There was something different about today, Shinji thought. Something was going to happen. He couldnt explain why he felt yhis way.

The anticipation helped him ignore a lot of uncomfortable things through the beginning of the day. He dimly acknowledged Asuka's rants. He zoned out through Misato arguing with Penpen about something. He only came up once, when Asuka barked at him for not paying attention to something. "Sorry… just thinking about my paper." He uttered.

Assuming he pulled an all-nighter or something, Asuka left him alone. But as he advanced to school the anticipation grew further. His guess was right when he pushed into class and Hikari was there.

She was looking at papers, not him, but he paused in the entry to take in the feeling. He knew this person cared about him, and he was starting to feel the same. All through the long conversation last night, he felt good finally knowing he was actually helping someone.

Behind him Asuka asked, "Whats the hold up?"

"Oh, sorry." Shinji said and moved into class. Asuka scanned the room to look for whatever it was that had distracted Shinji. Seeing nothing, she pushed after him towards her desk. Ayanami wasn't in class yet.


NERV HQ's underground habitat was truly a marvel, and more than once Misato wondered why it was allowed to exist. Air-gap defense perhaps, but being tactical director she knew the geoftont's only defense was a UN frigate positioned in the underground lake.

It perplexed her on her way to this meeting she'd rather not admit to anyone, especially ritsu. She'd have to justify her hypocracy to the social hubub about the base.

Ryoji Kaji sat at one of the benches just outside the office building for records and storage. She knew why he picked it; it was an out of the way facility with decent accomodation but very little foot traffic. Kaji turned as she approached and gave his characteristic grin and a welcoming wave. "Glad you could make it!" He called to her. On the table was a takeout bag from an Indian resteraunt.

Misato came up to the table and crossed her arms. "My favorite food in a discreet location. If you're hoping to get laid out here, you got another thing coming."

Kaji laughed. "If I wanted to do that, the last place I'd consider would be on the base. Come on, sit."

Misato, frowning, still took the seat opposite of him. She looked out at the garden vistas while Kaji opened the bag and started seperating out their meals.

Kaji said as he did, "I thought about a picnic lunch, but it turns out there's rules against that here. Worried about littering, I guess."

Misato added that thought to her earlier wondering about the enclosure. "Maybe they want to keep this place as prestine as possible."

"Probably." Kaji said and passed Misato the chopsticks. "This is one of the only places on the world where you could experience the climate pre-impact."

"Really?"

"Think about it, it's the largest enclosed space in the world. All you need to do is adjust some things to get whatever you want. Blazing heat, freezing snow, anything."

"Why would anyone want to do that?"

Kaji shrugged. "Maybe someone facies himself a God over nature itself."

"That's preposterous." Misato replied, but stared into her curry as she ate.

Kaji held a level stare at her before he started consuming his meal.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before Misato said, "I just wish there was some beer to wash this down."

A can of Misato's second favorite beer landed on the table. Her eyes jumped from it to him abd he shrugged. "They were out. This was the best I could do."

"I used to drink plenty of this in college." Misato said. She drank, then set it down and asked, "So what are we doing here, really?"

"What do you mean? You can't appreciate a secluded spot for just the two of us?"

"This feels like a trap. Or an ambush." Misato replied. She frowned and said, "You're not planning to propose or anything are you?"

Kaji laughed and said, "Whatever brought you to that idea?"

Misato didn't answer that as she dug through her curry. "If you did, I would say no. I'd think you'd be trying to upstage Yuka's wedding."

Kaji sighed. "I'm wounded at your accusations. But I will take them in stride, because I'm fond of you."

Misato stared level across the table at Kaji. He returned the stare, then shrugged and said, "I thought it would be nice to get away from the base and the bustle of the city. I've been to this spot a few times to clear my head, I thought you would appreciate it."

Misato's eyes scanned the horizon of the enclosure and all its space. In the distance sat the NERV pyramid and it's attendant spire, almost lurking like the squat commander Ikari and his standing attendant subcommander. It gave some assurance to Misato at least that she saw the backside of both.

"What is this place for?" Misato wondered aloud.

Kaji hesitated, then said, "Im still trying to find out."

"You have an ear to Commander Ikari. Have you tried asking him?"

"Not if I want a straightforward answer. That's the thing I've learned about Ikari; he's high minded and cryptic a lot of the time. I'm starting to think it's impossible for him to engage in what we'd call 'a normal conversation'."

"Poor Shinji." Misato mused. When Kaji hummed an inquiry she went on, "He's writing a paper about the second Impact that involves his father. You make it seem like Shinji is going to have a hard time trying to reach his father."

"On the contrary," Kaji said, "I think if anyone is going to be able to touch Ikari, it's his son."

"How? Are you certain of that?"

"It's a hunch." Kaji waved off and plunged his sticks into his lunch. "Ikari is rarely affected by anyone, but he's unusually avoidant on the matter of family. And there's something else." When Misato raised her head, Kaji supplied, "Shinji couldn't exist without his mother, who is no longer here."

"What happened to her?"

Kaji offered a shrug, then said, "All I was ever able to determine was a date. Based on the age of things, I'm assuming it's when she died."

"And that is?"

Kaji paused a beat for emphasis, then said, "Ten years ago, this coming Sunday."

Misato huffed a quiet curse and stared out at the Vista for a moment. They soon funished their lunch.

Misato asked him as they gathered their garbage, "You ARE coming to the wedding, right?"

"Of course. I wouldn't want to disappoint Yuka." He disposed of his trash and asked, "The kids are staying home?"

Kaji's comment dinged off Misato's thought this morning, of her own criticism of being a crappy guardian. Something could happen while we were gone. Not that this in itself was the problem, but it occurred to Misato that she would be on the hook if Shinji was injured, or worse. To say nothing about how she would feel if something did.

"Uh… yeah. Why do you ask?"

Kaji shrugged and said, "We are allowed to bring plus ones. Perhaps Shinji might want his mind off of… that day. If so, he and Asuka could both be our added guests." he smiled, "It gives them something to do."

"I'll ask him." Misato replied.

As they left the park benches, destined for the lonely parking lot, Kaji said, "It would be good for Asuka to do more things with Shinji."

Misato glanced at Kaji to wonder what he could mean, but she imagined a few reasons of her own. Instead, she said, "She's always been a loner, hasn't she?"

"She shouldn't be so quick to give up being a child. You won't get that back when it's gone."

Misato glanced up at the stark white facade of the records building, reminding her then of dead ice sheets far away and long ago, when her own childhood ended.


Wind blew gently across the rooftop of Tokyo-3 municipal high. Shinji had been thinking about how the time after class was going when Toji got his attention. "Hmm?"

"I said, has the class rep been acting funny to you?"

Shinji didn't know how to answer that complex question immediately, so he defaulted to passive denial. "Uh, no, nothing out of the ordinary. Why?"

Toji was leaning against the railing and looking out towards the city. "I dunno. Some thing's different. She hasn't tried offering me lunch this week."

Kensuke, seated with his bento, said, "Maybe she finally gave up on you."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Barked Toji.

"Um, I told you. Girl gives you free food? That means she likes you." Kensuke narrowed his eyes, "But you said it was some kind of crap about pity. I thought you'd be happy that she wasn't showering you with her weekly handouts anymore."

Toji stared, conflicted, and then looked at Shinji to say, "Shinji. You're tutoring with her later today. Can you… find out what's going on with her without making it obvious I'm asking?"

Kensuke made a deadpan blink. "Or you can man up and talk to her yourself?"

Toji scowled and looked away. "I'm not gonna make an idiot of myself in front of the class rep! Besides, what do you always say? Need a little recon before striking? I need to know what she's thinking!"

"And you can't talk to her one on one because…?"

"I don't want to give her the wrong idea! I just want to know what she's doing."

"U-uhm…" Shinji said. He tried to process Toji's newfound concern for the girl he was very certainly developing feelings for.

Kensuke interrupted, "How is he supposed to do that, genius? Shinji's just as clumsy with girls as we are!"

"He… lives with Soryu and Misato! That should teach him, and he talks to Ayanami!"

"And you think talking to girls gives him some kind of mind reading powers over girls?"

"It's better than what we got!"

"Yeah, because Shinji doesn't hide behind some macho stereotype of being emotionally aloof!"

"Real men don't waste time with… feelings and crap!"

"Big talk for a guy making a big deal over not getting free food anymore."

"Just shut up!" Toji barked and looked away. Kensuke exchanged a glance withShinji and chuckled before eating his food.

Shinji looked at Toji's back and wondered what to do with his request. Could he just ignore it? He'd think about it later, he decided. No more was said of it at lunch.


Hikari sort of felt like she was seated next to a live bomb at lunch. Asuka had once again parked herself beside the class rep as she always did. Asuka hadn't said much beyond greetings and throwing hostile glances at Rei. The blue haired girl ignored Asuka in return.

Hikari, like Shinji, had coasted on her morning in a cloud of anticipation. It helped that her sisters and father left without engagement, as they often did. The lapses just allowed herself to revisit and turn over the experiences of last night, when she was heard by someone who cared. Someone she could help.

Until now.

Asuka munched a bite and then asked, "Are you sure you don't want me to take over with Shinji?"

Hikari sighed, "We talked about this, Asuka. I cant." She had actually conversed with Mr. Mikasa about this topic, and he deferred to her judgment. Hikari took this to mean her gut instinct of class rules should stand.

Asuka grunted and said nothing more. Then aftrra moment she added, "Im… I'm sorry about earlier this week."

Hikari blinked with surprise. After staring at Asuka for a moment, she said, "What are you apologizing for, specifically?"

"Saying you were abusing your authority. It was wrong."

Hikari didn't know how to take that, as it was occurring to her now that tutoring Shinji was why she was this close to him, after all. All Hikari wanted to say just then was, "Well… apology accepted. I've had bad days too."

"I just… i don't know why." Asuka replied. "Im beating stupid Shinji at his sync scores, im almost done with this fantastic paper. Why am I unhappy?"

Hikari blinked and said, "Um… well, most of what you do is about Eva or life at home. What else can you do with your time?"

Asuka ignored Hikari to think for a moment, then sighed. "That's it. Mr Kaji hasn't returned my calls. He said he would be more available!"

Hikari eased out a breath, finding relief that Asuka hadn't mentioned Shinji. But the class rep didn't want to condone Asuka's pursuit of the much older man, either. "Perhaps you can find a hobby? Something else to get excited about with your time?"

Asuka thought about it, then hardened her expression before puffing defiantly, "Im not going to give my attention to stupid time wasters."

"It's only wasting time if you look at it that way."

"Ok, then what do you do?" Asuka asked.

"Me? Uhh…" Hikari stopped herself from blurting her first answer, which was Me? I don't have time for hobbies! What she said instead was, "Uh, well, I find a little time to play video games once and a while. There's a few that are pretty fun!"

"Like what?" Asuka replied.

"Well um, I think Soul Cross is pretty fun. Its-"

"That sounds pretentious."

Hikari's words stopped in her throat because she didn't know how to respond to that. She swallowed then said, "There are lots of kinds of games and systems. Why don't you try looking through an arcade and see if anything interests you?"

"You're going to have to show me." Asuka said, "Tomorrow, when you're not tutoring Shinji."

"Ah…well…" Hikari said, but fell silent. Though an arcade trip would cause problems for housekeeping, she was Asuka 's friend. Perhaps this would help. "Okay," she said, "I know just the place."


The pressure hung with Shinji again from the moment he returned to class. He glanced Hikari's way, but his looking never coincided with her face turning in his direction. On some level it was agonizing. This is what liking someone feels like, he mused.

He had plenty of crushes in the past, those came often and were easy enough to insulate. He needed only once, long ago, to convince himself never to try letting his own feelings like that be known. This was different. Different even from Asuka.

The tension only increased when class ended. Shinji remained in his seat and pulled out his documentation for the paper. He sighed as he stared at it, waiting for class to empty and to be alone with-

"Ikari." Rei said.

Shinji jumped a little, sighed, then took a breath before saying, "A-ayanami… you startled me."

"Oh." She said, "Im sorry."

"That's okay, what can I do for you?"

"I wanted you to read my paper and see if it is more comprehensible to you, now."

"Uhh… maybe later, Hikari- err, the class rep is going to tutor me now."

"Perhaps tomorrow?"

"Uh, yes! That will be fine. Tomorrow!"

Rei nodded. "Thank you Ikari." Rei said, then moved off. Shinji watched her go before looking around.

Asuka was by the door, staring. Her eyes then went to the approaching Rei, before she whirled away and left through the door. It reminded Shinji of the day Hikari offered to tutor him.

The class gradually filled out and Shinji's attention rested on the back of the class rep. She was talking to Mr. Mikasa, just before he left. Once the old man had gone she turned around and smiled at him. It was just the two of them left in the classroom now.


a/n: past couple of months have been a bit rough, sorry for the delay.