Chapter 20
"What's that smile all about?"
Rei jumped slightly at Hikari's question and proximity. Usually the class representative walked on ahead as the teenagers walked to school, talking with Kensuke and Toji, but this time the pig-tailed girl seemed to have suddenly materialised at her elbow.
"Excuse me?" Rei asked.
"You're smiling. It hasn't disappeared since we left the apartment building," Hikari explained. "Did something happen?"
A hand raised to her face confirmed that the other girl was right. Though she had steadily gotten used to visually showing her emotions, this was the first time Rei had found herself smiling without being aware of it. She found herself glad for her habit of walking behind the boys. "Yes, something wonderful," Rei replied. "But... I am not sure if I should reveal what it was just yet."
Inquisitiveness began to override politeness as Hikari's eyes widened. "Something wonderful?" she repeated. "Oooh, please tell me!"
Rei hesitated. She had agreed with Asuka that the subject of her brother's awakening should be kept private for the time being, but she was discovering something new. The previous year, it would have been simple to keep anything a secret, such as the details of her creation and her role, but now Rei felt as if she would burst if the information about her brother was kept hidden for too long.
It was a strange sensation for the First Child. Not entirely unwelcome either.
Obviously sensing her turmoil, Hikari backed off slightly. "If it's something private, you certainly don't need to tell me."
Rei shook her head. "It is not private. Merely... personal," she clarified. "You, and Kensuke and Toji, will find out eventually. I am simply unsure of when it would be suitable to reveal it."
While it certainly wasn't the wrong thing to say, it may have been a little unwise. Hikari's eyebrows quickly shot up as her curiosity returned. "Do you think you could guess when you'd be able to tell us?"
The school gate loomed up ahead. As they passed through it, Rei made a decision. "If you promise not to tell anyone else until I say otherwise, then meet me on the roof at lunchtime. Alone, please."
The shriek of an unoiled rail tore Asuka from her dozing. Her hand shot back to her side as she sat bolt upright in her futon.
"Sorry," Misato hissed, wincing apologetically. "But it's past ten in the morning. Time you got up."
A surprised glance at her clock told Asuka that the woman was telling the truth. She hadn't meant to stay in bed for so long after waking up a couple of hours ago, but the feeling of Shinji nearby had lulled her into an unexpected nap. The girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stood up and walked towards the doorway, holding out a hand to stop Misato from coming into the room and waking the still-sleeping boy up.
"Leave him a little longer," said Asuka. "He had a rough night."
After a quick and quiet explanation of how he had been sleeping for most of the night, Misato agreed and moved into the kitchen, flicking the kettle on for Asuka before sitting down at the table. Rei was absent, having already left for school.
"So he's still having nightmares, huh?" Misato asked, resting her head on an upraised hand.
Asuka hummed in agreement as she prepared a bowl of cereal. "To be honest, I kind of expected this," she admitted, sitting down across from her adoptive mother. "Whatever he experienced during Third Impact is not going to go away just because he's lucid."
"No, but now we can help him much better than we could before." Misato's face hardened slightly as she added, "By the way, I don't want any mention of the Revenants for a couple of days, at least while Shinji's around."
Nodding, the redhead replied, "Fine by me. There's something I want to do with him anyway, and it'll keep my mind off of those beasts."
Misato quirked an eyebrow. "Oh? Shinji's back for one day and you already have plans for him?"
Her tone was slightly teasing, meant only to lift their moods slightly, but it was enough to bring a little colour to Asuka's cheeks. "We need to get him fit again," the girl said, trying to ignore the tone. "Regardless of whether or not he decides to pilot, he's still really frail right now. Don't you remember how skinny he looked?"
The previous night, while relocating Shinji back to his bed, Asuka had remembered that his body had been unable to properly recover during his catatonia. Although he had been eating somewhat normally and occasionally walking around, it was not enough to keep the Third Child's body in the state it had been during the Angel War.
"Ah, you want to get some muscle back on his bones?"
The kettle boiled. Asuka seized the opportunity to put her back to Misato, and busied herself at the kitchen counter. The woman's comments usually sounded innocent enough, but it was the smirk she added that always gave her words the ability to make Asuka blush. She could make a simple 'How are you today?' sound suggestive with that smirk.
"Okay okay!" Misato relented after a few minutes of Asuka pointedly ignoring her. "Spoilsport..."
Asuka spun around and took a sip of her coffee, acting as if nothing had just happened.
Misato looked towards the other fridge as Pen-Pen stepped out and nodded a greeting, which the avian returned with a wave of a flipper as he went into the bathroom. Once the door closed, Misato slyly said, without looking at Asuka, "So you don't want to eventually be able to bounce coins off his abs?"
A few drops of hot liquid hit the table near Misato's arm, the choking sound from behind her indicating the source, and the woman grinned.
"Damnit, Misato!" Asuka yelled as soon as she stopped coughing, grabbing some paper towels to wipe off her face and shirt.
Throughout the day, Rei only managed to keep the smile off her face by concentrating completely on the lessons, though she still found herself glancing at the clock above the blackboard far more often than usual.
When the lunch bell rang, the students began to file out of the class. After giving Toji and Kensuke their lunches, Hikari surprised the boys by walking rapidly away in a different direction with Rei. The athlete eventually shrugged at his friend and they continued on to the cafeteria.
The door to the roof almost slammed against the wall as Hikari pushed it open. After a quick look around to see if any other students were up there, she nodded to Rei, and they both sat down in what little shade there was.
Curious as she was, Hikari still passed the quiet girl her lunch and waited until they were both finished eating before springing the obvious question. "So... what happened?"
Rei leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. After a minute of silence, she let the smile return to her face as she said, "Shinji has awoken."
It took the class representative a moment to fully understand what was meant by 'awoken', but it quickly clicked as she saw Rei's expression. Her eyes grew wide, and her mouth opened in an 'O' of amazement.
"Are you serious?!" she squeaked out, barely containing her happiness. "Shinji's back to normal?"
The smile turned brittle, and Rei looked away from her friend. "Not... quite," she softly replied.
"Oh..." Hikari sensed the mood change immediately, and her joy diminished.
The First Child paused before explaining. She knew that as a friend, Hikari deserved to know, but since she was still a civilian there were limits to what could be revealed.
But if she couldn't trust somebody like the class representative, who could she trust?
"He's still okay... right?"
The worried tone in Hikari's voice turned Rei's head back to face her, and the bluenette answered, "Physically, Shinji is alright, but..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say next.
"When Toji, Kensuke and I first saw him after Third Impact, Asuka told us that he experienced something terrible in Instrumentality, which led to his catatonia," said Hikari.
Rei relaxed slightly at the news that their friends already knew something of Shinji's condition. "It would be more accurate to say that his painful experiences last year were... magnified by Instrumentality," she clarified. "Shinji suffered greatly, especially in the days before Third Impact. He..." Rei took a deep breath and continued, "He was almost killed by the army invading NERV, and then Misato died protecting him. Asuka was fighting the Evangelions sent to ensure the invader's success, but she was... destroyed by them. Shinji arrived too late to save her, and that was when Third Impact started."
The explanation was sufficiently vague enough. Though Shinji's friends would likely be supportive if they knew all the details, they did not need to know that he had been the one to control Third Impact.
Not yet at least. Ultimately, it was up to Misato whether or not to tell Hikari, Kensuke and Toji.
"...I see," Hikari mumbled after a couple of minutes, a downcast look on her face.
"He is lucid now," Rei said. "That means we can focus on helping him. He is going to need our support in the weeks ahead."
Hikari's expression changed instantly, from sadness to determination. "Of course. Whatever it takes to help him."
"For now though, please keep this information to yourself. It has only been one day since his awakening. We do not want him to be overwhelmed while he adjusts."
The pig-tailed girl nodded and said, "Okay, I won't tell the guys yet."
"Thank you."
With that said, the two girls got up and left the roof, heading to the cafeteria for the remainder of the lunch period. Toji and Kensuke gave them questioning looks, but no information on their conversation was forthcoming.
Misato finally gave Asuka a break after the table was clean. Mostly because the angry girl had to take a shower to wash off the coffee she had coughed up over herself. She spent half an hour under the hot water recovering from her adoptive mother's teasing.
When she finally stepped out of the bathroom, the Second Child was instantly on the alert, but the now-serious expression on Misato's face was enough to relax her.
"So you want be the one to get him back in shape?" the woman asked Asuka as soon as she sat down.
"Of course I'll do it," Asuka replied. "I don't trust anyone else, and he'll probably feel more comfortable around me than some strange guy who'll be yelling at him in order to 'motivate' him."
Misato sighed. "I suppose. What do you have in mind?"
Asuka put a hand to her chin in thought, and replied with, "We'll need a swimming pool to ourselves. That as well as somewhere for jogging should be enough for now."
"Swimming?" Misato frowned. "But Shinji doesn't know how to swim."
"Damn, I forgot about that," Asuka muttered, slapping a hand to her face. "Oh well, I'll just have to teach him."
With her palm covering her eyes, the girl didn't spot the twitch of Misato's eyes as she glanced towards the lounge room and back again, nor did she see the growing smirk.
"You're going to teach Shinji how to swim, huh?" Her question raised Asuka's eyebrows as the redhead heard the tone of her voice, and she sighed as Misato continued. "What a cute picture that would be. You, helping Shinji stay afloat in the pool..."
"Misato..."
"Him, eyes closed as he puts his trust in you."
"Misato!"
"What?" Misato shook her head as Asuka's hands slapped the table. "Well anyway, let's hope Shinji can withstand the sight of you in a skimpy outfit. It'd be rather embarrassing for him if he got a rush of blood to the head because of your bikini." Her grin grew wider. "If you know what I mean."
Just as Asuka was about to unleash an angry tirade, there was a muffled choking sound from the direction of the lounge room. Her head swung around and she caught a flash of colour in the doorway milliseconds before it disappeared, accompanied by a loud thud. Misato winced, but didn't move, instead motioning with her head to the surprised girl.
Asuka moved into the lounge room and stood over the recumbent figure, who was rubbing the back of his head. "It hasn't even been a full day and you've already managed to hit your head twice," she said, reaching out a hand. Shinji was yanked roughly to his feet as soon as he grasped the outstretched hand.
"You okay?" Asuka inquired, to a slow nod from the boy. "Good."
After Shinji made himself some breakfast -or rather an early lunch as it was close to midday- and sat down at the table, Asuka sat down next to him as Misato asked, "How do you feel about Asuka helping you get back in shape, Shinji?"
"Um... I really don't want to be a bother," Shinji mumbled.
"Nonsense, she's already offered to donate her time."
"O-oh, um." The boy rubbed the back of his head again, and glanced at Asuka. "I... I guess I'll accept your help then."
"Great," Asuka said with a grin. "We'll start tomorrow then, once we find a good spot for jogging."
Just as she wanted to get up from the table, she saw Shinji's pupils dilate and his face fall in terror filled realisation. "W-wait! I changed my mind!" he cried out.
"Huh?" Misato and Asuka looked at each other in puzzlement for a moment, before Misato asked, "What's the matter?"
The boy started trembling, holding his head tightly in his hands. Misato had to repeat her question twice before he responded. "Please... don't send me out in public," he mumbled fearfully. "They'll see me."
Misato gently placed a stabilising hand on his shoulder. "What do you mean? Who will see you?"
"Other people. They'll see me and they'll know what I did." Shinji began to rock back and forth.
Confusion turned to realisation, and Misato calmly said, "It's okay," as her other hand went to his other shoulder. "If you don't want to go out in public, then you don't have to. We won't force you to do anything you don't want to."
"Yeah, we can just use a treadmill," Asuka added.
Misato nodded. "In fact, to make things easier I'll just ask Ritsuko to section off the pool at NERV and one of the gym rooms nearby for you two."
Shinji's shaking subsided as the reassuring words sank into his mind. "Thank you," he softly replied.. "Sorry for making you go to all this effort just for me, though."
A tiny growl left Asuka's throat, but she swallowed down the irritation. "Don't worry about it," she said exasperatedly. "We want to help you. If that means pulling strings to get a private pool so you'll be comfortable, then that's what we'll do."
"But I can't..." Shinji began.
"I know, you can't swim," Asuka interrupted. "I'm going to teach you."
Misato opened her mouth, and even before the first word left her lips, Asuka knew what was going to be said purely by the excessively large grin on her face. "Which means you get to see Asuka in a bikini again, Shinji."
The faces of both teenagers instantly turned red.
"Will you stop doing that?!" yelled the blushing redhead.
The Commander of NERV simply sat back and laughed.
A while later, after Shinji was allowed to eat in peace, he left to take a shower. Asuka took the moment to deliver a withering glare at Misato, but it faded upon noticing the sombre expression on the older woman's face. It was only now that she realised how forced some of the laughter had been.
"Sorry," Misato said. "I probably went a bit overboard."
Asuka palmed her face. "He's been back for a day and you're already doing... that!" she muttered through her hand.
"All I wanted was for Shinji to still feel like things are normal! Not like we're walking on eggshells around him!"
The redhead found she had to at least slightly concede that point. If Shinji found out that people were treating him so gingerly, he might get more depressed that he was causing them so much concern.
"Well... tone it down at least!" Asuka finally managed to say. "You teased us more today than you did in an entire week last year."
"Okay, fine." Misato held her hands up in surrender. She tactfully decided to temporarily remove herself from the annoyed girl's presence. "I'm... just going to get out of your hair and call Ritsuko."
A few minutes later, the Supreme Commander of NERV was sprawled out on her permanently-unmade futon with a phone to her ear. "Hey Rits, it's me."
"What's up?"
Misato heard typing in the background and smiled slightly. Her friend the scientist seemed to always be working while at NERV, even during phone calls. Being the temporary commander certainly wasn't helping her workload. She briefly explained Asuka's plan to the woman, carefully adding in the detail of Shinji not wanting to be seen.
"It should be easy enough to do," Ritsuko said after a moment. "We have plenty of gym rooms, and the pool area has been rather quiet this month, despite summer approaching. Guess people want to stay away from NERV while they relax, and I can't say I blame them. I'll section off the pool and the room next door for the Children to use for... three hours a day, and see what I can do about keeping foot traffic to a minimum in the nearby corridors during that time."
Misato frowned a little. "Three hours might be a bit too long to begin with. I'm not sure how long it'll take Shinji to get his stamina back with Asuka as his 'trainer'."
"I'm sure Asuka, and possibly Rei, wouldn't mind some free time in the pool though. And what about yourself? Don't think I haven't noticed how stressed out you've been getting ever since your promotion. How have you been coping with that?" Misato glanced at her wardrobe as Ritsuko kept talking. "You should take advantage of this as well, instead of sitting around at home eating chips and watching terrible daytime soaps during your time off."
A chuckle escaped from the woman laying on the bed. "I suppose I could come along as well. Shinji's not likely to accept a ride from Section Two any time soon, and I may as well do something while I'm there."
"Good." The audio distorted slightly as Ritsuko sighed directly into the receiver. "I doubt you'll like this suggestion, but we should really take the time to give Shinji a checkup and a psych evaluation while he's here, as soon as possible. It took him six months to wake up from his catatonia. What if... whatever caused it happens again? And that's another thing: what actually happened to him?"
Misato shook her head and sighed. It would take more than a curious scientist to get Shinji to reveal anything and she said as much to Ritsuko, who echoed the sigh and sadly agreed. After getting Misato to agree to at least ask Shinji about the checkup, and a few more minutes of chatting, the phone call ended.
The wardrobe was quietly pulled open, and Misato threw a glance towards her bedroom door. Clothes were moved away from the bottom of the wardrobe, revealing a small refrigerator. She knelt down and opened it, and a hand reached in to curl around something.
"How have I been coping, Rits?" Misato darkly muttered to herself, staring at the familiar label on the beer can. "The same way I coped with everything that happened last year."
Asuka had praised Misato for not falling back into her old habits and getting more beer to replace what Shinji had thrown out, but the pilots' guardian didn't have the courage to say that it was too late. Now was not the time to indulge, however. That time would come as it always did ever since she had sneaked the mini-fridge into her apartment; right before she went to bed.
The can went back into the fridge, and the clothes were piled back on top of it. Misato was glad that an agreement had been made that all members of the Katsuragi household were solely responsible for their own rooms. It made hiding her shame so much easier when she didn't have to worry about somebody else coming in and tidying up.
Not that she ever made much of an effort.
As Misato left the room, she had a feeling she knew what it would take for Shinji to speak up about his trauma, and it was nothing any trained psychologist in the world could accomplish.
But a certain young girl might be able to.
When Rei arrived home that afternoon, the first thing she did was direct a significant glance at her fellow pilot before going into her bedroom. A glance that managed to ruin all of Asuka's mental preparation that day and leave her frustrated. All throughout dinner -that was prepared solely by Shinji this time- she felt as though she needed another day to get ready.
After the dishes were cleared away, Misato took Shinji into the lounge room. Asuka watched them leave and idly noted that the woman had seemed to spend most of the day in close proximity to him, usually with a hand on his shoulder or even an arm around him whenever possible.
She had to put aside wondering why, as Rei looked at her before going up the hallway to her small bedroom, and the redhead followed her with a sigh.
The bedroom door was shut behind her, and Asuka turned to face the First Child. They stared at each other for a long time, neither willing to break the silence until Rei eventually looked away.
"If you are still not ready to speak of what happened yesterday-" she began, about to offer a reprieve.
"I kissed him."
Asuka didn't know why she suddenly decided to blurt it out. All she knew was that she wouldn't have been able to tiptoe around such a thing, but heat still rose to her cheeks as the memory resurfaced. With her arms crossed and a bright red face, Asuka maintained her gaze as the other girl's mouth hung open in surprise while she processed the revelation.
The look of shock on Rei's face almost made it worth the embarrassment.
"You... kissed Shinji?" the bluenette finally managed to say after a minute.
"Yeah." Now that the cat was out of the bag, Asuka found it easier to speak. "He had a memory thing yesterday afternoon. A rather... big one I guess you could say."
Curiosity was now written all over Rei's face. "Why did a memory prompt you to kiss him?"
Telling somebody else about one of her simultaneously favourite and most hated moments was difficult for Asuka, but she eventually managed to stumble through the events that occurred not long before the appearance of the Twelfth Angel.
She still kept the true motivation of the original kiss secret, as well as her reaction to it. Rei seemed to understand that something was still not being said, but to Asuka's relief she apparently decided that it wasn't essential.
"Thank you, Asuka," Rei said after a minute of silent thought.
"Huh?" The Second Child's head jerked up from where she had been gazing blankly at the floor. "You mean for getting Shinji to wake up?"
Rei nodded. "Yes. It must have been difficult for you, given how things happened last year," she replied, with sympathy evident in her voice.
'Hah, that's an understatement,' Asuka thought with a mental scoff. "When he started talking and I realised what he was remembering, I was so close to walking away from him just so I wouldn't have to hear it. It was bad enough the first time."
"Then I am glad you were strong enough to stay," Rei said with a small smile.
"You, me, and Misato I bet," Asuka replied.
"And I must admit," Rei added as she looked away. "After yesterday's conversation, I spent some time wondering what could have caused such a reaction. Just before I fell asleep, I thought about what happened in the stairwell, and entertained the notion that you had possibly... kissed him, like Misato suggested." Her face began to turn slightly pink as she finished.
Asuka's own cheeks also reddened again. She was starting to get irritated at the unconscious reaction whenever somebody brought up something like... kissing.
That didn't stop a small part of her from relishing the memories though.
"There is one more thing," Rei suddenly said just as the redhead was about to leave before her face burnt off from sheer embarrassment. "Um... There is something I must inform you about."
"What is it?" inquired Asuka over her shoulder as she stood in the doorway.
"Um..."
The chuckle was impossible to stifle. There were always reminders of just how similar Shinji and Rei were. Thankfully not all of them were annoying. Asuka turned around to an almost amusing sight.
The First Child was embarrassed, and completely unable to mask it. "I... may have told someone about Shinji already," she confessed.
Asuka let out a groan. "Great," she sarcastically muttered. "Who did you tell?"
"Hikari Horaki. But she promised not to tell anybody else."
The mounting sense of dread in the redhead's gut fizzled away. "Oh. That's fine then. Hikari's the class rep, she knows better than to blab to others, especially about NERV stuff." She exaggeratedly wiped her brow. "I was worried you'd told one of the stooges. You made me think one of them was going to come here and demand to see Shinji."
"I am sor-"
"Please. Stop right there." Asuka barely kept a sigh down. They were so alike. But at least apologies from this girl didn't make her feel funny. Merely annoyed. "No harm's been done. Now let's go join Shinji and Misato. Wonder if she's still hugging him..."
She was.
And she was smiling widely.
Shinji was almost tucked into the side of Misato, her arm still keeping him close. He blinked sleepily at Asuka when she flopped down on the couch next to him, and embarrassment at his current position flickered across his face for a moment. The redhead smirked at his reaction to her presence as she reached for the television remote. Misato complained ineffectually, but Asuka paid no attention as she began to channel surf, eventually settling for a movie that had just started.
"Got some good news, girls," Misato announced a short while later, as the Katsuragi household watched television together. She looked down at Shinji. "Do you want to tell them or shall I?"
Nothing but an incoherent mumble left the boy's lips in response. The three females all looked at him, and smiled.
Shinji was sound asleep.
"Guess I'll have to say it then," said Misato, mock-sarcastically. "Despite me saying several times that he shouldn't do it just to please me, Shinji doesn't want to upset things by getting his adoption nullified."
Rei's face lit up a little. "He agreed to remain your foster son?" At a nod from Misato, a soft smile graced her countenance. "That is wonderful news."
The bluenette was the first to go to bed, leaving halfway through the movie with an almost inaudible "Good night" to the others. When the movie ended, Misato turned the television off and suggested that it was time for them to do the same. She waited outside Asuka's room while carrying Shinji as the Second Child got changed, then brought him and tucked the boy into his futon.
Once again, Asuka fell asleep staring at Shinji's face. He appeared to be resting peacefully for once. Perhaps the nightmares had been kept at bay this night by the joint efforts of Misato's embrace and Asuka's presence.
It was just a shame that her own dreams were not as kind.
"Asuka? Asuka, wake up!"
She shot up out of bed, her forehead colliding with Shinji's jaw and sending her falling back onto her pillow as the boy reeled back, rubbing his chin.
"Gottverdammt!" Asuka angrily swore as she brought a hand up to her forehead. "What did you do that for?!"
To his credit, Shinji managed to avoid automatically apologising, and instead mumbled, "You were... moaning and thrashing about, like you were having a nightmare."
The hand on her forehead twitched as Asuka's eyes widened. 'Oh. I was, too...' she thought as her mind woke up fully.
As if punishing her for avoiding them for so long, Asuka's bad dreams had returned with a vengeance. She had spent the night feeling her body being slowly torn apart once more while Unit-02 lay dead. This time, however, it was as if the white demons had decided to prolong her suffering even longer. Every bite and tear felt like it lasted hours. Each fresh bolt of agony stayed for what seemed like years.
Under the blanket of her futon, Asuka unconsciously hugged herself and shivered, and the old wounds in her right arm and left eye twinged a little.
"Are you okay?" Shinji's worried voice made itself known as he inched closer.
"I'm fine!" Asuka snapped, much harsher than she intended. She roughly shook her head and said, "Sorry," just as the same word was about to leave the shocked boy's mouth. "Yeah, it was a nightmare."
Guilt and anger fought for control of the boy's features. When Asuka pressed him on his reaction, Shinji looked away and muttered, "You... you don't deserve nightmares."
"And you do?"
Though his head didn't move, Shinji's eyes darted in her direction for a moment. "...Much more than you, Asuka," he quietly said.
Asuka found herself unsure of what to say in response. There were still questions that the boy needed to answer, and she sorely wanted to know just what it was that haunted Shinji at night, but it still felt too soon to pry.
Her clock earned a growl as she glanced at it and saw that it was only five o'clock. "Well," she sighed as she sat up. "I doubt I'm going be able to get back to sleep now, and it wouldn't be for very long anyway."
Shinji nodded. "Yeah, I woke up a few minutes ago, drank some water, and came back in here to see you moving about. I don't particularly feel like going to sleep again either."
The two teenagers looked at each other for a moment, both trying to decide what to do, until an idea came to Asuka. "Let's go make breakfast then."
"This early in the morning?"
"Yep. Let's get our minds off this subject." Asuka's face split into a hopeful grin. "Feel like teaching me how to properly cook one of your breakfast meals?"
Shinji returned the smile with one of his own and a nod, and the two Children headed into the kitchen.
An hour later, Misato awoke and was led by her own nose into the kitchen, following a heavenly aroma, where she sat down at the table in front of the biggest pile of pancakes she had ever seen. As she sat there, too stunned by the sight and smell to act, Asuka loaded some of them onto a plate for the woman. The sound of the plate landing on the table in front of her broke Misato out of her daze, and she immediately got down to business with knife and fork.
Shortly afterwards, Rei also walked into the kitchen. Asuka looked up to greet her, but a sudden realisation made her curse in German. "Scheiße. Sorry, First."
"Huh?" Shinji turned around. "O-oh! I'm sorry, Rei! We got so into making breakfast that I forgot about your vegetarianism. These have eggs in them," he added apologetically.
"That's vegans, dummy!" Asuka gently scolded. "But I'm pretty sure she still doesn't like eggs."
"That is correct," the bluenette replied. "But there is no need to feel sorry about it." She went towards the cupboard to fetch a bowl, but found her eye drawn back to the stack of pancakes as the scent wafted around her.
The two teenagers had spent the last hour taking it in turns to make the pancakes. Shinji had added apple and cinnamon to his, while Asuka indulged her sweet tooth and put chocolate in hers. It had taken the largest plate in the house to be able to hold the result of their combined efforts, and the redhead made a note that they needed to go shopping again soon.
Asuka saw Rei's reaction and smirked. "Hah, looks like you want some anyway. Can't say I blame you. Shinji made half of them, and his are damn tasty," she remarked, patting her stomach and sighing contentedly.
Rei stared at the pancakes. While she had not gone so far as to be completely vegan, she had made an effort to also exclude eggs from her diet as the sight of them made her queasy, until one day when Hikari accidentally used some in one of her bentos for her friends. The class representative had apologised for the mistake, but not before Rei had eaten most of it. After a bit of thought, the First Child had finished the rest of her lunch, and asked Hikari not to worry.
Some discussion, and a bit of careful experimentation, resulted in Rei modifying her vegetarianism somewhat. She allowed herself to enjoy meals that were created with eggs, such as a piece of cake, but still refrained from eating them whole.
Pancakes were new to her though.
"Please don't feel like you have to eat them just because we made them."
Shinji's voice brought Rei's attention away from the stacks on the table to the slightly worried expression on her brother's face, and she made a decision.
Asuka raised an eyebrow as the other girl put back the bowl she was holding and sat down at the table. At a nod from Rei she placed two pancakes, one of each type, on a plate and passed it along with the condiments towards her, whereupon Misato immediately complained about not being able to reach them through a mouthful of food. The other members of the Katsuragi household all stared at the First Child as she picked up her cutlery.
Unaware of the attention upon her, Rei slowly drew her knife across part of the chocolate pancake first, and lifted the morsel to her mouth.
"This is... wonderful," Rei finally commented after a few seconds of chewing, and Shinji let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding. It was only three words, but the praise from his sister felt better than anything he could think of.
When Misato's appetite was finally sated, she wiped her mouth with a napkin and told the teenagers to get ready to leave. As they filed out of the kitchen, she eyed the much smaller pancake stack.
'Maybe one more for the road...'
Shinji's bright mood would not be allowed to last for even a few hours. When faced with the front door, he immediately seized up and pressed his back against the opposite wall when it hissed open, revealing the outside world.
Seeing this, Asuka attempted to reassure the shaking boy, while Misato moved away and discreetly made a call to the Section Two detail assigned to her building, ordering them to stay out of sight of the path the group was going to take. It took several minutes of patient talking, plus a personal guarantee from Misato that she would ensure nobody would see him, before Shinji finally stepped outside.
He made it all the way to the parking lot and into the blue Renault Alpine before the worry returned. He sank as low into the back seat as he could manage as Misato drove off, staring fearfully at the window next to him as if he expected someone to smash through it. Only when the car reached the darkness of NERV's tunnels did he manage to relax, but he still remained low in the seat as the car train passed the view of the Geofront.
Thanks to orders coming from the Commander's office backed by the planning ability of the MAGI, the passages were kept clear as Misato led the way to the elevator they would take down to the level where NERV had the gyms and pool. When the elevator began to descend, Shinji was finally able to relax.
Until the doors opened to the sight of a woman in a labcoat.
"...Hello," the woman greeted them, mildly confused at the reactions of the elevator's occupants. Both Misato and Asuka had almost leapt forward to cover Shinji the moment another person had appeared, anxious to keep attention away from him. The redhead only slightly relaxed upon identifying the newcomer. Shinji himself was now cowering behind his adoptive mother, but his head poked out slightly when he realised who the voice belonged to.
"Was that really necessary, Rits?" sighed Misato, placing a calming hand on Shinji's shoulder as the group stepped out of the elevator.
"I'm sorry, but something's come up," Ritsuko answered, staring directly at the boy.
"Something?" Misato's voice hardened. She spared a glance downward before carefully choosing her next words. "Is it a... you know...?"
"Huh?"
The scientist shook her head. "No, not one of those."
The two pilots relaxed slightly, thankful that they weren't about to fight another Revenant, especially so soon after the previous one. Nobody noticed the confused expression on Shinji's face as he tried to make sense of what was just said.
"It's actually something concerning Shinji," Ritsuko continued.
Tensing up again, Asuka stepped slightly back in front of the Third Child and said, "We've already got plans to help him. Whatever it is, go deal with it yourself."
Ritsuko raised her hands placatingly and replied, "I wish I could, but this is out of my hands. I spoke with NERV's chief medical officer about getting Shinji checked out. Unfortunately, he flexed his doctor muscles and basically ordered me to bring him in immediately."
Puzzlement crossed Asuka's face, and she turned to Misato. "...Can they do that?" she wondered out loud.
"Afraid so," Misato replied exasperatedly. "A military doctor has the power to order even a general or admiral to step down, if they can prove that it's for that person's medical benefit. I guess you could call it a safeguard against someone in a position of power killing themselves through overwork, or even becoming mentally ill and endangering the soldiers under their command through his orders. Non compos mentis."
"'Not of sound mind'," the scientist translated for the benefit of the others.
The redhead ground her teeth in frustration. "Fine," she muttered, turning to face the Sub-Commander with crossed arms. "But it better damn well not be you doing the checkup, because-"
"Settle down please, Asuka," Ritsuko interrupted. "While I will be taking Shinji to get checked out, you'll be happy to know that I won't be anywhere near him during the examination."
While Asuka didn't like the idea of this woman in the same area code as Shinji, she sighed and replied with a simple, "Good."
With a glance at the time on her PDA, Ritsuko said, "In the meantime, may I suggest the rest of you head to the pool now? Your free block of time starts soon, and it would be a shame to waste it after all the effort I made to get the MAGI to ensure that area remains empty."
Before Asuka could protest, Misato clapped a hand on her shoulder and not-so-gently pushed her along, throwing words of thanks over her shoulder and using her other hand to wave back at her Sub-Commander and the nonplussed Third Child. Rei trailed silently behind after exchanging a farewell nod with them.
"Did... you really arrange for an entire section of NERV to be empty?" Shinji asked once he and Ritsuko began to move.
"Yes. Misato told me yesterday that you've developed a fear of people. The MAGI are now keeping personnel away from you, in case you haven't noticed. A little something we have for whenever something top-secret or hazardous needs to be transported through the place. Until you feel that you can handle it, anywhere you go in NERV will be sealed off from... unwanted visitors."
"And you're doing all this just because I don't want to be seen?" Shinji asked incredulously as he looked around at the doors they passed. Each one was shut, with a pulsing red light above it indicating that it was locked.
Ritsuko nodded, and Shinji asked another question that had been on his mind for the last few minutes. "This doctor you're taking me to... does he know who I am?"
"I told him as little as possible," the scientist said reassuringly. "He knows about your strange waking coma, but not who you are. It's up to you whether or not he finds out more."
"I still find it hard to believe a doctor could order a superior officer to step down."
"Yes, it's a bit of a strange thing. I just wish we could have pulled that card on your father before the world ended." Ritsuko chuckled humourlessly, but stopped walking after a few seconds when she realised that Shinji was no longer next to her. Looking backwards, Ritsuko saw him standing a few meters away, glaring at her with fists clenched.
"No you don't. You helped my father," he hissed angrily, practically spitting the word 'helped'. The shocked scientist found herself almost backing away from the sheer venom in the Third Child's voice. "You knew what he was planning and you still went along with it! Just because you wanted him to love you."
"H-how do you know that?!" Ritsuko stammered.
"Third Impact showed me many things." Shinji raised a hand and tapped the side of his head with a finger. "It's all still in here, as much as I wish most of it wasn't. Misato and Kaji in college, my mother and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki talking about Evangelion... My father shooting you after your attempt to sabotage the MAGI."
The PDA dropped out of Ritsuko's lifeless fingers as her mind raced back to her final moments. Caspar, the part of MAGI representing Naoko Akagi as a woman, rejecting the self-destruct order.
"Mother, how could you choose your lover over me?!"
Gendo's final words to her.
"The truth is..."
"Liar."
The pain of the bullet ripping through her chest, knocking her off the platform into the pool of LCL. She barely heard the boy continue to speak, but one thing came through clearly.
"The truth is... he never loved you."
Ritsuko fell to her knees. Out of the corner of a blurry eye, she saw Shinji pick up her fallen PDA and examine the map she had left on the screen. He gently pressed it back into her hands before setting off down the corridor. Just before he turned the corner, the stunned woman heard him say one last thing.
"But despite everything... I'm sorry, Doctor Akagi, for everything my father put you through."
The water churned around the girl as she completed another lap. Despite her speed, the blue-haired teen she was sharing the pool with remained stubbornly close. The thought only spurred Asuka on, driving her to push her body to the limit. She had shot off to a massive lead at the start, but Rei had steadily eaten up the gap as the race progressed. The near-decade of intense training she had under her belt was a major part of her lead, but as Asuka kicked off the wall for the final stretch, she managed to glimpse a disturbing sight through the spray of the water. If she could, the redhead would be loudly growling through her teeth.
The First Child was now almost neck and neck with her.
NERV had spared no expense when building the physical fitness portions of the Geofront. When she had first heard about the pool the previous year, Asuka had grumpily expected it to be a mere twenty-five meters at best. Stepping through the door and seeing an Olympic-sized body of water had both shocked and delighted her.
Back on dry land, Misato stood at the end of the pool the two girls were swimming towards for the final lap. It had been her idea to get the teenagers into the pool for a friendly competition, after they had been waiting at the pool for half an hour with no sign of Shinji or Ritsuko. The Commander of NERV was now holding the controller for the timer board hanging on the wall nearby, and idly tapping it against her leg as she stared at the racers. While Misato was very pointedly not cheering specifically for either one, she was encouraging them both.
After all, a parent should never play favourites with their children.
Despite anticipating it, the woman almost thought there was going to be another Revenant attack when the room's siren sounded as both girls touched the wall. After a second of deliberation, the MAGI flashed the results of the race on the board.
LANE 1: 2:23:44
LANE 2: 2:23:38
"Holy crap," Asuka remarked, too surprised by the close times to begin exulting over her victory. "That is way too close."
"You would have easily won if this had been a shorter race," Rei replied.
"Indeed," Misato added, tapping at the controller to change the display on the board. "Asuka, that final stretch was definitely your slowest. You have good speed, but Rei has plenty of endurance. Her times were much more consistent; barely a half-second difference between them."
"I haven't had a good swim in a long time. That's my excuse." Asuka turned her head away in mock annoyance, which allowed her to spot the newcomer to the pool area. She tapped Misato's arm to get her attention before pointing at the figure stretched out on the deckchair.
Misato walked over to the second chair as the two pilots began their cooldown exercises, plopping down in it and staring at the woman who was laying down with an arm over her face. "When did you get here?"
"Just in time to get scared by that damn siren," Ritsuko muttered. "Why is that even a thing that happens here?"
"No idea. Anyway, how's Shinji?"
"I don't know." Before Misato could voice her concern, the scientist slowly sat up and clarified. "He tore a strip out of me when the topic of his father came up, and then went on to the doctor without me. Only reason I know he made it there was because I checked his location just before coming here."
Misato's eyebrows raised in surprise. "He did what?"
"Shinji knows things that he shouldn't," Ritsuko replied, taking her glasses off and rubbing her eyes. "He mentioned something that happened just before Third Impact. Something that would have been impossible for him to have witnessed."
"And that was...?"
The sub-commander snorted. "Oh, nothing big. Just my death at the hands of the man I thought I loved."
The First and Second Children finished their cooldown exercises and dragged themselves onto dry land.
"Why is she here without Shinji?" Asuka wondered as she dried off her face, sitting on the edge of the pool and dangling her legs in the water while looking over her shoulder at the two commanders.
"He must still be getting examined," the bluenette next to her replied. "There does not seem to be any problems yet, otherwise she would have made her presence known immediately."
The redhead simply grumbled in response. So far, she was not very happy with this day. Plans had been altered almost as soon as they had arrived, without bothering to ask her first.
It was really rather irritating.
She tried to put it out of her mind by eavesdropping on what her superiors were saying, but only caught something about a self-destruct system. Fortunately it did not sound like it was being mentioned as something they were planning on using any time soon. When it looked like they had finished, she walked over to them and inquired about food.
"Well what's the point of being the boss if we can't get meals brought to us?" Misato asked before contacting the kitchen and requesting an early lunch be brought to the pool.
When the door hissed open a short time later, everybody looked up expecting to see food, but the person that walked in was a much more welcome sight.
"Um... hi."
"Shinji!"
Both Misato and Asuka looked at each other after calling the boy's name at exactly the same time. The Second Child broke the stare first, missing the grin from her foster mother in her attempt to hide her slightly red face. She hadn't intended to sound so... overjoyed to see the boy again. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen him in a week.
At a word from Misato, the women got up and moved towards a table in preparation for the coming meal. A red-faced Shinji gave a weak wave of an arm as he reached them, before taking a seat on the same side of the table as the other teenagers, his blush only growing as he got closer to the bikini-clad girls.
"Were there any problems with the examination?" Rei inquired from the other side of the redhead.
"N-not really," Shinji replied a little shakily, trying his best not to be distracted by the close proximity of Asuka, who had sneaked slightly closer as soon as he sat down. "The doctor just reiterated that I need to get back into shape. He said he'd forward the details to you, Doctor Akagi." Asuka was the only one that caught the very slight shudder as he addressed the scientist.
Ritsuko took out her PDA, noting the flashing message icon right away. While the doctor had used quite a lot of words in the email, there was not much actual substance. One part near the end, however, caught her eye.
"Patient refused to answer any questions about his mental state. Psych evaluation currently impossible."
She sighed, and gently prodded Misato when she saw that the teenagers were now talking to each other. The Commander gave her a low sound of acknowledgement when Ritsuko showed her the message.
The door hissed open again a few minutes later, bringing food to satisfy the faint grumblings of several stomachs. Asuka grabbed as much as she could from the serving cart, while Rei and Shinji were much more sedate in their acquisitions. As all three came back to the table and began to eat, Ritsuko and Misato stood up and moved away, ostensibly to speak to the person who had brought the trolley in.
When the server left the room, leaving the cart behind to be collected later, Ritsuko turned her head slightly towards Misato and whispered, "What are we going to do? If he's not going to talk..."
"Right now, there's not much we can do besides be patient," Misato muttered in reply. "He's only been lucid for a few days, after all. I know you want to find out everything you can about his condition, but pressure will just make him clam up even more."
Ritsuko glanced over her shoulder at the back of Shinji's head, and Misato followed her gaze. The Second Child was almost leaning on the boy with how close she was sitting, talking about the race she won. Shinji said something that the commanders didn't catch, but they could see the effect it had on Asuka. Less than a year ago, she would have preened and scoffed because of course she won. Now, to Ritsuko's surprise, the redhead blushed slightly and stammered her thanks before pretending to be immensely interested with the contents of her plate.
Next to her, Misato's mouth widened into a massive grin. "Even if it's not much, at least some good has come of this. Asuka's stopped forcing people away from her, and lost most of that terrible obsession with being the absolute best."
"True, but now she seems to be channelling that obsession into Shinji. He should have been brought here the moment he woke up," replied Ritsuko disapprovingly. "For all we know it might be too late for scans to pick up what was wrong with him."
"You just had to ruin the mood, didn't you."
"I'm a scientist. That's my excuse."
With a good-natured sigh, Misato returned to the table, snagging a couple of sandwiches along the way.
Asuka stared at the closed door leading into the male washroom. "Move your butt, slowpoke!" she yelled, hammering on the door with a fist. "We're not going home until you've had at least some time in the pool today!"
A worried and slightly muffled voice answered, "Do I have to go out like this?"
"Hey, you're lucky Misato decided to be nice and give you board shorts." Asuka sighed. "You can keep your top on if you want, just be quick about it. We've only got an hour left."
When the door finally opened half a minute later, she felt the faintest twinge of disappointment that Shinji had taken her suggestion and hadn't removed his shirt, before remembering just what happened to white clothing when wet. Asuka had to step back slightly, as Shinji was looking at the ground and almost walked into her. His head shot up, but she immediately raised a warning finger to stop the incoming apology. Shinji hesitantly nodded, and earned an approving grin from the girl.
Glad that the boy was finally starting to understand, Asuka turned and headed for the pool. A glance behind her showed that Shinji seemed to be trying his hardest to look anywhere but at her. She briefly considered swaying her hips, but decided to take pity on him by quickly diving into the pool as soon as she reached it, moving to stand on the bottom of the pool at a point where she could only be clearly seen from the shoulders up.
"Come on, Shinji," she called to him as he hovered at the edge of the pool. "Even you should know that jumping in is the easiest way to deal with the temperature."
"W-what are we going to do today?" Shinji nervously asked.
"There's not enough time left today to really get into learning to swim," Asuka replied, "so I'll just take you through how to float."
Seemingly reassured at learning there would be no actual swimming, Shinji slowly sat down on the edge, dangling his legs in the pool. Asuka groaned internally at his hesitation, but knew that the boy was doing his best to try and overcome a fear.
"Is everything alright?" Rei asked as she sedately swam to a halt next to Asuka.
"He's getting cold feet," the redhead explained.
"I just don't trust myself to do it right!" exclaimed Shinji. "What if I start drowning?"
Asuka stared at him for a moment, before indicating herself and the other girl. "That's what we're here for, dummy. If something goes wrong, we'll be able to help you."
"If you cannot trust yourself," Rei added, "then trust us. We will be here to help. We have protected each other while fighting Angels; surely a swimming lesson is much easier." Shinji still seemed hesitant, so she continued, with a small yet hopeful smile. "I would like to swim with you someday, Shinji, so please try."
It was the smile that did it. The moment Shinji saw the upward tilt of his sister's mouth, his eyes lit up and his back straightened. In one swift movement, he pushed himself off the edge and into the pool.
A tiny jolt of fear went through Asuka's body when Shinji's head went under the water, but he quickly resurfaced.
"Good work, Shinji," she congratulated him once he wiped his eyes clear. "You've just taken your first step to conquering your fear. How do you feel?"
"C-c-cold!" was the boy's response through chattering teeth. "E-even uncharged LCL wasn't t-this bad!"
"Then let's get you moving around a bit."
The next ten minutes were spent encouraging Shinji into walking through the water and getting him warmed up. Asuka briefly considered suggesting that he place a hand on her shoulder for support and trust, but decided against it with a mild mental curse against the Japanese sense of personal space.
Unfortunately for Shinji, physical contact was soon necessary. Once he looked relatively comfortable in the water, it was time to start teaching him to float. Asuka stood slightly behind him and gently coaxed him into the correct position, placing a hand under his back for support. He instinctively tried to raise his head a few times, but he was gently reminded to move as little as possible. With his sister also nearby, Shinji found the confidence to rely on the two girls, and his eyes closed as his body slowly became parallel with the surface of the pool.
"The important thing now is to stay relaxed," Asuka said. "Remember, we're helping you. With both of us here you'd have to actually try to get into strife."
Shinji opened his eyes and gave her a smile. "Thank you, Asuka."
The Second Child's face pinked slightly. "Um... you're welcome. A-anyway... until you get some of your lost weight back, you might find it a little hard to stay like this. Fat floats, and you don't exactly have much of it right now."
"Well, I could always make some desserts for the next few nights," suggested Shinji.
"Oooh, like what?" As she spoke, Asuka began to stealthily move the hand supporting his back, slowly letting him go. Shinji seemed to not notice, and his gaze unfocused as he began listing possible desserts and what some of them were made of.
"Do you have any suggestions?" he eventually asked, turning his gaze back to Asuka. "If you can find any ingredients we're missing, and a recipe, maybe I can learn to cook a German dessert or two, like Baumkuchen."
The redhead exaggeratedly ran a hand through her hair. "I'd be disappointed if you didn't know Baumkuchen, you tried to use that word to sync with Unit-02 after all. Hmm... do you know what a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is?"
Shinji's brow furrowed. "A schwartz..." His effort to say the strange word failed at the first syllable and he sighed. "Okay, I honestly can't tell if you're just making stuff up because I don't know German."
Asuka crossed her arms and glared at him, pretending to get annoyed. "Would I do that to you?" It was a struggle to stop herself from smiling, as she had briefly considered putting random German words together to see if the poor boy would notice. The language certainly allowed for some ridiculously long yet correct words.
"Um..."
"Rhetorical question! I think I'm going to have to start teaching you my language," Asuka said as she threw her hands up in mock despair.
To her amusement, Shinji still seemed entirely unaware that he was now floating completely on his own despite seeing both of Asuka's hands.
It was just a shame that Misato had to come along and spoil everything. "Hey Shinji, you're doing pretty good on your own there!"
"Huh?"
With his attention drawn to the fact that Asuka was no longer helping him float, Shinji floundered, but managed to return his body to a vertical position.
"Damnit, I was trying to see how long he could stay like that, Misato!" Asuka loudly complained at the now contrite commander.
"Whoops! Sorry!"
"He understands what to do now," Rei interjected. "It will be much easier for him to float unaided."
Her statement rang true. The rest of the hour was spent helping Shinji refine his new skill, to the point where he no longer needed assistance to begin the float. When the time came to get out of the pool, he almost seemed disappointed. After drying off and changing back into their regular clothes, the members of the Katsuragi household left NERV and headed back home.
"Thank you for your help today," Shinji said to the girls as they sat around the dining table that evening. A Baumkuchen had been bought on the way home, and now everybody was enjoying a piece. Asuka loftily claimed that Shinji could make a better one in his sleep, but declared it satisfactory. Even Pen-Pen had shown up, curious as to what was being made, and was now polishing off a portion.
"You are welcome, Shinji," replied Rei.
Asuka echoed her, adding, "Maybe tomorrow I'll show you the Dead Man's Float."
Shinji almost choked on his mouthful of cake.
