Chapter 37 - What Took You So Long?
Shinji opened his eyes, staring up at the whiteness above him.
'Unfamiliar cei-... wait...'
He was not back in the medical wing, as he had automatically thought. The whiteness seemed infinite, both incredibly far away and close enough to touch. But unlike when trapped inside the Twelfth Angel, where the surroundings seemed to be trying to destroy his eyes, this place appeared... benign.
There seemed to be a weight on his chest, but he didn't even feel like checking to see what it was, let alone shifting it. For the first time in a long time, Shinji felt calm and relaxed, as if everything was finally alright in the world. He could just go right to sleep without having to worry about anything.
Actually, falling asleep felt like a really good idea right n-
Shinji opened his eyes, staring up at the whiteness above him.
'Unfamiliar ceiling...?'
Now he was in the medical wing; that well-known chemical smell already invading his nostrils like a dog welcoming its owner back home. The weight had disappeared, and he felt an odd sense of loss at its absence.
The simple fact that he was laying in bed in the medical wing told Shinji that he'd been discovered. But he had expected to get woken up by whoever discovered him; instead, as far as he could remember, somebody had moved him while he was still asleep. He sat up, and felt something tugging on his wrists. Looking down, Shinji saw that both arms now sported handcuffs that anchored him to the bed, along with something clipped to his right index finger and an IV drip in his arm. Rather than being surprised at where he was, he took it in stride; what he'd done last night had been somewhat illegal after all.
Strangely, he felt rather... calm about the fact that Unit-02 was getting sealed away today. Almost... optimistic.
Looking around the room, his eyes soon found a clock hanging on the wall, proclaiming it to be just after 08:30 in the morning. His stomach took that moment to loudly rumble.
'Oh yeah,' Shinji recalled. 'I didn't eat anything at all yesterday...'
There was no food waiting for him, not even a glass of water. Then again he wouldn't have been able to eat or drink anyway, with his hands cuffed to the bed. There was a heart monitor next to the bed, connected to the thing on his finger and silently ticking off his heartbeat. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, Shinji laid back down and tried to ignore his empty stomach. Somebody would likely be along eventually to check on him.
It ended up being half an hour before a familiar face came to see him.
"Hello, Shinji," said Misato with all the warmth of a block of ice, arms folded as she stared disapprovingly at him. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Shinji went to rub his head, but came up short as the handcuffs clanked against the bed. "Well," he slowly began, marshalling his thoughts. "I... I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you... but I won't apologise for what I did."
Misato's arms slowly unfolded and her eyes widened in surprise. "'Won't apologise'? You basically commandeered an Evangelion for your own personal use! What the hell were you thinking?!"
"...You know exactly what I was thinking, ma'am." Considering his circumstances, it didn't seem appropriate to continue acting like normal with Misato... or rather, Major Katsuragi. She was in full officer mode once more. "I'm about to lose my best friend. I wasn't going to let Asuka go without saying goodbye. Ma'am."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "You could have damn well asked, instead of sneaking off to do it yourself."
Shinji looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. "With all due respect, ma'am, I know what the answer would have been. And then NERV would have been watching me like a hawk."
Major Katsuragi brought up a hand to cover her face, slowly pulling it down to her chin before letting it drop to her side. "Okay, look. You know you did something wrong. Rits and I have just had our asses chewed out for letting you do what you did, and soon it'll be your turn."
He quirked an eyebrow. "My turn?"
"Of course. You're overdue for a meeting with the Commander."
XXX
Luckily for what remained of his dignity, Shinji was uncuffed and allowed to get dressed. The cuffs went back on before he left the room, and Misato led him through NERV's maze-like layout to the door to Commander Ikari's office. Once there, she simply gave him a stern look before opening the door and beckoning him to enter.
Shinji slowly walked into the office, and the door closed behind him. The room seemed to stretch out for a mile of black walls, ceiling and flooring, with the only light source being the artificial sunlight from the Geofront tinted red by the windows. As he made his way towards the desk in the middle of the room, Shinji tried to subtly glance at the strange patterns on the floor and ceiling, but couldn't make head nor tail of them.
He came to a halt in front of the desk, looking across it at his father. Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki was also there, standing behind and to the right of the chair with his arms clasped behind his back. His father, of course, sat with his gloved hands covering his mouth, staring intensely back at him. Tense silence filled the room for a minute until his father finally chose to speak.
"You know why you are here," he stated, his mouth barely visible under his hands.
Shinji nodded. "Because I used an Evangelion for my own personal agenda, sir."
"Indeed. While you did not try to do anything with it, the fact still remains that you acted outside of your authorisation."
"Yes sir." Shinji tried to maintain his composure despite the tense atmosphere. "Considering what's... supposed to happen with Unit-02 today, I felt it was my last chance to say... goodbye."
"Hrm."
Apart from the grunt, his father remained silent, and Shinji felt he had to fill the void. "I do not regret what I did last night, only that Doctor Akagi and Major Katsuragi got in trouble for it."
"You refuse to apologise for doing something so foolish?" asked Fuyutsuki.
"Yes sir," Shinji confirmed. "You may find my reasoning petty, but with all due respect I do not care what you think about my motive."
To his mild surprise, Shinji saw the corner of the elderly man's mouth curve slightly upwards. What was even more surprising was the ever-so-slightly raised eyebrow on his father's face.
"Well anyway," said Fuyutsuki. "Currently we cannot afford to simply put you in lock-up for your actions. After all, it'll still be a little longer before Ayanami is back on active duty, and even then we only have two pilots."
"Yes," Father agreed. "But overall this is, relatively speaking, a minor offence. Not to mention this is the first time you have been brought up on a disciplinary charge-"
"Second, sir," Shinji corrected, wincing slightly at his own interruption as both men on the other side of the desk gave him a cool look. "There was that time after the Fourth Angel where I... ran away..."
"...True," Father conceded. "Then, however, you were little more than a backup pilot, and Major Katsuragi handled the offence."
"And of course afterwards, you went through a week of hell," Fuyutsuki remarked. "After you practically begged to be included in training, Pilot Soryu threw everything she had at you in the simulator."
Shinji's face flushed at the reminder of that week.
"Considering the circumstances," Father continued. "For now you may consider yourself on probation until further notice. Any further transgressions will not be dealt with so lightly. Am I clear?"
"Yes sir," replied Shinji.
"Very well then. Dismissed."
Shinji made to salute, only to remember that his hands were still cuffed together. Instead, he gave a deep bow to the two men before turning around and walking towards the office door. Once he was several metres away, he let out his breath in a deep but quiet sigh.
XXX
Gendo stared at his son's back as Shinji left the room, his gaze only shifting once the door closed behind the boy.
"Your son has certainly come a long way," said Fuyutsuki. "It looks like his relationship with the Second Child has greatly improved his resolve."
"Perhaps," Gendo mused. "Of course, there are the occasions where they've had their minds merged together."
"True, but despite those incidents causing your son to occasionally act like Soryu, I believe his bravery is entirely... self-grown. You caught what he said about his reasoning, didn't you?"
"Yes, of course." A small smirk grew on Gendo's face.
Despite not looking in the old man's direction, he could see the look on his subordinate's face. "Why, I do believe that was almost word for word what I once heard another Ikari say a long time ago. When I had to speak to that young man through the bars of a jail cell."
"Why did you attack them?"
"They insulted Yui."
"That's your reason for breaking someone's nose?"
"You might find it petty, professor, but with all due respect I don't give a damn what you think."
"Hmph." Gendo lowered his hands to the desk, uncovering his wide grin. "Despite everything, he still manages to take after me."
"But is that a good or bad thing, considering what's yet to come?"
"We shall see."
"...Do you think we should have told him?"
"That is unnecessary. He will very shortly find out anyway."
XXX
Something seemed different about Misato when Shinji left his father's office. She was acting rather more shiftily, not looking directly at him anymore. Was she distracted by something?
"Come along, let's get back to your room for now. The docs want to keep you under observation for a bit, considering what keeps happening with you and the Evas," she said before setting off. Shinji hurried to catch up, wondering why she was walking so fast. After a minute or two, she asked, "Sooo... what did the Commander say?"
"I'm on probation until further notice," Shinji replied. "Whatever that means."
"Ah. Well then just keep your head down and don't pull any more stupid stunts, and you should be fine."
The rest of the journey was made in tense, awkward silence until finally they came to a stop outside a hospital room door. Misato unlocked Shinji's handcuffs and shoved them in a pocket, before nodding at him and walking off. Shinji watched her until she turned a corner, rubbing his wrists where the cuffs had sat, before sighing and entering the room. He immediately stopped. Someone had come in here and moved things around; the furniture was not where he remembered it, and the privacy curtain had been drawn around the bed.
Shinji stared at the room, trying to make sense of it all, before realising how futile that was. This was NERV, a place that deployed giant bio-mechanical behemoths to fight aliens. Things stopped making sense the moment he came to Tokyo-3. With a full-body sigh, Shinji ambled over to the bed and grabbed the curtain. When was the last time he'd had a nice, normal day?
He pushed the curtain aside, and saw the absolute last thing he expected to see.
"What took you so long?"
Brilliant red hair and shining blue eyes were the first things to register in Shinji's mind; the spoken words came an eternity later.
"A-A-A... Asuka?!"
Asuka, for that was indeed somehow who it was, huffed and folded her arms, shooting him a look of irritation. "Of course it's me! Who were you expecting, Hikari?"
"But... I... you..." Shinji's brain was completely stalled. Had NERV managed a last-second miracle and rescued her from Unit-02 while he'd been asleep? Wouldn't they have told him?
Asuka raised an eyebrow at him, her expression morphing to one of amusement. "Oh, I see. Misato decided to play a little prank of sorts on you." She reached out and gently slapped the back of his head. "Get a hold of yourself. I'm really here, I've apparently spent two weeks trapped inside Unit-02, and it's all thanks to you that I'm back now."
Shinji's face creased up in confusion. "Wait... I rescued you?! But... how? The last thing I remember is falling asleep in the entry plug after... um..." His face immediately turned bright red.
"After what...?" Asuka prompted, before turning a suspicious glare on him. "You didn't do anything... weird in my Eva did you?"
"N-no! Of course not!" Shinji hurriedly replied. "I just... erm... kinda... talked to you a bit..."
Asuka blinked at him, slowly bringing up her knees under the bedsheets and wrapping her arms around them. "Talked, huh? Well... considering what...um... things have been like between us recently, I'm pretty sure I can hazard a guess at what you said." Her own face was starting to pink up as well. "A-and... I'm really not sure what to think right now. I know it's not what you want to hear, but I hope you can give me some time to get my head screwed back on properly."
"Y-yeah, of course," Shinji stammered. "But... I don't understand how I was the one to rescue you."
Asuka vaguely waved a hand. "I don't really know either, except... well... I can't recall much of when I was in Unit-02, but I do remember sometimes feeling like... you were there."
"You could... sense me or something?"
"Hardly a surprise," Asuka said with a shrug. "Just look at all the other stuff we've managed to do. If I had to guess, you... I dunno... helped me pull myself together?"
"That's actually almost exactly what happened."
"Huh?" Shinji and Asuka both turned to the doorway, where Doctor Akagi had apparently sneaked in while they were talking.
"We've finally managed to piece together what happened," she said as she approached them, waving her tablet. "And looking back, I'm kicking myself for not realising the solution sooner."
Shinji and Asuka glanced at each other, then back at Akagi. "So?" Asuka pressed. "What happened?"
The scientist cleared her throat. "The reason why Asuka was absorbed into Unit-02 was because the two of you reached a combined sync ratio of over four hundred percent. At any point above one hundred percent, the pilot starts to become unable to differentiate between themselves and the Eva."
Shinji's brow furrowed as Akagi talked, remembering what Rei had said a while ago about dangerously high synchronisations. "Something similar happened to Rei and Unit-00, didn't it? A safety system malfunction, right?" he asked.
"...Yes," Akagi replied, looking somewhat surprised at his knowledge of that event. "A system failed, and Rei later reported that she felt like she 'was' the Evangelion. As for you two though, well, obviously we disabled the safeties because you needed the extra synchronisation to kill the Angel. But that came with a price." She waved a hand at Asuka. "According to the last solid bit of data we have on you before you got absorbed, you hit two hundred and ninety-nine point nine nine recurring percent."
Asuka's eyes shot wide open in pure shock. "I know that what happened was obviously a bad thing but... Mein Gott!"
"Don't get used to it," Akagi retorted, swiftly cutting the girl's excitement off. "The safety systems are going back on and staying on. Now then, back to how you returned, if I may? So. You were stuck in Unit-02, unable to escape because you basically were Unit-02. But then, last night, Shinji did something stupid."
Shinji flushed at the harsh words. While he did do it without permission, 'stupid' was not how he would describe it.
"He got into Unit-02's entry plug," Akagi went on, "partially activated it, and began to talk to you. That, combined with this synchronisation the two of you share outside of piloting, turned him into a sort of... beacon for you, Asuka."
"A beacon?" Asuka repeated. "You mean as in something for me to lock onto?"
"Precisely," Akagi confirmed, her fingers dancing over her tablet's screen. "His presence and actions gave you a target to focus on; something to make you aware of your own self, to be able to pull away from Unit-02 and become yourself again. According to the plug's data logs, Shinji talked for a while, then fell asleep. A few minutes afterwards... well... take a look for yourselves."
She tapped one last time on her tablet, before turning it around and presenting the screen to the two teenagers. What was shown on the screen would be forever seared into Shinji's mind. There he was, clad in his plugsuit, eyes closed and head slumped to one side, obviously sleeping.
And laying directly on top of him was a certain redheaded German girl, most certainly not in a plugsuit. Or anything at all. Fortunately the internal camera had only captured part of her back; the rest of her was mercifully off-screen while her... her br-
Shinji ripped his gaze away from the screen, his face feeling like he'd just shoved his entire head into Mt. Asama. Unfortunately, this just ended up with him looking directly at Asuka, who seemed to be taking the news about as well as he was; i.e. completely red-faced and looking like she was about to explode from embarrassment.
"W-w-w-was zur Hölle?!"
"When you were absorbed," Akagi said without the slightest reaction to the outburst, "your plugsuit was left behind. When you returned, you came back naked and unconscious. I discovered the two of you like that when I entered the cage the next morning. After I contacted someone to get you two out of there, I also did my best to preserve your modesty by putting a towel around you before you were moved here. As far as we can tell, neither of you awoke before coming to the medical wing."
That seemed to calm Asuka down a little. Shinji carefully decided not to mention the strange dream he had had just before waking up.
"Anyway, now that you've been recovered from Unit-02, we need to look the Eva over again to check for any problems. The two of you will just need a check up and you'll be free to leave." Akagi stopped, raising an eyebrow. "...You two aren't having any... weird synchronisation things happening again are you?"
Shinji was about to respond, but then he caught Asuka's eye. While her expression didn't give anything away, he knew exactly what she was planning.
And he was entirely on board with it.
"No," they said together. "We're not having any problems this time. We feel perfectly normal."
With a deep sigh, Akagi hung her head. "Yeah, alright, I'll admit I walked right into that one. Only got myself to blame. Hell, this basically convinces me you don't need a checkup." She immediately turned and left the room, shaking her head as she headed into the corridor. "Damn kids..."
The mood sufficiently lightened, Asuka gave Shinji a victorious grin, even as her face kept some of its previous pinkness. "If she's gonna give us an opening like that, we have no choice but to take it!" she crowed.
Shinji chuckled, but before he could reply, the door to the room slid open again and Rei Ayanami stepped in, wearing her plugsuit.
"Wondergirl!" Asuka gleefully exclaimed. "Good to see you made it through that shitstorm alright!"
A faint smile graced Rei's face. "It is gratifying to see you alive and well too, Asuka," she replied. "Shinji had been... somewhat worried about you during your absence."
"'Somewhat worried'," Asuka repeated. "So what you're saying is he was a complete mess. Honestly, Shinji, you gotta learn to take care of yourself too!"
Shinji flushed slightly, but she had hit the nail on the head; after all, he'd spent almost the entirety of the past two weeks in Unit-02's cage, barely concerned with anything besides Asuka's recovery.
"How about Glasses? Haven't seen him yet." Asuka frowned. "And his Eva was getting hijacked, if I remember right."
The smile fled from Rei's face like it was being chased by an Angel. "Kensuke... he..."
Asuka glanced between Rei and Shinji as both of them remained silent. "...Shit," she cursed. "He's not... dead... is he?"
"No," Shinji murmured. "But he's... not doing well. Part of the Angel infested his body and he's in quarantine. It's slowly taking over, merging with him, and Doctor Akagi said there's nothing they can do to remove it. They're still trying, but... he's got another two weeks at best before they'll be forced to..."
"...I see," Asuka replied, eyes downcast. "Damnit. I wish I could say I didn't see this coming, but it's clear we all got caught out. Two Angels attacking at once, one of them hiding in an Eva and taking it over at the worst possible time... It can't be a coincidence." She brought her head up, her gaze hardening. "Considering the enemy we face, we should consider ourselves lucky that the three of us are still healthy."
Rei nodded resolutely. "It is greatly distressing what Kensuke is suffering through, but we must not let it shake our resolve. The duty of an Eva pilot is to face the Angels in battle and destroy them. We are the only ones capable of this; without us, humanity is doomed to annihilation."
"Exactly!" said Asuka, slapping a fist into a palm. "We must press on! We can't let his sacrifice be in vain! As soon as everything's settled down, I want us all in the simulators. We've been slacking off for two weeks, after all, and we have to keep ourselves sharp if we want to avoid anything like this in the future!"
"I look forward to it," replied Rei. "Shinji and I have not left the Geofront ever since the attack. It has become rather... dull around here."
"Well, at this point we should be allowed to leave now, right?" asked Shinji. "I mean... apart from Kensuke, we're all fine and there's no more need for us to remain constantly on duty, is there?"
The door opened once more; this time it was Misato entering and interrupting the conversation. "What's this I'm hearing about duty?" she boisterously asked.
"We're asking if we can go back home yet," Asuka clarified.
"Oh. That. Well, I think I saw Ritsuko talking with one of the doctors. Chances are they'll be along shortly." Misato paused, apparently seeing the scowl that was darkening Shinji's face. "...Is something wrong, Shinji?"
"Hmph." He folded his arms. "Asuka was recovered, and you never bothered to tell me. Until I came into this room, I was expecting Unit-02 to have already been put away!"
Misato shrugged. "Uh... sorry. I kinda wanted it to be a surprise. And honestly, I was expecting the Commander to tell you. But when you came out of his office still looking like a kicked puppy... well I thought about just telling you outright but..."
Shinji sighed. "Yeah, I know how much you love surprises."
"Exactly! Now then... Asuka, your clothes are waiting for you in the bathroom." Misato turned to Rei. "You've apparently already been cleared, but I'm assuming you're going to wait for Asuka and Shinji?"
"Correct," was Rei's simple reply.
"Thought so. Well I'll go find somebody and tell them to hurry the hell up, and hopefully we'll be out of here within the hour. Finally!" The last word was practically a shout, startling the three teenagers as Misato threw her arms up. "I just want to go home, have a nice cold beer, and fall asleep in my own damn bed!"
Judging by the expressions on his fellow pilot's faces, Shinji knew the feeling was mutual.
XXX
As it turned out, while the pilots were cleared to go home Misato received a phone call that made her groan loudly about an officer meeting. She told the pilots that it was up to them whether they wanted to wait around for her, which would probably take a couple hours, or just head home themselves.
After their guardian stomped off, Asuka expressed a desire to check in on Kensuke so Shinji did his best to lead them to the quarantine chamber, only taking a wrong turn once before they ended up in front of the airlock door.
"If you don't mind, I'll just... stay out here," said Shinji with a shudder.
"I will remain here as well," added Rei, staring at the door.
Asuka glanced at both of them, before shrugging and turning to the intercom next to the door.
"Pilot Soryu here to see Pilot Aida," she said into the intercom.
A few seconds passed, then a voice responded. "Oh. Uh... One moment please?" Asuka huffed and impatiently tapped her foot as a minute dragged slowly past before the voice came back. "Okay, Doctor Akagi says you can come in."
After a quick glance at Rei and Shinji to see if they'd changed their minds, Asuka stepped through the door alone and into the antechamber. As the airlock cycled, she was reminded of the hideously embarrassing decontamination process she'd had to nakedly endure not so long ago.
The inner door opened, and Asuka entered the room beyond. The first thing she noticed was a white-haired young man in standard NERV-issue beige leaning back in a chair facing away from her, feet up on the terminal in front of him and a book in one hand.
"Hello, Pilot Soryu," he said, not taking his eyes off the book. His free hand pointed towards the right of the room. "Pilot Aida is just on the other side of that window. Afraid I can't let you in there though. If you want to see how he's doing, I can show you on this screen."
Asuka pulled her eyes away from the back of his head. It was a bit of an odd choice for a hair colour, but then she considered what Rei looked like. "Yeah, sure," she said after a moment, looking through the window at the coffin-like object.
The book suddenly snapped shut, the feet came off the terminal and down to the ground, and the young man began typing at his keyboard. The screen changed, and Asuka gritted her teeth in disgust at the sight it showed. Apparently not content with simply taking over an Evangelion, whatever was left of the Angel seemed to be absorbing her fellow pilot as well.
"Nothing NERV's tried has worked yet," the young man apologetically reported with a shrug. "Less than two weeks before he'll be so far gone that they'll just... give him mercy, so to speak."
"Verdammte," Asuka growled under her breath.
"Ja, er tut mir irgendwie leid. Wünschte, ich könnte ihm helfen, anstatt einfach nur hier zu sitzen und ihm langsam beim Sterben zuzusehen."[Yeah, I feel kinda sorry for him. Wish I could help him, instead of sitting here and watching him slowly die.]
Asuka absently nodded. "Ja," she mumbled, before realisation set in. "Wait, you speak German?!"
The young man half turned his head towards her. "I was originally working at NERV Hamburg before recently getting transferred here along with a couple others."
Asuka huffed. "I was about to say, I'm pretty sure I would have recognised that hair if you'd been at the Berlin base."
"I'll admit it does stand out among a sea of black and brown." He shrugged. "Nobody seems to mind one way or the other about it though."
"After seeing me and the First Child, they're probably used to it by now."
A slight tilt of the head. "Perhaps. Anyway, do you have any other business? Afraid there isn't much to do here."
Asuka shook her head. "Nah, I just wanted to see how he was doing for myself. Thanks."
"Not a problem. I'll let you out now. Have a good day."
"Yeah, you too."
As she walked back to the airlock, Asuka caught a glimpse of the young man's face as the screen they'd been looking at went blank. It might have just been her imagination, but something made it seem like he had red eyes. She shook the thought out of her head. Just because she knew one person with odd hair and red eyes didn't mean someone else was the same.
XXX
The sudden hiss of the door opening almost made Shinji jump out of his skin. Asuka stepped out into the corridor, giving him a sympathetic look. For some reason, Rei's eyes had been locked onto some point inside the quarantine chamber ever since Asuka had gone in. Shinji had considered bringing it up, but in the end he just assumed she was 'looking' at Kensuke.
And wondered just what exactly she could 'see'.
While Shinji wanted to just head home, Asuka had the idea of heading out to the Geofront's 'outdoor' area to see what it looked like after their titanic battle. Rei winced at the mention of the battle but tried to remain stoic; seeing this, Asuka made an effort to tone down her enthusiasm somewhat.
The Geofront looked a lot different when they were at ground level than it did from of dozens of metres higher in an Evangelion. The domed ceiling high above their heads, complete with what was essentially an inverted city hanging from said ceiling, was somewhat awe-inspiring. None of the pilots, not even Rei, knew how to actually go about reaching those buildings. Shinji had heard talk of there being a restaurant in one of them.
They wandered along the side of a service road that went past the Geofront's lake, Asuka occasionally pointing out a giant footprint or other fresh blemish on the once-pristine landscape. Shinji was more interested in the destroyer sitting in the middle of the lake. The last time he had seen it, all the pilots had been ejected from the disastrous simulation body test and left to their own devices for hours. He still didn't know how the ship had actually gotten down here, and made a mental note to try and ask Misato about it later.
A wooden shack in the distance, set well away from the road, caught Shinji's eye and he pointed it out to the others. It caught Asuka's curiosity; she peered at it, then leaned forward with narrowed eyes, which suddenly widened in surprise.
"Kaji?!" she exclaimed, glancing at Shinji and Rei in surprise before sprinting off, leaving them to give each other a look of confusion as they took off in pursuit.
Indeed, as they got closer they could make out the scruffy man kneeling on the ground doing... something. It was only when Shinji came right up behind Kaji that he could see yet another mark of the battle against the two Angels. A piece of ground, ripped up with chunks of... watermelons? scattered about the area or smashed into the dirt. Shinji's stomach quietly grumbled in dismay at the ruined food.
"Heya, kids," Kaji greeted with a weary sigh, getting to his feet and brushing dust off his knees. "Just got back into town after a few jobs elsewhere. Came to check how my little farm was doing, and... well..."
"I didn't even know you had a farm," Asuka remarked.
"It's just something I do to unwind," Kaji replied. "I was hoping to harvest a few for New Years Day."
"Sorry, Mr. Kaji," Shinji murmured, upon realising just what had destroyed the little farm: an Evangelion's foot.
Kaji waved a dismissive hand. "Aaah, don't apologise, kiddo. Saving the world's more important than some melons. I can always just plant some seeds and start again. Can't say the same if an Angel gets the better of you." He glanced at Asuka.
"Is that what you are doing now?" asked Rei. "Would you like some assistance?"
Kaji's eyes flicked over to her. "Sure, if you're all happy to lend a hand, I'd appreciate the help." He pointed towards the shack. "There's some tools in there, we'll start by tilling the soil. May as well leave what's left of the melons, they're nothing but compost now anyway."
The teenagers got to work under the instruction of Kaji. What had seemed at first glance to be a big task flew by and only an hour or two later, they were already planting the last of the new seeds. Rei seemed to have cheered up some as well, focusing intently on each seed as she pushed it into the ground then covered it with soil.
Asuka wiped a hand across her brow. "Phew, that's done. Watering cans, next?"
Kaji nodded. "Yep. Well... first we need to fill them up, and there's no pump here."
Asuka slowly turned to look at the lake; it could only be called 'nearby' in the relative sense. It would take several minutes to walk there and back, and there were only two watering cans. Shinji frowned at the lake, then had a thought and glanced around the Geofront.
"Hang on," he said after a moment. "All the trees and stuff are real down here, right?"
"Well... yeah," Asuka replied. "What'd be the point of planting tons of fake trees down here?"
"So then..." Shinji looked down at his feet, then up at the Geofront's ceiling hundreds of metres above their heads. "How does everything down here get water? Are you going to tell me there's a network of sprinklers in the ground, or something up there to create rain?"
Asuka opened her mouth to respond, then quickly shut it with a click of her teeth. She looked at Rei, who could only tilt her head in response to the unasked question.
"I think it's best not to think too hard about it, Shinji," Kaji remarked. "I mean, I thought I knew how that destroyer on the lake got down here, but I've now heard everything from it being built on-site to a top-secret portal system powered by psychics that requires going through Hell."
Shinji stared at the ceiling for a moment longer, then sighed and picked up one of the watering cans.
NERV was such a strange place.
Half an hour later, Kaji put the last of the tools back in the shack and closed the door. "Thanks for the help, kids. I really appreciate it."
"After everything that's happened to us recently," said Asuka, "I think we kinda needed a bit of... normality."
"Heh, well, I'm glad to have helped in that respect." Kaji ran a hand through his hair, gazing fondly at the little patch of farmland, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a battered packet of cigarettes and a lighter. After lighting one, he took a deep drag and exhaled, smoke billowing out of his mouth. "Can I... ask a favour of you, kids?"
"Huh?" Shinji turned to face the man. "What is it, Kaji?"
Kaji took another drag. "Would you mind taking a bit of time occasionally to come down here and check on our little project? I'm... gonna be rather busy in the coming weeks and I might not have the chance to regularly maintain this patch."
"I would be glad to assist," said Rei.
Asuka piped up. "Yeah, us too, right Shinji?"
Shinji nodded, and Kaji grinned at the trio. "Thanks. And if I'm not around when they're ready to harvest, go right ahead and help yourselves."
The three teenagers agreed, but Shinji felt like there was something... odd in the way Kaji had started speaking. Like he was sure he'd be gone for a very long time.
At that moment Shinji's phone began to ring, so he brought it out and answered it.
"Hi Shinji," said a tired-sounding Misato. "Meeting's done. You guys gone home yet?"
"Hello Misato," he said back, noticing that the others perked up at the mention of her name. "No, we decided to go for a walk around the Geofront. Where do you want us to meet you?"
"Depends. Want to come to the parking lot or do you want me to drive out there and pick you up?"
"It'd probably be quicker if you came to get us. We're near the-" He glanced at Kaji and questioningly mouthed the word 'east?', getting a nod in response. "-east side of the lake. There's a wooden shack you can see from the road, where we've been helping Kaji plant some melons."
"...Kaji's there?" was Misato's surprised response, followed by what sounded like her clearing her throat. "Yeah, alright, I'll come get you. Wouldn't mind a... chat with him anyway. See you soon!"
Putting the phone away, Shinji relayed the info to the others. While Asuka and Rei simply accepted the news, Kaji smirked and rubbed his chin, creating a rasping sound. With nothing to do but wait for Misato to arrive, Asuka began to chat with Kaji. Shinji, noticing Rei had wandered off a little, decided to go that way too, soon coming up beside her as she stared across the lake.
"Are you alright, Rei?" he tentatively asked.
Rei didn't respond for a little while; when she did, it was with a small sigh as she closed her eyes. "I... am still not sure how to feel about what I did."
"What you did... oh." Shinji mentally slapped himself for forgetting. "Well... I really don't know how accurate it might be, but would you like to hear what I think?"
Turning an inquisitive look on him, Rei gave a tiny, hesitant nod.
He took a deep breath. "Alright. So, the Angel took over the Evangelion and invaded the entry plug as well. At that point, Kensuke was already unconscious, and for all we knew at the time he could have been... dead. But for some reason, the Angel wanted that entry plug back after you managed to... well... steal it. You ended up kind of tricking the Angel by distracting it with the entry plug and landed the killing blow."
It was hard to watch Rei's face as he recounted the events in question. She was normally incredibly stoic even in the heat of battle, but right now she looked like she was about to cry. "Y... yes," she eventually said quietly. "That is how things unfolded."
"And you feel guilty for using Kensuke as bait, even if it was to stop something as dangerous as an Angel."
A small nod.
"In my... admittedly uneducated opinion, knowing what Kensuke is like..." Shinji paused, hoping that he wasn't about to say the most amazingly wrong thing possible. "...I think he would have cheered you on for such a tactic."
The effect was stunning. In the blink of an eye, Rei went from looking downcast and guilty to surprised and... rather angry. "You think he would have welcomed that?!"
"I do admit it's just a theory," Shinji hastily said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "But remember what he's like. Kensuke's a military fanatic. He basically raised himself on the culture. This is a guy who, when he's out camping, conducts war games by himself. He's practically the son of a soldier without even being related to one."
"...By himself...?"
Shinji couldn't resist the small chuckle as Rei became the latest to be confused by Kensuke's mindset. "Yeah. He knew what he was getting into when NERV approached him to become a pilot, and he accepted the risks. I'm sure that if it came down to it, he'd sacrifice himself to protect one of us without a second thought." Shinji paused again, locking his eyes on Rei. "Does that sound familiar to you?"
"...Yes," Rei murmured after a long silence. "But at the same time, I'm sure you would do the same too. And Asuka."
"True," Shinji conceded, running a hand through his hair. "Look, the point I'm trying to make is that our job is an insanely dangerous one, but we do it anyway because we're the only ones who can. I think that Kensuke wouldn't hold it against you that you used him to help you kill the Angel. Are you willing to accept that you have nothing to feel guilty about?"
Rei sighed, casting her gaze back across the lake. "I... will try."
"There is no try," Shinji replied. At Rei's puzzled frown, he added, "It's... something Asuka said to me a while ago. I think she was referencing something but I'm not sure what."
"I... see... Oh." She pointed out to a spot near the lake. "I believe that is Misato's vehicle."
If there was any doubt in Shinji's mind about the identity of the driver, it died in a hit-and-run as the car veered off the road and came barrelling right towards them. Just as it seemed like it wouldn't stop, the car suddenly braked into a spin, halting with its rear bumper just centimetres shy of Kaji's legs and spraying dirt and grass everywhere.
The insane man hadn't shifted an inch despite the half-ton of metal driving directly at him.
Shinji sighed diplomatically as the dust settled. "Yep... that's her alright."
XXX
After what Shinji could only assume was a lot of flirting between Kaji and Misato behind the shack, their guardian finally returned and waved the teenagers towards her car. From there, the scenery predictably flew by as Misato seemed to be attempting to achieve some sort of land speed record. Of course, she couldn't simply drive up the car elevator; Misato seemed almost antsy at the long wait and predictably put the pedal to the metal once out on the open road towards Tokyo-3.
Somehow, they once again made it back to the apartment building with not a scratch on the car. Shinji fought the urge to lie down on the ground and hold on until everything stopped spinning, and Asuka looked like she'd fared little better.
Pen-pen was ecstatic to see them again, rushing up and hugging their legs as soon as they came through the door, and receiving pats on the head in return. Until he reached Rei who, instead of a simple pat, picked the penguin up and hugged him to her chest. Pen-pen looked surprised, but made no effort to get free.
It was hardly a shock that Misato's apartment looked a little messy after such a long absence. Dirty dishes and beer cans littered the kitchen, and a thin film of dust had settled. Upon seeing this Shinji headed right for the cleaning supplies, but made it all of a couple metres before a hand slapped down upon his shoulder.
"Nope, you're not worrying about that today," said Misato, the owner of the hand. "Let's just order some takeout and enjoy ourselves for a bit longer."
"Takeout?" Asuka pointed at the clock, which showed the time to be 1:25pm. "It's only just after lunchtime."
"...Oh," Misato lamely replied. "Huh. Feels like it should be dinner time, ya know? After the day we've had."
Shinji's stomach, once again displaying its talent for perfect timing, chose that moment to growl. Loudly.
Asuka turned an amused look on him, hands on her hips. "Well now, I guess I know what my first task will be!" Her mood quickly changed, her face turning pale. "Wait. Shit. We've been gone for two weeks. Half the stuff in our fridges has probably gone bad."
Shinji and Misato shared looks of unease, glancing at her refrigerator.
"...Well, actual first order of business will have to be to clean them out," Misato groaned. "You two go sort your kitchen out, I'll handle the fridge here. Rei, could you please check the pantry for anything that might be out of date?"
Rei nodded, and Shinji and Asuka quickly headed next door to their own apartment. The place was just as dusty as Misato's, if not more so, but that was set aside as the two of them dealt with their kitchen. Practically everything but snacks and drinks had to be thrown out –Shinji quickly grabbing a packet of chips to momentarily settle his stomach– and Asuka prepared a list of replacements to buy. Afterwards they returned to Misato's apartment, where Asuka set their list down next to one that Rei had apparently written out.
One rather large grocery shopping trip later -some of the bags having to be placed on the passengers' laps- and both refrigerators looked like no time had passed at all. Asuka quickly set to work, drafting Rei and Shinji to assist while keeping an eye on Misato so that no 'extras' found their way into her cooking.
Twenty minutes later, Shinji sat down at the kitchen table and, after the traditional 'thank you for the meal', set to work on his portion.
He was the first to finish, his plate empty in only a couple minutes.
Asuka raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as she doled out another portion.
That, too, vanished into the black hole that had taken up residence in Shinji's stomach.
With some embarrassment, he eventually admitted that it had been close to two days since he'd last eaten anything, and he even averted his gaze from Asuka as he confessed that he had not felt like eating much the past couple of weeks.
Asuka narrowed her eyes. "Just like before I got on your case about how much you eat," she remarked, half-growling at Shinji. He could only blush, but continued eating.
Finally though, even he had to turn down a refill, having eaten almost as much as the other four, Pen-pen included, combined.
"Well, I don't think we'll need to worry about dinner after that," said Misato, letting out a groan of satisfaction. "You certainly decided to make up for lost time, Asuka."
Asuka shrugged. "I figured that since I was cooking now, I might as well make it a really big lunch so that I didn't have to make something else later."
Misato gave her an understanding nod. "You actually look a little tired. Gonna go collapse into a food coma?"
Asuka was about to respond, but she had to quickly bring up a hand to cover a sudden yawn. "Actually that seems like a good idea, to be honest."
It was contagious; Shinji yawned wide enough to feel the sides of his mouth ache. "Me too, I think," he said. "Maybe now that Asuka's back... I can get some real sleep."
He was expecting a teasing comment from Misato, but instead she just smiled sympathetically at him. "Go on then. Leave your phones here if you like, I'll deal with anyone trying to interrupt your naptime. If an Angel shows up I will politely tell it to fuck right off."
Shinji and Asuka chuckled at that mental image, and left their phones on the kitchen table as they headed next door.
Once there Shinji made the quick decision to change their bedsheets, having forgotten when exactly they'd last been washed and choosing to err on the side of cleanliness. When everything was finally sorted out, Shinji and Asuka bid each other goodnight despite the time of day and headed to their rooms for some well-deserved rest.
XXX
Shinji awoke with a start, suddenly filled with apprehension and shock. A glance at his alarm clock told him that it was just before midnight. As he'd half-expected, the planned nap had turned into full on sleep. He tried to rummage through his memory to catch whatever it was that had awoken him, but came to one conclusion: whatever it was, it hadn't been quite the same as when he and Asuka usually woke up in sync.
A moment later, he heard a knock on his door.
"Shinji?" came Asuka's partially muffled voice. "I know you woke up too. Could you... come to the kitchen? Like we usually do?"
"Yeah, sure," he called out in response.
In the kitchen, Shinji was surprised to see Asuka pacing back and forth with a hand on her head. This was definitely not like the previous unwanted wake-ups they'd jointly experienced. He could feel... something just on the edges of his mind, like a word dangling right off the edge of his tongue.
Finally, after a couple more minutes of pacing, Asuka looked at Shinji and then sat down at the table; he quickly joined her.
"Shinji, something happened while I was inside Unit-02," she said, looking nervous. "Something... big. I really don't know if you're going to believe me though, since I can hardly believe it myself."
Shinji blinked at her, took a breath, and slowly reached out to cover her visibly shaking hand with his own. "Whatever it is you want to tell me, I'll listen and do my best to understand. After everything we've been through, even if you told me the sky was green I'd consider it."
Asuka stared at where their hands met, redness creeping up her face, but her hand remained where it was. "A-alright. Besides... if I'm right about this... I might be right about something to do with you, too."
"With... me?" Shinji frowned, trying to work out what Asuka could be about to tell him. But nothing could have prepared him for the words that left Asuka's mouth.
"Mama... she's... she's inside Unit-02!"
