Note: So I realized that my tumblr isn't even at the bottom of the last chapter (oops), its woruds dot tumblr dot...you get it. No one really asked for this but here's the second chapter anyway
2.
Shinji still didn't understand how he ended up here again. Actually, he didn't understand how any of the recent events of his life even made sense. Shinji fiddled with the ID clipped to his school shirt. NERV had somehow managed to get one made for him by the end of his first trip to the complex.
"This way." Rei motioned for Shinji to get into the elevator with her.
I still don't understand what I'm doing here. He thought sadly as he stared at Rei from the corner of his eye. And I still don't get what her deal is. Was she like Kaworu?
Although Shinji had been to NERV a couple of times now, he hadn't seen Kaworu since the first time. He'd been brought back to do random physical tests, answer dull questions about his life, and do some kind of computer "brain games". I haven't seen father again either…for that, Shinji was grateful.
Still, the last thing he wanted to do was return to NERV headquarters after his strange experience. Yet now Shinji found himself not only returning, but living with Misato. After a weird chain of circumstances and strings the secretive company pulled, Shinji found it easier to just stop fighting it. Besides, all I have to do is talk to a robot.
Although, he had to admit living with Misato took some getting used to. Her small apartment looked like a hoarder's paradise and definitely wasn't ready for a guest to move in. Shinji never saw so many empty beer cans in his life; he could probably build an entire separate apartment with all of them. Luckily he didn't have much stuff so moving into his tiny room proved less difficult than originally planned. Misato wasn't too bad either. Sometimes she was hard to deal with since she had less issues with personal space than Shinji, but over all she was nice. She also took her job very seriously. Shinji would often wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and find her up at the dining table with multiple files and documents spread out before her.
However, despite his new living arrangements and the times he visited NERV, Shinji was no closer knowing anything about the company than he had been since day one.
"Hey, Rei," Shinji suddenly blurted, causing the girl to rip her focused gaze from the back of the elevator door, "do you live here?" She seemed to consider his question before answering,
"Yes. I live here." Rei replied. The elevator came to a halt and the door slid open.
"A-Are you…" Shinji hesitated, "…are you like Kaworu?"
"TABRIS." Her eyes suddenly flashed, sharp and focused.
"Uh-yes, TABRIS." Shinji mumbled as he began to exit the elevator. It didn't seem like Rei was going to lead him this time since she made no indication of movement.
"No." She said. "We are not the same."
Shinji turned just as the elevator's door was closing. Their eyes connected, and they stood in silence until the door finally slipped shut. He was alone.
The stark contrast between this section of NERV and the one above was still enough to make Shinji uneasy. The lights down here were dull, and not a single employee wandered the halls. Only a door labeled TABRIS gave any indication of what could be hidden down here. Shinji held his ID card in his sweaty palm.
The room across Kaworu's was still a mystery. There's not even an access pad to it…Shinji noticed. It must be a closet or something, he dismissed, pressing his card to the pad. To his surprise, it blinked green and opened. I guess I'm in the system.
Everything looked like it had the first time Shinji was here…except a giant crack in the glass. It reminded Shinji of a spider web, the way it was tightly crunched together in the center and then spread through the surrounding glass like bolts of frozen lightning. With a trembling hand Shinji reached out and touched it. The glass on his side was still smooth, which meant it was broken from the other side.
Piano music had been filling the room with an eerily cheery tone. It was just like last time, except Shinji didn't recognize the song. He sat stiffly in the chair, his eyes continuously shifting to the shattered glass. Do I just call out to him?
"Kaworu?" Shinji's voice came out a lot higher than he'd like to admit.
The music stopped.
Kaworu appeared in the hall, looking almost like a ghost. His eyes flashed to Shinji's face with the same hungry focus they did before. Shinji had almost forgotten how bizarre the other moved as Kaworu walked forward with that disquieting smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Shinji." He said pleasantly, placing his desk chair where it had been before. "I was wondering if we would ever talk again."
Shinji kept his hands folded neatly in his lap in order to keep them from fidgeting. To his surprise, he saw Kaworu mimic the same position. "Um yeah," Shinji mumbled, feeling uncomfortable under Kaworu's gaze, "I think I'll be coming back a lot…" He already knew he was too much of a coward to ignore NERV's persistence.
Kaworu's smile somehow stretched wider. "I am glad. I have spent a lot of time thinking about you."
Shinji released a strangled sound somewhere between embarrassment and surprise. He knew his face must be glowing red in the dim lighting. Kaworu seemed amused by this.
"You-You don't just tell people you just met that kind of stuff." Shinji chuckled, nervously trying to laugh his embarrassment away.
Tilting his head to the side, Kaworu inquired, "No?"
"No…you keep that to yourself." Kaworu looked like he was learning about the discovery of life on another planet rather than just a simple piece of social etiquette.
"Okay." Kaworu said after a moment. They lapsed into silence then, and the robot seemed too content to just stare quietly at Shinji for Shinji not to feel awkward.
What do I say…he's just staring at me? Shinji tapped an uneasy beat against his leg, Ah! That's right…
"Do you have a music player in the other room?" He questioned.
"No." Kawory answered, but his expression seemed to brighten. "I have a piano. I quite enjoy playing it."
"What?" Shinji didn't bother to keep the amazement from seeping into his voice. "That was you? You can play the piano?"
"Yes. I think music is one of the highest achievements of mankind." Kaworu leaned forward to the point where his breath would have fogged up the glass. Except he doesn't have any, Shinji realized with a start. "Do you agree?"
Shinji leaned away from the clear barrier separating them. "Uh-Um," he blinked, "yeah…yes I think so."
"Do you play any instruments, Shinji?" Kaworu asked, still disturbingly close to the glass.
"I played cello a long time ago…but I wasn't nearly as good as—"
"Cello." Kaworu hummed, finally leaning back and adopting a more relaxed position. Shinji relaxed slightly too. "I would like to learn cello someday." For the first time since Shinji got here Kaworu's focus left him instead to look at the camera. His attention only stayed there momentarily before he turned back to Shinji. "Maybe you can teach me cello and I will teach you piano." He suggested.
Eyes widening, Shinji felt his face heat up again. It was such a normal request. But I could never… "I-I don't know if I'm good enough to teach cello, it's been really long since I've played it…"
"It is okay, I am a fast learner, I am sure you would be an excellent teacher, Shinji." Kaworu offered him another smile, but this one seemed less predatory and artificial. The kind words threw Shinji off guard, he wasn't used to getting compliments. Usually he'd just dismiss them and say something self deprecating back.
But this time he smiled.
Shinji lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Kaworu smiling at him brightly, so focused on him. No one had ever seemed that focused on him…not ever. But then again, it was hard not to be nice to the only person you had contact with. The hardest thing to wrap his head around was the fact that Kaworu was just a machine. How could a machine smile like that and be so nice? It was all so confusing.
A clang from outside his room caused Shinji to sit up. The light from the living room glowed faintly from the hall. Shinji got up to check if everything was okay, Misato always worked herself into exhaustion during this time of the night.
Sure enough, she was on the couch, head back and mouth open as she snored loudly. Her hand hung limply from the cushioned arm and an empty wine glass was laying on the floor directly under it. Shinji sighed, making his way to the small living room and picking up the offending glass. There were papers all over the couch and Misato's lap. One in particular caught his attention.
TABRIS was written in Misato's large sloppy handwriting in the margins of a document filled with tiny text. A red line was drawn connecting TABRIS to another sloppily written word: SEELE. After it was three question marks.
What is SEELE? Shinji wondered, scrunching his brow. He leaned down to get a better look at the document but Misato suddenly flinched awake.
"Shinji!" She gasped, and only then did Shinji notice he was practically in her lap trying to read what the form said. He was flooded with embarrassment immediately.
"No! I was just picking this up!" He cried, waving the wine glass erratically in the air. Misato raised an eyebrow as if she didn't believe him. Nearly jumping away, Shinji put some space between him and the woman.
"If you were any other boy I might have been worried." She sighed, trying to dispel the awkwardness. "But I could kick your ass if you try anything funny, you hear me?"
"Yes ma'am!" Shinji completely believed her.
But still, he wondered what kind of things Misato was researching, and what Kaworu and SEELE really were.