Tokyo-2, Inner District 3
January 28, 2042
2136 hours
Shinji looked up at the building, only to quickly fix his eyes on the ground again when he felt the nausea rising. Closing his eyes for a moment, he breathed deeply in and out through his nose, trying not to sneeze from the cold air. 'There's nothing wrong.' he silently told himself. 'You're on the ground and you're not going to fall anywhere.'
His former home was a lucky early find for colonization – lucky enough to silence those who advocated for colonizing Alpha Centauri first, despite Proteus being nearly five times as far. Even though there was no oxygen in the air (aside from carbon dioxide, that is), the pressure and temperature was close enough to Earth's that one could simply walk outside with nothing more than an oxygen mask and what would pass as street clothes in the Middle East or northern Africa. Of course, those who worked outside a lot still did so in full-body environment suits for the simple reason that evolution didn't quite design the human epidermis for prolonged exposure to anoxic air with zero moisture – as evidenced by Polygonus being the all-time highest importer of skin care products in known space, even with sunburn from lack of an ozone layer being practically non-existent.
Even the school bags sold in shops had tank holder straps on the sides, with optional conversion kits sold for bags imported by the ever-trickling stream of immigrants from Earth. Every building had at least two airlocks, fitted on the inside with standardized connectors for refilling oxygen tanks, along with spare masks – all of which was subject to mandatory inspection by the authorities several times a year, with stiff fines for those who didn't keep everything ready for use in an emergency. In fact, the only thing more heavily punished on Polygonus than incomplete emergency breathing gear was denying airlock access to someone in distress. Even complete strangers must be allowed to at least cycle the airlock and catch their breath while refilling their tank or calling the emergency services. There were no restrictions on locking the inner hatch, of course; most led into an antechamber connected to the massive network of underground tunnels between almost every single structure to begin with, so distress wasn't an excuse to physically let strangers inside someone's home.
The lawmakers weren't stupid, at least.
On the other hand, lawmakers not being stupid ended up inconveniencing Shinji a great deal anyway. Being handicapped, he was legally forbidden from going outside by himself. After all, if his wheelchair suddenly died on him and he had no way of calling for help, there was no guarantee that anyone would find him before his oxygen ran out, becoming yet another of the year's fatalities from living on a planet with no breathable air.
The fact that he was actually able to walk with crutches and didn't explicitly need a wheelchair was not enough for him to be exempt. No legs, no strolls, period – and the last time he complained about it being unfair, he was bluntly told to go drag his crippled ass back to Earth if he doesn't like it.
He never worked up the courage to tell his father about it. Chances are, the man would just tell him to stop bothering him with trivial bullshit like that.
Thus it was that as the years went by, Shinji found himself in the increasingly uncomfortable position of being unused to not having a roof over his head. It was just a mild irritant, nothing serious – right up until the moment when he rolled down the ramp of the ship that carried him to Earth, took one breath and nearly had his heart jump out of his chest when his brain realized that he "forgot" to wear a mask before going outside.
Staring down at the ground helped. He just had to ignore the breeze against his face and not think about how it wasn't coming from a vent. Not that the errant snowflakes poking against his cheeks with cold considerably beyond what air conditioning would be set to wasn't a dead giveaway.
Wearing an oxygen mask – or even a helmet – right now would be worth it just from the cold alone. He did not miss winter.
"Which floor are we going to, again?" – he asked, hoping his anxiety wasn't as audible as he feared it was.
"Second."
"Oh." – He glanced sideways in the direction the company car they arrived in disappeared. – "Too bad they already left; they could've carried this up."
To their credit, neither the chauffeur nor Rei complained when they helped him into or out of the car. He lived literally on the other side of the road from the Gehirn compound to begin with, so there was no point in him taking a car ride when he could just simply roll down the tunnel to the big, featureless brick of a standard apartment building he lived in. That and almost everyone who lived there were fellow employees, so it wasn't too much trouble for the company to just simply put a security checkpoint down in the tunnel as another personnel entrance to save the oxygen.
He had a feeling he wouldn't be that lucky here. The tunnel exit the AEL car came out of was a tad bit too far.
"No need." – Rei simply said before reaching down and casually hefting the bag on her shoulder.
That caught the boy off-guard for a moment before he glanced away with a mild flush. Leave it to him to be so much of a loser that a lady had to offer to help him. – "...right. Sorry." – After another moment he perked up. – "But, uh, I can just put that in my lap, it's not that heavy. I just can't-"
Without waiting for him to finish, she simply walked off towards the entrance.
"...drive at the same time." – he muttered under his breath and rolled after her.
At least there were no stairs leading up to the door. 21st century or not, wheelchairs still weren't exactly suited to traversing such obstacles and despite their advances in robotics, legs were sadly not yet available as accessories. Hence the pair of telescopic crutches hanging off his backrest, which would naturally necessitate him to leave his chair behind for lack of a second pair of hands to carry it with.
Sometimes he really hated his legs. How they forced him to get help.
How they forced people to waste their time helping him.
For what it's worth, though, Rei paused to hold the door open for him without a word. Which was good, as said door was not only manual and opened outwards, but also seemed to have one of those old mechanical auto-closing things on top that would've made it a mite difficult for him to open with one hand while carefully backing up his chair with the other.
Well, it's not like he would've asked for a place with automatic doors even if he'd known...
Luckily, the elevator doors were automated – but with them laid another problem.
"I don't think we'll both fit at the same time." – Shinji said, giving said doors an uncertain look. His chair could fit through, narrowly but still fine - but even without the doors open he had seen enough elevator cabins in his life to know he likely won't be able to turn around inside with someone else next to him, unless it was a cargo elevator. Which this one definitely wasn't. – "Do you want me to wait for-"
Letting her go first would not have made up for his earlier lack of courtesy by having her carry his stuff, he was fully aware. But it would've solved their conundrum well enough...
...were it not for Rei apparently having had other ideas.
Which she only let him know in the form of abruptly grabbing the bottom of his backrest and picking the whole wheelchair up without warning.
"Whoawhoawhoa I can wait-!" – the boy frantically protested as Rei begun walking towards the stairs.
But to no avail. He had to hold on to his dear life as she scaled step after step, floor after floor, without stopping to rest, her heavy steps and the creaking protest of the wheelchair drowning out the slightly louder exhalations through her nose.
Only on the second floor did she finally stop and put the wheelchair down. And only then did Shinji realize that she was still carrying his bag.
Which meant that she was carrying both him and his chair one-handed.
And didn't even seem winded by it.
He just stared up at her with wide eyes. – "Whoa... you're strong!"
Rei just walked off without a word, catching him off-guard again.
He never really managed to make any friends in his own age group, even before his education skipped ahead of theirs, so he didn't really know what to expect aside from the usual story of being ignored at best.
It would sound ridiculous, he knew, but some part of him expected the same treatment even from his own mother. She never did a single peep in his direction for the past ten years, after all. Not even a single letter. The way things turned out in the end was... awkward, to say the least.
Rei being suddenly back in his life was even more awkward, if such a thing was possible. Truth be told, his memories of the girl were hazy; the only solid one was of her crying inconsolably one day because of... something. He didn't remember.
Now she's suddenly his stepsister or something. A rather scary stepsister, actually, who goes from hugging him one second to giving him the cold shoulder the next.
What was he expecting, really? Her to practically jump in rings around him from excitement? To swoon from an honest compliment?
He should've known better. Chances are after all this time, she didn't even remember him and was only doing all this for courtesy's sake.
Why wouldn't she?
Why wouldn't anyone else in her place?
Suppressing a sigh, he rolled after her. He couldn't blame her. For all he tended to raise eyebrows on first impressions by people who didn't know him, nobody knew what it was really like.
The sneers.
The derisive grumbling when they think he can't hear.
That time and time again the Golden Boy is getting everything handed to him by his daddy, playing adult and acting like he's worth anything.
Never achieving anything on his own.
He was so distracted that he actually bumped against the door frame with his right wheel. Biting back a curse, Shinji reversed a bit and maneuvered around the obstacle, barely clearing the door before bumping into the legs of a suddenly still Rei instead. – "Oh, s-sorry!"
She made no reaction for a moment, looking almost as if she was listening to something before unceremoniously dumping his bag to the floor and marching straight into what he presumed was her room, opposite of the entrance.
Well, one shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. At least she carried his stuff up here for him.
'..as if that's something you should be proud of.', a part of his mind whispered.
Shinji rolled ahead and hauled his bag up to his lap before Rei appeared once more, only for her to march right past him.
"I'll be back." – was all she said before the door closed behind her, leaving her new tenant thoroughly confused.
A few blocks outside, two hooded figures hastily made their way down the dark street as the snowfall steadily began to pick up in intensity once more.
"I fucking told you this was a bad idea!" – one of them snarled at the other.
"Yes, I'm sorry!"
They kept running for two more blocks before both abruptly skidded to a halt just after crossing an intersection.
Before them, Rei stood on the sidewalk under a street light, facing in their direction.
Looking directly at them.
Without a word, the two glanced at each other, turned and sprinted down the crossing street.
Yet their progress was unsteady, every now and then slipping on the thin layer of fresh snow on the pavement as if unused to it. Neither fell, only stumbling slightly but staying on their feet, yet it did slow them down.
Both knew it would cost them if they tried to make it a race of speed against someone who quite literally had home field advantage on them.
Without missing a beat, the pair abruptly slipped into an unlit alley to their right and latched onto the building's fire escape ladder, practically flying upwards. At the top floor, the first one up stepped aside and looked up before crouching down and launching himself into a three meter vertical leap, catching the edge of the roof and immediately pulling himself up as if his own body weighed nothing. His companion followed a moment later, both of them looking barely even winded before a noise of something banging against metal came from their left and Rei flung herself up over the edge of the roof sideways, landing deftly on her feet.
All three broke out into a sprint but Rei was the fastest, throwing herself forward into a dropkick aimed at the rear person's feet almost faster than the eye could follow. It nearly hit before the other girl reacted impossibly fast and jumped, but a split second too late: their feet connected just enough for the force of the blow to fling the other person almost horizontal before she crashed sideways into the snow with a surprised yelp, rolled forward by her own momentum.
Rei sat up first, gun in each hand and a question on her lips, when the other person got up as well and her hood fell off.
Two pairs of red eyes met and Rei's mind ground to a complete halt on the spot.
Nothing moved for several moments.
Then the other girl yanked the hoodie back on, scrambled to her feet in the snow and ran.
Rei was still sitting unmoving in the same spot long after she had vanished from sight.
It was a good thing Shinji wasn't in the corridor anymore when Rei finally got back home because she was not in the mood to explain why she looked like she just crawled out of a mound of snow. Which she technically was, the snowfall outside having intensified to a level not quite that of a blizzard, but close.
The blissful warmth of the shower was like a soothing salve, even though she was fully aware she was in no danger of catching a cold. Even then, it was a salve only to her body.
Her mind was another matter entirely as she stood there even after turning off the water, resting her back against the tiled wall.
She felt off the second the company car turned into the street, but mostly dismissed it as just nerves. He was here, right next to her, close enough for her to reach out and touch if she wanted to. After all these years.
Were it not for the chauffeur being within hearing distance, she wouldn't have spent the trip in silence, even though she could tell Shinji was tense. Several times he felt like he was about to speak up, but never did.
Yet that feeling intensified to the point where the hairs on the back of her neck stood up the moment she stepped out onto the street.
The feeling of being watched.
It wasn't exactly a sensation unfamiliar for Rei by this point, but this time it was overlaid by... something else. Not the mental equivalent of an atomic flash like when an Angel drew near, nor the, for lack of a better word, alienness of a vortigaunt's presence. Not even the subconscious familiarity of Kaworu, although that wasn't quite accurate. It was like... like she was supposed to know, but didn't.
There was a... resonance there.
A... longing.
Something that touched... something in her.
Pulling at her.
She wasn't sure whether Shinji noticed her distraction, but it ultimately didn't matter. With all the neighbors home at this time, she would've surely missed the two silhouettes on the edge of the opposite building's roof - were it not for her senses suddenly feeling like they were laser-focusing her attention towards the window.
She didn't even need to check with her eyes to know that they were there. Or that they knew she had noticed them.
Even with her eyes closed, she would've been able to track them. Running was of no use: she knew the area better than them, every shortcut she could take to head them off on the streets. The two taking to the roofs was unexpected, but not unwelcome. She had plenty of practice doing the same whenever she didn't feel like being a spectacle down below.
Yet the way they moved, the way they felt...
It couldn't be. There were no more like her and Kaworu, Rei knew that for a fact. Yui wouldn't have been able to hide it from her, even if she would've had to pry the full truth out of the woman.
She was fully prepared to beat the answers out of them too if she had to.
Who were they?
Where did they come from?
What did they want?
Why were they watching her?
But those eyes...
The hair, the face...
The feeling.
Surprise, fear of discovery, familiarity, longing, all mixed behind a face Rei didn't know, didn't recall, didn't recognize, but felt painfully familiar all the same.
A pull that felt like she was about to fly through the air, snap her arms around a stranger and never let go until the end of time.
And now...
Now it was gone.
With it, Rei felt like a part of her had been ripped away, leaving nothing but a gaping, aching hole and an almost nauseating sense of something missing.
A droplet of warmth fell on her chest and Rei's eyes snapped open, looking down in surprise. – "What...?"
Not water.
Tears.
Her tears.
"Why... am I...?"
Shinji was in the middle of checking his luggage one last time to make sure he unpacked everything when he heard the door of the bathroom close. Reversing away from the bed, he turned his wheelchair and put the now empty bag in the corner of the room.
It felt... odd to be standing here, so to speak. This wasn't the house he spent his early childhood in; hell, he didn't even know the address to that one. Yet to think that he might have been sleeping in this very room for the past ten years if his parents hadn't divorced...
Part of him wondered where Rei would've been. Would she have still become...?
Family?
He couldn't quite tell how the word felt to him.
He had always been alone. He had barely even seen his father for years now. But then again, it wasn't as if he was still a ten year old who needed constant supervision to ensure he doesn't absently scratch at his stitches.
Passing through the door, he almost didn't hear the sound of barefooted steps from his right, his head reflexively turning towards the source.
How long did it take for his brain to comprehend what he was seeing, he couldn't tell for his life.
Then his brain finished rebooting and Shinji Ikari felt as if his face was about to catch fire simultaneously with the rush of blood in his ears muting everything else.
When he first laid eyes on Rei in the Geofront after all these years, it was one thing to be aware that the person hidden underneath layers and layers of fully concealing clothes was a girl.
It was a whole another thing to see her half-turned towards him in nothing but a towel hanging around her shoulders.
A strangled sound left his throat as he desperately tried and rather pathetically failed not to stare because this was wrong and she was supposed to be family and he was a sick pervert and why was he still looking and she was going to hate him and she's the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and–
Rei just gazed back at him with a completely flat expression before reaching over with one hand and silently shutting the door between them.
That night, Rei was lying sleepless on her bed, unable to sleep even if she wouldn't be trying to tone out the feeling radiating from the direction of the other room – whose occupant was equally sleepless for an entirely different reason.
In a way, she knew this was probably inevitable – and in the same way, she had nobody to blame but herself. Living by herself for the most part didn't exactly necessitate her to keep herself covered up, especially when the only one who could ever walk in on her by accident was the same gender as her.
If anything, it made her angry at herself. She allowed herself to become distracted.
Emotional.
She's been making that mistake too frequently.
Oh, how she missed the simplicity of the life she had just half a year ago. Alone, but secure in that knowledge. Knowing what to expect, knowing how to define herself against the world. Then in rapid succession everything got dropped on her lap: first Kaworu, then her work in Sector T, then Shinji, and now this.
It was as if the universe was deliberately going out of its way to mock her, to test her resolve by poking at her sentimentality.
Turning on her side away from the door, Rei silently pressed the pillow against the side of her head as if it would help drowning out that which she needed no ears to sense.
Or the feelings of guilt and shame that came from the same direction a few minutes later.
Chapter completed on 23/11/26.
I know we already had a very similar scene with Kaworu all the way back in chapter 5, but it's practically a fandom tradition at this point - even with a conspicuous (and very deliberate in order to maintain an appropriate age rating) lack of accidental groping.
FYI to preempt any such insinuations: I do NOT have anything against handicapped people. But keep in mind that Shinji was never exactly the epitome of ego to begin with and being handicapped is NOT helping matters in that regard. His self-deprecating attitude towards it is NOT indicative of the author's own opinion towards any persons in real life.