done," Rei spoke, not sounding the least bit out of breath.
The blue haired girl pointed to a man who was wearing paper mache EVA armor and standing in front of the main exit. He looked very determined to stop the pilots from escaping before he could get their autographs.
Without thinking, Shinji unsheathed his plastic katana and chucked it at the man. It flew through the air, spinning like a possessed pinwheel, and struck the man, the hilt of the toy weapon hitting him right behind the eyes. The man went down and tried to get back to his feet, but he was impeded by his bulky costume.
The four teenagers leapt over him, made it outside, and jumped into a waiting Section Two car.
"Go! Go!" Shinji shouted at the driver, who quickly floored it, peeling away with a screech of tires just as the huge flood of fans began to pour out the doors.
The four teenagers leaned back as the convention center faded from sight behind the car.
"I do not believe I wish to do this again," Rei said.
Hikari sighed. "I can't say I blame you. Sorry, guys."
Yuki giggled suddenly, and the others turned to give her confused looks. "I didn't know they trained EVA pilots to use swords! Hiten Mitsarugi style! Sword chuck!"
Shinji blinked stupidly at her, then, despite himself, he threw his head back and began to laugh.
Hikari just slapped her forehead and sighed.
Author's Notes: Part of me really wanted to have Spirit battle the JA. I mean, really, giant atomic battle robot just screams "comic book foe." However, I believe the incident was important for Shinji and Misato's relationship. And since Spirit's already inadvertently kept him from becoming friends with Toji and Kensuke, I didn't want her to further harm his relationships with other characters.
This chapter felt a bit clunky to me, probably because I wrote it in an attempt to keep the pacing of the story from getting too hectic. I'm on the fence as to whether Hikari will participate in the next Angel battle, and if I decide that she won't, I don't want to jump straight from Ramiel to Israfel in the space of two chapters.
Inverness, I must admit that your interpretation of that particular line makes more sense than mine does. It seems I've meddled with cannon more than I had intended. Unfortunately, that scene was rather important, and I was building up to it for a while, so I'm not going to change it. Also, I'd rather not have Spirit "evolving," partly because I'd find it very hard to resist the temptation to make her stupidly powerful, and partly because I think it would freak Hikari out. Spirit's lack of new powers may be a plot point toward the end, though.
NefCanuck, I think if the pilots are seen buying costumes, it would cause problems, too. Hence, what happened in this chapter. The idea of Shinji buying Spirit costumes had too much potential hilarity for me to ignore, though (check the omakes).
Orionpax, Hikari's not too keen to let anyone else in on her secret. And since Shinji's so bad at keeping NERV's secrets, she really doesn't want to let him know, I'm afraid.
As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.
All right, now for some fun.
Omake
I forgot to put this in the last chapter
With a grunt of effort, the chemistry major picked up the eleven-year-old. Nozomi squealed, snatching up the remote a moment before Kodama could. The eldest Horaki girl responded by unceremoniously dumping Nozomi back onto the couch, and the two began to wrestle for the remote.
As Kodama and Nozomi fought, one or both of them hit one of the buttons to scroll through the channels.
"The economic situation—"
"Mixers are on sale NOW for only—!"
"Hey there, kids! I'm—"
"For a limited time only—"
"Rise Shining Gund—!"
"Bow chica wow wow—"
"Live at the Tokyo-2 Dome—!"
"Wait!" Hikari barked, abruptly causing the fight on the couch to pause.
"What is it, Hikari-chan?" Kodama asked, even as she retained her death grip on the remote.
"Go back a few," Hikari ordered.
Kodama and Nozomi traded a glance, then both seemed to shrug. Nozomi let go of the remote, and Kodama obediently began to scroll back through the channels.
The eldest Horaki girl quickly found the channel which had caught Hikari's interest. She immediately snapped off the TV upon finding it.
"Kami-sama," Hikari breathed reverently.
"We get the Playgirl channel!" Kodama exclaimed.
"But…why?" Hikari asked, her eyes wide.
Kodama shrugged. "Either there was a mistake at the cable company, or Dad really does love us!" she said. "Who cares? Did you see the size of—?"
"What's the Playgirl channel?" Nozomi piped up, confused.
Kodama and Hikari traded a glance, then turned to look at the only prepubescent Horaki sister. Clearly, she couldn't be allowed to watch with them, which meant only one thing.
"Time for bed!" Hikari and Kodama shouted simultaneously, each grabbing Nozomi under one arm and picking her up, sprinting to the little girl's room.
"But it's only eight o'clock!" Nozomi protested.
"You're a growing girl! You need your sleep!" Kodama and Hikari shouted, still oddly in synch.
They literally flung Nozomi into her bedroom, barricaded the door so she couldn't get out, and rushed back to the TV.
What if Hikari got Shinji to buy costumes for her?
Shinji swallowed nervously as his eyes darted around his Father's office. The room's great size, the dim light, the strange and vaguely menacing patterns on the floor and ceiling…all of it seemed designed to intimidate.
And it worked. On him at least.
"Pilot Ikari," Gendo spoke up, leaning his face on his entwined hands as usual. "Section Two reported that you went into a costume shop yesterday and purchased a half dozen Spirit costumes."
"I wasn't aware that was a crime," Shinji replied, his right hand twitching in that nervous tic of his.
"Who did you purchase these costumes for?" Gendo demanded.
Shinji could feel sweat running down the back of his neck. Hikari had entrusted him with her secret; he couldn't tell. If he told, she would doubtlessly be taken to NERV and be treated like some kind of lab rat. At best!
But how could he explain his unusual purchase?
"I'm waiting, Pilot Ikari," Gendo said threateningly.
"They're…they're for my girlfriend Hikari to wear! When we…you know," Shinji stammered, blushing heavily. "It's a fetish of mine, all right?! I've been really attracted to Spirit ever since she helped me kill the Fourth Angel, and Hikari said she'd be willing to dress up as her. The reason I bought so many is because, well, I expect that we'll get them…stained."
He's never going to buy that, Shinji thought, feeling mortified at having made such an absurd and perverted claim.
Gendo lowered his hands, revealing his face. To Shinji's immense shock, his father was smiling.
"That's my boy," Gendo said proudly. "I should've known you had it in you, son."
He…he actually called me 'son,' Shinji thought, feeling overjoyed to have gotten his father's approval, even if it was with a lie.
"I remember when your mother was alive," Gendo said wistfully. "We used to role play all the time."
Well, there goes that good feeling, Shinji thought.
"Uh, Father…"
"She would dress up as Sailor Moon, and I'd be Tuxedo Mask," Gendo continued, apparently too lost in memories to have heard Shinji. "Sometimes we'd trade costumes."
Shinji's face turned a rather vivid shade of green at that piece of information. "Father, may I go now?" he asked desperately.
Gendo waved a hand dismissively, and Shinji bolted out of the office, in search of a toilet where he could deposit the contents of his stomach.
What if Hikari got Shinji to buy costumes for her? (Take two)
Shinji swallowed nervously as his eyes darted around his Father's office. The room's great size, the dim light, the strange and vaguely menacing patterns on the floor and ceiling…all of it seemed designed to intimidate.
And it worked. On him at least.
"Pilot Ikari," Gendo spoke up, leaning his face on his entwined hands as usual. "Section Two reported that you went into a costume shop yesterday and purchased a half dozen Spirit costumes."
"I wasn't aware that was a crime," Shinji replied, his right hand twitching in that nervous tic of his.
"Who did you purchase these costumes for?" Gendo demanded.
Shinji could feel sweat running down the back of his neck. Hikari had entrusted him with her secret; he couldn't tell. If he told, she would doubtlessly be taken to NERV and be treated like some kind of lab rat. At best!
But how could he explain his unusual purchase?
"I'm waiting, Pilot Ikari," Gendo said threateningly.
"They…they make me feel pretty, all right?!" Shinji shouted. "Is that so horrible?!"
Gendo slammed his face down on his desk. He would need to have a long talk with Shinji's uncle.
Damn it, I wanted the kid meek and antisocial. I didn't want him to be a cross dresser!