Chapter 9 - It's Because We Care About You
Despite the warm welcome he got near the lake, the fact remained that Shinji had done something wrong. As a result, Misato became Captain Katsuragi the moment they entered the Geofront, where he was dressed down over his conduct for a couple of hours. Only the fact that he was a backup pilot, something he hated hearing when it was brought up, kept him from being dragged in front of Commander Ikari to answer for his actions.
As Shinji despondently left the room where Captain Katsuragi had tongue-lashed him, he caught the eye of Asuka, who was waiting against the wall nearby. She fell into step with him as he passed.
"Did you manage to tell her?" she inquired.
Shinji hesitated slightly, then gave a slight nod. "Yeah."
"And?"
"Misato said she was going to speak to Doctor Akagi, see if there was any progress." Shinji sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I'm not expecting a miracle though, and I don't think Misato is either."
"There has to be something for you to do." Asuka rubbed the back of her head. "I suppose I should ask... what do you want to do here?"
Shinji stopped and stared at nothing for a moment. "I just... don't want to be useless."
Asuka slapped her forehead. "I know you don't want to be useless. So does Misato. Answer the question properly. What do you want to do?"
"What do I want to do..." Shinji slowly echoed. It was a hard question. Being an assistant to Misato would be easy enough while being helpful, but he didn't have the skill or experience to do much of anything that she would likely find useful, and it felt like if he were to be offered that role, it would only be out of pity.
And Shinji didn't want pity.
"I want..." he began after sorting through his twisted thoughts, "to help you."
"Me?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji thought he saw some redness on Asuka's face. "Yeah. I want to pilot. I don't want to sit around watching you fight on your own out there."
"Rei will be cleared for duty in a few days."
"And then I'll have to sit around watching both of you."
"We're pilots, Shinji. Not helpless damsels in distress," Asuka growled in his face. "We don't need some knight in horrible purple armour coming to rescue us."
"Erm... t-that's not what I m-meant at all!" Shinji stammered, backing up a little. "I just want to be out there with you, by your side. Being an Eva pilot is supposed to be a one-in-a-million chance or something. If I don't go out there, I'm just wasting it."
Asuka closed her eyes and exhaled, pressing a hand to her forehead. "Well it's a moot point anyway, since there's only two Evas until mine gets here. Even then though, you're not going to be cleared to fight with us unless you can project an AT-Field. Which, as has already been established, you can't do because of your silly little stunt with the contract."
"I didn't know this was going to happen!" exclaimed Shinji. "I'm still having trouble believing it!"
"Oh trust me, so am I."
Asuka blinked and looked at something past Shinji's shoulder. He turned and saw Doctor Akagi standing behind him, her ever-present tablet in one hand.
"I'm a scientist," she stated. "As such, I find this concept of soul transfer through signing a piece of paper to be utterly ridiculous. I've been working to try and find the real reason, but so far I haven't had any luck."
"Well you know what they say about eliminating the impossible, right?" Asuka remarked.
"Um... what?" Shinji confusedly glanced between the two of them.
Doctor Akagi nodded. "Something I'm currently in the middle of," she replied, ignoring Shinji. "But that list is dwindling fast."
"So what did you come to see us for? Or were we just in your way?" asked Asuka.
Doctor Akagi looked at Shinji. "I'm here partially to say that we're doing all we can to try and resolve this problem." Her gaze returned to Asuka. "And partially to ask you something about your AT-Field."
"What?" Asuka raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong with it?"
"It's 'wrong' in that it's not acting as we expect it to." Akagi consulted her tablet. "When we asked you to project your AT-Field during your activation test in Unit-01, we caught an anomaly. At the moment though, there's not enough data to nail down what it is, even with what I requested from NERV-Berlin."
She stared a hole into Asuka. "Precisely when did this... contract between you two get signed?"
Asuka and Shinji glanced at each other. "Er, two years ago?" Asuka offered.
"Two years ago when? I need a date."
Another glance passed between the teenagers. "September," Shinji began.
"Somewhere around the... twelfth I think," Asuka finished.
Akagi sighed. "That's close enough I suppose. It matches up with what I have here." She waved the tablet. "NERV-Berlin's MAGI system picked up on a discrepancy in your AT-Field after that date. But since the people over there don't seem to care, they wrote it off as a glitch." The look on her face told Shinji exactly what the scientist thought of such sloppy thinking.
"What kind of discrepancy?" he asked.
"Unknown. I've had our MAGI analysing it for the last couple of days, but like I said, there's not enough data."
Asuka jabbed a thumb over her shoulder. "Should I hop in Unit-01 so you can get that data?"
"We don't need more data while your AT-Field is... at rest, shall we say," replied Akagi. "Ideally we'd take scans while you're in combat. Unfortunately you didn't use it during your fight with the Fourth Angel."
"I either didn't need to or was on battery power," Asuka retorted hotly. "And I don't want to run out of power just because I'm playing defensively."
Akagi raised a hand in a placating gesture. "That's understandable. I'm not blaming you for that. But when the next Angel comes, at least consider blocking something for a few seconds while you're plugged in. We can scan your AT-Field while it's under load and get the information I need."
Shinji watched as Asuka sank into thought. "Fine," she said after a few seconds. "I'll play it safe at the start of the fight or something."
"That'll do," said Akagi, before she began to walk off.
"Wait!" Asuka called out. The scientist stopped and glanced curiously behind at the redhead. "Can you let Shinji get in on the sync tests and training now, despite the fact that you don't want to deploy him?"
Akagi's eyes drifted up to the ceiling, and her head bobbed slightly as she apparently gave the idea some thought. "I suppose we can do that," she finally said. "No point having a backup pilot that hasn't been keeping up with their training, after all. And more data might aid in finding us a solution. I'll schedule some training and sync tests for tomorrow, since you're so insistent."
Asuka nodded, and Akagi managed to leave without any further interruptions. Once the scientist was out of sight, Shinji noticed his friend staring intently at him out of the corner of his eye. And smiling.
"There you go, now you can join me in training," she cheerily said when he turned to face her. Then the smile on her face turned evil. "We'll see just how good you are, Third Child."
Shinji suddenly wished he'd kept his mouth shut.
XXX
The Second Child was merciless; practically a slave driver.
Asuka had insisted on going one-on-one against him in the simulators, claiming that she wanted to give him an accelerated version of the training she herself had received. At the beginning, Shinji couldn't even run away from her; she was just always there.
There was no help from Misato and Doctor Akagi either. Since it was the simulator, and Asuka was the more experienced and skilled pilot, they had let her have almost completely free reign over how to get Shinji up to speed, and she took full advantage of it.
The only thing Asuka could complain about was that the simulators didn't have the data for Unit-02, so she was essentially piloting a copy of Unit-01 against Shinji. The sole concession was that it was easy to change her simulator Evangelion's colours to those of Unit-02.
Eventually though, after a week of hellish training sessions that went from immediately after school until dinner time, Shinji finally managed to land a punch on Asuka. She then grinned and socked Unit-01 in the face while Shinji was distracted by the small victory.
Now that Shinji could move and fight to Asuka's satisfaction, training shifted from one-on-one to fighting the Angels. First was the original 'Angel' data that had been used for Shinji's basic training; essentially an Evangelion with the ability to freely fire energy bolts. Asuka and Misato taught Shinji how to work together with another Evangelion to take down the target in various ways. Including from long range with a giant sniper rifle.
Shinji wondered if a real Angel would ever give an Evangelion time to set a sniper rifle up.
Then he was pitted against the Fourth Angel solo. He ended up getting thrown into the simulated hill that Asuka had landed on in the real fight, then charged the Angel while low on power as he tried to destroy the core with only a Progressive Knife. It was almost sheer luck that the core failed before Unit-01's battery did. Asuka was dissatisfied with the result, calling him reckless for attempting such a crazy stunt, and made him do it again.
And now the fight was over, as was the training. For now at least. It had still taken a Progressive Knife and several long, tense seconds of grinding away at the core, but at least he hadn't been half a second away from failure like before. Shinji almost collapsed onto the gantry as he got out of the entry plug. After nearly two weeks of this, he was surprised he could still move under his own power.
One of the engineering crew for Unit-01 stepped up and helped him down the gantry steps and away from the Evangelion. Several others gave Shinji impressed looks and nods of encouragement as he passed. The door to the Evangelion Cage opened and Asuka strode through, stopping quickly as she almost bumped into him. The crewman escorting him practically handed him over to her with a pat on the back before heading off.
"I suppose we didn't have to go for another hour today," Asuka remarked as they headed for the changing rooms. "But now, if and when you fight with us, I hope you'll be smart enough to not be so damn reckless."
Shinji blearily blinked at her before nodding. "Yes, Asuka."
"Good. Otherwise..." She lightly slapped him across the back of the head. "I'll be doing that to you in an Eva."
Despite everything, Shinji found himself grateful. Asuka had taken the time to train him up to an acceptable standard, and Doctor Akagi had stated that she was exploring a potential solution to his situation when she had the time. She hadn't given him any specifics, claiming that she didn't want to get Shinji's hopes up, but he was hopeful all the same.
The two teenagers split up at the change rooms, and Shinji headed right for the showers. Even the semi-permanent summer in Japan couldn't stop him from enjoying a hot shower to ease the aches of a long training session; getting the LCL off was almost just a bonus. Even so, he was finished and out of the change room first. It took ten more minutes before Asuka joined him, still fussing with her hair as she placed the bright red A-10 clips back on her head.
Shinji had asked why she kept them on at all times, to which Asuka had said that she wanted people to know she was a pilot. She at least took them off at the end of the day when they got home, something which Shinji occasionally found himself anticipating.
Asuka was rather pretty when-
Shinji shook his head to banish the thought as he trailed after the object of his musings. It was time to go home, have some dinner, then go to bed. Futile fantasies could wait for another time, when he wasn't nearly so exhausted.
XXX
"Hey Shinji, what are you doing for din-"
Before Asuka could finish her sentence, there was a knock at their door. Shinji looked up curiously from where he had been scouting out what was in the fridge. Who could be calling on them at this hour, after a long day at NERV?
Asuka headed to the door and opened it. Shinji heard her say, "Oh, hello Misato."
"Hi Asuka," came their guardian's reply. "I invited Ritsuko to join me for dinner tonight, try and get her to relax a little, and I'm extending the invite to you two."
"Oh. Um... we were just about to have dinner ourselves..."
"It's fine! I've already got stuff prepared! Go get Shinji and come on over. He needs a break anyway."
Asuka came into the kitchen a moment later, looking rather nervous and staring at nothing.
"Are you alright, Asuka?" Shinji worriedly asked, taking a step towards her. She seemed to be in shock.
Her head slowly turned towards him. "Hey Shinji..." she began, sounding rather distant. "Have you ever eaten something Misato made for you?"
"Er..." Shinji's mind went back over the few weeks he had been in Tokyo-3. The first actual night had been spent in the hospital. On his first night in Misato's apartment she had ordered take-out. The second night he had cooked something. The third night had been when Asuka had arrived and they had moved into the apartment they now occupied.
"No," he admitted. "I guess I wasn't living with her long enough."
"Oh dear," Asuka quietly said. "You're going to be in for quite a treat tonight then."
"What? Why?"
"Trust me, it's something you have to experience first-hand. Words simply cannot do enough."
Asuka refused to speak any more on the subject, so Shinji gave up and followed her next door. The first thing that greeted him was an acrid smell. The second thing was Misato's expectant face.
"Took you two long enough!" the woman exclaimed, practically dragging the teenagers into her kitchen. Doctor Akagi was already there, and she gave them a lazy wave as they sat down at the table; Asuka much more hesitantly than Shinji.
"Hello Doctor," said Shinji.
"I'm off the clock, Shinji," Doctor Akagi replied. "It's Ritsuko for tonight."
Shinji nodded, and turned his gaze to the source of the smell that was starting to sting his eyes. A pot of curry was sitting on the stove, roiling and bubbling away. Nearby sat several large cups of instant ramen. He glanced at Asuka, who gave him a look that could only be described as 'warning'.
Misato bustled around the kitchen, preparing the ramen and stirring the curry. She made a brief detour to the fridge, where she grabbed a few cans of Yebisu and put them on the table. One for her, one for Ritsuko, and two placed in front of both Shinji and Asuka; the redhead staring at it as if it were a birthday present. Unfortunately, Misato remembered herself a moment later and took the last two back, to Asuka's visible disappointment. Cups of ramen were soon passed out, and the curry was transferred to the middle of the table.
To Shinji's faint relief, the ramen smelled alright. He had been expecting something far worse, given Asuka's reaction not long ago. He separated the chopsticks and began to eat.
"Hey Shinji, try some of this! It's great!"
Without any warning, a spoonful of curry suddenly landed in his ramen. Shinji looked up at Misato, sitting across from him, who gave him an encouraging smile as she dumped several spoonfuls in her own cup. She paused to take a long drink of beer, and Shinji glanced at Asuka, who was silently mouthing the words 'don't do it' over and over while shaking her head. He looked back down at the surprise addition to his meal.
Up close, the curry seemed to be almost purple in colour, and he couldn't identify anything in it. Shinji's eyes darted up. Misato showed every sign of enjoying her meal as she took massive mouthfuls of the ramen and curry. Surely it couldn't be as bad as Asuka was trying to make it out to be. He took a long, deep breath, readied his chopsticks, and some ramen and curry went into his mouth.
Shinji froze. The curry was... almost indescribable. It felt both gritty and slimy, and there were squishy bits in it.
"Hang on, Shinji, I'll get you something to help with that," Asuka said in the despairing tone of somebody who'd just seen a person do something terminally stupid despite being warned.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shinji saw her head to the fridge. Seconds later, she placed a glass of milk in front of him.
"Drink this."
Shinji's hands were shaking slightly as he reached for the glass. He managed to force his lips open just enough to take a sip. As the milk flowed into his mouth, the horrendous texture of the curry began to disappear. Soon, he was able to close his eyes, grit his teeth, and swallow before coughing violently. He had a feeling it wasn't going to sit well, even if he drank an entire carton of milk.
"Judging from Shinji's reaction to your concoction, I think I'll pass," Ritsuko remarked as she dug into her own ramen.
"Hey! He swallowed it, didn't he?" Misato pointedly stated, waving a hand at the distressed boy.
"Maybe he just doesn't want to offend you."
Whatever else the two adults said began to fade away as... things began to happen in Shinji's stomach. He clutched it with both hands, trying to suppress the flip-flops it was doing, but to no avail. Moments later, he was up and running for the bathroom where he proceeded to make a very important call on the big white telephone.
There would be no solitude for him to contemplate his actions, however, as a hand suddenly began to rub his back. Only the fact that his insides were trying valiantly to become outsides prevented him from jumping in surprise.
"Second time I've found you like this, Shinji," came Asuka's voice after an eternity. "Don't try and tell me you feel guilty about something this time though."
Shinji weakly shook his head. "Nuhhh," was all he managed to get out before he had to return his attention to his stomach.
"I did warn you," she said in a very I-told-you-so tone, while continuing to massage his back. "Yet you wouldn't listen. I'd say you got what you deserve, but nobody deserves Misato's curry."
After an eternity, Shinji collapsed against the wall of the toilet. "I thought..." he began, before rubbing the back of his hand across his mouth. "I thought it'd be okay, since I couldn't taste anything."
Asuka frowned. "Don't lie, dumbass. I saw the look on your face out there."
"It did feel like I had a mouthful of gravel and sludge," Shinji conceded, "but there wasn't any flavour."
"You're not making any damn sense!"
"Well... I suppose it would help if I told you I haven't been able to taste anything for a while now."
The admission wiped the angry look off Asuka's face. "What?! But... you've been cooking meals!"
"I haven't tried anything new though," replied Shinji. "I've just been going off what I've done in the past. These days, everything tastes like bland to me."
"Like... bland?" Asuka echoed in confusion.
"Yeah. Imagine the most utterly bland thing possible. You put it in your mouth but barely even know it's there. That's what food tastes like to me."
Asuka let out a German word Shinji certainly didn't learn from his teacher, before running a hand through her hair. "Damn. Is that why you're not eating much?"
Shinji nodded sadly. "What's the point of eating a lot if I can't enjoy it? I just don't have much of an appetite anymore."
"A side effect of the contract?" Asuka wondered.
Shinji pulled his head back slightly, giving her a puzzled look. "Why would not having a soul affect my taste buds?" he countered. "I know it's dumb to say, considering what we've been through, but that just doesn't make sense."
"Yeah, I suppose." Asuka shook her head before holding out a hand to him. "Well come on then, let's get back out there before our captain sends a search party."
Shinji reached out and grabbed the proffered hand, letting out a grunt of effort as he stood back up. Just as he was about to leave the bathroom, he was stopped by a firm hand on his chest.
"Hey," said the redheaded owner of the hand. "I don't care if food starts tasting like the ass-end of an Angel. Start. Eating. More." She frowned as she jabbed a finger into his ribs. "You're way too skinny."
"I'll... try."
"There is no try," Asuka replied in a voice like a mad old wise man before grinning and leaving the bathroom.
Back in the dining room, Shinji barely had time to sit down before he was the centre of attention.
"See?" said Ritsuko, pointing at him. "He spent ten minutes in the bathroom because of you. Any longer and I would have called for a medical team. It's a good thing these two teenagers aren't living with you, Misato. I might have one day had to report you for poisoning military personnel."
Misato exaggeratedly scoffed. "So rude! I slaved away over this curry and this is the thanks I get?"
Ritsuko raised an eyebrow at the offended woman. "If I took that to NERV right now and had the MAGI analyse it, I'm sure they'd determine it to be a biological weapon."
"Nonsense! Pen-Pen likes it, doesn't he?"
The group turned to where the penguin had just gingerly taken a mouthful of the curry and rice in his food bowl. He suddenly stopped eating, wobbling slightly in place. There was a very faint whine, and Pen-pen keeled over like a lopped tree.
"Biological weapon," Ritsuko repeated with a sigh.
Misato grumbled and poured more curry over her ramen. A cautious glance into the pot by Shinji showed that most of it was gone already.
Perhaps out of pure scientific curiosity, Ritsuko ran the tip of a pinky finger around the inside edge of the pot and tasted it. She winced in disgust and reached for her beer. "Yeah. Don't invite me over again unless someone else is cooking," she said in a withering tone. "I think even your pet could do better."
Thankfully, the rest of the dinner passed without Misato attempting to force any more curry onto somebody. Shinji ended up getting another cup of ramen, since Asuka had pointedly thrown his old one in the bin, claiming it was tainted.
An hour later, it was time for Ritsuko to leave.
"Oh yes," she said, stopping at the elevator and turning to Misato and the teenagers. She patted her pockets for a few moments, before putting a hand in one and drawing out a card. "This is Rei's new ID card. I keep forgetting to give it to her. Shinji, Asuka, could one of you pass this on to her tomorrow?"
"Um, sure. Alright." Shinji accepted the card and looked at the face on it.
Apparently he did it for a few seconds too long as Misato began teasing him about it, waggling her eyebrows and causing his cheeks to flush. His response that he just didn't know much about the First Child didn't seem to help.
Ritsuko's eyes turned distant as she looked at nothing for a moment, before refocusing on Shinji. "She's a bit like your father. Not very good at... living."
Shinji blinked at her in confusion, but she didn't offer any more explanation, instead bidding farewell and stepping into the elevator.
"Rei's cleared for duty now, so she's got an activation test scheduled for tomorrow," said Misato as they stopped outside her apartment door. "Can you head over early tomorrow and give her the card?"
"Okay," replied Shinji. He turned to Asuka. "Do... you want to come along?"
Asuka shrugged. "Sure, why not. Got nothing better to do."
Misato opened her mouth, probably to claim that both of them were supposed to be going to school, but she cut herself off and sighed before saying goodnight and going into her apartment.
"Right, let's turn in too," said Asuka as she opened their apartment door.
"Yeah..." Shinji took one last look at Rei's new identity card before following Asuka. Thoughts swirled about in his mind, one standing out among all others.
Why did Rei look so familiar? Who was it that she kept reminding him of?
XXX
Morning came, and with it the promise of another sweltering day. Shinji ended up dressing in his school uniform simply because it was the lightest clothing he could walk out of the house in. A fact which Asuka expressed some surprise at.
After urging him to improve his wardrobe situation, the two teenagers headed out. Fortunately, Rei's identity card had her address, as Shinji had forgotten to actually write down where she lived. When they got on the bus, Asuka asked the driver how to get to the suburb, and the man helpfully told them which connecting bus route would take them closest.
Shinji and Asuka took a seat, and watched the city go by. Despite two Angel attacks most of the city seemed to be alright, thanks to the mechanisms that retracted non-essential buildings into the safety of the Geofront. The few damaged buildings were still apparently functional, but Asuka pointed out that they were the defensive blocks and chided Shinji for not knowing the locations of mission-critical buildings.
"I know where they are," Shinji retorted. "Well... mostly. But everything looks different at ground level compared to being able to see over the top of most of the buildings."
Asuka grudgingly conceded the point.
Along the way, damage from the attacks was much more noticeable as they headed away from the centre of Tokyo-3 and towards Hakone. Some areas were smashed flat, and Asuka looked at the remains of one house as they passed by it. A family was there, likely picking through the rubble for anything that could be salvaged from their former home.
The bus stopped at the terminal, and Shinji and Asuka transferred to the connecting bus. It only took them a few minutes to reach the suburb where Rei's apartment was.
"Hey, is this right?" Asuka wondered as she stared up at the building.
Shinji took out Rei's card and double-checked the address. "Yeah, this is it."
"But it's so... so..."
"Decrepit," Shinji supplied. It was the most appropriate word he could think of.
Rei's apartment building, and in fact the ones around it as well, looked like they hadn't been maintained since they were first built. In the distance Shinji could hear the sounds of construction equipment, but he had a feeling they weren't in the area for repairs.
In fact, a sign on the front door leading into Rei's building told them just what was going to happen to it.
"'Condemned'," Asuka read aloud after a moment of squinting at the sign. "'Scheduled for demolition. No trespassing.'"
If the two of them had any further doubts as to where Rei Ayanami lived, the Section Two agent that met them just inside squashed them.
"We're... um... here to see Rei Ayanami?" Shinji said, his nervousness turning the statement into a question.
The black-suited man checked their identity and waved them on, returning to his post without a word.
The elevator was out of order, and somehow looked more dilapidated than the building it was in. Asuka groaned as they realised they'd have to walk up to the fourth floor.
"Shinji," she said as they started to head up the staircase. "I don't like this one bit. Is she choosing to live here?"
"I don't know," Shinji quietly replied, although he had a vague idea who was responsible. "But can it be any worse than what we've already seen?"
As it turned out, it absolutely could. There was no need to check the door numbers on the fourth floor. A small pile of paper on the ground drew their attention directly to Rei's apartment door, where the mail slot was jammed with old letters and junk mail.
The two teenagers shared a worried glance, before Shinji pressed the buzzer beside the door. There was no response from inside, not even the faint sound of the receiver, so he knocked on the door instead. Even that slight tap was enough to show that something was wrong with the door, as it shifted inward slightly. Shinji looked closer at the door handle and his eyes widened slightly; the lock looked as if somebody had attempted to break into the apartment. Cautiously, Shinji and Asuka stepped over the pile of mail as he pushed the door open. The pile continued on the other side of the door, bunched up behind it against the wall.
Inside, the curtains were partially closed, letting little light in, but that was still enough to see the state of the room. There were dirty marks all over the floor and walls, and even the ceiling in some spots.
"Hey! Anybody home?" Asuka suddenly yelled right next to Shinji's ear, causing him to jolt in surprise. As he was about to protest, she put a hand over his mouth and furrowed her brow in concentration. After a few seconds, she said, in a more reasonable tone, "I hear running water. She's probably in the shower."
"Oh," Shinji lamely replied. "Should... we leave the card and go then?"
"Are you freaking kidding?" Asuka shot him a look as dirty as the walls around them. "We're not leaving until we speak to her about this disgusting place."
Shinji sighed and took another look around the small apartment. There wasn't much to see, so he started to move forward. He paused, then looked down at his feet. Shinji was about to take his shoes off before a hand on his arm stopped him. Asuka gave him the same warning look as last night, and this time he decided to listen. With the apartment in such a squalid state, who knew what could be on the floor, hidden by the dark and dingy light?
A glint of light near the curtains ahead caught his eye, so he gingerly walked towards it into what seemed to be a combined bedroom and kitchen. There was a desk against a wall next to a rumpled bed, and a small clothes hanger dangling from the ceiling with socks on it.
Shinji heard Asuka inhale sharply besides him, and then felt her poke him in the arm. He looked where she was looking, to see a box of bandages next to a mini-fridge. The blood on the bandages was so old it was practically brown. A glance at Asuka showed that she was scowling in disgust, and she quietly muttered several German words Shinji was sure his teacher would despair to hear. Frankly, he couldn't blame her for such a reaction. This wasn't an apartment; it was a hovel.
The glint caught his eye again, and Shinji looked at the desk. A pair of glasses sat on the table, looking rather the worse for wear. As long as he had known Rei, he had never seen her wear glasses. Both lenses had cracks running through them, and the arms were slightly bent, but he recognised them all the same. These were the same style of glasses his father wore.
Something compelled him to move towards the desk and pick the glasses up. After a moment spent looking at them, he put them on his face. Asuka gave a quiet but amused snort as he turned his head towards her, now standing beside the bed.
"They actually kinda suit you," she said after taking a closer look at him. "Makes you look a bit older."
"Really?" Shinji replied, squinting at her. The cracks did little to aid his vision, which was now slightly blurry. "I don't think they-"
The sound of a door sliding open cut him off, and they both looked behind them. Rei was standing there, clad in nothing but a towel hung around her neck. Shinji's face started to heat up, and he began to stammer an apology.
"Shinji..." Asuka interrupted him. "Turn. Away. Now."
Heeding the unspoken threat in her words, Shinji quickly looked in front of him, focusing intently on the gap in the curtains as his cheeks started to burn. Behind him, he heard Asuka speak.
"Rei, why are you walking around stark nak- hey, what are you doing?"
A hand on his shoulder spun Shinji around. Knowing that Asuka would punish him for looking, Shinji squeezed his eyes shut. He felt a hand snatch the glasses from his face, and then nothing. Not daring to open his eyes to see what was happening, he instead turned back around.
"Rei!" he heard Asuka exclaim. "Put some damn clothes on!"
"Is there a problem?" Rei quietly asked. "Ikari does not seem willing to look at me."
"Because you're naked!"
There was a momentary pause, then Rei said, "If it puts the two of you at ease, I shall dress myself now. Please excuse me, Shinji."
A hand on his shoulder gently pushed Shinji to the side. He shuffled to the right, keeping his eyes firmly on the wall. Next to him, he heard a drawer open. There was some rustling of clothes, then Rei spoke again.
"Is this satisfactory?"
"Well your... bits are covered," replied Asuka, sounding rather shocked and hesitant. "But you need to put some actual clothing on too. Especially since there's a boy here."
"...Very well."
More rustling, more awkward silence. Finally, Asuka said, "Okay Shinji, she's decent. You can turn around now."
Shinji didn't move, and Asuka exasperatedly repeated herself. Nervously, he turned his head. Rei was standing behind him, adjusting the top of her school uniform. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and turned the rest of his body around.
"Why are the two of you here?" Rei inquired as she sat on her bed and pulled her socks on.
Asuka blinked. "Oh! Right!" She pointed at Shinji. "First of all, he's got your new ID card."
Shinji hastily reached into his pocket and pulled the card out. He showed it to Rei, who nodded at him, before placing it on her desk; he saw the glasses had been returned to their original spot.
"There is another reason for your presence here." It was not a question.
"Only because we've now seen the hellhole you live in," Asuka acidly replied. "This whole building is due to be demolished soon."
"It has been marked for demolition for three years," Rei replied, staring flatly at her.
Asuka quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "Really? Wow, that's slack." She hastily shook her head. "I-I mean, that's no excuse! This place isn't fit for human habitation! I feel like I'm gonna have to get a checkup when we get to NERV because this place is so disgusting! Why are you still living here?
"These are my assigned quarters. I have no need to change my residence."
"Oh yes you damn well do. You're going to catch something nasty if you stay here."
Rei tilted her head slightly. "Is this place really so inadequate to basic requirements?" She looked at Shinji. "Do you think so as well?"
Asuka turned around, arms extended to take in the entirety of the hideous room. "I am honestly surprised you're not back in hospital already after contracting something contagious from this fetid hellhole. You're either incredibly lucky or have the greatest immune system in the galaxy!"
"Rei..." Shinji hesitated as Asuka's hand brushed against a wall and she recoiled as if burnt. "Honestly, you deserve better than this. Asuka and I have our own apartment next to Misato. Why don't you move out and join us there?"
The First Child looked away. "...I do not understand why you are being so insistent."
"You're our friend. And you're a pilot," said Asuka. "I had a big argument with Shinji over why he shouldn't move himself into a closet just because I came along. Don't make me argue with you too."
"It's because we care about you, Rei," Shinji added. "You're our friend and it pains us to see you live like this."
Rei blinked, and looked back at him in what seemed like mild shock. "You... care about me?"
"We do," said Asuka, stepping up to the confused First Child. She put out a hand, hesitating slightly, before patting Rei's upper arm. "Let us help you."
Looking down at the hand on her arm, Rei traced it with her eyes up to Asuka's face. "...Alright," she finally said. "But it is not my decision."
"My father," Shinji almost spat. Rei nodded, and he gritted his teeth.
Asuka pulled out her phone and pressed some buttons. "Screw that. Gimme a minute," she said as she held it to her ear. A few seconds later, the person she was calling evidently answered. "Hey Misato, you busy? Good. We've got a problem with Rei here. No, she's not hurt or anything. No. Not that eith- Just listen! Remember back in Germany when you told me about that one-room house you saw on duty in Columbia, with the five family members all crammed in? Well I'll bet you a year's salary that Rei's apartment is worse."
Asuka pulled the phone away from her ear as someone shouted into it. "Well, probably. It's looking pretty shit to me at least. The whole building is condemned, and I think I saw a rat run off with one of her socks. Can you pull some strings and get her moved out?"
Shinji's hopes began to rise, but Asuka's sigh brought that to a halt. "Ugh, fine. We'll head to NERV now anyway. If the Commander refuses, tell him he'll have a mutiny on his hands unless he agrees to let Rei move to a livable apartment. Like... say... our building. You could also argue that it'll help with security since all three of us will be together. Alright, see you soon."
Shinji gulped. "Um... mutiny?"
Asuka nodded firmly. "Damn right. If your old man tries to make Rei stay here, you and I are going on strike."
"M-me?!"
"Got a problem with that, Ikari? Look around, if you already need a reminder."
He didn't. The building was in such a bad state it was likely to crumble to pieces any week now. What if Rei was still inside when it happened? "Yeah, you're right," Shinji admitted. He didn't bother saying that his part of the mutiny wouldn't be very effective.
"Of course I am. Anyway, let's go. Our friend has a test soon."
Rei got to her feet and picked up her new card, then strode past them towards the front door. As she reached it, she hesitated, and turned her head slightly, looking at Asuka and Shinji out of the corner of her eye.
"...Thank you..." she murmured before leaving her apartment, possibly for the last time.
XXX
"Hey Rei," said Shinji as the three teenagers descended the long escalator into NERV. "Are you... you know... worried at all about your test today?"
"No." Rei's voice had returned to utter flatness. "Why would I be worried?"
"Didn't you get banged up last time?" asked Asuka. "Wasn't that the reason why Shinji here got called in at literally the last second?"
Rei nodded. "Correct. But I am not worried."
"But what if your Eva goes crazy again?" Shinji nervously asked as he moved a step closer to the First Child. "I mean, it could berserk in the middle of a battle, and then what if we lose?"
There was silence for an awkward amount of time, before Rei finally spoke. "Tell me something." She turned to Shinji. "You are Commander Ikari's son. Do you not have faith in your father's work?"
Shinji glared harshly at her. "Of course not!"
The two of them stared at each other for a long time, before Rei's hand suddenly flashed out, connecting loudly with his cheek. Behind him, Asuka let out an angry shout. Shinji held a hand to his burning cheek as Rei looked shocked at what she had just done, her hand hovering in front of her face. She mumbled what was probably an apology before moving a few steps down on the escalator and away from Shinji.
They were almost at the bottom of the escalator when Asuka's phone rang. Shinji glanced behind him at her as she answered it.
"Hello? Hey Misato, got an answer for me already? ...Wait what?! Holy crap, that is some timing. Alright, I'm on my way." She snapped the phone closed. "Guess what?"
"An Angel is coming," said Rei.
"Yep. Misato wants me in Unit-01 five minutes ago. Your test is being put on hold."
"Understood." Rei stepped to the side, clearing the way. "Go."
Shinji watched Asuka bolt down the last few steps of the escalator and then run off towards the changing room. He then looked at the back of Rei's head.
"...I guess we should head to the bridge then?"
There was no reply.
XXX
The object glided serenely over the landscape, its upper surfaces reflecting the clouds above while its lower surfaces mirrored the greenery and buildings it passed over. An eerie and discordant harmony, like a ghostly chorus, filled the air, repeating every couple of seconds. Birds took to the air ahead of it, scared off by both the sound and its sheer presence.
It was almost a beautiful scene, had it not been for one simple fact.
The Fifth Angel had arrived.
