Covenant Red
Chapter 6: Collation
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.
/\/\/\/\
The WILLE men's locker room was five lengthy rows spanning dozens of individual spaces, along with showers to accommodate a professional sports team. Kensuke chose a locker facing Toji's, meaning they changed back-to-back. After tests became a relaxed time to talk, make plans or rate the women of WILLE. As yet, no one could dethrone the Commander's number one position on the countdown for Toji and Kensuke played along, keeping his opinion of Soryu's unquestionable dominance to himself.
Tests ended for the day. A half week passed since the battle. Since then the boys made daily trips to HQ for debriefings and exams. For Kensuke it was more of the same, getting reacquainted with Dr. Akagi's lab and bedside manner. Toji received a dozen stitches on either forearm, along with treatment for a collection of smaller injuries, and was confined to base for a night under observation for something called "retrograde contamination" due to direct contact with a Nephilim.
Despite all that he was in good spirits, suffering through each medical exam with an unerring patience. He accepted his release without animation. Kensuke admired that focused loyalty to WILLE and hoped some of it would rub off on him. The encounter with Mana was a fading sour memory. He remained in the dark, but everyone was alive. Things were returning to his new normal.
He finished buttoning up his shirt, idly listening as Toji did the same behind him. He showed no sign of injury, but the image of his bloody arms loomed over Kensuke. Now that they were alone he could determine how bad the damage really was. No reason to put up a strong front when there weren't any girls around to impress.
He cleared his throat. "How are you feeling today?"
Toji rolled his eyes, but smiled. "I told you I'm fine." He slapped his wounded arm for effect. "I heal fast. I'll be one hundred percent in no time."
"Good." Kensuke sighed. "Because it looked bad." He remembered the last Nephilim's total reliance on offense to mow through Toji and Asuka. Now that he thought of it, it hadn't deployed an AT field once. Weird.
"It could have been a lot worse. A normal person would have been skewered." He wasn't bragging, just stating the truth. "But Doc says if I keep training one day I could stop bullets with my blood skill."
"Wow. Uh, what about me? I don't think I can surpass twenty-twenty vision."
"Who knows? Doc told me blood skills can develop in really random ways. Maybe soon you'll see nothing but AT fields."
"Oh God, why would you joke about that?"
"Sorry, sorry," Toji said as he laughed. He sobered. "I never asked. How are you?"
"Huh? The Nephilim never touched me."
"Yeah, but, I mean, battle can be scary. My first sortie I nearly pissed my pants."
"A-Are you kidding?" Kensuke asked, shutting his locker. "It was great! I got to see real combat and use all my training. I deployed from a moving VTOL to a skyscraper rooftop. I killed an inhuman monster from across the city. Uh, it sucks that you and Soryu got hurt, but it was an experience I wouldn't trade for the world."
Toji closed his locker. "You're a braver man than me."
They exited the changing room. They turned in opposite directions.
"Hey, didn't you want to grab some dinner?"
"Sorry," Toji said, still walking. "I got some stuff to do. Next time."
"Sure." Kensuke watched him head to the tram. "Next time."
He shrugged and headed to WILLE's cafeteria. Kensuke had no clue how they restocked in the underground base and didn't care as long as hot meals were waiting for him twenty-four hours a day. He long ago lost the ability to discern homemade from premade. His pallet evolved with a blind egalitarian appreciation, neither judging nor condemning a meal's origins, instead basking in whatever stimulation it could find.
He entered the spacious cafeteria, sterile like the rest of the base, function solidly outweighing form. Rows of chrome tables sat before a lunch line counter beneath fluorescents, although electronic panels along the walls offered simulated scenery in an attempted digestion aid to lull the unwary into forgetting they were underground. It struck Kensuke as sad.
A few WILLE uniforms were scattered about the tables between shifts. Kensuke spotted Lt. Hyuga at one, shoveling down soup without tasting it. He was glued to his phone, his thumb swiping and tapping with impressive speed and dexterity.
"Good evening," he greeted, passing by on his way to the counter.
Hyuga shook out of his texting coma. "Oh," he said. "Hey there, Aida. Evening already, you say?"
"Yeah. Busy as always, huh?"
"To put it mildly." He looked down at his meal, trying to remember where it went. "Normal days are hectic enough, but after a sortie things get crazy. There's tons of paperwork required for deployment by both the government and UN, with various levels of bureaucracy for each."
"Sounds tough."
"I haven't slept in thirty-one hours."
Kensuke bothered to notice the lieutenant's disheveled appearance, patchy five o'clock shadow and droning, lifeless tone. He returned to work on his phone while they spoke, a digital blur of emails and authorization requests.
"It's that bad?" he wondered aloud. "Seems like they'd cut us some slack since we're routinely saving their butts."
Hyuga offered a soulless chuckle at his naiveté. "The people in power have to defer to us, and they don't like it. But the Commander gets the worst of it by far. Her responsibilities are never-ending. It's up to me to assist her in any way I can. A lot of the time, that means dealing with a lot of red tape." He blew out a slow breath. "I'm used to it. It's just one more part of our prep. We have to be ready at all times."
Going about his daily life of school, Kensuke failed to consider WILLE's side. Being on perpetual standby against deadly monsters that randomly appeared at their doorstep must be nerve-racking. He got the feeling they were trapped, awaiting unavoidable doom. Why not take the fight to the enemy?
"How do you guys detect Nephilim?" he asked. "Is it just visual?"
Hyuga looked away from his phone. He scratched the back of his head. "The net we use is, um, pretty technical. Nephilim give off specific energy readings WILLE is able to detect, but only within a specific range. So we'll need to rely on the evacuation protocols every time one appears."
"I guess our deployments will always be local, then."
"Seems likely."
His phone beeped with a new message, then continued beeping. His thumb could not keep up.
"Oh, God," he moaned miserably. "I've never going to sleep."
"I wish I could help," Kensuke said as a farewell, inching towards the lunch counter.
A faint spark of life flickered in Hyuga's eyes, lifting him from the depths of despair. He turned with a sudden energy.
"Actually," he said, "there is something you can help me out with."
/\/\/\/\
He pressed the intercom button. He waited. He pressed it again. He waited again. His excited anticipation did not waver even after the fourth unanswered call and he opted to hold the button down, producing a sustained screech of electronic discontent.
After nearly a half-minute the intercom crackled to life and an exhausted sigh rattled out of Asuka's throat.
"I can only assume the worst," she said from inside her apartment. "You murdered a WILLE higher-up and stole my address from their shoddily mangled corpse."
"Nope," Kensuke replied cheerfully from her doormat. "Lt. Hyuga was slammed with work and couldn't leave base, so he asked me to check up on you." The silence over the intercom didn't fill him with confidence. "And to deliver dinner. Hurry, before it cools and congeals."
"… Leave the food. And purge my apartment address from your feeble mind."
"Sorry, those were not my orders. I have to make sure you're okay."
"With your extensive medical training and gifted common sense."
"Orders are orders." Kensuke shrugged helplessly with her renewed silence. "All right. I guess I'll have to eat all these burgers and fries by myself. And then report back to Lt. Hyuga, who will in turn report to the Commander that you disobeyed orders. But I'm sure she'll be reasonable with your punishment."
The apartment's front door slid open after two steps. Even Asuka's thoroughly sour scowl at him could not diminish his sense of elation at the victory, or the impact of the short shorts she was rocking.
"Fine," she groaned with every fiber of disgust she could muster. "See? I'm the picture of good health. Now give me the food and go report to our masters like a good boy."
"Lt. Hyuga was pretty insistent I make sure you can keep the meal down."
Kensuke stepped towards the threshold. She did not recoil, but stood firm, eyes calculating the means to get him the hell away from her. He did notice Soryu looked exceedingly tired but okay as she said, despite her arm still wrapped in thick bandages. But he was under ostensible orders from their CO to do something he dreamed about. Backing down from this unprecedented chance was not an option.
The standoff concluded as the bouquet of obscene amounts of fast food saturated the apartment doorway and Asuka's stomach reacted favorably and loudly.
"This is the most I can expect from you?" she asked. "Can't you cook?"
"Of course not. I'm a guy."
Asuka grumbled something. Then, lightning-fast, she snatched the bag of food from him and peeked inside.
He dared to press the situation. "So, it passes inspection?"
When she spoke, it was clipped, tense with frustrated defeat. "You can come in to eat. Then I'll cut your tongue out to keep this quiet. On second thought, who would believe you if you told?"
She spun and headed back inside. Kensuke leaped past the closing door.
"Don't touch my stuff," Asuka threw over her shoulder.
I'm in.
The front hall opened to the kitchen. A partitioned counter separated it from the living room and a small balcony. Beyond that a hallway with three doors. Kensuke was a novice explorer discovering El Dorado. He took it all in with awed wonder.
It was superficially the same layout as his apartment, but an unnamable, undeniable aura of mystery and exhilaration permeated everything. Even the thigh-high stacks of empty microwave meal packs in the kitchen. Or the three stuffed bags of garbage resting beside the fridge. Or the dirty dishes crowding every flat surface.
Huh, he thought. This was not how a girl's apartment should smell. And Soryu always smelled so great.
He shook it off. Kensuke took great care not to touch anything and followed Asuka to a slightly less messy living room where she deposited herself on a small couch. She dropped the bag of fast food on the short table before her and rifled through its contents. She ate like a death row prisoner and the warden just pissed in her last meal.
"I got the right food, right?" Kensuke asked. "Lt. Hyuga gave me a pretty specific list—"
"It's fine," she mumbled between handfuls of fries.
He made to sit beside her and she literally growled at him. The floor proved more welcoming. During a lull in her second burger Kensuke blindly darted a hand in and retrieved a carton of fries. Better than nothing.
They ate. He looked around. What he mistook for a glossy, dark wallpaper was a gigantic TV shadowing the couch. Littered around it were several game consoles, recent and retired, with various controllers and connection wires snaking over the dirty carpet. Kensuke felt warm joy.
A girl after my own heart, he thought.
He had to play it cool. It wouldn't do to simply blurt out he was a gamer, as well. That might scare her off or fall under what she expected. Then again, she had the setup prominently displayed in her living room, begging for comment. Then again, who else had access to her living room? Then again, how could she possibly have been expecting him tonight? Then again, she was smart enough to anticipate the unlikely likelihood.
Kensuke was managing a panic attack when a large, sleek box caught his eye and all discretion was thrown out the window.
"You have the super deluxe limited edition version of Deadly Spirits 2?" he gushed as he scampered over to it, his hands itching around the package. "There were only three thousand distributed worldwide. Oh, man, I never thought I'd see one in person. I wish I had my camera."
"A photo bug, huh?" Asuka mused, sipping a soda. "Figures." She skillfully kicked an empty fry carton at his head. "Hey. Look with your eyes, not your hands."
He sat back from the box in quiet reverence. "I only have the base game. I don't want to brag—"
"Then don't."
"—but I got all the trophies in under a month. And I'm ranked competitively online."
"You continue to excel in underwhelming me. The trophies are trash and so is the online community."
Kensuke went on, undeterred. "My win percentage is high seventies. And I've never lost a match against Toji."
"That's like saying you routinely beat a chimp. Nothing to be proud of."
"Nothing, you say," he intoned. "Can you claim to beat the final alternate boss without parrying? Can you claim full access to the hidden grimoire entries?"
"Why would I want to?" Asuka asked.
"Because it shows how good a player you are. Sounds like someone didn't earn the S-rank secret ending."
"Sounds like someone wants a beating."
He paused, momentarily unsure if she meant that rhetorically or literally. "Only one way to find out."
She booted up the game. She trounced him in their first match. He covered his shock with good-natured grace. Just a fluke, he told himself as the next round loaded. Now he was serious, and set to probing defenses and weaknesses without revealing any of his own.
She trounced him again, faster this time. The third was worse.
"Hey," he said, realizing the obvious, "you're not using blood skill, are you?"
Asuka shrugged. "Not like I can turn it off."
"That is totally unfair! No wonder you keep winning! This is worse than fighting a hacker online!"
"Shut your noise hole, crybaby," she told him.
The continued, casual abuse was nothing new but Kensuke feared it contained a new impetus. He had been careful to avoid mentioning why Lt. Hyuga was ordered to check up on her; while her injuries weren't severe enough to necessitate more than twenty-four hours in WILLE's hospital, they were still enough to merit continued concern. Along with Asuka's adamant refusal to stay in base longer, the Commander had no official reason to detain her.
Kensuke imagined bringing up any sort of infirmity with Soryu, real or imagined, was a Bad Idea. But there was also the understated issue: she was not involved in the Nephilim kill shot. She was instrumental in every victory he knew of and couldn't picture her any other way. He felt a burden of responsibility for sidelining her.
Two more matches lost, but Kensuke's outrage dimmed.
"I'm sorry," he finally blurted.
"There's too much you can be sorry for. Narrow it down."
"About the last battle." His eyes met her dull lack of comprehension. "I mean, aren't you mad at me? For killing the Nephilim?"
"Why would I be angry about that?"
"Well, uh, I thought maybe you thought I stole the kill from you."
Asuka, for the first time in his presence, smiled. It was not an expression of humor or affection but of a tired patience for stupidity. To Kensuke it was a shining brilliance and beacon of hope.
"You completed the mission," she told him. "Don't apologize for following orders."
"Oh. Right."
Wait, he thought. So, she's normally this pissed at me? Damn it.
They played.
"I messed up," Asuka admitted. Kensuke looked like the world was ending. "I wanted to finish the fight quickly. Letting you get involved would only endanger everyone. You aren't ready for the battlefield."
"But I shot and killed the Nephilim."
"As a last ditch effort in a crisis situation. Katsuragi had no other option. It was a massive gamble I would not bet on again." She glanced at his sullen face. She sighed. "Just because you aren't ready now doesn't mean you never will be."
He perked up. He began losing again with aplomb. Asuka shook her head.
Her cell phone on the end table rang. Kensuke spied Horaki's name on the ID before Asuka snatched it away. She shot him a deadly "be quiet" look.
"Yeah, Hikari?" She listened. "Calm down. Stop crying. Take a breath and—" She rolled her eyes and stood, heading towards the relative privacy of the kitchen. "No, I'm sure he didn't mean it like that. He's a dumb boy from a dumb family. Even his sister is…"
Asuka left. Alone, staring at the pause screen, Kensuke was made aware of the shuddering pressure the two sodas he consumed held over his bladder. Added to the one he had at HQ. And the one at the fast food joint while he ordered. It was all on WILLE's dime, so why wouldn't he indulge?
He approached Asuka in the kitchen, still offering tired platitudes to soothe whatever the class representative was so upset about, to ask for permission to the bathroom. She squinted angrily at him, banishing him with a wave before he could speak. She turned her back and the phone conversation continued.
The need to pee defeated common sense and he headed for the bathroom on his own. He spotted the door ajar showing a sink crowded by cosmetics, brushes and perfumes. There was a lone sock hanging out of a drawer. The simple display was inexplicably exciting.
He glanced to his left. A small plaque reading "Asuka-chan" hung on the door opposite.
I shouldn't be doing this, he thought as he peeked inside the bedroom.
It was messy. Her wardrobe apparently exploded under pressure, scattering clothes everywhere. Almost no carpet was visible. Among the fabric landscape towers of books, magazines and CDs rose and fell like ruins. In a corner by the window a cased violin sat on a chair. Two thick DDR-like pads spilled out of the closet. A low shelving system housed even more video games.
Kensuke spied a shockingly clean nightstand by the unmade bed, naked except for a small rectangular device with ear buds coiled protectively around it.
I really shouldn't be doing this, he thought as he picked the SDAT player up.
He was only two notes into an unrecognizable classical piece when he was bodily yanked out of the bedroom, dragged across the living room and kitchen by the scruff of his neck. In the commotion he lost hold of the player. Time slowed as he watched the device drop to the linoleum floor awaiting certain destruction despite his best effort consisting of gritting his teeth.
Impossibly, Asuka's hand swam through the air to collect the SDAT. She held it with white knuckles.
"That doesn't belong to you!"
The voice he expected to be angry was hurt.
She hurled him out of the apartment. He collided with the far wall, sprawled in a heap on the dirty floor. He contorted around to face her. Any apology died on his tongue.
Asuka stood framed in the doorway clutching the SDAT to her chest with both hands. She stumbled backwards into her apartment. The last thing Kensuke saw before the door slid shut was her wide, haunted eyes staring through him.
/\/\/\/\
He rotated his shoulders. He jogged in place. He blew out a breath.
"Okay," Kensuke said. "Here we go."
He entered the classroom with four minutes left before homeroom began, enough time to present a dignified groveling for forgiveness to Soryu. She was alone at her desk, chin in hand, using one finger to work her laptop.
Kensuke approached with stealthy care, smart enough to realize making a big public declaration would be disastrous for both of them. Mostly for him, from various angles. She'd be pissed he spilled the beans and every boy would be furious at his access to her apartment. He sidled next to her desk and cleared his throat.
"Soryu," he said to her. "Uh, I'm sorry." He wasn't used to apologizing to girls and hoped that covered it.
Asuka glanced up at him. Her face was utter impassivity.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
That threw him. He was positive she'd be quietly furious, all frowns and bitter squints cast in his direction for days. He was fully prepared to beg, if it came to that. He was not expecting her to act like nothing happened.
"Um, you know. Last night."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"What? I mean, I meant when I was at your place and—"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Her tone was odd. Cool without severity, only hinting at mild annoyance for him not making sense. Like he was telling her the sky was normally purple. A civil indifference.
It struck him harder than he wanted. She was treating him like a stranger.
Damn it.
His ego collapsed. "Then, uh, okay. I, uh… Okay."
Kensuke stumbled to his desk. He sat in a contemplative mood, watching Asuka work her laptop with casual, bored touches.
He turned to Toji, who was fighting off sleep. "You've known Soryu for a while, right?"
"Tis the burden I bear."
"Well, I was at her apartment last night…"
Toji's eyes widened in mute concern as the tale unfolded.
"… And just now she acted like nothing happened," Kensuke finished, sagging into his seat.
"So that's where it ended up," Toji said to himself. He shook his head. "You're lucky to be in one piece."
"Ha ha. Okay, granted, maybe I shouldn't have gone into her bedroom, but in my defense, who hangs a plaque with their name on it, in their own apartment?" He sagged further. "So, is this just typical protocol for really, really pissed off girls?" He brightened with hopeless hope. "Or maybe I'm off the hook? Like, she feels embarrassed for overreacting and we'll sweep it all under the rug?"
"I doubt that."
"Yeah, Soryu is immune to weak emotions like embarrassment."
"No, I meant, she might feel she under reacted."
"Oh." Kensuke let that sink in. "That's not good."
He thought about the SDAT. Her reaction was more than concern for a vintage audio device. It was different than justified offense at him touching stuff in her bedroom. Soryu was annoyed with him plenty of times before but last night was beyond the norm of casual insults and idle irritation. He stumbled onto a deep, significant emotion.
"Some advice," Toji said, preempting his queries. "Don't go digging down that rabbit hole. And don't press your luck anymore than you have."
"I could use something more concrete than that."
"Give her some space. Never mention last night to her again; forget what happened."
The image of Asuka at her front door grasping the SDAT, shaken and vulnerable, was seared into his memory. Kensuke would never forget that.
/\/\/\/\
"Hold that tram!"
Kensuke looked behind him. He was at the final station in the city before heading into WILLE headquarters, about to board the tram on his way to yet another blissful appointment with Dr. Akagi's cold hands and humid laboratory. Jogging down the steps towards him was a man he never saw before.
He obviously got through the security checkpoint unscathed, so there was no harm in waiting. Kensuke held the tram door.
"Ah, thanks," the man said as he trotted over. He extended an easy hand. "You saved my next appointment. Hi there. I'm Ryoji Kaji."
"No problem," he responded. His shake was begrudging. "I'm Kensuke Aida."
"Good to meet you."
The man was tall. A disheveled UN uniform hung over him. A ponytail and scruffy facial hair spoke of a careless, natural association with rugged masculinity. He wore the smile fixed on his lips like a weapon.
They sat across from each other. The tram rumbled off.
"So," Kensuke said. "You're UN, huh?"
He looked over his uniform. "It certainly appears so."
"You wouldn't happen to know the guy responsible for the Nephilim that escaped from the UN fleet a few months back, would you? The one that killed all those people?"
The man's good humor dimmed a few watts. "The one that attacked your old home, right?"
"Yeah."
"It may shock you to discover adults in power don't always make the right decision." He rubbed his jaw. "What happened was a mistake. A few heads rolled on the chain of command, which in a bureaucracy means a strategic reshuffling of personnel. I can't imagine any lessons were learned."
"That fills me with confidence."
"I do owe you an apology," Kaji went on. "Or rather, I should apologize for my subordinate's actions."
"Your subordinate?"
"She has a spirited sense of self-initiative. Ms. Kirishima took it upon herself to seek you out. Ill-advised, but—"
Kensuke groaned loudly. He felt battered and beaten, attacked on all sides. Kirishima's superior was this cool, debonair adult with suave disregard to facial hair and a rebellious attitude towards the strict UN dress code mandates.
God damn it, he thought. No wonder Mana was so intensely loyal to her work.
"She reported she told you her identity, but this wasn't part of a UN conspiracy against you."
"Knowing she was messing with me on her own is supposed to make me feel better?"
Kaji smiled. "Try not to be too hard on her. She's had a rough time."
"She's a liar and a thief. You do know she's hustling gamers at the arcades, right?"
"Well, okay, be a little hard on her. But there are always mitigating circumstances."
The tram continued.
"Try not to let your past experiences sour you on the UN," Kaji told him. "You might not believe it but we are all on the same side."
Kensuke crossed his arms with a huff. "Soryu certainly doesn't think so," he said. "Or the Commander."
"We don't always see eye to eye." His voice was different, a quick bitterness seeping in. In the next moment, it vanished, smothered by blithe good cheer. "But I don't think Soryu believes anyone is on her side."
"You know her?"
"She used to yell at me from time to time."
"Yell?" Kensuke casually asked. "What made her change?" While Mr. Kaji was undoubtedly part of the UN frenemy bloc, this was a prime opportunity to learn more about Soryu. "Usually she's so collected and unruffled, but not in a cold or detached way. Like, she's too cool for school, but she really is too cool so it isn't pretentious." Kaji looked askew at him. "Uh, you know, I mean, she isn't loud."
"Not loud," Kaji mused. "Maybe she did change." There was something there, regret and pride and guilt all crowding to break free and be heard. "Admittedly, I haven't seen her in some time. Change is to be expected. But I can't picture her not struggling against some egregious affront to her person."
"Oh, she definitely doesn't suffer fools quietly. I can promise that."
"It's good to hear she's still fighting. But hopefully not against her teammates."
"I cannot promise that."
The tram's track shifted to a smoother gradient, leveling out to nearly horizontal. They were almost at the base.
"What brings you here today?" Kensuke asked. "I've never seen a UN rep in person before."
"It's long overdue. Actually, I'm here about you. You participated in combat recently. Some of the higher-ups got worried WILLE was actively recruiting."
"Yeah, well, ask anyone on base. Me being a member of WILLE is a freak accident. Or just talk to Soryu. I'm sure she'd like to kick me out if she had the option."
"Ah," Kaji said, nodding in commiseration. "Her kicking people definitely sounds like her. Don't give up. A woman's good graces might seem an impossible dream, but every day is a new chance. Perseverance wins the battle." He smiled. "I'm glad I talked to you, Aida. I don't get the opportunity to speak to the Children like this anymore."
"Yeah. About that. That codename sucks. Any idea where it came from?"
"WILLE naming practices are beyond me. Their reasons are their own, more or less. Although I agree with you. I've never liked the moniker, especially when they work so hard to make you grow up."
Kaji looked out the tram window. Lights flashed against the glass as they sped through the underground tunnel connecting WILLE HQ to the rest of the world.
"Being a grownup," he said, "means looking at the world without turning away."
/\/\/\/\
Chapter 6 end
Author notes: I'm pretty sure the whole "Asuka loves fast food" thing is spin-off only, but I find it inexplicably cute.
Next chapter: What's black and blue and pale all over?