9.
Ten minutes later, the trio were safely ensconced in Maya's car, parked by the side of the road a short walk from the store they had just fled. Raindrops drummed on the roof and bonnet, a kind of white noise that made constructive thinking very difficult. Rei sat in the back of the car, her head bowed. Asuka occupied the passenger seat and Maya, the driver's. Her fingers were nervously drumming on the steering wheel, almost as fast as the rain on the top of the car.
"You understand now?" she asked, the question was for Asuka, but it was directed at nobody in particular. The redhead looked away, out into the rain steeped street.
"Of course I understand, I understood before we set off."
"She'll get that reception wherever she goes."
Asuka glanced over her shoulder. Rei hadn't raised her head once since they had climbed into the car, panting and dripping wet from their flight through the rain. The blue haired girl still wore the black wig, though it was tousled and damp, but her dark glasses, the ones Asuka had insisted she wear at all times, were conspicuous by their absence.
"Well, what would you have us do?" she asked the former lieutenant. "She can't stay hidden in my apartment for the rest of her life!"
Maya looked at her hard for a moment.
"The damage has been done, I suppose. No doubt that shop assistant will cause a stir for a while, but if we keep a low profile, and keep Rei out of sight, it should quieten down soon enough. Only one person saw her, everyone else will just think the poor girl's lost her mind."
A sick feeling hit Asuka in the pit of her stomach.
"She isn't the only one."
"What do you mean?" asked Maya.
"When Rei arrived... I was at a café. She walked in and gave me a shock. Everyone saw her... everyone in the café..."
"How many?"
"Twenty... maybe thirty..."
Maya hissed her frustration. She glanced in her rear view mirror. Thirty metres behind them, a police car pulled up outside the shop they had entered. It's lights were flashing, but they had heard no siren.
"Well for now we should get out of here. We'll go to my place, I'm less well known than you two, maybe the assistant didn't recognise me."
"They'll put it together," replied Asuka, "there aren't many from Nerv left. All they'll have to do is check the service records against the assistant's story and they'll come up with you."
"But they'll come up with you first," replied Maya, turning the key in the ignition. "That'll give us some time." She looked in her mirror again. Two policemen had exited the car and were entering the shop. They looked tense, but they weren't running.
Not running is good, she thought, not great, but good enough for now.
She let the handbrake go and accelerated away into the haze.
They drove through the rain swept streets of Kaibyaku for what seemed like an age, before finally arriving at Maya's apartment block. The road was empty as they hurried from the car to the lobby of the building, perhaps unsurprising given the conditions, but welcome nevertheless.
The lobby itself was almost as deserted. The building manager sat behind his desk staring blankly at a TV screen showing reruns of a very old comedy. The only other occupant was a middle-aged lady sitting in the reception area reading a dog-eared book. The dripping umbrella that leant against her chair suggested she was only here to shelter from the rain outside. Neither one of them paid the trio any mind as they moved to the elevators and pressed the call button.
"I hope you've got the heating on in your apartment," grumbled Asuka. She had removed her sunglasses and her now sodden beret and was absently wrapping one inside the other. Rei stood obediently alongside, head down, face covered by the long black hair of the wig she was still wearing.
Maya considered pointing out that heating was the least of their worries, but seeing how downcast the other two looked, she decided against it.
The elevator pinged and slid open and they all stepped inside. The doors closed again behind them, shutting them away from the lobby. Maya hit the button for the thirteenth floor
"What are we going to do?" asked Asuka as the elevator began to ascend.
"Not here," replied Maya, "when we get up to my apartment we'll work something out, but not here."
She looked up, noticing the camera in the corner of the elevator. A glance at Rei told her she needn't worry about her being caught on camera; she didn't look like she would be raising her eyes from the floor any time soon.
Poor girl. How much bad stuff has to happen to her?
Realising what she was thinking, Maya gave herself a mental shake. Even if it was true, she hadn't the luxury of sympathy at the moment. That 'poor girl' had just turned her life upside down. Again. And now she had to find a way to right it.
Oh, Ritsuko, she thought absently, what would you do if you were here? No doubt you'd have a solution... If only...
Stupid. Stupid! What good would that do her, thinking about things past and gone? She had to help herself. And, yes, those two children too. It was her responsibility now.
Even so, the emotions she had bound to Ritsuko, the ones that came rushing unbidden at such thoughts, hurt terribly, even after a year of rebuilding her life.
The doors swished open and Maya led them through the corridors to her apartment.
"I'm still amazed you got such a great place," said Asuka, gazing about as they entered. She had been to Maya's only a couple of times since they'd both been assigned apartments in the new city, and each time she'd marvelled at the spacious rooms (relatively – certainly compared to her own) and the clean, tasteful, almost chic furnishings.
"An old school friend of mine is on the Kaibyaku emergency housing committee," replied Maya with a shrug and a tired and half-apologetic grin. "I didn't even realise until she placed me here. I need a drink."
The former lieutenant disappeared into her kitchen and they heard cans cracking and drinks being poured. Asuka looked down at Rei who had sat meekly down on a short sofa. The girl had removed the black wig (it lay in a tangle at her side), but she still wouldn't look up.
"Asuka..." she said, quietly, "I'm sorry. The glasses..."
"It's done, Rei, there's no point going over it."
"I'm sorry..." the girl repeated. "Because of me they'll come looking for you, won't they? Perhaps I should go away and –"
"And what?" said Asuka, breaking off whatever her new friend was going to say. She folded her arms and looked down at the girl. "Rei, I said I'd help you, I'm not going back on that now. Who do you think I am?"
The blue haired girl looked up at last, surprised.
"But..."
Asuka just glared at her, hotly. The surprise melted into a weak smile, but the worry was still plain on her face.
"... Thank you Asuka..."
"Sorry, I couldn't find any snacks," said Maya, reappearing from the kitchen with a tray of drinks, "I haven't been shopping for a few days and I wasn't expecting guests."
"Snacks?" arched Asuka, accepting a glass. "We're not school kids, you know, Maya."
"But I like them," replied Maya, looking hurt.
Asuka sighed as Maya handed another glass to Rei, who accepted it without comment.
"Yes, well, the less said about that, the better..." Asuka was pleased to see that the glasses only contained soft drinks. It seemed Maya was telling the truth about cutting back on the alcohol. She took a sip and then set it down on Maya's kotatsu. "So then... what do we do?"
Maya looked at her, seriously. Suddenly she was every bit the former lieutenant: efficient and well prepared.
"The way I see it, we have a few options. One: we lay low in the city, and hope no one comes looking for us."
A grimace passed across the young German's face. She obviously didn't like the idea.
"Lay low where? I don't have any secret hideout and the authorities are bound to come to both of our apartments. If they search either of our places while Rei's there..."
"I agree it's high risk," replied Maya, "but you may not like the alternatives."
Asuka was brought up short. She eyed her compatriot warily.
"Which are?"
"Two:" continued Maya, "we go to the authorities voluntarily."
Asuka's eyes looked like they were about to fall out of her head. Even Rei looked up, in considerable surprise.
"You mean turn Rei in? Are you insane!?"
"If we take Rei to the authorities ourselves, perhaps we'll be able to convince them that she is no threat –"
But Asuka was already shaking her head.
"They'll arrest her! Worse, they might take her away somewhere! Do experiments! Some sick people might even decide to start researching the Angels again!"
Maya tried to sound reasonable.
"Asuka, we can't expect the worst of all people just because of what happened to us. Things have changed –"
"They haven't changed so much, Maya, you saw the way that assistant looked at her! No! No way! I'm not letting them tear Rei apart again." The redhead's ire was up in a way that it hadn't been for some time. She actually took a threatening step towards Maya, shoulders hunching with rage. "Give me option three, right now, or so help me I'll –"
"Fine!" snapped Maya, clapping a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes, "I get it Asuka, don't go all angry eva-pilot on me. I'm just giving you our options."
Asuka was silenced, but she glared away at nothing in particular. Finally she apologised.
"... Sorry..."
Maya looked at the girl. She was sullen, a child again, but at least there was some contrition in her apology.
"Our third option is that we leave."
The words hung in the air for a while.
"Leave?" asked Asuka after a time. All of the anger had drained out of her voice.
"Leave Kaibyaku and find somewhere else away from here to live. We'd not necessarily be any better off, of course. Latest estimates suggest that only one eighth of the world's population post second impact returned from instrumentality. Even if the red seas have gone and flora and fauna are returning, it will be some time before anything more than the shakiest of ecosystems will have formed. Infrastructure outside of cities like Kaibyaku will likely have collapsed and who knows what that will have done to the people. If you think the people of Kaibyaku will react badly to Rei, that reaction might well be magnified outside its borders."
Asuka flopped into a chair, thinking hard and chewing on her lip.
"Unless we go to another city, perhaps?" continued Maya. "Maybe find people we once knew at Nerv? Or maybe your friends Toji and Hikari?"
"I don't know where they went," replied Asuka, looking glum, "I don't think they wanted to be around me... I can't say I blame them..."
"Shinji," said Rei, suddenly. Asuka and Maya both looked at her, startled.
"Well, maybe..." conceded Maya, "but we don't know where he is..."
"I do," replied Rei. The look on her face told its own story.