Chapter 21

It took several days of patient tutoring before Shinji felt comfortable enough to start swimming, Even then, he refused to go past the point where he could no longer stand on the bottom of the pool with his head above water. But under the careful eye of Asuka, by the end of the first week he was able to somewhat comfortably swim from one side of the shallow end to the other. Despite looking like he had barely managed it, Asuka still congratulated him. The smile Shinji gave her in return made it all worthwhile to her.

Asuka stopped 'accidentally' teasing the poor boy the next day. While it was nice to know that Shinji still looked, it sometimes made her want to look back. And wish he hadn't decided to wear shorts in the pool.

It didn't come as much of a surprise when Shinji decided to take back the laundry duties, which led to one of the reddest faces Asuka had ever seen on the Third Child the first time she dropped both her bikini and Misato's on top of the pile he was taking to the washing machine.

But even with the 'distractions' provided, Shinji's life was evidently not going to return to normal any time soon. It had not gone unnoticed by Asuka that the boy's behaviour had been slowly creeping back towards despondency as the nightmares struck at him with depressing regularity. It was clear to her that he was not getting much sleep, but she felt far too embarrassed, not to mention afraid, to suggest the method she had discovered for protecting Shinji from his dreams.

This was not helped by what happened one morning on their way to NERV. Shinji had hesitantly sat up in his seat to observe Tokyo-3 as it passed by the car window, but when Misato had to stop at a red light, he surprised the other occupants of the car by suddenly gasping and almost diving back down. Asuka was unable to work out who or what he had seen, but it had left Shinji cowering with his head in his hands, as if he had just been struck in the temple, for the rest of the journey. He refused to speak of what had occurred, and remained almost completely silent for the rest of the day.

Back at home, and out of earshot of the boy, Rei brought up something that had slipped their memories, but might aid in cheering up him.

Shinji's friends.

Asuka was still hesitant to bring them in, but Misato stubbornly insisted that having his two schoolmates back in his life would make Shinji feel better, stating that support was a key component in friendship. There was much grumbling and complaining on the Second Child's part about the 'Stooges', but she eventually acquiesced. Rei passed a message on to Hikari, and the redhead now found herself staring down the two male teenagers on the roof of the high school, with the bluenette and the class representative standing off to the side.

Her presence had been explained away by the pretence of delivering some paperwork from Misato to the school principal, and deciding to wait until after lunch before leaving so that she could 'catch up' with her friends. She dodged any questions asked of her in the halls with two words: NERV business.

"Before I tell you why I brought you up here," Asuka began, "I first want your oaths that you won't blab about this to anybody. Understand?"

Toji and Kensuke raised an eyebrow at each other. "This NERV stuff, Soryu?" the jock asked.

"No way, it's probably about Shinji. He's the only thing she'd get so cautious about," Kensuke said, before withering under the glare thrown his way.

"Tell anyone, and I'll bring the wrath of NERV down on your stooge heads," Asuka said threateningly, and the two male teens held their hands up in placation.

"It is about Shinji, but it is not bad news," Rei interjected before an argument could start.

"Alright, alright," Toji replied. "Anything for the Shin-man."

"Good." Asuka took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "Shinji's awake," she said without fanfare.

It took several long seconds for Toji and Kensuke to understand what she meant. To her surprise, the athletic boy worked it out first. "He's back to normal? Great, let's go see him after school!"

While Kensuke added his own cheerful response, only Rei noticed Hikari wincing as she remembered making the same mistake about Shinji's condition.

"Hold on there," Asuka said. The boys immediately quieted upon seeing the seriousness of her expression, despite the good news. "Yeah, he's lucid... but..." She growled, unable to work out how best to explain without giving too much away.

"Please, allow me, Asuka," Rei cut in. After a defeated wave from the redhead, she proceeded to tell Toji and Kensuke the same edited details that Hikari already knew.

Toji let out a low whistle. "Damn," he whispered. "Is there anything we can do for him?"

"That's kind of why we're telling you now," Asuka replied. "For the last week or so Shinji's really only been around Rei, Misato and I. He's okay with us, but afraid of other people now, hiding in his seat whenever we're in the car. Akagi's even had to set a system up to keep personnel away from him while we're at NERV."

"As his friends, we hope you can help remove some of that fear," Rei added.

"Of course we'll help!" Kensuke exclaimed. "You two and Shinji are the reason this city still exists. Just say what you need us to do and we'll do it."

Toji crossed his arms and nodded seriously. "What he said. We'll meet you at the gate when school ends, Rei. And, uh..." He nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Let's... not tell my sister about this just yet. Give Shinji a chance to adjust to us before Sakura bowls him over in her joy."


Judging from the look on the young girl's face, Sakura obviously didn't believe whatever Toji had told her about why everybody else was going to the Katsuragi apartment. When they parted ways at the elevator, she shot a pointed look at her brother just as the door closed.

"I don't think I'll be able to get out of this," Toji muttered as they stepped out of the elevator on the seventh floor. "She's gonna kill me for lying to her about Shinji."

"We'll give you a worthy funeral then," Kensuke said with a grin.

Bidding the boys and Hikari to wait just before the door, Rei went into the Katsuragi apartment. She was greeted by Shinji, carrying a basket of clean laundry out of the bathroom.

He almost dropped it and began hyperventilating when he heard that his friends wanted to see him, just as Asuka came into the kitchen.

"I-I... don't know if I can handle it yet," he mumbled a few minutes later, after Asuka and Rei directed him to sit at the dining table and helped him to calm down, sitting in chairs on either side of him.

"I know you're scared, but they're your friends," Asuka said. "You know Hikari's a good person. The Stooges might be dumb and rude, but they'd never even think badly about you."

"Please trust us, Shinji," Rei added. "It pains me to see you afraid to even step outside."

Shinji hesitantly looked up into her eyes. "Sorry..."

Feeling something brush against her leg, Asuka momentarily forgot about rebuking him for the apology and looked down. The boy's right hand was twitching again, clenching tightly before releasing.

'He's never been very good at social interactions to begin with, and now we're trying to make him step way outside his massively shrunken comfort zone. He's getting stressed out. You know what to do, Asuka.'

Shinji gasped as he felt hands close around his own, and lift it up to the surface of the table. There was a quick glance between the girls, unnoticed by him, and two more hands joined in.

"We are here for you, Shinji," Rei quietly said. "But if you truly feel that you cannot handle seeing your friends yet, then we shall try again another time."

Asuka watched cautiously as Shinji clenched his eyes shut for a moment. "Alright," he finally said. "I'll see them."

A ghost of a smile flitted across the First Child's face as she got up and headed to the front door. Asuka and Shinji watched her go, before turning their gazes back to each other. Unable to maintain the eye contact, Shinji shyly looked down at the table, and redness quickly flooded his cheeks. Asuka glanced down as well.

She was still holding his hand.

The sound of the door hissing open and Rei speaking distracted Shinji for a moment, and Asuka pulled her hands away, fighting down her body's attempt to match shades with his. She didn't take her eyes off him, though, and so saw the boy flinch the moment Toji, Hikari and Kensuke came into view. While Asuka had been expecting a reaction like that, what she didn't expect was for Shinji to close his eyes and clutch his forehead, letting out an almost inaudible groan.

"Shin-man!"

Shinji's eyes snapped open as Toji greeted him. "H-hi," he weakly said, waving the hand that had just been on his forehead as Hikari and Kensuke also said hello. "How are you guys?"

"Ah, can't complain. You?"

A feeble smile worked its way onto Shinji's face. "Um, good?" The lie was obvious, but nobody had the heart to call him out on it.

Asuka got up and went to the fridge as the male teenagers began to talk. She took out a soda for herself, pointing at it with a questioning motion to her guests, who shook their heads. Rei also declined, and headed down the hallway into her bedroom to drop her bag off, before passing through the kitchen into the lounge with her homework.

To the Second Child's relief, they seemed to be actively avoiding talking about what had happened to Shinji, instead opting to fill him in on school life, and Asuka relaxed when his shoulders shook a little as Toji made a rude comment and awkwardly dodged a slap from Hikari.

"Are... you two together?" Shinji asked after the two had settled back down.

"They sure are. It only took them all last year to figure out they liked each other," Kensuke quipped before the other two could respond.

A proper smile grew on Shinji's face. "I'm happy for the both of you."

"Thanks, man," Toji replied. "Yeah, after we got evacuated, Hikari made me feel better about my prosthetics-" He gently thumped the table just as Shinji was about to open his mouth. "No. Stop right there. I know that look. You got nothin' to be sorry for, dude. I know you did everything you could to try and save me. And look at me." He flexed his left arm, pulling the sleeve up to his shoulder. "I don't even have the prosthetics anymore so your apology would still be pointless."

Asuka smirked behind her soda can at Toji's successful apology-block. She had been ready to jump in herself, but the jock stooge had simply been quicker.

"So anyway," Kensuke said after a brief silence. "Has the Red Demon been treating you properly since you awakened?" He flinched away from the second glare Hikari shot at him that day.

The 'demon' in question was the only one to notice the brief flash of anger in Shinji's eyes at the spectacled boy's choice of title. "What do you mean?"

"Well, don't forget what she was like last year..."

"I'm fine," Shinji stiffly replied. "Asuka has been nothing but helpful to me during my recovery... despite how little I deserve it."

Sensing that the conversation would soon be over thanks to Kensuke, Hikari rose from her seat and said, "We're glad to see that you're better, Shinji, but we should get going now. These two have plenty of homework to get through." She waved down the protests and directed a question at Asuka. "If it's alright with you guys, may we come over tomorrow?"

Asuka shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, we'll be done at NERV well before school finishes."

"More tests?" Kensuke innocently asked.

If Hikari's glares had been a laser, the one that Asuka gave him had the force of a Positron Rifle. Kensuke almost fell out of his chair at her expression, which purely said, "Shut the hell up."

"Um, tests? No, Asuka's teaching me how to swim," Shinji hesitantly replied, not understanding the reason for the suddenly hostile atmosphere.

'Damnit, stooge. I'm going to have to tell Shinji about the Evas soon, thanks to you,' Asuka darkly thought. When Shinji had awoken, Asuka had mentioned him being in Unit-01 as something that actually happened, but he had focused entirely on the fact that he attacked her. The subject of the Evangelions hadn't come up since, and Asuka didn't want to risk bringing it up again.

But now a nerd had nearly spilled the beans.

Said nerd was now being almost dragged out of the apartment by a much more tactful Hikari, with Toji following sheepishly behind. He stopped just before disappearing out of sight down the hallway that led to the front door and turned around. "Hey, Shin-man. My sister will be coming tomorrow as well. She'll be... uh... happy to see you." He rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah. Happy. Seeya."

The door hissed open a few seconds later. Shinji and Asuka heard the athlete say, "You damn id-," just before it closed.

"Ignore Nerd Stooge," Asuka said with a sigh. "Like I said before, they're dumb."

When there was no response from him, she turned her head to look at Shinji. His elbows were on the table, left hand cradling his head and the right hovering nearby, once more rhythmically clenching.

"You okay?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The physical contact brought Shinji's attention back to her, blinking confusedly for a moment. "Y-yeah," he mumbled. "Just a headache."

"Even I didn't think they were that annoying," Asuka chuckled.

The quip brought a weak grin to the Third Child's face. "No, not that. It's..." His hand clenched once more before dropping to the table. "Never mind. I'm going to go lie down and rest for a bit."

"Wait." The redhead tightened her grip slightly as he made to get up. "I saw you when they came in. You looked like somebody tried to flay your soul."

Just as he seemed about to confess what had caused the headache, Shinji shook his head. "Please, I'll tell you later, when I can think straight again."

Piling on the false sarcasm, Asuka exhaled loudly and said, "Fine, I guess I'll make dinner tonight. Just don't take too long to screw your head back on properly. I wanna know what's wrong."

Perhaps realising that she wouldn't let the matter rest forever, another small smile was the only response Asuka got as Shinji stood up and ambled down the hallway to their bedroom. A moment later, there was a thud from the room that could only be the boy practically collapsing onto his futon.


Asuka felt rather silly knocking on the door to her own bedroom, especially when there was no answer. For once she was glad for the Japanese convention of sliding doors, as with both hands full it made opening the door easier.

She quietly made her way to the head of Shinji's futon, and the boy stirred as Asuka sat down, placing the glass of water and box of pills she was carrying on the floor next to her.

"Hey..." was Shinji's muzzy greeting as he raised himself up on one arm.

"Hey yourself," Asuka replied. "It's been an hour, but I take it you're not feeling any better?"

"Nnngh, not even slightly." His attempt to sit upright failed, until Asuka gave a helping hand. She removed two pills from the box and gently but firmly pressed them into Shinji's hand. She had to support his back as he tossed them in his mouth and almost fell over. After using the water to wash them down, he remarked, "I really hope that was aspirin, my head feels like an Angel is trying to break in."

"No, actually I gave you some of Misato's contraceptive pills."

Shinji's head must have been hurting more than Asuka thought, as he completely missed the obvious sarcasm in her voice. She hadn't turned the light on when she entered the room, but it wasn't needed. The partially-open curtain still let in enough late afternoon light to see the horrified look on the boy's face.

"W-w-what?!"

"Oh relax, I was joking." Asuka held up the box for proof. "These are still Misato's, though it's something a lot stronger than aspirin. Probably what she used to take to get over one of her monster hangovers. I'm sure she won't mind you having a couple." As Shinji calmed back down, she squinted at the box. "Paracetamol. Huh, I think these were bought recently too."

"Maybe she got them to deal with the headache of being Supreme Commander."

Asuka shrugged before picking up the box and empty glass, and stood up. "Maybe. Anyway, I'm going to start making dinner, you feel like anything in particular?"

Shinji thought for a moment before shaking his head, instantly regretting it as the motion aggravated his headache. "Whatever you feel like will be fine."

"Alright." Asuka walked out of the bedroom, stopping in the doorway with a hand on the frame. "The painkillers should kick in soon. Will you talk to me after dinner, about what caused your headache?" she asked hopefully.

From her position, it appeared for a moment that Shinji had deliberately turned away from her. Just as she was about to get upset that he was ignoring her, Asuka heard, "Huh? Yeah, I'll tell you."

"Good." Asuka drummed her fingers on the door frame for a few seconds, before closing her eyes and saying, "Please don't try and hold everything in, Shinji. There are people that want to help. They... they care about you."

She left the doorway before any possible response could be made.


Misato arrived home shortly after dinner was laid out on the dining table. She expressed concern over Shinji's headache, but as he was already starting to feel better, both he and Asuka seemed to silently agree not to disclose what had apparently caused it. When her headache medication was brought up, Misato cheerfully stated that Shinji could take as much as he needed.

Cleanup duty fell to Rei that night. While it was originally her brother's night for the dishes, she seemed to innately understand that he was unwell, and quietly insisted that he go lay down. When Asuka got up to follow him, Rei gave her a meaningful look behind Misato's back that suggested she would like an explanation later, to which the Second Child nodded.

Back in their bedroom, Asuka closed the curtains as Shinji sat down on his futon. Instead of turning on the ceiling light, she instead used the lamp next to her bed to illuminate the room with a softer glow. The redhead then dropped exaggeratedly onto her own futon, before crossing her legs and leaning an elbow on each knee with her chin in her hands.

Shinji smiled a little at the sight. "You look like you're ready for some girl talk."

Asuka grinned right back at him. "Well I'm a girl, and we're going to talk about something personal. Speaking of which..."

"Ah. Right..." Shinji looked downward.

The room turned silent, but Asuka knew not to press him. He was obviously gathering his thoughts together. After a couple of minutes, he looked back up at her.

"How... how much do you know about my role in Third Impact?" he slowly asked.

Asuka frowned. She had certainly not expected him to go back that far in his explanation. It was going to be a struggle to pick her words carefully. "You were... the one who gave everybody the chance to return," she eventually replied, gingerly stepping around the landmine topic of Shinji's control.

A landmine that the boy proceeded to walk directly over. "I was the one in control. Lilith asked me to decide humanity's fate," he darkly muttered.

"Shinji, we've already gone over how it's not truly your fault," Asuka said, trying to placate him.

"Yeah..." It was clear in both his voice and expression that Shinji still didn't believe it. "A bunch of old men did everything. But they're not the ones that have to suffer." He let out a low sigh. "Anyway, when I... when..."

Asuka put a hand on his shoulder as his voice trailed off. "We don't need to talk about this part."

"Actually, I do," Shinji replied, raising his head slightly. He took a deep breath and tried again. "When... I made the decision... to end humanity, and Lilith began collecting their souls, something happened. They all... passed through me. It was like I was the doorway to Instrumentality, and every single soul passed through mine on their way in."

Asuka shivered at the thought, wondering how it must have felt. "But... what does this have to do with your headache now?" she asked.

"Um... I'm getting to that. When each soul collided with mine, something was left behind. Like two cars trading paint in a scrape." Shinji tapped the side of his head.

Her eyes widening in shock, Asuka let out a strangled gasp. "Their... memories?!" When Shinji nodded, she added, "Mein Gott," in a hushed whisper.

"Fortunately for me, the human mind doesn't seem capable of remembering such a thing very well," Shinji went on, cheering up slightly. "I had the combined weight of humanity's knowledge and memories in my head for only a few minutes before I started forgetting things en masse. Before I knew it... all I could clearly remember was that the memories had been there. For everything else, it was like that feeling you get when you can't quite recall something, only magnified a few billion times."

Asuka let out the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding. What Shinji had just described sounded similar to what Misato had recounted of Doctor Akagi's hysterical rant about people not clearly remembering their time in Instrumentality, rendering SEELE's ultimate plan... ultimately useless. If a human's mind could not hope to understand such a concept as Instrumentality, how could they ever become one?

She said as much to Shinji, but before she could get too happy, he said, "Too bad that doesn't seem to apply to me. I remember everything from the point I... gave up... to the point where I made the decision to let people return." He put a hand to his head and chuckled humourlessly. "It was a mindscrew."

Raising an eyebrow at the Third Child's one-word description, Asuka began to think while tapping a finger against her chin. "All of humanity's knowledge..." she mused. "But the memories that come with it wouldn't be worth the price. Not by a long shot."

"No," Shinji agreed. "Imagine seeing a person on the street, and knowing instantly that they were cheating on their spouse. Or that somebody has disturbing, sexual thoughts about somebody else."

"Eurgh." Asuka made a face, which disappeared as quickly as it had formed when something occurred to her. She made a great mental leap. "Wait... what happened today, when you saw our friends... Did you suddenly remember their lives?"

And perfectly nailed the landing.

Shinji looked at her with surprise mixed with not a small amount of admiration. In his eyes the judges held up several tens and a nine. "Yeah, you're definitely still a genius," he said with a smile. "The second they came in and looked at me, I was hit by three lots of memories at once, and..."

"Mindscrew?" Asuka guessed, trying to ignore the tingling sensation she felt when Shinji praised her.

"A very impolite one."

The redhead tilted her head upward and hummed thoughtfully. "Yet you still asked Hikari and Jock Stooge about their relationship. It started before Third Impact, so you knew about it. You asked so they could tell you themselves."

"You're pretty good at that sort of thinking, Asuka."

Again, she had to resist the urge to blush at another compliment. "Damn right, I'm a regular Sherlock Holmes."

Asuka had been anticipating another smile, and had even braced herself for the effect it might have. What she was not expecting for Shinji to give her a look of polite incomprehension and say, "Um... who?"

"...Sherlock Holmes? Famous fictional detective?"

"I... don't think I've ever heard of him," Shinji hesitantly said.

"What?!" The redhead was shocked, almost angry at this revelation, and the Third Child reflexively leaned away from her. "What kind of school did you go to where you never learned about the world's greatest detective?"

His eyes downcast, Shinji mumbled, "I... never went to school. I had a tutor instead."

"O-oh..." The fire disappeared from Asuka's voice, snuffed out by the boy's sad expression. "Sorry Shinji, I didn't know."

"It's fine, Asuka." With a shrug, he continued, "You couldn't have known. My tutor only taught me the essentials. Literacy and numeracy, that sort of thing. Oh, and I kind of had to learn how to cook by myself when I was old enough to start. He basically forced the job onto me, saying that either I would learn or starve."

The anger returned. "Your tutor was a goddamn bastard. How old were you when that started?"

"Uh," Shinji frowned in thought. "Eight, I think."

Asuka raised an eyebrow. "You 'think'?"

"Well after a while of living with him I lost track of time, what with every day being the same thing. Until I came to Tokyo-3 and got my identification, I couldn't be positive how old I was." Asuka tilted her head in confusion, and Shinji rubbed the back of his head, smiling weakly as he continued. "Heh, I actually thought I was sixteen. But that was probably because the years really dragged on, and the fact that I never even got to celebrate my birthday di-"

"WHAT?!"


The shout seemed to echo through the apartment, drawing surprised looks from the two people in the lounge room just as the television had been turned off.

"What was that about?" Misato wondered.

"Shinji and Asuka are talking," Rei replied. "He must have simply said something surprising to her."

"So surprising she was probably heard downstairs? What did Shinji do, confess to her?"

"Confess? I do not understand."

"Never mind, you will someday."


Back in the bedroom, Asuka struggled to calm down. Shinji was still talking, but in her indignant rage she only caught half of it.

"-sn't allowed to watch television much. Just documentaries that were relevant to my lessons. Apart from the cello I didn't even get to entertain myself. Even then, that was only a couple years before I got called here."

Asuka put aside the surprising news that Shinji had become a good cello player in such a short time, because she had a sudden urge to punch something. Punch someone. To deprive a growing child of any form of entertainment was almost barbaric to her. And to completely ignore a child's birthday?

She would bet an entire decade's worth of NERV paychecks that it was done by the order of his own father.

While she had started Evangelion piloting very early in her life, she had still been given time off so that she didn't burn out. By the sound of things, Shinji had been burnt at both ends and in the middle. And yet here he stood, somehow having survived everything thrown at him. Here he remained.

The only way things could have been worse would be if he had been corporally punished. Asuka stifled a shudder, and fought down the mental image of a Shinji that would be like... like the First Child used to be.

"That... Arschloch is lucky he doesn't live in this city," she ground out through clenched teeth. Almost to herself, she added, "Wonder if he's the reason you don't know anything about Christian religion either."

"Um, what?" The strange subject change threw Shinji for a loop. "Japan is mostly Shinto and Buddhism. All I know of Christianity is that it's a Western religion."

'Well great, it was already kind of an obscure reference. No wonder the 'idiot' didn't come in that night.' Asuka turned away from him slightly, laying down on top of her futon. She stared up at the ceiling and said, "Remember last year, during our sync training week? That one night when Misato wasn't around?"

"Yeah, you moved into her room for the night and said something about a wall of jerks," Shinji replied. "What about it?"

The boy's confusion diffused some of the Second Child's anger, but then she remembered what had happened afterwards with a sigh. Or to be more precise, what hadn't happened. "The next time you're on the internet, look up 'The Walls of Jericho'. Jeh-rikh-oh," she clarified, slowly pronouncing the word.

"Jericho..."

"Yeah. Do that, and..." Asuka voice went quiet. "And then you'll find out why I didn't sleep well that night."

"Okay," Shinji replied, before failing to stifle a yawn.

She couldn't help it. The contagion spread, and Asuka yawned too. "Wow, we must have been talking for a while. We should probably turn in."

"...Alright."

Asuka knew him well enough by this point to know when something was worrying him. "What's the matter?"

"It's nothing," the boy defensively said as he lay down. This time, it was clear he was trying to end the conversation as he put his back to Asuka.

She sat up and put a hand on his left shoulder, forcing him to turn back over and look up at her. "Shinji, tonight we've learned some new things about each other. I've even given you a hint to something I would never have mentioned even under torture last year. Don't backslide on me now!"

For a long while the two teenagers stared at each other, his cobalt eyes filled with worry and fear mixed with reticence, while her sapphire eyes radiated determination and concern. Finally, Shinji sighed and began to sit up. Asuka removed her hand, but didn't move, staying almost on top of him.

"There's... one other thing I got from the souls that passed through me," he quietly said. "And I wouldn't even wish it upon my father."

"W-what was it, Shinji?" she hesitantly asked as she moved back slightly in surprise. She would later regret not letting him drop the subject.

"How many people alive do you think there were when I triggered Third Impact?" His eyes began to turn hollow.

"Don't change the subj-," Asuka began.

Shinji quickly interrupted. "How many people, Asuka?"

The Second Child ran a hand through her hair, and made a guess with a shrug. "It was about three billion, right?"

"Three billion, three hundred and twenty-nine million, nine hundred and sixty-seven thousand, five hundred and fourteen," Shinji corrected without hesitation.

Asuka was stunned for a long minute, and Shinji's eyes drifted to the ceiling. It took her a long, agonising minute to work up the nerve to say, "That's... incredibly specific."

"Do you want to know how I know?"

Fear bloomed inside the redhead, but Asuka couldn't stop herself from opening her mouth and uttering one word. "How?"

Shinji met her gaze, and Asuka stared into the eyes of a boy who had hang-glided over Hell. The expression would be forever seared into her memory as Shinji replied, "Because I hear them every night in my dreams."


Rei paused at the open door to her room. She frowned, and looked across at Asuka and Shinji's closed door. Something was worrying her, and she couldn't understand exactly what it was. All she could fathom was that it involved her brother. The bluenette was wondering whether she should knock and see if everything was alright, when the feeling suddenly vanished.


The moment control of her body had returned after the shock had worn off, it had moved without any conscious thought on Asuka's part. She had almost knocked Shinji over, wrapping her arms tightly around the boy. Only his arms, thrown desperately backwards, had halted a sudden impact with the floor.

They sat like that for a long time, until Shinji finally mustered up some courage. He cleared his throat and said, "Um... Asuka? Did I say something wrong? You... seem to be slowly trying to crush me."

Asuka didn't let go, but she did loosen her grip a minuscule fraction. "It's a hug, you idiot. I'm hugging you."

"O-oh..." An eternity passed, and then another. "Um... Asuka? W-why are you hugging me?"

She closed her eyes and sighed into his shoulder. "Because you need one, dummy."

The warmth seemed almost addictive, and she refused to break the hug and reveal her incandescent face. It was far, far too late to pass this off as just a gesture of emotional support.

'But Shinji wouldn't be Shinji if he clearly understood something like this,' Asuka gladly thought. 'I guess I'm... hah, safe for now.'

Asuka had lost track of the number of times she had gone over the scenario in her head the previous year. It always seemed so easy to do in the safety of her own mind. Just admit that she might possibly consider... thinking about liking him. But the words could never be said. The only time she had made an attempt, Shinji had had to ask her if something was wrong as she stared at him, unable to force anything out of her mouth.

That had been a restless night.

Even now, something was still holding her back. She was hugging him already, so why couldn't she say anything? Was it just not the right time? Would she ever be able to get past that nagging insecurity that somehow nothing would go right if she admitted her interest?

For the time being, she would gladly settle for Shinji being in her arms.

The words would just have to wait.


Asuka stared at the side of Shinji's head as she waited for sleep to claim her. After the sudden hug had been awkwardly broken, they had quietly slipped into their futons, with both of them trying to hide their red faces while at the same time surreptitiously checking to see if the other was still blushing.

They were. For quite a long time.

Now the redhead found that she simply couldn't fall asleep, despite feeling like a bit of weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She hadn't been expecting Shinji to reveal so much of his life before coming to Tokyo-3, but it ended up answering several questions at once. Asuka felt like kicking herself for some of the insults she had hurled at Shinji the previous year. After all, it wasn't his choice to be abandoned by one parental figure after losing the other, then get sent to live with what sounded like the strictest teacher in the world for a decade.

And now she knew just how badly Third Impact had scrambled his poor mind.

No wonder he felt like he was responsible, with over three billion people screaming in his dreams, to the point where he had somehow been able to count them. No wonder he was starting to develop bags under his eyes from all the missed hours of sleep a growing person needed.

Gott, she wished Misato still had a drinking problem, purely so she could liberate a couple cans from the horde and see if the Third Child's nightmares could be held at bay for even one night.

The sound of bedclothes ruffling reached her ears, and Asuka watched Shinji crawl out from underneath his covers, lying down on top of them and bringing a hand up to his face to rub his eyes with a thumb and forefinger.

"Can't sleep?" she quietly asked, despite the answer being blatantly obvious, and Shinji hummed in agreement. "Me neither. You dropped quite a bombshell."

The boy's hand dropped back to his side. "Yeah, shame about the friendly fire."

It was a lame joke, but Asuka chuckled a little anyway, before kicking her futon cover off in frustration. "And this damnable summer! It's night time! The sun is on the other side of the planet, and it's still this freaking hot!"

"I used to be able to tolerate the heat more than this," Shinji mused. "But after the Eighth Angel, I can barely even handle a hot bath anymore."

Asuka winced. "Oooh... right. Diving into a volcano with no protection."

'Putting your life at risk just to save mine, you... hero.'

Seeing that final cable snap, she had just prepared herself for her soon to be horrific death by magma when a miracle occurred. The last thing she had expected to see was a giant purple fist latching on to the remains of the cable, keeping her from sinking into the molten abyss. There had been nightmares about that day. Only this year, while she was sleeping next to her saviour, did those nightmares turn back into good dreams with the appearance of Unit-01 breaking through the orange sea.

With how well the two of them had been talking that night, the redhead wondered if she should get Shinji's side of the story from that day. She was curious to know why he had disobeyed Misato's order to simply let her die.

He beat her to the punch.

"And I would do it again in a heartbeat, Asuka," Shinji solemnly said.

"But... you had no protection!" Asuka repeated, barely keeping her voice down. "What would you have done if the crane or the cable couldn't support the weight of both our Evas?!"

The Third Child responded without a moment's hesitation. "While I was rushing to catch you, I planned for something like that. If it looked like the crane couldn't support our weight, my plan was to pull you up to the cable so that you could hang on while I let go."

Asuka's eyes shot wide open, and she stared in horror at Shinji. He was staring resolutely upwards at the ceiling, but she could still make out the serious expression on his face. 'He... would have sacrificed himself for me?!' She abruptly sat up and put a hand to her face. 'Why?!'

"Because you were a much more experienced pilot than me. It's only right that you deserved to live."

Asuka suddenly realised that her last question hadn't been asked in the privacy of her own head.

Back then, she would have accepted that reasoning without question, because she would have believed it fully at the time. Of course the rookie should sacrifice themselves to save someone better than them. But now? While she would admit that her pilot ego was still strong, it had taken a severe beating in the time leading up to Third Impact. When... if... Shinji ever piloted again, she would have very little to criticise him for.

After all, how could she ever think so poorly of the reluctant young man who had practically been forced to cripple his best friend, quit piloting in protest, but came back and still fought the Fourteenth Angel to a standstill? After being retrieved from her plug and watching a recording of the fight, Asuka was positive that if it hadn't been for the bastard's cheap shot at his power cable, the Third Child would have easily emerged victorious.

But then she had hidden her reaction to everything under a veil of hate at the 'stolen kill'.

"Hey, you were pretty good too, you know," she finally said. "Do you think those friends of yours could have done so well their first time out? Could Nerd Stooge have successfully synchronised with me against the Seventh Angel?"

The room was stifling. Asuka got up and opened her window wider, shifting the curtains to let what little breeze there was enter unimpeded.

"... I suppose," she heard from behind. "Kensuke was rather obsessed, but there's a difference between just seeing something and actually controlling it."

Asuka turned around. "Took me ten years to get to where I was. It'd probably take him thirty." Shinji made a non-committal noise, possibly deciding not to argue the point, and she smirked at the rising moon before returning to her futon. She smoothed out the covers, and laid back down with her arms behind her head.

After a few minutes of silence, with tiredness still just a hope, she turned her head sideways and said, "Hey Shinji. You said you couldn't stand hot baths anymore, right?"

"Huh?" Shinji finally broke from staring at the ceiling. "Y-yeah, I start feeling like my skin's on fire. Why?"

Asuka winced, remembering the heat she felt just from the neural feedback of her Evangelion inside the dive suit when the coolant lines were cut. Now she had the answer to the question she had asked herself back when Rei had practically interrogated her on her involvement with Shinji. 'Skin on fire' was honestly less than she had predicted. "Then why did you stay in the hot spring Misato took us to?"

"Well..." The Third Child shrugged as best as he could while laying down. "That's where it started. I was doing fine for a while, but I eventually had to get out when it became too much for me to handle."

"And you haven't been able to enjoy a bath since?"

"No," Shinji replied. His brow furrowed, then his cheeks reddened slightly as he added, "Well, there was one time when I could tolerate it. Kaworu... he joined me in the bath at NERV. I don't know now if it was just that someone was there for me to take my mind off it, or whether he did something as an Angel, but I didn't feel a thing while he was with me."

A spike of jealousy hit Asuka at the mention of that pretty-boy, but she had a quip ready to stifle it. "Probably used bullshit space magic on you," she said, wiggling her fingers in the air as she spoke. "Booooweeeeooooo!" Her 'magic' noise did it for Shinji. He let out a laugh, and Asuka joined in.

And then, practically simultaneously, they both yawned. This time, though, Asuka finally began to feel tired. "Alright, shall we try and fall asleep again?"

"Mmm."

The cool breeze had picked up a little, and the heat in the bedroom no longer felt as bad. It was enough to let sleep creep in at the edges of Asuka's mind, and as she started to nod off, one final thought popped into her mind.

'Does Shinji have my memories too?'

It was too late to ask. There had been enough talk that night. Asuka made a note to ask him tomorrow. But first she would have to speak to Misato about something of vital importance.

A birthday party for the Third Child.


"A birthday party?" Misato asked as she made her morning coffee. "Well, I suppose we did miss his last one due to... circumstances."

Asuka nodded. "I want it to be a good one too." She paused, waiting for the woman to take a sip of her coffee, and proceeded to deliver a belated bombshell at just the right moment, in retaliation for the teasing she had suffered at Misato's hands. "Seeing as Shinji hasn't been able to celebrate his birthday in ten years."

The cup slammed onto the dining table so hard the handle broke off and coffee slopped onto the table. Asuka was disappointed that there was no spray from the commander's mouth, but the feral look in Misato's eyes held her attention. It was possibly similar to the righteous indignation her own eyes likely blazed with after learning that piece of information herself.

"You. Are. Shitting me," Misato flatly stated.

"I'm not," Asuka calmly replied. "I got Shinji to open up to me a bit last night, and he told me of his time with the teacher his pathetic excuse for a father dumped him with." She gave a brief rundown of that part of last night's conversation, skirting around Shinji's memories because she felt that it was something Shinji would need to speak about himself, but she couldn't decide whether to mention Shinji's side of the volcano mission.

Judging from how spiky Misato's language got just from speaking of Shinji's life before Tokyo-3, Asuka cautiously decided it would be wise not to talk about him behind his back anymore. She would just have to carefully convince him that it was alright to reveal such personal information to Misato himself.

"Anyway, we need to make this party great," Asuka reiterated, bringing the conversation back to the reason why she had gotten up early to catch Misato. "Of course, he doesn't have a ton of friends, so the apartment should be fine, right?"

Misato nodded. "Yes, you may use the apartment. I can't exactly force Shinji to go out somewhere, after all." She sighed and put her chin in her hand. "I hope I have the evening free to join the party."

Her time away from NERV to help Shinji having long since run out, Misato had grudgingly gone back to her duties as Commander. She still drove them to and from the Geofront for the swimming lessons, but she no longer had the time to stick around during or afterwards.

"You're the Supreme Commander of NERV," Asuka replied, waving her hands sarcastically as she recited the full title. "If you ordered it, you could probably get everybody to strip down to their underwear and form a conga line in the corridors. I'm sure you could get a few hours off for your foster son's party."

With a thick coating of sarcasm and a grin, Misato said, "I'll see if I can get that base-wide order scheduled. So when do you want the party?"

Asuka thought for a moment. "It's Friday now... Sunday would be good, with no school. With only a few friends all we really need to organise is the cake and decorations and such."

The cake would be relatively easy, Asuka knew. She wanted to make it herself, but it would give away the surprise if she did so in the Katsuragi apartment. Hikari would no doubt be eager to help, and likely gladly offer her apartment to both cook and hide the cake. That only left two problems: distracting Shinji while the cake was being made, and stealthily decorating the apartment on the day.

When the second problem was put to Misato, she said, "That's easy. I can give a key to your friend Hikari, and she can get those two boys in as well as organise the decorations while we're at NERV that day." She looked at her watch and shot to her feet. "Damn, gotta go. Have a chat with Hikari after school, let her know what's going on."


The first problem turned out to be just as easy, almost by accident.

Asuka had sent a text message Hikari during the day, asking to talk at the Katsuragi apartment. A few minutes after school let out, she got a reply saying that the class representative, as well as Toji, Kensuke and Sakura, were on their way home and would stop by.

The Second Child was too busy in the lounge room perusing a recipe book, cleverly hiding another book full of desserts inside it, so she let Shinji answer the door.

"H-hey th-"

"Shinji!" Several dozen kilograms of exuberant young girl cannoned into the surprised teen, almost sending him falling back into the wall before he regained his balance.

"Oof!"

"Hey! Careful, Sakura!" Toji yelled.

Back in the lounge room, Asuka grinned as she snapped the books shut. She couldn't make out the rapid fire sentences Sakura was saying, but the gist was clear: The girl was over the moon at seeing Shinji lucid. Asuka got up from the sofa and greeted the guests as they came into the kitchen. A bemused Shinji was being led by the hand by Sakura through his own home.

"Asuka, you wanted to talk?" Hikari asked after everybody had settled down.

The redhead nodded. "Yeah, let's go to my room."

She spared a final glance at the lounge room before leaving, noting that Sakura was almost sitting on Shinji's lap. For his part, Shinji didn't appear worried. Perhaps the young girl's memories had been knocked out of him by her... energetic greeting.

In the shared bedroom, Asuka briefly explained the situation, but again took care not to mention the more personal stuff.

"Of course I'll help you, Asuka!" Hikari replied. "It may be a bit late, but that's no reason not to give this our best effort. Have you decided on a cake yet?"

The hidden recipe book was opened, and flipped to the correct page. Asuka watched in amusement as her friend's gaze turned almost lustful at what was on the paper. It looked as if Hikari was just barely stopping herself from eating the page.

"Alright, take it easy," she said, gently pulling Hikari back to a vertical sitting position. "Surely you can wait until Sunday."

"Oh!" The pig-tailed girl snapped out of whatever fantasy she had fallen into. "Um, r-right! Sunday!" She turned back to the book and let out a small sigh of longing.

Barely restraining herself from laughing out loud, Asuka got Hikari's attention once more. "Okay, we'll make the cake tomorrow. I'm fairly sure we can convince Sakura to come around again after school to keep Shinji occupied. What about decorations though?"

Hikari offered hers for the undertaking. Her older sister had had her birthday a couple of months ago, but had requested that it stay family-only. That didn't stop the other members of the Horaki household from making a big deal of it, and the decorations now sat unused in a box in a storage closet.

"I think that's everything sorted then," Asuka remarked. "Sunday's shaping up to be a good day."


Shinji and Asuka's friends had to head home after only an hour, to Sakura's great regret. She brightened up considerably when the redhead invited her over the next day.

And then almost sprinted out the front door, as if she could force time to go faster by speeding herself.

The older teens left more sedately, but not before Asuka noticed a bemused look on Toji's face. After the door closed once more, she turned around and saw Shinji wearing the same expression. "Alright, what's going on?" she demanded.

Shinji flushed, bringing a hand up to run his fingers through his hair. "Um... Sakura said something... interesting."

"Oh? Do tell."

"She... um... said that she really liked me." The red in Shinji's cheeks deepened. Asuka folded her arms and levelled a deadly glare at the Third Child, who backed away slightly. "W-what are you looking at me like that for?" he hastily asked. "She said that she wished I was her brother too!"

Lowering the power of her gaze from 'Positron Rifle' to 'laser targeting system,' Asuka replied, "Is that why Jock Stooge walked out of here looking odd?"

"Well, what Sakura actually said was 'I wish you were my brother', then corrected herself when Toji got unhappy," Shinji clarified. "She got really sad when she thought she had hurt his feelings. It took a bit of effort to cheer her up again."

Asuka chuckled. "I guess not thinking before opening your mouth runs in the Suzuhara family."

"Yeah." Shinji joined in on the laugh. "So Sakura's coming over again tomorrow, is she?"

"Yes, and I'll be going over to Hikari's place for some kanji tutoring." An easy enough half-truth, considering that they would need something to do while the cake was in the oven, and Asuka had been slacking off slightly in that regard. "It was one of Misato's stipulations for me looking after you instead of going to school, since your written language is my only weak subject."

Shinji nodded, and returned to the lounge room, not noticing the minuscule sigh of relief from behind him.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. When it came time for dinner, Shinji and Asuka decided to make it together. As the Third Child began cutting and washing, Asuka felt the almost-forgotten twinges of synchronisation training return. Despite her back being turned to him, she could almost pinpoint exactly when Shinji was about to pass more ingredients to her. Eventually, she was able stick a hand out with the pan exactly as he was about to put the final handful next to her. She could sense the momentary confusion, and almost see the raised eyebrow, before Shinji corrected himself and dropped the ingredients into the pan.

It might have been her imagination, but the food tasted a little better than she expected that night, and she resolved to work with Shinji on the dinner preparations again in the future.


Saturday arrived, and Sakura came to the door of the Katsuragi apartment not long after school ended. Asuka left soon afterwards, after reassuring herself that the pre-teen would be able to keep Shinji, if not happy, at least distracted from his worries. On the way out, she remembered to quietly let Rei in on the birthday party plan, making sure to emphasise the importance of keeping it a secret from her brother.

When she got to the Horaki apartment, Asuka was somewhat surprised to see both Toji and Kensuke there. Upon questioning them, she learned that Hikari had already brought them into the birthday plans to help her prepare for Sunday.

While the boys got to work organising the decorations, which had simply been haphazardly thrown into storage, Hikari and Asuka sat on the couch, and got to work planning the cake the redhead had selected.

"I want this to be just right," Asuka declared, before frowning and adding, "but I've never made this before."

"Me neither," Hikari replied. She got up to check the fridge and pantry, before returning to the couch. "We don't quite have enough for one, so we need to go to the store. But... I don't doubt we'll mess up with the first." She sighed. "The cake I made for my sister was much simpler, but I can't resist this challenge!"

"Why not get enough to make two?" suggested Toji, before attempting to untangle himself from a line of crêpe paper. Asuka stared coolly at him, knowing perfectly well why he had made the suggestion. Hikari even folded her arms and looked disapprovingly at the athlete, who responded to both girls with a shrug and a hopeful grin.

But the desire to get everything perfect for the party burned strong in Asuka, and she grudgingly acquiesced. "Fine, we'll make two. First one will be a trial run so we can practice decorating it, and so you can stuff your faces afterwards." She levelled a dangerous glare at the boys. "The second is staying here, untouched, until tomorrow. Now let's go get what we need."

When the teenagers arrived at the mall, the Second Child split off from Hikari and the boys to find a music store while the others got the cake ingredients. The present she had in mind seemed simple enough. A new bow for Shinji's cello.

After the events of that fateful day only a couple of weeks ago, Asuka had packed the instrument away in her room for the boy to easily access later, noticing that the bow was slightly cracked and starting to fray. She had made a mental note to see about getting a new one, but had been distracted by more important things.

Replacing the instrument itself was right out of the question, mostly because of the very discreet initials carved into the wood on the back: 'Y.I.'. She decided instead to simply clean it up.

Asuka was assailed with what felt like half an hour of questions as the old man behind the counter, who had introduced himself as Masami, quizzed Asuka on the recipient of the gift. After the barrage ended, she fired back with a question of her own, wanting to know the reason for the interrogation. The store owner merely smiled and said, "I have done this for a very long time. All I need to do is ask the right questions and I can match a person to the perfect instrument."

Masami then unlocked a container full of what looked like -at least to Asuka's untrained eyes- multiple copies of the same bow and stared at them, occasionally taking one out to check it closer. After five minutes, the old man finally took one out and put the rest away, placing the chosen bow in its own box and bringing it to the sales counter. Asuka had caught sight of the price tag, which almost caused her eyes to pop out of her head in shock. The man sadly explained that Second Impact had damaged the supply of the wood the bow was made from, which had already been shrinking to begin with.

It took Asuka only a minute to make her decision, and her NERV debit card was brought out. Masami's eyes lit up upon seeing the distinctive insignia on the card, and when the price was rung up, it ended up being only half what the tag said.

"Hero's discount," Masami said with a smile. "Would you like it gift-wrapped too?"


That evening saw Asuka making it back home just as Shinji was finished preparing dinner. She ducked into the bathroom before he could turn around from the stove, checking herself in the mirror for any stray evidence of her deeds, before returning to the kitchen and sitting down at the table, where another delicious dinner was consumed.

But she was still on edge. From the time she entered the apartment until she finally fell asleep, she was constantly going over everything in her head to ensure the day would go without a hitch. The cake was ready, hiding in Hikari's apartment, and her present was currently residing in her wardrobe. Most of the decorations had been put back in the Horaki's closet for being a bit too... girly, but there were still a few usable things.

The next morning came far too quickly for Asuka, who woke up feeling like she hadn't slept at all. Shinji had curled up tightly in his sleep, and was now wearing an anguished expression, but at least he hadn't spent the night hiding from his demons in a corner of the room. Asuka inwardly smiled at the fact that she was about to bring a massive light to the Third Child's life, hopefully one strong enough to aid the troubled boy, before waking him up so that they could have breakfast before going to NERV.


"Wow, I didn't think swimming could be this exhausting," Shinji moaned as the elevator slowly crawled up to the seventh floor. At Asuka's gentle insistence that he was ready, the Third Child finally managed to complete a full lap of the pool. And then she got him to do it faster, walking alongside and shouting encouragement. In the end, he had managed three laps, but Asuka had to almost drag him out of the water afterwards.

"Don't pass out too soon," Misato replied from behind him, not even bothering to hide her grin. She had easily managed to get the rest of the day off to join the celebration, which contributed greatly to her happiness. "There's still the rest of the day to go."

Asuka struggled to stifle her own smile. It was worse for her though, as she knew exactly what was coming. She had given Hikari a key to let herself, Toji, Kensuke and Sakura into the Katsuragi apartment, and had sent them a text while in the changing room after the day's pool session.

She prayed the stooges hadn't eaten all the snacks already.

With a quiet ding, the elevator stopped and opened its doors. Asuka walked briskly out, while Misato steered a stumbling Shinji along the walkway and Rei trailed behind. The redhead opened their apartment door and stepped in, quietly identifying herself to the hidden guests and telling them to get ready.

"Can't I at least nap a bit?" That was Shinji stepping through the doorway.

"Nope!" Misato, still behind him.

"But I'm so tired!" Shinji stepped into the kitchen, being gently prodded along.

"I know exactly what'll wake you up. A great big..."

"SURPRISE!"

On cue, five people came out of their hiding spots around the kitchen area and pulled the strings on their party poppers, hurling colourful strips of paper all over Shinji, who was frozen in shock. As several pieces fluttered gently onto his face, he looked down at a sudden noise at knee height. Since Pen-pen didn't have the manual dexterity to operate a popper, he had somehow managed to get a squawker into his mouth and was now enthusiastically joining in as best as he could.

"Happy birthday, Shinji!" yelled six people at once, and Rei chimed in at a much quieter volume.

A smile began to blossom on the boy's face, but then he tilted his head to the side in confusion. "But... my birthday is in June..."

"Yeah, and we missed it, Shin-man!" Toji said as he walked up to clap Shinji on the back. "So we're making up for it now!" He took over steering the birthday boy from Misato, leading him towards the head of the dining table and applying gentle pressure to Shinji's shoulders to make him take a seat.

Asuka nodded to Hikari, who then ducked into the lounge room. She returned a moment later very carefully carrying a tray, upon which sat a sight that made Shinji's eyes shoot wide open. Asuka thought she saw Misato begin to drool in anticipation.

The first cake the two teenage girls had made would have likely been acceptable to anybody else, and the class representative had suggested sticking with it, but Asuka had insisted on making the second since they had more experience. The first cake was shared out amongst both their friends and Hikari's family, who declared it tasty. Despite examining the second cake so close she almost got some on her nose, even the perfectionist in Asuka could not find a single fault with it. That cake was now being lowered almost reverentially onto the table in front of Shinji.

As Toji and Kensuke brought in the presents, depositing them on the other side of the table, Shinji drank in the sight of the beautifully prepared cake. His reaction alone made all the effort worthwhile to Asuka.

"This is a..." he softly began.

"I said the name of it a week or so ago." Asuka leaned on the table next to him. "Can you remember it, Shinji?" she asked with a grin.

Shinji squeezed his eyes shut in concentration. It took a few tries before he could pronounce the words to her satisfaction, but with a few hints he finally managed to say, "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte," and beamed at her when she congratulated him on the almost perfect pronunciation.

"Yeah yeah," Toji said with a sigh, but he was clearly happy that Shinji was in good spirits. "Now that you can name what you're about to eat, let's get those candles in."

As Hikari carefully arranged the birthday candles, Shinji wondered out loud if they had made it themselves. Asuka said that it was mostly her effort, with the class representative chipping in a little, but the tone of her voice made it clear she was joking, and Hikari simply smiled and shook her head in exasperation as the last candle was set.

The stove lighter was brought out, and as Asuka lit the candles the party guests launched into what sounded like the most broken English version of 'Happy Birthday to You' she had ever heard. Even Misato was singing the same way, so the redhead shrugged and assumed it was a Japanese thing.

When the singing died down, Asuka patted Shinji on the shoulder and said, "Right, make this a good wish, Shinji!" She then leaned down and added in a very low whisper, "Especially since this is your first one in a very long time." She shook her head almost imperceptibly when the boy's eyes flicked towards his friends for a split second, and felt some tension drain out of him as he was reassured that Asuka was still the only one that knew about his lack of birthday celebrations.

Shinji closed his eyes as Asuka straightened back up and took her hand off his shoulder. He dropped his chin onto his chest as he thought for a long half-minute before opening his eyes once more. Positioned as she was behind him, Asuka completely missed the glance thrown her way right before Shinji inhaled deeply.

And blew out all the candles in a single breath.

Right as three different cellphones began to ring.

Dread reached even Rei's eyes, as all three pulled out their phones. The two pilot's phones showed only automated text messages from NERV calling them in immediately, while Misato put hers to her ear and growled, "This had better not be a damn surprise drill! I told you, anything short of a-" She froze. The reason for the interruption was obvious as Asuka looked back down at her phone, trying to will the message out of existence.

But the sound of the Angel alarms now ringing through the city killed any lingering doubt in her mind. The Third Revenant had definitely arrived.

And the Second Child went ballistic.

The sound of angry Germanic swearing was nearly enough to drown out the alarms.