Chapter 3 – The plan, coming together!

The days separating Asuka from the final act of her plan passed without any significant threats, Angel attacks, or particularly challenging tests and examinations at the NERV HQ, letting Asuka focus on the upcoming events – for better or worse.

The sleeve-handling training Hikari promised her had to be delayed by a few days because of the Class Rep's numerous duties, and, as a result, Asuka was taking it in her own, freshly received kimono. To her immense relief, her worries have been proven entirely groundless: it was about as difficult as handling a more elaborate dress – and that was a skill she had already learned a while ago on the very few occasions when she had an opportunity to dance.

And so, the afternoon of training – time she expected to be filled with necessary but annoying activities – quickly turned out to be quite enjoyable. Hikari was accommodating, helpful, and friendly, and while Asuka was still not sure if Hikari was being sincere about her friendship – after all, warming up to someone that quickly by a person from a famously reserved culture felt a little bit odd – but right now, her company was both a great help and a welcome distraction from darker thoughts plaguing her mind.

And that was a distraction she dearly needed.

...

An evening after the shopping trip

Asuka Langley Soryu was not a person that would allow her doubts to be seen by many people – but sometimes, someone gave her enough reasons, exerted enough influence, or simply happened to devote enough attention to her for something to slip out.

'Stupid me. Stupid doubt. Stupid Hikari', she huffed as she was laying in her bed, wide awake, trying her best to ignore Misato's snoring. It was a sound she could tune out – but not at the same time when she had to focus on tuning out her own annoyance. Her willpower was, after all, limited, especially when some of it was also being continuously tied up in not thinking about Rei Ayanami.

'Stupid… let's hope Hikari's not smart enough to figure it out… she's not exactly brilliant, but she's good with her social skills, and that might be a threat…' she kept milling the same worries over and over again. 'It would be easier if I knew I can trust her, but… but what if she is doing it out of her sense of duty? Drain the swamp, remove the crocodiles; befriend the troublemaker, take away the trouble…'

The mill of her thoughts did not abate deep into the night, running over and over again in her mind until the exhaustion took over and let her fall into an uneasy, single cycle of sleep just as the day started to dawn over Tokyo-3.

The next day was not pleasant for anyone who managed to cross paths with Asuka Langley Soryu – with the exception of two girls: one who looked at her with exasperation in her eyes – and another whom Asuka tried not to look at too much.

...

Saturday afternoon

"Hey, Shinji", Asuka waved to the boy reading some magazine.

"What is it, Asuka?" he pulled the earphone buds from his ears and turned his head to look at her.

"You asked me to tell you when I'm 'not following the meal routine', right?", she quoted and continued without waiting for his confirmation. "I'm leaving tomorrow after breakfast and have no idea when I'll be back, so no dinner for me. But I'll still need some supper."

"Sure, Asuka", he nodded with a small, cautious smile. "You're out with Hikari again?"

"Nah, not this time", Asuka shook her head. "I'll actually be working on improving the team cohesion."

Shinji tilted his head. "I'm afraid to ask", he admitted with a hint of confusion in his voice and raised eyebrows. "What team?"

"Oh, you'll see", she giggled.

"Why don't you just say you have a date?" he asked, the confusion in his voice becoming increasingly apparent.

"It's not a date!" Asuka protested vehemently; her face quickly turned a warm shade of pink. "Keep such ideas to yourself! I'm a prim and proper girl!"

"There's nothing improper with just dating, is it?" he asked, his confusion reaching its peak. "Even Misato wouldn't object. Well, I think she wouldn't…" he added with a more thoughtful expression.

"I know!" Asuka huffed. "It's just not it."

"Okay, okay. I'm not asking", he shrugged and put one of the earbuds back. "I'll leave you something for supper, don't worry."

"Thanks", Asuka pondered adding a few words for a moment but decided not to say anything else for fear of digging herself deeper. Having executed a tactical retreat to her room, she let out a breath she was unconsciously holding.

'Why am I acting like this?' she asked herself as she dropped onto the bed and hid her head under the pillow. 'And why is this not tomorrow already?!'

...

This night, sleep was more merciful to Asuka – but she still managed to run a few dozen scenarios in her head before succumbing to exhaustion. Most of them were relatively neutral and only slightly awkward – but a few involved embarrassing situations like some of the wardrobe failing due to her inability to move in it properly, a few ended in her getting publicly slapped in her face or being openly called a pervert, and some included being found out and laughed at by her schoolmates – moreover, at least one of those ended with a murder. As a logical consequence, Asuka made a mental note to check whether she could fit a pocketknife into her obi – instead of a tanto that she would likely not be able to procure on such short notice.

It was around that point that her mind decided that she was planning for far too much and finally made her fall into the soft embrace of sleep – but not before starting to plan for a hostage situation, a terrorist attack, and an alien invasion.

...

Sunday morning

Asuka woke up in a surprisingly good mood; it was actually good enough to temporarily push her anxiety about today down and managed to survive comments about unusual chirpiness from hungover Misato, who was, luckily not asking any questions. The fact that Shinji wished Asuka a pleasant day helped the mood quite a bit, too. And so, she was off to meet the anticipated day with her head held high.

The plan she had come up for this day with was quite simple: visit Hikari around nine, use her help to get into the kimono – that was also stored there to avoid stupid questions from Shinji – and go meet Rei Ayanami at the prearranged coordinates around quarter to ten. Then they would go fit the attire that was waiting at the shop – and then smoothly proceed to the other activities.

The first part worked pretty much as well as expected.

"You're late, Asuka", Hikari's welcomed her with a scolding tone.

"Ten minutes late, big deal, I got the walking time wrong", she shrugged as she ditched her shoes and entered the house.

"I can't do it right if I have to hurry", Hikari warned with a sigh. "That's why–"

"Then let's get to it, shall we?" Asuka countered with a surprising amount of cheer in her voice. "I have the utmost confidence in your skills!"

Hikari let out a heavy sigh. Being Asuka's friend was a challenge, no doubt – but on the other hand, it certainly prevented Hikari from ever getting bored. She still had to think long and hard about which one she preferred – but until then, she was resolute to be a good friend.

...

As Asuka suspected and contrary to what Hikari stated in her complaints, Hikari did perfect work on Asuka's kimono and hair. Of course, there were a few minor issues on the way – after all, nothing about Asuka could be simple.

"Those bumps have to go", Hikari demanded, pointing to Asuka's head. "We're doing it right", she stated with a voice that suffered no objection.

"Those are my neural connectors", Asuka objected, her cheer almost entirely gone. "They're what I am!"

"I can't imagine them being a fit for any kimono, especially for the colors you choose", Hikari stood her ground. "But if you told me, at the very least, that you wanted to keep them, we would've gone with a red one. I thought you wanted to do it right?"

"Yes, but–" Asuka protested.

"Asuka, you have three choices: either they go, we change one of the colors to red… somehow, we repaint those… connectors green here and now, or you just stay in your dress, mismatched as it is in color anyway. Four choices", Hikari kept insisting, pointing to the sundress hung on the chair.

"But but but but…"

"No 'buts'", Hikari remained steadfast, her tone unchangingly firm. "I'll give you the best hairdo I can, but not with those in the way", she declared. "It's not that I'm confiscating them or anything! You'll have them at hand at all times!"

"But…" Asuka's protests got noticeably weaker.

"Asuka… you claim you are serious about that, so… please be serious, okay?" Hikari looked at the redhead pleadingly.

"All right, all right", Asuka finally conceded; she could not decide whether it was because of the rational arguments or Hikari's determined and insistent look. "You could've said so before we chose the colors, though", she grumbled as she removed the connectors and secreted them away in her obi.

"I thought it was obvious", Hikari let out a sigh. "And please, sit still!" she demanded as she started brushing the red mane in front of her.

Asuka, as unwilling she was to be commanded like this, contained her reflexive resistance and contrariness. Looking into the mirror, she had to admit that Hikari Horaki, the fearsome Class Representative at school, was quite an artist at home – and even as she commanded similar obedience here, it might even be considered worth it.

...

'Of course she is waiting already', Asuka sighed with resignation. 'Does she have any life besides school and NERV? It's not even five to ten!" she shook her head – and immediately checked whether the hairdo Hikari put up for her held; to no one's surprise, it did hold perfectly. 'I wonder if I can loosen her up just a bit…', she returned to the previous train of thought. 'Step one: get rid of that school uniform and replace it with something fun… and that will be easy, bless my foresight', she smiled to herself.

"Good morning, Ayanami-san", she greeted the girl, trying her best not to make this sound awkward. 'I don't like the formality, but when in Rome… or when with Romans, in this case', she decided. She was considering starting to call her Rei from the get-go, but considering how Rei called her, it would be yet another exercise in awkwardness.

"Good morning, Soryu-san", Rei responded in kind before adding "You're early" with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"Look who's talking", Asuka scoffed nervously. "How long have you been waiting?"

"Not long", the blue-haired girl replied with her usual emotional charge in her voice. "I was expecting you to be late, so I decided to come with minimal advance", she elaborated.

'Talk about convoluted logic…' Asuka shook her head. "Either way, I'm here. Shall we?"

"Please lead the way, Soryu-san", Rei bowed her head just a notch.

'This is going to be a ride… not that I expected anything else', Asuka took a deep breath, smiled – and led the way as she was asked.

Rei followed her, never staying more than a step behind.

...

As they were going through the halls of the mall, Asuka's mind was taking a stroll on its own. 'Okay, Soryu. You got her exactly where you wanted her. She is spending time with you and she seems cooperative – at least for now – so you've got your work laid out for you', she observed. 'There is a number of ways this can go wrong, of course: she might not like the outfit, she might get bored of all that, I may say something stupid, someone may bother us and mess up the mood… no, scratch the last, I can deal with external threats. But what about–'

"You seem tense, Soryu-san", a voice interrupted her musings. "You also seem anxious", Rei added, seeing Asuka almost jump up at the words.

"You think?" Asuka asked in a forcibly calm voice with a smile painted on her face as she tried her best to conceal her nearly doubled heart rate.

"I seem to have startled you", Rei remarked in her usual calm tone. "I apologize."

'Derail number one, coming right in' came into Asuka's mind as she took a deep breath, still facing away from the other girl. 'Of my own making, congratulations, let's try to avoid at least that, shall we, assuming I manage to salvage it somehow right now?' she decided while releasing the air. "It's not your fault, Ayanami-san. I'm fine", Asuka lied. "Just… preoccupied", she admitted.

"If there are other things on your mind, perhaps we should delay this… excursion?" Rei suggested.

Asuka had an answer on the tip of her tongue, a perfect retort that would shift the responsibility away from her. She turned to deliver it–

–only to see those red eyes looking at her with genuine concern, sincere worry, and actual care. Unable to collect her thoughts, just stared into those eyes, words dying before she could speak them out loud. And after a few long seconds in which she could hear the gears in her head grind against each other, she shook her head. "Ayanami-san, I…" she trailed off, unsure how to finish this sentence.

"I believe a team exercise should be given the proper attention", Rei continued, her tone and expression unchanged. "If there is something else on your mind, we should postpone it."

Asuka took another deep breath. 'She is right. Technically. But she is wrong. Entirely. Damn it!' the thought processes slowly restarted with a few bumps on the way. "Ayanami-san…" she tried again. "You're right."

"I see", Rei nodded. "In this case, I shall–"

"Please, stop and listen", Asuka demanded the moment the other girl started to turn away. 'Do I sound desperate? No, why would I… damn it, I do, don't I?' was unhelpfully rattling in her head.

"Soryu-san?" Rei's voice was unusually charged with confusion – and her eyes went down; only then Asuka realized she caught Rei's hand without thinking.

"Oh", she let go quickly, drew a deep breath – and started to talk: "You're right about me being preoccupied, but you're wrong about postponing it. Yes, I am preoccupied but it's because I have you, and only you on my mind. I want this to go right, okay?" she rattled out on one breath. "So, please, don't even think about calling it off", she added. 'Now I sound desperate', she realized. 'Go Soryu!' a bitter taste followed.

Rei tilted her head slowly to the side. "I… see. I apologize for the misunderstanding", she finally replied. "Do not worry. I do not need that much attention. You can be at ease. We should continue, then."

"Yes. Definitely", Asuka smiled a nervous smile. 'At ease, right', she sighed internally before turning away and continuing towards their first destination.

In her preoccupation – and despite discreet looks cast behind her to check whether Rei was following her – she failed to notice that the girl was looking at her hand with a ponderous expression on her face – the hand Asuka held for a few seconds just a moment ago.