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 Ten
"They tried to nuke you!" Kodama snapped.
"They didn't try to nuke me," Hikari sighed in exasperation. "They nuked the Angel. I just happened to be nearby at the time."
"Oh, that makes me feel so much better," Kodama said sarcastically. "You were almost collateral damage!"
"But I'm fine!" Hikari protested. "There's not a scratch on me, and the Angel's dead. It all turned out all right."
Kodama rubbed her eyes, clearly losing patience as quickly as her sister. "Yes, but think about what could have happened if you hadn't seen everyone running away from the area!" she exclaimed. "It hurt the Angel. What would it have done to you?"
Hikari didn't answer, and Kodama sighed. "Why do you do this for NERV, anyway?"
"I don't do it for NERV!" Hikari spat, revolted at the very idea. "If it was just NERV in the line of fire, I wouldn't lift a finger. I do it for Shinji, and Asuka, and Rei, and the everyone in the city when you get down to it. Because if I just left it up to NERV, people could die. Lots of people could die! People would probably have died already if I didn't go out and help the Evangelions! If I can save lives, then I have to do it!"
Hikari's impassioned explanation of her motives left Kodama momentarily speechless, and the middle Horaki dared to believe that she'd won the argument.
"…they tried to nuke you!" Kodama snapped, gesturing frantically, as though she thought that Hikari somehow failed to comprehend this fact and she would see the light if only it would sink in.
Hikari's palm met with her forehead. "I'm going to school," she declared. "Have a good day at college, nee-chan. Nozomi-chan, let's go!"
The youngest sister quickly fell in step behind her, and the two left their home before Kodama could articulate another argument (which Hikari strongly suspected would be something along the lines of "They tried to nuke you!").
Nozomi didn't say anything as they walked to school, apparently sensing her older sister's dark mood, something Hikari was grateful for.
It wasn't as though she didn't understand why Kodama reacted the way she did to the tales of Spirit's romps. Goodness knew if Kodama—or, even worse, Nozomi—had suddenly developed super powers and started fighting the Angels, Hikari would have been having fits. Yet even knowing that didn't keep her from getting annoyed when Kodama tried to make her stop, despite Hikari's best efforts to keep her calm.
"All right," Hikari said as they arrived at school. "I'll see you later, Nozomi-chan."
She turned to leave but was stopped when Nozomi refused to release her hand. Hikari turned and gave her sister a questioning look.
"Nee-chan, next time an Angel attacks, please be careful, okay?" Nozomi asked in a whisper.
Blinking in surprise, Hikari just nodded. Nozomi responded by giving her a small smile and heading for the elementary school, having made a far greater impression on Hikari than all of Kodama's shouting.
Nozomi had always been of the belief that Spirit was invincible, or so it had seemed. If the winged heroine's latest battle had freaked even her out…
I guess my close encounter with an instant sunrise was even more frightening than I believed, Hikari thought with a sigh.
Trying to put all these thoughts out of her head for the moment, Hikari made her way to class and sat down in her desk. Sensei arrived a few minutes later.
"Stand! Bow! Sit!"
Repetition was generally something Gendo Ikari liked. He was, after all, a manipulator, and he admitted to taking a certain amount of perverse pleasure in watching his puppets dance to his tune again and again. Indeed, it was one of the exceedingly few sources of pleasure he had in the bleak, post-Yui world.
As the Human Instrumentality Committee assembled in their holographic meeting chamber, however, déjà vu was not his friend.
"NERV's humiliation was total," Chairman Keel began without preamble. "The Seventh Angel was destroyed by the UN defensive forces and that Spirit girl again. All we have to show for the presence of the Evangelions is a repair bill large enough to bankrupt a small country."
"Fortunately, the censorship of the media is continuing to hold, for the moment at least," Yellow put in. "No one in the general public knows as yet that the N2 mine didn't finish the Angel."
"However, it's only a matter of time before this debacle becomes common knowledge," Red added. "And when it does…"
"The political repercussions will be significant," Green said.
"Therefore, we see no choice but to take action," Blue said. "We are cutting NERV's auxiliary budget by 10 percent, effective immediately."
"And we will have no choice but to cut NERV's budget further if there's another fiasco. You and your organization are on very thin ice, Ikari," Keel concluded.
Gendo's eyes narrowed behind his tinted glasses. It was obvious that the Committee wasn't going to budge on this issue. In fact, judging by how smoothly they'd all explained matters to him, he suspected they'd even rehearsed their little speeches.
Still, he at least had to make some kind of argument. Giving the appearance that he was willing to quietly capitulate to the Committee's decisions would be a fatal mistake.
"You do realize that this will delay the completion of the repairs to Unit Zero, don't you?" Gendo asked.
"Unit Zero has participated in exactly one engagement so far," Red sneered. "I hope you'll excuse us for not viewing its repair as a top priority."
"The rest of this meeting concerns only the Committee, Ikari," Blue spoke up. "As always, your presence has been appreciated."
Gendo nearly snorted a laugh. A lot of lies had been told in the virtual room, but none nearly so blatant as that.
"I suggest you do something about Spirit, Ikari," Chairman Keel said before the Committee vanished with a soft whoosh sound.
Once they were gone, Gendo slammed his fist down onto his desk in frustration, an emotional outburst he never would have allowed another soul to see.
There was painfully little he could do in the short term. Spirit would never fall into another trap baited with the Suzuhara boy, and he was certain that another "random" series of blood tests would be as fruitless as the first.
But then again, Gendo never would have gotten anywhere in life if he could only plan for the short term. The Angel War would go on for some time, he knew, and sooner or later, Spirit's meddling would come to a painful end. Of this he was certain, this he would make sure happened.
"Hello, Hikari!" Asuka called cheerfully across the schoolyard.
Hikari looked up from where she was sitting with Shinji and Rei and saw the redheaded pilot. The class rep gave the two other EVA pilots a small smile before she got up and walked over to Asuka.
"Good afternoon, Asuka," Hikari greeted much more quietly.
It had been over a week since the Seventh Angel was destroyed, and in that time, Hikari had come to understand the Second Child a bit better.
She had reached the conclusion that Asuka had almost as much of a split personality than she did with Spirit.
Whenever Evangelion was involved, Asuka became this extremely defensive, fire breathing dragon that could lie with righteous indignation. Needless to say, Hikari wasn't very fond of Asuka when she got like this.
Unfortunately for Shinji, being the number two EVA pilot was apparently enough for Asuka to view almost anything that involved him as involving EVA as well. Hikari had observed Asuka being mean to Shinji more than once, and it was the main reason why she'd never invited Asuka to sit with them at lunch.
The rest of the time, however, Hikari tended to enjoy Asuka's company quite a bit. Granted, she was far more forward, more aggressive, and much more likely to tell people exactly what was on her mind than any girl raised in Japan, but (her policy of preemptive strikes against potential perverts aside) she wasn't downright nasty. In fact, she was actually like Spirit in some regards, especially when it came to their fearlessness in letting the men they desired know how they felt.
Of course, Spirit tends to be a lot more successful than Asuka, Hikari was unable to stop the rather catty thought, knowing how Kaji always shrugged off Asuka's advances.
"So, are you all ready for the school trip?" Asuka asked Hikari.
Hikari nodded. "Almost. I plan on being done with packing by tonight," she said. "I can't wait to go to Okinawa!"
Understatement of the century, Hikari mused. With everything that had been going on recently, she was in desperate need of a nice little vacation. Plus it had the added benefit of getting her out of the city for a while, which would be useful if NERV started looking for Spirit in earnest again.
"Me neither!" Asuka agreed. "I've been looking forward to this trip ever since I found out about it."
"I'm actually kind of surprised that NERV is letting you go," Hikari commented.
"It's only for a few days. I'm sure they wouldn't dare put us on permanent standby or anything stupid like that," Asuka said confidently.
"Well, in that case, I was thinking about going clothing shopping with Rei so we could pick up some new swimsuits for the trip and I was hoping that you could come," Hikari said.
Asuka scowled. "Why would I want to go shopping with her? After she snubbed me…"
Hikari shrugged. "It can be difficult to get to know Rei, but she's not a bad person or anything. Just a little…unusual. I was thinking maybe you two could get over starting off on the wrong foot."
"Hmph, I don't see why the Commander's favorite would need to go shopping," Asuka said, crossing her arms.
Hikari frowned. "Commander's favorite?"
"Yeah," Asuka said. "The Commander's her guardian, but not his own son's. It's obvious he likes her best. I'm sure she has a real cushy lifestyle."
"Asuka, I've been to Rei's place a few times to bring her homework to her," Hikari said. "It's a total dump in a very bad part of the city. Honestly, I'm surprised she hasn't been robbed or even worse."
Asuka's preconceived notions about Rei faltered in the face of that knowledge. Hikari could clearly see it on her face.
"Well what do you need me for, anyway?" Asuka asked.
"Oh, I guess we don't need you, but you have such great fashion sense, I'm sure you would be a big help, especially for Rei," Hikari said innocently. "I don't think she would really know what to buy."
Asuka's rather defensive posture relaxed as a smug grin spread over her face. "Hmm, well, I was planning on going shopping with Kaji tomorrow morning, but I guess I can make some time to give Ayanami a hand," she said magnanimously. "Kaji did say he could only stay with me until right after lunch."
"Great!" Hikari said, clasping her hands together. "How about tomorrow afternoon, then? We can meet up with you after Kaji leaves."
"That should work," Asuka said with a grin. "Hey, Hikari, you wanna come sit with me?"
Hikari glanced back toward Shinji and Rei. They had no one else besides her. Asuka, she knew, had an entire pack of fans and admirers. "No, thank you," she said with a slight bow. "I don't want to leave them."
Asuka shrugged. Her loss, she thought.
"All right, see you."
Hikari returned to the table where Shinji and Rei were sitting. Neither one inquired about her conversation with Asuka, so she turned to Rei and asked, "Say, what do you think about going shopping tomorrow?"
Rei blinked, caught by surprise. "That would be…agreeable," she answered, not sounding at all sure.
Hikari grinned.
Misato Katsuragi was a woman on a mission. Her mission was foolhardy in nature, possibly even reckless, but nevertheless she felt that it was necessary. And failing to do what was necessary was a fault that Misato Katsuragi had never been accused of.
At last she spotted her target loitering around near the bunch of vending machines on the ground floor of headquarters. She grimaced slightly at what she was about to do.
"Hello, Kaji," she called. "I've been looking for you."
As expected, Kaji's eyes lit up at her reluctant declaration and he gave her one of his patented sloppy grins. "Why, I'm delighted to hear you say that, Katsuragi!" he said. "Can I buy you a drink? Or maybe—"
"Cut the crap," Misato snapped, ignoring the treasonous little spark of attraction she felt. "This is business, not pleasure."
Kaji sighed theatrically, then abruptly grabbed the Operations Director and pressed her against the wall. Misato nearly lashed out at him on instinct and only stopped herself when she realized he wasn't trying to kiss her or anything.
"What do you want to know?" he whispered into her ear.
"Why is the brass so intent on killing Spirit?" Misato replied in kind. "I could understand them being a little peeved with her interference, but what happened last battle was far, far too much. Ritsuko's not telling me anything. I was hoping you knew something."
Kaji sighed. "I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you. But I intend to find one."
Misato arched an eyebrow, her suspicions about the "do nothing" NERV agent finally being confirmed with that statement.
"When you do, let me know," she instructed him.
Kaji's grin returned. "And what, my dear lady, will my reward be for acquiring this piece of information?"
"Your reward, Kaji-san?" Misato whispered, her voice taking on a breathy, seductive quality. "Why, your reward will be that you'll get to keep your family jewels."
Kaji, not quite sure how serious he was, was caught between rolling his eyes and shuddering. In the end, he opted to split the difference, sighing. "I see," he said. "Well, I'll let you know if I find anything."
He backed off, and Misato was mortified to see that one of the junior bridge technicians had entered the room at some point and was blinking dumbly at them.
"What are you looking at?" Misato snapped.
"Nothing, Captain!" the tech replied quickly, blushing as he fed his money into one of the machines.
With a huff, Misato stormed out of the room, leaving just Kaji and the tech. The unshaven man grinned. "Don't you just love it when they play hard to get?" he asked.
The tech just made a noncommittal noise in reply, grabbing his can of soda and beating a hasty retreat.
"So, that was fun," Hikari commented as the two of them walked towards Asuka's home laden down with shopping bags, having already dropped off Rei.
"Yeah, it was," Asuka agreed with just a touch of reluctance. "I have to admit that you were right about Ayanami, but something about her still rubs me the wrong way."
Hikari decided not to comment on that, judging that she'd done as much for the sake of harmony amongst the pilots that day as she was going to. Asuka's unflattering beliefs about Ayanami had been broken, and Rei had actually looked rather pleased by the experience, even going so far as to say that their little shopping spree was a "far superior activity" to the trip to the anime convention. Not that that was saying terribly much, but any visible expression of approval from Rei Ayanami was nothing to sneeze at.
"I still say that the swimsuit you bought was too conservative," Asuka commented, restarting their conversation. "After all, this is a school trip, but we won't be in class or anything. You should have gone with that bikini, and believe me, I wouldn't say that if you wouldn't look good in one."
Hikari could easily believe that, Asuka not being one to sugarcoat things, but the idea of showing off that much skin was just too embarrassing. She pictured herself in the red and white bikini Asuka had purchased for herself and blushed at the mere thought.
"Thanks, but I prefer the one piece," Hikari replied.
Asuka just shook her head. I don't get why she's so self-conscious. Her figure's almost as well developed as mine, but you wouldn't know it from the way she dresses most of the time, the Second Child thought, lying to herself just a teensy tiny bit about the differences between their bodies.
"Well, I'll see you later," Asuka said as they reached the front door of her apartment building.
The two girls exchanged a brief hug before parting ways, Asuka going into the building and Hikari walking off.
The class rep was nearly a block away when she heard a familiar voice.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T GO ON THE TRIP!" Asuka shouted loud enough for everyone with a 1.3 kilometer radius to hear her.
Hikari winced and hastened her pace away.
Scuba diving was a more interesting past time in the post-Second Impact world than it had been before that great cataclysm. Back in those golden days, divers hoped to stumble upon the lost city of Atlantis. In the current times, one had to sail far away from the coast to avoid lost cities.
With so much of human civilization lost beneath the tides, diving was an exercise in playing aquatic scavenger. Of course, most of the good stuff had been found and brought back to land years ago, but it still wasn't unheard of for someone to get lucky and find someone's diamonds.
Hikari had no such luck as she examined some of the submerged parts of the Okinawa Prefecture, trying not to recall the battle against the Sixth Angel all the while.
She was about to swim into another submerged house when her diving buddy tapped her on the back, pointing to the gauge on her air tank. She, like Hikari, was starting to run low. Hikari thought they had enough for a little further searching, but she didn't want to worry the other girl. She nodded and the two of them began to head up together.
Once they were above the surface of the water again, Yuki pulled out her mouth piece and took a deep breath. "Find anything?" she asked.
"Nothing interesting," Hikari replied. "Come on, let's head back."
Nodding, Yuki began to breast stroke back to the shore line along with Hikari. With the pilots stuck at Tokyo-3, Hikari had more or less been stuck with Yuki for the trip. They were even sharing a room at the hotel. Fortunately, Yuki wasn't sucking up to her nearly so much as usual, and the girl was actually fairly pleasant company as a result.
Upon reaching the hotel, Yuki went straight to the pool and lounged in a nearby chair. Hikari, however, was still very self-conscious about the abrupt changes her body had undergone following her first transformation into her angelic form. She headed up to their room first to change, donning a light summer dress before heading poolside.
"This is the life, isn't it, Hikari-san?" Yuki commented, stretching languidly.
"Yeah," Hikari agreed.
No schoolwork, no class rep duties besides having to count heads occasionally, no housework, and no Angels…this really is the life.
Not that she'd want to do this forever; boredom would set in very quickly if Hikari Horaki were ever to live in paradise, she was sure. Still, it was nice having absolutely nothing stressing her out for once and nothing to do besides sit in the sun.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Toji Suzuhara entering the pool area, along with Kensuke Aida.
Hmm, hold that thought.
As much fun as flirting with Toji as Spirit had proved itself, Hikari had long ago come to realization that she'd probably never get to do it again. After all, what good reason would she ever have to visit Toji in her winged form again? Probably none. Besides, she would definitely prefer that he like Hikari rather than Spirit.
So go over and talk to him, a voice in her mind urged.
Easier said than done, and besides, what would she say to him? Maybe she could keep it simple for the moment, ask him how he was enjoying the trip so far? That seemed doable enough.
She glanced over at Yuki, seeing that the other girl had fallen asleep and was snoring softly. Well, that just meant one less witness if she made a total fool of herself, Hikari decided.
The class rep took a deep breath and got up from her chair, approaching Toji and Kensuke. The two boys looked up as she drew near.
"Hello, Suzuhara," Hikari greeted.
"Uh, hey, class rep."
She heard that same nervousness in his voice, the fear of the class rep, that he might be in trouble. It immediately sapped her courage, robbing her of her ability to ask him the simple question as she'd planned.
She stood there dumbly for several seconds, until it looked like Toji was about to break the silence. That finally got her out of neutral.
"Nothing," she said softly, turning and quickly retreating back to her chair next to Yuki.
Toji blinked. An older and wiser man would have at the very least suspected Hikari's reason for approaching him, but Toji just traded a perplexed look with Kensuke as the class rep walked off.
That night, Hikari lay in bed, hating the fact that she could sleep for only about four hours at a time. At home she could at least try to keep herself busy, but with Yuki sleeping only a few feet away, that wasn't really an option at the moment.
Why can I be so bold with him when I'm Spirit but can barely say a thing as Hikari? She wondered as she stared at the ceiling. Does the mask really make that much of a difference?
Apparently, it did. Hikari sighed softly, turning on her side.
The minutes continued to drag by, and in the lonely darkness of the night, a rather mischievous voice began to whisper at the back of her mind. It urged her to sneak out of the hotel room, obtain the most scandalously revealing bikini she could find, put it on along with her mask, and pay Toji Suzuhara a midnight visit as Spirit.
It was a stupid idea borne from an idle mind and teenage hormones, Hikari knew. She had no clue where she could pick up a bikini at this hour, and her mask was back in Tokyo-3 with the rest of her costume. Besides that, it would be just plain reckless to assume her alternate identity for no good reason, even in Okinawa, far away from NERV.
Still, the idea was surprisingly tempting. Hikari had no doubt that she could utterly reduce Toji's brain to porridge with such a stunt, and she craved the abundant self confidence she possessed as Spirit.
Not least of all because Hikari Horaki's meager courage had failed her that day.
In the end, she managed to resist the temptation, but it was a surprisingly close thing.
Author's Notes: Poor Hikari, she's going to be as messed up as the pilots by the end of this. (Okay, that's a vicious, vicious lie)
Anyway, no action this chapter, since there was really no feasible way for Spirit to help with the volcano Angel. But fear not, since the giant spider Angel is up next.
I hope my depiction of Asuka is okay so far. I figured she had to be more pleasant with Hikari than we usually saw her, otherwise the class rep wouldn't have been such close friends with her in the series.
KuMardagg, Hikari didn't really know Asuka that well in the last chapter, and she was feeling rather jealous of her as well. However, your point is well taken, and I've stopped using the term.
Pusakuronu, Hikari's ability to sense the Angels isn't as good as that of the Angels themselves. She can pick up the Angels that are all "KILL! SMASH! BURN!" easily, but she needs to be in closer proximity to the more docile Seeds to sense them.
Animefan, I'll definitely at least have a few nods to the other Eva superwomen in the main story, but I haven't decided either way yet on the whether they'll make a larger appearance.
Bissek, as mentioned in this chapter, the general public doesn't know too much, since they're mostly cowering down in the shelters during Angel battles. And SEELE is dealing with military and national leaders, for the moment, anyway.
Kenzie, unfortunately, Hikari's nervousness about approaching Toji means that his presence in this fic will be sporadic at best for a while.
As always, thanks to all my readers and reviewers.
Omake
I demand snuggles!
Commander Soryu laughed hysterically as she watched the large screen in her office. Renting the set of the game show "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge" for the first round of "Who Wants to Keep Their Job" was definitely one of her better ideas.
She threw back her head and utterly howled with laughter as she watched Rei take a rather painful looking tumble off the giant rollers and into the moat of dirty water beneath her.
"You know, Asuka-chan, you are doing an utterly brilliant job of commanding NERV so far," Kaji commented.
"Why thank you, Kaji!" Asuka replied in a chipper voice, turning to look over at the object of her adoration.
The unshaven man was currently going through a large filing cabinet containing the mother lode of secret NERV documents, trying to decide what to give to SEELE and what to send to the JDA.
"Well, I think I have everything I'll be needing for the moment," he said, picking up several folders. "If you'll excuse me, Commander…"
"Not so fast, Agent Kaji!" Asuka snapped. "I have an order for you!"
Kaji swallowed. "Of course," he said, forcing a grin. "Anything for you, Commander."
"I order you to cuddle with me!" Asuka demanded imperiously.
"Again?!"
Asuka just got out of her chair and pointed at it. Sighing softly, Kaji went and sat down. Asuka then sat on his lap, throwing her arms around his neck and nuzzling against him. Kaji rolled his eyes.
The new Commander frowned after a few seconds. "Whisper sweet nothings to me. That's an order!"
Holding back a groan, Kaji did as he was ordered, already starting to miss the good old days.